Entries from July 2009 ↓

Is it possible to be in love with a room? Because I am.

Here is a reminder of what it looked like before:

I am so happy with how my bathroom looks now! It looks clean, refreshing, and… clean!

I did everything myself, except for rehanging a few fixtures and reaffixing the trim around the floor. I owe my bro-in-law, Bryan, thanks for bringing over some very efficient tools to help with those things.

I want to repaint the ceiling and touch up the paint around the door and window, but otherwise it’s wonderful.

Kitchen redecoration coming in September… stay tuned! I’ve got a popcorn ceiling to scrape for that project.

I had last Friday off from work so I could sleep in a little bit, have a leisurely morning, and leave for northern Minnesota around noon. Ellipses unfairly woke me at 5 a.m. and I told him to go away. I awoke again around 9 a.m. to Ampersand’s purring—she wanted cuddles. I should’ve known then that something was up.

I got up, put food in the cats’ bowls, and hopped in the shower. Usually when I get out, Ellipses is dying to get in (I have doors instead of a curtain) and Ampersand is stretched out on the rug. Ampersand was there, but Ellipses wasn’t. Then it occurred to me that he didn’t come when I put food in the bowls, either. Something was strange… but what?

I started looking around the house, calling Ellipses’ name. Not under the bed. Not on top of the bookshelves. Not on a chair under the dining table. Not on the patio… then I saw the window where the cats like to sit: the latch that holds the window shut had fallen out and it was open a crack.

I started freaking out.

I ran outside and started calling his name. I looked around the edge of the house: at least he hadn’t fallen and broken a leg or, worse, killed himself. I looked out in front of the house: no cats in the road. I ran back inside and told Kristi, who had also just woken up. While she put on some clothes to come help, I called Karyn. I didn’t know what to do, but I just had to talk to someone.

Kristi and I spent about 45 minutes or so walking around the block, and then driving around the neighborhood. We saw some neighborhood cats, but no Ellipses. I finally had to admit defeat, so I told Kristi we’d go home, I’d print out a photo and bring it to the neighborhood vet’s office. As we got out of the car and walked into the backyard, Kristi called Jared at work to ask him if he happened to have seen anything when he left a few hours earlier.

He said that he saw something jumping over the fence into the neighboring yard—no one currently lives there. He didn’t connect it and Ellipses and why would he? Why would Ellipses be outside? There’s no reason. I walked over into the yard and started looking around. There was nothing more than a bunch of litter and grossness, then I looked under their short deck… and saw a pair of big, glowing eyes looking back at me. Ellipses had hidden himself in the farthest corner under the dirtiest deck.

I was relieved, to say the least, but I didn’t know how to get him out. I was still only wearing pajamas and was not outfitted for crawling under a narrow space full of rocks, mud, and other debris. I was also worried that if I crawled under, he’d shoot out and run in another direction. Could Kristi and I catch him?

While I watched him and tried to coax him out with a can of tuna and a can of wet cat food, Kristi went into her apartment for a long, outdoor broom and put on a couple layers of clothes. She crawled under and out three times before Ellipses actually came out from under the deck. He kept getting close, but then when Kristi would leave he would lurk back under the far side of the deck. However, when he finally came out I think his little kitty brain recognized who I was (finally) and he sniffed at me just long enough for me to grab him and carry him home.

So I told him he was in trouble but gave the cat food to him and Ampersand anyway. Then I looked at the clock, and I had about a half hour to pack for the weekend.

I had a marvelous weekend on Hart Lake with a few of my wonderful friends. I assure you that I have a bazillion photos heading your way—I’m thinking about splitting them across a few posts because I wouldn’t be able to pick which photos to not share.

But, a brief update about things…

I still haven’t taken down the painter’s tape in the bathroom… but I haven’t really had time, either! I guess I could’ve tonight, but I was busy watching the season premiere of Hell’s Kitchen with Kristi, Jared, and their temporary visitor from France, Sarah.

