Sunday night painting

Yesterday, we went to Kay and Dan's for the Browns' game, as well as some fabulous tapenades and spaghetti with meatballs. (Quick sidenote...  why is it that I fall asleep every time we sit down to watch football?  Get back to me on that, would you please?)   Afterwards, we took a quick look at the Eastlake house, which looks really, really good.  If anyone's in the market for a new house, this is the house for you and not just cause I'm being paid to say that!

We got home around 7pm, and little worker bee Karen was ready to organize stuff and do homework, while I was ready and excited to sit on the couch and watch TV all night help.  But, it turned out to be one of those nights where work is leisurely and fun, and with a little Billy Joel, we sang and time flew.

I added sunny kiwi (??) to the stairs wall, and got out the new trimmer and went to town.  I would like to point out here that I am MUCH BETTER at the quick and dirty jobs than I am at the detailed ones.  (Ruthanne is nodding with a raised eyebrow.)  I spent over two hours edging the outside of two walls, and about 30 minutes rolling them both.  All of a sudden, it was 11:45pm, and time for bed.  Aside from a few hits to the ceiling that we will never be able to reach will surely be able to touch up, it looks GORGEOUS.

KAPLOWEE!  Painted accent wall.

We did nothing to this room, but I love this picture.  (Hi, Muffin!)

Picture of the day

Mystery piano in woods perplexes police

Happy Birthday, Ruthanne! And, Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Peer pressure

It's amazing what we'll do when prompted by friends. 

We watched the Ohio State/Michigan game with Stephanie and Brendan yesterday, and we ate a delicious homemade balsamic onion dip, and some of Stephanie's now famous chili.  We also had a few beers, which may explain why I can't remember how the topic of ear-candling came up.  Stephanie even had some ear candles lying around somewhere.  'We'll have to candle Karen's ears later!!' Stephanie said.  And after some karaoke and Kabookii, we decided to try it. 

She lived through this, and I'll spare you the pictures of what is purported to be 'pulled from deep within the ear canal.'  (Your imagination and the wiki page can fill you in if you're still curious.)

We're also open to try almost anything, as evidenced by the above scary photo.  Maybe I'll post some of the video later. 

All thumbs

Wildfires

See more here 

If you don't frequent the Boston Globe's BIG PICTURE site, you should add it to your RSS feed.  

It's amazing, every day.  

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/ 

We've got our home back!

Construction is almost finished, and we were able to bribe the boys into helping us move most of the stuff we'd been storing upstairs back to the basement.  It's nice to be able to walk around again.  And to host dinner parties.  (Thanks, Will, Jess and Mickey for the help and the laughs.)

Thanks, Kay.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Embedding disabled

Nice new video for Sia...  stick it out till the shadowy part.  Nice

watch here

Can I touch them? Now? Now?

I can't get over how cute this little boy is, and I hope his parents are keeping a close eye, cause I'm heading over to kidnap him.

A Protected Class

On a quiet Sunday night just outside Cleveland, Ohio, a storm was brewing.

"About twenty-five percent of the dishes you wash require additional washing," said Karen Shaniuk of the Tremont chapter of the Overly Thorough Coalition.  Apparently, this is a rampant problem throughout the country, particularly among those who live with members of the OTC.

"I had no idea that the problem encompassed a quarter of the dishes I've washed.  Can I even say that I washed them?  Do I have to use air quotes, like McCain?  You know, a quarter of the dishes I 'washed' required additional attention...  " said Susan Kennedy, also of Tremont, who is "most certainly not part of the OTC."

Kennedy declined an on-air interview, stating only that she plans to file for Protected Class status for her group, the Twenty-Five Percent of the Time Poor Dish Washers of America or TFPOTTPDWA,  (pronounced TIFFpotPIDwa) and plans a community outreach for others who may be afflicted.

"This is a very real, very serious condition, and it's important that the public be aware of how sensitive our members are."

Shaniuk did point out that, while she has to re-wash some dishes, she "suppose(s) that seventy-five percent of them don't require additional washing, so that does help some."

The Home Bar

Karen shoots pool in a local league, and we visit many bars for the matches.  Last night we went to our 'Home Bar', which I used to love back when I was a smoker, because they allow smoking (even though there's a law in Ohio that forbids smoking indoors at public places.)  Last night, as the bartender asked people for their dollar to smoke, I laughed to myself how silly these people were.  I watched them all light their cigarettes and puff away.  But after about half an hour, the strangest thing happened....  I wanted to smoke. BADLY wanted to smoke.  I'm not sure if it was the nicotine in the air, or the combination of drinking beer and watching people smoke, but I was almost adamant that I could be one of those nonexistent 'Occasional Smokers'.  Luckily my rebellion didn't take over, and we took me home to our nonsmoking house, where I continue to be a nonsmoker.  Just goes to show you that even the girl who tells people how much money they'd save if they quit can also be tempted herself.

Oh, and very tempted to call the 1-800-NoSmokeOhio line, or whatever it is.  Who IS this person, and what have you done to rebel Susan?  :)

Even I knew that Africa was a continent!

In case the vending machine guy reads my blog

We have three beverage vending machines.  Two dedicated to Pepsi products, one that has a range of options, including one slot for diet coke.  Before today, that diet coke slot was empty weekly.  I put a kind little note on the machine, requesting an additional option for DC, and lo and behold!  I have one.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Diet coke for everyone, on me!

OH my new favorite song

Base update

I told myself I had to work for at least an hour, to prove that I'm not a complete slacker.  I put on my painting clothes, and trudged downstairs.  Turned on some tunes, and started painting the top of the bookshelves.  Next thing I knew, it was 11pm, and I was exhausted.  Voila!  Newly painted walls!!!

By the way, I have paint ALL OVER MY BODY.  

Clearly, when you're a crazy painting freak, things get a little messy.

New Ray Above

Oh, boy...   I love new music.  Listen to the first song:  my new fave.