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Another Dud Weekend

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I have such high hopes every weekend….and then nothing happens and before I know it, the weekend is over and it’s back to work.

BLECH.

So let me tell you about my EXCITING weekend. (I’m being sarcastic if you were unsure.) I went to town Saturday morning! WOO HOO! Can you feel the excitement begin? Let me just say it was bizzzzzz-e (as usual). First I went to BB&B looking for a hair trimmer—Tom will need one since I had to send him his—but I just couldn’t decide on one. Then I went to Petsmart to get cat food and litter, but thought litter was cheaper at Target so waited on that. I wanted to get a new water fountain because it looks SO cool, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $40 on a water fountain when ours still works fine.

Then I went to Target…and realized I forgot my receipt for the cold sore cream (one of the only reasons I went, to get my $2 back) so roamed around and got some water and litter. Then I decided to brave Walmart. And believe me when I say “brave Walmart.” If you’re laughing at me, you’ve obviously never been to our Walmart! I lucked into a parking spot after only driving up and down five rows (about five minutes) and it was only because someone was leaving. (I’ve often left Walmart because there was not ONE space to be had.) Anyway, it was not a very productive trip. I mean, I got what I needed but they didn’t have the things I wanted the most! NO PLACE AROUND HERE has the low-carb Doritos Edge chips anymore (I used to be able to get them at Walmart, Target, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, and the commissary). NO PLACE AROUND HERE has Diet Vanilla Pepsi OR Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi in cans (I’ve never even seen it, but it’s not as frustrating as having something and then not having it)! Also, now that I know I love Emeril’s specialty sausages (I love the Chicken & Apple), no one has them (again, I used to be able to get them at Sam’s Club, Walmart, and the commissary)! Sometimes I wonder what the hell is up with this town. Give me a Glen’s or Meijers any freakin’ day of the week…

And so ends my exciting expedition to town.

The rest of my weekend was spent watching TV, watching movies, and for a moment or two, actually twiddling my thumbs because I was SO DAMN BORED. (No suggestions from the peanut gallery, thankyouverymuch. There’s stuff to do…I just don’t want to do it.)

Losing my mind.

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So it’s 11 on a Friday night and what do you think I’m contemplating doing? Going to Walmart. Can you believe it?!? I think I’m losing my mind! I’m not super tired plus I haven’t been there in ages plus I’m hoping it wouldn’t be that busy this time of night… but do I really want to go out?? It would save a trip into town later this weekend, since I could in essence get everything I want in one place… but do I NEED to go? Not really. I will need to go to town sooner or later since I actually do need bread and eggs and cream…and I generally run my errands on the weekend so I don’t have to stay in town after work. But I’ve been hmmming and hawing for 20 minutes now as to whether or not I should actually go…thinking the trip will take an hour at the minimum (20 minutes there, 20 minutes back, plus at least 20 minutes to shop—but probably more) and do I really want to go out at 11? (Geez, it sounds like I’m 80 years old!) Part of me wants to go just to DO something, since I rarely do anything on the weekends anymore. (I know, I know…I’ve wanted my weekends off for three years and now that I have them off I don’t do anything! I will, though, when Tom gets home! I promise!) But part of me, even though I’m not that tired, just wants to crawl into bed and channel-flip. But I know if I don’t go now I won’t go at all—Walmart is NOT a place to go on a weekend afternoon… So now it’s 11:21 and I definitely could have been there by now. So it looks like I’ve procrastinated long enough that I won’t be going. And so goes my typical boring Friday night… LOL

Around Iraq

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Hi everyone! In the following pictures, when I say “various gifts” I mean they are Turkish gifts made in Turkey. Ali has them sent here. He used to be a translator and worked with the Army, when they first got here, and decided to sell stuff inside the camp instead. We take care of him. We (marines) gave him body armor and kevlar, he has a place to stay here and he eats for free. He is considered one of the workers. But the other workers don’t have body armor at least that I have seen. Everyone likes Ali—hell, he has Colonels come in that have orders with him. He is that type of guy that you ask, “Can you get me….” and he says no problem.

Paint bought!

