Saved by Michelle

I took Friday off work for several reasons:

1. I wanted to work a bit on my condo.

2. I needed to be there when the cable guy showed up.

3. My birthday is on Sunday and even though I didn't go out of town I wanted a vacation.

It was a rather busy day! I vacuumed and cleaned and painted with my mom. We arrived at the condo after lunch just in time to keep the cable guy from leaving (has anyone else had the people say "I'll be there between 1 and 5pm", and actually have him arrive at 1:10? No? Me neither. But of course, if I'm not there right on time... Silly Murphy's Law).

So, the Comcast cable guy, Eric, starts working, and checking my three cable outlets. I wanted cable, internet, and DVR. According to Eric's reader, non of the three cable outlets in my condo were active. Bad news: he isn't authorized to string cable in a 6-plex. Good news: he might be able to work around it to achieve an active connection. Bad news: he needs his reader to do it properly, but not only is it running out of batteries, the charger is at his house in West Valley. Bah! So, he had to leave for about an hour to get it and come back.

He was back by 3 and finished setting up the cable and DVR. We ran into a snag with the computer, though. My laptop wouldn't recognize that it was hooked up to the internet. Eric fiddled with it for quite awhile before admitting he was new and didn't have much experience with my type of computer. At 4:30 my mom left. About that same time, Eric decided there was nothing more he could do, so he called his supervisor, Jay, and asked me if I'd be willing to wait an hour or so for Jay to come and finish up. I said Fine. Whatever. I just wanted it done (maybe that wasn't the best attitude to have). I was fairly polite about the whole thing up to that point. After all, he was doing his best.

Eric left and I took a nap and then watched some t.v, and then read a little. Man, I was bored. About 6 o'clock, Eric shows up again, and says Jay is stuck at another job so Eric's going to give it another go, but has no more success than he did before. Now, also, he's complaining that he wants to go home, and is frustrated that he doesn't know what to do (hadn't he said that before he left the second time?). Yeah, this is not helping my confidence in him. At that point, I was glad that I didn't have a date that night, because I probably would have had to cancel.

I did have plans to hang out with my best friend, Michelle, who I hadn't seen in months. I called Michelle and told her I didn't know how long it would be, so she offered to bring dinner to me. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! She and her daughter Abbie brought some Little Caesar's Hot and Ready pizza, which we shared with Eric while we waited for Jay to show up. Jay finally did, and about 8 o'clock sent Eric home.

Are you paying attention? I have now been waiting for 7 hours.

I am so glad Michelle was there to get me through it. She and I chatted and I showed her around. I felt badly that there wasn't much for Abbie to do. She watched some Handy Manny for awhile, but she was obviously bored. She is such a good sport. Michelle is a terrific mom; I'm always impressed and a little jealous when I see them together.

Jay kept trying different methods, and finally told me I might have to reset my laptop in order to get the ethernet working. Then he decided it was something else, then thought of another something else. Bah!

At 9:20 he said, "it's 9:20, it's time I go home". He thought he knew what would get the connection working on my laptop, and so we scheduled ANOTHER appointment for Saturday afternoon. Oh joy, I get to spend even more time dealing with this. Jay did say since it's been such a hassle he was going to wave the installation fee. You bet he was! Doesn't he know I'm not getting any younger?

I can't help but think it may have taken less time if either one of these cable dudes had not have to leave the building every half hour for ten minutes to smoke a cigarette. Yeah, they're entitled to breaks and this was frustrating for all of us, but 8 hours? Seriously? And it's still not finished?! Grrr!

Michelle and I went to Cold Stone for the ice cream we'd promised Abbie for being so good (and also, I adore Cold Stone). We then went back to their house and put Abbie to bed. Michelle and I sang to her in harmony -- I haven't sung with her in so long! -- we said bedtime prayers, and then I left them alone while Michelle finished the routine. Then my best friend and I laughed more than we expected while watching What Happens in Vegas.

And, of course, we had to stay up and talk until a mildly ridiculous hour, which is what we do every time we get together. Michelle and I have been friends for 14 years. We understand each other and have been through a lot together. I love her. I'm so grateful she rescued me today! I don't know what I would have done if it had just been me and the chain-smoking cable guys all night!!

Gold of Sunshine in Her Hair

I have a rant about how the only two blonde animated Disney princesses - Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty -- are the two who don't have any control over their destinys. They are lovely and sweet, but ultimately have to be rescued from their lives by someone else, be it a prince, fairy godmother, or both. I like to imagine this wouldn't irk me so much if at least ONE princess/heroine since then had been a blonde. Obviously, some have ethnic backgrounds where it isn't a possibility, but Ariel? Meg? Jane? Belle? All of these are strong characters who take charge of their destinys and win their true love and the right to be who they truely are. None are blonde.

(Yes, I know the three silly girls in Beauty and the Beast are blonde, but they aren't very good role models, either.)

This is not to say I don't like either of these films. Quite the opposite! I'm just annoyed that Disney hasn't represented the blonde community more kindly since they've started presenting take-charge women in their films. Then again, statistically speaking I suppose I should acknowledge there aren't that many natural blondes in the world. And I think it's very cool that the princess in the next Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, is African-American. Equality is good. I just feel it's time to let a blonde character be the real hero instead of just a story-telling device!

Anyway, Sleeping Beauty is one of my all-time favorite movies and stories. Love the animation, love the characters, love the prince, love the villain, love the mandolyn player during the toasting scene, love the music. I even have a Princess Aurora Halloween costume (in blue)! So, I was thrilled with this:


You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Picture Book Tag

I wasn't tagged, but I saw this awhile back on a few blogs and thought it was cool:

Do a Google image search and pick an image from the first page. Then post the image in response to the statement above.

