I have so much to talk about now, that I'll probably break it up into several posts. I've been meaning to write, but I've been so busy and lazy the past couple of weeks, that I haven't. First of all, I finally graduated. I got my grades today, so it's official I guess. Since I didn't attend the graduation, and it was a week before finals anyway, it just doesn't seem like there was an offical end, so here it is. Second, my family left yesterday. We had a lot of fun, but it was pretty crazy. It went by so fast. I have spent the last week sleeping at times I should be awake and being awake at times I should be sleeping. I still don't feel normal. My mom and Bob went crazy with the gifts, so we got a ton of stuff. Among other things, I got Animal Crossing for the Wii, Lego Batman for the PS3, no less than 10 books (David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, Virginia Woolfe, and Domino's decorating book (the links are in an earlier post, not feeling up to putting them in this one). I also got all of the prints I asked for from etsy, which meant that I had to buy a bunch of frames. I got 6 at Target, one at Urban Outfitters, and 2 at Anthro. Then yesterday I got Joeli's Xmas gift, which was a framed picture of us before her wedding. I love having things to put on my walls! I also got the third season of Robot Chicken, which is pretty great. The day after Christmas, Jason's birthday, we went to Philadelphia and King of Prussia to do some shopping. Walking around downtown Philadelphia reminded me how much I've always wanted to live in a row house. Someday I'd like to raise our kids in Philadelphia.
I got some clothes at Anthro, Nordstrom, and J. Crew. I also got a bunch of house stuff on sale at Urban. I'll post pics when I get it all set up. I got some Lush stuff, since they were having a crazy sale, and a pair of gloves and the cutest blue and yellow feather barrettes from Free People. Other than that we sat around, played Guitar Hero and Disney Scene It, drank Three Buck Chuck, and watched home movies. Good times. We were also treated to some unexpected excitement when Mortimer escaped from his cage through a broken bar, and ran around with Harlock for a while before I caught him. Luckily, Harlock didn't hurt him, although we think he may have hurt her. She came running out afraid, and now when he sees her, instead of hiding in fear, he lunges at her. Harlock was attacked by a chinchilla. Hilarious. Anyway, that meant that we got to run out on Christmas Eve to get him a new cage. Jason found a chew proof chinchilla cage that is perfect. It's three stories, completely metal, and has a pull out tray so I can clean his cage without disturbing him. I wanted a metal cage so he would stop eating the plastic, but most of them looked like little prisons. Luckily this one doesn't haha.
Today I spent the day running errands that shouldn't have taken all day, but everyone is still off of work and driving me nuts. I made a stupid mistake, and used Jason's Target gift cards to buy him Lost, but got the wrong season. That wouldn't have been a huge deal, except he didn't realize it until he opened it. They told me they can only exchange it for another copy of the wrong one, because of New York state copyright laws. My how I love New York. This would be such a great state without the government. So I ended up selling it to a used place for very little, and now my mom is going to help me buy him the new one. Except I spent all day going to every place in town, and everyone is out of it. So until someone gets a shipment, I remain a complete moron who feels very guilty. He really wanted to have it for his "Jaycation" (his term, not mine haha), since he has the rest of the week off after tomorrow. He's a little bummed, last year I was in Chicago during the Jaycation, so he sat around and played Medal of Honor and watched He Man haha. I don't know why he thinks it will be any different with me here, I'm not the kind of wife who doesn't let him play as many video games and watch as much tv as he wants. He works hard, and this is his house too, and I'm not his mother. Plus, when he came in last week to make sure I was alright after I had been in bed playing Harvest Moon for 5 hours, he didn't say anything, and that makes it all worth it haha.

I came across this video last night for Atlas Sound's "Activation", and I was going to post it because I really like it. I've been listening to a lot of Atlas Sound lately, and this song is great. But I also love the old video of strippers and pin up girls. The way the visuals and audio sync up makes it seem very beautiful and almost sad. I've been into that stuff for a long time, including my "naked ladies" (the turn of the century pin up girls I have in my bathroom haha). But when I found out that Bettie Page had died it seemed even more fitting, and sad. Even though she's unfortunately become a bit of a cliche, and living in Austin in the midst of thousands of girls with dyed black hair, bangs and cherries covering everything they owned started to get old pretty quickly haha, I still love her. She was very beautiful, and I have to admit, I've had the bangs before and I'm sure I'll have them again haha.

Wow, its been a while since I've posted on here.  Things have been crazy, as usual.  Thanksgiving in Cape Cod was really nice.  I love being near the ocean.  I got a really cool vase at an antique store there, I'll post a picture of it next time.  The animals did really well, and it was nice to see all of Jason's family together.  Last week was pretty horrible, I had one huge presentation and two papers.  I stayed up until four in the morning working on the papers, and I'm pretty sure you can tell haha.  But, at this point, as long as I pass I'll be happy.  Tomorrow starts the beginning of my last week of classes, and next week is finals.  I have one big presentation this week, on Wednesday.  But, I did nothing for school this weekend, which was really nice.  I'm sure I'll pay for it over the next couple of days, but it was worth it for a rest.  Also, two thirds of Jason's company was laid off on Thursday, and we're still pretty shaken up about it.  It looks like his job is safe, but I don't want to get my hopes up.  But, for someone who generally doesn't believe in things beyond that which they can see, I do have to admit that Jason's project choices have consistently been insanely lucky, since they're probably what saved his job.  I'd rather not dwell on that too much, I'm trying to think positive thoughts.  Yesterday we went to an antique store, where I got some cute little decorator plates and a silver dish with claw feet (again, pics later).  Jason got some more candle sticks for the library.  Then we went to some of the art galleries downtown, and had lunch at Little Venice as an early Jason birthday celebration, since they sent him a coupon.  Last night we watched Frosty, my first Christmas movie of the season!  Today we went to flea market, to Michael's to get some frames and some hooks to use to hang the lights outside, since the staple gun I bought didn't even scratch the paint on our 90 year old porch haha.  We still haven't gotten them up, but hopefully in the next couple of days.  I bought blue lights, because when I was a kid I always wanted blue lights on the house, and my mom said they were only for Jewish people, because she thought they were tacky haha.  So, she's going to be thrilled when she pulls up on the 23rd and sees them haha.  I did manage to straighten up the house tonight, and chase the chinchilla around when he escaped.  He's so wild...  When I cleaned Werther's cage out, I came out to see that he too was gone.  I went into the guest room to find him trying to get under the bed, which is Mortie's favorite hangout.  Luckily he's a bit more tame in his older age, so I just asked him to come out and he did haha.  Such a sweet man.  

