Poking my Head Up--Currently....

I am...

Reading:  Nada.  This is extremely troubling.  Reading has always been my escape, a great joy, and literally, my hobby.  These days, I read the Washington Post on my phone, the occasional magazine, blog posts, and The Atlantic.  My books are all packed away for the remodel, and reading on my kindle is a PIA.  I need to stop whining, dig out my kindle from the nightstand, and charge the damn thing.

Listening to:  you're going to love this....a new favorite on Amazon Music is "Relax to the Max with Mega Hits (Piano and Cello Duets)"  The title is hilarious, but I really love the music.  It is popular music arranged for piano and cello--my favorite is Adele's Hello, and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.  If you have Amazon Music, check it out.

Loving:  Working at home during the remodel--I'd be a ball of anxiety with people in the house and me being 45 minutes away at the office.  

Thinking: I can't wait until the remodel is done.  The disarray and "undone-ness" of this process is so freakin' hard, and triggers my anxiety disorder in all kinds of ways.  It's unpleasant as hell, and there's nothing to be done for it but endure until it's done.

Feeling:  Exhausted with a touch of excitement.  The remodel is consuming my life and a lot of my feelings right now.    

Celebrating:   The stuff that IS done.  The dining room, kitchen, front hall, and living room are completely painted and tiled.  

What's left?  Tiling the two 14 x 14 bedrooms, a small hall, and the office (12 x 12).  All the grout and all the baseboard (tile with profile edging).  Paint and trim on two sets of french doors and two bedroom doors.  Trim around the 10 foot front door, and the trim around the bottom of the cabinets.  Oh, yeah, and painting the cabinets (saving that for March).

Grateful for:  A job.  A home.  A full pantry and freezer.   

Weather:   Monsoon season.  I crack up every time I say it, but it IS actually a real weather pattern this time of year.  The Southwest Monsoon.  We had rain every day last week, lots of thunder, clouds, it was cool, and rain, rain, glorious rain!!  Hopefully more is coming--we get the bulk of our water (a whopping 8 inches a year) this time of year.  

Enjoying:  Re-watching Downton Abbey.  Perfect escapism for a time like this.

A quote I want to share:  “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you'll ever know.” — A.A. Milne

Sunday Stealing--Movie Challenge

Play here.

1. Last movie you watched.  The Vast of Night, on Amazon Prime.  I thought this was a little gem.  Cool, retro, and weird.

2. Last movie you watched in a theater.  I loved this great whodunit.  The acting was top shelf.

3. Film you’ve always wanted to watch, but haven’t.  Roman Holiday.  Just not a fan of black and white.  

4. Favorite movie soundtrack.  Memoirs of a Geisha.  Favorite John Williams soundtrack ever (and that's saying something--I love everything the man has done.

5. Your favorite movie duo.  Korg and Miek from Thor Ragnarok.  "Wanted to start a revolution, but didn't print enough pamplets."  Cracks.me.up.everytime.  Why?  Not a clue.

  

o:p>

6. Movie you like because of its story.  John Wick.  Yeah, it's hyper-violent, and I always have to start after the dog scene, but the world-building in this movie is fantastic.  Keanu is perfect, and Michael Nyqvist (RIP) is evil cool personified.

7. A film that disappointed you.  Oh, how I wanted to like Guardians of the Galaxy II.  I loved the first one, Chris Pratt was great, I loved the colors and the ship, and Rocket and Groot.  It was just cool and different from every sci-fi superhero movie I'd seen up until then.  Shouldn't have gone back to the well.  You can never get that first time back.

8. Favorite scene from a movie.  A Few Good Men is my favorite courtroom drama, and the scene at the end is Jack at his scene-chewing best, and Tom Cruise has more life in him than he sure does these days.  Great, great scene.

9. Your guilty pleasure movie.  The Birdcage, with Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, and Gene Hackman.  Hilarious.  Hank Azaria is a scene stealer.

Start at

10. A movie you keep going back to.  Contact with Jodie Foster.  I've been to both of the major locations in the film--the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Very Large Array here in New Mexico.  

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11. A quote you admire from your favorite movie.  This one, from the aforementioned Contact, is a classic, and so true.

