Giving Thanks

Google Timeline

Bamboo and I are making Thanksgiving dinner for seven of our (mostly Japanese) friends. We've kept right on task and our dinner is planned for about 5pm. Despite all the food prep, laundry, and cleaning, we even fit in time to catch some of the National Dog Show.

Yet our #1 Thanksgiving wish is that Grace, our kitty niece, comes back home...

Pet Portraits by Bamboo

Mille

Bamboo took some lovely photos of the catties over the weekend. A few of my favorites are the intensely whiskered Mille (above) and Bird's work ID photo (below).

Bird

Click HERE to see more super pics. Thanks, B!

Hello? RCN?

Bamboo is leaving soon. I'll miss her company tremendously but, even more than that, I'll miss her share of the rent! (JK, Bamboo, JK!)

So as she bubblewraps her most-treasured items, I'm facing the task of forming a new (and serious) budget. I realize I need to trim some fat and dropping a Starbucks or two just won't cut it.

The question I pose to you is one of cable and internet. Right now, we're paying Comcast $100+ per month for internet access and basic cable. No more! I really want to keep my cable TV because I'm addicted to Bravo and Porcelain's addicted to my coffee break re-caps. You're reading this online - ipso facto - I needs me my internets.

My thought is to switch to RCN? Do you use them? Are they great? What's your monthly bill look like? Their website is showing a promo of about $65/month for TV and web. Sounds like a good deal to me but I'd like your input.

Mama C as Motivation

Mama C Painting the Living Room

One of the reasons I'm so gung-ho to get going on my own home projects is because Mama Cardboard has put an entire summer into fixing up her place. With Bamboo's help, they spackled, sanded, painted, stripped, hung and re-hung, and even put in a new light fixture.

Yet today is the biggest feat yet: Mama C is finally getting new carpet! She's been waiting for this for years and today marks the first day of installation. Together with the freshly painted trim and walls, it's going to look like a brand new house.

Old Carpet

Even though she's not completing the install herself, she had plenty of prep work to accomplish before the overalls show up. Check out this hi-lar-i-ous narration of Mama C and the relocation of the enormous and CIRCULAR dining room table:

"The main problem was that I didn't know where to put it. So I decided to take the top off. I unscrewed it ok, but then there is a mechanism for locking the base together that still connects the top and bottom. It looked way too complicated to consider removing that, so I decided to screw the top back on. Well... then the base came apart and I couldn't get it back together, and, therefore couldn't screw the top back on. I struggled and struggled and then decided to take a break. I had a cup of coffee on the porch and was thinking of asking [a neighbor] to come help me... After coffee, I thought I would give it one more college try, before giving in and asking for help. I got underneath the table, lifted the top with my back, squeezed the base together while inserting a yard stick to raise the lock between the two pieces, and then once they were together, reached up and behind me to the top of the table to grab the lock and lock the base together. Can you picture it?! Hilarious. I screwed the top back on and then rolled the table out to the front room by the big window. Hopefully, it is not in the way there, 'cause that is where it is going to stay!"

Congratulations, Mama C! All barefoot, all the time!!