August 2007 Archives

this is the only view you are getting of the new library until the right desk is delivered on tuesday.

in the meantime, you can look at my cute clogs and look at all the books... and know, we need more bookshelf space.

i am already dreaming of the books i shall buy.  i have a running list in my head of the books i want to read.  any suggestions?

some days, no matter what you do, you are just not going to be in a good mood.

today was one of those days.

i think overall, i am in a chipper, happy-go-lucky mood.  but today, i could not shake the cranky attitude that seemed to permeate my skin and being.  if i looked in a mirror that reflected my aura, it would have been puke green.  not because puke green represents something bad, just a color i dislike, thus it would have furthered my funk.

why is this?  how is it that i can get up, at the same time i normally do, on the same side of the bed that i normally do, walk to work, things go all right, and yet, and yet, i am meaner than the grinch who stole christmas?

the painting is done and the bookshelves are in and have books on them.  the library is almost done.  almost.

we are having a bit of a desk snafu.  i created the snafu by ordering the desk.  i ordered one without actually thinking about how big the desk is.  and now, we are waiting on its replacement.  soon, it will be fixed.

i do have the mobile almost done and we just need a few more things and the room will be complete.  namely, i need more books.  we have lots, but i still want more.  why do i always want more books?

saturday we spent the entire afternoon, evening and night canning 120lbs of tomatoes, a bushel of corn, okra and zucchini.  we were just a bit tired.

we didn't do it alone, we had help from a couple of friends who are sharing in the bounty, but let me just say, i have an absolute new found respect for my mother and grandmother who used to do this.  d@mn, that was work.

i think this will completely pay off this winter, it's just that, you know, what if we did it wrong?  what if we are totally setting ourselves up for death in the future?  (not that we aren't going to die anyway, but i really don't think i want to die because of a tomato).  what if our canned goods create a branned new form of monkey sars we never knew about?  can you get monkey sars from freshly canned tomatoes?

i am truly tired this evening.  i spent a solid hour and a half at the photocopier getting everything ready for tomorrow and i am not even close to being done with my list.

i did get the photocopying done.  just not everything else.  and i worked.  all day.  i did stuff.  all day.  how is it possible that i still have so much to do?

in the mean time.  the air conditioner got fixed.  yeah.  now the house is absolutely freezing.  my feet are like ice.

this is the second installment of the library being painted.  as you can see, thomas did a fine job getting the green on the walls... yes, that is green.  it is a lovely sage that is in the adjoining reading room / salon. 

so we are in the middle of doing some things around the house.  in the process, the air conditioner stopped working and thomas is melting as we speak.

heat does not sit well on thomas.  he loves to go and check the thermostat every so often and announce what the temperature is, "it is 84."  this does not help.  not moving, that helps.

this has prevented him from painting my bathroom this evening because he would suffocate and totally die while painting in there.  i don't need that.  i generally think death from inhaling paint fumes in a hot house a bad, a very bad thing.  so he is going to wait til tomorrow (we hope).

in the meantime.  i thought i would share a before photo of the library.  as in, this is before that fugly mustard yellow was painted over.  yes.  it was that ugly.  the photo does that color justice by showing its ugliness.  it was just that ugly.  *shudder*

i totally volunteered and asked to do this.  but alithinks participated in a meme and now i am doing it too.  because, well, i got nothing else for the moment... and i have to wait to talk about the library.

so... here are the questions she asked me and my answers:

1) how often are you asked to pronounce your name? was it a problem when you were in school?

i get asked on an occasion, not as often as you would think.  the biggest problem is that when someone asks for jeorg, they tend to expect a boy and are usually shocked.  the other issue is that some people try to "fix" my name by adding a diminutive like jeorgie, jeorgette, jeorgia, etc.  this is quickly corrected.

2) i've lived in lexington for almost 18 months. in that time, we've met for coffee once here, and once in paris. is there a chance we'll meet again? maybe in moscow?

hehehe.  yes.  we can always meet for coffee, it is usually a matter of pinning me down by schedule.  the thing is, others who know me and know me well grab me very quickly and set things up... this is not to say that i am popular... because i am not.  it is just that you have to get to my calendar...

