House Party!

A week before Christmas, I decided to spend some time with people I really like so I called over some of my close friends! I still live in a crap-shack, but it is good enough for my friends, who probably already have a set opinion of me when in a drunken stupor, I slipped on a packet of Cheddar Wurst into an open fire.

We were going to go out and booze it up at a bar, but Kassie had a friend in town from another country and she was only 20. I told Mike he had to bring a 93 pack of beer to make it up. I was actually cool because I didn't have to put on normal-people pants or a bra. But it meant that I actually had to clean. It was like a bad 80's fix-up montages of Holly and I drinking beer and cleaning. Oh, the girl in the parka is from Croatia. Me and my geographic knowledge thougth it was cold there. Obviously it is not because she asked for slippers.

One thing I love about Michael is his story telling. When ever I am down, I call upon a night with Mike and Kari because I know it will cheer me up. This is a picture of Michael telling a story when his grandfather was lost at the airport. I guess Mike and Kari went to pick him up and could not find him. He has Parkinson's and often gets lost a lot. Michael is very close to his grandfather and they have breakfast together every Saturday. He was pissed. However, when Michael is pissed, it is super funny.

This is Kassie, she is part of the reason I am working so hard. I want to use her has a model. I don't know why she is making this face. Oh, there are so many wrong jokes I could do with this picture. Insert your own here. Oh, that was really lame.

Not a good idea

I have been super over-worked because of work. I am planning Second Runway and it takes up a bunch of time. That and everyone wants to quit, putting more work on me. Blar...

Last year I spent all my time working on the actual event so I didn't design anything. This year, I thought since I have less going on in my life I would. Last year I was taking two classes, this year I am only taking one. I forgot to mention that I now have a house and the development team lost two key players. Oh yes, I have time to design. Plus, I am such a great sewer. I did take one semester of clothing design in college. That makes me an expert, right?

Oh, and to make things better, I couldn't decide on a model. I knew I wanted to use Holly, but I also wanted to use Andrea and Kassie, so why not use them all! I am so fucked.

The last couple weeks I have been coming home and sewing. I can't find the cord for my new sewing machine so I have been doing everything by hand or using my mom's machine...the one she bought before I was born.

I love to sew, but I also love to sleep and drink beer. Oh, and my ass has grown so I am at the gym more. Here are the before and kinda after pictures of the dress for Holly. It is actually turning out super cute - but I am still fucked!

Tim the toolman

When I was younger, I would come home after sports practice (yes, back in the day I actually played sports) and sit in front of the tv. I loved Home Improvement. Now it is starting to make since with the house. I never thought I would actually ever use anything I learned from the show, but fast-forward to 2008.

I am standing in my kitchen doing dishes. I turn on the light and it burnt out. I have this weird fear of changing light bulbs. Basically I hate all the dead buggies that live in the cover thingy. However, it was the only light in the kitchen and Holly was at work. Plus I am no longer renting the buggies, I own them now.

There was a problem. There was something blocking the light blub place. It was the old twisty thing from the last light bulb. I tried twisting it out with my fingers, but it didn't work. Then I remember what Tim Allen did on the show. He was showing Allen that when this happends, you can use a sliced potato to get it loose. I also remembered to turn the light off because Tim didn't and he got shocked. It worked!

"I bet you are going to put this in your blog!"

Yes, Holly, I will.

I always make fun of Holly because she has monster feet. I wear a size 8 and I hate that I can't wear her shoes. Some of them are really cute! However, she wears a size 9.5-10.

The last couple week she has been complaining that she always gets holes in her socks. I kept telling her that she should buy larger socks...well because she has monster feet.

Holly - "I can't believe it! I just bought new socks and I have a hole."

I was sitting in the sewing room and came out with my camera. "Maybe you should buy bigger socks." I snapped the picture.

Holly - "You are probably going to put this in your blog."

Yes, Holly, I am going to exploit your big feet. To be honest, I am surprised that foot didn't go up my ass.

"I didn't bring enough to share"

Holly and I were at the liqoure store - because we like booze. She was trying to pick out a bottle to bring to a party she was going to that night. When we asked where the wine was, they said it was by the Port wine. I had Port in Ireland, so I thought it was something good. However, they brought us over to the jug and boxed wine.

