Saturday

Today is the unofficial kickoff of yard sale season. I had every plan to go--even got dressed early for it--until my husband asked me what we wanted at a garage sale, being that we ourselves are trying to get rid of our stuff. I thought, and thought, and finally came up with, "a rake. I want a rake." Apparently this answer wasn't good enough, so here I am, lazing around on a Saturday morning. We also plan to get a new dining table for our eat-in-kitchen, but we will likely purchase that new or off craigslist. The new prices aren't much more expensive than the used prices for good furniture, and we know exactly what we want. We prefer the tables that are higher than the average table--I believe they are called "cafe style." We found it at Jordan's and Bernie and Phyl's within a reasonable price range. Here's a picture of one we like.

Someone is coming in half an hour to give me an estimate on rebuilding the retaining wall and stairs down to the basement. We've got to get that done, but we also want to do it cheaply. There's no sense in building a gorgeous retaining wall fit for Desperate Housewives homes when our house simply isn't of that caliber. I think our realtor called it "over-improvement." It's a waste of money. I hope the guy who comes to give us the estimate understands our predicament--we want it to look nice, and we're willing to pay for installation and such, but we have no intention of using fancy rocks or anything else that the large companies want us to use. When I mentioned the type of blocks I was interested in to the large companies, I got quite a bit of scoffing. When I mentioned the blocks I want to this guy, he said, "Oh yeah, they look good, they are the least expensive of the lot, and if installed well, the wall will last forever. Great choice." Quite a different response, and I hope this attitude of his continues right on to the price given in the estimate. Our alternative is to try to do it ourselves (ick!).

This Thursday is the annual council dinner for my husband's work. Last year a flag fell and missed my head by inches, shattering my plate and surprising the heck outta me. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there, then laughed. Apparently this made a good impression on the rest of the Scout executives. Then we went on a dinner cruise for Christmas with the council executives, and the dancing in the center dance area got a bit crazy. By the end of the night I had led them all in the Thriller dance (not that hard to learn, just line up and follow me!) and had gotten the old execs to mix with the young execs by encouraging all the wives to boogey with me. By the end of the night, I remembered that this was an event for "work," and hoped I hadn't blown my husband's chances of promotion by my enthusiasm on the dance floor. I had also sat next to the new head honcho during dinner and had lots of fun conversation with him and his wife. They are delightful people with six--SIX--boys!!!! In any case, my husband said everyone had a blast with me, so I refuse to be embarrassed in retrospect. I am looking forward to seeing everybody again at the dinner. I hope we sit next to Pete, who has swum with sharks and has lots of stories about sharks. I loooooooove getting scared by shark stories.

Got my facial yesterday. It was absolutely lovely!!!!!!!! I am absolutely, positively going back before graduation. I only got a half-hour facial because it was free, but I plan to get the hour long facial next time. It is absolutely worth the money, and if I have any extra spending money, I want to collect their skin care line as I am able. I always feel guilty about spending money when I should give it to charity or the church, but I also want to take care of myself. I don't get massages, I don't get manicures or pedicures more than once a year, but I do want better skin. I need to take care of it. The better my skin is, the less I have to mess with makeup, and that is HUGE for me because no foundation will properly match my freckled skin. Also, I had a revelation while I was getting my facial. The more crap I put in my body, the more crap will come out my pores. If I want my skin to look better, I had better give my body better nutrition. I started by eating a salad for lunch, and I intend to continue. Today we are also picking up a treadmill. I'm not sure what my running regimen will be, but I've got to start one. I'm thinking of 1.5 miles of jogging a day. ??? Not sure.

It would sure be nice if I could feel confident and fit by graduation. I don't expect to be in the shape I was in college, with my hours of training every day, but it would be nice to be a bit fitter. I need to get a goal in mind, but I don't have one yet.

My husband's out of the shower so I'm going to gab with him.