lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Thursday, February 27, 2003
So I guess I didn't write this yesterday.
Just a quick note on what's going on with us... We're moved in, though the unpacking is going kind of slowly.  We've had church stuff and minor sicknesses and attempts at cleaning our apartment, and needing to get caught up on hours of television we missed for a while there on our Replay, and rearranging the living room half a dozen times (the bedroom's next--I've found I don't care for the current set-up), and hooking up all the cable and computer stuff (which has proved to be a bit more difficult than it should have been), etc.  And of course we won't really get anything done this weekend, either.  Oh, well.  It'll all come together eventually.  And that's probably about the time I'll want to move everything again to paint the walls.  :P  I can't wait, though.  I just wish I could darken the wood of all the baseboards, doors, and door and window frames.  Oh well again.  Anyway, as soon as I'm done decorating each room, I'll take pictures and put them up so you all can see my lovely work (I will warn you, I am planning somewhat boldish things right now for the living room and main bath--hopefully they will turn out as I envision them).  At least for the three of you who are likely to care.  But that's still a few weeks off at least.  Hmmm, let's see, anything else?  Um, I'm sure learning what grocery stores NOT to shop at... I miss my Woodman's Market.  I don't think I realized exactly how good I had it there with their unheard of amount of selection and prices that beat out even Fareway and Cub Foods.  But it's about 15 miles away now instead of two.  Boo hiss.  Super Wal-Mart, here I come.

Note for the Virginia Prinses.
The phone number I gave Kim in the email was correct.

Note for the Illinois Griffin.
Do you want comments on your blog?  Josh might be able to hook you up if you do.
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Friday, February 21, 2003
Oh, yeah, and don't forget to watch Sixpence on, um, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" tonight if you have a WB station. For those of you who don't (Matt) we will tape it so you can see it later if you so desire. That is all.
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"That's my corn out there!  You guys are guests in my corn!"
This is one quick last post before we shut the computer down for our move.  The server will be down for about an hour probably either early this evening or midday tomorrow.  We will make every attempt to have as little down time as possible.  I wish we were moving today, the weather's so beautiful.  Oh, well, c'est la vie.  :)

Oh, and we will email people with our new address and phone number shortly.  Buh-bye!  Now...  Can I do this again? (Sorry, lapsed into another quote there.  I'm full of 'em.  Or somethng, at least.)
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Tuesday, February 18, 2003
This is stuff.
We now officially own our house.  It is ours.  We are taking a few things over there throughout the week, are having our furniture delivered on Wednesday, as well as phone and cable hooked up (and incidentally most of the day I will have to be over there and so won't have internet access), and then will move everything else on Saturday when we have the truck, as well as pick up our new washer and dryer.  It is all very exciting but at the same time quite depressing to spend so much money all at once.  I'm thinking we aren't going to be splurging on anything else for a while. :P

*******

I think it is very horridly awful of most of the country to have stolen our winter storm from us.  Especially those people who aren't even supposed to get much snow during the winter.  What's the idea?  Washington, D.C. gets more snow in one storm than we've gotten all winter?  For shame!  I want a real storm so badly that I won't even complain about having to shovel our very long driveway.  Just as long as it doesn't come on Friday and Saturday.

*******

Speaking of the weather this weekend, we're supposed to have temperatures in the 40's Wednesday through Friday, then 20's and snow on Saturday.  Are you kidding me?  Seriously.  This is not funny.

*******

Time for my gripies about Saturday night.  1)  The stupid elevated train stations in downtown Chicago are too difficult to find entrances to, especially at 10:30pm when it's 15 degrees outside.  At least if we'd been close enough to the red line subway we could have found it easily and it would have been warmer.  2)  There are about 20 chairs (uh, actually stools) in the House of Blues.  The rest is all standing room.  I did not know this.  If I had known this, I would have worn different shoes that were more foot-friendly.  Luckily (ish), we managed to find ONE stool one the first balcony (and as such not too near the stage), which we then took turns sitting on for about four hours.  Unfortunately, all the stools were positioned around the edges of the place, and each of the edges housed a bar.  3)  Now, bars in general of course mean that people are drinking, and when people are drinking they tend to be not as quiet as maybe they could be during the musical performances, especially by the time the third act of the night comes on (read: Sixpence).  4)  Then, of course, when the only way you can sit your butt down is to be near a bar, you are also then near a high percentage of smokers.  Oh, goody.  Boy, did we smell good when we left that place.