Holly picked out the biggest bottle of wine and I thought that was funny. I started picturing her arriving with the large bottle and saying, "Sorry, I didn't bring enough to share."

The bottle she had was not enough so I had her hold up a giant jug of wine. Caption: I brought some wine, but I didn't bring enough to share."

Reason I started a 401K

My Father, he is kind of my best friend. It is hard for me to admit, but if I have a problem or a success, my dad is the one I first call. He is kind of awesome.

He recently was laid off from his job so he told me on Thanksgiving that he went in to retirement. I was surprised, but knowing my dad, he worked for retirement. He is only 57. When we had dinner on Friday I asked him what he was going to do now that he was not working, he fully explained it.

A little back story: my father bought his first violin from a garage sale when I was about 5 (it is now on the wall in my craft room). He would play that thing night and day. His practice room was next to my bedroom so I sleep best if there is a foot heavily keeping time. Recently I started noticing that he was buying a lot of instruments that he never played before. I knew that he played the violin, trumpet and piano (my great aunt said he had great talent). But he started buying strange things like a banjo, cello and a slide guitar. At Thanksgiving he showed me his new keyboard. However, anytime I asked him about it, he would say he got a good deal from ebay.

Me - What are you going to do with your days?

Dad - I have started studying music theory.

Me - What? Music theory?

Dad - Why do you think I bought all those instruments. I was stocking up for this day.

Me - Well...why didn't you study that in college?

Dad - You could never make money at it.

Me - Your aunt did. She is a professor in college.

Dad - she is a nun, they wouldn't let me in.

Me - You are a dude. So you spend your days playing music.

Dad - Yeah, they just fly by.

Me - You suck.

So that is why I started a 401K. Yeah, I know the market is bad, but I do put $50 away a month for retirement. My plan is to retire to spend my dad like my father.

It's not hot in there

When I first moved in, the stove looked like it was far too old to actually work. Only three of the four burners actually worked. So when I tried the stove and it did not work, I was surprised. Then when Holly moved in, she also tried and found it did not work.

As I mentioned before, my dad is an electrician and I have an electric stove - alas, he could fix it! Little did I know that my dad worked at Warner-Stallion for 8 years and had experience working on stoves.

On Friday my dad agreed to come and fix the stove. After lunch we went back to the house so he could fix the stove and sink, which I guess I did a great job for my first try.

Five minutes later my dad says, 'Hey Annie, come here.' He was standing by the stove. 'I have something to show you.' Curious I approached. 'See this dial', he was pointing at the temperature. 'Now set that', he sets it. Intrigued, he then points at another dial, 'This is the one that says bake, broil or clean. When you turn that, the little light comes on and the oven warms up.'

Who-da-thunk! There was a second dial! All this time I was not using the oven because of a second dial. I was laughing so hard that I nearly fell to the floor. Of course, my dad never broke character, and was like, 'due to my 30+ years as an electric an, I was able to fix the problem.'

After thinking about how much a dumbass I am, I started thinking about how great it was to tell Holly. The next morning I saw her and I was all like, 'Holly, my dad fixed the stove.' She was super excited. 'Yeah, he spent hours on it. He said it was one of the most difficult things he has had to do...Do you want to see what he did?'

Eager Holly pranced to the stove. I opened the oven and showed her the coils. The I said showed her the first dial. Then I pointed to the second one. The look on her face demonstrated she did not believe that dial made a difference. I turned it and the oven light went in and, unlike my dad that never breaks character, I lost it.

It was at that point Holly realized we both were bamboozeled by the second dial. She was more pissed because she did not think she was that stupid. I told her I knew I was that stupid.

For the next two days I made Holly breakfast. It was good.

Dirty old neigbor

One of the first people I met was my neighbor on the left. He is a 65 year-old artist and has social issues. I made the mistake of telling him I do some website stuff. He asked me to create a site for him and promised me a painting. He is actually a talented artists so I bit. Soon after I moved in, my neighbor started coming over and asking me all sorts of tech questions.

The final straw was a couple weeks ago when he came over and said he couldn't get on line. I went over there and figured out the problem. An anti-virus message kept coming up and he asked be about it:

Neighbor, "why does that keep coming up?"

Me, "Well, if you do Internet searching you should use it. But you only visit a couple sites."

