Costumes

If anyone wants to wear a costume to the Pumpkin Carving Party, feel free to do so, but they are not required. I won't be wearing one, but I will be wearing a special Halloween-related kitchen accoutrement.

Been a busy week this week.

Work exploded yesterday. Fun. Hope to God that doesn't happen after John gets here.

Monday I ended up going home sick around 11am. Had been feeling crappy all weekend so it was to be expected. Spent the afternoon on the couch resting and watching more of Coupling. Love that show.

Since I was home, I decided to throw a load of laundry in. To my surprise, when the dryer finished its cycle, things weren't dry. So I had to place a service call on the dryer. The repairman came yesterday just before I left for work (which was nice of him, as it saved me an extra trip home). I guess my dryer has not been venting properly so it overheated and blew a safety switch. Replacing the switch and the service call would have cost $100, but was free under my extended warranty. Nice to have extended warranty on large appliances you can't carry in to be fixed.

While I was out running errands at lunch yesterday, I ran into my Dad, so I mentioned the dryer problem to him. He came by yesterday to take a look at how we could change the vent, and he's coming back over today to move the pipe, so the dryer can fit back in the limited space that is there. Dad also removed the big roll of carpet out of the garage, I decided I wouldn't be using it. That will make room for me to store the lawn mower and soon, the Christmas tree. Which reminds me, I had a dream last night that I was picking out my Christmas tree. Weird. But that must have been where it came from.

With the dryer pipe work going on, it finally forced me to clean some stuff up in the basement. Also took a look at the bookshelves with mold on them. It looks like the mold is just "on" them, not growing "in" them, so if I clean it up with the proper cleaner, everything should be ok and I shouldn't have to throw them out.

I also decided on a smarter thing to do with my landing at the bottom of the stairs. I wanted to recarpet it, but decided it would be smarter to wait and do that after I am sure I am not going to have any more flooding problems. This should have occurred to me earlier, but better late than never. The plan is to take up the tackless strips and lay a nice rug down on the cement, which if it gets wet, can easily be cleaned. While I was out at Superstore this week, I stumbled upon a really nice green rug, so I went home and measured the area, and went back and bought the rug. Close to perfect fit. Thing is, I also saw a Berber rug, same size, that would go well there too. And for fun I stuck the green rug by the door beside the fridge, and I really like it there. So I may soon be the owner of 2 rugs. I think I like the green one upstairs too much to move it now. It's a lot longer, and I can walk with wet boots on it further in past the door than the small rug I had there before, which was blue, and didn't really go.

I heard back from the international chain with the crazy shipping. They wrote and said it was so high because they send it via registered mail. They say since it's the same as cash, they have to send it via registered mail so it wouldn't get stolen. I don't really know any other company that does this. Still ridiculous. You should offer me the option of normal shipping, and I assume the loss if the thing gets stolen. I'll take that risk over paying half the cost of the gift card itself in shipping. Assinine.

I had something really great happen to me yesterday. While I was over chatting with my boss, he asked me about John's visit and we were chatting about that. I mentioned I had to get him a winter jacket, especially if he comes back at Christmas because he will need something warm and doesn't own anything that heavy. My boss just got a shipment of jackets in as promo items and gave me one. Like a really nice Marks Work Wearhouse jacket. Nicer than the one I was going to get John to look at while he's here. That was the most expensive thing he was going to have to get, just to visit here, and now it's taken care of. That was so awesome of my boss to do that, he said I worked hard. It's nice to know I am appreciated and this was a great perk.

I still have a few things to do around the house tonight before John arrives tomorrow. Have to vacuum. I am tempted to leave that for him to do, as he tells me he really wants to see what this central vacuum system is all about, and that he might have to try it out. Mwahahaha! Er, I mean, yeah, really interesting. So yeah, vacuuming, moving a couple of things around, need to pick up one more grocery item, do a bit more laundry once the dryer is back up & running, and then I should be all set. Wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight?