Monday, November 24, 2008

New Bathroom Saga

Day nine thousand, four hundred and sixty two. And three hours.

My landlord's cousin is here installing the sink/vanity. In fact, I hear water running now. The electrical guy is supposed to come tomorrow (another long story, just not going there tonight).

As for head blind monkey, no sign of him today, but he's promised to come tomorrow and really, really, really finish.

Not holding my breath.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

By This Time

Monday, my new bathroom should be good and finished.

Keep in mind this 'three day job' started Tuesday...last.

As best my landlord and I can figure, she accidentally hired blind monkeys to do the bulk of the work. She was over here today to paint & she and her husband will be back tomorrow to install the new vanity and put the lights in.

I had the pleasure of a trip to Lowe's today to indulge in a curved shower curtain rod (like in them there fancy hotel rooms) and a new vanity light.

Head blind monkey is scheduled to return Monday to reinstall the bathroom door, put the cover back on the crawl space, and do some fixup work on the bathroom floor. As they say in the TV biz, hilarity will likely ensue.

I've been using the spare shower for the past week. Said spare shower is about the size of a small broom closet and I'm certainly not the size of your typical broom. Made for fun times, let me tell you. Rest assured that shaving of various things was not even a consideration. Sasquatch lives, I'm just sayin'.

But the redone bathroom is really coming together. The landlord and I agreed on a nice khaki & white color scheme for the bathroom, replacing some truly hideous wallboard along with wallpaper that my grandmother would have considered out of date.

Everything should be usable by tomorrow afternoon, and I plan to take a celebratory/inaugural shower about this time tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Great

platter caper is solved. It was under my bed--I remembered it was too big to fit in the cabinets here in this house.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Okay

Who hid the turkey platter? 'Cause I need it.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

My Classmate

passed away early Wednesday morning.

I've just returned from a two-day trip home. It's an eight hour drive, one way, and to say I'm physically whipped is an understatement.

It was a lovely service, as those things go. So many of our classmates came, and that was most touching.

I spent Thursday and Friday night with another classmate who's been battling her own troubles-cancer, being hit from behind by a drunk driver, family issues, you name it.

Yet she opened her home to me, someone she hasn't seen or talked to in almost twenty years. I felt at home, immediately felt a part of the family. That's really precious to me.

The funeral was Friday morning, and Friday afternoon was spent sharing wine and memories and catching up with several classmates, including a fellow who was really my best friend in high school. I've always been a little in love with him, in the most innocent way.

He's still a sweetheart. I hadn't realized just how much I've missed him over the years.

I'm fixing to watch Carolina play Florida, mostly through my eyelids I imagine.

Be gentle with one another.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

As You Can See,

there has not in fact been a post reviewing 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', as promised earlier.

Life, in its way, intervened.

I received one of those, 'Classmates.com' update emails & clicked through, to learn that a classmate, who has survived one round of cancer, has had it return, in an even more ferocious form.

Hospice has been called in, and in email updates from another classmate, I've learned they don't really expect her to last the week.

She and her husband were high school sweethearts, they've been together almost thirty years, and just welcomed their first grandchild this past week.

My thirtieth high school reunion is on the horizon for 2010. It seems impossible to believe I won't see this beautiful, vibrant girl that exists in my memories there.

I hate the idea of thinking of one of my classmates, a sweet, lovely boy, as a widower. Living what I've been living these past 2+ years.

Sigh....

Thursday, November 6, 2008

An Actual Post*

on an Internet discussion board (and posted in all seriousness):

"Ohmigod, what if he actually is the Anti-Christ?"

Then you'll experience the Rapture all the sooner. Isn't that what you want anyway? I mean, if it's your belief that the Rapture is the ultimate actualization of your faith, then what are you so scared of?


Also posted on the same board:

"He's asked Rahm Emmanual to be his CoS--an Isreali! What does that mean?"

And this would be your typical Isreali from...Chicago?



*Trust me, I wish I were creative enough to make up this kind of shit.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Has A Nice Ring To It

I think:

President Barack Obama.

Yep, rolls right off one's tongue.


Tomorrow: I will discuss the cultural relevance of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta', proving once again that I am Bravo's Reality TV bitch. Y'all, those ladies are comedy gold. Wait till I tell you all about it.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

As I

just emailed a friend:

I know President Elect Barack Obama is going to do some things over the next four years that will piss me off. But that's all right, because Michelle will be right there to keep his ass on the straight and narrow.

