Category: Daily Life

It’s Remodeling Time Again At Average Jane’s House

Hey, remember when I took all the wallpaper off my bedroom walls back in May? Well, we've finally gotten around to having someone complete Step 2 of that process, which is take down the lath and plaster ceiling and replace it with sheetrock.

At first I thought I could just have someone smooth out the existing ceiling but I didn't realize that it was actually sagging. That's not what you want in a plaster ceiling.

Cracktacular!

We managed to find a guy who was willing to do the labor in exchange for studio time. He decided he had time this weekend, so when I woke up yesterday I moved all our bedroom furniture into the living room and my dressing room. My husband hurt his back earlier this year, so I was on my own.

Dr. Jones and Velvet are enjoying having a bed in the living room.

When the guy arrived yesterday, he proceeded to rip the whole ceiling down. I sacrificed a couple of old comforters to help insure that the heavy chunks of plaster wouldn't dent the floor when they came down.

It was a much messier process than this view of the aftermath would suggest.

Here's what a 10'x12' lath-and-plaster ceiling looks like when you're finished with it:

The only casualty of the furniture move was our cheaply-made Scandinavian bed frame. It's been mended repeatedly over the years and apparently the move from one room to the next was the last straw. My husband and I (and Toby and Velvet) had been asleep for a little more than an hour last night when the wood holding one side of the slats under the mattress gave way with a loud CRACK!

I got up, found the only cinderblock we have, wrapped it in an old pillowcase and used it to prop up that side of the bed. I think I may just buy a standard metal bed frame, remove the slats and side supports from the old bed frame, and just use the decorative frame as a surround. But that'll have to come later.

Because I didn't know the timeframe of the ceiling work until late last week, I hadn't lined up the other workmen we'll need to get the bedroom completely finished. I have appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday to get bids from a window company to replace the two bedroom windows and a hardwood floor refinishing company. I hope we don't end up spending more than a couple of weeks with our furniture piled up everywhere.

Toby can make himself comfortable anywhere.

The sheetrock is all up now and being mudded right now. It'll get sanded tomorrow. I have a $30 Groupon for a paint store, but I won't be able to paint until the floor and windows are finished. I guess I could go ahead and buy the paint, though.

I'm really looking forward to having a bedroom that doesn't have to be hidden behind a closed door when company comes over. It's worth the inconvenience. I think.

September 4, 2011
Average Jane Brings Home A Dog

Meet Toby. He's an eight-year-old Italian greyhound. I picked him up from The Animal Rescue Alliance (T.A.R.A.) yesterday after work.

He was turned over to the rescue group because his family split up due to divorce. I was hoping they'd bring some of his stuff, but all he had was his collar. Maybe he doesn't have any stuff, but you'd think they'd at least have brought some of his food and whatever clothes he wears when he goes out in the cold.

For now I'm just fostering him while we see how things go with our cats. If everything works out, I'll pay his adoption fee and keep him.

When I picked him up he was clearly upset at having been left behind and he was whining and looking for his people. Our first short car trip was from the kennel to my sister's house and Toby made it a challenge. Fortunately, all of the novelty started to wear him out and he calmed down for the trip to my house.

Obviously the first item on the agenda was to take him shopping. I went home to get the $5 PetSmart gift card I'd gotten at BlogPaws and look through the coupons I'd received. I knew there was at least one for free food.

We made a quick run through the pet store and I got him a harness, a retractable leash and a bag of food. I'm going to order him some Nulo food, partly because it's abundantly clear that he doesn't like the food I bought him and partly because he's noticeably overweight. Just look at the armpit chub in that photo.

The cats are less than thrilled. They're being pretty defensive and Velvet has already bopped him on the head once. Dr. Jones waited for him to lie down yesterday and then crept up behind to check him out.

Trillian has been making herself scarce and Xena is more interested in eating his food than dealing with him.

He slept through the night lying next to my legs and didn't wake up until I was nearly dressed. I took him with me on my daily 3.4 mile walk and he had more than enough energy to keep up.

I've been taking Toby outside pretty often because I don't know his preferred bathroom habits, but it seems that he's low-maintenance so far. I forgot to bring waste bags on our walk and I didn't end up needing one anyway.

Right now he's downstairs with a chew stick, but I'd probably better go check on him before I shower and head to work. As long as he and the cats can learn to coexist, I think he'll be a fine pet for us.