12. A movie based on a true story.  Hidden Figures.  Outstanding acting, casting, music, etc.  And in real life--these women were heroes.

13. Your favorite actor/actress.  I can't even go there.  There are so many.  

14. A sequel you’re not a fan of.  The whole 2^nd set of Star Wars movies collectively.  Ugggh.

15. A film you know by heart.  Serenity.  I am a Firefly fan from way back, and never thought this movie would get made.  You can't stop the signal, though.  Summer Glau as River has always been my favorite character in the Firefly universe, and she doesn't disappoint here.  Like one of the YouTube commenters said "don't mess with a ballerina trained in martial arts".  Enjoy.

16. Your favorite opening scene.  The tracking shot from The Player.  That whole movie was super fun to watch, and eminently re-watchable so you could catch all the easter eggs.

Opening scene from The Player (1992) from Single Shot Film Festival on Vimeo.

17. A film that was based on a book and was executed well.  The Devil Wears Prada by Laura Weisberger.  Meryl Streep was such a blast.

18. A comedy film.  The aforementioned The Birdcage is one of my favorites.  Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is right up there--Michael Caine and Steven Martin?!  How could you go wrong.

19. TV series you’re binging on now.  I just bought Mad Men on Vudu, and starting and epic re-watch/binge a couple of days ago.  The writing, the stories, the clothes, the production design, the music, the acting—everything about that show just does it for me.

20. A TV series you think is underrated.  Bodyguard.  Caught this British show a while back...it was a gem.

Mental Health Day

Geez, this has been a bizarre month.  It all culminated in this morning, when I woke up at my usual 4:30, and just said "nope" to going to work.  Even though going to work these days means going to the dining room.  I'm fried, people.

We refinanced our home this month, and since the appraisal was jaw-dropping (which is why we decided to take the plunge in the first place), were able to take enough money to get out of credit card debt, do a major remodel, and keep the same payment.  Mother-effing Yay!!!   

That lasted about 5 minutes.  

Paid off the cards and cut them up.  Didn't close the accounts, but it's back to cash for me.

Decided on what we were going to do--which is paint the entire interior, remove the 15 year old carpet/baseboards and tile everything except the two bathrooms (the tile there is a nice contrast, behind closed doors, and is in perfect shape, I didn't see the point).  1750 sq feet of paint, 1500 sq ft of porcelain tile.  

Ordered the tile.  Thanks, pandemic, Lowe's has no clue when it will be here.  Was supposed to be here today, but no call so far, so I'm thinking not.

Found the contractor.  What a stressful thing THAT was.  4 different people in my house...I don't like people in my house, so this whole process is terribly uncomfortable.  Chose the middle bid, then hyperventilated for an hour.  Set the start date for July 13, assuming the tile is here by then.

Hyperventilated some more.

About this time, boss lady calls and says "hey, we hired a new nurse, can you orient her at your house for the next .... oh.... 6 weeks?".  Since I'm up for a promotion I really couldn't say no, so now I have another stranger in my disaster of a pre-remodel house all day every day.  We will be working from the patio once the work starts, that should be fun.

Started packing up the house.  Nine boxes of books.  12 boxes of Hub's collectibles.  Family photos, DSAs (damn sit arounds, i.e. various decoratey things).  All the pictures off the walls.  Move all the bookcases into the (thank GOD, it's enormous) master bathroom, all the boxes into the garage.  De-bedroom the spare bedroom.  Have haulage dude from down the street haul old bed, mattresses, etc., etc. to the dump.   I will have a home office again, yay! (We moved home from the hospital permanently just before all this started, so like beginning of June).

It feel like we're moving.  It is giving me a minor-to-middling freakout, the whole "feeling like we're moving" and the animals are un-fucking-happy, to say the least.  The cats especially, who have decided to band together, and communally poop everywhere except their litter boxes.

At least the floors will, at some point, be impervious to everything.  Sigh.

I am dreading like a mutha pulling out this carpet and baseboard, then prepping the floor.  This is our "sweat equity", because it is such a nasty job it would have added 1000s to the price.  

So, to wrap up, I woke up this morning and just.could.not deal with working, a stranger in my house, school, house, etc. etc. etc.

I am taking a mental health day, ya'll.  I need a mental health year, but this will have to do.