Burr it's cold outside...

It's been months since either of us has posted. Pathetic, I know. But let me assure you life has been busy and fun. November brings on a whole slew of family birthdays and Thanksgiving. Then we are into the Christmas season with all of the shopping, baking, wrapping, partying, etc. Not to mention that the Nov-Feb time frame is my absolute busiest at work, but anyway...

In the midst of all the craziness we managed to squeeze in a few little home projects. Husband's office has been begging for an update since we moved into the house. It was never a top priority so two and half years later I realize it's the only room in our house that we haven't repainted and on top of that it's filled with super cheap hand-me-down furniture. That means we must redecorate!

We started by clearing out the books and old furniture, much of which was retired to the basement (aka: the Man Cave) and some of which was taken to the curb.

Then began the arduous task of patching all of the holes and priming that ugly burgandy woodwork. Seriously? Who thought that was a good idea? The rest of the trim in the house is white!

Next I painted - A LOT! The woodwork took 1 coat of primer and 3 coats of white and it took 2 coats to get a nice even finish on the wall. Blah! By this point I was pretty sore.

Then came furniture - a wall unit/desk and two new bookcases. Husband actually helped with this part. See him assembling!

Here it is in place. Check out all of that storage!

It's not quite finished yet. We still have some organizing to complete, and I'm currently redoing the inside of the closet and adding doors to it. Again, seriously? Who takes the doors of a closet? Stay tuned for more pictures of the completed project.

Oh, and one project we have completely finished... No more ugly faux stained glass storm door! YAY for beautiful super-insulated, black framed, clear glass, nickel hardwared storm door! And yay for my pops for helping me install it in 18 degree weather! We are crazy, or stupid, your call.

In my Office...

I'm tapped out today... You know, when you've been super diligent all day and then suddenly you just can't focus on anything anymore? That's where I'm at. I've been reading strategic plans and reports done by consultants who don't have a clue about business in D-town. Reports that use industry data based on industry/occupation definitions formed in the 50s are certainly not reflective of the emerging industries of 2008. Blah!

The good news is that it is really pretty outside...

Despite a chill in the air, it is all blue skies and white fluffy clouds over downtown. It makes sitting in my office reading painful reports a little more bearable.

seeing Liz Lemon and Floyd just makes me miss 30 Rock...

"Wow! You're like the Karl Malone of mailmen!"

I'm really getting shamed here, with the Wife making something like 5 of the last 7 posts. So I figure I better kick it into gear and throw up some content before we need to rename this 'The-Wife's-Girly-Blog-Of-Pictures-Of-Things-I-Need-To-Fix.'

The fantasy season's starting a little rough - I have Moss and Jones-Drew as my top 2 in two leagues, and neither has been what you'd call spectacular. A few later picks have turned out better than expected (Reggie Bush and Chris Chambers, for example), so I'm at least above .500 overall, going 2-1,2-1,and 1-2 in my three leagues.

In real life, I've been busier than usual. I'm teaching 2 extra classes at UD, and stressing out over next month's prelim exams. To top it off, the last few days I've had to run back and forth to get my schedule prepped for next semester - not only will I be teaching double the courseload of a full-time faculty member, but I'll be driving up to BG twice a week. On the plus side, I'll actually be teaching four different film courses, so I'll get to watch a lot of movies. (and then go sit through three straight hours of soul-sucking-modules twice a week).

Dogs 1.0 and 2.0 keep me busy most days, but I'll make a concerted effort to lessen the lag between posts.

I love my girls...

I have returned from the most wonderful weekend with my girls in Michigan City... A relaxing time with great friends, good food, too much wine and too many margaritas (can you really have too much?) We laid on the beach, shopped, gossiped, caught up on each other's lives - it was the perfect weekend. I love my girls and really needed this weekend. I feel totally revived. I haven't felt this fulfilled since I was here a few months ago...

Mentally, physically, emotionally renewed - I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Thank you girls.

Wind, Power, Recycling

So last Sunday Ohio got slammed by the 70 mph winds of Hurricane Ike. A hurricaine in Ohio? Yes, it's unfortunately true. I'm not sure how, but it is...

The wake of the storm uprooted trees, damaged homes, and took out power lines all over the state. Here in Dayton 300,000 customers were out of electric starting on Sunday and as of today (Thursday) there are still 90,000 customers in the dark. Luckily, Husband and I were restored a mere 26 hours after it went out in our neighborhood. Husband never really felt the effects of any of it though since he was in BG teaching and the power was back up before he returned home. Now he's complaining about the lack of cable and internet, but he's just being a brat. It could be much much worse!


We honestly came out relatively unscathed. The tree in our front yard that tends to drop branches if you so much as look at it surprisingly did not sustain any damage. We do have a few loose shingles that need to be repaired and the dormer widow in our bedroom has a piece of siding hanging...



This has got me thinking... Maybe we should put up new siding? The siding on the dormers are the original aluminum siding and are starting to look pretty dingy and dated. There are also several aluminum awnings still on our house and in storage in our garage. I'm thinking about taking it all down and turning it in to the recycling place for cash... Hmmmm.... Thinking... Does that tiny piece of loose siding justify all new siding? I guess I just have to convince Husband.

Excuse Me, But I'm From Ohio

Over the weekend this article came out in the Washington Post...

Excuse Me, But I'm From Ohio

I have to say, I love it. I identify so strongly with this article. I had a roommate when I lived in D.C. who was the narrow-minded East Coast type. There were four of us - two from Ohio, one from Iowa, and my one roommate, lets call her K, was from New Hampshire. She thought she was being punished in some way by being assigned to an apartment with us. She couldn't believe she would have to live with people who would work for Republicans. K couldn't believe that we could possibly be half as intelligent as her or understand half as much about the world. She went to the amazing, accepting, open-minded Colby College. We could not compare to the amazing, accepting, open-minded people she knew from Colby College.

K made me sad. She was someone who thought she was so enlightened - so smart. Unfortunately she was so arrogant she couldn't even have a civil conversation with anyone who might disagree with her in any way.

It's people like that who make me happy that I did grow up in the Midwest. My parents taught me to respect people whether you agree with them or not. They showed me that good conversation and debate can help you learn about yourself and others. They taught me that hard work and an honest day's labor is something to be proud of whether it is in an office or in a field.

I am proud to have grown up in Ohio and when K one day, while eating a bowl of corn (of course she was a veg,) complained about they ignorance of middle-America and how the coasts should just swallow up the Midwest, I was equally proud of my Iowan roommate as she reminded her to enjoy her corn because without the Midwest K would be screwed.