"We Just Have Different Styles"

In a moment of "do-it-yourselfedness", I decided that we should take on a home improvement project - versus our history or just paying someone else to do it.  Since we've moved in, we've hired someone to hang the blinds, paint the exterior, stain the deck, do the landscaping and clean the house.  I was feeling a little guilty and lazy about all this subcontracting - and decided that we could take on the next project ourselves.

Painting the ceiling and built-in bookshelves in the office.

Notice the dark brown color.  Yuck.  Too dark for our taste.

And the dark ceiling beams.  Yikes, those might be hard to paint.....

Painting can't be that bad and doesn't require too much skill, right?  My suggestion was greeted with hostility and doubt by TB.  Serious hostility and doubt. After much convincing, he agreed to make an attempt at this project, but was sure to let me know that my credibility was on the line.  Talk about pressure!

I diligently prepared for painting day, by doing research on the best paints and tools to use for the project.  I wanted our office to look good, but to also prove two points: 

1.   I can prepare for a project just a well as TB can - proving that I am credible and a good project manager.
2.  We could take on a home improvement project and succeed! 
 
Side Story:  Now is probably a good time to point out a theme in our house, that may explain the comment above about my credibility being on the line.  Sometimes TB gets confused about who I am.  He does often come home in work-mode and thinks that I am one of his employees and not his wife.  He'll occasionally says things like, "Let's have a discussion about our goals for the year." or "Let's table that" or "Send me a meeting invite" or "Why don't you create a deck on that issue" And of course the above mentioned action of often assigning a project manager to each task we take on.

Side story done and on the painting prep:  Now, I'm typically an over-prepared organized person.  BUT, as prepared as I often am for projects, I'm rarely TB prepared.  You see, as Type A as I can be, TB makes me look like a sloppy mess.  He is a super planner.  TB preparedness includes spreadsheets, charts, graphs and research galore!  Checklists and timelines.  From vacation planning to minor purchases.  It's endearing, except when I am painting project manager.  We did assign a project manager to this task after all.  And it was not TB.

And finally, on with the painting. The inevitable happened and we got in a scuffle over whether we should sand  the built-ins with sand paper sheets or sand paper blocks.  I said sheets.  He said blocks.  As we're both furiously Googling the benefits of each and stating our cases, TB stated that this was bound to happen because, "we just have different styles." 

Hmmm.  That's an interesting thought.  We do don't we?  I always lumped us both in the same group, but he made a good point.  I've always been the most organized person in my group of friends and definitely in my family, and I would always get frustrated with the lesser organized folks.  Well, in our house - I am now the "lesser organized folks" that makes TB frustrated. Hmmmm.  That's one side of the fence I've never been on. 

Once we compromised on our sandpaper delimma, it took us 2 weeks, countless hours and few more stupid fights due to our different styles, but the built-ins were complete. And not only complete, they look pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. And we both learned a good lesson - there are multiple ways to successfully complete a project.  Perhaps a chart or graph wasn't completed, but it was done well. 

As for proving my two points:

1.   I can prepare for a project just a well as TB can - proving that I am credible and a good project manager.  Check.  I think you'll see by the pictures below that it was a job well done.

2.  We could take on a home improvement project and succeed!  Half Check.  We both got a little discouraged by the ceiling aspect of the project and had to throw in the towel on that one. Pablo's Painting took over PM duties.  Even without an Excel spreadsheet.

The completed project (without books put up - of course)

Pablo's Contribution

Craig and His Shady List

I will always have a slight allegiance to Craigslist due to my first experience with him.  Thanks to Craig, I was able to snag that amazing Vera Wang wedding dress for a steal!  So what, that I had to drive 10 hours, meet a strange girl in a mall and hand her an envelope full of cash.  The risk was totally worth it!

But all that aside - Craigslist is a dangerous sketchy world.  As I recently found out first hand.....

In all of our furniture buying, I have made one mistake.  The green chairs.  They looked cute in the store, but just didn't match the dinning room.  Unfortunately, they were on sale and I couldn't return them.  Doh.  But, wait!!!  No big deal - I'll just list them on Craigslist!  Piece of cake.

