I am writing this from work because I’m so freak’n bored. It’s not that I don’t have anything to do, it’s just that everything I do have is so unbearably monotonous – updated text on ads and invites and then printing them, checking stock items, and even *gasp* adding an FDIC image to our logo. Sometimes I feel guilty – I mean, a lot of people would kill to have a full time job as a designer. But seriously, the time I spend actually being creative is about 5% of the week at most, not to mention the fact that I haven’t learned anything new in the past year and a half. Ugh.

But on to happier news. Let’s see…

Garry and I bought bikes last Friday. They’re two year old models, but because they’re 25” frames no one had bought them. They fit us perfectly, though, and last night we road to MadCat and even made it up the big hill by Edgewood without having to walk them.

Yesterday I went to the Fair… with work. Weird. We went over lunch (though we were there for over two hours). Some of us split off to go visit the animals, which was fun. I got to pet horses and cute mini goat babies. I know it would be a lot more work that my idyllic brain-view makes it seem, but I really wish I lived on a farm. Growing produce, having animals, and making food from what I grow seems so fulfilling. And I could have a horsy and name her moonbeam and ride her everywhere and put pretty little bows in her hair. Yup.

We got a free 20+ year old freezer from someone my mom knows. I’m interested to see our next electricity bill. But we were able to “put up” some peas from the Wednesday farmer’s market. Mmm, peas.

What an insanely exhausting day. We had breakfast at Sentry and shopped to scant “After Christmas” sale at Macy’s for some new towels and slippers for Garry. Then we got some curtain rods and painter’s tape at Ace, where my mom picked us up and drove us to the condo for some super-crazy painting time. Man, is painting ever a workout. We barely stopped except to eat the lunch my mom had packed for us (yumyum). And seven hours later my dad drove us to their house for take-out fish, then back to the apartment to collapse. Last night here – yikes!

Our new living room

Today we closed on our condo. Only three weeks after our first tour of Arbco (and only two days before that we had never even heard of cohousing). There were a lot of papers to sign. The government representative warned us about the high property taxes and about the “Sanibel Stoop” disease. She had cool short hair like the wizard guy in the Nutcracker.

My neck has been aching lately. I had to go back to work while Garry and my mom went to check out the paint samples in the condo daylight.

A plethora of hats (and a cat)

I’ve wrapped my coworkers’ gifts to give to them tomorrow. I had to make hats out of old yarn as we have no money, though I did line Jon’s in Batman fleece. I hope they like them and they’re not too big.

Work is dragging – thank god it’s a half-week. I just want to move in – it’s all not even started to sink in yet. Yesterday they had a “solstice party” with crafts and I cursed the stupid weekend buses – I can’t wait until it’s all just down the hall from us. It’s funny – I’m actually looking forward to the community aspects the most.

Ah, it’s nice being a stay at home wife again. So relaxing. ^_^

Garry is watching his football game that he taped with TiVo. Happy husband. The house is a total mess; I managed to puncture my finger with a wicker waste basket when I started cleaning, so I haven’t been a very effective maid today.

I’m trying to do a big cull of everything we don’t need before I start my new job. I also made a mammoth to do list; luckily they’re mainly little things. I like to list individual things that need to be done (like “clean the fridge”, “organize the cabinets”) rather than major things only (like “clean the kitchen”) so I feel more accomplished ticking things off. ^_^

I hope I get more done tomorrow; what’s the point in taking time off just to relax around the house?! =D

I haven’t posted in a few days. Let’s see, what’s been going on.

Well, I’ve started doing these little pastels with my messy box. They are a lot of fun and only take about 15 minutes each. I feel like I can experiment with them, plus I’m going to start selling them on Etsy for, like, $7 each.

Speaking of cheap art, I went to a art business seminar thing on Saturday. It was an all day class; we learned about running an art business like a typical small business. I think it was helpful, but I still need to sit down with Garry and fill out the forms and see where we should be heading.

And on Friday I had my second interview with the mailroom people. Because everyone knows a mailroom position needs two two-hour interviews. I also got to take my first drug test! And then today on Mythbusters I learned that you actually can get a fault positive up to 14 hours after eating a couple poppy seed bagels. Not that I had eaten any poppy seeds (I think), but it’s still interesting.

On Sunday I got ten concept sketches done, which was nice because that meant $150 in Paypal this morning. Garry only had to go into work for an hour, because they decided not to open due to the weather (and because all the malls in Madison were closed). I kept meaning to take a photo of the trees; they got all incased in ice, and the wind through them almost sounds like wind through leaves which keeps tricking my mind into spring-time mode and making me want to start cleaning and gardening.

And today I did two sketches for eBay commissions. I’m really getting tired of having to do these soft-core fan services pictures… I need to be able to quit doing commissions and start selling my own art.

