Ordered the custom frames and such for my cels. Might get them as soon as the end of next week, but promised two weeks at the most. That'll give me something to put on the walls in my home office... as in the time since I repainted, I have put up nothing except a calendar.

Also on my to-do list...

Figure out where to get a frame for the ginormous poster promoting the "Gargoyles" comic that I came home with from the Gathering 2007.

Put up shelving for my ever-growing collection of dolls by Vox Mortuum (shes_not_there ).

This room will look like a "Gargoyles" geek-gasm by the time I'm done.

Tags: art, gargoyles, house
Current Mood: geeky

Had my spring HVAC system check-up today.  Not news I was happy to hear.  Furnace blower motor is slowly dying and sucking twice the amps it should be (no wonder the lights nearly blink out every time it comes on) and the air conditioning condenser and compressor need so many repairs it makes more sense to replace them with newer, higher efficiency components.   Also factoring into that... R-22 refrigerant is being discontinued in January 2010, so even if I spend a ton of money to repair it, the next time it needs work it'll cost over $1000 just for the refrigerant.

But yeah... either way, money I didn't really want to spend right now... but it's either fix it before it dies, or wait for it to break down and spend a week or two with no A/C or heat waiting for them to get to me.  All things considered, I'd rather head this off before it gets to that point.  If I play the lotto with it, I know it'll be the hottest day of summer or coldest day of winter when my number comes up.

Blech.

Tags: house

Teenagers were playing with fireworks at the next-door neighbors house last night when a rocket took off sideways and set fire to a bush under one of my front windows.  I heard people yelling "Fire!" outside so I ran downstairs and got to the front door to find a big cloud of gray smoke.  Not being completely ignorant, they'd had a fire extinguisher handy and had already put out the flames.  But I still went around back and got the hose and wet everything down.

This morning, I went back out to wash the white powder off the driveway and inspect the damage... and the grandmother, who was the only sensible adult at home next door last night, saw me outside and came over to apologize.  She seemed sincere, and she had put an end to any more fireworks and ordered everyone inside last night after it happened, so I guess this will remain one of those "we're lucky no one got hurt" things.

The damage is all confined to one arborvitae bush - I think the rocket must have gone through it and set the needles on the ground on fire - and all I can do now is wait and see which parts die off and which parts recover.  It's a pretty big bush and only a couple branches got blackened.  These shrubs have taken a pretty hard beating in the winter and bounced back... so we'll see what happens.  

Tags: house, stupidity

Staying busy.  Scrambling on yet another project at work where the information we needed to start arrived three weeks late but the client still expects us to meet the original deadline.

Potential big updates for The Gathering of the Gargoyles have me VERY hyper tonight.  BTW, if you've not booked a hotel room yet... the block is filling fast.   Also, be sure to check out our "Art for the Gathering" auctions on eBay.

In home improvement news... $1800 worth of unplanned plumbing and drywall repairs later, the upstairs shower no longer creates a rain forest effect in my kitchen.

Out in the garden... some perennials that I planted last year offered up crop of seedlings which I've dug up and put into pots.  They've already doubled in size since Saturday, so I'll probably be splitting each plant up into a separate container very soon.  Two plants turning into twenty... not a bad return, especially in today's economy. :P

Tags: gathering of the gargoyles, house, work

Random...

Mom is not feeling well (no it's not the swine flu) so I'm home today since she needs someone to fetch food and the ice bag.  She also wasn't feeling up to dealing with the plumber who's been scheduled to be here today to replace just about everything connected to the tub.  I dared not postpone that since it takes weeks to reschedule.  Hopefully this will end the need for plastic sheeting on the ceiling of the kitchen to catch the mystery water.

I've been entirely too hyper this week about travel plans.  I have to keep reminding myself that this year the Gathering is not next month.  I pounced on the free plane tickets while the pouncing was good, so now I just need hotel room and car rental... and the latter will have to wait since Hertz isn't running any offers that are valid beyond June 30th just.

Oh yeah... three day weekend coming up for Memorial Day.  The long stretch from January to May that's devoid of paid holidays is nearly done for another year.

Tags: house, vacation

I typed up a nice long LJ post this morning, hit the button, and LJ ate it, coughed up an error message, and then gave me nothin' when I hit the back button.  So this is some abbreviated randomness...

Big thunderstorm that hadn't been in the forecast woke me up early this morning.  Temperatures reached close to 90 today.  Supposed to be 70s and 80s through the weekend, too, then go back to the 60s for next wek.  Last weekend it was in the 40s and 50s.  WTF seasons? 

I'm officially addicted to ATCs and y2hecate , karine , and mangagirl  have been my enablers.  Between the trading cards and a few other pieces, I'm pretty sure I've commissioned more stuff in the past month than all of last year.

I could sit on YouTube and watch Pablo Francisco videos all night.  The man is hilarious.

If good fences make good neighbors, I should be getting along with mine better soon because they just put up 6' privacy fence around their entire back yard.  Unfortunately, they're still opening the side door to let the dog out to do his business... and his favorite spot is still my side yard.  So I want to get another 15' of fence to close the gap.

I have a new screen door on order to replace the one ravaged by the windstorm a while back.  After downloading the instructions and reading about all the things I'd have to cut and drill just right to avoid making a call to their "oops" part replacement number, I decided to have Home Depot install it. 

And in other goings on... the planning for The Gathering of the Gargoyles continues.  We've got one more week left before the pre-registration price goes up, so I hope a few more people take advantage of it and register early.

Tags: art, gargoyles, gathering of the gargoyles, house, weather

Turns out my desk has a wood top underneath all the paper.  Also, I found some art that I brought home from the last Gathering, scanned, and promptly misplaced.  Junk mail filled an entire 30-gallon trash bag after being run through the paper shredder.  Guess I could have saved 50 cents buying Easter grass. 

Tags: house
Current Mood: busy

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes vacation.  Time to get used to writing "2009" on everything.

I stayed so busy last week, I didn't even post a report of my Christmas booty.  I'll have to get to that in the next day or two.  Got a few things done around the house, though.  Brand new faucet installed in the kitchen, and repaired the faucets in the shower upstairs so that they no longer drip. 

So this year The Gathering of the Gargoyles will be in August.  That's going to be a long stretch before my next vacation.  I wonder if I can work Comic Con into my schedule this year.

Tags: house, vacation, work
Current Mood: busy

I want a job where I can show up, work for an hour, say I need to leave and run back to the shop for a ladder, never return, and not bother to let anyone know that I won't be coming back to finish the job until next week, maybe, until someone tracks me down on the phone six hours later.

Tags: annoyances, house
Current Mood: grumpy

This felt like it was going to be the last decent weekend before the cold weather sets in, so I decided I'd better get my remaining outdoor projects done. I spent several hours repairing the brickwork on the front steps.

Several bricks on the nose of the bottom step were broken off, but luckily I'd found some extras laying around behind the garage. The trick of dismantling masonry, I discovered, is not whacking so hard at the bad stuff that everything around it starts to fall apart. I ended up replacing three bricks and relaying about six more that were loose. On the rest of the stoop, I refilled joints and filled in a couple of low areas. Hopefully that should keep ice from getting in and prying things apart. It doesn't look pretty from up close, but my goal is only to make it last for a few more years until I can afford to have a new landing and steps built in concrete.

Daylight Savings Time ends tonight, so that means an extra hour during the night, which I'll probably just spend sleeping. :P

Tags: house