Grrrr....I Say Grrrrr

So, I'm getting all settled into the New House of Dodds and really starting to get a feel for the neighborhood. I hear the little kids playing in the street and the ice cream carts rolling past the window in the early evening. I watch the steam come off the generator things at the hospital a few blocks over. I know that my neighbor's name is Richard and I think he may be straight, but am not positive. I haven't actually met him, but when his window is open and my window is open, well it is like we are practically in the same room. I know that the fire department is just down the street as they zoom and roar past my window periodically.

There are, however, areas of my new abode that I haven't figured out yet, and these are what frustrates me the most; mainly because these are things that I SHOULD know and/or be able to do for myself but I just can't seem to get it going.

1. I can't seem to get my wireless Internet to work. Well, that isn't exactly true. I have managed to get the router to work, so I can have more than one computer plugged in at any one time. AND, magically last night I turned on my old work computer to get my pictures of the Grand Canyon and Gettysburg off of it and found out that it was seeing and connecting to my network and the Internet....very strange because I then turned on my Mac Book and didn't have the same warm fuzzy; maybe tonight, though.
2. I have hooked up my television and cable and DVD player and can get them all to turn on, but can't get a picture to come out on the TV. True, I didn't see if the DVD player was feeding through the TV, but that is mostly because I can't find the remote to either. Tonight I'll see if the cable will magically begin to work but if not it looks like Comcast will be getting a call from me.
3. I can't cook. I know that my personal ad used to read that my ideal man would be able to "cook with fire", but I was referring to bar-b-queuing, not using the gas stove!! I tried to make macaroni and cheese last night for dinner. I measured out the water, set it on the stove, looked at the little knobby thing, push, turned to "Lite" and it went click, click, click....but no flame. So, then I called my Dad, because even though he is 1500 miles away, he should still be able to make fire happen for me!! Nope, he told me how it works on a gas grill, which seems to be very similar to what this should be doing as well, but no flames. So, I found the instructions that were left by the previous tenant. I saw the scorched corner of the helpful hints sheet, which tells me that at one time there was fire, and I followed the instructions. Still no flame. No flame = no boiling water. No boiling water = no macaroni and cheese. No macaroni and cheese = ABBA having Cheerios for dinner. Looks like I'll be calling the Apartment Manager to see if he can help me out.

So, that is a recap of my first week in my new place.... no wireless, no television, no fire. But, I'm happy!!

Ooops... ABBA is Domestically Challenged

I have been doing my laundry for over 20 years and I have NEVER done anything of this nature.

I have washed and dried wool sweaters and shrunk them into Barbie clothes. I have melted bras and panties, but I chalk that up to the super heat coming out of the industrial driers in the laundromat at college and the fact that I wore cheap polyester undergarments before I accepted the wonders of cotton. I have over loaded the washer to the point that it poured soapy water all over the floor. I have let the washer get off-balance so that it literally walked across the floor. I have practically burned down the house by not cleaning out the lint trap on the drier. But, I have never made this mistake, until this week.

I have been moving into the city this past week, so my mind and time has been a little fragmented and ADD. As I was wrapping things up at the old place, you know vacuuming and boxing up the food and cleaning stuff, I decided to do a last couple of loads of laundry since my new place is going to charge me to use the washers and driers.

In my haste, I just threw a bunch of things (towels, t-shirts, undies, bath mats, etc.) into a load. Here is where I went wrong. I threw in a cheap, all be it very pretty, red rag rug that I had by my front door in with all these items. I used cold water, but that didn't save me. As I opened up the washer and started chucking things into the drier, I almost had to kick myself, except for the fact that it was just the perfect ending to the day.... You guessed it, the red rug bled all over everything.... Luckily nothing too important was ruined. I now have some lovely pink undies and a pink t-shirt or two. My mint green flannel jammie bottoms are a strange mottled puke color and my pale blue bath mat is some odd shade as are the blue and green striped towels. The weirdest item by far is the cream bath mat that came out 1/2 cream 1/2 strawberry colored in a random tie-dyed fashion.

Sadly, there was some dye left in the washer when I ran my next load which was my white sheets and my white mattress pad, but luckily they aren't too terribly ruined, just a little tinged in pink and it may have just been my eyes that were reading pink into them.

