The Visible Woman...February 28, 2004

Saturday, February 28, 2004

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A Journal from Austin, Texas.
A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.

health and mood

shopping extravaganza

We are sucker shoppers today.

It feels good, though. Shopping. Maybe we pumped up the local economy in our small way. Maybe we will have to find work when we are ninety or maybe we will not leave as much to charity. But today we have a chair, art and rugs. Not to mention the coolest magazine rack ever to grace anyone's bathroom. And...to give the online economy a boost, I consider buying stuff from three online stores. Well, one actually only has the catalog online. You have to call. FFP says 'go for it.' And I do.

We reason that we won't just keep spending like this. We won't be furnishing a new space just every day. Of course, I also plan to prepay some Paris hotel and France rental car deals very soon. And there are a couple of other things we might buy...new phones for this suite and maybe a tiny TV for the bathroom.

Somehow the spending feels good, though. Sometimes I have felt that people thought if you had some money you shouldn't spend it. But if artisans and factory workers want work, don't we have to consume?

Whatever. Today we did. Now we must shed a bunch of stuff in the next few months to make up for all this acquisition. We really must.

View of bathroom from closet.

JUST TYPING

Buying.
One of us in one store with a credit card.
The other one next door.
Running another card.
Looking for an overall look.
A rug, paintings, a chair, the bedspread that is already on order.

Food Diary.

breakfast

none

lunch

leftover fried catfish, some lettuce and greens, bleu cheese dressing

snacks

potato chips and French onion dip
one of those 3/4 ounce triangles of Laughing Cow cheese

dinner

small piece of steak with a bleu cheese sauce of FFP's making
some canned field peas
one glass of wine

Today I
- didn't feel like drinking too much.

Time flies....

I woke up later than usual. Seems like I was awake off and on all night trying to figure out if I like the bed. Most of the times the answer was 'not really.' But I'll continue to give it a chance. They say this kind of bed takes some adjustment.

After a bit of coffee and some breakfast, FFP goes off to the gym. I say that I'm coming right along but, instead, I fool with stuff on my journal and the WEB. Finally I go myself and get there right before he leaves. He says he will go to the grocery store.

At home, we use our brand new bathroom. It's OK but I don't really like the way the shower performs...both the tile and the fixture. I'm sure I'll adjust. The new towels, chosen for color, are linty and I've washed them at least once. It's an adjustment. But...we can stand, side by side, brushing teeth or doing over things at the lavatory. Since our closet fixtures haven't been installed, though, we are still traisping all over the house to dress. We do have some benches for the end of the bed assembled and we will stow shoes, socks and underwear in them. Maybe anyway.

After we are cleaned up and have lunch, we go shopping. Whoa. We go back and forth to W. Sixth Street three times. We go home once to get our bedspread swatch, once to get a checkbook for a cash discount. We go home with a magazine rack, two paintings, a rug and the promise of a chair in a week or so. The only good news is that I'm pretty sure this is almost the end. There are four things I might buy on the Internet, but only one is a really big purchase.

The second time we come home we put the rug down and the third time we unwrap the paintings. Cool. Stuff looks good. Presumably it will also look OK with the furniture we move in and the bedspread. How long before we are comfortable in this space? The other remodels didn't interfere with that sacrosanct chamber: the master bedroom.

Anyhow at six or so we are home. I'm feeling a little dizzy. Either from shopping or from these darn allergies. I decide a little snack and a little reading and TV watching is in order. I consider making the online purchases but decide I will rest the credit cards for a few hours.

I read my book about D-Day that I'm about to finish. I read a little newspaper. We watch King of the Hill and some reruns of Law and Order. When I find myself on an old movie channel, watching Paul Newman attack Patrica Neal and watching them shoot the cattle in a pit, I know it's time to go to bed. Himself has tested the bathtub (at the wrong time since we had done a dishwasher load and two warm washing loads and I'd hand-washed dishes) and is now reading in the bed with the vibrator going. Chalow seems puzzled. I get in bed, too, and finish my D-Day book and work on finishing my other book. I finally go to sleep. I think I'm making peace with the new bed, but not that quickly.

Reading.

Newspapers.

The Conquerers by Michael Beschloss. (In bed.)

Voices of D-Day. ed. Ronald Drez. (Finished this one.)

Pending:

DVD course on WWII.

nothing

Exercise

recumbent bike	1hr
treadmill
ergonomic rower
water aerobics
chest, shoulder, triceps
leg, back, bicep
lower back
ab exercises
stretches
walking
tennis

I just did the bike a long time. Got a good sweat, though.

.

.

My mood is good except for this little sinus headache and a little worry about spending so much money. And this unsettled feeling trying to get moved back into the room.

It's a Tangled
Web we weave...these
days of our lives.

One year ago
"One talks about new media jobs and trying to find a job with a Master's Degree. One talks about being out-sourced so that you don't work for your company anymore but for IBM albeit doing the same work. One talks about managing people's money and how a turnaround is coming in between trying to think up embarrassing stories from my past life with her, many years ago. One talks about looking for high tech work and making do teaching PC classes and such. The whole world seems nervous and scared, not just these friends of mine. I probably should be, too, but I'm not."

Two years ago
"I wish that I could do a presentation or paper and then stop editing it. But I can't. Edit, edit, edit and still the typos and confusion. Lack of upfront planning perhaps. Just an urge to edit, perhaps. Same thing happens to these journal pieces."

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