I've been feeling really tired all day today.  I was going to take care of the dishes, but I've just been watching TV instead.  I did find some books for one of my papers/presentations though, so that's good.  I'll pick them up at the library tomorrow.  It's been snowing all week, though there hasn't been much accumulation.  I don't have to work the rest of the week, which is good, because the house needs to be cleaned, there are 3 papers and 1 presentation to work on, and I need to start planning our drive next week.  We're going to Massachusetts to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family.  I'm looking forward to it, but it's going to take a lot of planning.  I have a 20 minute presentation to do the Monday after and I've only gotten as far as picking a topic.  I'm looking at Su Friedrich, who is an experimental film maker whose films have a lesbian/feminist bent to them.  My other presentation will be on the early history of the Art Institute of Chicago.  I also have 2 papers due the Thursday after Thanksgiving.  One is on Safavid and Mughal architecture, and for the other one I need to come up with my own theory of modern and postmodern architecture.  So overwhelming.  I wish Thanksgiving was actually a time off for me, but students don't really get any time off.  And on top of that, all four animals will be coming with, which is going to be crazy.  3 travel kennels, one dog blanket, two full size cages, bags of food, hay, bedding, and treats, as well as Harlock's prescriptions.  I'm a little worried, I don't know if they'll even fit in the car, and I'm not sure how Mortie's going to do.  He's a bit wild.  But, one thing that has amused me for the last couple of days is the fact that Mortimer is half pink.  Seriously.  Hot pink.  I gave him a pink mineral treat yesterday and he took it into his castle, where he chewed it up.  He's a messy eater though, so when he laid on top of it, it turned his underside, which is usually white, pink.  He actually looks cute.  I think I'll give him a green one at Christmas so he can be a festive little man haha. 

I finished one more presentation yesterday, which means there are only two more to go.  This weekend I'm going to be researching for three papers.  I also want to try to clean a little, and possibly bring up the Christmas stuff.  I know it's early, but this is really the only time to do it where I can actually enjoy it.  I'd also like to do a little more Christmas shopping if at all possible.  The earlier I start, the more likely we are to be able to afford it.  I'm also thinking about Christmas cards.  I think we might go with the photo cards from Target, if I can get Jason to cooperate.  I really don't like those very much, I prefer ones that I can actually write to people on, since Christmas is the only time of year I get the opportunity to communicate with some members of my family, like my great aunts.  But, once again, no time and no money, since regular cards are more than the picture ones.  I know it's almost over, but it's so frustrating to not have any time.  I love Christmas, especially the lead up to it, but right now we're just trying to hang on until next month.  

I gave the graduation announcement project over to my dad, which is a relief.  The whole situation is strange, with Megan and I both graduating on the same weekend.  But, since I have no plans to attend my graduation, and since the graduation is actually the weekend before finals start, the date on the announcements is pretty useless.  As far as I'm concerned, the time to celebrate is when I hand in my last paper the week after that.  Or after I sell my books, I haven't decided which haha.  It's just kind of abstract, which is the way I like it.  Graduations are so boring and pointless, especially when you haven't even finished with your classes.

I've been thinking a lot about life after graduation, and trying to make some plans.  I don't plan on finding a job, unless for some reason things with the economy start to affect Jason's job.  I'm planning on just continuing to babysit.  We both think this works better, since Jason's job is so not flexible, he never has time to do things like run errands, or even eat lunch most of the time.  So it's easier if I'm around to take care of everything.  The slightly disappointing part is that we've decided that, instead of trying for a baby in December, which was the plan, we're going to wait until late-spring/early summer.  It's just the more responsible route, we have a lot to take care of.  We need to get used to paying for my health insurance, and we need to sort out our finances.  I'm planning on using my graduation money to knock out most of our debt, but we also need a savings, since life is so unstable for everyone right now.  We had one, but several things, including but not limited to- Jason's trip to Austin and maintaining his car's health- whisked away the savings pretty quickly.  I also want to completely re-organize the house- it was pretty good, but now that we have twice the space and I haven't had time to adjust things, it's getting a little crazy.  We also want to save for a new computer and do a little work on the house.  And once the little one is on the way, we'll have to have the guest room re-plastered in order to paint it the colors I have already picked out haha.  I also want to start working out again, the last month or so I just haven't had the time, and I'd like to be as healthy as possible.  Which means the insane coffee/Excedrin/Benedryl system I'm currently surviving off of will have to go haha.  We know we shouldn't rush into things, even though I'd really like to rush into things haha.  Honestly, it's a bit of a relief, it was starting to feel like everything was on this really short time line, and now it's more relaxed.  More than anything, I can't wait to start living again, being able to read for pleasure, do crafts  (and maybe get to the huge pile of mending Jason has been waiting on for a couple of years now haha), spend time with the animals, and, most importantly, spend hours playing video games that have no end, like Animal Crossing haha.  I'm not sure Jason's going to like that part, especially if I get Lego Batman for the PS3, that would be my first PS3 game, so he'll finally have some competition haha.

Lately I have fallen into the pattern of completely sucking at life that I tend toward when I get really stressed out.  For some reason when I need to be productive the most I get overcome with anxiety and end up completely losing steam.  I'm just worried that something will happen that will prevent me from graduating.  That might be because the school contacted me to tell me that I was one requirement short.  It turned out to be an error on my transcript, so hopefully it's fixed, but it just reinforces the fact that there's so many things that can go wrong.  I'm taking two seminar classes, which are very nerve wracking, because you're just supposed to sit around and talk about the readings.  I find it completely impossible to volunteer myself for that kind of interaction.  I hate speaking, and am just crossing my fingers that it won't affect my grades.  I also have two big research papers to do for those classes, and 20 minute presentations to do on each.  I'm way behind where I want to be on the research.  Not to mention that the house is falling apart, and I just don't seem to have the energy to do more than the slightest bit of work.  There's also a lot of yard work that needs to be done before the yard is ready for winter.  And there's Christmas shopping, and graduation announcements and Christmas cards to ship out.  I just feel like I've checked out of life, since every moment I spend not working on things feels stolen.  Sorry to be a downer, I just can't wait until next month.  Every semester this happens, I always feel like I can't make it to the end.  I just wish I responded better to stress than becoming depressed.  

On a far better note, this week my spirits have been lifted, because Barack Obama is going to be our president!  I can't even express how happy I am, every time I think about it I get a smile on my face.  Seeing him speak with my favorite city in the background was just so unbelievably cool, I was dancing around the house.  But, even though I called my grandma to gloat haha, I feel like there really aren't any losers in this.  It's the start of a new day for our country, and for the first time in my life, I'm truly proud to say I'm American.  After 8 years of being told that I wasn't part of America because I don't share the values of a certain group of people, I'm overjoyed at the thought that this signals a more inclusive America.  An American is not one single thing, and that is what makes us so beautiful.  

But, my enthusiasm has been somewhat dimmed by the passage of Prop 8 and the other gay marriage amendments.  I have an incredibly strong belief that everyone has basic rights, and marriage is one of them.  To put a law into place telling two people that their love is somehow not valid and doesn't count is disgusting and inexcusable.  I can't imagine being told that suddenly Jason and I weren't married because a group of people we don't know spent large amounts of time and money to make it so.  I can only hope that someday that time and money will go to people who truly need it, to make a positive impact on the world.  

