friday eve

[Deleted User]

happy friday eve (aka thursday!)

what's going on with everyone?

we've got a newish guy that has taken over a cubicle in my area.  he was in a totally different building, but due to some reorganizing he moved down here.  I think he's a total douche (and that's saying a lot!!)  the first day he was moving in, he stopped to ask me a question, but then said, "oh nevermind, you don't work over here."

he said this for two reasons:
1.  I don't look like a typical government computer programmer (I am young and look even younger, I don't dress like most other women around here, etc.)
2.  he's a douche

so he walked off.  after he walked away and was out of hearing distance, I said, "um, yes, I do "go" here.".

and then he ended up moving in the front cubicle two pods down from me.

AND THIS GUY HAS A FANCY-PANTS EXPENSIVE KEURIG IN HIS CUBICLE WITH A RACK OF 57 DIFFERENT K-CUPS.

this is not allowed in a government cubicle.  we are having a safety audit next week and I hope he gets busted.  BUSTED.

yeah, I do "go" here.  I've been going here for longer than you, dude.  give me a k-cup.


that's my interesting story today.  it's not that good, sorry! 

[Deleted User]

ETA:  I just want to add that his comment was said in a very snotty voice, like I was a lowly worm.  a lowly, dirty, stinky worm.

labro

@CocoBellaF So much for first impressions. He sounds like a real douchecanoe...regardless of if you think someone works in your department or not there's no excuse for taking a shitty attitude with someone you don't even know.

I pretty much haven't been home all week. Monday was our venue's open house. Tuesday FI and I had a tasting with a potential caterer that was super yummy and then yesterday I went with my friend to hot yoga and sweated my butt off. Tonight I need to go home, run to the grocery store and then cook dinner. I haven't made chicken and gnocchi soup in forever (basically chicken noodle soup). That's pretty much the extent of my plans. FI started removing the wallpaper in our guest bathroom last night and it's coming off in layers so we still have a lot more work to do. I really want to go to Lowe's and pick out some paint colors during my lunch break today but I need to work out more so I'll probably save a Lowe's trip for this weekend. Also, I should probably focus on catching up on the clutter that seems to happen when we aren't home consistently.

[Deleted User]

@lmhollister - I am WITH you on the clutter.  since H and I have been focusing on doing Insanity together, things get a little out of control in the clutter department.  I was just saying this morning I wanted to do some cleaning tonight.

I had been complaining about scrubbing the kitchen floors, and on Tuesday while I was teaching a lesson H did it for me.  it was so sweet!! 

I have a ton of DIY stuff I want to do to the house, too, but I just haven't felt up to doing it because I'm behind on cleaning.  isn't that just typical??  are you going to paint or re-wallpaper the bathroom?

[Deleted User]

@CocoBellaF- Wow that guy sounds awful! I would have been like, "Oh no, I do work here...and you are who?" Then I would have put unfiltered water in his keurig. Maybe not that but I would have wanted to.

 

Today is kind of busy, I have two meetings before lunch and a couple other assignments but besides that...nothing else. For some reason I haven't been paid for this pay period and it's so annoying starting a new job and nothing seems to ever work. So I have to call HR here soon to figure that out. I don't even want to even get into a discussion on how to roll over my 401k with them yet if they don't even know how to pay me...

[Deleted User]

@southernpeach89 - I like the way you think.

and I didn't know you started a new job?  am I just clueless??

labro

@CocoBellaF We're definitely painting! The wallpaper in there is peeling off the walls from the moisture from the shower and I just hate wallpaper anyway. I also have wallpaper to remove in our foyer, kitchen, and formal dining room. Ugghhhhh....At the same time we're going to replace the toilet in the bathroom because the one in there just doesn't flush well and I want to change the fixtures to something less dated (our house is 25 years old). I'd also like to replace the sink counter but that will probably be something we do later down the road. I'll take a picture when it's all done!

[Deleted User]

@CocoBellaF- Yes! I quit my last job that I vented a lot about on here back in October. I spent a couple months job hunting and finally landed this one in the middle of December. I was a power generation recruiter prior and now I'm a contract manager for a whole bunch of different industries. I basically manage all our contracts in Asia and the Pacific. I'm having a hard time with all the names that are like 56 letters long. At least they all speak english though, I would be so lost if they didn't.

Peaseblossom55

@CocobellaF he sounds like an ass I hope he gets busted for his Keurig. 

