kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • I Need Painting Advice!

    Since I first laid eyes on our house, I loved it but I knew there were a few things we’d want to change to make it our own. One major thing is that the living room and breakfast room have wood paneling that make the space seem a lot darker than it is, especially since it matches the wood floors. I like THAT it is wood instead of drywall, because I think that once we paint over it the wood will add a lot of character. But the painting is the part I’m stuck at.

    I finally got a painter over here today for an estimate. David’s parents and his brother both used the same painting company for their houses so I figured it would be a good one to start with. First, let me show you what we want painted. Here are some pictures of the living room, breakfast room, and kitchen. (Please keep in mind that I haven’t done any decorating at all yet, and we have not received our new furniture either!)

    living room
    The living room

    living room2
    Another view of the living room

    breakfast room
    The breakfast room with a view into the utility room

    kitchen
    The kitchen

    Ideally I want to paint over all the wood, including the ceiling beams and cabinets. There are other rooms I’d like painted too, but we can do those ourselves. I thought that all this wood is the job for a professional.

    Here’s what the painter said: to paint over all the wood, including the ceiling, it would be $4475. When I heard that, I was so downhearted, and still am. We have only $2000 escrowed for paint, and can’t really afford to go over that right now. I knew it would be expensive, but I wasn’t counting on it being THAT expensive.

    So I’m wondering what our options are. It seems crazy for us to attempt the job ourselves, but is that possible? Is this a fair quote, or do you think we could get it done cheaper? I’m not giving up yet, because I know that painting would make a huge difference in our house. I welcome any advice at all!

  • #97. Buy Another Leash and Walk the Dogs Simultaneously

    I’ve let my dog Cleo get fat. There’s no getting around it; she’s gained a lot of weight since I got her a year and a half ago. This is what she looked like then:

    dscf1096

    And this is what she looks like now:

    dscf2094

    She’s a good couple inches rounder, and look at all that back fat! It’s embarrassing. Back then she could run 5 miles with me no problem, and now when I try to take her on a run she can barely make it around the neighborhood. (Full disclosure: I can’t run 5 miles anymore either.) I chalk this change up to two things: 1) I live with David now, and one of his favorite things is giving dogs treats. He does it frequently. 2) Eddie lives with us now, and somewhere along the way one of the leashes broke, so we can’t walk them at the same time and it’s too hard to walk them separately, and I know that’s a lame excuse but that’s what happened, OK?

    Honestly, it was the leash that was the main thing holding me back from walking them. So when I went to HEB the other day I picked one up, along with a couple of choke collars. Turns out I bought the wrong size collars, but I still walked them anyway!

    dogs-after-walk
    Tired girls after their walk.

    So this was an easy one to check off the list of goals, and now hopefully we can start taking lots more walks!

  • shoo fly

    The other day there was a fly buzzing around in our bathroom. My first reaction was to be annoyed and swat at it, but then I remembered the scene in The Hiding Place where Corrie is locked up in solitary confinement for weeks and comes to regard the ants in the cell as her friends. She was just grateful to have a living being nearby, no matter how diminuitive. So I started to think of the fly as my companion, and it made me less annoyed.

    Today, I saw the fly’s smushed body on the bathroom floor. I was sad. Just a few days ago he was happily buzzing around.

    When I told David this story he admitted to me that he was the one who killed the fly. He apologized to me, saying that he didn’t know he was killing my friend. I guess I forgive him.

  • 101 in 1001: The List

    I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
    ~Helen Keller

    Here is my list of 101 goals in 1001 days. To find out more about the project, read other people’s lists, and learn tips to starting your own, visit the Day Zero website.

    This specific post will not be updated, but I have added a link to a page above where I will update as I complete tasks. I’ll also be posting about them as I go, and that page will have links to those posts. Make sense? Great! Here we go!

    Start date: April 22, 2009
    End date: January 18, 2012

    If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~J.R.R. Tolkein

    FOOD
    1. Shop at a farmer’s market.
    2. Cook dinner once a week for a month. (0/4)
    3. Cook something with my Crockpot.
    4. Be a vegetarian for a month.
    5. Make David’s lunch three times a week for a month.
    6. Compile a recipe book of go-to meals.

    Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” ~Plato

    FITNESS
    7. Do a bike race.
    8. Run another 5k.
    9. Unlock all the exercises in Wii Fit.
    10. Do a Wii Fit body test once a week for twelve weeks. (0/12)
    11. Buy a nice pedometer and wear it at work.
    12. Buy ankle weights and start wearing them at work twice a week.

    “It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before.” ~Jane Austen

    HEALTH & BEAUTY
    13. Spend an entire day at the spa.
    14. Buy three new pairs of heels. (0/3)
    15. Drink 64 oz. of water a day for a week.
    16. Find the perfect mascara.
    17. Get my teeth whitened.
    18. Learn how to style my hair.
    19. Try microdermabrasion.

    “Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. They’re the only things we can pay.” ~Oscar Wilde

    FINANCIAL
    20. Pay off my credit card bill.
    21. Put at least $1000 in my IRA.
    22. Make a habit of paying extra principal on the mortgage each month.
    23. Transfer my old 401k.
    24. Implement a system for David and I to save our change.

    “The Internet? Is that thing still around?” ~Homer Simpson

    COMPUTER AND INTERNET
    25. Back up all of my computer files.
    26. Learn CSS/HTML/PHP well enough to design and run my website independently.
    27. Set up an eBay seller profile.
    28. Do a video blog post.
    29. Spend a week without internet, except email once a day.

