How things used to be

I didn't do a lot of decorating when I moved in. In fact, I still have done a lot of decorating. Here are some shots. The window blind cost about $2 at Menard's and worked well. You can also see how sparse it was in the overhead shot. The couch and television were tucked into the den and stayed that way until I got cable. The only hookup is in the corner so I really didn't have a choice. I'd really like one in the middle wall between the door and the windows. I suppose I could run one up through the soffit, but that's beyond my capabilities.

Construction

One of the neat things about buying new construction is getting to watch it be built. In my case eight months elapsed from the time I put down the reservation to when builders broke ground. Then it was another ten months before I moved in - what torture!

Condo Progress

Here are a few shots of the building in progress. I'm going to print these and put them up somewhere. That will be neat.

I embedded the photos with Adobe's new Photoshop Express.

New Toy!

I bought a new television, a 32-inch Sharp Aquos. I was leaning toward the Samsung that my parents and MattT have, but looking at them both in stores I decided I like this one better. Next up I'm going to get a DVD recorder, which my parents also have. I've never been a big fan of them, but after setting up my parent's I decided they are pretty neat to have.

I can also hook up my computer, which I totally enjoy.

Obviously, I don't have much of a "set up" here. The only cable outlet in my living room/den is in that corner next to the patio doors, so it's the only place I can put a television, so it pretty much necessitates a corner stand. I'm learning that those are hard to find. A non-corner unit would work if I can find one small enough.

You can see the kind of arrangement I have. I'd like to find some sort of swivel, lazy Susan type thing to set the TV on, that way I can just give it a swivel when I move between the couch and the chair. That's how sweet my life is - difficulty is not having a swivel for my LCD-TV when I move from the chair to the couch.

Finally, penetration.

I moved in to my house on December 8, 2006. On February 16, 2008, I finally penetrated my walls. The clock I bought at Ikea. The pictures are of Hedy's dearly departed Kidden, courtesy Hedy De Vine.

Golden Showers

I painted my bathroom a kind of gold color. I call it "Golden Showers."

First Try With a Crock Pot

So this is my first try with a crock pot. People rave about these things, but thus far I am less than impressed. The recipe said 10 minutes for prep time, but that was a bit misleading. First you have to have cooked chicken and noodles, both of which take way longer than 10 minutes to achieve. Also, this is going to sit in the pot for nine hours, why do I have to cook the stuff first? What's going to go on inside that hot pot for nine hours that it can't cook chicken or soften noodles? But I'll withhold judgment until it's done tomorrow morning. If it's good, it looks like it will be enough for work this week.

On another note, my dad and Mel are coming up this weekend to move Mel's daughter. Not move her specifically, she's an average-sized person who can move herself, they're just going to help her move her stuff into a new apartment. With that comes a chance for me to use the big van, so I'm looking at bed frames. I want one with enough space underneath it that I can store things down there. IKEA appears to have some that are of a decent price and fashion. HOM looks like it doesn't service full beds, only king and queen. My bed takes up enough room as it is, so I'm definitely not upgrading to a queen-sized bed. It's just me here.

Any frame with a board that comes up at the end is a no-go, as is anything with a giant headboard. If I don't find anything I like, I'll wait. No sense rushing.

Note to Target: This would be a good time for you to have all that furniture you sell online in actual Target stores. That way, I could go look at it before I pay a zillion dollars for you to ship it here and then find out I don't really like it.

Here's the recipe for my crock pottery:
3 cups cooked chicken
1.5 cups cottage cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. noodles, cooked, drained
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
.5 cup celery, onion, green pepper, red pepper, Parmesan cheese, chicken broth
1 can mushrooms (I left those out - gross)
2 tbsp butter
.5 tsp thyme

Kitchen Saga

I started the kitchen with a light green, but after the first coat I wasn't happy with it. It was too yellow, sort of that crappy green color from the 1950s. So I went back to the Home Depot and got a new color that I think goes better with the silver and black appliances. It's a rich green, but I like how it came out. The problem, of course, is that it doesn't at all match the living room or den. But the more I think about it, the more I want to change those anyway. In retrospect, I was probably too timid in selecting the colors. Now that I've got the deep colors in the bedroom and this saturated color in the kitchen, the weak colors aren't doing it for me. I don't know when I'll do it. I've got a bag of chips from Target that I'm going to use to pick colors from. It's a perfect match for this green, with some blue and a burnt orange. Inspiration, gotta have it!

[OOPS!] I didn't realize these pictures were posting in such a large size. When I clicked on it I noticed the papers there in the mail slot had some sensitive numbers on it, so I blurred those out.