3) you have to choose: lexington or paris. which one's it going to be?

you're mean to me.  it really does depend on context.  if you are talking coffee, then paris.  if you are talking public transportation, paris.  museums, paris.  but family and friends, lexington.  work, lifestyle, lexington.  thomas, lexington.  i love them both a lot...

4) when we last had coffee (which was very fun, by the way), you told me you walk to work. what shoes do you wear for your commute?

my 2 mile trek is done in either galoshes (rainy days), kicks (which are blue and brown), or a pair of shoes that are really well broken in and comfortable (they tend to be shoes that were bought in europe because they seem to take the walk well).

5) which french star (rock, movie, or tv) makes your heart go thump-thump a little faster than usual?

you didn't put up soccer players? really???  this one is really hard because there isn't really a french star that makes my heart beat faster.  i used to find vincent perez really hot, but well, he just doesn't do it for me anymore...  olivier martinez is definitely yum... this is hard...

so if you want to play...

apparently i am worth mocking by lurkers who do not have blogs (hi frank!) as is noticed in my last post.

i think mocking is a good thing.  when we start taking ourselves too seriously, then i think the world has a problem.  namely that i really should not complain about the fact that i had to spend time in paris, france and drink lots of coffee and shop a lot, etc.

my life, no, is not that rough and frank is all to kind in pointing it out.  but i would like to mention that HE was in PARIS, FRANCE for 3 WEEKS this summer too.  so frank... that pity party, i expect you to bring the cheese and i'll bring the whine.  ; )

i have so much work to do it boggles the mind.  it has finally occurred to me, just now, as in right this second, that i did not have a summer.

i taught immediately after school let out for the spring semester, then proceeded to go to france and work on a grant and then had the study abroad program. 

i am making no complaints about the time in france, save the bronchitis that was brilliant, but i am saying that i did not get to just sit around on my a$$ for a couple of months and be bored to tears.

and now, i have just finished cleaning my office, moving some furniture out, am looking for some more furniture, getting lesson plans together, doing some crap i don't want to do, getting some more stuff together, etc.

this, post right here, is by sheer definition, not interesting because it reads like everyone's life.  but for once, i would love to post about how i vegged on the couch all day and watched horrible movies...

at the moment, everything around me is being organized.  my home is being organized and soon, very soon, cleaned by the maid.  we are getting ready for the bookshelves to be delivered and assembled and magically, the books to be organized on the shelves.

my office is getting a makeover as well and soon, very soon, will have some furniture removed and hopefully, i will find a new chair to put in there... i want my office to be swank.

all of this organizing is how it is for me in august.  out with the old and make room for the new junk i will throw away next year.  it is amazing how much can be accumulated in the course of a year, be it at the office or at home.  i am really not sure where all the stuff comes from, but i am sure evil gnomes are behind it all.

probably one of the worst things about having been gone for the amount of time i have is that i now have a to-list the size of a large coffee chain.

yeah.

the other problem is that some of those to-do items can only be checked off once i get information from other people that i haven't seen and who have also been away, or having babies, or doing important things- like ending world hunger.

so, as you can imagine, when i am with these people, i suddenly have to socialize a bit and find out about their summers, get the latest gossip, joke around, have coffee (yes, i know my life sucks), but also get some stuff done.  there is the killjoy people.  the getting of stuff done.  i think august is my least favorite month of the year because getting ready for the fall semester is infinitely worse than getting ready for the spring.

why can't everyone just come with me to france and we can work and socialize together?  why?

well the title says it all.  so thomas at the farmers market about went into caniption fits at the farmers market on saturday when he saw the PEACHES and then bought a whole bucket full of them.

i don't like peaches.

so last night he looked at the peaches that he has been eating since saturday and said, "those peaches need to be eaten by tomorrow, or something needs to be done with them.  why don't you make me a peach cobbler?"

i don't like peaches because they are slimy and fuzzy and gross.

i looked at him and said ok.  i dug through all of my tarte and pie recipe books and came up with a recipe i thought would work.  and so, today, i spent hours making a crust, peeling and slicing peaches, making a homemade filling/pudding, and baking a tarte aux pêches.

i don't like peaches because they are slimy and fuzzy and gross and the flavor really does nothing for me at all.