On Monday morning I went to an interview for a mailroom person position. They really liked me, and I think they’re going to hire me (I got called in for a second interview today). The interview was an hour and a half long. The guy was very impressed by my abilities, my personality, my many qualifications… all so important in a position where the primary duties are putting envelopes in little slots and ordering office supplies. Thank god I went to college. And it’s even worse that I’ve been turned down for to graphic design jobs because I’m “overqualified,” though I’m just right to be a $12/hr mailroom lackey.

In the afternoon I finished my second commission of Heero and Duo from Gundam Wing. The first one was a Christmas card that was one of my favorite commissions I’ve ever done, so although this one isn’t bad it’s hard to live up to the first. I think she’s happy enough with it, but unfortunately she was probably expecting something as good as the Christmas one. Ah, well; they can’t all be masterpieces! ^_^

That night Garry worked late, so I went out to see “Gone, Baby, Gone” with my mom. Not exactly the happiest of movies. Yes it was very good, but I think I could have lived my life just fine without ever having seen it.

Tuesday I went to another two hour interview; this time at a temp agency. Man my prospects are great. The guy was extremely impressed by my scores on the typing speed, Word, and Excel tests (I’m 69wpm, woot!). So I apparently got the cream of the crop in job offerings – a data entry position in Middleton and a part time “receptionist” position at TDS, which a girl there described as “basically using a switchboard, but it’s on a computer instead!” Wow, complex. I took a look at TDS’s website later and saw they’re looking for a graphic designer (which they haven’t advertised for anywhere) so maybe I should apply to that instead… though I’m probably “overqualified.”

That evening I made a very yummy summer squash alfredo pasta bake from a cookbook (I never use a cookbook!) and some chocolate muffins. Mmm. I also finally finished the table I made in the fall UW Craftshop class I took with my dad; it’s a nice honey stain, I think I like it.

Today was Garry’s day off, so I wanted to figure out a nice day out that wouldn’t cost much. I dug in the filing cabinet and got out a gift certificate for La Brioche bakery that my cousin Chris gave us two Christmases ago, when he worked there. Luckily it didn’t have an expiration date (it was also written out to “Leslie and Gary…”).

It was about a mile walk in the snow, but at least it was sunny today and a balmy 14 degrees. I showed Garry the house I’ve been yearn’n for – it’s a reeeally cute two-story place, and the garage has been converted to a really cute den/studio area, which is perfect for us plus I think it’s lowered the asking price a whole lot. Siiiiigh.

The meal at La Brioche was very nice; though if we had had to pay I may have had some harsher opinions. As it was, the sandwich Garry got was very simple but he enjoyed it, the soup I got was very good (though I know from Chris that it’s from a can), and the cinnamon bun was veery yummy. We also got a loaf of Rosemary bread with the change from the gift certificate, and each had a slice of it for supper with the leftover pasta bake; mmmm.

We stopped in at the library and I got a book on CD to listen to while knitting (it was a choice between the “Jane Austin Book Club” and “Lovely Bones,” I got the latter but now I wish I had gotten something more light and fluffy.) We also got “Cast Away” to watch tonight, though we ended up watching a “Colombo” instead (ahhh, how cozy).

Garry has had the past two days off. Yesterday I taught an anime drawing class at the UW Bookstore. I had 15 people show up, mostly teenagers, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It sounds like they’ll want be back in the next few months; yay!

I also bought some Uggs from the shoe store at Hilldale, using the money I got from my class. Horray for capitalism!

Today we went downtown for the Geek.Kon meeting. It was -2 Fahrenheit, and -30 with the windchill. So slightly brisk. I wore my new boots, which were all sorts of warm and fuzzy.

Garry went to Starbucks and I popped in to the meeting to hand out the business cards we had ordered and talk about the website. Everyone seemed happy for me to put it up, so when we got back home I sat right down and uploaded it all. Then I sent a mass e-mail to everyone on the old forums telling them to come sign up for the new ones and visit the new website. Now its four hours later and there’s already 20+ people signed up for the forums and a whole bunch of messages. And everyone is saying that the site looks really good. I even got a forward from someone on OddCon’s mailing list, written by one of the organizers, that said “Man, can we get them to work on our site? Not dissing Janet or Jennifer but the Geek Kon site is sweet.” Hehe, I like praise. ^_^

I spent most of the day today making fashion-style art. Still trying to figure out a good style to sell on Etsy. I’m liking this style, though I think I have to go quite a bit further with it; make it less clean-cut and more artsy-fartsy.

Other than cleaning and doing laundry, that’s all I did. Why do I feel like I accomplished so much more than I actually did? I guess the important thing is how I feel about the day, not what I actually did.

Garry had an opening shift today for the first time in five days, so when he got home we were able to play LOTRO and we got to level 25. Huzzah!