More stuff

Here's the tray I bought at Steinmart. This will go on the ottoman.


And then here is how the "dining room" looks now since I have given the big green chair to Dr. Sue and decided to leave the computer AND the TV in the green room.

I bought a cd cabinet that I haven't assembled yet for all those cds lying around.

And the most exciting news is the sofa is coming on Tuesday! The curtains are ordered and the table and chairs should be here any day. I still want that gold tray I saw at Pier 1 to put on the table in the "dining room" because I'll be moving that receiver into the green room to run the Panasonic dvd/cd changer I'm buying.

In other news, Wakarusa is off. Long story. But tonight the heritagemusicfest.com website says "Announcement coming soon." Which is different than what it said this afternoon.

"A woman like you walks in a place like this you can almost hear the promises break." -- Todd Snider, Trouble

Buckle down

Another weekend of endless opportunities awaits! Friday night, Blues Posse plays at Grumpy Dave's which is upstairs over Easy St. On Saturday, they play at Fitzgerald's in Toledo. That day is also April Fools Day. AND Billy Mack and the Juke Joint Johnnies play at Chelsea Lanes in Chelsea, Michigan, home of the Common Grill.

Also, Lane Hakel is in the Black Swamp Players production of "Mary, Mary" this weekend and next.

Plus it's spring ahead this weekend meaning we'll lose an hour of sleep Saturday night. Although I find this concept misleading. Whaddya mean, lose an hour? I guess this is for those people who go to bed at a regular time and then get up Sunday morning to go to church. Which is not really anybody I know. So, no using THIS excuse this weekend, kids.

Busier than...

* A one-armed paper hanger
* A one-eyed cat watching two mouse holes
* A pumpkin carver on a steep hill (I don't get this one)
* A long snake in the mall parking lot (or this one)

Tuesday, I made those meatballs (see below) and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am NOT Italian. They were bland. Amy ate them anyway. She's so polite.

Thursday, I went to watch paint dry at Amy's. She told me to come look at the new paint color she got to cover the too-yellow first attempt but alas I felt it looked the same. Now after two coats, it IS golder. So we drank some wine.

Friday, I fed Miss J some stir fry and then watched some Sopranos.

Saturday, I did a radio show and then went to a "surprise" party for Kim at their house where Blue Tantrum played with 3/4 of Rod's Collision sitting in. Mike Katon was supposed to be playing in BG that night, but he cancelled. Ill father, is the report on that. Rescheduling, he says.

Sunday, three more Sopranos episodes, interspersed with massive shopping. Stimulating the economy. I'm sure Dubya would like to send me his personal thanks and regards. Got a ceiling fan, an exhaust fan for the stove, lampshades, fabric for the ottoman, light plug covers, curtains for two rooms. Cleared the paintbrush/screwdrivers/other tools off the mantel. Moved the cheap CD cabinet I got at Big Lots and it fell over and sustained massive internal injuries so now I am in the market for one of those. And a behind the sofa table.

I will be having a massive party when all this stuff is in place. Buy your cocktail dresses now, girls. I favor this $560 Nanette Lepore "Hey Senorita" number from Nordstrom's.


Click here to watch a very cool juggling video.

Keep forgetting I have a digital camera so no pictures of stuff lately. There are some of Saturday's party on Kim's daughter's camera. Maybe she will email them to me.

Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in

So Thursday night we went to the wine tasting and then I drank more beer with Jenks. Friday night I believe I watched 3 hours of the Sopranos after Amy fed me cabbage rolls. Saturday, you know what I did (see below). Sunday I was near death and watched more Sopranos. And last night I went to Jenks’s and drank 3 beers and went home and…

Watched the Sopranos. It is a bad disease and I am only a quarter of the way into season two.

Last night I DID however on the way home go to Monnette’s and get some vegetables and then into the Churchill’s out on Dussel (really Salisbury Rd.) to get some meat to make meatballs, because they’re always eating on the Sopranos, and man, that is a great store, small, has all the stuff I eat and not expensive. Good fruits and veg, unlike the heinous Kroger. And pretty much right on my way home. And you can park right by the door.

So tonight, I am going to make meatballs and order stuff online and try and NOT watch any Sopranos (although I have plenty).

Saturday

By 8:15 a.m., I had a second coat of white on the ceiling. Then I plunged right in and painted all four walls Totally Tan by 12:30 and then I did a radio show 2-4 and then I went to Howard's and drank beer with the Hungling sisters. Home, more beer, visitors, and then Amy and I decide to go to Beckett's where we play pool and by the time Amy takes me home, I am tanky. So Sunday was just recovery: brain from beer and body from painting. And more Sopranos.....

redecorato ad infinitum

Last night I went to the Penney's at Franklin Park whatever it's called now and looked at their tables and chairs which made me think their stuff is good quality but they didn't have the one I want. But I can order it online and have it shipped to the catalog store downtown.

Then Amy and I went to Meijer and Sherman Williams as Tom used to call it and the home despot and got more paint samples. I am this close | | to choosing.

Tonight I tried to come home but got stuck at Kroger's discussing community theater with Willard in his snotty way and when I got home I called Tim because he had called to say maybe this wasn't a good weekend to come see him because it would still be cold so I will stay home and paint and stuff. Amy found a "black on black" fabric to recover the ottoman with at Joanne's. And she continues on HER quest for the perfect Queen of Sheba bedroom by purchasing some stunning silk crimson material for curtains.

At Kroger's the checkout girl asked if I had a Golden Buckeye card. I told her I wasn't old enough. You could see she thought I was lying.

Man, I had three lighters yesterday and now I can't find ANY.

Plus I spent way too much time at work looking at overstock.com for a kitchen rug. I am obsessed. And I haven't EVEN started looking for lampshades. OMG.

Plus I will get to do a radio show this weekend. 2-4 Saturday. wbgufm.com for you out-of-town listeners.

So life is just a string of plusses.

I know, I know

I said my life was sooooooooo interesting but for the life of me, I can't recall what I did the other nights of the week. Thursday, Amy and I went to the wine tasting and then me and Annie went to Beckett's. Friday night I went to the heinous bar and then to the Corner Grill, where I also went Saturday night. That cheeseburger diet is doing wonders for my physique.

Sunday, Amy came over and we painted the ceiling in the living room. I had a sample of Amber Waves paint which when applied to the wall is the same damn gold color my bedroom and bathroom paint are. I want TAWNY. Amy and Annie, in independent testing, both think I should go for Woven Basket.

So the house is a big mess. I dragged the big green chair into the green room where it is just too big. And I haven't moved the TV in there yet.

Also I have gotten hooked on The Sopranos and watched the first 8 episodes in the last 2 days.

Welders

Here are a lot of pictures from the Welders night last Saturday. I am sending emails to a select group of people whom I am sure will pay me big money to keep THEIR pix off the internet. If you think this might be you, just put a 50 in an envelope and mail it on over to me. (Remember-- you can click on a picture and see a larger view of it.) Wimmen at the bar
Stubbs on stage
Robertsons cutting the rug
The band

Some old people
Isn't this cool how it looks like his other eye is in the phone?


Ginger

That older guy again, trying to boost some young guy's wife



Sorry about the closed eyes.

Musical notes

Ha, ha, get it? Musical NOTES????? Man, am I clever or what?

Friday night Steven Yerkey is at Grounds for Thought. Bills himself as a new kind of hillbilly cat.

Saturday night of course is the now semi-annual performance of the Welders, preceded at 7 p.m. (if my sources are correct) by Letter to the Editor, who I will no longer refer to as Nate Baker's band. No website is coming up in a Google search for them. There is no Welders practice.

Still trying to determine if the Rockwells are playing in town on Friday. Ha, ha, on pollstar, Howard's is referred to as Howards Club House.