Sorry again haha, just some things that have been on my mind lately.  I started my Christmas shopping today.  I got Werther and Mortimer some things, including wooden toys that look like chocolates.  So cute.  I also got Jason's Christmas and birthday gifts.  It's still a long way until I'm done.  I love shopping for other people, but we have to be pretty frugal this year, so hopefully I'll still be able to find some fun stuff.  But, I have to confess that I've already found a gift to reward myself haha.  Those ornaments are from Anthropologie, and they're mercury glass.  Last year Martha Stewart had an article in her magazine about vintage Victorian mercury glass ornaments.  I'm so in love with them, but they're not easy to find and they can be really expensive, so I'm really glad that these are affordable.  There, I think that makes things a little less depressing haha.

I have so far refrained from letting my often very strong feelings about politics spill onto my blog.  But, since tomorrow is the big day, I have to say, this is the third election I've voted in, and I have never been this excited.  I can't concentrate on anything, I'm just so ready to get my vote in!  I also realized the other day that I have never voted in the same state twice- Washington in '00, Texas in '04, and now New York.  Just a random fact, haha.  I just feel like we're in the midst of making history, and that this is the first exciting thing to happen to our country in a very long time.  I have a new found pride in my country, and hope it will continue.  At the very least it will continue through tomorrow, when I vote for Barack Obama, the first presidential candidate I've ever been excited about.  I just want to know what the outcome will be!  I'm trying to keep things positive, but as a woman, and one who has felt the importance of voting since my 6th grade presentation on Susan B. Anthony, I can't imagine what will happen to women's rights if Palin comes out on top.  Anti-intellectualism is never the answer, and hopefully that chapter of our history will close tomorrow.  Obama '08!  Everybody vote!

A list of some things I need/want that will be included on my Xmas list.

-This coat, that I've already mentioned.

-Knobs and drawer pulls for the living room.

-This adorable shirt, also from Anthro.

-I also want a cardigan that doesn't close in the front, like this one.

-I'm in love with this J. Crew cardigan as well.

-Lush stuff is always necessary.

-I also want the new Animal Crossing game for the Wii, the new Harvest Moon game for the Wii, and the Lego Batman game for the PS3.  I need to have something to do with my time after college haha.

-Lowe's and iTunes gift cards

-The Ikea table I mentioned previously and don't feel like finding the link for haha.

-The new Domino decorating book.

-Books by Augusten Burroughs and Virginia Woolf

-The third season of Robot Chicken, and the new Family Guy season

-Black Amethyst and Vanilla Bean Noel body lotion from Bath and Body Works

-There are about 4 prints I want from Etsy, but this one from Black Apple, and this one from Elle Moss are my favorites.

-For the house, I want three pairs of white brackets to make shelves out of the vintage trays I bought, a new bookcase for the library, and paint for the library and upstairs bedroom.

  This isn't a complete list, and I'm not sure who I'm going to ask for what.  Right now I'm focusing on Jason's Xmas and birthday gifts.  I think I'll buy the table and coat with the majority of my money, the coat is so affordable, but it's more than any one person will want to spend.  I guess I'll need a chair too if I end up with the table, we'll have to see if Ikea has anything that will work, and fit in my car for the trek back from Philadelphia.  I have an Ikea office chair, but it's clear plastic.  It's cute, but not at all what I want with that table.  I want something that isn't too modern, and hopefully wood.  This actually helped a little with my jumble of Christmas thoughts.  Sorry for the shameless materialism haha, but sometimes shameless materialism is very fun.  On a different note, Jason and I are hoping that after Christmas we'll be able to save little by little for a new computer.  His is a G4, and it's great, but it's too old to run any games or music software for him.  We also want to replace it before we have a baby, since with computers, sometimes you have to know when to let go before you end up with a "vintage" model haha.  We're probably going to get the cheapest Macbook model and just make upgrades as needed.  Pretty exciting, I hope we can pull it off.

First off, I have to say that Mortimer's gender confusion is officially over.  I won't go into details haha, but I double checked, and he is most certainly a boy.  We're glad that's over haha.  Jason is out of town this weekend, in Austin, so it's just me and the animals.  Last night I made one of my favorite fall foods- applesauce.  I used Sourcrisp, 20 ounce, and Macintosh apples.  I don't use sugar, I prefer sour applesauce.  It turned out very well.  I shared some of it with the little animals, since there's nothing but apples and water in it.  I even gave Mortie some, even though chinchillas are supposed to have a severely limited intake of fruit, because it can upset their stomachs.  I just gave him a tiny bit.  They all LOVE it, they become greedy little beasts haha.  Today I'm planning on buying animal supplies, giving Harlock a bath, cleaning the house, working on some research for school, and designing the graduation announcements for Megan and I that my dad is going to make at his office.  Ugh, busy busy, hopefully I'll make a dent in it.  I was going to rake and finish winterizing the yard, but it's supposed to rain all day.  Hopefully that can go on the list for tomorrow.  Later on I'm going to post my Christmas list progress.  I know it sounds a little childish to have a list, but when you have as many different people buying for you as we do, it's very helpful.  There are also things on it that I plan on buying in Philadelphia on Jason's birthday, when we take all of our Christmas money and go crazy.  So much fun.

I have a midterm tomorrow in my Architectural Theory class and I haven't even begun  studying.  I'm so burnt out, I had a lot of school things to do this week.  Yesterday was our second anniversary.  We actually celebrated on Friday, since this week is a little crazy.  We ate at the Lost Dog Cafe.  It was really yummy, especially the Tiramisu for dessert, I think it was the best I've ever had.  Then we came home, had some wine and watched Dead Man.  It was really interesting, very literary and almost existential, which aren't words normally used to describe "Westerns".  We didn't do anything yesterday, although we ran to Starbucks so I could try the new salted caramel hot chocolate.  It was so good, I've been really into salted caramels lately.  

So now I have to explain something kind of interesting that I discovered the other day.  I'm almost positive that Mortimer is a girl.  I know, after three months you would think that we wouldn't still be figuring that out.  Jason told me the pet store told him Mortie was a boy, and I didn't question it, until I was online looking up chinchilla info and discovered that boys and girls look remarkable, confusingly similar.  So I double checked, and I'm pretty sure we have a girl.  So now I have a female chinchilla named Mortimer haha.  If I had known she was a girl, I would have named her Petunia.  But, it's been 3 months, she pretty much responds to her name, and, until her vet visit next month, we can't be one hundred percent sure that she's a girl.  Everyone I've asked so far thinks she should stay Mortimer, so that's probably the way we'll go.  But I have to say that it feels strange to call her "little lady" haha.  

