The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Part Six

Time for another installment of the Copycat Project, my method of letting you know about blogs worth reading, while continuing to put off updating the blog list over there in the left margin.

Now, I've thought about this for a while, trying to think of what exactly I'd write about in trying to "copy" Our Little Beehive for a Copycat Project post. She cooks... I cook. She crafts... I craft. She and her husband do house projects... You've heard a thing or two about our bathroom lately, yes?

Lots of material there, that's for sure, so what's been holding this up? Copying the Beehive is intimidating. Think Martha Stewart meets Bob Vila. Yeah.

But! A recent turn of events allows me to send you over there to read about the endeavors at the Beehive without having to compare them directly to anything here. They've been nominated for the Homies over at Apartment Therapy, so I can instead tell you to go peruse and wander about the Beehive and, once you've picked your jaw up off the floor, cast your vote.

Back to our regularly scheduled tiling nightmare later this week!

sweet, sweet vindication

I had my annual review at work today.  To put it mildly, my boss pretty much thinks I walk on water.  While that's not literally accurate (and figuratively, it's debatable), I'm so pleased to have my efforts recognized.

A part of me would REALLY like to send a little memo about this to my last employer... the one that let me go after hanging me out to dry with no direction and no clarity of expectations.  But I'll just keep it to myself.  Silent vindication will do just fine.

Happy weekend, everyone!

On getting worse before it gets better.

Oh yes, this here's an update on the status of project "Make the Bathroom Less Ugly."  The picture of our tub was taken this morning. I assure you, the plastic drop cloth is definitely not part of the "vision" for the end result. 

The "worth it"s have it.

Well. I sure know what to post about the next time I want to get lots of comment-discussion going! I never guessed folks would be so adamant about the merits of Twitter.

I figured what the heck, I've already got an account, might as well give it the old college try. Or the old half-hearted, when I feel so inclined, anemic pseudo-effort. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I was mostly won over by the folks who indicated that this approach would be perfectly acceptable. So go ahead and follow me if you like (same name as I use here), though I'm not sure how much I'll have to say.

Incidentally, this whole I-can-follow-people-who-don't-follow-me concept reminded me of a post I thought about a few weeks ago and never actually wrote: who I'd invite to my ideal hypothetical dinner party. You know, famous people who seem like (or have marketed themselves effectively to seem like) all-around awesome, funny, intelligent winning-at-life type folks. Must give it some more thought, though, as I can only remember two of the people I thought of then. If famous people are going to show up to my imaginary dinner party, certainly my imaginary table can seat more people than that.

To tweet or not to tweet...

So.  Talk to me about Twitter.  Worth my time?  Not worth my time?

I actually already have an account and a grand total of two tweets under my belt.  Those were done for a very particular purpose (and I gotta say, Twitter came through for me like a champ), and I didn't have any additional time then, in August, to spend tweeting.  Whether I do now is debatable, I know, but for whatever reason it's started to cross my mind: should I start tweeting? Following others who tweet?  Figuring out what the @s and #s mean?

Who thinks it's worth it (and why), and who doesn't (also why)?

It's going to look SO GOOD.

Some parts of the bathroom actually do look pretty good right now.  The floor tiles are in and grouted.  The new sink and its faucet have been installed.  The wall trim looks great with the paint we used. 

Showing you those things, though, would make the eventual after photos sort of anticlimactic.  In the meantime, I figure I won't give too much away with a picture of boring old wall tiles.  These guys are affixed to one of the three walls they're destined for, and not yet grouted.  So... yeah, it'll be a while for those Afters.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Part Five

I'd actually been planning to tell you guys about Squirrel over at The Nuthouse in a Copycat Project post with photos from a fun outdoorsy adventure. It'll be a while before Mr. Stupendous and I go kayaking, that's for sure, and even for hiking, I prefer to wait until the trails are ice-free before venturing out (I swear, I must have some sort of inner ear issue that explains my clumsiness). It's snowshoeing season, but who am I kidding, there won't be time for that until we wrap up the bathroom renovation in 2015. (Sigh.)

So! In the meantime, go read about Squirrel's travels. And hoo boy, do you want to check this out: she lived in Alaska, now lives in Australia (I know, right?), and makes a point of getting out and enjoying all the cool stuff there is to do in her area.