You may be asking yourself, ABBA, what have you learned from this? Have you learned to sort your clothes better? Have you learned to use those little sheets that supposedly draw dye to them? Have you learned to rinse out your washer after washing darks?

No, I haven't learned any of those things. What I did learn was.... if you buy a cheap red rag rug from Target, when it gets dirty, just throw it out. While that might not be the best earth-friendly lesson, but at least you won't risk turning your flannel jammies into a puke color!!

Reflections on My Birthday

Tomorrow is my birthday.

I would say how old I'm going to be, but I don't feel like I should be that age, so I'm keeping mum. Everybody asks me "what are you doing to celebrate?" And I answer "nothing." I'm not sure why I'm not making a bigger deal out of it and forcing my friends to take me out and lavish me with presents. Part of me would rather it all just go away like any other day, and yet I keep announcing to folks "Wednesday is my birthday!"

I've had a good year.

1. I've built on and developed some great friendships.
2. I had a boyfriend and lost a boyfriend, which was probably a good thing.
3. I spent a week with my family and was given the chance to relax and not think about anything, although I did feel guilty for not visiting any of my friends while back in Texas, but if they love me they'll forgive me.
4. I spent a lot of time exploring the California wine country and have found a number of places that I really love to go to.
5. I found a quilt shop that I like to hang out in and a group of quilters that are a lot of fun and basic, good people.
6. I did more sewing in the past year than I had in a long time.
7. I found a great little place to move into in San Francisco and this has caused me...
8. To re-evaluate all of the ballast that I have in my life and I'm learning to let go of a lot of it after realizing that much of it has been weighing me down for years. (Who knows, maybe next year I'll get rid of the storage unit stuff.)
9. My sister came out to visit me and had a great time, she's my oldest and dearest friend so I need to keep that tie strong.
10. I've reconnected with my high-school best friend, which I'm very excited about since it turns out that she lives in this same area and has for many years...again, need to keep those ties to my past strong.

I've also been thinking about other more poignant things that have molded my life and brought me to where I am today, but that will be fodder for upcoming blogs.

For now, I'd like to thank everybody in my life that has made this past year a really good one. Thank you to those that I've met in person and to those that I only know through the Queen's connections.

You all have added much to my world. (I didn't realize that getting old was going to make me this mushy!!)

Four Things I'm Happy About

While there are a number of things that I am happy about, there are four things at this current moment that I'm almost giddy about....

1. I am the BEST shoe shopper in the world. As you may recall from a previous post (Kate Spade is Trying to Kill Me), I am a shoe-aholic. With that addiction being acknowledged, I went out on e-Bay and did a search on Kate Spade, which is the object of my current obsession. I found a multitude of her shoes and made bids on 2 pair, a lovely chocolate patent and a camel patent. Well, I won the bids and they arrived yesterday. Of course, I didn't pay anywhere near what the market price is for the shoes, even thought they were new and in the box. So, for those of you keeping score...in the past 2 months I have purchased 3 pairs of Kate Spade shoes for less than a single pair would be at the store at regular price. See, I AM the best shoe shopper in the world.

2. I have signed a lease and am picking up the keys on my brand new apartment in San Francisco tomorrow. This country mouse is finally moving up town!! I'm sure that I'll have more over the coming month, both good and bad, about my trials and tribulations of getting moved. But for now.... Woo Hoo!! I'm very excited!!

3. My big sister is coming to visit me in two days and is going to spend the WHOLE weekend with me!! I don't think the two of us have been out on the town together, just the two of us, for an extended period of time since I was 16 and went to visit her in her dorm room in college. The only other time I can think that we were on our own was when we drove up to visit our Grandmother, but we had my niece and nephew with us, so there wasn't a whole lot of party, party, party going on. We are going to do the wine country one day, and I even have another friend who is going to drive us so that I don't have to be designated driver this time!! And we are going to explore San Francisco and do all the fun touristy stuff together another day like Chinatown (where I'm going to pick up some chop-stick training wheels) and the cable cars and Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghiradelli Square.... I CAN'T WAIT!!!

4. Now I can't remember the last thing that I'm happy about. I had four things in mind as I was standing at the microwave heating up my Lean Cuisine, but this last one has completely slipped through the recessed of my gray matter..... If it comes back to me, I'll update the blog.

I hope all of you, my devoted readers, have happy thoughts and happy times right now as well. I like to share my joy when I have it!!