Neighbor, "Well what sites are you thinking of?"

Me, "Be creative, just don't visit bad sites."

Neighbor, "Porn?"

Me, "yes"

Neighbor, "Well I have to admit I do watch porn."

That is when my hands left the computer and I ran out of there.

Mandy has expensive taste

Here is Mandy Mew on one of my work jackets. That nice little green tage says "Benetton". Little Mand has very expensive taste...however, if I catch her kitty ass on my Sak's black work suit, she will be dog food.

Expensive Taste

Chinatown Orange

Holly is a lot more particular about color that I am. I am fine with finding some Opp's paint and mixing it until I see what I like. I am totally the Steward of color...and not porn. I know color when I see it. Holly, on the other hand, really likes to look at the difference in color.

So we were at Walmart and I told her to pick up a can of spray paint, which was only $1.21. She did, but really didn't like the color. It was too orange. I agree.

We went to Home Depot a couple days later and she found the perfect color. Prior, I asked if I could just wonder and she said it was ok. I really didn't want to have to go over the variations of different colors so I went to look at sinks and all the great improvements they are making in the sink industry.

When I came back, Holly did find the right color. She had the base paint of her choice and gave it to the paint mixing man. I had a feeling there might be a problem since the paint mixing mad was only making minimum wage and really didn't care if she had the right color.

As we were heading towards the checkout, Holly asked if the color was what she wanted. I paid no attention and just wanted to get home. As it turned out, the guy did totally get color wrong. It was Chinatown Orange and not Burnt Sienna.

My little helper

I thought when I bought the place that I would have friends and family lined up to help me out. What I have learned is I know a bunch of lazy fucks. I get help one night, but it is only for the fun and easy projects. They get fed full of beer for things like painting. I could do that all by myself. I need help with things like finishing the stairs.

This had lead me to turn to my cats. They usually just like food and some pets, but I have found they are good at manual labor. I needed to clean out a drawer and Mewska was all game.

Here she is, just a cat, and she is helping me out. She is telling me what looks good on me and what makes me look like a hooker or beached whale. Thank you Mewska Killmouski, you are one great cat.

Thro-back...I don't get it

A couple months back I posted pictures of the writing on the master bedroom closet. I thought I would add the final one.

"-Showin mad *heart* fo swa fo givin' me the right words to say. 'Fuck you cause I don't know what to do and hell naw I aint okay!-' -Yeachy (BKA) Yanda PX fo sheezy!"

I think this means the answer is four.

Finished bathroom - kind of

Meg, my co-worker, demanded that I updated my blog with images of the bathroom. It is kind of done, but still needs a lot of work. I still need to paint, put up a new shower curtain and add more storage. But the good news is I have a bathroom that has a floor and a sink. W00t!

Basement

As I mentioned earlier, the basement was a mess when I first bought the place. So we finally got the basement clean...only after a few months.

This got me thinking that I should finish my basement. I was thinking I should put some larger window in and actually make the basement into a tv room and big bathroom. I guess that will have to be in the five year plan.

Bathroom

I can't explain how bad my bathroom was. I knew it was going to be bad when I bought the place, but it kept getting worse.

The first bad thing was the sink was unusable. It was rotten on one side and always looked like it had it's head tilted. One of the first things I had to do was remove the sink.

Then one fateful day, my mother came over. She decided that she didn't like the floor in my bathroom so she removed it. The goal was for her to just remove the glass door (it was really hard to open), but when I came down, the floor was gone.

I bought a really nice sink on Craig's list, but it was difficult to put in. My dad looked at the floor and said that before I completely re-did the floor, it was not worth putting in the new sink. Basically, the new sink would require busting out the wall, but the way the floor looked, it would most likely lead to discovering the walls were gross. I was really sad because it was a really awesome bowl sink.

Alas, I had to buy a new sink until I have the money to gut the bathroom. Here are a couple picture of what the bathroom looks like.

Reason why I don't get anything done

When Holly moved in, we agreed that anytime we would work on the house, we would have beer. Our reasoning for this decision was because Jesus was a carpenter and he was noted as being drunk in the bible...right, right, right!

Holly and I really like beer and olives...try it, it is good.