    “The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.” ~Clara Barton

    NURSING
    30. Become oncology certified.
    31. Take the charge nurse class.
    32. Take the preceptor class.
    33. Get promoted.
    34. Get ACLS certified.
    35. Thoroughly research nurse practitioner programs in the area and decide whether or not to enroll.

    “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” ~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

    CULTURE
    36. Watch all of the movies that have won Best Picture. (33/82 – List)
    37. Track down this classical piece by Mendelssohn that I used to own but lost, and only know the melody to.
    38. Read 5 Pulitzer Prize winning books that I haven’t read. (0/5)
    39. Read 5 books of David’s recommendation. (0/5)
    40. Read all the books I own but haven’t read.
    41. Attend a Messiah sing-a-long.
    42. Learn conversational Spanish.
    43. Learn the clarinet solo in “Desperate For Love” by Over the Rhine.
    44. See another live musical.

    “I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighborhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    HOUSTON
    45. Eat Sunday brunch at Birraporetti’s again.
    46. Walk the Kemah boardwalk.
    47. Go to another Dynamo game.
    48. Go to a Texans game.
    49. Drive through River Oaks at Christmas.
    50. Go to Dickens on the Strand.
    51. Visit Moody Gardens and do the penguin encounter.
    52. See the Beer Can House.
    53. Visit the Orange Show monument.

    “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” ~Jack Kerouac

    TRAVEL
    54. Drive down the California coast.
    55. Change passport to married name.
    56. Go saltwater fishing with David.
    57. Take David to Tabor’s homecoming.
    58. Stay in a bed & breakfast.
    59. Take David to visit my aunt and uncle in South Carolina in springtime to see their dogwoods and azaleas.

    “No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.” ~L. Frank Baum

    HOME
    60. Get the house painted.
    61. List all unwanted books, CDs, and DVDs on eBay and/or Amazon.
    62. Sell/give away/donate all the books I don’t need or want.
    63. Plant flowers in the backyard.
    64. Get patio furniture.
    65. Have the locks changed so they all open with a single key.
    66. Get all the electrical outlets working again.
    67. Build a pretty and well-organized home office.
    68. Obtain a vacuum cleaner.
    69. Refinish my old desk chair.
    70. Get the drywall in the bathroom ceiling replaced.
    71. Buy 5 original/handmade art/craft pieces from local creators to display in our home. (0/5)

    “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~Marcel Proust

    RELATIONSHIPS
    72. Write David a list of 100 things I love about him.
    73. Babysit my new nephew.
    74. Get pregnant.
    75. Send 10 ‘just because’ cards. (0/10)
    76. Hand write a letter to my Australian pen pal.
    77. Host a game night.
    78. Host a book club meeting.
    79. Send out timely Christmas cards.
    80. Attend my 10-year high school reunion.

    “A boy doesn’t have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn’t like pie when he sees there isn’t enough to go around.” ~Edward H. Howe

    GIVE BACK
    81. Donate blood once a quarter.
    82. Register to be a bone marrow donor.
    83. Start using reusable shopping bags.
    84. Send Mary, the child we sponsor in Uganda, a picture of us.
    85. Make an achievable plan of steps to take to have a more environmentally friendly life.

    “Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~Beatrix Potter

    BE CREATIVE
    86. Write a “This I Believe” essay and submit it to NPR.
    87. Complete NaBloPoMo.
    88. Make and send birthday cards to everyone on my birthday list for three months.
    89. Make an inspiration board.
    90. Have a custom stamp made.
    91. Take a sewing class.

    “Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You.’” ~C.S. Lewis

    SPIRITUAL
    92. Memorize Philippians 3.
    93. Memorize Romans 8.
    94. Fast for 24 hours and evaluate.
    95. Be a regular at a women’s Bible study.
    96. Complete a Beth Moore Bible study with homework (on my own with downloaded sessions or live).

    “Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!” ~The King and I

    ET CETERA
    97. Buy another leash and walk the dogs simultaneously.
    98. Get new windshield wipers for my truck.
    99. Become a true fan of the Texans by watching every game and discussing with David.
    100. Complete a New York Times crossword puzzle without help.
    101. Beat Mario Galaxy on Wii.

    For everything I don’t complete on this list, I will add $50 to my IRA.

  • case of the mondays

    Well my original goal was to finish my list of goals last night so as to post it bright and early this morning, but when 8 p.m. rolled around and I was still searching online for inspiration and yawning quite a bit I decided to put it off until today.

    Then I had about a 20 minute lull at work this morning where I thought I would be able to finish it, until I got slammed with orders to give blood and chemo, and a patient is pulling her NG tube out, and needed a CT scan, and oh by the way we have a new admission for you! and I remembered that, right, today is Monday. Nothing happens in an orderly way.

    I ended up leaving work an hour and a half late, and right now I’m just so happy to be home, and that Dancing With the Stars is on. I’ve been looking forward to it all day, and I know that’s kind of pathetic but it’s so nice to have SOMETHING good to look forward to on a Monday, and by the way have I mentioned how much I love Shawn Johnson? She is just the cutest.

    So if it’s OK with you, and it better be, I’m just going to sit here and be a bum tonight. I’ll do my best to post my list tomorrow!