Weds., March 15, the Heartless Bastards are at Mickey Finn's with the Soledad Bros. I may have to stay up late (starts at 9 but I think the HBs are first) and go there. But maybe Boogaloosa Prayer is first.

The Student Loan (local bluegrass) are at Grumpy Dave's (where I left my camera last week) on March 17, but I will probably be on my way to Kent to visit my friend Tim.

As of now, the Falcon women's basketball team will be playing Sat. at 12:30 so the Blues Breakfast will go off early and I MIGHT have a show after it's over, around 3:15 or so. I'll update this as games are won and lost.

WTF have I been doing??

Oh my god, this furniture thing has just consumed my life!! Friday, we picked up the chair which immediately the Big has taken for his own. Since, I have had to cover it.

Today, I moved the dresser in the green room to the basement to make room in there for the green chair from the living room and the TV, because I am moving the computer to the dining room and moving the pub table from the there into the breakfast nook and selling the table and the chairs from there at Amy's garage sale. And recovering the ottoman in black.

Friday night, Blues Posse played at Grumpy Dave's. Where I left my camera when it closed and I went home in a stupor but AMAZINGLY ENOUGH it was still there Saturday afternoon when they opened. Nothing like living in a small town. Here is a picture of them playing:

Sherry and Martha were having a fine time although Sherry felt the band should have started at 9, LIKE THEY SAID.

I had also done a radio show that day. Man, it was nice today. Raked a ton of leaves and ate at SamB's and went to Amy's for Oscar frivolity.

Here is a photo of the sun shining in on the green room's Bleeding Heart of Jesus.

Off the deep end

So I bought the first red sofa. Man, it is nice. Flexsteel. I bought the 81" sofa instead of the 61" loveseat, which was one of the smallest loveseats we had seen.
It will be stunning. Heavy duty fabric, sez the saleslady. Washable. They want $60 to deliver it. I'll give you a little something if you can deliver it for me. It's really not as red as this picture. Go to the Flexsteel link above and see it.

Now maybe I will go to that antique furniture store in Stony Ridge and look for tablature.

Some closure

Wednesday night we looked at furniture in Findlay. Saturday we went to Grand Rapids and looked at furniture. Today we went back to Grand Rapids.

I bought this chair. Now I need to go back and look at the original red sofa one more time and decide between that and a red one I can get in GR. Like this one but in a redder fabric that is not all suede-y like this one.


The bonus about this one is I get four pillows, two of which I could have covered in the zebra fabric. How fabulous would that be? And then I find this table and chairs at Penney's online. It's $300 for the table and four chairs.
The table is 38" in diameter. What do you think? And maybe this little black chest.


Saturday night we went to Amy's and drank and ate and played games.

In this one, you hold onto this Jeopardy-like button mechanism and push a button on the game unit and then it makes a weird sound and when the light turns green, you have to push your button before everyone else. Last pusher gets a little electric shock. I think it's called Lightning.

Amy flies onto the couch after getting zapped.
Oh I forgot this part. On Friday, I bought some lottery tickets.

The guy who sold them to me asked if I would take HIS picture. He said he would stalk me if I won.

We agonize in email

-----Original Message-----
From: amy
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 9:00 AM
Subject: stayed up all night....

....thinking about your furniture (NOT REALLY).....but I WAS thinking
about
it a little bit.....here's what I think about that chair/ottoman:
It IS really cool and it IS really different, but to try & "make it
work"
with the red couch will require a lot of choosing the right paint color
and
the right window treatments, etc etc. to blend it all together. PLUS
I'm
thinking if you want a "crazy" fabric, make your crazy fabric be your
pillows and/or window treatments where you're not investing so much
$$....that way if you decide you want to go a different route in a
couple
years, you haven't invested that much. I'm still thinking the red couch
is
a great choice & a great buy....but maybe we should see what hours
Rettig is
open and check there one night this week.....'cuz it looked like from
their
website they had different manufacturers ....Samsen & Bennett's pretty
much
both carried the same manufacturers so maybe that's why we weren't
seeing
anything "different".....and then you'll probably still end up with the
red
couch, but at least you'll feel like you shopped around before you
committed.....
(feel free to disregard any of this advice.....)