Age I'll be on my next birthday


A place I'd like to visit


The city I live in


My favorite place


One of my favorite things to do


One of my favorite foods


My favorite flower


My favorite color


Name of a former pet


A nickname


Major in college


My first job


My hope for 2008

Better Than Bob Vila

Now that I own a home, it's time to make it my own. This means home improvement projects. Unfortunately, I have little to no experience in this area. Fortunately, my parents do.

Mom and I went to Ikea and Home Depot on Monday to look at fabrics and paint and try to decide how exactly I want to decorate. Ikea was sort of a bust, and we didn't find exactly what we wanted at Home Depot either, but at least I was able to give my mom an idea of what I am looking for, which is NOT the washed-out abstract floral stuff that's so big at Ikea right now. Meanwhile, apparently the peachy colors I was debating over looked kinda pink (okay, rather pink. My mom showed a couple of the samples to the guy behind the counter so he could grab the matching paint cans, and when I walked up, he looked really surprised. According to my mom, he assumed that the girl who wanted the pink bedroom would be 10 years old. Oh, well, at least he probably didn't think "Whoa! It's a twenty-nine year old!"

My dad mentioned to my mom last Sunday that he has the next two weeks off, and asked if there were any improvement projects he could do at my place during that time. Whoa! How cool is that? Of course I wouldn't say NO to that offer!

I was planning to help paint on Tuesday, but at that point, my mom had been working for two days and asked if we could just stay home and relax. I think she just wanted to REALLY wow me when I saw the place on Thursday. And wowed I was! I showed up in my grubbies with dinner for my folks who'd been working on my condo full-time since Monday morning, and saw that my dad had built two walls! If you look at the photos I posted earlier, the outside walls slant. To correct that in the great room, my dad framed, sheetrocked, and mudded. He was working on the electrical outlets when I walked in! My dad taught himself how to work on electrical outlets for me! How cool is that?

I had brought dinner for my folks, so we set up the patio furniture and I prayed over the food. I felt pretty emotional as I thanked my Heavenly Father for my parents and the condo. Still can't believe sometimes that place is mine.

Mom had painted my bedroom, and was starting on the hallway. She had my friend Lisa and I adjust the shelves in the master bedroom, and then we cleaned kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and Lisa even washed all the windows. We got quite a bit done!

I really can't thank my parents enough for all they have accomplished on my behalf. My home is going to look wonderful, and if I had had to try to figure all that stuff out by myself it would have taken a long time to finish. I am blown away by their willingness to spend their free time (or not so free) working to make my home one that I'm excited to live in. Are all parents like that? I don't know. I just know that mine are. I am very, very blessed.

I had hoped to be ready to move in before my birthday, but there's still a lot to do. Ah well. It's probably better to do it now before I put my things in, get complacent, and start thinking "Oh, this place is just fine the way it is."

I know what I'll be doing on Labor Day!

DWTS

One of my favorite television shows is Dancing with the Stars. I love the costumes, the hair, the backstage drama, Tom Bergeron, Len Goodman, and... oh yes, the dancing. And I love how they take a bunch of unknown or has-been "stars" and through the course of 26 episodes make me care about them! Every season I look at the cast list and think "Really? That guy?" It always looks like it's going to be lame, and then turns out wonderfully. (Last season was pretty close to lame, though. Kristy Yamaguchi was the only really good dancer. I don't care how hot Christian de la Fuente and Jason Taylor are, they let their professional partners do all the dancing and it was BORING! I can only watch Edyta skank it up for so long.)

They announced the new cast yesterday and again I thought, "Really? Um, okay." I have hopes though. I am always amazed at what the dancers can get their stars to do, and it's fun to see the stars gain confidence each week. So, Monday, September 22, you know where I'll be! Sitting in front of my television with my hands over my face just hoping the show surprises me once again!

The cast*:

- Lance Bass of 'N Sync fame, partnered with newbie Lacey Schwimmer

- Grammy-winning singer Toni Braxton, with Alec Mazo

- Actress/host Brooke Burke, with darling Derek Hough

- Celebrity chef Rocco Dispirito, with pouting Karina Smirnoff

- Olympic gold medal track star Maurice Greene, with sassy Cheryl Burke

- Paris Hilton wannabe Kim Kardashian, with adorable Mark Ballas

- Oscar-winning actress Cloris Leachman, with Corky Ballas (Mark's dad)

- Actor Cody Linley, with feisty Julianne Hough

- Soap star Susan Lucci, with boring Tony Dovolani

- Olympic gold medal volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, with my beloved Maxim Chmerikovskiy

- Actor Ted McGinley, with newcomer Inna Brayer

- Comedian Jeffrey Ross, with scantily-clad Edyta Sliwinska

- Superbowl champion Warren Sapp, with the delightful Kym Johnson

As an example of what I expect, at least by week 5, here is my favorite dance of all time: Apollo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough dancing the Samba. (I was really surprised when this didn't make the judges' top ten at the DWTS 100th Episode Celebration.)



*For more information, see the official announcement at http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=announcement

MY house!

Well, it's official! I'm now a homeowner! I signed the documents on Wednesday, and after some lame clerical errors I talked with my realtor yesterday and the condo is MINE! I even moved some boxes in today and took photos! It was so weird driving to MY parking space and thinking "Wow. This place is now home." Home. My own home. MY own home.

That is so surreal!

living room and balcony

fireplace in the living room

dining room and kitchen

master bedroom

bathroom vanity


Let the home improvement projects begin!

First up: painting