Thursday, April 05, 2007

Day Tripping

Hubby is painting our hallway dove gray with white trim. This is a huge job because, although our house is small, there are a bunch of doors off the hallway and the old paint job is a very hard-to-cover eggshell-like shade (which has probably yellowed over the years; it's quite ugly). For some reason, most paints we've tried in this house have just flaked right off the doors and trim. So, this time the dedicated DIY spouse is taking the doors off and sanding them before putting a layer of Kilz on everything. Huge job, just huge and he's doing it all himself. He took the day off to work on the first layer of gray.

And, I was in the way. I've been in the way quite a bit, during this particular home improvement because I'm not good at working in small spaces. So he kicked me out, today. Fun! I ran to the Big City (Jackson) and roamed around Target and my favorite garden center. I haven't found a corner where I can grow a hibiscus, yet (two attempts, two failures), but look at this! Who wouldn't love to have this kind of beauty outside their home? I think I'll try again, soon.


Apparently, people don't normally carry their cameras into Target; I got a few funny looks. It was kind of fun. I loved this little display:



It made me think . . . You know a 3-dog night? When it's so cold you need 3 dogs to keep you warm? This display had me thinking sometimes we have a 3-Buddha day. When it's 3 times as difficult finding tranquility. Which is probably a totally goofy thought but it leads, of course, to an update on the reading.

I'm back to The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking, reading about focusing positive thoughts and meditating to get rid of a negative thought track, an idea which appeals to me greatly. Having the spouse home messed up the time I planned to use to meditate, but I spent a few minutes alone and just being quiet to get a good start on the day. Author Christopher Hansard talks about times his teacher and he have used focused positive thoughts to stop a violent person, nearby. Hmm. I tried focusing my thoughts to get a left-lane hog to move on the highway, but it didn't work and it made my head hurt. Anyway, he says, "Don't do that, except in special situations." Okay, sorry, sorry.

I dipped into Start Late, Finish Rich - probably about 50 pages worth; I'm still far from completing the book, which is nutty because it's a quick read, but there you have it. The most recent tidbit I've picked up from it is his concept for investing: your life should be exciting; your investments should be boring. He has a little pie chart describing how to split your investments and I like this part of the book very much. It's slightly dull reading, but I like the concept.

Also added to my current reads is The Sex Lives of Cannibals, a travel memoir which is at times horrifying (the living conditions on a remote island) and consistently funny. The author, J. Maarten Troost, has a great sense of humor and the pages are flying. I am loving this book.

We watched an episode of Firefly (an entire series on DVD, checked out from the library), last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite cliche, but we're easily entertained - all three of us love sci-fi and this series (which I assume was short-lived, as the case says "The Complete Series") has plenty of action and humor. Unfortunately, the kiddo likes watching episode after episode on his computer and has absconded with the entire set. So, I guess I'll need to do some laundry in order to watch a bit during the daylight hours. Folding time is my only TV time - we have no cable or satellite service and I wiggle a pair of bunny ears to watch my one weekly show: House, M.D. We don't eat hamburger, either. Huh. Weirdos.

Sending positive thoughts to one and all.

17 comments:

  1. *happy dance*

    SOOO glad you're lovin' The Sex Lives of Cannibals. It made me cackle.

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  2. Bless your husband's heart! House jobs are huge (even the "little" ones like preparing dinner, nightly, and doing laundry). Our house needs some attention too, and we are gearing up for some redecorating, but after the rape Expo gave us in redoing our bathrooms two years ago it's requiring a lot of trust on my part to start the kitchen. Even with another firm. Anyway, I'm glad you could get out, and I wouldn't think you're weird for taking pictures at Target. Pictures of real life are the best. I admire your gardening skills; when I asked my husband what would be the best plant to get for my desk at school he said, "Silk." My son does imitations of a plant gasping, "Water! Water!" while he clutches his neck.

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  3. Thanks for the positive thoughts.

    I like the idea of a 3 Buddha day. I think I'm having one today. I'm culling my bookstacks today and putting some away in the garage to make room in that closet I mentioned the other day. Trying to decide which ones to box up is making me a little nutso.

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  4. Andi,

    It's loads of fun! I was laughing out loud, last night and trying to shut up so everyone could sleep. LOL I love that! So glad you reviewed it so I'd move it up a couple notches on the TBR!!!

    Bellezza,

    You had me laughing out loud about the plants. I'm not such a terrific gardener, but I try. Each year, I add a new plant or two and see what happens!!

    We've never hired anyone for any work on the house, apart from having the roots of a Mimosa tree ground up to get it to just go away. And, neither of us are very good at DIY, so things happen slowly around this house. But, I've been happy with what we've accomplished, so far - reflooring and painting. Maybe someday we'll have a normal house without any spots where flooring has been ripped out or doors are missing. LOL

    Kookie,

    That's a rough job! I wish you strength and I'm sending more positive thoughts your way!!! And, congrats on the Thinking Blogger nomination. I felt so awful about just choosing five bloggers that I took that post down.