-----Original Message-----
From: evilwebqueen
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 9:21 AM
Subject: RE: stayed up all night....


I love that couch more and more. In retrospect. And it DID seem like
such a great price, compared to other stuff. And in comparison, the
chair does not win. I didn't measure about the chaise in the LR (and I'm
telling you, it took the delivery guys a LOT OF WORK to get it where it
is now) but that might be great because then I could keep the big green
chair I have, in the computer room. Also, about that table, it would be
bad to play cards on because it is not smooth. But I still like the
table idea a lot. I might go over to Pier 1 today and view their tables
like that. and yes, we should run to the 2 findlay stores, if you are up
for it. Rettig's is open til 8 on weds. I'll call Decker's and see if
they are too (no website).


-----Original Message-----
From: amy
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 10:22 AM
Subject: RE: stayed up all night....

according to the MSN yellow pages there's another one in Findlay
...Ashley Furniture....open 'till 8...don't know anything about them but
they have several stores in Ohio besides the Findlay one although that's
the closest one....
I didn't give any thought to the card-playing problem - ya' know that
table would be GREAT if you had a sunroom or something...just not made
for our "cute little houses" unfortunately....
I'll talk to Adam tonight to firm up his birthday plan...and make sure
that he wants to spend Thus. with me, as opposed to Weds. or Fri......
...sounds like we're on the same page with the thinking about the couch
and chair.....


-----Original Message-----
From: evilwebqueen
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 10:50 AM
To: amy
Subject: RE: stayed up all night....


I suppose I should consider other fabrics for the sofa. Although this
just could complicate things....



-----Original Message-----
From: amy
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 11:18 AM
To: evilwebqueen
Subject: RE: stayed up all night....

I just think that was SUCH a great "feel good" fabric....and I love the
red..and I'm kinda hoping the chaise would work out there 'cuz that
would be COOL, MAN ! But if the chaise doesn't work out,and you end up
buying a chair too, I'd keep the chair low-key and have your window
treatments and pillows & accessories be your "pop"; that way if you get
tired of it, all you have to do is buy new curtains and pillows and you
have a whole new look for not that much money.....oooh - maybe you
should do a "summer" room & a "winter" room !!!!



-----Original Message-----
From: evilwebqueen
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 11:22 AM
To: amy
Subject: RE: stayed up all night....


Fercrisakes get a hold of yourself. LOL

Although I DID start thinking about putting a couple of comfy chairs and
a very small table in the 'breakfast nook' to remake that into a
semi-useful area. Which now it is NOT.

I think I'll just throw my sofa out tonight.

Home decor

No work on President's Day so Amy and I went furniture viewing. Before we left, she admonished me that I would only buy something I LOVED. I thought I loved this sofa. It's so red.

Then I REALLY liked this chair and ottoman which were BOTH TOGETHER $799. But upon further reflection maybe I just like it because it's $799.


Now we have done further reconnaissance and believe we need to think outside the box, maybe put a table in the living room, maybe the chaise from the green room, move the TV, ahhhhhhh.....

But that red sofa is really nice.

Sunday morning coming down

Not really. It's just a good song title. Like "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night that Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long." Went to see Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey at Grounds for Thought. That guy could play a sweet slide guitar. Pieta Brown has a quirky but softly rough delivery. It was good. I bought Bo Ramsey's Back to Bastrop CD.

And it was double live music night as Rod's Collision played at Howard's.


Here Amy holds an audience enthralled while recounting her exploits, no doubt.


Eeeek! Is that a furry turkey on the bar? Nay, just a hat, which was a good idea on a night when it was 5 degrees.


A gallery of attendees:




Mrs. Rod's, Mrs. Rod's sister and some cool chicks I know.

Also, a rare sighting of the proprietors Nate and Wally. Of course, although it is the coldest night of the winter, Wally sports his trademark shorts.