I have three days off this week for Yom Kippur.  This is great, but not because of free time, more because I have a presentation, a paper and a midterm all next week.  Our second anniversary is on Tuesday, but we're going to celebrate tomorrow since I'm so busy.  We weren't going to get each other anything, since we're trying to recover from summer in time for Christmas, but naturally we changed our minds haha.  Jason let me order some things from Lush, and I'm going to buy him the new Final Fantasy game for the DS.  I actually didn't get very much, it's so easy to go overboard, and plus, we're going to Philadelphia on Jason's birthday, and I have enough in my collection to last me until then.  Last night I took a bath with Bathos.  It smells lovely, like Violets.  I'll let you know how the new stuff goes once I get it.  We're probably just going to go to dinner at the Lost Dog Cafe, and then come home and watch a movie.  I'm going to get a bottle of wine, which is a rare treat for us.  Usually when I do this, Jason has one glass and I end up drinking the rest of the bottle on my own, without realizing it.  There's something about talking while drinking that creates this situation haha.  We were going to go see a movie, but it's so rare for either of us to actually want to see something showing, that it wasn't worth the money.  

My mom is sending us a gift card for Sweetest Day (I believe she is the only one who celebrates this haha), so we can get the Blu-ray version of Sleeping Beauty.  I've been collecting the classic movies Disney releases twice a year, but this will be our first Blu-ray.  Jason actually likes Sleeping Beauty, so we're going to share the gift.  

I really need to get back to studying, but I just wanted to share a story from babysitting.  The boys have a place mat that has all of the presidents.  We were looking at it and talking about George Washington, when one of them pointed at Nixon and said, very matter of factly, "he lied".  Haha.  Then he said "I don't think he should be on here because he lied".  I was just looking at all of those faces, and thinking that, if lying meant you weren't allowed on the place mat, I'm pretty sure it would make George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington very lonely. 

Autumn in New York

Yesterday we went to the flea market.  The pictures are from there.  I'm so glad it's Fall.  The leaves here are so beautiful, every day it looks different.  But, more than anything, I can't wait until next Fall, when I can finally enjoy it without school taking up all of my time.  I got that lamp while we were there, and only paid $4.  Sorry about the doughnuts and crumbs in the background haha.  Not sure where it's going to go.  When we were on our way home, we passed a billboard with an ad for the Cider Mill.  We've always wanted to go there, so we decided to give it a try.  It's so neat, they have apples, pumpkins, and cider.   You can also watch them make doughnuts and cider, and buy candy apples, cookies and pie.  It reminded me of going to the pumpkin patch with the family in Illinois.  We got doughnuts, cider, I got a cookie and Jason got an apple crisp pie.  Clearly we have no control when confronted with sugar haha.  It was all very good, and went well with the swiss steak I made for dinner.  

Last night Mortimer escaped while I was cleaning his cage.  Usually he hangs out in his bath house, inside his travel kennel while I clean.  He has no problem going in, he loves taking baths, but getting him back into the cage is a challenge.  He ended up under a small dresser we have, and was trying to get under the trundle bed.  It took almost an hour of coaxing to get him out.  The problem is, unlike our other pets, Mortimer can't be bought haha.  He likes food and toys, but not enough to let me catch him.  I sprinkled raisins around, and he would run out, grab them, and run back under haha.  He's a mad man.  

Today I went to the library to get books for my Theories and Methods research paper.  I'm looking at the early history of the Art Institute.  I've loved going there since I was a kid, and find it's place in Chicago history interesting.  But it's hard, because the whole point of the class is to look critically at the institution of the art museum and the problems with it.  But at the same time, I so enjoy going into a big, echoey, ornate building to quietly contemplate the work of men and women so obviously greater than I haha.  I love the fact that the Philadelphia Museum of Art looks like a giant Greek temple.  I can't help buying into that stuff.  Not only that, but I enjoy ignoring the problem of viewing an artist such as Marcel Duchamp in the context of a large museum.  He was so interested in destroying the aura surrounding art, and now people like me go into a large room in Philadelphia (they have the largest collection of his works in the world, which is the main reason I was so excited to go), and sit in front of The Large Glass to view it in a quiet, almost worshipful manner. But, I guess he did will his works to the museum, so it can't be all bad.  I don't know, critical thinking so often interferes with emotion haha.  

Some Internet Window Shopping...

Sorry for all the images this time, but I'm so happy that I finally figured out how to right click on the mac! haha.  The first pic is of this beautiful coverlet set I saw at Target a few weeks ago.  Eventually we'll need new bedding for the trundle bed when we move it upstairs.  The walls are going to be a medium taupe kind of color, except two small walls that form a corner between the first closet and the next two (yes that room has three freaking closets).  That corner will be a golden yellow color.  So I thought the lavender would look beautiful.  In person it's quilted satin, and more of a grey-purple.  But, unfortunately the smallest it comes in is a full, and it's too expensive, especially since we would have to buy two.  But, it definitely provides inspiration.  So, that room will also be a craft room/ work room for Jason.  The third closet is big and has no places to hang clothes, so that's become Jason's "music room" haha.  But we're looking for 2 craft tables to put in there.  I thought I wanted white, but after perusing the Ikea site, I'm kind of liking this silver table.  I don't know, it's a little more than we wanted to spend, but it's perfect for working on, and it's also pretty and curvy.  And, since this has become an "I can dream can't I?" post haha, I included this chair I found on Anthro.  Would that not look amazing with the tables?  Jason said that he might want a writing desk instead, so I might see if I can't get that table for myself for Xmas.  Unfortunately the pictures from Anthropologie are blurry, I'll see if I can't remedy that for the future.  I think this coat is so pretty.  For some reason I'm really itching for a new coat this year, though I doubt I'll actually get one.  Then we have the mirrored bedside table, which I'm in love with.  We really need new bedside tables, but we'll probably head to Home Goods, they have really pretty ones for good prices.  And, last but not least, I want a new cardigan.  I own probably 50 cardigans, and I just got one last month, but I really need this one haha.  I love cardigans so much, I would die without them, I'm sure.  Anyway, other than that, I got my hair cut off on Wednesday.  I got about 8 inches cut off, more than I was going to, but I wanted to donate it.  I really like it, it was time for a change.  We watched the debate last night, and were both surprised that we really like Biden.  As for Palin, all I will say is that I can't understand why so many Americans still want to be spoken to like they're idiots.  That whole "I'm just a small town girl, just like you" thing is so irritating.  These people will be running and representing our country, so therefore they should be the most intelligent people we can find, not someone who stutters through a bunch of buzzwords and never answers a damn question.  Sorry about that haha, I just couldn't believe how hard it was to listen to her.  

