no more patio!

How quickly things change!  After a few posts (now deleted) on the subject, and a really cool (if I do say so myself) “Before” diagram, there is no longer going to be an outdoor patio.

See, right now we are renting an old, creaky, drafty home, and we spend a sh**load of money each month trying to keep it warm for our two babies who have not yet learned to use blankets while sleeping.  While for the most part we like this house, we are just sick of living in old homes.  We think back fondly of our little townhouse in Pasadena and feel nostalgic for the easy life we had there – built in the last 20 years, small space, no yard, air conditioning, close to good food – and oh yeah, no kids.

In any case, we had been thinking of moving to a smaller, newer place, picturing in our heads the Pasadena townhouse.  Well, we finally found something similar, which will save us money on both rent and utilities.  It’s also much, much smaller than our current home.  And no outdoor space except a small balcony.  We just signed the lease today, thus no more outdoor dining patio.  Well, it was fun thinking about it anyways.

 

creating an outdoor living space

Next on my list of to dos is to create an outdoor dining area, an adult retreat in which we can throw dinner parties after the kids are asleep.  We have an enclosed patio that we’ll be turning into a dining/lounge area.  With summer approaching, it will be nice to relax there and enjoy the cool nighttime air.

The most recent use of the patio was junk storage.  After a yard sale and a bulk trash pick-up, there are just a few more random items to clear out before I can really get started.  I bought a great dining set from Craigslist for $100, which I plan to refinish and reupholster.  The look I was going for was mid-century modern, but in the interest of saving money, we’re going to bring out a loveseat and a coffee table from inside the house, which completely ruins that idea.   So it’s just going to be a mish-mash.  The only things I have left to buy are a bar cabinet and accessories.  My total budget is $280 which is how much we made on the yard sale.  If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that means I have only $180 left to spend.

Since we are renting, we can’t make any structural changes, so I have to work with what’s there already.  I do have the landlady’s approval to paint the concrete floor, which is currently a faded teal color, but after doing research on painting concrete, I’ve decided against that approach.  Too much work!  Instead, I will incorporate teal into the color scheme.

Here is the plan (yeah, it’s cheesily done in powerpoint but I don’t have anything else).

I’ve started taking the seats off the chairs to reupholster them.  I’ve got my work cut out for me!

 

I should be a copy editor…

…because I am anal about spelling and grammar.  In the 7th grade, my best friend would write me long notes about boys and other such nonsense.  Rather than responding to the content, I would correct her spelling and grammar with a red pen and return the note to her.  Obviously, she would get pretty irritated.  (In my defense, her spelling and grammar were atrocious.)  Annoyed, she would follow up with an angry note, which I would then have to correct as well.

I came to realize that this was not desirable behavior if I wanted to have friends, so I stopped doing it, but to this day I always have the urge to take a red pen and slash through errors that I see in letters, books, magazines, and now, on blogs.

I love reading blogs, and have subscribed to so many on Google Reader that I have hundreds of updates to read every day (I stopped trying to catch up a long time ago).  However, unlike books and magazines, most blogs don’t have a copy editor or proofreader looking things over before a post is published.  Therefore, pretty much every blog I have read (even those that have paid writers) is chock full of grammatical errors.  I often have to resist sending the writer an email telling him/her about it.

That isn’t to say I’m always perfect myself.  Even though I proofread everything I write at least ten times, an error will sometimes get through.  So if you happen to encounter a grammatical error or spelling mistake on this blog, I hope you are good enough to overlook my hypocrisy.

 

I have to do something…

…because I am getting dumber.  I thought pregnancy brain would go away when I was no longer pregnant.  But it hasn’t.  My brain has atrophied or something.  This was brought home to me today during a conference call.  I was presenting, and continually felt myself getting tongue-tied, unable to find the appropriate words to express myself.  It’s already taken me a half hour to write what I’ve written so far.  OK, I’m exaggerating.  Sort of.

Plus I’ve been feeling sort of stagnant lately.  I need to get off my butt and do things I’ve been thinking about doing, rather than just thinking about doing them.  Well, one thing at a time.  #1: start writing in that blog I created ages ago.  Check.