another for the "probably someone already thought of this and realized it wasn't feasible" category

Lately on hulu they've been showing a lot of condom commercials. Apparently Trojan recently came out with one that "feels like nothing's there!" I think they should do a commercial where people are getting it on and the guy keeps stopping... um... short... in a panic because he is paranoid he forgot to put on the rubber since he can't tell it's there so he keeps doublechecking, which drives his partner crazy due to timing issues...

Missed my calling, I know.

So there.

The best solutions are often the simplest, n'est-ce pas?

I am a genius

well on someone's scale somewhere, anyway...

Doormat Quandary #1
My door and the neighbor's door are right next to each other at right angles so there has never been enough room for me to have my own doormat. No big when Sheryl was here since she always had a huge one and I just used it. Now the new kids have a really old fairly useless mat which would not do much even if I did use it. Plus, isn't it just nice to see your own doormat at your door? Kind of a nesting thing.

Doormat Quandary #2
I had one of those really cheap plastic grass mats on the deck in back but found early on that it was light enough for the slightest wind to move it, so it's been nailed down in two places, loosely, ever since, making it harder to shake out, etc. Further, it impinges TC's dinner comfort as well as his saying-hi-to-Sam-and-Lucy comfort since he hates to have his feet on it so sits to the side of it all the time. (S&L concur on its paw unsavoryness btw: they are quite loathe to step on it on occasional deck outings.)

Doormat Quandary #3
I'm really picky about doormats. My all time fave was my old fish one in Aub*rn, one of the recycled tire ones. I lucked out finding it right after I moved there and kept it the whole time even tho by the time I was ready to move here you couldn't really tell the fish in the middle were fish anymore.

Ever since moving to SC, I've been looking at this mat at Target:

I really liked the colors despite the slightly hokey zen-wannabe theme. But get a load of those scary end pieces. Holy Incongruous, Batman.

Major Brainstorm:
Tonight in the Target doormat aisle once again, I had an idea. Here's a hint:

Thanks JFF yet again for some really great scissors!

Et voilà!!

Front door view.

Notice how it fits almost perfectly between neighbors' skanky old mat and my doorsill. (Full disclosure: I had to scooch the NSOM over about 2" off center - hope they're not as picky as I am or it will really bug them... Yeah, figure those odds.)

Back deck view, TC's bowl to the right.

As soon as it was down, TC stood right on it to meow at us, so apparently it is much more comfy on catpaws than faux turf is. Also now he can eat right in front of the door and I can more easily watch out for Grey Cat who sometimes purloins TC's repast.

I'm going to nail the little end pieces on a couple of the deck steps which are slopey and have been the source of Susan Foot Slippage numerous times taking trash out on rainy days.

It dawns on me that it is fairly frequent that I purchase something and then feel the need to alter it in my own particular idiom. Just can't leave well enough alone, can ya, Suz? I have to say tho, it's almost always better my way. This time the improvement is dependant on the specifics of the situation but even just taking those end pieces off makes a way better mat, no? Who the heck thought those up? Give that doormat designer a raise...

From another perspective, this particular project perhaps underlines my need either to fricking get to work (go procrastination energy) or find some friends already.

Friday morning tidbits

• Rain which will hopefully stop before tomorrow's kayaking trip.
• Fun new Eddie Bauer outdoor/hiking-material skirt with fun little zippers, etc., on it which used to be a skort (page down to the little flowered one "UPF performance skort" - I got the dark grey tho) but I cut the shorts out of it. (Of COURSE I did!)
• Haircut later which isn't really in dire need but will still feel good. We'll see if Maggie still has the magic touch.
• French Table last night had 15 attendees which was great and everyone spoke in French even when there wasn't an instructor sitting by them.
• I went to Subway across the street for late lunch/early dinner before going to the FT venue which might be my new Thursday night tradition (i.e. Subway before FT, which is already on the calendar as a weekly thang).
• Lab lesson today with the more interesting/interested of my 104's for which the lesson plan is already done since I taught it Weds. for the other section.
• Quiz today for the other sessions of 104 which has yet to come to fruition. (W/F I have a lab in the morning then both 104s; one 104 lab W and one F - they LOVE seeing me twice in one day! Well the more interested/interesting section actually may love it, the other perhaps not.)
• Dead skunk out on 93 today which I am sorry about but nonetheless hope is the one which goes by our windows on his nightly rounds and permeates the entire house, even to the point of waking me up if I happen already to be asleep!
• Very slight calming of my mood, outlook, what-have-you, plus small reduction in work as I've finished a couple of the bigger tasks this week, which means you all might actually get answers to your emails someday soon.

Pollyanna Sunday

Well I admit my mood has taken a wee dive as I look ahead to a mostly yucky week of more and more schoolwork. Why did I want to keep doing this again? Hmmmmmm. Someone remind me. Eyes on the prize, Susan: you're co-directing the Paris program next summer.

Yes, 'tis true - I don't think I told you. Anyway of course you know me so it won't surprise you to know that mostly I feel stressed about it altho I would far rather be stressed about something like that than most other things and it's tacit proof I've made a good decision coming here. Yeah, when would I ever have been asked to help out with the overseas program or pretty much anything else fun (if challenging, too) at Aub*rn? Ummmm, yeah, that would be, oh yeah NEVER EVER IN A MILLION FRIGGING YEARS (even if my contract renewals hadn't been going to end in another two semesters there of course). And no, I don't count a certain conference as fun altho in retrospect now I know that training will help hugely in getting things ready for Paris and at least I know some people back there do indeed esteem me, and they are way more worthy people by which to be esteemed anyway, I must say.

But I digress.

