Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Jack Handy Quotes

Okay, these are not technically Jack Handy quotes, but they are certainly in the spirit of Jack Handy.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. (Oy, can I ever attest to that one.)

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

There is great need for a sarcasm font.

How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5.  Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.  (Dont say it, Wizard)

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.  (I can attest to that one, too.)

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray?   I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this --  ever.  (I will, however, hang it somewhere to air out.)

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Monday, September 7, 2009

A new guest room

For the first time in my life I have a guest room.  When you have a big family, you don't have a guest room.  If you have guests coming, you do a quick glance in each of the kids' rooms, figure out which is the cleanest, move THAT kid into the a sibling's room for the duration, and give the cleanest room to the guest.  Or if that's not practical you give the guests the family room or the front room, whichever has the most comfortable couch for sleeping and hope they do okay there.

But since we had a room that was only collecting stuff when we didn't know where to put it, I wanted to create a guest room.  Carebear and I (with the help of Melissa, watching the babies) cleared out the garage (so we could sand and paint furniture, which is now a nice warm milk chocolate color), cleared out the landing so we could clear out and sort the contents of the room, boxed up all of the contents that belonged to others (to be stored until they can be collected by their owners), peeled all the stickers off the bed frames (hundreds!), sanded and painted two under-the-bed dressers and a bookcase, prepped and painted walls (three of them are light brown and one is mossy green), vacuumed the ceiling and the carpeting, and re-assembled all the furniture and made up the beds with new linens, comforters, and plenty of pillows.  We also put down a small green area rug.

When we were at the store selecting the colors, the woman doing the mixing warned us that the room would be pretty dark.  She's right, it is on the dark side, but it's not a depressing dark, it's a restful dark.  It's like being in the forrest kind of dark.  But the ceiling and ceiling fan are white, and when the drapes (about the same color as the moss green wall) are open, there is plenty of light in the daytime.  There's also a little black gooseneck lamp on the bookcase, which is located between the two twin beds (which used to be bunk beds, but are now separated with an under-bed dresser beneath each.)  That way if guests want to read in bed, they can do so in comfort and they don't have to try to stumble back to bed after turning off the overhead light in a strange room.  There's also a clock radio on the bookcase and a wooden bowl full of toiletries that guests may need, like new toothbrushes, toothpastes, sample sized deodorants, and that kind of thing. Plus there are a few books and magazines in the shelf below.  

The closet has been cleaned out as well, and the shelves contain all of the games that we own, which are a lot more accessible now that they're on shelves instead of packed into a chest where you forget they're there.  The chest has been moved to the guest room too, and is filled with extra blankets in case they're needed.  It's located at the foot of one of the twin beds and doubles as a handy place to put a suitcase in case guests don't want to unpack into the drawers. At the foot of the other bed is a small lidded basket that holds towels and washcloths.  There's plenty of hanging space and hangers in the closet.  

I just feel like now when people come to visit they have a space of their own where they can rest up from whatever running around they have done and a place where they can close the door and have some privacy, which is so much more comfortable than crashing on the futon in the front room.  

The Wizard and I figure we'll probably be in this house for about another ten years.  Might as well make it as comfy as possible for ourselves and whomever is here with us.  
 

Friday, September 4, 2009

Profound short paragraph

This is probably the best paragraph you'll ever read. This is one paragraph that should be in every book in every school room in every city in every state in our great Union .. Our educators should make a lesson plan on this one statement and beat these words into every head in every class in every state in these United States of America.

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."*

* Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005