It was snowing on my way into work this morning but it has already stopped luckily.  All this week I've been getting on and off headaches it's so annoying, I blame it on my TOTM.  I'm so excited right after work I get to go home and stay home.  No running errands or rehearsal!! My plan is to do some cleaning around the house and make a nice big pot of soup.  I plan to fool around with Publisher tonight to start creating our invitations too.  Is it 5 yet?

[Deleted User]

please share pictures!!

I have some small to large DIY things I want done:
1.  shelving in the bathroom (I shared a picture yesterday, it will be gorgeous.  our walls in there are painted a beautiful cream (called Biscuit) with white trim.)
2.  finish the laundry room (paint a shutter and hang it for a mail center, get big beautiful baskets and a new hamper, clean the grout/floors)
3.  paint an antique hutch in the kitchen that holds my dishes and put new handles on it
4.  finish my front entry hallway
5.  reupholster a chair in the living room
6.  get some carpet fixed in the bedroom where one of the dogs chewed it (sigh) - that's getting done hopefully next week!!
7.  hang a mirror over our bed (we have everything, it just takes H forever to get around to doing it!!)
8.  blow-up a couple prints of an antique postcard of a hotel in Boston that I bought on ebay to put on our walls
9.  install wall sconce lamps by our beds!!!!

I really want to do all that in the next year or so.  is that too ambitious??  I want to have the house "done-ish" by the time we decide to adopt and bring home a baby, that way we can concentrate on NURSERY and BABY instead of OMG THE HOUSE STILL LOOKS LIKE A BACHELOR PAD.

Dignity100

@CocoBellaF - wow that guy sounds like a piece of work, no wonder why they kicked him out of the other building... I mean..re-orged him.

UHG - I totally did a number on my ring finger nail.  My thumb has been causing me issues (have a doctor's appointment today), it got locked up while I was shaving and somehow my razor hit my nail, lots of blood, nail is cracked in the center.  It doesn't look THAT bad, I have a band aid over it and neosporin on it.  I'm just hoping in 9 months it'll grow out and look pretty again.

Today is FI's bday

Swazzle

@CocoBellaF - This is all I pictured while reading your post:

[Deleted User]

ETA:  that's only INDOOR projects!!!

our outdoor projects include:
1.  tilling the garden and adding compost (doing that Monday!)
2.  spring planting, summer planting, late-summer planting
3.  trim the bushes (has to be done often, starting Monday)
4.  add new mulch - BTW, our neighbor's cat uses our flowerbed as a litter box.  IT WON'T GO AWAY.  it's ruining our mulch, we replace it all the time.
5.  sprucing up the front porch with flowers
6.  painting the backyard table set
7.  adding walking stones to get to the garden without stepping on the grass
8.  adding some soaker hoses to the garden so I don't have to drag the sprinkler around
9.  spreading grass seed to the areas that don't have any grass
10.  adding a small shed or something to store our gardening tools

[Deleted User]

@Swazzle -

Hummingbird125

I'm ready for the weekend. I've been in a bad mood for most of the week and I need to shake it. Today I only have to babysit from 3:30 to 5:30, and I think the kid and I are going to paint our nails. She got this nail caviar stuff in her Birchbox and I really hope she lets me use it too, because I'm a 13 year old girl at heart, apparently.

FI has been begging me to make buffalo wings, and I might give in tonight. In order for me to eat them too, I'm going to have to go to the gym AND hardly eat anything until dinner, but it just might be worth it. The worst part of dieting? Not being able to drink several glasses of wine while watching my favorite shows, see: The Bachelor; Parenthood. 

Blue & White

Today is my Friday. Well actually it's my fi's Friday since he's off tomorrow. It's going to be very weird to get used to him being off every other Friday lol. I feel like my week of job searching was cut short!

I'm gettin a lot of wedding planning done though so that's a good thing. I just want my invites to come in (but I don't want to address all those envelopes haha)

labro

@CocoBellaF I feel like your list and my list align!

Indoors:

1.       Paint the bathroom. Put up a new shelving unit or medicine cabinet above the toilet. Replace the sink and electrical fixtures, toilet, and countertop.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

2.       Paint our hallway. I want to do two tone, with a dark olive-gold tone on the lower half, white chair railing and then a cream (I am going to look for that Biscuit color now!)

3.       Remove the wallpaper in the kitchen and paint the beadboard. I want to do the beadboard in a pale cream or off-white/antique white and then do the upper half of the wall in a pale gold/tan with a cabernet red sponge painted over it.

4.       Remove the wallpaper in our foyer and repaint with the same gold/tan color from the kitchen.

5.       Repaint our living room with the same gold/tan color. Replace the curtains (partially complete). I also want to tear up the carpet in there and replace with wood floors to match the rest of the main level. Build custom bookshelves to go on each side of our fireplace.

