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Librarian by day, heavy metal cross stitcher and English literature graduate student by night, blonde all the time!

Today I am...
The current mood of blondelibrarian at www.imood.com

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bird Cross-Stitch Disaster
18 July 2004

I was hoping to have a new cross-stitch piece to display today. It was going to be a bookmark with hotair balloons.

However, I had problems with it from the beginning. I miscounted the amount of fabric I needed and I miscounted while stitching the balloons. I tried to compensate for this by adding some wording to it (”Up, Up, and Away!”). But nothing helped.

I have been struggling with it all week and today I finally got so frustrated with it I cut it into small pieces (Yes, I really did!) and threw it in the trash.

Maybe I need a cross-stitch breather…

bird A Dishwasher Story
15 July 2004

Two years ago, days after we moved into our apartment, we ordered all of the necessary appliances: a washer, a dryer, a refrigerator, and a dishwasher. The dryer gave us a small problem about a year ago, but otherwise all of them have worked perfectly for the past two years. Four days ago, our two year warranty on these appliances ran out…

Last night, when A. came home I exclaimed, “Oh, hi honey. I am SO glad you are home.”

As he walked into the kitchen, he eyed me skeptically. After all, I usually say, “Hi, how was your day?” when he comes home.

“Why?” he said.

“Because I think the dishwasher is clogged.” And that is how our evening began.

We spent all evening scooping water that smelled like it came from a sewer out of the dishwasher, blowing through hoses, and unscrewing parts that probably shouldn’t have been unscrewed before finally coming to the conclusion that the pump is probably kaput.

This morning, A. called the repair man, who promptly told us that he can’t come until NEXT Thursday! Oh the horror! He also told us that he can’t tell us how much the repair will cost until AFTER he looks at the machine. Just to look at the machine will cost us 58 euros that must be paid in cash at the time of the visit. Only at that time will the repair man be able to tell us how much it will cost to fix the damn thing. We have already discussed it may be cheaper to buy a new dishwasher.

The down side is that until then I will have to wash dishes. I HATE to wash dishes.

The up side is we will be eating out a lot in the next week! :)
4:00 Update

I just got a call from the repair man’s office. They will be able to squeeze us in on Tuesday!

bird The “Fitness Studio”
13 July 2004

Back in March, A. and I joined our local “fitness studio,” which is one of those fancy-sounding imported English words that simply means “gym.” It was our intention to go twice a week. We did really good for about a month. Then with the onset of summer we were struggling to go once week. However, after discussing how much money we spent on a year-long membership, we renewed our vow to go twice a week. For the past two weeks we have managed to keep our word.

As part of our membership, we get sessions with a trainer every 20-25 visits. They give you a fitness test, check your blood pressure, measure your weight and fat, and show you new exercises.

Last night, was my second training session (since March I have gone 23 times!). The trainer measured me and the bad news (at least in MHO) was that we found neither my weight nor fat mass had changed. (I had hoped to reduce them both) The good news was that my fitness level had gone up two-fold and my blood pressure had gone down a bit. Considering that I had been more concerned with visiting the “Solarium” (tanning bed) than doing my exercises the last couple of months, I guess it wasn’t all that bad. In all honesty, I had been getting bored with my exercises anyway, so it is a good thing the trainer showed me some new ones. As of today, I am motivated again. How long it will last I don’t know…

bird Firefox

I first heard about it from JingleLady. Then I read it about it on Wired. Last night, A. downloaded Firefox on his computer. After playing around with it a little bit, I decided to download it on mine too.

I experimented with it most of the afternoon and by adding on the desired extentions, I find it to be extremely flexible. We will see how I like it in the coming days, but I think it looks pretty promising…

Of course, after examining my various web pages with it, I realized I need to do some tweaking so they look as good in Firefox as they do in IE. Luckily though, this blog looks good in both. (Even though I have been kicking around the idea of redesigning my blog template…)

bird Seven Miscellaneous Things
11 July 2004

First: I have updated my photo gallery and will continue to do so tomorrow…

Second: I have also signed up with fotolog.net and now have a fotolog there. Check it out for more pics.

Third: I pulled my George Michael CDs (Faith and Listen Without Prejudice Volume 1) out of the CD case and have been listening to them. Am I totally gay or what? (Actually, no, I’m not. I am perfectly straight!)

Fourth: I am wearing a very light green eyeshadow today. How 80s!

Fifth: After a week of itchiness, I shaved my legs today. Oh well, it isn’t like it is warm enough to wear shorts.

Sixth: I got soaked walking home in the rain today after the parade. My throat is already scratchy. I predict tomorrow I will feel like crap.

Seventh: Enough bullshit for one day. I am going to bed!