Just one day early

I decided to post the Bear of Friday on Thursday this week, just because she's so cute.

It's definitely spring here -- highs in the low 70s, a snowy drift of white pear-tree blossoms across the lawn at work and my blue car is now yellow from the pollen. It looks like a giant sneeze, to me.

But I cannot complain. My sister's still getting snow at her house and I never saw a single flake this year.

Two years

For mom.

Junk

Now I know how it feels to live like hoarders do -- picking my way along paths that wind among the boxes, bags and piles of stuff everywhere.

I can't even spell the sound my brain is making. I HATE all this stuff unorganized and not put away in my house. I wish I could just magically get everything done in a snap.

But the azaleas under my bedroom window are blooming, some friends helped me get all my stuff (more stuff!) from the condo yesterday and I was almost able to make coffee this morning, except I forgot where I put the filters. Well, not really forgot, just couldn't find the bag. So, "lost" might be a better word. I'm sure they will turn up a week from now, after I've bought more.

I don't even have anything else timely to talk about. The house is all I do right now.

Sprung

Happy first day of Spring.

Full house

Amazing. I would never have thought I would own enough stuff to fill a three-bedroom house. But it is full and now needs to be organized.

Jen came down from North Carolina on Sunday and she's helping unpack, which is awesome. Everything really does seem to go twice as fast. Plus, we had to move a large piece of furniture out of the living room last night so the painters can get in there today and change my walls from mostly sandy-colored to a tasteful and nonthreatening cocoa-and-cream combo (yep, I got a great deal and I am taking it), and I could not have done that without her.

I could have tried, but I'd be trapped underneath that dresser right now.

The painters said they want to finish the living room and dining room today, which will be great. I can start hanging pictures this weekend, and it will feel more like home. Well, after the pictures and after I find the power cord for my CD player and rock some Cheap Trick for my -- and my neighbors' -- listening pleasure.

Tally of things broken in the move and so far discovered: One cheap red wine glass.

This had nothing to do with me, but I still wanna brag about our paper for a minute. We won a truckload of awards from the S.C. Press Association recently, including the Presidents' Cup and general excellence among papers of our size, and the difficult-to-win public service prize.

The Komodos of Friday!

Every now and then, I like to switch things up. That's just how I am.

These are baby Komodo Dragons. Like all babies, they are cute. But these have poisonous saliva, as Phil Bronstein will remember forever.

Not to be messed with. No taunting. Just for looking. From behind Komodo-proof glass.

Stuff

It's been nine months since I've seen my stuff, but the movers arrived today and I got to sit on the old magic couch again. Ahhhhh. Not as ass-tacular as the new one will be when it arrives Saturday, but I love that old couch. It will be great for watching TV. If I ever get a TV.

If you get a minute, you should check out my talented friend Scott's talented parents' art site. They retired and decided they are artists, and are now making all manner of cool things, from yard art to mosaics and furniture, jewelry and art glass.

Pretty, pretty.

The weather is getting so nice here. 70-72 and sunny, cool at night. Lovely. Everyone says March and April are the nicest months here. I'm just happy to see green lawns and some blooming flowers again.

Painting is not fun

I hoped to fall into this zen-like state and just paint, paint, paint tonight. But that didn't happen. And now I don't like the color I chose for my living rom. It's just not right.

But I did find a handy-man. He's going to come over at lunch Thursday and let me know if he can hang the new chandelier and check out the kitchen cabinets, which were obviously hung for someone who's 3-foot-6, not 5-foot-6.

Also, when I went to pick up a print I had framed yesterday, the framer saw my Cheap Trick license plate frame and said he had some photos taken here at the House of Blues a few years ago, and he thought I should have them, so he called me today and said I could come pick them up, and he gave me this already-framed pair of pictures, one of Robin and one of Rick, with a guitar pick between them. Nice. I loved how he felt he needed to point out Rick's mike stand lined with picks. "Because he was throwing those into the crowd that night." Wow -- because THAT never happened at any other show. Also, he felt like I owed him a hug, because apparently my profuse thanks and admiration of the pictures were not enough. People here like to touch, a lot.

Betsey the dolphin slayer

The dolphins no longer frolic on my blue bathroom walls. Betsey defeated the above sea life with a satisfied "Fuck you, happy dolphin," about half a bottle of fabric softener and some kind of pokey-bladey tool that looked like it could really mess you up. Or at least leave you looking like someone had performed too many TB tests on you.