Talk about marrying up.

I Got

to my polling place at 6:45 a.m. to find a line of about thirty people, with a steady stream of folks coming up into the line behind me. It was a bit breezy, cool, with a light, drizzling rain. When one of the pollworkers, someone I know*, stepped out and saw the line, he did a true doubletake, let us know to turn off our cellphones, reminded us we had three minutes to vote, and proclaimed it a great day.

When I pressed the box to vote for Barack Obama, I thought to myself, ‘three minutes be damned’. I had to stand there for a moment, savoring this day. A day, I will be honest with you, I did not think I’d see in my lifetime.

If you had asked me a year and a half ago, I would have said I’d be voting for Hillary for President and likely Barack for Vice President. And that would have made for one hell of an emotional moment.

Because I figured I’d see a woman President in my lifetime. And a Black Vice President, probably two or three. If I did get the opportunity to vote for a Black President, it would likely come when I was much, much older.

So I took a moment to savor the feeling, the emotion, of being a southerner who entered Kindergarten with integration, who has seen the use of the ‘n’ word fall away in the last forty years (but not go away completely, as I am continually shocked to discover in this day and age), a southerner who was voting for a Black man not because he is Black, but because he is what I believe to be the best choice for this country that I love.

Driving home, I became very emotional, wishing my dear, late husband were still here to see this day.

I still find myself becoming emotional, teary. I’m at turns excited, nervous, and frankly, scared. Because if he is elected, you know the hard-core crazies will come out of the woodwork.

I’ve been watching reruns of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report for most of the day. One of the Daily Show ‘correspondents’ was doing a piece where he interviewed folks at both a Palin and an Obama rally. There was an older lady, with a light foreign accent being interviewed at the Palin rally who declared she was very scared of Obama being elected. She said, more or less, “America as it is today won’t exist if Obama is elected.”

One can only hope.

*It's a town of 3500, eventually you know everybody. I knew most of the folks in line too.

Proof


Election Day!

Go Vote, if you haven't already.

And offer up thanks that all these g*&%#!m political ads are done with for awhile.


Monday, November 3, 2008

Back To

work today. Spent the morning clearing out my inbox and the afternoon in training. It was all good, including the tray of subs, along with the neverending chocolate chip cookies and potato chips. Why is it we believe food eaten at meetings doesn't count? Anyway, I hope it doesn't, because three Subway chocolate chip cookies in one day probably begin to add up at some point.

One of the pleasures of working for a school district are the random days off we get, such as...Tomorrow!! Couldn't come at a better or more needed time. I'm still kind of wore out from last week. Plus we'll dismiss early on Friday because the football team has to travel way upstate for the first game of the playoffs. The week is looking better and better.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Le Boyfriend

hit the road early this morning-a combination of the time change and I'm sure a desire to be back in 'his space'. My space this morning has seemed more quiet than usual. It sure was nice to have a 'man around the house', if only for a few days and nights.

I got a taste of what it's like to live in a house divided last night, as Carolina began bulldozing over the Vols early. I was cheering & he was mighty quiet. We shuffled off to bed at half-time, with the final score not much of a surprise when we opened the Sunday paper this morning.

It's looking to be a beautiful day here, and I may convince myself to put the Italian sausage I found at the Pig this morning on the charcoal grill for my dinner.

More from Tinytown as updates warrant.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Back

today from the Myrtle for my annual fall conference, with an overnight side trip to Charleston yesterday evening.

Le Boyfriend has been with me for the week, and he's been wonderful company. We chowed down at Hyman's on Meeting Street last night, even after over-indulging on seafood throughout the week at the beach.

Bless his heart, he dutifully tramped down from our oceanfront room and sat in on the conference general sessions, even the one with our state Superintendent of Education-that's gotta be either love and devotion, or outta his mind-I'm not sure which.

Anyway, we've unpacked the car and now we're piled up watching some college football. Dinner tonight is pizza from the local greek joint-with nary a hint of seafood to it. I can't hardly wait.

He's back home tomorrow, and I fear this little place will feel a mite empty. I'll be over to see him for Thanksgiving, though, so there's that to look forward to.

More from Tinytown when I recover. Go Gamecocks!