It Came from Below (the good stuff is near the end of this post)

Hope you are having or had a good long weekend!

I had a great Thanxgiving weekend. Two good meals, one at my Boyfriend's Mom's house in the burbs with most of his family there, and then later that evening a less traditional meal with some good friends on the 22nd floor of a tower in town with cocktails there. All bases covered.

We also saw two good movies... well... two movies that were better than most of the shit I have paid to sit through lately:

Casino Royale was great. The new Bond is unbelievably hot, don't care what your type is, he is hot. Even a straight guy would have to admit, that, "Yeah, he's pretty hot." He didn't have to do much acting... a lot of pursed lips and long stares, but with those eyes... woof. The story was pretty good too. Lots of nice nods to the old movies, little tongue in cheek touches that really made the movie for me. I missed Miss Moneypenny though, and Q. Maybe next movie.

Next up was Bobby, which I thought was really cool. Nothing amazing, but certainly very cool. Outstanding cast. Total love letter to RFK. I had no idea until the credits rolled that Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it. What it was missing for me was the epilogue. You know, "Two years later [character name] went on to become Secretary of Transportation under..." Didn't get any of that.

So both of those get my recommendation. Just a side note, we saw Bobby on Friday at a theater in a mall... and I gotta tell ya, the mall was not crowded. I wonder if that "day after Thanxgiving" shopping thing, Black Friday, is starting to end.

The dog sitting was uneventful. He ate, we walked, he pooped... I forgot to take his picture though... I'm sure you could find one that looks like him on flikr (Awwwwwwwww). Dad paid me for my hard work watching his dog with a half rack of Coors Light! No slowing down with the SILVER BULLET baby!

The big surprise of the weekend (so far) came when I got home from the dog sitting and the dinners. I spent Wednesday and Thursday night at my folks house. While I was gone, construction on the restaurant they are building directly below my unit continued. Yes, Directly beneath me they are building a restaurant. Which I really am very excited about. It's a chain, but kind of an upscale kind of place. Will be nice to have in the 'hood. This place is RIGHT underneath me. So during construction they are constantly drilling into their celling (my floor) in order to attach anchors that they will hang the false celling and AC ducts and all that from. It's a very scary and VERY LOUD sound when they fire up the drill or percussion hammer or whatever they are using to make the holes... sounds like they are coming up through the floor. In fact:



Can you see that? Look right in front of the toilet. Imagine you are sitting on the toilet and look right where your left foot might be. See that? It looks like...



A DRILL CAME UP THROUGH MY FLOOR FROM THE CONSTRUCTION BELOW! They came up so hard through the floor with that thing that a chip of the tile ended up in my TUB! Needless to say, not happy me. When I went down to talk to them about it, they assured me that it could not have been them. "No one's been drilling," the foreman assured me. When he finally came up to look it was clear that, yes his workmen had done it... so I'll be getting a new tile. Freaking weird though... like a tiny little invasion of privacy. I'm also wondering what this says about the construction of my building. I know the floors are several inches thick of solid concrete, I watched them build the place. Just weird.

The restaurant is slated to open in a couple weeks. Here's hoping that the hole in my floor is the last time I'll have to deal with anything coming up from below!

Just a housekeeping note: my second all electronically handled mortgage and HOA payments were transmitted yesterday. No fuss, no muss. My system is holding up!

Next time: Just in time for the holidays, some of THIS NEW CONDO's favorite things.

Would you like a piece of resistance?

OK... last post about this freakin wall. This is going to be so anticlimactic... hell, I painted the thing and I'm over it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... A Brown Wall:




















Ultimately, below the mirror I will have one or two small benches (preferably with storage) and maybe, just maybe, if I can find the EXACT right ones I will put some sconces (I HATE that word, especially when effeminate men say it, "SsssssssssCONssssssssessssss" not that there is anything wrong with effeminate men... just when they say THAT word. Want to know the WORST word for an effeminate man to say? You do? Oh good. Ready? *ahem* "Ossssssssteoperossssssssssissssssss" We now return you to outside the parenthesis) or some other light fixture on either side of the mirror.

I think it was a good idea to paint the HVAC register, you can barely see it.

Next projects? Not sure... the bathroom needs something, paint or cabinets or drawer liners or something. My computer location is really starting to bug me too. You might just be able to make out in one of the pics of the wall in the mirror, the reflection of my computer on the "breakfast bar" of my kitchen. That stuff needs to go. Ultimately I think the computer stuff will live in the bedroom, but I haven't bought any furniture for that room yet and don't want to put some big ol office "workstation" in there, big dilemma. My closet also needs attention. Actually the closet really, really needs attention. Hmmmmm.

OK... well tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My local family (Dad and his wife and her two children and some of their offspring) are leaving this morning to have their meal with her family in Tennessee. I am staying in Atlanta so I get to dog sit the worlds nicest, sweetest, happiest, dog. I'll take his picture so I can show him to you next time I post. My not-local family (Mom) is REALLY not local this year. She and some girlfriends are spending the holiday in PRAGUE! I'm very jealous.

In addition to my dog sitting duties tomorrow I will also be having a meal with my boyfriend and his whole (very large) family early in the afternoon, and THEN tomorrow evening will be off to a friend's apartment where he and his boyfriend are having some people over for another meal! All of that just to say... not sure when my next post will be...

Until then THIS NEW CONDO and I wish you a very happy holiday. Drive safely.

Intermission

While we're waiting for the Brown Velvet (#1011-10 of the American Tradition paints at Lowes) paint to dry... just a couple things I've learned about painting.

