Graceful

I thought cats were graceful. I thought that I just managed to adopt the most ungraceful cat with Mandy. She will walk on a blanket and her nails get caught. She will walk on the couch and her nails will get caught. She will kneed something and her nails get caught.

Dandy makes Mandy look like professional ballet dancer floating across the stage. Dandy will be walking on the edge of the bed and just fall off. Holly said she seen her walking on the piano and she just fell off. The sad thing is, she is going to get bigger, much bigger. I big, clumsy cat is going to break a bunch of things.

My guess is she will break my nose with in 5 years. The problem is she is so cute.

I put baby in a corner

When I was a kid, my mom worked at Target because she wanted to buy a baby grand piano. It was something that she always wanted. I don't really know why, she wasn't any good at playing. It was probably because we had a beautiful bay window that was perfect for a baby grand.

After a year or so she saved enough. I remember when it was delivered. It was a beautiful mahogany baby with hand carving around the base. I was around six so it seemed huge!

For the first year or so we all played. I took lessons from a mean old women on the west side of St. Paul. She sold Mary Kay and smelled funny.

After my mom and dad divorced the lessons stopped. Most things stopped. The only time we would touch the piano was when it was comical and we were pretending to be lounge singers.

At 18 my mom was forced to move out of the house I grew up in. She moved in with her long-term boyfriend. He had a house that could fit in the old house a few time. There was no room so she had to put it in storage.

A few years later, my sister started moving in with boys. They had larger places so she took the piano. I always fought against it because I didn't believe in moving it around as quickly as my sister went through men.

Finally the piano made its way to the house my sister was living in with her husband. They divorced and it was messy. After a few months of back and forth, the decision was made it would live at my house until I moved out. It is so pretty and looks perfect in my living room. Plus it makes me looks super fancy. The place can look like a crap shack and people will just focus on the beautiful baby sitting in the corner. Yes, I did put baby in the corner.

It's a little bitter sweet that the picture is of Mewska sitting on it. She loved the spot because it was full of son.

Orange alert

Ok, so, I am kind of stupid. I like to drink and I have no perception of the world around me. This leads to me leaving the doors unlocked ALL-THE-TIME. Since Holly moved in I have only done it a hand full of times, but still, there was a few good months will every door leading to entering the house unlocked.

I am still here to write this completely necessarily blog post, therefore, I was not murdered. This neighborhood is uber safe. Probably more than Minnetonka or some other 'fancy' neighborhood'.

However, the previous owners did not feel the same way. They must have felt really unsafe. When I moved in there were two alarm systems. One was newer then the other, but I guess they felt safer with two.

I thought for a second to activate one, ya know, being a single lady and all. But it required a land line and that is just to archaic for me. This is 2009 and I have an iPhone. I am far too advanced for a land line.

I couldn't believe that the previous owners kept the old, nonworking alarm system around well after it was used. That is just stupid.

So a year after moving in, I am painting the kitchen and I had the choice to either paint around the main box or take it down. I took it down. Now I am completely unprotected.

Garage 0 - Annette 1

Rewind seven months ago. My dad and I were getting the garage door working because snow was coming. I was excited because I have never been able to park my car in an actual garage! It was fancy in my mind.

My dad brought over some of his old garage door openers and programed it to work. This was our conversation:

Dad - "Ok, let's see if it works." Presses button and the door closes.
Me - "Yeppi! I am so excited! Now I don't have to worry about someone breaking the lock." At this point, I had a small lock that could easily be pulled off protecting the crap in the garage.
Dad - "Well know you don't have to worry about that. Let's make sure this other door can't be opened." He took a metal pipe and jammed it into the door.

Conversation one hour ago:

Me - "So, my garage door won't open."
Dad - "Have you tried pushing the button."
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Did you try again?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "How is the battery?"
Me - "I got a new one."
Dad - "Did you try pushing the button with the new battery?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Maybe you need a new clicker?"
Me - "Just got one. Still doesn't work."
Dad - "Did you press the button?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Well, try to get in the other door. Do you still have the key?"
Me - "Remember when we the garage door working and you stuck that pole in the other door?"
Dad - "Yea, we didn't think that through, now did we?"
Me - "Nope"
Dad - "Next time we should have an exit plan."

After about a an hour, I finally got the door with the pole open just enough for me to squeeze through. I pressed the button for the garage door and it worked perfect. I am waiting until my dad comes over to get the clicker working. I was covered in dirt and needed a bath.

A Dandie Idea

It's been a while since I really enjoyed my friends so I made it a point to hang out with my oldest friend, Margi (oldest that I have known). She works weekends so I can't see her when I am not working and she can't see me when she is not working. It's like friend camouflage.

I also believe the best decisions are made when you are drunk. But only when those decisions are remembered. We went to Mayslacks for a couple beers and dinner. Half way through the night we got on the conversation of cats. She knew the Mewska situation only because she reads this blog (one of three readers).

Me - "So, I think I should get another cat. You saw Mandy, she was super friendly."
Margi - "Yeah, she wasn't like that the last time I was over."

Why, for some reason, is Mandy being social a bad thing? Well because she farts when she is under pressure (ha) and gets all sorts of gassy when people are around. That leads me to think she doesn't really like people, but is out because some cat needs to know what is going on.

Me - "I want to adopt another, I just haven't."
Margi - "Let's go tomorrow."

It was so simple. The reason why I have not gotten a cat is because I have not gone to the humane society to pick one out. I have been so consumed with other things, I forgot how simple successfully acquiring this end result could be.

So we went back to my house and talked more about getting a new cat. Everything was interrupted by a game a Trivial Pursuit so I thought she forgot. Nope. The next morning she came in my room and said, "Let's go buy a cat!"

I was a little pissed at her energy. One, we had to walk 981,098,banana,298,948 to get to my car. Two, I was feeling the booze the day after and happiness is not the cure.

When we first saw Dandy (her real name was something stupid so I don't remember it) I fell in love. We brought her into a 'holding room' and I knew I had to get her. I actually made the step when I saw another family looking at her and got all sorts of pissy because they were touching my cat.

My mortal ememy

I have a gas lawn mower in my garage. I bet it works great, but the problem is I can't actually get it up the stairs. That and it is totally bad for the environment, but what eves.

I bought a push mower thinking, 'yeah, it will be more difficult to mow, but it is a good workout and better for Mother Nature.' By the end I wanted to die. A push mower is like Flinstoning out your car with the emergency brake on. It is like trying to eat tomato soup with a fork. What I am trying to say is that it is not fun.

Tile - what to do?

After stripping the paint from the tile, I realized that it was the same tile as the bathroom. A nice white tile with gold speckles. I can paint the bathroom because it will never stick due to the heat and water. The bathroom was easy because I could take attention away from the tile with the cool shower curtain, plants and textured window treatment.

I obviously could paint the tile in the kitchen because it was painted before and I never knew. Even Holly didn't know and she is a perfectionist! She has been painting her headboard for about two weeks now because she keeps seeing different colors and brush strokes.

At first I thought I could do some cool tile work. Above the sink I tried to add a pattern between the red and grey. The problem was that I like to drink beer while doing work house work. Straight lines don't mix well with beer.