I will save my joy about the Steelers' win and disappointment for the Patriots' lost for the end. Because Jo has been tapping her feet, awaiting the photos and update, I'm here to share that first... Hello. Good afternoon. The pictures are up on flickr.com, and you can start at this one and use the previous to step back. It was quite an adventure. Let me tell you (and I of course will).
Doug and I finished cleaning the room at about 1pm, leaving three bookcases in the nooky corner, and I think I'm going to call my friend Wayne (the one who made the TV built-in for us a couple years back) to have him build-in a floor to ceiling bookcase along one of the nooky walls, and leave the fat short one on the opposite side. But that is neither here nor there.
When last you left me, I was blogging for a moment before going back in to do the final task -- vacuum. To my horror, I discovered that the belt had broken on the brushy part of the vacuum cleaner. And we had several dogs worth of dog hair on the floor, and I wanted it out of there. We quickly diagnosed the problem, and Doug tried to McGuyver something with a stick of gum, a bra strap and some duct tape (really, a plastic pull-tie but it's funnier because he himself said the other ingredients to the attempted mix) but to no avail.
Being my hero, he ran to the hardware store and was lucky to discover they had a packet of two belts which would fit our appliance. He rushed home, got it in there and boy howdy -- it worked like a charm. We vacuumed, and now realize we need to shampoo the carpet because it looks so incredibly assy. Had we planned ahead a few more days, I may have been able to achieve that. But. You know me. Last Minute Mary. I spot cleaned a few places, and the guys arrived with the truck.
They brought everything in, unloaded, and began to set up. They quickly realized that attaching the mirror to the dresser where it belongs would be impossible. Our bedroom is too short. Nice. So they showed Doug how to wire it up to attach to a wall, and told him to position it just behind the bureau so it will be best used and not get damaged. Curses. We said we'd figure it out once we got a clue (and got the carpets cleaned) and would worry about it later. The guys were gone before four.
Then we all took turns on the Tempurpedic Mattress, with Geoff discussing his horrible back pain and bed envy. Jess liked it and calls it Marshmellow world. Sure. Doug and I looked at the mattress and I ascertained that none of our fitted sheets were going to fit. The mattress appeared to me to be too tall (10 inches compared to the puny five inches of our last one) and I determined that I ought to go buy sheets.
Jess and I went up to Salem NH and went sheet shopping. The girl there told me that our regular queen sheets would indeed fit the mattress because queen sheets are designed to fit up to 14 inches high. But I figured while I was there I ought to buy one nice set of sheets for the super new bed and mattress. We picked out a set of pale blue sheets, and I went to look at comforters.
Doug's mom had bought us a comforter set for a wedding gift way back in the day (1991) and we're still using it. It was made for a full-size bed, and we're up to a queen. I always feel like Doug's got the most of the comforter, and my butt is hanging out freezing. I figured, this new bed is really tall -- I'm going to buy a KING comforter! So I went to look and everything was too fru-fru for my liking. A lot of white comforters, which does not bode well when you have a 70lb black furry beast who will be spending his days upon said comforter while everyone else is out.
I stood there thinking to myself, do I actually go for pillow shams now?
Oh dear Lord. I've become that person! A few days ago, I had mentioned the Seinfeld Episode where Jerry is worried about having orgy friends because with orgy friends there comes this whole new lifestyle, and new clothing and a smoking jacket, and a moustache! And I likened buying a new bedroom set to getting orgy friends -- I'd suddenly need and/or want accessories. So I quelled the desire to sham and bedskirt, and bought two little accent pillows to go with. They are pictured here, with a small boy. I figured, that's as far as I'd go.
Until I found myself looking at curtains, and wondering what color I wanted to paint my walls.
So yes -- I've become that person. I'm NOT that person in real life. I hate curtains because they are one more thing you have to take care of in life, they gather dust, they get in the way of things, I don't like taking them down or putting them up then taking them down again -- so I've never had curtains. I remember it being an issue for mom, and she'd bitch and complain and the rod would be bent or suddenly wouldn't fit or something -- and I didn't want to ever have to deal with that.
Will I subject myself to this? Yeah. I probably will.
In the meantime, the first night on the bed was great. I woke up and my hips didn't hurt for the first time in years. Doug said that he thinks the whole commercial with people sleeping through the night when their spouses get out of bed is a lie because he felt me get up both times I did. And I said there's no way someone jumping on the bed at one end would NOT spill a glass of red wine all over the place. Aside from the lies in advertising that we saw through in the first place, the bed is comfortable, and I like it, and I'm glad we bought the entire set.
Now I have to figure out the layout, the shampooing and whether or not curtains and paint are in the near future.
And now for the football. Apologies right up front to those of you who hate football. But this is something that needs said.
Y'all know in this house we love the Patriots and the Steelers. I am relieved that in next week's AFC championship game they won't get to face one another again. Relief comes with disappointment though.
I am disappointed in the Patriots. I think they played like horribly, and after the strong finish they had this year (after a slow and painful start) I thoroughly expected them to spank the Denver Broncos. It seems they under estimated that team, and so did all the fans here. Hats off to the Broncos for a hard fought season, and I hope you lose next week.
My good friend Rob from High School and I were talking yesterday and he told me that he doesn't hate the Patriots, he's just sick of them winning.
That's funny coming from a Yankees fan. Now he knows how the rest of the baseball world feels all the time when the stupid Yankees win left and right. I pointed that out to him and he tried to argue that it is different, but it isn't. The Pats have become the Yankees of Football. The team to hate... Doug said they are to football today what the 49ers in the 90s were, and the Steelers of the Franco Harris era. The team that wins all the time, and everyone loves to hate. The Cinderella story with the first win, and by the third or fourth everyone is sick of them already and they want it to be "someone else's turn to win!"
The Patriots have been a formidable foe to just about anyone who has crossed their path. Tom Brady was unstoppable, until last night, with 10 straight post season wins. Better luck next year though, boys. I'm glad Tedy Bruschi is back on the field, and I hope that 2005-6 season brings just as much fun and excitement.
The Steelers really did scare the pants off me today. I couldn't believe they were winning so handily going into the third quarter, and then they came so close to blowing it. The Colts played like ass for the entire first half, it was like they thought the Steelers would show up with a running game and forgot to prepare their secondary and the holes, and Ben Roethlisberger just threw the ball straight in, non-stop, with no Colt defenders there to try and stop his receivers. It was a spectacular first half. Third was harsh, and then suddenly there in the fourth Peyton and the boys are clicking left and right.
Troy Polamalu was completely robbed of the interception in the fourth quarter -- I couldn't believe for a second that they overturned that and took it away from him. And that made for some scary football.
And Jerome Bettis fumbling on the .5 yard line on his way into the endzone was the hardest thing I've ever had to watch. The Colts could tie it with a field goal, and there they were with a kicker who has never missed at home...
and he missed.
17 seconds left on the clock, the Steelers win. That was a gift. Next week I hope they are prepared for Mile High and the Broncos.
Alright -- enough football (writing, that is. I'm going to go do dishes and then watch the Bears of all teams... who would have thought they'd get into the playoffs and look like they actually may win!)
more later!
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