Category: LiveJournal

The Power of the Sleepy Cottage

I love going to my folks’ cottage on Lake Loramie. However, it makes me sleepy. I sleep well here – on the sofa, on the chair, in the bed, doesn’t matter where. So, sure enough, the thing I’ve done best while here is sleep. 🙂

Yesterday, I picked up judiang from Columbus airport (damn Aunt Tilly for taking her airline out of Dayton!) and went a little out of our way to stop at the Evil Puppy Mall. There I made Judi hold onto some Evil Puppies (and some Evil Kitties played with the dangly bits on my purse) and then buy some sandals at the Walking Place. A short trip to Best Buy for her to buy series 1 of Doctor Who. And then a stop at the Bookery so I could pick up my Doctor Who magazines (and some Astonishing X-Men – stupid Evil Comics). After a few more stops (supper at Pizza Hut being one) we finally got to the lake. Where we immediately began geeking.

Our evening was then devoted to watching Eurovision and L.A. Without a Map. And at 3am we finally went to bed. I slept in ’til noon. Ah, was good. Lunch was at The Wooden Shoe Inn (walleye for me, catfish for Judi). Then a stop at Wagners for groceries where we remembered to buy ice but forgot to buy buns. And then I napped.

It’s been raining off & on – very relaxing rains (some harder than others). Dunno whether I’ll start a fire or not. So we’ll either have grilled hot dogs or boiled hot dogs for supper. And I intend to make some strawbaby shortcake too. Yum! Guess I should get on with it! 🙂

Attack of the Carpet Crumblies!

As far as home-ownership goes, I suck. I mean, I own a home and pay the mortgage on time and all that. But as far as upkeep, I suck. Still, I have put a new roof on it and had the exterior painted in the past couple of years. Oh yeah, and there was the time when I remodeled my kitchen. But this summer, I’m upping the ante a bit. My goal is to do a few improvements. I’m replacing the outdoor carpet on my porch & back stoop (or rather, I’m paying Home Depot to do that). I’m having my driveway repaved (by Patriot Paving). And, while I’m kitty-less for the time being, I’ve decided to uproot my carpet and go back to the original wood floors.

When I first bought the house, the only floors with no carpeting were the kitchen and den. The carpeting in the reading room was so hideous that we pulled it out, only to discover the floor there was as nice as the den floor. I had intended to eventually do the same in my bedroom, where the carpeting was nearly as hideous, but I never got around to it. Well, thanks to a few Leo indiscretions, the main carpeting needs removing too. So I’ve decided to pull it out. All of it bar the bathroom (because the flooring in there is worse, I believe, than the rest of the house).

The carpet & padding both come out easily, but the tack strips are a pain in the ass to remove. They’re the bit the slow me the most. Still, I’ve gotten my hallway pulled up. Yay! Will need to scrape some sticky stuff up and there are still some nails/staples that need removing, but I think I’m making good progress.

So, onto some photos of before & after thus far.


The hallway before.


The hallway after.

The grossest part of all of this, however, are the Carpet Crumblies. Eeewwwww! How gross! They’re everywhere under the carpet. You think you’re doing a good job vacuuming the floor, but no, the Carpet Crumblies get underneath! And I think they breed! I’m very glad that I’m getting rid of my carpet – I think I shall be anti-carpet for quite a while. At least until I forget about Carpet Crumblies.

And now, a photo of Carpet Crumblies to gross you out too…


Beware the Carpet Crumblies!

I’m pretty sure I won’t get the carpet all pulled up by the time judiang arrives on Thursday, but since we’re staying at the Lake (mom & dad’s cottage), that’s OK. Still, if I can, I’ll get her to help me pull some carpet up! Yay Judi! 😉

GIP

I’ve been meaning to make this icon for awhile and finally got to it. In honor of the last episode of season 2 of the new Doctor Who series, I bring you Rude/Ginger in Doctor Who! 🙂

Boom! Boom! BOOM!

Yay! Let’s hear it for fireworks! We watched the 3rd of July fireworks from the penthouse balcony of judiang‘s apartment building. We took chairs up around 7pm and then wound up sitting there from 7:30pm on. Judi, elsaf and I snapped a lot of photographs of the view. Judi then went down to find her battery operated radio so that we could listen to the Grant Park Orchestra as they performed for the fireworks. She was gone so long, I began to suspect she’d run off to Jewel to buy batteries.

I was right. Heh.

So we watched the fireworks, then returned to her apartment. (Rather than walking with a Sea of People as we used to do after sitting in Grant Park, we walked in a creek (pronounced “crick”) of people to the elevator.) Then it was time for supper. The Strawberry, Chicken, and Poppyseed Salad from Panera, which we’d picked up on our way back from the movie theater. Judi also grilled a couple of hot dogs since we’d suffered from the wonderful scent of folks grilling out while we were waiting on the fireworks. Since no one should eat hot dogs alone, I had one as well. Yummy.

