Exceedingly Mundane

Tim got a lot done yesterday in our master bathroom. We had two layers of vinyl flooring in there to remove. The original white flooring that the builder put in the house (which I hated, it showed every speck of dirt and every dark hair that came out of my Shaggy DA head), and then the beige vinyl square adhesive tiles we put down a few years ago, when we ripped down the wallpaper and repainted the walls in there. It was a lot of work, but Tim got both layers up. Now, we just need to do some cleaning, and we’ll be ready to start laying tile!

Click -more- to see some pictures from yesterday’s stage 1 🙂

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Casa de Hammons is now officially closed for renovations and will not be accepting Bed & Breakfast customers for a couple of weeks. Sorry, no room at the inn 😀

Translation = we’re starting today on the last of the ceramic tile project. If you recall, we began late last fall, by ripping up the vinyl in the guest bathroom, breakfast room, kitchen and laundry room, and putting down ceramic tile. We finished just before Thanksgiving, and I insisted we take off through the holidays (which extend through the Super Bowl around here!). So, now it’s time to get back on the wagon and do our master bath. Which means… we have had to move into the guest bathroom. Therefore, we won’t be able to have any overnight company (unless it’s an emergency, obviously) until we finish our bathroom and move back in.

Hope you’re all ready for more tile project reports and pictures! Let the project commence

Friday night turned out to be date night – dinner and a movie!

I had supper planned, but at about 4 PM, Tim popped up and said “let’s go out to eat and to a movie”… so, we did! I have been hungry for shrimp lately, specifically a shrimp po-boy, so I lobbied for that. I suggested we go to Captain’s Catch in Madison, near our new theater, but Tim didn’t want to go there. We settled on Fat Tuesday’s. I have never been, but Tim goes often at lunch (although he hasn’t been at night). We went early, and ordered fried mushrooms for an appetizer, then po-boys and fries (shrimp for me, catfish for Tim). It was really good, and after the mushrooms, we were nearly full, so we were good and brought half of our sandwiches home for leftovers. Lunch today! 🙂

After dinner, we headed to the new Malco Grandview theater and got tickets for “Firewall” with Harrison Ford. We went last weekend to a matinee, which was crowded, but it was even more packed – a typical Friday night, I guess. We waited in line for a few minutes for cappuccinos at the coffee bar, but they weren’t moving fast and we didn’t want to get bad seats, so we abandoned plans for coffee and went on into the theater. We got good seats, on the aisle about half way up, and then watched previews and the place fill up, it was at least 3/4 full or more. They showed previews for several good movies coming up, including the remake of Poseidon Adventure. “Firewall” was good and we enjoyed it, but it was not great (I like big-screen epic type of movies at the theater). It would be a really good rental though 🙂 I’ll try to do a review of it later on Hambones.org

I participated in this fun photo meme for the first time last week. I got such a great response from all the “regulars” at this site. Several of them stopped by to view my submission and left really sweet comments. They made me feel very welcome, and it was fun to do. I love this kind of stuff! So, I checked out Kristine’s site again, and found out that the assignment for this week is “Bedside Manner”.

This game is for everyone. Encourage your players to play and comment on your blog if they played so you can get to know your readers. If you want to send them over here to let me know they played, Great!

the inside of your nightstand drawer
a good book you’ve read
your favorite lamp

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I finished another book last night – well, actually this morning. I stayed up really late and I’m feeling it this morning. I was still up reading at 1:30 AM when Tim came to bed (he’d been working on a program), and I finished it a few minutes later. It was really light and fun and frivolous and I laughed out loud at several parts. I really enjoyed it, as I had all of her Shopaholic books that I had read.

I need to do a review and add to Hambones, maybe later today or this weekend. In the mean time, this makes a total of 9 books so far this year, with a total of 3127 pages read. I have one more book from my last library run. Another Brad Meltzer book, called “Dead Even”. This is the first Meltzer book that Tim read, that got him hooked, so it should be good.