Another fun thing Squirrel blogs about -- and I'm looping back to the point of my post, so stick with me here -- is home brewing. She and her husband started brewing beer in part to avoid having to buy it in Australia (apparently it's pretty spendy) and have found that they quite enjoy it. A few days ago she talked about some of the beers they've concocted recently, and that reminded me that I never blogged about our sophomore brewing effort. Ta-dah:




It looks pretty much the same as our first beer, the Dark Horse Porter, but you'll have to take my word for it: that there is Christmas Cookie Ale. And it was good. (Yes, it's gone. Single tear.) We took a kit for a nut brown ale and added a hint of cinnamon and vanilla.* The flavors were more subtle than I expected, but I think that was for the best, and it might be one of my favorite beers ever. We've decided to make a double batch next year and make it our annual holiday brew.

Have I mentioned I'm disappointed it's gone?




* When I say "we," of course, I mean that Mr. Stupendous did all the actual brewing. I came up with the idea to add the cinnamon and vanilla, and the name. That counts as helping, right?

Yes, there was more than flowers and food.

I had kind of a "challenging" day at work today, and I cheered myself up a bit just now by scrolling through some of the photos from our wedding. I also realized that I never blogged about anything post-wedding except for the flowers and the food -- which, yes, are the important points, dontcha know, but not the only things I'd intended to write about.

So. If you're having a challenging day as well, I hope you might be cheered a smidge by


...the fact that The Awesome Husband's phone apparently saved the day:


...a bit of patent leather in two colors:


...an amazingly blue sky (and to think I'd been hoping for cumulus clouds):


...and a whole slew of my favorite people all in one place:



I know they're not necessarily your favorite people, but don't they look happy? Hopefully the cheering effect works of you too.


All photos are the work of the lovely Clare Norton.

Nothing gets done until Item Seven gets done. Ahem.

Over the past few days, I've been reading lots of reflection on the past year and contemplation of the one ahead. Bloggers sure are an introspective bunch.
In terms of reflecting on 2010, suffice it to say that mine rocked.

It's been fascinating reading about others' resolutions, though, and I can't help but think about what I've got on my agenda for 2011 as well.

*Eat more vegetables (quantity and variety), even when the garden isn't churning out deliciousness. From June to October, when I can walk twenty feet out my door and find some sustenance that's not only healthy, but interesting ("look what I grew!"), I'm good. I need to keep that progress going rather than standing in the produce section of the grocery store, staring blankly at the options in front of me and thinking "broccoli again. sigh." CORROLLARY: Learn how to perserve by canning.

*Drink more water. I don't drink a whole lot of stuff that isn't water on a daily basis, but I get to the end of far too many work days and realize I haven't consumed any liquid at all.

*Build on the training progress we're having with our new furry friend. We've got sit, stay, wait, shake, touch (he touches his nose to our hand), leave it, find it, and in your crate down pat (for the most part), but it would be great to have those things mastered even when a truck, cat, squirrel, or other dog is going by. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

*Keep on keepin' on with the running. This one's tough because I'm absolutely motivated to run, but my bursitis-riddled knees and my plantar-fascitis-prone feet are not. I guess the solution for 2011 is to do the boring physical therapy exercises I know I should be doing to keep those maladies at bay. Even though my time is limited and if I only have 20 minutes to work out, I'd really like to use them pumping up my adrenaline with some speedwork and angry music, (pout-pout-pout) the puny little "flex your leg muscles" things will have to win out more often than not.

*Sift through the house to separate unwanted or no longer needed items and send them on their merry way. The lucky survivors from this project should be organized in a more logical manner. The potato masher, for instance, shouldn't have to live out its days in a jumble of whisks and mixer beaters. And scissors. And packing tape. You get the idea.

*Put more effort into wearing outfits that make me feel confident and happy. My workplace is very permissive with its dress code. I could wear jeans and a sweatshirt most days if I so chose (I don't). I do, however, wear jeans and my go-to shirts more often than I'd like. I made an effort toward the end of 2010 to use more accessories, and that was pretty fun, so for 2011 I think I might try to face my fear of bracelets and patterned fabrics.

Woah, six goals, I think that's probably enough. Oh heck, let's make it seven: wrap up Project "Make the Bathroom Less Ugly." Seeing as how we currently have NO working plumbing in it at all, we're super motivated to have that happen as soon as possible.