thanksforlooking

so finally today - the office gets painted.  the office is actually one of the bedrooms that i made into a home office years ago when i was doing freelance work.  it hasn’t been tended to in years and needs some sprucing up.  badly.  especially since i spend 12 to 14 hours a day in it! 

not healthy i know.

so i’ve tried to find a painter for a week and had very little luck.  thing is that most all of the people i contacted on the craigslist flaked (or were way too professional than this little 12 x 12 room needed).  so last night i posted my own ad on the cl and in 15 mintes got a call from a guy - told him to be here at 9a and that i’d pay 200 bucks to get it done by 5p.  he barely spoke english so i am hoping he understood and that all goes well.

UPDATE 7p EDT:  i TOTALLY recommend wilmer for painting jobs.  skilled and polite!  he started at 9a and basically worked straight through ’til 2:30p.  now i don’t want to hang anything on the walls the look so good!

haven’t seen little buddy in days and days.  not sure why and honestly try not to think why because it may be terrible.

i just wish he had understood i wasn’t a threat.

this is little buddy - wish i could get closer to get a better shot but he continues to be stand-offish OR i don’t have the camera with me when opportunity arises….

the little black dog is still around and still skittish BUT we are making progress.  that progress is mostly due to the cool headed ambassadorship of M.  she was amazing last night. 

so, we’ve started calling him little buddy.  not the best name but maybe better than ‘no name slob’.  he disappeared for a couple of days and i was thinking he’d moved on, or something - we won’t talk about the horrible “or something” that can happen to little stray dogs.  anyway…

late last night - midnight or so - we were all still up and goofing around here.  R with his camera and me with chick peas (making hummus, which by the way i have perfected a small batch version of).  out of nowhere we hear some barking and a little howling and suddenly i realize it must be little buddy.  low and behold he is in the front yard barking at something down the street.  when i went out the front door and he ran across the street to hide in the azaleas - as usual.  i got his bowls and cleaned them up and took fresh everything out to him.  when i went back out with refreshments and dinner he had come back into our yard and was laying flat watching the front door.  i am loving this association that is forming - our house the good house that is full of cool water, good crunchies, and treats.  i go back in and watch as he comes quickly to eat and drink. 

at this point M is very interested in the goings on especially since they involved me getting her food out of her cabinet that she knows is … hers.  so M and i go out and he can’t take it - he has to meet her.  she walks quietly around the yard sniffing and rather quickly he comes up to her with a WAGGING TAIL!  she keeps a cool head - doesn’t growl or bark or anything aggressive.  she was just kinda ‘hey, how you tonight’.  the short of it is that because she was walking near me he came about and arms length of me!  closest he has ever been!  progress indeed. 

of course it ended with him going back to his azalea hideout and watching us from across the street as we wandered around out front.

so, more M definitely.  she is the one that will get him to come to his senses.  that and my cookie dances all around the front yard.  keep your fingers crossed.  he needs some pals.

yep, you read it here.  the sex and the city movie didn’t deliver.  it was WAY too long - my ass was aching after a hour and a half!

and it didn’t do a single one of the characters justice. 

it was like they learned nothing after all those years traipsing around town.  except maybe samatha - and she might have already known it all anyway.

lazybythelake’s rating:  C

there is a little black stray dog that has been lurking around the neighborhood the past week or so.  very standoff-ish and if approached he will trot away. 

day before yesterday Maisey (our black dog) and i went out front for a bit and talked to him from across the street for a few minutes before he ran away.  M was great and stayed right by my side and didn’t rush him or anything.  i was very proud of a girl. 

so, i got new bowls and put out food and water.  it has taken a couple of days of moving them closer and closer to our house and finally i have him coming to the front porch.  i saw him having his breakfast this morning.  after he is done he leaves immediately. 

2 day goal:  get him to start hanging on the front porch.  ultimate goal:  bring him into the fold (at least as a halfway house kind of thing) and get him cleaned up.

he is very cute - i will try and get a picture. 

that i finally had central cooling added to the central heat we already enjoy? 

the house has always had the gas furnace with all the duct work and vents in the walls at the baseboards, but for the summer months we cooled with 3 window units.  now, they did an excellent job don’t get me wrong.  if set low enough they made this trailer and ice box. 

but they were energy hogs and loud and the biggest one was over the kitchen sink!  made preparing vegatables in the summer a cold blast in the face experieince.  so, back in april i shelled out over 4 large to have an a/c compressor and coil added to the existing system.  it is fabulous. very quiet, and hopefully more economical and energy effiencient. 

just thought i’d mention it since we are having a heat wave with temps 10 degrees above normal.  97 in atlanta today.

bleh.  i miss the mountains of tennessee. 

i cannot be trusted around it. have absolutely no control. will eat it until i have made myself sick.

much like i am with deviled eggs.

i used to be this way around good bar-bu-crew but i learned how to be at peace with that.

it was hard.

i’ve not blogged one bit since february.  haven’t done much besides work,  and sit around recuperating from work.

it is a crazy job.  but i have gotten a bonus and a raise since i started on november.  that’s good, right?

i talk on conference calls and webex meetings literally 90-95% of the day.  sometimes there is no break in the calls and i have to sneak across the hall to the bathroom during a one.

i work at home and still eat lunch (if i get it) at my desk while working.  i am normally ‘in the office’ 12 hours a day minimum, monday through friday.

it

is

cray

zee.

in the past 7 days i have been carded for cigarettes twice.  winstons for those of you unfamiliar with my tobacco habits.

2 times and i’m pushing 40 hard.

HA!