so this evening... thomas is eating peaches.  in a tarte.  and i am going to watch him.

where, oh where are we going to go for new years this year???

so the bookshelves have finally been ordered along with a desk to go in the library.  this creates, at least in my head, the house that jack built...

we can paint the walls.  we can put the bookshelves in front of the painted walls.  we can unpack the boxes of books to put on the bookshelves in front of the painted walls... and so on.

i am very excited about this because it means that i will finally have access to some books i am not sure i have seen in ages.  not to mention the books in the den will be moved out and find a permanent home in... the library.  yes.  i will soon have a library.  now we just have to paint the walls...

an evening with matt damon is not a bad way to spend some time.  and getting to do it while sitting next to your husband means you are one spoiled little lady!

so we went and saw the new bourne movie, the bourne ultimatum.  i must admit that i love these movies because the films are fun and fast paced.  but not overwhelming.

the only major problem i have is with the amount of violence that has me squirming in my seat and gasping every two or three minutes during the fight scenes.  i apparently can't take it. 

overall, the movie advances the story and fills in the gaps.  it develops the character even more and gives him a quality of redemption, not that he didn't have it before.  but now, you know why he is who he is and how he got there.  and trust me, i am more than thankful that they didn't bring in the forced "love interest" that so many action, fast-paced films feel the need to create. 

worth the full price admission and a lot of fun.

next week i am on vacation.  because i have worked my a$$ off this summer.  now, for me, it is nothing exciting like going someplace exotic.  i have already traveled this summer and do not need to get on a plane for a while...

oh no.  i am going to a cafe, i am sitting down, i am drinking coffee, and i am going to read... a lot.  and i am not moving until the books are finished.  i have goals.

i always sucked at tag as a kid because well, it wasn't as fun as hide and seek.  but anywho.  i have been tagged.  so here are the questions:

what were you doing ten years ago now?
packing and  moving to france...

what were you doing 1 year ago?
coming home from a summer in france... (you should see a trend here)

five snacks you enjoy:
peanut butter, coke, latte, cheese, potato chips

five songs you know the lyrics to:
if i had a million dollars (it makes me smile when they get to the fur part), twinkle twinkle little star (popular if i have been drinking), i am too lazy to go grab my ipod to figure out any others...

five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
shop, eat really well, travel all the time, buy books, be with friends and family 

five bad habits:
i bite my nails, i try to get off the phone as soon as i am on it, i don't really pay attention to people speaking to me if i am reading, i am not nice to strangers, i'm a particular eater

five things you like to do:
wink wink nudge nudge, have coffee, read, be with friends, go to the movies

five things your would never wear again:
skinny jeans (on these hips, oh my!), those cute baby doll dresses that are about to come back in fashion here in the states... (hips again!), shapeless sweaters,  scrunchy socks, jellies

five toys:
my baby ipod, sewing maching and room of fabric, dvd player, camera, computer

five things in your refrigerator:
csa veggies, milk, coke, booze, preserves

five things in your closet:
hats, scarves, shoes, clothes, purses (each of which exists in abundance)

five things in your purse or backpack:
ipod, phone, wallet, tampons, matches

five things in your car:
umbrella, starbucks cup... car is clean.

five things you want to see before you die:
bookshelves in my house, all the continents, bob barker, a triple crown winner (i know it's stupid, but hey...),  i'll know the last thing when i see it

i finally made it home after a very daunting trip back.  i must say, i really have done something horrible in a past life to deserve my traveling woes.  oh what, oh what have i done to deserve this?

i will not bore you with the bitter details of another travel story because i have many.  instead, i shall bore you with why i am happy to be home.

the obvious one would be thomas.  so i'll start off with the sappy and get it over with.  add your own ahhhs and isn't that sweets.

i get to see one of my best friend's babies!!!  (add ahhs and isn't that sweets here).

my choices in shoes just quadrupled.  as did my clothing options.

i have wifi.  all the time.  unlimited.  like all the time.  and, all over the house... omg!!!

i can do laundry and relax in my bed with my pillows and watch tv in english.

the cats and dog are actually excited to see me.  like uberexcited.  like crazy in love with me excited.

what i am not excited about...