So Many Questions

All I've been doing this week, whenever I have a free moment, is wander around the house looking at all the little things that need to be fixed.  The problem is that the little things add up so quickly.  We wanted to do one room at a time to be able to focus and not become too overwhelmed.  But even the room we did, if you can call it a room, the entryway, is not "done".  Is there such a thing as "done"?  I painted the window and the floor trim at the top of the stairs last weekend, but I still need to paint the trim around the door.  Does the door itself count as part of the entryway, or part of the library? And if it's part of the entryway, does that mean I must strip the paint off the crystal doorknob and add another coat of paint to the door downstairs?  And speaking of doorknobs, the ones upstairs (and some downstairs) are scratched, as well as being made of that special kind of shiny brass that was so popular in the 80's.  I have made it my mission to rid our house of every last bit of shiny brass, even if it means using spray paint in some cases.  Antique brass is alright though, especially since our beautiful original crystal doorknobs downstairs are made of brass, somewhere underneath the layers of paint.  The other thing that I didn't really think of before that has become a problem is the question of metals.  In the entryway I have brushed and satin nickel, silver, and pewter.  But the lamp in the library is antique brass, and I think that will look better with the paint.  Does the metal all have to match in each room?  And if it does, where do you draw the lines for each room if the metal in two adjoining rooms is different?  And what about the ever present brass doorknobs?  I'm sorry for all the questions, and they're rhetorical for the most part haha.  I've been to Lowe's twice this week, furiously grabbing paint chips and counter top samples for a file I'm going to create.  That way I can put things I like in it, and when we get to a particular room, I can pull them out and get ideas.  But so far it has just clouded my head with ridiculous questions.  I had people out last week to give us estimates on the living room, but we've decided that it will have to wait until after Christmas.  So, to console myself, I've been focusing more on these little things.  We also might start painting the library, if we have any time.  So that's all on the house, I have no batteries for my camera, but I'll post pictures on any progress we make when I get some.  We bought a new sconce (in brushed nickel haha) for the top of the stairs last night.  When (or if) it's up, I'll include that.  In other news, I have an appointment on Wednesday to get my hair cut off.  I think I'm going to get it cut a little above my shoulders, with some layers.  I'm going to keep the part the same, but get my bangs cut.  It's just driving me crazy, it's always in the way, and my bangs are at such a terrible in between stage.  Also, since it's been so long since I've cut a lot off, I'm getting split ends.  I can't believe I've had it long for this long, I usually change my hair all the time.  I'm sure I'll miss it, but I'm excited for a change. But I really need to get going, tomorrow Jason and his friend from work Andrew are continuing their cooking club at our house.  Everything is  a mess, and we need to buy food.  Jason's making his South American pork dish, Andrew's making a casserole, and I think I might make pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  I made them last year and they were very yummy.  Also he wants to meet Mortimer because he likes chinchillas, and his cage is less than presentable haha.  Last night I let him run around the bathroom to get some exercise.  This may sound strange, but it's the only chinchilla proof room in the house.  I just have to make sure the toilet lid is down, they've been known to jump in and drown.  He ended up in the tub instead haha.  It went well until he kept chewing on the pipes connecting the toilet.  I would yell at him, he would turn to me with an angry quack (which I've actually decided resembles the sound that Penguin makes in the Batman movies more than anything haha) and then turn around and keep chewing.  We think he's going through puberty right now, so I guess this is typical teenage behavior haha.  Anyway, that's all for now, except that I'm sad that Paul Newman died.  Great actor, and equally great salad dressing.   

A Refreshing Change

I don't have a lot of time to post tonight, I've been busy all day and still have a lot to do before bed in a few hours.  But I thought, as a break from house stuff, I would post a picture of the boots that I'm currently obsessed with.  Unfortunately, I have no idea how to upload an image from Anthropologie.com, so if anyone could help with that for future reference, that would be great.  Instead I'll post a link.  We're trying to be really frugal right now in order to prepare for the spending explosion that is the holidays, but they're sooo beautiful.  They would look great with skirts and dresses, but also with jeans.  ::Sigh::  I guess it is not meant to be.  But one thing I would like to start picking up are more pretty socks.  I have a huge collection of socks and tights, but there aren't enough that are functional.  Unfortunately I have terrible circulation, so my toes spend several months out of the year being completely numb.  I am not exaggerating, I often wear two or sometimes three pairs of socks.  I would like to get some that are both cute and warm.  I've found some really cute over the knee kinds online, that I'm hopefully going to pick up soon.  It's too bad, they would go really well with those boots too...

I guess I forgot to title the last one...

I started to feel really gross again last night, so I didn't get a chance to upload the rest of the pictures.  I'm still pretty congested, but I feel better today. These are all of the new entertainment center.  I really like it, I'm just not loving the knobs and handles.  Hopefully, when we have the money, I can upgrade them.  I also wanted to put up a picture of our new Halloween tree that Cheryl got us.  It's so cute and festive!  I spent most of the day doing a lot of yard work, and painting the trim at the top of the stairs and around the window.  I'm going to do the door too eventually, but it may be a while since I can't reach it and need Jason's assistance.  I have a lot more to do, but I just wanted to put these up.

Here's today's first batch of pictures.  I think I'm going to split them up since there's a lot.  The first three pictures are from the entryway, on the opposite wall from the sconce.  The large print in the middle is a Ralph Stedman picture of Freud and his wife on the last day of his life.  Jason thinks being in the middle of what I call the "hello collage" takes away from the depressing nature of the picture, but I think that's probably a good thing.  This is my attempt at a creative welcome sign.  The postcards are from The Black Apple.  I know it seems strange to put 10 of the exact same picture up, but I like how it makes the frames themselves stand out even more. Then we have the old entertainment center in its new home in the library.  I realized that I have quite a large collection of vases and milk glass, and most of it was hiding in the kitchen cabinets, so I decided to display some of them now that we have the room.  The dark blue glass was Bob's gradmother's, and Megan bought me the light blue Anthropologie vase.  The yellow one is from Jason.  And last but not least, the new reading chair.  We actually ordered it from the Wal Mart website, which is the second piece we've gotten there.  It's kind of crazy, since the majority of their furniture is really dated and ugly haha.  We got the lamp a few weeks ago at Lowe's for really cheap.  It was originally meant for the living room, but we couldn't find a place for it.  Behind it is the Catcher in the Rye print.  I have a cold.  It's been slowly coming on for a week now.  It sucks, but I'm so grateful that the brunt of it waited until I had handed in the two papers I had due this week.  Last night I was embroidering and I started to feel achy and dizzy.  I decided to lie down in bed to watch tv at 9:30, and the next thing I new it was one o'clock and Jason was coming to bed.  Today I woke up with a horrible headache.  But luckily I felt well enough earlier to run the large amount of errands that are necessary to keep our little family going.  On Monday I have two contractors coming to give me an estimate on finishing the plaster in our living room.  Since we already have the paint, the plaster is going to be the last big house expense for a while, since we're trying to focus on paying down our credit card before Christmas shopping begins.  That has been made more difficult since Harlock went the vet on Monday for her yearly checkup haha.  She's all caught up on her vaccines, except the Lyme Disease, which they forgot, ugh.  She also got a microchip.  They said she's perfectly healthy, which is great news.  Recently we've had a new "pet" join us.  A couple of weeks ago we noticed a little bird in our yard who doesn't seem to be able to fly.  For many days it's mother flew around chirping back and forth with it, but we couldn't catch it to see if we could get it back to its mother.  After a while he left through the fence, and we didn't see him for a while.  Now he's back, and I have left a pile of bird seed and Harlock's water bowl for him.  Every morning he's out there eating.  He eats a lot haha.  He still doesn't seem able to fly, but he's fatter and his chirp has gotten louder.  Last night we had a freeze, so I filled a shoe box with washcloths and put it out there for him.  Jason thinks I should let nature take its course, but I'm hoping that if he gets stronger, he'll be able to fly in time to head south for the winter.  I guess all I can do is feed the little guy and hope that happens.

