Tag: compound

Button Sunday–late again

I’m told I’ll be without a kitchen for another week. Can I tell you how “happy” that makes me? Sure, I don’t have to cook. But even if we get carry-out, we still have glasses and utensils to wash. Not to mention dog bowls. In the bathroom sink. Which was not exactly made for such.

Saturday, Tom and I went on a marathon shopping spree so everyone could stop listening to my whining and bitching about how behind I am with all the things I need to do. Sunday night, we went to one of Mark’s favorite places–sight unseen–in Houston: the airport post office. Monday is predicted to be the busiest post office day of the year, and we had around a dozen packages to mail, so the 24/7 post office in the dead of night seemed like a better plan. And truly, we didn’t have to wait in line. The clerk who helped us was pleasant. And there was a bonus. Someone was shipping LIVE CHICKENS in boxes. How often does a person get to fill out her tracking and insurance labels with clucking going on all around her? I felt like I was part of an NPR segment. Furthermore, it was Tom, not I, who said, “Now you have a reason to go home and post to your LiveJournal, because CHICKENS IN THE POST OFFICE ARE BLOGWORTHY.” I agree.

I only have about four more packages to mail, and I’ll be done with that part of the holiday. Just a few last-minute things for local friends and some Christmas card stragglers to respond to. Meanwhile, my office–including my desktop computer with my vast photo archives–is inaccessible to me, which means I’ll be VERY late posting a Photo Friday photo. Here’s what my kitchen looks like now:

it’s dead–wrapped in plastic

I need a vacation

Monday I submitted an updated outline and the first half of the next Coventry book to my publisher after Tim read it and made some edits. (The final draft is due in January, and the novel–A Coventry Wedding–will come out in January 2009.) Then I worked on a big proofreading job for a client. I think I cooked spaghetti, too. I’m not sure what else I did, but it seems like there was plenty to keep me busy.

Tuesday I finished the proofreading job and delivered it. Then I took care of some TJB business. The cable guy came to move the cable into my new office. Actually, my new office is where I originally had my office when we moved into the house. I switched it to the guest room when Tim moved down from NYC and we both needed office space. Once we got wireless, he could office in the TimLair. Since I don’t need all the space I used to require, I’m going back to my little nook off the kitchen. This should mean fewer burned meals and fewer dogs quivering in reaction to the blaring smoke detector. We’ll see.

This week, I learned how to seal tile/grout. After letting the grout cure for a few days, I started with the new tile entry in Tim’s apartment. I probably have some pictures of the way it used to be, but they’re all packed. Still, I can give you a sense of what we’ve done over there.

Yes, more photos, are you surprised?

Along with the dryer and the laptop, I think I broke Lynne and Lindsey

Lynne and Lindsey have both been sick–oddly, right after they helped me deal with upheaval at The Compound. Tom, Tim, and I have been taking Airborne to try to head off any illness. Fortunately, Tim even managed to fly without getting sick, and that’s like a little miracle. One of the reasons I dislike flying is that there is always someone on the plane who’s hacking and sneezing and otherwise trying to infect perfect strangers with germs.

My mom also helped clean the house after the floors were done, and she’s doing okay. Last week, she confessed to Lindsey (who immediately texted me at the laundromat–remember: dryer broken!) that Lindsey was indeed the Queen of Clean. That Old Woman apparently relinquished her title when she caught Lindsey going at a window latch in my living room with a Q-Tip.

photos from cleaning night

Photos for Tim

I’m hoping Tim will be able to get online on Wednesday, so these photos are for him.


I don’t have time to post all the horror stories, but one of them ended in having to create a path down an unused part of The Compound. Because when there are a million other things to do on a rainy, muggy day, that’s what Tom needs to spend his time on. (This is U-Haul’s fault.) Tim, here’s what the path looks like:

The roofing guys pretty well took out the aloe and cactus plants that were outside the dining room. However, these two guys are okay:

As is my handsome man in the moon:

Rex is not sure he likes the new path at first.

Now all three dogs are loving it. Considering what U-Haul, Countrywide, and now a broken dryer–just when I have tons of curtains, pillows, and quilts to wash–have put me through, it’s a relief to stop and smell the rose blooming for Tim outside his kitchen window (seems kind of crazy since you’re buried in snow up there, right?):

Tom, the dogs, and I are staying in the TimLair while the floors are in progress. Margot found River’s duck:

And attacked it.

Later, Margot crashed in Rex’s crate, because everyone knows it’s the best at The Compound:

I felt sorry for Rex when I saw how he’d curled himself into a smaller Margot/Guinness crate:

Except now I realize he uses it even when he doesn’t have to. Apparently the fleece is always softer in the other dog’s crate.

Guinness is all, The hell with that, I’m taking Tim’s bed:

Rex really, really is missing his dad:

Come home soon!

What’s in the box?

I remember a time when Shannon photographed the inside of her refrigerator and made me jealous with all the goodies inside it. In comments to a recent post of Lisa’s, I issued a challenge. Without cleaning/organizing it, shoot your fridge and put it on your journal/blog.

My refrigerator, like my stove, is in the middle of my dining room while my kitchen is being remodeled.

but I never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do myself