Wednesday, March 26, 2008

all domesticated

The other weekend I went out into the front yard and decided I wanted to pull out some of the bushy plants and plant a bunch of flowers. The section I wanted to take on as my "project" was fairly small so I figured this would be an easy task.

Okay...first of all, what the heck was I thinking? Gardening is not easy work. I pulled out all my tools and a giant shovel and started digging around the bushes to pull them out. I somehow did not realize that plants have roots... So this task became near impossible with my wimpy arms. So I called Bertrand out to pull out these darn difficult things. Next, I got the soil ready so dug up all the existing dirt and mixed it up with my new soil. Then the planting.

I naively assumed that this seemingly simple task for this tiny piece of land would be a quick and easy job. Instead, I spent the entire afternoon out there planting about 20 bulbs and only 6 actual flowers. And then? I was sore from it for the next two days.

Real life is a lot harder than time in the gym!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Spring is heeeere!

Happy Spring!

It has been absolutely gorgeous out here in sunny California. Warm sunny days and that it's actually still light out by the time I get home from work? Amazing. I no longer feel like I'm losing my entire day inside at work even though technically it's the same amount of hours. Now with the great weather, we take the doggies out for a walk to the grocery store instead of driving out there. The flowers are blooming and the bulbs I planted are starting to peek their way out.

Yay for sunny days.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Infamous Flu of 08'

That is what I'm going to call this sickness that has overtaken my life for the past week.

Every couple of years I get hit with a "big" illness. A couple of years ago, I had a really bad cough that was so strong and lasted for so long....that my lungs were inflamed and I fractured a rib from coughing. Yes, fractured a rib...from coughing. A few years before that, I had pneumonia.

I jinxed myself by telling everyone that despite the fact that the flu was going around, I surprisingly hadn't been really sick in a couple of years. And then? Of course, it hits me. Like a mad truck. I woke up last Sunday with the worst sore throat I have ever felt in my life. It felt like I had nails going up and down my throat every time I took a breath, said a word, blinked. And then I lost my voice for a couple of days. I thought it would get better after a day or two, but then it got worse! *sigh* But now I have finally reached the recovery stage. Just with a lingering cough to remind me about how bad my past week has been.

I was made aware of how delirious I have been all week when I drove to the bank today to deposit a check that has been sitting in my purse for awhile. Once I arrived at the bank, I spent the next 10 minutes going through my purse in a panic looking for the check. In the meantime, I discovered that I lost my favorite sunglasses at some point in the past week or two and found one of two earrings in my purse...meaning I lost the other one somewhere along the way. We had to pull out the iPhone and use online banking only to figure out that I had in fact deposited the check on Monday....when I was totally flu'ish. Do I remember doing this? No.

So here's hoping that I can stay healthy for another couple of years.

And yes, I got the flu shot this year.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Tearing things down and changing things up

Remodel
We've been doing a major remodeling project on our master bathroom the past few weeks. It started out as thinking about just changing the floors, pulling out the carpet and installing stone tiles. Then we figured, since we're already going to be displaced and making a mess, let's replace the counters. Then from there, why not upgrade the shower and tub. Then, since we're re-doing that, let's get a nicer tub. Et cetera et cetera.

The first couple weeks were of destruction. Tearing everything apart and ripping everything out. Starting completely fresh with basically...four walls. Then things got good once the tiling started to be laid down and the granite counters installed this past weekend.

It's been a lot of fun but also a lot of work since we (Bertrand) are doing it ourselves. Mr. Handyman works a little bit on it every night and on the weekends. I am the visionary and designer and picker of items and he is the skill and muscle.

We moved out of our master bedroom, covered everything in plastic, moved all of our clothes and belongings out of our closet and now reside in our guestroom. It's like a mini trip away....in our own house.

Every day it's coming along more and more. I can't wait!