We also took down the chandelier from the Titanic, and put together the new one, but didn't feel confident enough in the stability of the junction box to hang it. It's kind of heavy. It's kind of a handyman job.

Found a paint color, tried a color wash on the living room wall, like it but want to go back and look again to make sure, maybe try a couple of other washing methods... don't know. Have to stare some more. Got the living room masked off, the brass switch plates down, the ugly wooden plates in my bathroom are down and holes patched.

Feels like progress is being made. But I would really like to get the living room painted today. We'll see.

Awww, the school board

Here's a picture of downtown Aurora, Illinois. This is taken not far from where I lived then -- maybe a block or two. Though I don't remember the riverfront looking as nice when I lived there.

I've been filling in on the education beat this week, and it reminds me of when I covered the school board in Illinois. In a strange way, I miss them. They weren't the most miss-able people, either.

I was thinking fondly of my town council members in Oswego and Yorkville, too. I even looked up their city Web sites, but almost everyone on those boards is different now, of course, which then made me realize I left there almost 10 years ago.

Damn. Time really does seem to go by faster the older I get.

My belongings are on their way from California tomorrow, and allegedly will arrive next week, and Betsey's coming over this weekend to help me choose paint and get some painting done. She has a wallpaper remover, too, which is great, because, of course, the room I most want to change, the blue bathroom, is not going to surrender its border without a fight.

But I will be victorious. That bathroom will be a different color after this weekend. I just don't know which color, yet.

Possible tornadoes?

We're expecting high winds, hail and possible tornadoes this afternoon. Why can't I be out storm chasing? Well, maybe I will be, but for work, not for fun.

Tornadoes could mean water spouts on the ocean. That would be cool to see. As long as no one gets hurt, of course.

What I'm going to miss when I move out of the condo: Seeing the ocean every day. What I'm not going to miss: Drunken college students screaming "South Carolina, fuck yeah!" at 3 a.m. in the courtyard below me. On a Tuesday morning. They were here all weekend, hanging out on the balconies of the condos around me, burping as loud as they could, playing drinking games and being, well, drunken college kids. Not that I've never played a game of Quarters. But I thought they'd go home Sunday night.

You know you're getting old when you can't tolerate some 3 a.m. noise anymore. Damn kids.

Extreme weather

Hope everyone in NW Arkansas is OK! And I hope Shupe got some awesome pictures! We're supposed to get your extreme weather tomorrow. I have to work late, so maybe I'll try my luck with weather photos before I go in.

This morning the clouds were rolling in from out at sea as the sun came up, and it's damp-cool. I thought maybe the mourning doves that hang out on the roof across from my place might have found some shelter somewhere, but they were there, as they always are. The three of them huddle on the roof peak starting about 6:30 and they stay for about an hour, hooting and cooing. It's a pretty nice way to wake up.

Furniture buying...

...is not as much fun as I thought it might be. It's actually kind of stressful. There's the looking at things I like, the averting my eyes from the really ugly furniture, the mocking of the sofas with built-in cupholders like you're riding in a minivan in your living room, the staring, the trying to imagine furniture in the house, the trying to imagine whether I'm going to still like it two years from now, the lusting after furniture that won't fit or will not still be funky in a good way in a couple of years, the whole existential "what's my style" question to be pondered... Exhausting.

But I got, in my housemate-to-be's words, an "ass-tastic" couch. I prefer "ass-tacular." The point is, neither one of us wanted to get up off the furniture in the showroom, we were so comfortable. I hoped maybe they'd just let us sleep there on the couches last night, but apparently, they are not cool with that.

Oh, well. Pretty soon I'll be able to lie on my couch whenever I want.

The strangest part of the experience (besides the adultness)? The manager who foisted fabric protection on me by telling me A.) that the amazing protection was the whole reason she worked there (right); and B.) about her dog, Mr. Cuddles, who would have ruined everything she owns if not for the fabric protection and how she needs it on her rugs, too. Thanks, that's way more than I need to know. Mr. Cuddles's owner could not grasp the concept of "no means no." She wore me down and defeated me. And now I feel a little resentful.

Equally as strange? When the saleswoman called me "sweetie Lorena," like that was my whole name, then hugged me. It's a couch. There's no need to touch me because of it. And also, if something goes wrong with the couch, we're not going to be friends. We're not going to be hugging. She also wished me a "blessed" evening.

The paint is still an issue -- do I go with a nice neutral and just use color as accents? Or do I go bold? Can I live with it for a long time? Because I don't want to be painting every year or so. And the questions and staring begin again...