OK, onto the stuff we did earlier today. First off, I should say that I slept very well last night. We had Special K again for breakfast and then puttered around some. We decided to hit a multitude of stops on our way to see An Inconvenient Truth – the train station to fill up our cards, the bank for cash, Target for iPod accessories, and finally to P.J. Clarke’s for lunch. I had a nice order of fish & chips – yum. The waiter, oddly enough, recognized the college on my t-shirt. I was wearing one of my myriad College of Wooster shirts. Turns out he used to live in Wooster, OH. Heh. Small world. My greedy self suggested that we stop back at P.J.’s for dessert. And my lovely friends agreed.

We went to the AMC next to watch the movie. I thought it was very well done. I think Al Gore is doing a great service with his disemination on the current climate crisis. Here’s hoping he can make a difference!

As per my suggestion, we did stop back at P.J.’s for chocolate chip cookie sundaes. And boy were those cookies huge! They were very tasty and to thank my friends for endulging my sweet-tooth, I bought the sundaes.

My greedy self also thought of another great idea. Why not stop at Panera Bread on the way back and get something for supper? Well, if you read the second paragraph, you saw that my dear friends agreed to that suggestion as well. So now I’m happily sated. ‘Twas a great day to be in Chicago with Elsa and Judi!

Judi’s Pool for the win!

When discussing our time sharing that we do, elsaf, judiang and I have decided that Judi’s pool beats out the relaxing lake cottage that I have or the double dose of dogs that Elsa has. We wound up there twice today. And probably will be back again tomorrow. Judi’s pool rocks. And the oddest thing? Nobody seems to know it’s there except us!

So, this morning, after being rudely awakened by a some alarm whose battery was going dead, I got up around 9am. We puttered about waiting for Judi to wake up, and then headed off to Chinatown for Dim Sum. Mmmmmm! We love Three Happiness. Always good Dim Sum. 60 seconds after sitting down, we were snarfing up lovely delicacies. What they were, who knows? But they were tasty and plentiful.

We waddled back to the train station, stopped at Jewel for ingredients for lamb curry (which Judi will make while Elsa teaches) and then rested a bit in the apartment. But soon it was time for the pool. We spent nearly an hour in the water, enjoying the cool water. The wind was down from yesterday, but it was a bit chillier and overcast. Every so often it would sprinkle, but we figured we were wet already, so who cared if it sprinkled. We snoozed in the lounge chairs to dry a bit before we headed back to the apartment.

I installed Nero onto Judi’s computer (one of the pieces of software she’d bought at Target yesterday) and then Elsa and I created a DVD to test it out. Elsa showed me how Nero 7 can do animated backgrounds for the menus. Pretty cool. While it was transcoding, we headed off to Taste for supper. A short cab ride later and we were pushing our way through the crowds (more than yesterday) to get to various eateries. I would up using more than 3 strips worth today. But that’s because I wound up getting some non-taste portions. And cuz I’m a greedy pig. Elsa wound up with the most tickets left over. And here’s the things I tried today:

  • Dolmeh (baked grape leaves stuffed with vegetables, nuts, legumes, and herbs) from Pars Cove Persian Cuisine

  • Enchilada from La Justicia

  • Toasted cheese ravioli from Bella Luna Cafe

  • Collared green egg rolls from C’est Si Bon

  • Sweet potato biscuit from C’est Si Bon

  • Cannoli from Pompei

  • Saganaki (fried cheese) from Atrium

  • Deep dish cheese pizza from Connie’s Pizza

  • Blueberries and chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce from Cyrano’s Bistrot

‘Twas all yummy and I’m still full! We think we’ll go see Al Gore’s movie tomorrow, and for sure we’re going to see the fireworks tomorrow. So YAY! Here’s hoping folks are having even half as much fun as we are. And if you are, well then we’re having twice as much fun as you. 😉

It was a very good day

judiang and I slept in late. After a light breakfast of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal, we went up to her swimming pool. I puttered around in the pool while Judi first watched from a distance and then later put her feet in the water. I did everything I could think of to convince her that she should get a swimsuit. It worked. 🙂

We walked to Howie’s for lunch (or rather, second breakfast) where I got an egg, cheese & bacon sammich on a bagel, plus hash browns and apple juice. Unfortunately, I’d left my CTA pass back in the apartment, so we walked back, double checked the time of elsaf‘s arrival, picked up my CTA pass, and then headed back into the city. Our destination = Target. Our target = Swimsuit!