Oh, and one little funny. I think when Tim came in last night, he expected to find me asleep and I was wide awake, reading. I often fall asleep while I’m reading before bedtime, so he usually comes in, marks my page with my bookmark, puts it on my nightstand and turns out the light (yes, isn’t he a sweetheart!). When he saw I was wide awake and reading, he couldn’t resist a little jab. He goes “What, are you reading like a book-a-day now?!” 😀

With the new season of American Idol on now (see post below!), I have all my music vibes going full blast. Plus, I have been watching Dancing with the Stars and enjoying all the dancing and music on that show. Including the PussyCat Dolls that were on one Friday night, and especially – Michael Buble, whom I love! He was on one of the Friday Results shows and I got re-enamored of him again

So, today I went on iTunes and bought:

The debut album by Carrie Underwood… we really liked her last season and I’ve been meaning to get it for a while, since it came out before the holidays. I’ve been listening to it this afternoon, and so far I really like it!

I also got the rest of “It’s Time” by Michael Buble. I had already downloaded the song “Home”, which is my favorite, but decided after seeing him sing on DWTS that I *needed* the whole album. 😀

I’m really enjoying this season of American Idol so far. I think there are a lot of good singers this time, and a lot of likable personalities. I’m going to go out on a limb early on and make a pick. There’s a lot of singing and improving left to do – but, as of right now, my favorite is:

Chris! Yep, he’s the one I am really rooting for right now. I like several of the girls (Lisa, Paris, Kellie and Katherine) and a bunch of the guys (LOVE Taylor Hicks, Elliot, Ace and the crooner kid David, although he may not make it much longer). But, overall, I really like Chris so far!

I must admit, I had never heard of a Johari window until I was reading SusiePie’s post here. It seems a fairly interesting concept. I thought it might make an interesting entry for my blog, since most of the people who read my blog actually do know me in real life. Pretty well, actually. Which, on the other hand, is sorta scary, so maybe this wasn’t such a great idea! 🙂 Oh well. Here we go:

Wikipedia defines a Johari Window as “a metaphorical tool intended to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise.”

Here’s what I need all of my faithful blog readers to do – go to this website and pick 5 or 6 words that you think describe me. {Shudder} Thanks!

I just finished “Danzig Passage” by Bodie Thoene this morning. Tim had to work really late last night, and I sat up till midnight reading, but didn’t quite finish it. So, since I got up earlier than he did this morning, I was able to finish reading it. What good books these are 🙂 This is #5 of 6 in the Zion Covenant series.

This makes 8 so far this year, with a total of 2753 pages read. 😀

I think I’m going to switch gears now and read something a little lighter. The last several books I have read have either been in the Zion Covenant series (struggle of Jews and those trying to help them as Hitler ravages all of Europe) or legal thrillers like “The First Counsel” which I just finished, and “Dead Even” which I also have checked out from the library (both by Brad Meltzer). I am going to read “The Undomestic Goddess” by Sophie Kinsella. I read 2 or 3 of her Shopaholic books last year and really enjoyed them. They are light, funny and entertaining. Books about shopping are a nice diversion 🙂

Stole this from Kelly’s blog… a bit late, it’s from last Friday. But I wanted to play along anyway!

As always, if you’d like to play along, post your answers in the form of a comment (or at your own blog 😀 ).

Friday Five

1. Rain? Love it or hate it?

2. Country music? Love it or hate it?

3. Rap music? Love it or hate it?

4. Valentine’s Day? Love it or hate it?

5. Oprah? Love her or hate her?

My answers in the extended section…

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Mark another item off of my to-do list 😀 I just finished typing up 5 movie and 1 book reviews in the Reviews Section at Hambones.org. I added reviews for the following movies:

a) Eight Below (theater)
b) Kingdom of Heaven (DVD)
c) The Legend of Zorro (DVD)
d) Flightplan (DVD)
e) Just Like Heaven (DVD)

And the book “The First Counsel” by Brad Meltzer. Whew, caught up, for a few days, at least. 🙂

Be sure to add any reviews of books or movies to the Reviews section, if you are so inclined. 😆

Well, I’ve been posting in the Exercise Forum on Hambones about my daily workouts. I think I did something to my left ankle last Thursday. It started feeling tender when I was working out. I rested on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, thinking it would be better if I laid off of it for a while. I worked out on Monday and again today. Yesterday, it felt really tender when I put any weight on it, but it was fine when I was not exercising. It didn’t hurt at all if I was just walking around.