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  5. I totally enjoyed The Sex Lives of Cannibals. I think I woke my husband up one night laughing while reading in bed.

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  6. Lisa Jean,

    It's definitely a laugh-out-loud funny book. Poor hubbies. What they put up with! :)

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  7. I wish you hadn't taken it down, Bookfool, I went back to see who your nominees were so I wouldn't repeat and couldn't find it! There were no hard feelings, believe me. Five is too few.

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  8. Like I told Andi, I think I would read Sex Lives just for the name! Glad you are enjoying it. Of course, I think I might be a bit embarrassed to actually request it at the library!!

    I got the box set of Firefly for my birthday. I'm totally a late-comer to it. I watched the movie Serenity and fell in love!

    House is SO one of my favorites!!

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  9. Kookie,

    I felt kind of uncomfortable with the Thinking Blogger thing from the beginning, so it wasn't just the fact that I felt bad that you seemed so sad. Nat of In Spring it is the Dawn and I talked it over - we both felt the same and both took down our posts. Yeah, five is not enough - just like too few books to take to an island; too few great blogs to list. :) I don't think you duplicated any of my nominations.

    Stephanie,

    I ordered my copy of Sex Lives from Paperback Swap. Nope, not something I'd probably ask for!!!! It's great, though, and I'd have hated to miss it. :)

    Because we don't have cable or satellite, I'm in the dark ages and hadn't even heard of Firefly till I happened across it at the library. I just love it. It's too bad the series didn't continue.

    We seem to have a lot in common! House is the greatest.

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  10. I love the occasional DIY project. Maybe it's a guy thing. I occasionally like to tackle a big project just for the satisfaction of having it done and knowing that I did it ;)

    I love that Buddha planter! I may have to make a trip to target. What's planted in it? It looks like aloe or a cactus. Can't really tell.

    Firefly is tied for my favorite series ever! It's such a great show. It gets better as they go on...starts off kinda cheesy. By the end of the series you'll be craving more, but unfortunately, there is no more. There is however a movie called Serenity that you can rent that ties up alot of the story lines. As a mental health counselor, I particularly like River. She's great!

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  11. I knew Andi would chime in about The Sex Lives of Cannibals! ;) I keep meaning to snag a copy at the library. I think Rod would enjoy it, too.

    We tried to watch Firefly but only made it through the first episode. Have you seen the new Battlestar Gallactica? Hmm, I think I may have already mentioned this when I commented on a book cover character that reminded me of Starbuck. Anyhow, it's a great sci-fi series, too. Other favorite series have been Deadwood, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and Foyle's War.

    Hey, send some positive thoughts north for some warmer weather, please! :)

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  12. Chris,

    I think it just depends on the person, whether DIY is their thing. I have a friend who redid the interior of an older home in Wisconsin; her husband wouldn't have anything to do with the project! My dad tended to hire people. I do some, but I'm pretty incompetent, unfortunately. I did a lot of painting and wallpaper stripping when we moved into this house, though, and that turned out quite well. I'm less useful now that I can't climb a ladder.

    The Buddhas had plastic plants in them. I'm not sure if they're really big enough for much. Maybe an air fern or some kind of cactus/succulent would work if you could get the plastic junk out? They're awful cute, aren't they? :)

    We'll be looking for Serenity. I've been piling up laundry so I can watch more of Firefly; kiddo already finished it! That first episode is definitely a bit cheesy, but that's often true when they're setting things up and we really enjoyed it. I wish they'd continued. I take it River is authentic, as far as reaction to trauma?

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  13. Les,

    :) about Andi. Her review got me - had to bump it up the stacks. It's a fun book and quite fascinating, too.

    If you mentioned the new Battlestar Gallactica, I missed it. I'll look for that one at the library; they're getting in a lot of series, lately. Cool. Now, if they could just get in a slightly better book variety . . .

    It's cold outside, here!!! David said we're actually supposed to have a light freeze on Monday. Weird! But, it'll be back to hot in no time, so I'm just eating it up. It would be a lot more fun if the migraine would go away, but I'm not letting it stop me. Too much fun planting without sweating heavily and getting munched by mosquitoes!!!

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  14. River is somewhat authentic as a person with trauma and paranoid schizophrenia. They've dressed it up a little bit, but it's one of the more authentic portrayals of that disorder that I've seen.

    I have to get me one of those little Buddha planters to add to my collection. Too cool!

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  15. Cool. I'm going to go watch some Firefly and fold. :)

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  16. We SO take hibiscus for granted here...they're everywhere!! You may want to try hibicus tea if you can find it in the herbal tea section - really delicious.

    I loved Firefly when it was on...pity it lasted just one seaon. You should rent Serenity next. It's the 2hr movie summation of the series. Good stuff that.

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  17. Indigo,

    Hibiscus is kind of prevalent here, too, but I haven't found the right place for one, yet. We're extremely heavily shaded by two giant oak trees and they like light. But, my best corner for light also gets baking hot, so I need things that are drought-resistant on that corner. I've got an idea, though. We'll see what happens. :)

    I am loving Firefly and definitely going to look for Serenity!!

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