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Life is Good

It's been a busy week!

Last Friday, I think I mentioned, I received the window shades (venetian blinds) I ordered through CostCo for my front bedroom (a.k.a., the office). I borrowed Debbi's power screwdriver/drill, and spent time Sunday and then Monday evening figuring out how to install them. This involved making sure I wasn't just driving the screw into drywall, making sure everything was lined up correctly, learning how easy it is to strip the head of a screw with a power screwdriver, and that the power screwdriver works much better if fully charged - which turned out to take a full 24 hours.

But, I got it done, and am very happy with the blinds, which seem to work perfectly. Now I have to order another pair of blinds for my other two windows!

I also have two sliding glass doors, which I think I'm going to put curtains over. And I have a peculiar window-over-another-window which I think I'm also going to put a curtain over (it's pretty narrow). I found that Home Despot has just the curtain rods I want, but I'm not certain yet where to buy the actual curtains. Any suggestions?

The shades/curtains thing is really the biggest home improvement project I need to undertake, since the previous owners oddly only had blinds in their bedroom - and they're vertical slat blinds at that, which I don't like and which are clearly very old.

It's been quite cold this month, with lows in the 30s during the night, so having that extra layer of insulation in the windows will probably help quite a bit. Though by the time I finish buying and installing it all, it will probably be February and have warmed up a bit. Ah, well. I'll be ready for next year! (The cats, by the way, have spent the last two nights snuggled right up next to me, and next to each other. Guess it's chilly even for them! Well, it's in the high 50s during the day so it's not too bad.)

My other "to do soon" home projects are to buy a chair/futon for my office to use as a guest bed (an old high school friend of mine is going to visit in February so I should buy it by then), and to replace the desk I'm using with something more suited to my work style.

Once I do all that, I can start looking for a new couch and get a bunch of pictures framed... at last...

Yesterday was my actual birthday, although I'm having my party on Saturday. As I usually do on my birthdays these days, I still went into work, which was fine. I like the people I work with after all!

I left a bit early, though, and picked up comic books, and then met Debbi and we went to Armadillo Willy's for dinner, so I could have ribs! (Have I ever mentioned how much I love ribs? Mmmm... ribs. Not sure what else I can say. Except that I love corn muffins, too.) We stopped off at Subrata's afterwards and hung out with some folks who were gaming, and then came home and lay around and enjoying each other's company for the rest of the evening. Debbi gave me some tools for making sand castles on the beach for my birthday, since I'd once told her I used to make sand castles and watch the tide knock them down! So we'll have to go to the beach next summer!

My father and sister both gave me books on gardening, plants and yard-keeping for my birthday. My Mom's package didn't arrive until today, despite being mailed a week ago. Go figure. Maybe things are slow at the Post Office as they implement new security procedures.

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a much better birthday, all-in-all.

Tonight I've mostly been cleaning my house for my party. Mopping floors is fun! That's what I tell myself. I'll also have to vacuum and pick up some things around the place. But actually I'm in pretty good shape. Or, rather, the house is.

Tomorrow I get my first paycheck with the extra exemptions I can claim due to being able to deduct my mortgage interest. While the extra money is nice, I know it's all going to basically go right into paying my mortgages. But that's okay. It's worth it.

More positively, I got my first water & sewer bill today. It's pretty small. The sewer service costs twice as much as the water. I guess water's pretty cheap, for all that we probably need it to live even more than we need food!

Ahhh. Life is good.