Well, that’s changed as of today. I guess I hurt it a little more when I was working out today. NOW, it’s aching most of the time, and it hurts to put any weight on it. So, Tim, my sweet pea, offered to tape it for me. Nice to have a trainer on staff, huh?! 🙂 I guess I won’t be working out for a couple of days. I wonder if I can get out of any of the rest of my daily chores?

1. Do you have a collection of anything? If so, of what? I used to collect scrapbook supplies, but those days are over. I have a small collection of cookbooks, I love to buy cookbooks, but try to restrain myself. I love to collect music for my iPod. I’m a gatherer when it comes to stocking the pantry or freezer. But, basically, no, I don’t collect anything like snowmen or unicorns or roosters or Disney memorabilia or anything interesting like that. 😯

2. What is your favourite book? How many times have you read it? Probably my most favorite book is any of my Rosamunde Pilcher books – Shell Seekers or September are my favorites. I don’t reread books often, maybe once or twice. Too many good books out there I want to read, to be re-reading many very often.

3. Do you usually prefer books or movies? Difficult question – the book is always better than the movie, but I like each for different reasons. For both, I like to be entertained and escape in a good book or a good movie. I don’t think I can pick, I love both. 😛

4. Do you tend to believe immediately what people tell you or are you cautious? I’m afraid so, I’m terribly naive and gullible. I tend to always take what people tell me at face value, even when it’s a blatant lie or joke or me. Duh, I’m like a brick wall that way

5. Where do you get your news information (TV, newspaper, internet) and why? All of the above, in equal measure. TV, Internet, local paper only

Yes, I wholeheartedly admit it. I’m a total TV addict. I have multiple shows on every day that I must watch. I go into withdrawal in the summer when my shows are not on. I go through mild semi-withdrawal on a week like this when the stupid people at ABC decide to show a re-run of Lost. I mean, how dare they!

I get excited and sad all at the same time about my TV shows… case in point:

1) 24 last night was great. As was House. We LOVE House. He is such a great character and says/does things no one else on TV would dare to do.

2) I’m excited that they are actually starting the singing on American Idol. It’s on 3 nights this week!

3) I get sad when I realize that Dancing with the Stars is about to be over. Final two shows this week – Thursday and Sunday. Sigh.

4) I get excited when I realize that a week from today we start the new Amazing Race. Yippee!

5) There’s so much other “must see TV” on for me that I have not had a lot of free time to watch Olympics coverage at night. Only so much TV viewing I can squeeze in, in one night. Sigh.

Yes, that’s my life. I love TV. I watch some daytime TV (Martha, Oprah, All My Children) and tons of nighttime TV. I could blog endlessly about each of my shows, but I try to restrict it here, and what little I do blabber on about, I post in the forums at Hambones.

I’ve faced the truth – I’m addicted. How about you?

I think I covered most of Saturday in my previous blog post here. It’s been so cold this weekend that I really haven’t wanted to get out. I would have really preferred to curl up by the fire with my book all weekend, but we had too much going on, and company to boot.

My dad went to Gail’s house on Saturday and spent the night, then came to our house after lunch on Sunday to do the same. Tim went out and hit some balls in the 30-something-degree weather. Daddy and I hung out inside. I made some banana bread and also some white chicken chili for supper. We watched some of the Olympics, worked some Sudoku’s, then settled in to watch a movie. Part of Tim’s Valentines gift was 2 movies, one of which is a really old movie that I have always loved called “The Man from Snowy River”. I don’t think Tim had ever seen it all the way through. So, we put the movie in, popped some popcorn and had hot chocolate last night. Good night! Daddy left for home not too long after Tim left for work today. I had hoped he would stay and visit a bit, but I think he was ready to get home.

I’ve been playing catch-up all day today (laundry and chores). It’s still really cold, in the upper 30’s all day, so I haven’t gone outside a bit. When the weather is like this, I like being a hermit! It’s supposed to start warming up later this week though. 🙂