More home pictures for your enjoyment.

Right now I'm really stressed out.  I've been reading on and off all day, but I'm nowhere near done and I have 2 papers to work on tomorrow.  Also the house is a disaster.  But I did manage to pick up a Halloween wreath and fall door mat, so I've got that going for me.  Here's some new house pictures.  The first is of that pillow that I embroidered, using Sublime Stitching patterns.  I need to cut some of the threads from the back, but I'm pretty pleased.  I'm working on another one with animals on it, but with school it will be a while before it's done.  The second picture is kind of sucky, but it's of the sconce that was originally on that wall when we bought the house.  It was brass and had paint all over it, so I stripped the paint and spray painted it silver.  The pictures surrounding it are from esoule on etsy.  They're from a series called The Little Zoo, but they're greeting cards, because I couldn't afford the originals.  They're of little animal figurines and I think they're lovely.  The rest are pictures of my mom's magic in the backyard.  Unfortunately, although it looks a million times better than it did, other than mowing and a little weeding once a week, I just don't have time to keep up on it.  That will change next year hopefully, when I'm a housewife and spend my time watching soap operas and eating bon bons haha.  I got the first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm from Netflix.  I've never seen it before, and it took a few episodes for me to get into it, but I'm really liking it.  Right now I just don't have time for a movie, so tv shows work better.  But I did see Valerie and Her Week of Wonders last week, and I loved it.  I have to admit that my knowledge of film is relatively limited, but I'm working on changing that.  It was my first Czech New Wave film, and it won't be the last.  Visually it was incredibly beautiful.  It kind of goes along with my Modern Art Seminar, which focuses on avant-garde film.  Last week we watched a film by Man Ray, and Ballet Mecanique, which was directed by Fernand Leger.  It was really exciting to watch films made by artists whose paintings and photographs I enjoy.  Now I'm really excited to see some of Duchamp's films, because he happens to be one of my favorite artists. 

Spiny Sea Urchin, hooray!

I haven't posted in a while, because all I do now is read for my classes.  Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it has been taking up a lot of my time.  Yesterday we blew a fuse.  A really important fuse which knocked out power to the kitchen, half the living room, the bathroom and half the guest room.  We've never changed a fuse, because our house doesn't have a breaker box, it has an actual fuse box, and it's kind of frightening.  Luckily we found it and Jason only got a little shocked when he screwed it in haha.  Dad and my grandpa are planning on coming after the first of the year and installing breaker boxes, which will be great.  While we were down there I grabbed a few boxes of Halloween decorations, since I don't like spending any more time down there than I have to, it's so icky.  I bought candy corn lights at Lowe's last weekend, I'm pretty excited about those.  There was a pretty sconce in our entryway that we decided to keep, but it was brass, which I'm not fond of.  So I spray painted it matte silver.  While I was at Lowe's I decided to look at the Martha Stewart colors, since we're thinking of painting the library once the living room is done.  For some reason one color immediately caught my eye.  It's called Spiny Sea Urchin, and it's kind of a subdued lime green.  I found another color called Chamois Cloth, which is a really light neutral, to go with it.  And, since Hell has apparently frozen over, Jason actually liked them haha.  It's really his room, so it was important that he agreed.  We're going to do one wall with the green, and then paint Ultra White on the trim, windows and doors, since they're not very attractive as bare wood, and I want them to look like the downstairs.  I found colors for the upstairs bedroom too, but Jason wasn't as fond of them.  He agreed to let me use South Sea Pearl, which is a light taupe kind of color, but darker than the Chamois.  I was going to post pictures from the Lowe's website, but the colors were way too different to be of any use.  He didn't like the golden yellow for an accent wall though.  That room will eventually be the guest room/craft room/ writing room/ music room.  Luckily it's a very big room haha.  We bought a poster print of the first edition of Catcher in the Rye for the library.  And we would have ordered a reading chair, but we can't figure out what color the one we want is, since it doesn't say on the website.  Ugh.  That's all the house updates for now.  Next week I have to see if I can get someone to come out and give us an estimate on finishing the plaster in the living room.  I'm hoping to get it done during the Jewish holidays at the end of the month, when I'll have more time to stay at home.  Then we can begin the daunting task of painting the living room.  I want to get it done as soon as possible, so we can start the library.  I'm really excited to see all the colors together.  On a different note, I went for a 90 minute massage on Friday.  I haven't had one since May, and this is the first time I've had a 90 minute one.  It was nice, but painful, because my back is such a mess.  I've been having a lot of tingling in my upper back.  She said I'm having muscle spasms, and that I should ice my back to help.  Between that and my jaw, sitting still in class for 3 hours a day is torture.  Dealing with chronic pain is no fun, but I've been feeling somewhat better since the massage.  I started babysitting last week, which has been fun.  Mainly it consists of my playing the Lego Indiana Jones game on the Wii with the 5 year old while he gets very annoyed with me. Apparently my special brand of suck is frustrating him haha.  

Hooray for four day weekends!

The first of these pictures is of the new blinds in our bedroom.  We put white plantation blinds in the rest of the house, but we didn't feel like they went in our room, since our bedding involves a lot of off-white.  Please disregard everything else in this picture, our room still needs a lot of work.  Next is my absolute favorite picture in the entryway.  It's from The Black Apple, and it's called "Wonders Never Cease".  Jason said it looks like something from a Wes Anderson movie, which is great, since I've always wanted to live in a Wes Anderson movie.  Then there is the vintage Maio print I picked up at the antique store after eying it for several months.  I'm so glad I did, I'm so in love with it that I'm looking for a friend for her.  That one is in the mud room, which we're hoping to turn into a laundry room/pantry sometime next year.  And last but not least, my mom brought some plant stand with her, which I used to display some things we already had in overflow boxes upstairs.  The tiny rabbit picture is from Elle Moss, and I adore it.  There are still some other things I've hung up that I'm excited about, but I need new batteries for my camera.  My first week of school went fairly well, although I did spend two and a half hours today waiting for my parking permit today.  I'm taking two seminars, one in modern art, and one called Theories and Methods, which basically looks at the way the discipline of Art History works.  I'm also taking an Islamic art class and one on architectural texts since 1960.  I'm excited about that since that's where my other architecture classes have tended to end.  We went to the mall earlier.  Jason got a wii game and I went to Bath and Body Works.  I'm such a sucker for their coupons that they constantly send me haha.  I have this weird habit of organizing scents completely by season, be they hand soap, dish soap, lotion or bubble bath.  I refuse to use anything coconut scented in the winter, nor apple scented in the spring haha.  So I store off-season stuff in the closet, since my bathroom's tiny.  When I went to get out the fall/winter stuff, I realized I was so low I was down to Sensual Amber from B&BW, and Amber Romance from Victoria's Secret.  So much variety haha.  So I bought Irresistible Apple and Black Currant Vanilla lotions, along with Leaves room oil.  Now I just need more Velvet Tuberose and the new scent, Black Amethyst, and I'll be all set haha.  Tomorrow I'm going to do some cleaning, and when Jason gets home we're finally going to buy our new entertainment center.  I was going to put a link to it, but they don't seem to have it online.  This weekend I'm hoping we can relax and spend some time alone for the first time in a long time.  We might be going to Bloomsburg on Sunday, but we haven't finalized anything yet.  I'd like to finish my pillow embroidery and continue re-reading The Fall.  I haven't read it in a few years, but I loved it and am excited to read it again.  It's part of a Camus anthology that I borrowed from Jason's collection, because I hadn't read The Plague, even though that's probably one of his best-known works.  I finished that last week, and really liked it.  It seemed to have a slightly more hopeful message that his other works, aside from the whole plague thing haha.  I love Camus, in all of his life is meaningless glory haha.

