Barb's Burblings

The difference a foot makes

It's amazing how different a room can look once you've moved the bed a mere foot or so. I was all motivated to rearrange my room last night when I realized that to achieve my goal (not having the bed in a corner--it makes making the bed really inconvenient, among other problems), I only had to move my nightstand to the other side of the bed. So the bed is now about a foot away from the wall. Brilliant! I also moved my files from the plastic filing box they were in to an actual filing cabinet. And it's sad that now I feel that my room looks, like, a million times more grown-up. And yes, I have some weird obsession with having my apartment look like a grown-up lives there. I don't know.

Anyway, now I just wish that I had something to replace my plastic storage bin (which is something like this). Then my bedroom would look totally grown-up! Well, also if I had a headboard. But right now my room is too small for an awesome sleigh bed.

So everyone can see how exciting my life is

Things to do now that I have free time:

1. Dust
2. Vacuum
3. Organize books
4. Get cats' claws trimmed
5. Emission inspection
6. Buy file cabinet
7. Shred old documents
8. Organize 2006 documents
9. Change sheets
10. Rearrange bedroom?
11. Clean bathroom
12. Get film developed
13. Switch out winter and summer clothes? Too soon?

Resurfacing

I haven't totally fallen off the face of the planet; I've just been really busy. March was really a month of insanity--between travel and doing a proofreading job, I've had next to no time to myself. I finally handed in the book and have spent most of the weekend relaxing (and going to a baby shower, which sadly involved no cake). It's been lovely.

The cats have gotten a little clingy after three consecutive weeks of me taking off. It's pretty cute, actually. Except when I'm trying to read the newspaper and both of them decide to lay on it.

The problem with having the excessive busy-ness being over is that now I can't help but think, "Now what?" It's not that I have no plans for the future (Easter, baseball, visiting Ohio once the baby is born, etc.), but it still seems a little blank. Which is why I'm starting to think more about weekend trips to New York and Philly. Whee.

I should've asked whether the heat was screwy then, too

I was innocently sitting in my apartment this afternoon, proofreading (whee!), when a knock came on the door. It totally threw me off--I wasn't expecting anyone and it's not like people ever just drop by. Turns out it was some people who lived in my building in the 70s. It was a couple and a friend of theirs; they couple had lived in my apartment. They walked in and immediately pointed out where their dog had had puppies. It was kind of cute. They paid $110 a month in rent, which is slightly less than what I pay.

It was kind of neat; I've wanted to drop by the places I used to live to see how they look now.

A bit less fun, though, was when the couple mentioned that they had brought their first child home here; the friend helpfully was all, "And he was conceived in that bedroom!" Um, ew. I don't need to know.

Real life trumps television sometimes

With my bizarro schedule of late, at some point I became convinced that all television is in repeats. Yesterday morning I was visiting one of my regular sites and saw a thread for Lost. Was Lost on last night? I thought to myself. Since when does it come on on Wednesdays? I realized that it's been on Wednesdays for quite some time, then moved on. And this morning, I saw that I missed a new episode of Grey's Anatomy as well. Stupid real life, distracting me from television. There should be a rerun of GA tonight, but I should be working on some freelance stuff. Such is life. I can just read the recap of that, too.

I'm sorta tan now

I spent a completely lovely weekend in Ft. Lauderdale with my cousin and his family. I caught two O's games (they won one, they lost one). My boy did fairly well, even with his insanely long hair and scruffiness:

(And notice that he's tagging out David Newhan, formerly of the O's. Apparently when the Mets came to Ft. Lauderdale, the Baltimore press swarmed around Newhan, totally confusing the New York media folk.)

And yay about him signing a multi-year contract with Baltimore! And it included those magical words "no-trade clause," so I have until the end of the 2009 season to snag him.

ANYWAY, I managed to totally burn my legs (because I was wearing shorts, yay!), and yet the sunburn has faded and I'm already back to practically pasty white legs. At least my arms look fairly tan. What's the point of going to Florida if not to get a little sun?

So now I'm back and have already thrown myself into the swing of things. I've been proofing this book for my old job and it's taking up all my spare time. It's been a busy month, between the trip to Ohio, the trip to Florida, and the upcoming Gettysburg weekend. Sure, this freelance work is financing all that, but I'm looking forward to having a little time to sit around the apartment. Even on these trips, I had deadlines looming over my head.

Ah well. Still a great time. And my cousin's son is adorable.

How I know my life is sad...

I was thinking over my schedule for the next couple of weeks, and I got to next Friday, March 16. That seems familiar, I thought to myself. Is it someone's birthday? An anniversary? Nothing sprang to mind, so I started trying to figure out whether maybe it was someone's birthday that I'm not really friends with anymore, or maybe a relative? Nope.

Then it came to me. It's the anniversary of the first time I saw Les Mis. Next Friday will be the 13th anniversary. At least I can no longer remember the date of the second time (which was around a month later; I was seriously obsessed, people). Since then, I've seen it...um...a lot. At least eight times. (Broadway, Broadway, Spokane, Hershey, London, London, DC, Broadway are the ones I can remember.) So now I'm trying to control myself. Besides, it doesn't get really interesting until the students show up, and I don't want to blow $100 on 2/3 of a show.

No, seriously, ask me about the Marius-Enjolras-Grantaire relationship. It's as fascinating as when I talk about John Wilkes Booth!

Now with added crib-building!

I went to Columbus this past weekend to visit my sister for her birthday and baby shower. I flew out via Cleveland, and as we took off, I looked down and thought, "You know, those look like residential neighborhoods, but I don't see any lawns or driveways. It's like houses in an industrial park!" The whole thing struck me as odd, but I promptly forgot about it until I was flying back on my way home. (I should point out that both flights were at night.) I noticed the same thing again. But since it was slightly lighter this trip, I realized..."Hey! I can't see the lawns because they're covered with snow!" I am not the brightest sometimes.

Anyway, the trip itself was very nice. It was weird, because in the back of my mind the whole time was, "This is the last time you're going to see her before she has a baby" (God willing). Our visits are going to be totally different for the next, oh, 18 years or so. And by that point, we'll be old and stuff. But it was nice spending time with Kath and Mom and Robert (and Anya and Max, their dog and cat).

And as a present for those of you who made it to the end of the post...Watch out! Switzerland's on the warpath!