This also means I haven’t taken proper photos of the bathroom with the blue paint. It really is lovely, but now I think I might wait to take photos until after my brother-in-law, Bryan, comes over to help me re-affix my trim to the walls. We made a plan for this coming Sunday. If it works out then maybe I’ll also get to finally visit the new-ish Thai restaurant a couple blocks away, Sen Yai Sen Lek.

I did make time to hang out with Hannie and Erin last week, though. Well, I sort of took a tiny cat nap towards the end of the visit, but that’s okay because Hannie and both of the cats were sleeping, too (on Erin, who insisted that was her favorite part)!

I don’t understand the cold, stormy weather in Minnesota lately. There is too much of it so I tend to wear myself out on sunny days—too much fun to get caught up on! Kristi and I have talked about heading up to Duluth for a day this weekend, so hopefully it will be beach-bumming kind of weather.

Work has been fairly busy lately, too. Most of my department is headed to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, next week so I’ll have the place to myself. I’ve got an interesting Flash+XML project to get started, as well as a Volusion store front to help beautify. Both projects are learning experiences for me, so I’ll be quite content… hopefully!

That was a teaser for future posts. It really was a wonderful weekend, despite the missing cat that ruined my first morning. But that’s a story for another time… I meant to go to bed early tonight!

OH, I ALMOST FORGOT! Today I booked airfare to Hawaii for my birthday in November. My pal, Jen, is moving there for grad school so I’ll be crashing with her in Honolulu. I am so excited! I’m going to torture myself with photos of Hawaii on Flickr until then, and afterwards I’ll torture you with my photos.

Here is another series of photos I took while Warr dived into the pool. I didn’t want to overwhelm the other post.

Warr’s full name is Warr N. Piece, though I’m not sure if that’s a nickname or his actual, legal name. Whatevs.

No one was injured in the 3’6″–5’6″ deep pool all day, though many launched themselves in like cannonballs. I entered via the stairs.

Last Saturday, Tiff hosted an Iron Chef-inspired competition that she titled “Perfect Summer Day Party”—and it really was! She lives in RiverWest Condominiums in downtown Minneapolis, just between the Missississippi River and the downtown skyline. We spent the whole day outside on the 2nd floor courtyard, chilling in and around the pool and staking out the three grills for the competition at 3 p.m. (We did share one of the grills, but not while the competition was happening.)

This guy introduced himself as Captain Creep-o. It was barely 2 p.m. and he was trashed already. Or maybe that’s just how he is.

This salsa was awesome. You should look for it in your local co-op’s refrigerated section.

Pineapple was the secret ingredient for the cook-off. Unfortunately there was only one pineapple to split among three chefs, so the dishes didn’t register as very pineapple-y in the end. The chefs all cooked furiously for an hour, and Tiff was our enthusiastic narrator.

Next time: less kitchen, more utensils.

Why do inflatable toys make a pool party more fun? Bobbing around in the water with other people while just talking to each other? Preposterous.

Warr kept asking me if I wanted to take photos of him doing stuff. That was entertaining for a while.

We were grilling right above this cute little building. Wouldn’t it be fun and refreshing to work in such a creative space? I think so. (Hello, Riley Hayes. Are you hiring?)

Maybe I go swimming in too many lakes and rivers, but this pool was just amazing. So clean and blue. It would’ve been perfect for penny diving.

This is Nathan. I stole a few photos of the day from him. I also stole some from Tiff. What’re ya gonna do?

The judges, Ann, Josh, and Sarah, wrote their scores on paper plates. That worked okay. (Next time someone should make a list of necessities the day before the competition. Or does that make it too serious?)

Our Announcer, Jeremy, read off the scores and the judges’ notes about each chef. Then announced that Crystal won! She was awarded a sweet Lucha Libre mask.

This duck comes to every party. I don’t know the joke about him, but he takes good photos.

I just can’t get over what a fantastic day it was! I hope the weather repeats itself this coming weekend.

There are many, many more photos from this day on Flickr.