Renovation goodness

Alright.  I'll confess, I'm not very skilled at this whole thing, so when I tried to put a bunch of the pics of our home improvements on here, I had numerous problems.  So I've decided to put a few up at a time and talk about them.  The first one is of the initials I got from Anthropologie.  Cory thinks they're "hideous" and Jason hates them, but I love them haha.  Then we have the before and after pics of the library upstairs.  All we've really done is rip up the carpet, but hopefully we'll paint in the not too distant future.  We're also going to buy a reading chair soon.  The last picture is of the entryway.  It shows both the paint colors and the new bamboo floor haha.  More on all of that later.  I started school yesterday.  Honestly, my classes seem interesting so far, but I'm just so burnt out already, I think this semester is going to be a struggle.  But, I'm sure I'll survive.  I ran a lot of errands today, and picked up the last of the frames for the entryway, and the new Entourage DVD, among other things.  I made Harlock an appointment for her yearly physical.  We've also decided to get her microchipped.  It would make me feel better, even though she got out of the backyard on my birthday and Jason found her wandering around the driveway, sniffing my car, looking confused haha.  It may not seem likely that she'll take off, but you never know.  As for the whole Netflix adventure, I've been watching way more movies than I ever have.  Jason, on the other hand, still has the first movie he picked out, a month ago haha.  I watched Eagle Vs. Shark, which was a pretty dark, interesting movie with Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords in it.  We rented Kill Bill Vol. 1 for Cory and Jason to watch, and, for the second time in a month, Anchorman for Cory and I haha.  Cory and I also rented Be Kind Rewind, which I really enjoyed, like all of Michel Gondry's movies.  That's all for now, no matter how many movies I watch, the queue just keeps getting longer haha.

I love playing dj

The main reason I haven't posted in a while is that I was going to wait until I was in the mood to post pictures of the changes we've made to the house.  But I'll make an exception, since I still don't have time to post them.  Tomorrow we're driving to Philadelphia to take Cory to the airport and go clothes shopping at King of Prussia.  We've had a lot of fun with Cory.  I'll write more about it later.  I also decided that my schedule this semester allowed for me to sit for the people I was sitting for again.  It's only 3 days a week, for an hour and a half a day, but it'll be a little extra money.  Also, I love the kids, they're great and pretty easy to take care of.  I also figured this would be a good thing once I graduate, since I have no plans other than trying for a baby, so this will be something to keep me occupied.  Right now Cory and Jason are practicing guitar, and I'm making a playlist for Cory's iPod.  It has Autolux, Bat for Lashes, Chin Up Chin Up, Film School, Ladytron, Hot Chip, Crystal Castles, the Dodos, Figurines, Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom, The Magic Numbers, MGMT, The Notwist, Portishead, Roxy Music, Vetiver, 13 & God, Boards of Canada, Chester French and Television on it.  I love making mixes, especially for Cory since he's open to new music and still has so much to learn about the classics as well haha.  But clearly I have a problem with editing haha.  

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.

The title is my absolute favorite Jean Paul Sartre quote.  Some might find it depressing, but I feel like it sums up my feelings about life, and why Existentialism is a philosophy I've always connected with.  I guess since I've been reading Camus, I've been on an existential kick.  I remember the first time I read No Exit was my first semester in college.  I was completely amazed by it.  On a completely unrelated note, Mom and Bob left today.  Even though they stayed longer than anybody, it felt like it flew by.  Unfortunately the guy we hired to do the drywall was an unreliable ass, so the living room walls are started, but not finished.  We did manage to get almost all of the entryway done.  Mom and Bob painted, and I could not be happier with the color.  I like it so much, it's going to go in the living room too.  I bought a beautiful print from the Black Apple on Etsy, I'll post a picture of it later.  I hung one of Jason's Ralph Stedman prints, and framed 6 small animal prints from Etsy that I haven't put up yet.  I also got ten postcards from the Black Apple that I'm going to frame and put in there.  The bamboo floor is in too, and it's beautiful.  I'm so excited that the house is starting to really feel like ours.  My mom worked miracles in the yard, the front has red Mums, along with a squirrel and the cutest fat bear with a bee hive haha.  They bought us a fire pit for the back yard.  We also got all new blinds for the downstairs.  They're all white plantation blinds except in our bedroom, which has cherry wood ones.  It's amazing how much they change the look of the house.  We also got new curtains, and curtains for upstairs, since blinds aren't necessary.  We went to the flea market and an antique store on Sunday, and I got a vase, some owls, a print I've been eyeing at the antique store for a while, and three metal trays with flowers on them.  I think I'm going to buy brackets and make them into shelves.  The only problem right now is there never seems to be enough wall space for all of the ideas I have haha.  Today Cory and I wandered around town.  I bought $40 worth of beads that I shouldn't have haha.  I couldn't resist, they're pink stone beads that look like bubble gum.  I also got some pink vintage beads, and made a pretty flower out of the plastic flower parts I bought on Etsy a few months ago.  Anyway, this post has gotten way too long, tomorrow I'll take some pictures around the house to put on here.

