Major Autumn Coziness

1. Having a toasty bath (in my diseased-looking tub) while enjoying coffee, candlelight, and the soothing sounds of Mel Torme

(Sidenote: As a Gen X kiddo, I will be forever grateful to the ZAZ team, creators of such gems as Airplane! and the Naked Gun trilogy, for introducing me to Mel Torme. Thanks, boys!)

2. Measured the piano to check for fit in R's room. It won't fit and now I'm bugged. I wish houses could grow. Or that we were Sims and could throw down new foundations and move the walls around.

3. Made more progress in the basement. It feels like a never-ending process, but it'll get there eventually. I'm excited to have the futon back in working order.

Little R received some cool magnet toys that needed a container, and it was so nice to be able to hurdle over the sewing nook "wall" and whip up a drawstring bag for her. 

4. Decided to relax with a movie. This lady found me

5. C had a job interview today and dressed up very handsomely for it. 

6. Then there was The Soup. We added kielbasa sausage to it this time and so far, folks like it. I thought about making some kind of bread item to go with it but lost the motivation. It's been a big day. 

Flipping through the pages of our old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, I was inspired to rearrange our kitchen sometime in the near future, and to start baking my way through Chapter 3, "Breads". I love that we can bake now and it won't heat up an already hot house. Hooray for autumn!

7. Hubby flew home and I picked him up at the airport. Yay!! He regaled us with tales of Utah fun while eating soup.

"SHUT YOUR GRIPE HOLE"

I enjoyed a lovely day at work with the usual niceties and daily tasks. I also cleared out my inbox and did a bit more rearranging on my desk...

I call this one "Drinking on the Job"

... enjoyed a lovely walk with Heidi....

...and yelled* at a customer who was being rude to Junior. Only we get to be rude to Junior, lady! 

Junior was on one again today. I think he now knows better than to ask about my job, but the scoffing and eye rolling (when D or I ask him to perform tasks he thinks are beneath him) have returned. Keep batting a thousand, pal!

Today's outfit, starring the skull scarf fringe

No thrifted items this time. The sweater was a hand-me-down, though 

After work, I ate lunch, met with my amazing shrink who is so happy that things are going well (the last time we met was in August, I think), took M and the babies to the pharmacia and to McD's for a treat, dropped them at home, and grabbed stuff for dinner at WinCo.

Shrink said that she's going to steal my idea of adding the seasons to Shmoogle calendar. Color me pleased. 

The rest of the day was chill. I gave H & A's kitties a brief visit and watched TV and played Sims until picking up B at his friend's house at 9 pm. We stopped for gas, and shared a lovely pineapple Fanta on our way home. *belch*

*I didn't yell but I felt like it. "When you make a purchase, the bag should be free" is not something Junior has control over, you dips***. Tell the governor instead. 

Monday with the cute skirt

All items thrifted except the backpack and hose

I've been dying to wear this skirt since I bought it in July. It took having a place to set up my ironing board to finally get it done. Now that I'm wearing it, I'm seeing a hem issue to fix (sort of visible in the picture), and I need some cream pantyhose - these are white! Outrageous!

The work garden continues to thrive

As does this gentleman working outside the bookstore

shhh I took his picture again

In other news: It's the Falliday Season, we're almost to this time of the year, and I couldn't be happier. Halloween would be a close second, but Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday; I love every part about it. As a little girl, I loved helping Neenaw set the dinner table with all of her beautiful things, and now using my dishes and linens brings back those wonderful memories. 

Also, what a great holiday for going absolutely nuts with food, experimenting with new recipes, making copious amounts of everyone's favorites, tweaking the menu, enjoying all the reactions (favorable or otherwise), and all those leftovers! I LOVE IT.

Later: Aye, tis a fine October eve

....for kitty sitting these guys

Back at home: Our kitties are now sniffing my backpack and trying to figure out who it smells like (Diesel, the tuxedo cat)

There's a cat on my back

Took some men to the airport early this morning - Hubby to visit Grandma, and H to join A and her family. I came home and went back to bed, where this cat joined me. 

Turns out he was hungry. 

C was sweet and brought me a BEC biscuit from McD's, and M made coffee. I got busy with some dishes and laundry, then it was time for more Sewing Nook shenanigans.

I moved the old dresser and added the TV and VCR - they still work! Little Richard Simmons is teaching a class.

I unearthed quite the collection today. 

Did some sorting and mending.

Later: After dinner, it was time for some crocheting and Young Frankenstein. "Damn your eyes!!"

Shhh, don't tell B that I took his picture 

Moody

Here at the 704, starting about this time of year, and officially in November, we deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder. The gloom sets in until around, oh, May. Occasional bright spots of sunny weather appear here and there, but it will mostly look like this outside for the next six months. 

(Needless Rant: With this in mind, why every single house-flipping contractor paints every stinking interior wall GRAY is a mystery to me. The folks who flipped our house: gray walls. Five years later, browsing through a real estate app, it's easy to tell the houses that have been flipped recently because guess what: GRAY WALLS. It's gray outside for 8 months out of the year! Gray is depressing! Choose something else!)

I'm trying to be proactive about it. Last year around this time, I went to the thrift store for winter clothing, and instead of reaching for the usual black or navy blue, I stocked up on as much yellow and red and orange clothing as I could. It's nice on those cold dark mornings to have something colorful and fun to wear. 

This year, I added the four seasons to my Shmoogle calendar. I can tell you that each season is approximately 91 days long - and I knew that before I added them to the calendar, of course, but seeing each little day pass by is comforting, even inspiring. 

