Month: December 2009

Today, on the eve of New Year’s Eve, I’m planning to pick up Robert in a couple of hours for the UU church’s family game night.
He’s been going to the youth group and decided he’d like to help out tonight, which is pretty nice of him. He likes the other kids, so I hope there’ll be a few there.

Continue reading New Year’s Eve

Yesterday, James was nice enough to go out with me in wind chill of 0 degree weather to the Wareham Home Depot.
This was a stop on the way to Target, so he could cash in his Christmas gift card.
I’ve been looking for drawer and cabinet pulls for the kitchen and finally settled on this one from Amerock.

Continue reading Splurge

Around the third week in May, I was lucky enough to get a nice Amazon gift certificate, and used it to buy a Ronco ST3001WHGEN Showtime Compact Rotisserie and Barbeque Oven, aka “Set It And Forget It”.
My neighbor/friend across the street received the full-size version several years ago as a gift, and has been raving about it ever since.
I love rotisserie chicken as much as a good steak, but was seven months’ worth of nervous about using the “Set It”. It came with a couple of instruction books filled with cautionary messages about the dangers of setting things on fire or burning yourself.
Happened to be at my friend’s house yesterday for a splendid Christmas Eve dinner, so I asked her to show me how to roast a chicken today, on Christmas. She was nice enough to say she’d help me out.

Continue reading Set It And Forget It (Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way)

Percentage of female Open Source developers:
3.0%: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/2008/02/24/fosdem-2008
1.5%: http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=106&thread=263671
This low percentage isn’t due to fear of computers:
Percentage of women who use computers at work: 57%
and at home: 70%
http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/software_for_women.php
It also isn’t due to overall cultural norms. Here are the percentages of women in traditionally male-dominated professions in the USA:
Women in construction: 4%
http://www.allbusiness.com/population-demographics/demographic-groups/12375848-1.html
Women firefighters: 4% (2002)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6537201.html
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20080518/NEWS01/81118071/Female-firefighters-rare–but-valued-on-crews
Women police officers: 12.6%
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/181/2009/00000032/00000001/art00004
Seems like software development wins the booby prize for worst male chauvinist piggery, excuse me, gender discrimination, in the workplace.

Treats were well received at the first Christmas Eve get-together: shrimp (boiled, peeled, deveined from frozen), blueberry pie and ice cream.
Only two friends got winning lottery tickets. Very poor return, $24 out of $60. Next year, I may just give them cash!
Cathy also served Windfall stuffed mushrooms, hummus from Jack in the Beanstalk, stuffed quahogs from Cindy.
Christmas Eve dinner coming up in about an hour and a half; I am eating my way through the day.
Picked up “Golden Boys” at the Falmouth Blockbuster this morning, stopped at Job Lot, got haircut at ProCuts in Teaticket, picked up wine gift for Candy. Dropped off “Constantine’s Sword” at Mashpee Blockbuster, picked up ice cream for blueberry pie. Even squared away my payment plan with IRS. A full day.

The sky is light blue, and it’s flurrying: not a big deal except for those who were banking on some serious melt of last weekend’s big snowfall.
I have a list of to-do’s and as a consequence, am doing nothing.
I wonder what the rich people are up to right now?

The local liquor store got in a shipment today of a wine I really like, Svenska White, and I didn’t even wait for it to properly chill before pouring myself a glass.
I’ve been priming, spackling, sanding, painting, decluttering, dusting and hanging (pictures) for the last couple of weeks.
Today, I was so tired of all of it that I almost sat in the middle of the floor and cried, which would have been more painful than it was worth.
Rather, I put up the rest of the pictures in the living room, swept (and swept and swept), attempted to relight the hot water heater pilot which had gone out (a PM from Capizzi got it started, we never did see the pilot light), showered and dressed, attended James’ 4th grade concert, drove him home, made two trips to Aubuchon for the parts to repair the mailbox that the DPW knocked off its post, and finished my Christmas shopping.
Stopped off at Blockbuster to rent “Constantine’s Sword” and am going to watch it, with pajamas on, feet up and the rest of the glass of Svenska White. Happy Shortest Days, Northern Hemisphere.

I haven’t gone outside yet, but the house feels warmer, and I’m wondering if the show is helping to insulate; could be, if it’s as packed on the siding as it is on the window screens.

We have a lot of snow, hard to tell exactly how deep because of all the drifting. I’d guess a good 8-10 inches; weather underground says 12-18.

Two youngish gentlemen with a snowblower came by this morning and cleared off the driveway, the truck, the front stairs, and a walkway, for what seems a very reasonable amount ($40). It’s cold and nasty outside, and only the next door neighbors seem to be moving about.

I painted the hall closet door, the kitchen window and some trim. Need to get latex primer before I can do the pull-down stairway and the lanai door frame. Want to paint the window frames in my room next, maybe after shoveling the deck.

Trying to decide how far to take the kitchen cabinets: maybe some new handles and a good cleaning. I’m not keen on the idea of refinishing them. I would like to paint the still-unfinished-after-many-years bureau and end table in my room.

Fluffles has taken to lying down on my bed, probably because I put the hassock in the room for him to use as a staging point. He is perfectly happy to be ignored.

It’s 4 degrees outside.
James will be staying over tonight and both boys will be here tomorrow.
I booked our hotel for New Year’s in Providence, but think we’ll stay put tomorrow. We’re supposed to get a snowstorm.

Not a lot going on in the garden this week; in fact, nothing.
The only outdoor task was to put down treads on the stairs. Earlier this month, we had some ice, and the going on the composite was treacherous. I really waited much too long to get this done so last evening, took advantage of the last bit of mild air (40’s) expected for a while to ensure a good seal between tread and stairs.
Otherwise, I’ve been busy with indoor projects, painting and putting up a new towel holder in the bathroom and a utility hangar on the door to the cellar. Plus the wreath in the window and the Route 66 sign on the shed.
Peter hired a team to do the leaf-clearing and some pruning at #11, so there is virtually nothing to be done over there, either.