Sep 29 2002
long ramblings on a sunday evening.
This has been the first weekend Husband and I have both been home since mid-August, I think. It’s been an excellent one - we’ve both been super-productive, and have also had time to be Good Consumers and to enjoy each other’s company.
My folks are visiting us over Columbus Day weekend. This marks the first time they’ve seen our house since we moved in over a year ago, and is also the first Parental Visit since Husband’s father came to see us last spring. What with the planning for the wedding this summer and spending at least half our weekends in Maine, and also with our finely honed procrastination skills, our housekeeping has, shall we say, been low on our priority list. The impending company has started a fire under our butts, and we’ve spent much of the weekend trying to make the house vaguely presentable.
Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the Sunroom (thusly dubbed due to the many windows, and also because of the bold yellow paint we decided to put on the walls) cleaning out all the papers and such that I’d let accumulate over the summer. This room also doubles as my computer room, and I managed to toss enough stuff and to rearrange the furniture in order to accomodate the nice computer desk Husband obtained from his office. I now have a great work space for those days I manage to work from home, along with the nice cooshy reading chair and loveseat. The furniture kinda dwarves the room, but we’re both fans of oversized comfy seating, and figure that eventually we’ll have a house that is better suited for our stuff.
Also on yesterday’s docket was my second attempt at changing my name on my license. Yes, I did take Husband’s name, and Friday I spent the morning at the Social Security office in order to get my new information into their computers. When I was there last winter in order to obtain a new card (needed by the DMV in order to issue me a new MA license), they were able to fax over the information to the DMV across the street and I was able to get my license all in the same day. Friday, however, the folks at the SS office couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t fax over the info, and informed me that I’d need to wait 24 hours for it to be processed. The DMV needed to see this information in the SS database (it wasn’t enough that I took my stamped form from SS to the DMV). So, yesterday morning I stopped by the DMV to get it all straightened out (note to MA folks: the DMV in Lawrence hardly has any wait at all; at least it hasn’t the few times I’ve been there - lunchtime, weekday morning, weekday afternoon, and Saturday morning). Unfortunately, the SS database was offline. :-/ I waited around reading my book (I was taught at an early age to carry a book with me.. one of the familiar phrases before leaving the house on any sort of car trip was “everybody have something to read??”), but after 35 minutes I gave up and opted to try again first thing Monday morning. So I ended up wasting over an hour or more, if you count travel time… but I *tried* to be productive, and that’s what really counts. So I keep telling myself.
Husband and I are what bookstores and Circuit City (or other store with DVDs for sale) consider Dream Consumers (read: Impulse Shoppers). Both of us tend to purchase movies to watch, sometimes having already seen them in the theater. This has, in the past, been something I’ve considered a guilty pleasure, a luxury. Then we recently figured out that the cost of two theater tickets (even the matinee shows these days!), plus drinks & a popcorn to share, will cost us the same amount as purchasing the DVD and enjoying it (and the Bonus Material) in the comfort of our own home. It’s amazing what this sort of rationalization does for guilt. :-> We now have a handful of new movies to keep us occupied over the next two or three weeks. 
We also made the mistake of going to Barnes and Noble yesterday as well. It’s a very rare day that I can exercise restraint when entering a bookstore. Yesterday was not one of those days. We left the store with 8 or 10 books between us.
Today has also been a productive one - I was up reasonably early to get groceries, and got one of our favorite chili recipes started in the crock pot. After some web surfing, Husband and I went to Lowe’s to obtain some fixings for our house (another project in preparation for overnight guests). We detoured at Starbuck’s with our books on the way home, and have spent the rest of the afternoon fixing the bathroom floor (for some value of “fixing”).
Chili should be ready for consumption soon, just in time to camp in front of HBO for a couple hours of Six Feet Under and the Sopranos. A fine weekend, indeed.
