Category: Home Base
… Catfucius say…
…he who falls asleep on laundry hamper has stayed too late past clothesing time.… Read more
Coffee table book? No. Cat table cat.
A glimpse of our new carpet-less reality.
I laid my bathrobe on the coffee table for some reason that I forget (probably something to do with taking naps on that couch since it’s under a window that allows a lovely breeze into the house), and that table (and the robe) have now become a favorite vacation destination for the fearsome five. The only cat I haven’t seen take up temporary residence on the robe/table is Puck, but he’s a black cat, and it’s a black robe, so it’s possible that he was there, unseen, like a little furry ninja. A slightly fat little furry ninja.
We won’t be able to put in flooring for a while, and I need to duct tape the edges of the entryway tile and the kitchen/dining room tile so they don’t get chipped, but so far… I’m loving sweeping instead of vacuuming. It ain’t pretty, but it’s a hell of a lot cleaner, even if all of my decorating ideas (painting parking spaces for each cat, painting aircraft carrier stripes leading to the rest of the house) have been shot down.… Read more
The stash, 2011 edition
Allow me to introduce you to my very Trekkie 2011 Christmas stash. Charles and Mr. Flibble threw a Hastings gift card my way, and John hurled an Amazon gift card at me with all of his might, taking off a couple of limbs* in the process. (Oddly enough, I turned around and spent the majority of both on the wife and kid, who don’t have folks from the internets buying stuff for them. Call it redistribution of wealth if you like.) Okay, here’s the Trek trove:
The big box is, of course, the first Star Trek Micro Machines box set that came out in the ’90s. I had one of these at one point… and took them out of the box, which meant that some of them went AWOL by the time I did a piece on my site about them. Now the set is complete once more – though given the little hands (and mischevious little paws) roaming through my house and getting into stuff, this one might be staying in the box. On a high shelf. Thanks, Dustin!
On top of that are Star Trek lotto cards from New Mexico, thanks to Paul and Charles. I haven’t scratched them yet. But I probably will soon (like I can claim them from Arkansas anyway – watch them all be worth $10,000 as a result – c’mon, Deep Space Nine, daddy needs a new pair of anti-grav boots).
Not shown are the new underwear (trust me, you don’t wanna see a picture of that, or at least not a customer action shot), a new dish towel and an oven mitt. What’s really funny is how happy I was to have any and all of it. I needed another oven mitt, and man, did I ever need some new underwear. Throw in some cash from the in-laws (already assimilated into the Borg-like household-bill-paying collective, just to keep the Star Trek theme going), and there ya go.
Not bad at all, considering that I’d told everyone in the family to spend their money on the kiddo. (And boy, did he make out like a bandit. Woody and Buzz and WALL-E and Artoo and the Mario Brothers have a red R/C Mustang convertible to drive around in. Now that’s a sight.)
I’m truly grateful to… well, anyone who sends anything my way, really. It’s not something I solicit or ask for, and under present circumstances it’s not something I can afford to reciprocate either, as much as I’d like to**. Thank you.
… Read more* from the tree outside my window – that man has deadly hurling accuracy
** things will be different after I win the New Mexico lottery, I promise
A meaty topic
Dinner tonight is steak. Big steaks! I have Rather Substantial Steaks cooking right now.
Or R.S.S. for short.
Which means, of course, that tonight’s dinner constitutes an R.S.S. feed.
Now just wait until you hear what’s for dessert.… Read more
AAAAAAHHH! CHRISTMAS!!
Are you ready to get a load of this? I’m not sure the little guy was – he was still half-asleep on autopilot this morning for present-opening time.
… Toy Opening Story
Christmas Eve was pretty jam-packed here at ye olde Greenhaus. As expected, my wife had to work all day, but this didn’t mean the boys were sitting around the house all day. After eating (and watching The Polar Express), it was time to make one last pre-Christmas run to the PO box, and then swing by the store to pick up a few necessities that couldn’t wait for the stores to open up again on Monday or Tuesday, namely kitty litter. As it turned out, we also had to visit the tire center at Wal-Mart because I had a tire that was almost completely flat when we set foot outside the house this morning. Sheesh. Nothing like relaxing on Christmas Eve, is there? And trust me, this was nothing like relaxing on Christmas Eve. … Read more
Merry Geekmas 2011
It’s that most wonderful time of the year!… if you want to ogle my Christmas tree’s worth of Starfleet, that is. The tree went up on Saturday night, much to the boy’s delight, and thanks to Portia knocking the artificial tree off of its high storage shelf in the utility room (she’s a little climber) and chewing through some of its wiring (she’s a little menace to society), we had to get a new tree this year. The Mrs. insisted on getting a real one. It’s pretty, and it’s nice, but it was a huge pain in the butt to set up, and it’s shedding twigs and needles everywhere. Furthermore, the cats love it… with a little bit of seasoning. They’re biting small branches off the bottom of it. Obviously our cats have an anti-Christmas-tree jihad going on here.
The new lights that were purchased along with the tree are incompatible with the connectors for my box full of Hallmark Star Trek ornaments, so sadly, unless they’ve got stuff that works under its own power, they’re all “dark” this year, making the traditional picture-taking a challenge. The Christmas Starfleet is on silent running. … Read more
CAGED SUGAR!
So see if you can follow me on this one.
My wife grabbed a bag of sugar out of the pantry, something about needing to mix it with some kind of exfoliant stuff she’s been using. Rather than put the sugar back in the pantry, she’s been storing it… in Maria’s old cat carrier. Which is plenty clean, but it’s just an awfully strange place to park a sack of sugar, y’know?
After walking by this strange sight numerous times, I finally asked her “What’s up with the caged sugar?” And she told me.
So help me, I still think it’s a weird thing to do. So I’ve taken to walking past it and saying “CAGED SUGAR!” in a deep, Blaxploitation-movie-trailer voice, followed by bow-chicka-wow music, because it sounds for all the world like a freakin’ women’s prison-break flick from the ’70s.
We’re weird.… Read more
Also available in Craigslist flavor
As the first round of eBay stuff is boxed up to head out the door, I’m also hawking my wares on Craigslist, in the following “for sale” areas:
Musical Instruments (I figured this was the best place for studio gear)
Baby & Kid Stuff
Photo & Video
Farm & Garden
The eBay auctions – the buyers of which I’m very grateful to – gave us a little bit of breathing room; these listings are very much in the decluttering category, with just a hint of “I’d rather you came and picked it up than have me ship it.”
The Kick arcade machine will probably be going on Craigslist fairly soon unless anyone else wishes to claim it. I’d like that stand-up refrigerator worth of space back. There’ll also be another round of eBay pretty soon, and so help me, I got word that someone actually bought a “Sizz” T-shirt, an oddity I designed back in my game-collecting days. A surreal coda to my day.… Read more