Damn Fernando

Before I bought the house, I researched the previous owner. In 2006 Fernando bought the house for 80K more then my offer. Soon I discovered that Fernando and his family really had no intention on paying for their house - they just wanted a play to live until they were kicked out.

According to the neighbors, there were about 15 people living in the house. Yes, it is 1,300 square feet, but that only covers 5 people max. The number of people living here meant that some people had to live in the basement. There is a small room in the basement that someone was living in.

My mom and I had to tear out most of the walls in the basement because Fernando tried to seal the copper, but was caught so when I turned on the water it went everywhere. This lead to 'Damn Fernando', a term that was coined after learning about the things Fernando and his peeps did.

Now cut to me and my mom cleaing up the basement. She wanted to take down the ceiling, but I was a little concerned because there was a light and we were standing in about 2 inches of water. Yeah, I thought we were going to die.

After my mom was half way through taking down the ceiling, she asked if I turned off the electricity. Luckily, Fernando actually took a lap, cut off the top and made it into an overhead light. It even required a plug-in.

We kept it because my dad is an electrician and he would get a kick out of it.

Juggs

Yes, I have gained weight. I don't like to admit it, but my double chin tells a different story. My weight gain has prompted me to get a gym membership. I hate the gym. So many fluids that people should keep inside are out in the open when it comes to the gym. Anywho, I still have some nice jugs.

WHAT!!!

Mandy does not like people being in the house. When ever someone comes into the house, Mandy freaks out.

Holly models the room

Here is Holly attempting to model the living room after it was done.

It's hot in here baby

When I bought the house, I knew that I would need a new furnace. The one that was in the basement was like 40 years old and looked like the bottom decided being rust was more fun then being metal.

Yes, I knew that I needed a new furnace so I saved or it. I was waiting for my mom's 'guys' to come through. They did not. I went far too long without heat so when it got down to 52 degrees in my place I had to call in the professionals.

Now I have heat. I must say I am kind of sad because cold cats are lovey cats. When they are cold they hangout under my blankets. When it is warm they hangout in the basement, then they smell like basement. However, I have a roommate that likes to be warm, so I got a new furnace.

By the way, the picture is of two cats. You mainly see Mandy, but Mewska is the big black spot.

More from the river

Here are some more pictures from my favorite place on earth: the river by my house.

Tiny head

Look how small my head is. I am the one on the left. I took the picture when Holly and I were doing the Dr. Dumbass (Dum-as) and Dr. Douche (Douch-shee). It all started when we were working on striping the floor upstairs and had to wear masks because it was toxic. We started calling each other by Dr's for some reason reason I said "calling Dr. Dumbass, Dr. Dumbass to the front. Please tell Dr. Dumbass he is needed. *over com* "It's Du-mass!" *says doctor*

Idiot

Mandy Mew is not the smartest cat on the block. She farts when ever she is spooked (it is stinky) and she doesn't keep her nails groomed so she gets stucked on everything. Whenever Mewska is on her leash, Mandy sits from the door and watches. One time I took her out and I think I have a scar on my chest. She freaked and farted a lot.

Man this sucks

When I bought the house I thought that I could remove most of the paneling in the two spare bedrooms. Well the paneling in the dining room came off super easy, but when I got to the TV room it was not the same. I could get the paneling off, but the walls didn't look the same after 50 years of settling. Then on the exterior walls, they did not replace the walls and it was plaster.

So basically I had to take join compound and fill in the cracks from the paneling. That was not fun. It sounds easy to just put compound on the wall, but if it is not flush with the wall it has to be sanded. Then you have to put Kills over it. Kills smells really bad and is so hard to get off your skin. If you don't do that, then the lines show.

Poor floor

Ok, so I don't have the money to re-do all the floors at my house. The old part of the house had hardwood so it was inexpensive to get them lookin' good. However, new floor is freak'n expensive.

In order to do my bedroom in pergo it would cost me about $400. That is money that I should spend on getting a bathroom sink and a working oven. However, I really want to have a nice place to sleep. I decided to save the $400 and only spend $5 on stain. I figured since I always change the way my bedroom looks, in a year I will completely change things. The good thing is I have a rug that covers the entire room so you can't see the floor. But if you could, you would see that I made fake hardwood.