Stress, stress and more stress

Our home is a disaster.  Since Dad and Megan were only here for a few days we assumed we wouldn't be doing any home projects, but we were wrong haha.  We found bamboo floors at Sams for way cheap, and my Dad spent most of the weekend putting them in our entryway and up the stairs.  We also ripped the carpet out upstairs, and my Dad put in a new toilet to replace the old, broken, very pink one haha.  He didn't finish the stairs, so Bob's going to help us when he gets here.  My dad bought us every tool known to man, once you get him into Lowe's, it's several hours before you get him out haha.  We also found a guy in our neighborhood who's willing to smooth the plaster in our entryway and living room, so we can paint them next week.  The problem is that he said we had to remove the drop ceiling in the living room.  We got most of it down, but one side of the wall is threatening to come off with the track.  And then the problem got worse, because Jason dropped the putty knife he was using to prevent the crowbar from denting the wall, and managed to cut himself pretty badly on his ribs, and now he can't raise his left arm.  I hope the guy isn't too irritated, we got most of it down, and hopefully Jason can finish it tonight.  Plaster sucks.  I'll post the before pics of the living room today and the after once we've finished.  I bought some prints on etsy to put in the entryway.  Hopefully, budget permitting, we'll be able to buy new blinds and curtains for the living room when my mom is here.  We also found a new entertainment center, at Wal mart of all places, and we're planning on getting that before the end of the month.  Once we have that, we'll be done with the living room.  Other than that, we had a fun time with Dad and Megan, even though Megan and I spent most of our time hauling things back from Lowe's and Wal mart for my dad haha.  We went to the beach on Saturday.  It rained, nearly all day.  We drove through the Poconos going 35 with our hazards on, because the rain was so bad.  But, we still had fun at the boardwalk, we played games and bought funnel cake and candy cigarettes.  We did discover that next time we'll go overnight so we can go to the open Atlantic.  The bay water is very brown, kind of like lake water.  I'm pretty frightened of water in general, and brown water for some reason really freaks me out, so I would prefer going somewhere where the water is blue, or at the very least greenish, like Clearwater Beach haha.  On my birthday I spent most of the day ripping up carpet.  Pretty exciting haha.  It was really fun, I got something in the mail every day last week.  Mainly I got money, but Joeli bought me a beautiful soap dish from Anthropologie with pretty soaps, and a pretty stained glass box.  Megan got me two vases from Anthropologie, but unfortunately one broke on the plane, so I rebought it with my dad's money haha.  I got some new jeans, and some grey cords, also from Anthro (are you sensing a pattern here? haha).  With my dad's money, I bought a shrug and a t-shirt, guess where from?  Haha.  With Jason and his parents' gifts, I picked up all of Mortimer's start up items.  I feel bad for him, since we cleared out the living room, he has to stay by himself in the guest room, since the ac in our room is broken and it's too hot for him.  With the rest of the money, I think I'm going to pick up the bird mirror I talked about in an earlier post, for our bedroom.  I love ordering birthday gifts online, because it stretches out the birthday excitement since I have to wait for them to come in the mail!  All in all, it was a great birthday, complete with ice cream cake!  

So much cleaning...

I'm currently occupied with getting ready for Dad and Megan, who are coming tomorrow.  I'm far from ready.  Our first Netflix movies arrived yesterday, and we watched Dan in Real Life.  It was cute, but I don't know how much Jason did.  He's not really a romantic comedy kind of person haha.  Neither am I, for that matter, but I  liked it.   Next up is Eagle Vs. Shark.  My birthday cards are coming in every day now, which is fun, I love getting mail.  I'm hoping to get some clothes with some of the money.  I've also been wanting to get some brackets from Anthropologie so I can make a shelf for the living room.  After I get done on here, I'm going to take Harlock to the back yard and read while she digs around in the yard.  Then I will be cleaning frantically for the rest of the day haha.  I can't wait to go to the beach!  On the Jersey shore website, the Keansburg boardwalk and amusement park were in the top ten Jersey shore attractions.  I just hope the beach itself is good too.  I'm a little nervous after all those people drowned in New York last weekend, but the beach forecast says the water should be calm.  Jason wants us to go on Saturday because he needs to go into the office for  a seminar, but I have to double check the weather first.  Either way, I'm so excited, it's been way too long since I've been to the beach.

Our new addition

On Thursday Jason gave me my early birthday gift, a chinchilla!  I named him Mortimer, after Cary Grant's character in Arsenic and Old Lace.  I've been wanting to use the name Seymour for an animal since I read the Salinger short stories about the Glass family, but Mortimer just seemed right for him.  But, since Megan disagreed, Seymour will be his middle name haha.  He's very sweet, and a lot of fun to watch.  He loves his exercise wheel.  When he runs, he hops, so much so that he's unscrewed the wheel a few times.  I find chinchillas very interesting, on one hand they are extremely fragile, everything from 80 degree temperatures to a bacteria commonly found in tap water can kill them.  But at the same time, they live an average of more than 10 years in the wild, and can live to past 20 as domestic animals.  Their fur is so thick that if they bathe in water instead of dust, their skin can rot off.  I've wanted one since middle school, when I saw one bathe in dust.  Mortie has a bath house, which he loves.  They are also the most inquisitive animals I've ever seen.  If he sees unexpected movement, he will stand up on his hind legs and watch it.  He also follows anything that wiggles in front of his face.  I just discovered that he loves shiny things, which unfortunately include my rings, my silver finger nails, and my necklace haha.  He bit onto my wedding ring last night, I was afraid he would break his teeth.  He's very sweet, but does not like to be picked up yet.  The pet store guy said I have to hold him for 10 minutes a day for at least a month before he'll calm down.  This is easier said than done.  He's extremely wiggly and fast.  He jumped out of my arms earlier, ran to the door to our room, which was shutting Harlock away, and leaped off of it.  It was pretty scary haha.  He also expresses his displeasure by making a sound similar to a duck quack when I try to pick him up.  But luckily he's not a biter, except for shiny things, which inadvertently puts my hand at risk, with the rings and finger nails.  He did lightly nip my nose when I put it near his, which is a rodent greeting, but it didn't hurt.  The last thing I will say about chinchillas tonight is that they have orange teeth.  This means they have enough calcium in their diets.  Jason got sick on Friday, and I had to take him to the doctor.  I've been in a medical situation with him 3 times before- once he had such a high fever that he started hallucinating, when he dislocated his knee in Dallas, and when I took him to the knee doctor after that.  It turns out he has something called Pharyngitis, and the doctor said all he can take is ibuprofen.  He's still feeling pretty bad, but he still managed to be a trooper this weekend so we could have fun with his parents.  We bought a cute fountain for the backyard, and we finally got the deer print in the mail!  Jason didn't like it when he saw it online, but he really likes it in person.  He just needs to trust the interior design genius that is me haha.  We went to the Lost Dog Cafe last night for my birthday dinner.  It was good, especially the Geisha desert, which is fried pieces of cheesecake dipped in chocolate, raspberry and caramel sauces.  Yummy.  On an unrelated note, we finally joined Netflix today.  We've been going back and forth about it for a while.  I don't watch a lot of movies, and while Jason used to, he doesn't have the time anymore.  But on the other hand, most of the movies we do want to see are impossible to find around here.   We're doing the 2 at a time plan.  I am disappointed that the instant computer movies aren't available for Macs yet.  Our first two movies are the Fearless Vampire Killers, a Roman Polanski movie Jason's been wanting to see, and Dan In Real Life, which we both want to see.  I had no idea I wanted to see so many movies, but we already have 30 movies in our queue.  Other ones that I picked that have me excited are Eagle Vs. Shark, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, and La Vie en Rose.