I picked out several 2-piece swimsuits that Judi might like (not bikini – it’s these nice ones that look like 1-piece swimsuits but aren’t) and she eventually picked out the lesser of the evils. Which is good, cuz if she hadn’t I was going to have to go all Medieval on her ass and force her into one. We picked up beach towels (3 – one for her and one each for the “2 guests” she’s allowed to bring to the pool), sun screen, sun glasses for me, software for her, and then headed out.

A quick stop at Walgreens and then we were off on the Orange Line to Midway. Yup, it was nearing time for Elsa to arrive. Yay!

Elsa’s flight was on time and she arrived in baggage claim not long after landing. Waiting for her bag was the biggest wait, but it was the 15th one off her plane (yes, I counted) and we were soon on our way back.

First order of business – Elsa had to download the new Ep of Doctor Who. Once it was downloaded and a DVD was being built on my laptop, we took our bathing suits, left our dignity behind, and went for a swim. Judi’s first time in her swimming pool! She’s been here over a year, and it was her first time. She loved it. Yay!

We had a lovely time in the pool, watching our towels blow into the water was especially fun (well it was for me – mine was the only one that *didn’t* – heh!) We were there for over 45 minutes and had shown Judi a number of things that a non-swimmer can do in a pool. (The deepest end is 3’10”, so if Judi wants to drown, she’s gonna have to work awfully hard at it!)

We returned to the flat, dried, switched clothes, and then headed off to Taste of Chicago. It was time to GRAZE. And graze we did. I bought 3 sets of 11-tickets ($21) and wound up with only 4 tickets left. The girls had even fewere than I did. It was a successful venture in Foodsville. Here’s the bits that I had:


  • Steak taco from Taqueria Los Comales
  • Flan from Taqueria Los Comales
  • Pav bhaji with bread (hamburger bun, actually) from Arya Bhavan
  • Vegetarian Tomale from A Natural Harvest
  • Sauerkraut perogies from Kasia’s Deli
  • Mustard-fried catfish from B.J.’s Market & Bakery
  • Pad Thai from Star of Siam
  • Bailey’s Irish Cream ice cream from Kitty O’Shea’s/Hilton Chicago
  • Pineapple sundae from Zephyr

Sounds like a lot (well, it WAS – and all good!) but I usually just get the “taste” portion. Only the flan and Bailey’s Irish Cream were regular sizes. (Still awfully small, though). Hoping to test many more items. There’s several new restaurants which have booths, so will have to check them out for sure. Yum!

Anyhoo, we tiredly returned from Taste and our feet/ankles/toes/knees were all waging war on us. But we got home, watched the new episode (wowie!) and then the David Tennant ep of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). (If Judi had a REAL DVD player, we could have watched Eurovision.)

‘Twas a fun and busy day. If our feet/ankles/toes/knees let us, we’ll do even more tomorrow.

Chicago Again

Yay! I’m back in Chicago staying (as usual) with judiang. The flight (out of Columbus) was uneventful. (Reminder to me – I’m parked in 10C in the Blue Lot.) Judi was there at the foot of the escalator when I headed to the baggage claim.

We took the Blue Line to Jackson then switched to the Red Line. Then a short walk to Judi’s place and it was time to sit out on the balcony while Judi burned some hot dogs for us. The weather was perfect out there as I sat and watched the city lights and Judi’s neighbors. She’s got the perfect place for voyeurs. I think I’ll get her binoculars for Christmas.

Tomorrow, elsaf arrives and we’ll do all sorts of fun things, like Taste of Chicago. Should be a fun weekend!

Moodle

When we had a Make-It Take-It workshop on KDE server & squidGuard, the instructor informed us that it would run on almost anything. So dad and I brought “anything” along. Well, we got it to work, but it was the slowest machine in the room. Thankfully, all of the other techs were slow typists, so I was able to catch up to them.

Today, I’m at a Make-It Take-It Moodle workshop. Moodle is NOT a mispelling of noodle, as elsaf keeps implying. Though a noodle workshop would be fun, I already learned how to make pici at another class, so I don’t really need to know how to make noodles.

The computer that I brought along to “Make-It” on is a 533MHz machine with 256MB of RAM. Basically the low end of the Fedora Core 5 specs. The machines in the room (that people could use if they opted not to bring their own) are 2.4GHz. Needless to say, mine is still installing the software whereas those folks who haven’t had CD-ROM drive errors (there are a few of those, alas) are finished. No matter, thanks to the machines which are having CD-ROM errors are also still installing. And hopefully (cross fingers & knock wood) I won’t wind up having a CD-ROM error.

Supposedly 15 minutes to go on the install. And then, I’ll have a nice Linux Box. Or I’ll have to start all over again.

ETA: It worked! I’ve just added this ETA from the Linux Box. Yay!