Here's why I don't dance. See all these people? The tallest one is MAYBE 5'6". Maybe. It's hard to dance with short people.


But these two ALWAYS dance to "The Sky is Crying." They dance to most songs, but this is their favorite.

Look!! It's the mystical newlyweds seen through an ironic curtain of smoke.

Another weekend of rollicking fun

Last night we went to Beckett's about 7:30 and had a slice of pizza. And a beer. For some reason, we were already tanky. Hmmmm. A friend of ours came in, having just got off the phone with a woman who, three weeks ago, he had determined was the next big thing in his life. Now, it's over. So he has taken up smoking again, after quitting right after New Year's. This man admits freely he wants a wife. He is a Republican.

Plus I talked to that guy who is always reading a paperback in the dim light of the bar and drinking gin and tonics and smoking. He was very friendly and talked about his 58-year-old mom who cannot change a light bulb. Something about being oppressed by men for her whole life and thereby, not being allowed to learn how to do simple home maintenance.

I am putting off doing my taxes AND applying for that job. Procrastination. Or well-deserved relaxation. You decide.

Mid-week

Ok I don't have any photos for this period. Monday, I auditioned for the mother part in the Village Players production of "Barefoot in the Park" but I was dinged. A guy, who works where I do, got the lead. You go, Matt.

Holding on to the exercise regime. To avoid this. It's a hard row to hoe.

Three nights: Stayed home, saw Amy, saw Annie. Considering submitting my application for Executive Vice President for Digital Media for ABC Owned TV Stations. It is about the longest title I have ever seen in my life. Although it does not include the word "Queen," which I desire to have in my title.

My boy had a triumphant debut of his CD Good Guys. More about that here. Or maybe this is a better link. He's so cute. I wish I could see the movie 'Snoozer' that he did the sound for.

Reminder: This Saturday, two musical events. Pieta Brown at Grounds for Thought and Rod's Collision at Howard's (although their website does not reflect this). 8 and 10 so no conflict. I don't have a radio show this weekend (sports).

Going for the gold

Saturday, I did a radio show then I had a latte and screwed around. I didn't think I'd be able to pull myself together for the Blues Posse at Nate and Wally's but:the usual suspects attend.

Here is the band and Fred, my neighbor and bass player, for oh no, not ONE but two by god blues bands.
Furthermore, we were spying on this couple who is the ex-husband of one of our friends, pictured here with his new bimbo girlfriend. Her eyes doth glow with an unholy light. Or perhaps a Bud Light.
Several beers later, I became obsessed with this woman's helmet of hair. It was high, and stiff-looking. I hope it wasn't the best wig she could afford after a long bout with some disease that makes your hair fall out. Then I would feel like shit.
Not really.

Also some drunken guys got me to take their picture and I've promised to send it to them in the email one guy scrawled on the back of a business card. The guy on the right told me his email is mike@aol.com. I said It is not. He maintains that, verily, he was the first mike ever to get an aol account. Hmmmmmmmm....

Then they had their picture taken with this woman. I don't believe that hand is actually touching that breast.
Her theme song: Good girls don't, but I do.

Then we end up at the Corner Grill again.

Oh yeah, that's what 50-year-old women need: cheeseburgers and fries at 1 a.m.

Apparently in an effort to get into the Olympic swing of things, we agreed Saturday night that we would go sledding Sunday morning as soon as Amy ascertained there was sufficient snow on the hill across from her house. That call came about 11 a.m.

In our town, this IS a hill. I know, a lot of places, it would just be a rise or something. Amy races to be the first to break in our new sleds which were left on her front porch around Christmas with decorative bows and a card signed "Santa."

She does the very first run with her arms in the air. Slides all the way to the bottom of the hill without wiping out. What we call around here in August a "full pull."
An evil force field at the bottom of the hill drew us mysteriously eastward in a curve that often left Sherry facing back toward the hill after her descent.
It was big fun.