Now the good news.  Luce was cool.  Sixpence was great.  They did "Paralyzed" and "Lines of My Earth" (yay!) neither of which they did at the concert we went to in November.  Leigh said that the night before in Cleveland they had been "awful."  Yeah, okay, like I believe that.  She was quite cute in a denim ensemble and short little pigtails.  We (meaning Josh and I--I think most of the rest of the crowd was pretty clueless) got the impression from the band that if they never had to perform "Kiss Me" again it would be too soon.  Sounds good to me.

And I would just like to apologize to my loving sister, who we called during the concert for some strange reason, I guess in a whacked out attempt at sharing the experience.  It was just silley.  I promise you, we had not been drinking at all (although, actually, that makes it even more frightening, doesn't it?  Strike that.)

*******

Oh, and dinner Friday went pretty well, although the potatoes didn't happen as they weren't in as good a shape as I thought they were (we had asparagus instead).  And the bruschetta would have been better if I'd had fresh basil and garlic, but it was still good.  We had a picnic on the living room floor and watched Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.  It was a very nice Valentine's Day.

*******

I did not particularly care for the casting of the young Lorelai and Christopher on a recent episode of "Gilmore Girls."  I realize it must have been difficult, and you could never really find people who both looked and had the ability to act like their adult counterparts (especially in Lauren Graham's case), but they really couldn't have done better than they did?  I don't know...
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Friday, February 14, 2003
Cooking ambition.
Tonight for dinner I am making a (hopefully) fabulous meal of filet mignon, sour cream mashed potatoes, and homemade bruschetta.  After which we will likely pack away almost all of our cooking ware and live off the microwave for a week.

Dating ambition.
Despite tonight's fancily-schmancily meal, tomorrow is our real Valentine's Day, as we will go to Chicago for dinner and the Luce/Sixpence concert at the House of Blues.  It is to be our last moment of fun before the dreaded move.

Golfing ambition.
No, not mine.  Im May my Annika will be playing in the Colonial, a PGA tournament.  I am very much looking forward to seeing her kick some.

Movie credits ambition.
I am embarking on a mission to rack up either as high a quantity of credits or as high a quality of credit(s) as I can on Monsieur Prins' film.  I have a current assignment and will take on more in the future in order to further my cause.  Bring it on!
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Thursday, February 13, 2003
I have nothing to write about.  But I feel some sort of obligation to you, my reader.  So, um, let's see...  we got snow... about 3 inches in an hour and a half Tuesday evening, along with some lovely winds that gave us a mini-blizzard for a few hours.  It's the most interesting weather we've had all winter.  How pathetic.  But now I'm ready for warm weather and no snow, as that will make moving in just over a week much less painful.

Yup, that's it.  I got nothin' else.
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Tuesday, February 11, 2003
You know, when I heard that Richard Crenna had died, I didn't make the connection that he was currently playing Jared, Tyne Daly's fiance on "Judging Amy." I'm guessing Maxine won't be getting married after all (not that I was completely convinced she would anyway).
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Monday, February 10, 2003
Escapism.
We saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding this weekend.  It was... fine.  I don't know.  It didn't grab me.  It was funny at times, yes, but quite frankly I just don't get what all the fuss is about.  No matter how closely based on reality it all was, the family just seemed a little too caricaturish and exaggerated (even if it wasn't, that's how it felt and it just didn't work for me).  Can the rest of the country actually relate to this?  Is that my problem?  I don't know.  It gets a "0" from me.  Josh liked it a little better than I did.

We also went shopping (not necessarily something you should do right before you move, but hey, there were sales!).  Like most women, I love shopping for clothes (I really don't know what that is), but what I love more is when the receipt says you spent $21 and saved $85.  Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.  Two sweaters, a blouse, and an ankle-length skirt for a grand total of $21 (and this is at a department store, not Wal-Mart).  I am so the queen of clearance clothes shopping.  It's what I do best.  How sad.  (And yet, how happy!)
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Friday, February 07, 2003
"Yup.  It's a random pattern.  That's the pattern."
-- We have had several schools in our area close due to the flu.  Wow.  I don't think I've ever really heard about something like that happening.  But it's enough to make me start taking my Echinacea again.

-- We are moving on February 22nd.  This is not changing.  It is done.  It is set in stone.  Unless we have a blizzard or an ice storm.  But God wouldn't dare.  (Dear God, Please do not take that as an actual dare.  Amen.)

