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Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

Free Reign

So, Ryan basically said if there is anything I want to do to the house, I should do it while he’s gone because he has no control. This is fine with my even though it’s not like I wouldn’t have done something I really want when he is here. LOL But I’m not really rushing to do anything. I do want some shelves but don’t want to have to ask my father in law to pick them up in his truck so I don’t even know if I’ll get around to that.

On the other hand, we were looking for a coffee table when we first moved in but eventually decided that because of the space we have and the way the living room is set up, we don’t really need one and we’ve done without thus far.

I still want to add something to the walls in the bedroom which are pretty bare; I wanted to do some fabric art but I just never got around to buying the fabric (I did find some great stuff on Etsy) or supplies especially because Ryan was never really excited about the idea. Though, I suppose if he’s gone, it might be perfect timing to do that now, huh?

Another option we have might be to get an area rug or 2 area rugs. Especially in the living room, a rug might help define space better without taking up space but I wouldn’t even know how I would go in terms of colour because I am not a big fan of our furniture despite the fact that it’s the colour scheme I am working with (I did get a matching mirror a while back which I do like but I would love to get the furniture reupholstered eventually). I’d also only really be interested in cheap rugs because we are trying to save money. Plus, I’d still have that transportation issue so I don’t think I’ll buy any rugs soon.. but I probably will do some bedroom art.

This is Halloween!

Over the past week or so Ryan and I have hit up a multitude of stores including Walmart, Target, Michaels, Yankee Candle and Carlton Cards for Halloween decorations. Thus far, I have been several disappointed about the variety of items. We most bought indoor candle stuff and while it’s all really cool, I haven’t seen a lot of non-candle decor that’s worth a damn. However, we did invest in some fun gel window clings, a little gargoyle we put out front and a decoration for outside our door.

I wonder if this year is just a bad year for Halloween? A few years ago I reveled in the treasures I found at Wal-mart; I don’t even know if I bought anything elsewhere. Unfortunately, those items are stored at my mother’s house and probably will be for some time yet so I don’t have access.

Maybe I am just too picky? Generally, I am looking for decorations which are elegant and gothy – not gorey and cheap. I especially don’t like a lot of animated and noisy stuff. I just find it so tacky. While I enjoy lighted decor, much of it is just so hokey. I just want something dark and beautiful. If I could use something all year that, that would be even better.

Maybe next year will be better? I guess I can’t really complain. Halloween shopping was non-existant in Japan.

Frustrations Abound

To start: if you read any of this post, this is it!

After we shipped off my computer. I signed onto AIM on the laptop and was met with an empty buddylist. Not just 1 in fact, but all of my linked lists were empty. Gone. This was not of any doing of my own as I certainly would not have the patience to delete around 200 buddies and I don’t really have the desire to.

I had the same issue with every other computer I used and resigned myself to hoping that once I was back on my computer, my buddylist would be intact or I would somehow be able to get it back.

Well, it wasn’t and I couldn’t. So, if you were on my AIM list or even if you just want to be now, let me know your name.

My second frustration is something which has been solved to a point: my bathroom. I thought the tub was leaking because there was always a huge puddle on the floor after we showered. It appeared to be coming from under the tub which was alarming and strange. I called the office and they put in a call for maintenance.

A few days later maintenance shows up and the guy says it’s coming not from under the tub, but from the side of the tub (near the faucet) and water was dripping down onto the side and dripping onto the floor from there. I was dubious but he went ahead and put in a little bracket thing on the side of the tub to stop it, told e to wait 4 hour before I used the tub and I did.

Now, we have been putting up with the worst-shower-head-ever! EVER! Instead of water shooting out as a reasonable speed and distance, it simply falls straight down from the head. This resulted in us having to stand no more than 6 inches away from the shower wall. This only furthered our puddle because the water from the shower was basically going right onto the side of the tub and down onto the floor, creating our big puddle.

So the bracket does seem to help, a bit. Even though I waited over 5 hours, when I took a shower the water that got on the bracket made the sealant leak in a little white puddle. So I have been wrapping the shower liner around into the shower and using water suction to stick it to the shower wall which seems to work more than the bracket itself.

The one saving grace of the bathroom is that we have now purchased a new showed head with more pressure that shoots out much straighter and further than the old one. It also has different settings which I don’t much care for but it’s a plus anyway.