6.       Remove the wallpaper in our formal dining room and paint it the dark cabernet red color from the kitchen.

7.       Replace the shower in the master bathroom with a bigger shower stall. This involves taking out a partial wall as long as it isn’t load bearing and taking away a little bit of space from our closet. Also, replace the toilet in the master bath and retile the floor. Replace the countertop in the master bath.

8.       Tear up the linoleum tile looking stuff in the basement and put down tile.

9.       Build shelves and a work bench for FI’s office in the basement.

Outdoors:

1.       Resod our entire backyard with a shade-loving fescue.

2.       Resod the front yard to have Bermuda grass. It’s partially Bermuda and partially fescue depending on the section of the lawn.

3.       Cut down all trees about a third of the way into our backyard to create more lawn space and less woods space. Exceptions would be our two dogwoods that bloom with pink flowers. One is small enough so we might be able to replant it somewhere else but I want to leave the larger one.

4.       Build a firepit.

5.       Lay a brick patio next to our screened in porch.

6.       Tear up the old brick pathway on the other side of the porch and plant what was a garden type area in grass.

7.       Replant some bushes that used to be planted around a large tree we just had removed somewhere else in the yard.

8.       Level off our yard on one side of the house and build a retaining wall on the property line where we’ll be leveling.

9.       Cut down the pine trees in the front yard.

Of all of these things...we'll probably only get a few accomplished this year. I am definitely getting ALL of my wallpaper removal and painting projects done...ideally before the wedding since we'll have FI's family staying in our house. We're definitely replacing toilets this year and we're definitely going to be cutting down more trees...just probably not ALL of the ones we want to cut down. There's also some general home repair things we need to do. There's a beam under our living room in the crawl space that's cracked and needs to be resupported. We also need to put down a moisture barrier (thick plastic sheeting) in our crawl space and do more insulation work throughout the house.

[Deleted User]

@lmhollister - the color is from Sherwin-Williams.  we used Softer Tan in our entryway, it's also a lovely color.

I WANT TO REPLACE OUR CARPET WITH WOOD FLOORING SO BAD.  I can't even explain it.  I don't think we'll get that done pre-baby though, as much as I'd like to.  *sigh*  if you do it, please send me ALL THE PICTURES.

how is it that there is always so much to do??

I also want to extend our back porch and put up an arbor, and slightly extend the roof over the backdoor so I don't get soaked when I open it to let the dogs in and out when it's raining.  I want to plant some bushes around our ugly meters in the backyard and along the side of the house.  we also have to replace the redbud in the front yard that broke during our last ice storm.

I like the idea of the brick patio!!  I might talk to H about doing something like that.

ETA:  I also need to decorate our living room.  there is nothing on the walls and it's so bare.  I want to do a frame collage but I have no idea what color frames to get.

[Deleted User]

OMG, the new guy is brewing some coffee.  I had a cup this morning, but I could go for some more!!  *drool*

Blue & White

@cocobellaF and @lmhollister You guys are seriously making me anxious about home ownership someday!  I know that FI and I will be awesome at all of the improvements we want to make to the house, but I can only imagine his list is going to be like 30,000 things long (he likes finding projects haha)

Any advice for when we actually go to buy a house?  We will probably start looking sometime between March and May.  Ya know, right around the wedding haha.  Our lease is through July (but can be extended if need be)

Blackbird230

@CocaBellaF, he sounds like a huge douche! 

My Thursday is pretty quiet. I have to finish two stories by 1:00, then I'm out on assignment and once I finish that story, I'm done for the day and going to my girls' night. FI's parents gave me way more money for my birthday than I ever expected (They could have just given me a candy bar and I'd be happy.) So I'm in gift shock and spending it on my pampering tonight. Getting a mani and an eyebrow wax.

Friday my best friend and FI are taking me to Margarita's for drinks and dinner. Pretty much getting slammed on tequila shots. You know, typical I'm 22 birthday things.

Swazzle

I am randomly posting this because I just meal-planned for all of next week and I'm proud of myself. 

I have off work on Monday so when I wake up, I'll go food shopping and then prepare everything and get it all in the freezer. Each morning before I leave for work, I'll empty that day's bag into the crock pot and when I come home, all I'll really have to do is make a side and/or salad to go with it! 

Monday

Lunch - Ha. I forgot about this meal. Most likely grilled chicken or a salad. 