Paris aside I'm kind of freaking out now even tho school is still a little ways away. So tonight instead of dwelling on school I am trying to concentrate on today's Major Good Thing and I decided I should share it with you, too. So here is my fantabulous accomplishment today in the house:


You have not been privy to the humongous decorating problem posed by the big long wall in our house, so you will need the more extended view to see how much difference this INCREDIBLY FUN INSTALLED-BY-YOURS-TRULY SHELVING makes:


Well and of course the perspective is weird so I'll have to explain. To the left of the piano it's still a little ugly which is why I didn't photograph it at first but here's another view where you get the idea, even tho really I took this for you to better appreciate the Success portion of the wall:


If you can't tell in the photo or imagine it, take it from me: it is very hard to decorate big long schizophrenic/multipurpose walls. This one wall goes from front entryway area, to living room, to dining room, to back porch entryway area. I got the pix above the piano put up several weeks ago in my first big stint of wall decorating but then I was stopped cold. There seemed no way to decorate the kitchen/dining area part. (Go back up to the photo and put your finger across the shelves and the big fabric noren wall hanging to envision the problem.) OK, yeah, I admit it was partly the fault of the furniture, but still... I was even playing with the idea of putting a bookcase perpendicular to the wall between the piano and the dining area to try to physically make two spaces and erase the wall issue by simply making the transition from one area to the next as abrupt as possible. This worked well in my first Aub*rn apt. but I decided it would cut the light weirdly here.

LUCKILY I had another problem, too. (How often do you hear me or anyone say that?!) Some of you will remember my incredibly fun built-in shelves in the old apt. where virtually all my pottery lived. Here's what they looked like if you never saw it:


The pix from the bottom shelf are all on a new bookcase like this (for the record there is fun wall decor above this unit now, too and the cat toy does not live there anymore):


and I purged a bunch of icky pottery pieces before moving but still I was left with a dozen or so items that were begging to be displayed but also needed to be out of feline reach if possible.

So I was starting to wonder about floating shelves (which I deemed too unsure for one's prize pottery pieces) and then thought I'd have to wait til fall and order some really nice shelving from somewhere... Til I happened to be in Lowe's looking at plastic storage organizer thingies and realized I was walking past the nicest quite affordable ready-to-mount shelves and the most incredibly fun shelf brackets I ever saw. Eureka! (More than slightly dorky that I completely spaced the existence of this stuff - I mean I'm no Lowe's neophyte for crying out loud.) I decided to do kind of a faux hutch effect above the sideboard in the kitchen/DR for pot display. It wasn't until I got home and started looking at the wall that I realized I had all but fixed my wall issue, plus I had been trying to figure out where to hang my noren from Japan and I thought putting it by the dining table would be an excellent way to highlight the dining portion of the wall and enhance the illusion of the three separate spaces (the LR space, btw, is the easiest to envision since there's carpeting there). I still have to cut the dowel so that it doesn't stick out on the ends but otherwise the wall is a huge success... er, as long as you don't look at the part to the left of the piano (which, happily, you cannot fully do).

Another view so you can see the segmenty-ness, excuse the wall color - the flash makes the walls look yellow - they are off-white, conversely it makes the pottery look pretty true-to-color, so there:


I'm forced to add here that the problem was exacerbated by a very strangely-positioned chandelier. Some of you will try to tell me that if I used the dining area like normal people, i.e. with a full-sized table and if I dispensed (but really, how could I? Could YOU? I know you couldn't: it's TOO precious) with the wee sideboard everything would be as it was meant to be with nary a decorating problem. To you I say, come visit* and you will see that this light is in no way placed for the use of almost ANY table, period. It is in the weirdest spot in the universe, I tell you. If one had a full-sized table (to address your specifics) and placed the table under this light, no one would ever be able to be seated on the wall side of the table, at least not comfortably, it is so close. And yet the light is not centered the other direction, either, so if you had an oblong table, all the light would be over the turkey and guests at the non-turkey end of the table would be eating in shadows.

Wackiness abounds, as usual.

Last night I solved a couple of other more minor wall issues, too, and now the only wall stuff still awaiting attention (oh well except for the aforementioned parttotheleftofthepiano) is my bedroom whatnot that Dean made and all my little dorkies that usually live on it. Every other bit of wall decor is up. The BR has tentative decorating only since I have no furniture really either. The old apt. (again old news to many of you) had a built-in dresser in the BR and a fairly good size walk-in closet which housed numerous plastic Target storage drawer units stacked on each other for my clothes, so I haven't had bonafide dressers in years, and those were hand-me-down and/or thrift store ones. So here's my fresh college grad 45-yr-old professional bedroom arrangement for now:


Oh, except the stuff in the corner is unpacked and put away and I have some tentative wall decor above (mirrors and cheesy lantern lights - to further the college-BR mood) just to fill space and make it slightly more interesting than bare wall. Anyway since installing the whatnot requires anchored screws, etc., rather than just little pin holes, I may hold off until I know what's going on with the furniture situation. The purchase of any furniture keeps getting postponed later into the fall every time I look at my bank account, but oh well. It'll happen eventually... this is probably good incentive not to just go buy a bunch of stuff at IKEA (which the part of me that JUST WANTS THE HOUSE ALL ARRANGED AND COMPLETELY LIVABLE ALREADY LIKE A REAL GROWNUP'S wants to do) but to hold out for a few fun antique pieces over the next few years. We'll see... Who do I have to impress in the bedroom anyway? Sam and Lucy are pretty happy with things as they are :)

*disclaimer: visitors, while quite welcome, will of course need to bring aspirin or their favorite air mattress if they come before we can afford a comfy pullout couch.