Sadly, there’s still 1 more thing wrong with the bathroom: lately the chain inside the toilet tank keeps falling off so you can’t flush. Now, the toilet tank itself isn’t as dirty as the bowl but I’d still prefer not to have to stick my arm in there if I don’t have to. In fact, I even dreamt about it the other night. Ugh.

MY last frustration is certainly the biggest. Remember my new phone? Stylish? Cute? Small? Mine? Yea, well I’ve had some issues.

I have returned it twice because, eventually, the instant messaging feature has stopped working. While it certainly won’t kill me, I think I should be able to use all the features the phone has. The first two times it took about a week to stop working, even though it worked fine directly out of the store. Yesterday I called tech support for my second phone, tried to reset and when that didn’t help, they told me to return it which I did.

Last night, already, the IM feature stopped working on my third phone. T-Mobile’s policy is that I can do an alternative exchange or upgrade after 3 returns for the issue but, honestly, there’s no other phone I like as much, so I don’t really want to do an alternative exchange.

Unfortunately, since the software was put on it by T-Mobile, Nokia can be of no help. Even worse, TMobile tech support and store associates have no idea what’s going on. To add insult to injury, Ryan has the exact same phone and has not had any of the problems I have.

Instead of exchanging, I thought I would find an application online to use instead of the one provided by TMobile. Unfortunately, the TMobile settings block all third party applications so I can’t even do that, it seems. I think I am stuck trying to debrand the phone myself and, if that fails, paying them to unlock it to see if that will help.

Ugh. I really enjoy the phone besides this one issue which I keep running into and it only frustrates me that it just seems to be me having it. What am I doing wrong?

Heat At Last

Rian and I have been icicles these last few days because, apparently, the heater in the living room was stuck. I finally got sick of freezing to everything and forced it to turn up which resulted in a nice “crack!” but, at least, it’s producing heat now!

You Get What You Pay For

Semi recently, we bought a desk – this desk to be exact. It was a desk I had been looking at while living in Milwaukee which Wal-mart carried. Unfortunately, the version they carried had been upgraded so by the time i was able to buy it, it was unavailable and I had to start my search all over again.

As a stroke of luck, they had it at the furniture store on base and I suggested we buy it. Rian wanted to wait and we forgot about it until a couple weeks ago when we purchased it. However, acquiring this desk and being able to use it was a little trying.

First, we measured the box and his car and decided it would fit, only to find that it didn’t fit. After trying to make it fit every which-way, we decided to take it out of the box. As he was doing this, Rian decided to just take out the longest piece which fit in the backseat and smush the end of the box into the car which worked but we both had to have our seats up and not locked into place on the drive home.

We got home but headed out to look for a desk/office type chair only to no avail. They didn’t seem to have any on base and off base we only found Japanese style chairs which were all of 6 inches high but – no need to worry – we were rewarded with a flat tire on the way to the mall which cut our trip short. Rian was admirable as a driver in such conditions and luckily, on the way back to base there was a full service gas station so the blown tire and the other front tire which was damaged from driving on it, could be fixed.

Eventually we returned home and went to work only to find that this was extremely difficult to put together. The screws and holes were picky in the way that you had to get it just right in order for the screws to actually go in and that was difficult because the damned holes were so close to other pieces that there was no room for the screwdriver.

Eventually we had a generally desk-shaped object which needed to be in a different position in order to move on to the next step and upon lifting it up, the screw popped/broke out of the wood. Of course, I didn’t expect the wood to be fabulous but that’s always frustrating.

Add to the list of difficulties that some screws had to be put in upside down which is not as easy as it sounds. Additionally, some couldn’t be put in at all because the holes were off slightly which worried me. I was opting for quitting until we could get a drill because I didn’t want my computer on a faulty desk only to come crashing down and breaking into a million itty bitty pieces.

One angry Rian, one tired Cole, several sores hands and one usably decent desk later, we were finished. Needless to say, we skipped the bookcase.

Anyway, point is that I have a new desk and – if you look at the picture – you can see the highest shelf which is where my monitor now is. Before, it was about eye height which worked well but now that it’s higher, the colour and contrast seems off quite a bit, probably because it’s LCD. Unfortunately, the range of positions into which I can put my monitor is limited and adjusting contrast doesn’t help so I guess I’m stuck.

This is extremely noticeable on my website where I use shades of the same colour of similar colours for certain things (links/navigation, quotes, image displays et cetera) and I cannot tell the colours apart. What used to look really sleek, is now useless to my eyes and it makes me sad. )=