Dinner - Balsamic Roast Beef (recipe courtesy of @CocoBellaF) with mashed cauliflower

Tuesday

Lunch - Leftover roast beef

Dinner - Crock Pot Pork Carnitas

Wednesday

Lunch - Leftover carnitas

Dinner - Out with a friend

Thursday

Lunch - Leftover roast beef

Dinner - SkinnyTaste Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore over linguine

Friday

Lunch - Leftover chicken cacciatore 

Dinner - Crock Pot Apple BBQ Pork Tenderloin (recipe courtesy of @cu97tiger)

Saturday

Lunch - Leftover pork

Dinner - Out with H and friends

Sunday will be difficult. We have the Devils/Rangers game at Yankees Stadium and there will be a lot of alcohol involved. I'll do the following week's food shopping on Monday since I'm off. 

GoldenPenguin

BF & I are going shopping for a new coffee table tonight! I'm so excited - the one we have is his light wood Ikea college coffee table. It's nice & big, but it's SOOOOO a boy's college coffee table. Haha. 

I like this one:

Or this one (because of the extra storage under the lift-top):

Thoughts? 

[Deleted User]

I like the second one, @BriSox81.

@Swazzle, love that you're using your crockpot every night!  I'll post my meal plan soon, I have to figure out one more meal.

labro

@Blue & White Write out your list of must-haves, negotiables, and nice to haves if...There were some things we absolutely were not willing to compromise on and others that we were. It's also ok to look past ugly paint, wall paper, ugly countertops, because all of those things are easily changeable. You want a good structure, a nice floor plan, a maintained looking neighborhood and good schools first and foremost. Stay away from stucco unless you know it's the whatever type it is that termites don't like to eat. I don't remember anymore...but there are two kinds...one is basically termite fodder and the other isn't. In the disclosure, make sure the house has a current termite bond and try to find out how it's protected...like if it's a yearly application, a buried treatment around the perimeter of the house, etc. It's Florida...so I know you guys have the same sorts of termite issues we have. Don't be afraid of an older home but I'd honestly stay away from anything more than 30 to 40 years old if you can. At that point you're getting in to issues with lead paint, galvanized pipes, plaster instead of drywall, stuff like that.

[Deleted User]

@BriSox81- I really like the second one! I like how the top lifts up. We need a new coffee table too. I got mine for free from a friend of mine and it's all dinged and scrated up. We will probably keep it until we get a house though.

 

@Swazzle- I just meal planned for next week too lol and made my grocery shopping list. I actually enjoy meal planning and making grocery lists. I'm weird. I think I just enjoy making lists.

GoldenPenguin

I think I like the second one better too, @cocobellaF. I remember we really liked the oval one when we first looked, but I think the second one matches our dining table better. I LOVE dark wood. I also want to get the sofa table that matches. 

labro

@BriSox81 I really love the second one!!

@Swazzle I try to meal plan but it doesn't always work out. I'm very recipe oriented and FI is very "let's throw together whatever we can find in the pantry" and I just can't operate that way. I know for sure that I'm making Chicken and Gnocchi Soup this week, Spinach Tortellini Pasta Bake, and Butternut Squash Ravioli in some sort of sauce. We have packaged gnocchi, frozen tortellini and frozen ravioli we need to use up before it expires so that's why everything is so pasta heavy this week.

Swazzle

@BriSox81 - I like the 2nd one!

@CocoBellaF - It will keep me in the habit of doing the dishes every night, that's for sure. I hate doing dishes so they tend to pile up until H finally takes the hint or I need something that's dirty at the bottom of the sink. 

@southernpeach89 - I like lists also. Do you use ZipList? 

@lmhollister - I can't operate that way either! I love recipes. The only time I'll go off-recipe is if I'm just throwing chicken, beans, and stuff like that into the crockpot. That's kind of hard to screw up, IMO. 

[Deleted User]

@Swazzle- I've heard of it but I've never used it. How do you like it?

KeptInStitches

Wow, I feel really unproductive today compared to all of you.

It's another snow day up here in the frozen prairies. I think we've gotten about an inch so far, but it's the wind that has everyone hunkered down today. I'm in town and I can listen to it howl. Weather.com says it's steady at 35, gusting to 50. Power has been kind of "flickery" this morning. Really really don't want to lose it, but I don't think we got any freezing rain last night so the lines at least shouldn't be heavy. The blinds in my living room are hanging into the room because of the pressure on the window plastic.

So I'm hunkered down in my apartment. Odds are today I'll knit the hat I owe my mom's friend and maybe knock off a couple of ribbon yarn scarves.