Winter is-a comin'

With the cold weather coming in, I figured I would put up a picture from one of the most beautiful places in the world. No, not Disney land, the river buy my house. Yes, I can go about a mile from my house and find this place. I can go down a short path and see down town Minneapolis, a coal plant and a train bridge. Three of my favorite things: urban life, real-life Tonka trucks and trains.

Holly's batty!

So, I was working on the house with my mom and Mike and I get this call from Holly. She is freak-a-ta-freaked out. She is screaming about a bat being in her apartment and she didn't know what to do. I, of course, did not know what to do. When we were in college there was a bat in the bathroom. The way we dealt with it by putting lamb shades on our heads and screaming a lot.

Of course my mom had an idea. She said to hit it with a broom to knock it out and dispose of it. About an hour later I get a call from Holly and she is wrapping up a dead bat in Tupperware. I could seriously hear the tape as she told me the story. So she listened to my mom and hit the bat with a broom. Only she hit it really hard had killed it. Then she scooped it up and brought it to the trash. She wasn't convinced that it was dead so she put it in the neighbors trash, ya know, so the bat wouldn't remember where she lived.

After she got back to the apartment she started thinking about a dream she had the night before. She woke up after dreaming about rats biting her hands. Then found a bat in her bathroom. Then she started thinking, bats are flying rats...rats have rabies and rabies kill. Cut to Holly looking up rabies on Wikipedia. Her eyes keep getting wider and wider as she learns that .5% of bats have rabies and they do bit when people are sleeping.

Holly got on the phone and called animal control. They told her that it is possible for her to have contracted rabies and the shot is about $2,000. She had to fish the bat out of the trash and bring it in to be tested. By this time it is dark and Holly remembered that she didn't have a flash light so she called the building manager to help her. Now remember, she did not toss out the bat in her garbage, she tossed it in the neighbors.
So after wrapping up the bat and keeping it in the fridge over night, I picked up Holly and her bat-sicile to the UMN's animal hospital. When I picked her up I asked, "so what did you do after we got off the phone?" I loved what she said, "I went and got waisted."

My other favorite quote from Holly that day was when we were standing at the reception desk filling out paper work and Holly asked, "So, does the bat get a name?" I lost it and started coming up with different names. "Smashy McNoflight", "Chill, the frozen bat", "Adam West". She explained that she would request that the bat not be named Holly. Oh, and the form. Man that thing was funny. I kept trying to get Holly to lie and say the bat was a pet and domesticated.

In the end Holly is ok, for those who care.

Feral Cat = Mewski

Wikipedia describes a feral cat as one that has not been domesticate and through abandonment, loss, or running away, and becomes wild. The term may also refer to descendants of such cats, but not to wild cats, whose ancestors were never domesticated. That is my little Mewska. She spent the first year of her life on the mean streets of St. Cloud before she was rescued.

I had Mewska, aka moo-moo, for about 2 years before we moved into the house. After a couple weeks, she was heading for the door. I would let her out, but there are a bunch of major streets and I don't want a cat-pancake. I decided to let her out when I could control her and make sure she didn't go far. I got a leash and let her out.

At first getting the leash on her was not fun. After spending some time outside she started to understand that a leash would mean that she could spend time in the sun.

The first picture is of her loving being outside, the other is of her wanting to run far away.

The wall

So, I have an interesting situation at my house. From my dining room, every room is on the first floor is visible. That means the living room, master bedroom, craft room, bathroom, tv room and kitchen. The problem is that from the dinning room is the bathroom. Seriously, right next to where I put the dinner table. The last thing I want my dinner guest to realize is that they are sitting next to the pooper. To compensate, I drew a really interesting tree on the wall. That way my guest will comment on the drawing, not on being next to the pooper...that is if I ever have guests.

"Thomas is a useful train"

My nephew is obsessed with Thomas the Train and after my dad watched him for a weekend, he became obsessed too. My dad obsessed with things is a very bad thing.

So my dad came over to help with something and all he kept saying "Thomas is a useful train" and that brought me to this post. NorthEast is known for the amount of train track we have. On the walk down to the river, the path crosses numerous train tracks. I don't know if it is a family things, but I also love trains. The first picture is from a bridge that has like a billion tracks under it. The picture below is from the river. There is a bridge that trains follow....beautiful...