March...Out Like a What??

I supoose its not really March's fault that it rained BUCKETS on Sunday night. But I'd rather blame March than myself for the fact that my pesky roof leak resurfaced with a vengeance. You see, after I discovered the leak back in February and had zero luck finding a roofer to fix it, I kind of just put it out of my mind. Afterall, we didn't really have anymore downpors, and it was pretty easy to pretend that there wasn't a problem at all. Well, apparently that is not the best strategy for homeowners. On Sunday, the downpour broke right through the laundry room ceiling, and - get this! - began gushing water into the ceiling light fixture! Yeah, the glass globe filled up with water and then the light shorted out. A little scary, I have to say! So, I spent the rest of the night on bucket brigade, running up and down to the attic every couple of hours until about 5:00am when the storm finally moved on. I was left with a wet, sopping mess in the kitchen and I was literally crying.

So, Monday morning I got my butt in gear and got on the phone to a whole new set of roofers and DEMANDED that they listen to me! Interestingly enough, they responded to my new authoritative tone - apparently the nice girl routine I tried the last time was the wrong approach! Anyway, I had one roofer here today after work to give me an estimate and I have another one coming on Monday. No rain in the forecast until then, so I should be okay.

In the end, March didn't defeat me!

Sexy Filing

If this filing cabinet were a person, it would be the sexy librarian type. This filing cabinet is hot. I think I love this filing cabinet.

Yes, at long last I got around to spray painting the old, beat-up, institutional gray cabinet that I looted from my office. Its now a shiny, fire-engine-red color that looks pretty awesome in my spare room. Now I just have to put all the red hanging files and red folders into it. I might just enjoy filing with something as sexy as this little number!

Success!

On two fronts actually! At 8:00 last night I finally finished my taxes. It wasn't too bad - yes, more complicated than last year, but still manageable. I now await my refund, which of course makes the process worth it in the end.

On the other front, I finally figured out how to hang my homemade padded bulletin board on the wall above my desk in the guest/craft/office room. I can't rememebr if I mentioned this or not, but this padded bulletin board has been vexing me for WEEKS! I've tried about 15 different ways of getting up on the wall, and all of them ended with it falling down minutes later, and leaving a lovely set of gouge marks and scuffs on my beautiful "Meadow Mist" paint job. During my marathon procrastination session yesterday, genius finally struck and I came up with a full-proof plan. And voila! You can see the results above.

And to all of you who I have given these homemade padded bulletin boards as gifts over the last couple of years, my sincerest apologies - I've seen most of them hung in your houses somewhere, and I had no idea what you had to go through to get them that way!

Ugh.

Yep, there's not much else to say. I have assigned myself the task of doing my taxes today, and as you can see, I'm procrastinating. I hate doing my taxes. I don't even really know why - I've never had really complicated taxes, so its always been fairly painless. But, every year, I drag my feet and stall and complain until its April 14th, and then I freak out. Obviously, this year I'm trying to be a bit more on the ball, and that's mostly because I have the sneaking suspicion that my taxes will suddenly be far more complicated due to the addition of the house to my personal assets.

Hmmm. So far, its not going well. I've washed dishes. I ran some errands. I vacuumed. I watched the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network. I'm blogging. And I just discovered that the Da Vinci Code is going to be on TNT in a few minutes. I can't do taxes while watching a movie, so clearly I'll just have to wait until the movie is over. Did I mention that I actually own the Da Vinci Code on DVD, so I could just watch it whenever I want. But no, its better to let it stave off the taxes for a couple more hours.

Anyway, that's my fun and exciting weekend. Hope you all are enjoying yours'!

Are Those Inflatable Beavers?!?

Sadly, the 2010 Winter Olympics came to an end last night. In an unbelievable written-for-Hollywood game in the afternoon, Canada's hockey team beat the US by one goal in overtime, and 2 hours later it was time for the closing ceremonies. Vancouver treated the world to a dazzling final show consisting of enormous cartoon-style Mounties, dancing canoes and - I'm not kidding - giant inflatable beavers. It was all set to the mellow strains of Michael Buble. I'm not going to lie, it was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen, and not really in a good way. My parents were visiting this weekend, and I insisted that we watch the closing ceremonies. They both sat on my couch with horrified looks on their faces the whole way through it.

Oh, Vancouver. You're so Canadian.

I'm going to miss the Olympics. I always do when they're over. But, we had a good run - 37 American medals (a record for any nation in a Winter Olympics) and the Canadians got 14 golds (also a record). The competition was great, and the memories will last. I really do love the Olympics...