The listing process is easy, all I needed to do was to sit back and wait for the flood of emails from local folks wanting to buy my green chairs.  I even got a confirmation email that my chairs were listed successfully! 

But wait.  

You have to be concerned when the beginning of every email from Craigslist starts like this:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

Hmmmmm.  Concerning.  But my first experience with Craig was so great!  Maybe all those stories of serial killers and con artists on Craigslist are real?  That warning sure is harsh.  But scams can't be that common - right?  Hmmm.  Nah.  Can't be.

Just a few short hours after my post, I had a nibble from a fellow named Brian.  I replied to his inquiry telling him the chairs were still available and he could come look at them anytime this week, to let me know what day worked best for him.  Oh, and Brian - don't forget, I'll only take cash.

Then "Brian" replies with a few red flags:

- He needs my full name, address phone number and several other personal pieces of information
- He's such a nice guy that he'll pay me MORE for the chairs than the list price!
- He'll get the MONEY ORDER over to me as soon as I give him all my personal information.

I'm pretty sure 'ol Brian is a scam artist in Nigeria and had I replied, you would have seen me on the next Dateline NBC talking about how I was taken for everything I had.  Right alongside the little old ladies who lost their retirement.

Oh Craig.  Your list has so much potential, but hasn't seemed to help with the sale of my green chairs.  It has only succeeded in giving my email address out to shady characters who just want to steal my identity.  That was a bit more than I bargained for.  I just want to sell my chairs.  Is that too much to ask?

Anyone out there need some chairs? :)

Cheese + Bread + A Bus = Nom nom nom

Remember when you were little and your mom would make you grilled cheese sandwiches?  Every kid loves cheese and bread.  Of course, aside from those poor kids who were lactose intolerant - I'm just not sure how those guys survived.....

My sister recently told me about a new phenomenon hitting the Portland food truck market.  The Grilled Cheese Grill (http://www.grilledcheesegrill.com/).  What a phenomenal idea! Even into adulthood - everyone loves a good grilled cheese.  I have to admit though, at first I was a little skeptical - I mean how many ways can you spin cheese and bread? And on top of that, it was clear across town from my sister.

But regardless, we decided to make the trek and check out the grilled cheese guys.  Upon walking up to the spot..... my 4 year old niece immediately stopped and said she was NOT eating there.  You see, the seating at the Grilled Cheese Grill was in an old double decker bus.  Tallie exclaimed that she could not eat in there because the bus might roll away.  Once we showed her that there was no engine, she tentatively agreed to give it a go.  And I'm glad she did!  The food was delicious!  Perhaps even the best grilled cheese sandwich.  Ever.  Seriously.  I've tried to figure out how they made their bread perfectly brown and crunchy - but can't seem to get it just right.  If you're ever in Portland - you MUST check them out. 

Now if only the Atlanta area would jump on this food truck train.....



The terrifying seating arrangements

Skeptically checking out the bus and making sure there was no engine

The Grilled Cheese Grill

The Worst Thing in the Entire World

My four year old niece recently asked me an interesting question.  Our conversation went a little something like this:

Tallie:  Auntie Leslie, you want to know what the worst thing in the world is?
Me:  Gosh, I don't know - what is it?
Tallie:  Going to the bathroom on the airplane.
            The door was freaky and the toilet was gross.
            I walked in and said," What the mess is this?"
           The floor freaked me out.
            I don't ever want to use the bathroom on the airplane again.
            It was the worst thing in the world.

Ahh.  That little one is wise beyond her years.

A few more wise thoughts from a four year old:

- My mom is never driving a minivan!  Ever!
- If you cheat at the Disney Princess matching game, my dad will ninja chop you. 
- Freaky looking people live in Portland.
- Policemen come to get you if you're bad, firemen come to help you if you're in trouble and ambulances come to get you if you're dead.

Just Call me Nostradamus

About a year ago, while on a trip to Oregon, TB and I took a little jaunt out to the coast.  While at the town welcome center, we snapped this photo:

Notice the little card in TB's hand.  It says "Tsunami!" and gives instructions on what to do in the event of a tsunami on the Oregon coast.  At the time, we had no idea that a tsunami really can occur in Oregon.  Or perhaps I didn't consciously know, but my Nostradamus skills were showing themselves........