-- Erik is The Mole.  Which means, of course, that Frederique is.  So, of course, Kathy is.  But she's not.  Really.  I think.

-- We are singing a piece in choir that is in 12/8 time.  I don't think I've ever sung/played anything in that time signature before, but it is very sort of flowing and lilting and nice.  I like.  (Forget that all the sopranos really get to sing is dotted quarter notes... the piano and all the other parts are very interesting.)

-- I have problems with a video game where the ultimate goal is to kill Saddam Hussein.  Call me crazy (and I'm sure some people actually would).

-- I'm afraid Sixpence is going to become known for yet another cover song.  Oh, dear.

-- We have got to go to a movie this weekend.   Probably Solaris or My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Or both.  :)  We are in much need of a break from packing and organizing and cleaning and laundry and sorting and packing and shuffling and boxes.  Even February sweeps hasn't made this a fun week for me.  I need OUT!  OUT, I tell you!

-- Have any of you (who actually watch television) seen the mid-season replacement show "Mister Sterling" (Fridays, 8/7c on NBC)?  It's one of them political shows, kind of like "West Wing" except, from what I hear (since I don't watch "WW"), with somewhat more likable characters and less of a leftist agenda.  It goes nice and deep into the workings of the legislative branch of the government (like, closer to how things actually work, not how they might, theoretically, work).  I personally find it very interesting.  Please don't let that keep you from watching it (Matthew).

-- By the way, anytime I do one of my much-loved quotes as a heading to an entry, if you know or think you might know from whence said quote originated, please, do tell, and then I will in turn do tell you if you are right.  Fun, eh?  (I'm not sure if anyone else might be able to get today's, but Kaly at least should get it.)
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Wednesday, February 05, 2003
See-saw, see-saw.  There's a reason you can't find them on playgrounds anymore.  It's because they're uber-annoying.
In the soap opera that is our upcoming move, we have yet another new development.  Kaleidoquiz is, in fact, not Feb 21-22, but rather Feb 28-Mar 1.  This of course means that we could again move Feb 22, or we could still move Mar 8.  Both sets of dates will work for those coming up here (assuming the 8th works for Kaly), so we need to decide which weekend we'd rather do it.  I, quite frankly, would rather move as soon as we can, so we can get it over with and get out of our apartment sooner and have a chance of getting some of our rent refunded.  But, on the other hand, doing it later would give us more time to pack, etc. and could potentially be warmer weather (although not necessarily, and, let's face it, March is usually the month we end up getting some huge blizzard or ice storm).  I don't know.  Thoughts?
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Tuesday, February 04, 2003
As a camper, I am not so happy.
Ow.  Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.  With all the heavy box lifting and sweeping, sweeping, sweeping I did yesterday in the garage, I have injured myself.  Last night it was mostly my lower back deciding to send shooting pains through my body whenever I bent my knees or leaned over.  Then as the night progressed every joint in my arms, from my shoulders to my fingers, began to ache.  As I was too stupid to take something for the pain before I went to bed, I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep last night as the pain just kept getting worse.  Right now I'm waiting for the pain relievers I took to take full effect so I can hopefully get something done today.

This joint pain is nothing new for me.  I've always felt weather changes in my bones, as well as pain after I've overworked a certain area (yesterday was both things combined, which is probably why it was so bad).  I don't know if I have some form of arthritis or what, but I'm definitely not looking forward to getting old and finding out how much worse it can get.  Ick.
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Monday, February 03, 2003
1)  We have had yet another major winter storm miss us.  This week it went to the north of us, last week it went to the south of us, and about a month ago one started just to the southeast of us.  So basically everyone else in the midwest has had a major snowfall except for us.  Poo on that.  All we've got from this one is heavy fog (about 1/10 of a mile visibility right now), and temperatures that are supposed to get into the forties, which means I'm going to have to clean out the garage today.  Oh yay.

2)  We ordered furniture over the weekend.  We thought we were going to have to wait until a few months after we moved, but since we can pay it off over a year with no interest, we could do it now.  We're hoping to have it delivered to our house the day before we move.  It's a three-piece set (sofa, loveseat, chair), and it looks just like this except the color is an olive green.  It's upholstered in a microfiber fabric, which "feels like suede and wears like iron."  Okay.  Sounds good to me.

That's all for now.  Time for more unfun stuff.
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