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We finally decided on a few colors for some of the rooms so we braved the Memorial Day Weekend traffic and went to Fredericksburg to get our paint at Lowes (they had the brand of paint we wanted). The scans don’t do the colors justice, but are good enough for you to get an idea. (The blotches you see are the actual paint smears.)

Den (room with fireplace): We were leaning towards painting just the fireplace wall a maroon/reddish/wine color and painting the other three a light tan/suede color—to really draw attention to the fireplace as a focal point. However, we did end up deciding on all one color. We have a 6′ mirror for above the fireplace that I think we’re going to gold leaf or paint gold (depending on how expensive gold leaf is!).

Master Bedroom: We had planned on a sage of some sort to match our comforter, which was labeled as celadon…but NO paint samples named “celadon” even came close! We thought we had come to a decision, but changed our mind in Lowes. I hope it looks okay—the color was REALLY hard to match.

Master Bathroom: I knew I wanted some shade of lilac to match a shower curtain I just got (which matches the lilac accessories my Aunt Marge got us for Christmas). I wanted it light (because the bathroom is small) but dark enough to still know it’s a purple! The interesting thing about the purples is that I had picked out about 20 different cards—thinking any of them would be good…but when it came time to actually match them, there were red purples and blue purples and purple purples! I hope we succeeded.

Living room: Still deciding. No idea. I want it to go nicely with the Den and the Dining Room/Kitchen because you’ll be able to see both (all colors together, since it’s fairly open). And it also had to go nicely with our olive-greenish couches. We thought of a gold color, but our friends’ living room/dining room is gold and maroon and we don’t want to copy them! I am thinking a pumpkin-ish or cinnamon-ish color maybe…but again, it can’t be too dark. Tom is leaning towards a suede/leather faux finish in a light tan color. The more I think about it, the more I like that idea, too. I might also stencil something at a chair-rail level just for more personality.

Kitchen/Dining Room: Still deciding. But we’re thinking of doing a texture—either sand or something else. Originally we were worried we’d have to paint it SOMETHING in order to make the countertops look good (since we thought they’d be too dark or not matching) but they look okay so we’re not worried. We were thinking a light peach or rust???? Something sort of Mediterranean to match the floor.

Main Bathroom: A bright yellowish gold to match a shower curtain. I like the idea of bright since it’s an inside room with no windows. I wouldn’t mind a turquoise blue of some sort, but we want to use the same rug we have (which is a country blue) and I don’t think turquoise and country blue would go well. I’m taking the rug down to see if it fits. If it doesn’t, we will go turquoise.

The other bedrooms I’m not worried about at this point. I think we have our hands full with all the other rooms. We’re definitely doing the den, bedroom, and both bathrooms. The other rooms can wait.

Shopping…and a phone call!

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So last night we went to IKEA for “one last time” since there’s not one in NC…and we ended up finding the PERFECT dining room chairs. I’ve always loved the fabric covered look…and I absolutely HATE the ones that “came with” our table—they’re much too small and uncomfortable for my big butt and they’re not padded and they’re slippery. All-around yuck. But they matched the table and they were only $50 each (you get what you pay for). Sooo, anyway, as far as I’m concerned, they’ve served their purpose and it’s time for new ones. Anyhoo, I really only was looking for slipcovers (a la Trading Spaces!) but they didn’t have any good ones (just some 70s-looking stretchy tube-top-looking ones—not!) so we started looking at chairs. And I just LOVE these. They are birch, so they match our table (although they’ll be mostly covered up). And you can take the covers off to wash. They are a bit more expensive but they are SOOOO comfy and look so much more elegant! So, now I have to sell our current chairs. Hopefully someone around here will want to buy them. They’re like new, for pete’s sake, since we never sit at the table. Tom said to say “Used for 32 meals.”

So, while we were shopping, our cell phone rang. First, it scared the bejesus out of us because we didn’t know it was with us (it was in my purse and had been there who knows how long)—and second, who would be calling us on our cell??? It was Don, our realtor. He was just calling to say he was sitting in front of our house and wanted to let us know what was going on. They had put in the flooring, cupboards, and countertops—and the landscaping was done. LANDSCAPING? I knew they were going to throw down some grass seed, but actual landscaping? We must have missed that in the brochure. LOL So now, Tom and I are itching to go back down even more!! Unfortunately, the next few weekends are out—but we’re planning!!