Humor aside, the family in Oregon is safe and sound since they're many miles inland.

See the original post here:

Original Tsunami Post

Winery in Georgia?

Going on a wine tour in the state of Georgia is like sushi in a gas station.

I like sushi.  And the gas station is someplace I frequent, I do occasionally even find a gas station that I could say that I like.  But when thinking about going out for some sushi - a food that is quite delicate, that has to be handled properly and not kept in a walk in fridge next to Four Loko, chocolate milk and a hard boiled egg in a bag - I want the environment that sushi is served in to be a certain way.  I mean, the sushi could pick up the common smells of cigarettes and petroleum if not kept in the proper environment.

Back to the wine tour of Georgia.  Wine is good.  But mind you, I am not a wine connoisseur.  I pick out bottles based on price and pretty labels.  Occasionally I'll luck out and find a wine I like to go back to.  But even considering my lack of knowledge on wine, I have never purposely chosen a wine grown in Georgia - it reminds me of the sushi in a gas station.  I imagine wine from Georgia to be grown next to chicken coops, carpet factories and peanuts.  And who knows - it might pick up some familiar characteristics of that Georgia red clay that it's grown in.

As luck would have it, I went on a mini (perhaps only one) winery tour of Georgia recently.  In celebration of a friend's 30th birthday we decided to spend an afternoon doing something decidedly different - a Georgia wine tour.

Much to my surprise the scenery on the Georgia wine trail was quite nice.  I mean no fooling anyone into thinking you were in Napa - but not bad.  Our actual wine was hit and miss but in general not bad - no essence of peanuts or red clay - success in my book!  It even seemed that the wineries in those parts of the state have become equivalent to the local bar.  Several locals stopped in and the "bar tender"  knew exactly what to pour for each of the regulars.  All in all -not a bad way to spend a few hours in north Georgia.

Perhaps I'll even try that gas station sushi next time...... errrrrr, maybe not.

On the Road Again

These days I've been doing a good bit of traveling for work, which really means that I spend lots of my time trekking through airports and driving in circles trying to figure out where I'm going.  I do however, get some good people watching in and have made some observations and discovered quite a few new things recently:

 

The TSA needs a new marketing department.

• With the TSA installing the new body scanner machines in airports all across the country, they decided to post signs throughout security explaining the procedure to you.  That does seem nice enough, right?  It is good to know what you're getting yourself into when you step into one of those contraptions.  However, one would expect that the explanation would make you feel better about getting in something called a "full body scan".  The only problem is, the pictures posted all over the airport look a little something like this:

                 Now, I'm not so sure about you - but that picture certainly doesn't make me feel any better.       
                 Seriously?  There is nothing left to the imagination.  They really should just take the pictures 
                down, as that doesn't make me feel one bit better.  I think I'd just rather not know what they see.

 

 

A bit of fashion advice:

• By no means am I what you would call a fashionable person, but wow.  There are some crazy things walking through the airport.  I can occasionally pick up some good fashion tips on what NOT to wear while on the road, due to seeing so many people trek through the airport.  So speaking of what not to wear,  there seems to be a recent trend of wearing leggings or tights as pants.  These items can often be see through, not to mention skin tight - but maybe people mean to do this.........  you have to realize that what you are wearing is see-through.  Right? 

Pumping Gas

• It's highway robbery not to fill up a rental car before returning it, so I often find myself at a gas station near an airport driving up to a gas pump and hoping that I guessed correctly as to which side of the car the gas tank is on.  UNTIL, a co-worker pointed out a little something I had never noticed... An arrow near your gas level gauge, which indicates the side the tank is on.  Wow.  Did I feel stupid.

Comfortable Shoes are a Lie

• Due to all my trekking through long terminals in work clothes and shoes, my feet have begun to look a little something like this:



Definitely not my foot - but they do look strikingly similar.



      So imagine my excitement when I found some heels that were made in collaboration with Nike! Imagine - work shoes that are as comfortable as your running shoes.   Those have to cure my gimp feet - right? Wrong.  The shoes were a lie.  My feet still look scary and my shoes are still quite painful.  Comfortable work shoes just do not exist.

I'm beginning to think I spend too much time on the road....................................