1. It's messy.

2. Getting the edges right is hhhaaaarrrrrddd, no matter how much blue tape you use:


3. No matter HOW certain you are about a color, it is going to look different on a wall than it did on the chip.

I'll never admit this to anyone in person, but I'm not really super happy with how the color is looking. It's definitely dark brown, but I get flashes of purple and even black. Let me say this... the FIRST time someone comes in here and says, "That Eggplant color on this wall is really nice!" or "Purple! Interesting choice." I'm putting the builder beige back up!

There is also the issue of a large mirror that I bought specifically to hang on that wall. It has a gold frame around it (which I could always *gulp* paint) and It looked pretty good on the builder beige but on the Brown Velvet it looks a little, um, a little Liberace:


My other dilemma has been what do to with the switch plates and HVAC register. I decided that the switch plates would stay white, since the switches and plugs they surround are going to stay white, but I painted the register to match the wall. Here's my logic: I need to see the switches because they are useful parts of the room, but I DON'T need to see the register because while it IS useful it's not something that gets a lot of attention, and it's 11 feet up. I have always thought it was kind of tacky to paint registers and switch plates (no offense if you disagree) so this is a big step for me. A word of warning, HVAC registers are a PAIN in the butt to paint:


OK... hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pics of the final product. Or at least the final step in this painting project. The whole PRODUCT still needs stuff, but the painting and rehanging of the giant mirror will be done.

Next time: the REAL Piece de Resistance (maybe).

the great paint experiment

...or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Brown.

The deed is done... or at least the non-finesse part anyway... a large section of THIS NEW CONDO is Brown. In fact, it is "Brown Velvet." I WAS considering "Fudge Truffle," but in the end the darker color won out. I've been scared shitless about doing this project. Not sure why... I mean, paint is probably the easiest thing to change if I don't like it... but it's also messy, and I am a klutz and this really could have been a disaster. I think it came out all right though.

Here's before:



After:



That's yours truly hiding behind the ladder... artsy no?

Depending on the light the color has just the slightest hint of eggplant in it which COULD be a big issue for me. Not a big purple fan here. So far I have seen the wall in afternoon sun and electric household light and just the fact that I THINK I might see some purple in there is bothering me... once the sun comes up again tomorrow we'll revisit that issue.

Still a work in progress, the tape and tarp have to come down, there are some spots that need touching up (maybe even a full second coat) and there is a big ass mirror that goes on that wall that has to go back... but gonna let what is there dry overnight before I start undoing all that stuff. Normally I'm a very impatient person so I'm pretty proud of myself for holding back.

OK... see y'all later.

Next time: Le Piece de Resistance!

robot banking

So far this little system I have created for paying my mortgage has worked well for me, or should I say it has, well, worked for me.

Before we get started you should know that I am not good with money. I'm getting better, but I am not good with saving or making smart spending decisions.

In order to keep my mitts off the money I need to pay for where I live I have devised a plan that involves two banks, three accounts and (hopefully) ZERO maintenance on my part. My "paycheck" is direct deposited every other Friday. My employer offers a system under which I can have those paychecks split up either by percentage or dollar amount or variations of both, and deposited into several different accounts on payday. In order to keep the money I need to pay my mortgage and my HOA dues OUT of my hot little hands, I have arranged that an amount equal to half of those two bills combined be direct deposited into an interest earning checking account (which we will call the "mortgage account"). In addition I have a very small percentage of every check automatically deposited into a savings account (which we will call the "never touch" account), and finally whatever is left over goes into my regular, daily spending, checking account (which we'll call my "everything else" account). Now I also have a 401k that I contribute to, but that is like invisible money to me, so it doesn't even really count till I turn 65 or whatever the retirement age will be in 20 years.

The genius here is that just about every bank offers an online banking product these days. These systems can be set up to automatically pay bills, or you can even have your mortgage payment sucked right out of those accounts through programs made available by most mortgage companies or just about any other biller. Either way it is an invisible transaction. Because I am not good with money I have set up my mortgage account to automatically cut checks to my mortgage company and my homeowners association on the 25th of every month. So between the direct deposit and the automatic check cutting, I never have to see, smell, feel, handle, even consider the payment of those two bills. It just happens. And because I am having my bank cut the checks, I have a (an electronic) paper trail I can follow should anything go wrong.

Side note here... when my bank sent me the ATM cards for my mortgage and my never touch accounts I panicked. Too much temptation! I couldn’t bring myself to destroy them though... just in case of an emergency or really great deal on QVC (KIDDING!) I wanted to be sure I could still access those funds if I HAD to, so I kept them. I can actually hear them calling to me from their hiding place sometimes. Urging me to use them to buy ROOMBA or another TiVo, or that flat screen that Wal*Mart has for under $900... but my willpower has grown since becoming a homeowner. So far I have been able to resist their siren songs, but for how long dear reader? How long?

But, I digress...

This genius direct deposit, auto pay system does have one drawback. After everything has been split up very little is left to go into the everything else account. Only about a third of my check. So far I have managed to keep my shit together thanks to limited use of credit, and some creative bill paying, but I'm not gonna lie, it's tight. In my last post I mentioned that I'd dipped below $100 in my everything else account for the first time in a long, long time. This system and my not being used to it was the cause of that.

It's all still very new, AND it's a work in process... I may have to do a little "tweaking" to get it just right, but in the mean time I'll let the bank robots write the important checks for THIS NEW CONDO, and I'll try to manage the little ones best I can.

Next time: the great paint experiment (or) how I learned to stop worrying and love brown