Benefits so far:

1. It makes me want to enjoy the season while it's here. 

2. It helps me appreciate each month, instead of considering some months to be "filler", as I've done in the past.

3. It reminds me that since I'm (most likely) going to be alive anyway, I can get through 91 days of crappy fall weather with depressing skies. Then I can do it again with winter and then with spring, until things dry out again.

Crappy Sky Season has a beginning and an end, and there are things to look forward to - even within the season, like birthdays and holidays and trips and projects and food and entertainment and family and laughing (in no particular order). 

Now, to stuck up on vitamin D and yellow paint... or blue... I found this picture online and fell in love with this shade. It's perfect for our room. 

LATER: There was soccer (and crocheting and hugging on R and H) in Bongview

...followed by linner at my new favorite restaurant, that genius combo of A&W and KFC. Why favorite? Because root beer float AND mashed potatoes and gravy. This is civilized living, people.

The Housening

(Making up dumb horror movie-esque titles is fun)

Hooray for a day off! After dropping off Hubby, I completed two Shi*t orders, then came home and went to work. I stripped our bed, started laundry, and headed down to the Sewing Nook. Today's project was hanging the decor. 

The shelf:

Holy poop, those messy cords!! 

I'm sad about this: I stored my Singer bobbins in an antique Wyler's soup boullion jar, saved by one of my grandmothers, and today I dropped the jar and it broke all over the place. I thought I picked up all the pieces with the vacuum, but I found this last one was hanging around, waiting for my bare foot. Just look at this evil thing:

I've been waiting months (possibly years) to hang this mirror, with the cutest paint job ever, above the basement fireplace. FINALLY it happened. Check out this stained fireplace - maybe we'll paint it someday. Either way, how cozy to have a fireplace in the sewing area. I love it.

Also, I was able to hang the Phoebe Hoop over the Juki table:

B made cookies. (Not pictured: B)

C and K installed the new curtain rod over our bedroom window:

Yay!!! 

Nice and fresh. 

The Uncordening

While standing in for our MIA cashier this morning, I kept busy sprucing up the counter behind the cash registers, and made sure none of D's windows were obscured. Then I realized, I have two windows that are very obscured by computer monitors, and decided to move everything on my desk so I could maybe look out my windows into the store. What??? What an idea. 

First, I had to assess the cord situation. 

HOLY CRAP the mess

While dismantling, I found three cords that were connected to nothing. Several others are outdated equipment that can't be unattached from the hardware, so I rolled them up and rubber-banded them (which is in fact the technical term). 

Several Lysol wipes and customers later...

....I have windows! (They're real tiny)

I'm not sure how long I'll keep it this way. The monitors are so far apart that I'm worried that looking back and forth between them will be like watching a tennis game. But everything is clean and decluttered, which feels great. I'm excited to see, when I work next, if I'll remember that I reorganized my desk, or if I'll forget about it over the weekend and get a big surprise the next time I go in. 

In other news, work went well, but I can't wear my teeny white Supergas to work anymore. I fell in love with them and bought them at a thrift store, and wasn't sure about the size because it's a European brand. They just barely fit, and they look really cute, but walking with pinched pinky toes is painful - not something you want in a shoe. A new pair in my correct size is on my wish list.

Bryton gave me grow lights! Now I can start that new weed farm! Bryton said the lights were just kicking around their apartment, and offered them to me. I'm excited for my house plants! Hopefully they'll have a great winter now.

And one more thing: I went into creepy stalker mode and peeked at Junior's schedule for October and November. I have only two shifts left to work with him between now and December. Color me relieved! But now I'm curious: did D's last "NO" speech to Junior do the trick? Or will he make the attempt a third time?? The suspense is delicious!

Stay uncordened, my friends.

JUNIOR STRIKES AGAIN

There have been bosses I hated, and coworkers I couldn't stand - just a few, most of them have been great - but I have never been tempted to tell a coworker to go f&$# himself

...until today.

This morning Junior asked D AGAIN if he could be trained for my job. It was as if last week never happened! The kid is thick! 

D once again told him that my job is not up for grabs, "it won't be for a very long time," and no, he wouldn't train him to do my job because it's my job. Later D said to me that he tried to be as clear as possible. Let's hope it sinks in this time!

Fearful of what I might say if I opened my mouth, I didn't speak to him again unless I had to, for the rest of my shift. 

Fortunately, he only works two shifts in November. Whew! D cut his hours way back for this and other antics the kid has been committing over the last few weeks. 

Little jerk.

It's a good thing my cute green pumpkin has a cute orange butt.

Sewing Space!

HELLO FROM OUR GREEN PUMPKIN! It's well past harvest time for this guy, as evidenced by our pumpkin patch trip yesterday.

I had the day off, so after I got everyone dropped off, I spent the rest of the day organizing. There's a lot of stuff upstairs that needs to go downstairs, but we're all too scared of the basement to do anything about it. I decided to take action.

It's not finished yet, but I'm happy with the progress. I need to get rid of about 15 lb of mending and finish all of my works in progress. It would also be cool to get things hung on the wall and the TV and VCR up and running again.

Not pictured: I also moved a bookcase and its books to the south wall of the family room, and C helped me move one of the old Keen dressers to the sewing area. It's not just that we needed to put the machines on the tables and organize everything; we also have to barricade it from the girls.

Happily, I did get to sew for a minute, and that made me happy and stay motivated to keep working on it in the days to come. 

Stay tuned for more updates. I'm going to go take a bath.