Garbage Disposal

So, I've been cleaning.  I love to throw stuff out, which you wouldn't know by the amount of stuff I still have, but I'm really not a hoarder.  I decided to tackle my files, due to the fact that I finally filed 13 months of papers, and realized I don't have room for all that paper.  I didn't mean to accumulate 13 months of filing, but apparently, when my space for putting things "to file" is a box the size of a case of paper, I will fill that space to overflowing before dealing with it.  Light bulb:  I got rid of the box once it was empty.  Now, there is no space for "to file," I just file it.


(Aside:  when I'm having a bad day, I like to do a task I didn't want to do anyway.  1.  My day can't be made worse.  2.  There is a small chance that completing a heinous task will give me pride in my accomplishment, and make me feel better.  Tackling that damn box happened on a very bad day).


Some of it I want to keep for a few years, like bank statements, and some of it, I really don't need.  For example, I had a file labeled "Apartments."  Well, I haven't lived in an apartment for 5 years, so I probably don't need that file.  It was full of old leases, and Notices of Intent to Enter, and receipts.  But there were also a couple of sentimental things, such as the Maintenance Request below.  In my new enlightened organizational life, when I have a paper thing which is sentimental, I take a picture of it, and then I get rid of it.


This thing cracks me up:

Ok, I'll quit pouring bacon grease and hair down the disposal.  What?!?  Does someone actually do that?  I never did.  And mind you, I think I'd lived there for like six months at that point, so I guess this perfectly identifiable stuff had just been sitting there petrifying that whole time?  And I never knew?  I only occasionally used the disposal, but wouldn't I have had problems before this?  The whole thing was so mystifying.  At the time, I was pissed, because the maintenance man had used my fancy Viva printed paper towels to make this discovery, and then threw them in my garbage.  Call me bourgeois, but I believe maintenance people should bring their own rags, and take them with them when they go.  Pack it in, pack it out, as they say.  My Viva printed paper towels are expensive!  But since then, this makes me chuckle.  And now I've immortalized it in digital memory, and that whole file is kaput.


(Aside:  I think the team at UfYH will appreciate this.  I was utilizing the 45/15's before I knew they existed. I don't have before and after pics of the filing or the disposal, because in both cases,  my pic would be of empty space which I think is boring, but I love the before and after pics, so believe me, I will someday organize something really visibly just so I can post those pics). 


And, for anyone keeping score, file this post under Crewel, because cleaning is a craft!

Hair Cut

Well, I got a trim this weekend, from a new stylist.  I just met this stylist, but I like her a lot.

• She's really good
• She gets my hair
• She's honest
• She's funny
• We live in the same town, even though the salon is in a different city, so we have lots to talk about

However!  


We were talking about hair color, and she said my "natural color is not that bad."  Really?  I love to color my hair.  I especially like to get highlights, and be blond.  If I didn't have to comply with a "professional and conservative" "dress guideline," I would so color my hair purple.  


I have colored my hair a lot, but not for several years.  And here's why:  It costs so darn much.  I'm not too cool to ask how much things cost.  Initial ton of highlights:  $120.00.  Touch-up every seven or eight weeks.  Every other touch-up, do a ton of highlights.  You can see where this is going.  


I happen to like my hair color.  Not every minute of every day, but most days I think my hair color is pretty.  You know what I like best about my hair color?  It came free with my body!  It was free when I was born and it was black.  Free when I was little and it was blond.  And it's free now.  Someday it will free and it will be grey, and this issue will be revisited.


Know what else?  Somewhere, someone is paying to turn their hair my hair color.  Guess how I know?  Because every grocery and drug store is selling boxes of my hair color.  Every day.  Can't be that bad.

Crafts Update!

I finished a flower!  It's been a while since I updated you on my crewel work, so here we are.  If I keep up this pace, I will definitely finish the kit this year.  Good thing I've got another kit!

After

For before and during shots, see this post.  For an array of artsy renditions of this photo, and to help me solve the riddle which is my uploading experience, see that post.

What's my problem?

I uploaded the same photo approximately a million times, and got these results.  They're really artsy, but I just want the picture that I took to look like the picture that I took.  These look like underwater x-rays...  They don't look like this on my computer.  It just happens when I upload to blogger?  And it doesn't happen if I upload pics to my Picassa web albums, and then upload to blogger.  It only happens if I upload directly to blogger from my computer.

The Elusive Quail

I love Quails.  1.  They look like cartoons, with their floppy head feathers.  2.  They sound like squeaky toys.  Too cute!  Our Quails are shy, so I feel very fortunate I got these pics:

 

You might have had to be there.  They're so cute!  Cornell University is my reference for all things birdy, and they have great pics, and audio of the Quail.  

If you're keeping score, this qualifies as unusual.  And, if you're keeping track, lets just say the last two weeks were a cluster, and the fact that I had no post last week will be the thing that will be left unsaid.  Except I just said it.  But never again!

The very picture of irony.

So, I've been trying to get a picture of a Stellar Jay in the Blue Spruce, not least because it's ironic.  The Stellar Jay is blue, and the Blue Spruce is green.  And, there are Jays in the Spruce all the time, so it shouldn't be that hard.  Every day, probably every hour, there is a Jay in the Spruce.  However!  When I grab my camera, they fly away.  I think I would have to sit still in the yard all day to get that picture.  So, the other day I just walked around and took these pictures while I waited for the Jay to get back in the Spruce.  In retrospect, this adds another layer of irony to the situation (see def. 3a).  Who knew I would get these pretty pics, when all I felt was frustrated I wasn't getting the pic I wanted?  Pretty silly...

Apple Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

Little Bird Eating a Dandelion

Little Bird On My Mower

Grape Hyacinth

Bluebells

Quince

May all my ironies be this fortuitous (see def. 2a)!

Super Moon!

I got a fancy camera for Christmas, but I haven't had any luck taking pictures of the moon until this.

I have a tripod, but I never know where it is, so I put my camera on top of my car, and stood behind it to take these pictures.

There's a face in the Super Moon!  The face is actually clouds in front of the moon, that were quite thick.  There were clouds in the other pics too, but too wispy, and the moon just shone through.  My camera is not so fancy that it captures any detail of the moon surface, so don't be confused.

Going, going...

Gone.


P.S.  If you're keeping track, chalk one up for Unusual.