September 1, 2011
Average Jane’s Extra Day in D.C.

My original plan was to leave to fly back to Kansas City on Sunday morning so I'd have most of the afternoon and evening open to rest up. I got word on Friday night that my morning flight was canceled due to the tropical storm, so I went online and booked a Sunday afternoon flight instead.

I actually thought that one might happen, but I got the cancellation call on Sunday right after breakfast. When I checked the website there were no Sunday flights available at all. I tried to rebook online but the site must have been overwhelmed because it wasn't going through. I ended up calling and sitting on hold for at least 30 minutes before I finally rebooked my flight for 1:05 p.m. on Monday.

So that left me wandering around the hotel aimlessly for a bit. I met up with a group of bloggers and had a second breakfast (I got the hotel restaurant to make me my Shakeology shake). In the process, I learned that staying another night at the conference hotel would cost me $225 because they weren't extending the conference rate of $119 unless you'd booked in advance.

I love it when other people do my research for me, and I happened to run into someone who had planned all along to move to another hotel for the next couple of days. I took her recommendation of a $99 a night Best Western in Arlington, Virginia, and made a reservation there. It cost me a $30 cab ride to get there, but it was still a substantial savings over staying where I was.

After I said my goodbyes, I made my way to the new hotel and started reaching out to my nearby blogger buddies to see if anyone wanted to get together. Sarah and Laurie were kind enough to make plans with me to meet at an Irish-themed pub about half a mile from my hotel. I walked up to meet them in the late afternoon.

We chatted about sports, hair-metal bands, work and other important stuff over beers and deliciously evil pub food.

Tell me that isn't a beautiful Guinness.

After we left the pub, I stopped by a nearby sandwich shop to grab some dinner for later, then walked back to my hotel.

I was tempted to go swimming in the lovely pool, but tiredness got the best of me and I ended up staying in my room reading all evening. (I love the Kindle app on my iPad!)

After ten full hours of sleep, I awoke refreshed and ready for my travel day, even if it did involve re-wearing certain garments from earlier in the trip.

I think the lesson here is that it's never a bad idea to build an extra vacation day into a conference trip. Thanks to the sleep I got on Sunday and Monday nights, I'm not spending this week in an exhausted haze the way I did after BlogHer. So the storm actually did me a favor, albeit a rather expensive favor.

August 31, 2011
Where’s Average Jane?

So there was this big event a couple of weeks ago. I took a bunch of pictures and had lots of stories to go with those pictures, and then somehow I just didn't write most of those stories down and illustrate them with the pictures. And then two weeks went by.

I can't even really tell you why I haven't managed to write my posts except that I've been so very tired. Even at the conference I spent long stretches of time lying on the bed in my room reading my book when I ran out of energy and needed time to recharge.

I don't know why I'm so exhausted all the time. My doctor kept chalking it up to the anemia…that I apparently no longer have. I'm still managing to get in a pretty good amount of exercise and keep my calendar relatively full, but I would eagerly take a nap at any given time these days. If they had a room at my office designated for napping I would use it every afternoon.

I don't even feel lazy for having neglected my blog because I'm just so tired. I'm going to go ahead and write one big BlogHer post tonight just to get it done and clear the way for other things (such as my trip to BlogPaws this coming week). But I'd really rather go lie down.

But enough of the whinefest. I'm sure this'll all get solved eventually, but for now I have to power through my work, get one more conference under my belt and then I'll have the time to pester my doctor for more useful answers. Perhaps after a nap.

August 21, 2011
10 Basic Things To Know About Average Jane
Since I'm leaving for BlogHer at the crack o' dawn tomorrow and I won't be blogging again until I get back, I figured I'd leave you with a post listing a few things about me, in case you happen to meet me and check out my blog during the conference.
1. I'm kind of a crazy cat lady. I'll just get that out there. I have four cats (Xena, Velvet, Trillian and Dr. Jones) and I volunteer for an animal rescue group in my spare time. It's safe to say that all my clothes have cat hair on them. In the early days of my blog I tried not to write about cats so much, but these days I'm just owning it.
2. I sometimes sing in rock bands, but I'm on a break. I'm a big hard rock fan and I love singing, but the combination of a really busy schedule and worsening asthma have sidelined me, at least for now. My husband is also a musician—he's a drummer and a recording engineer.
3. Early to bed, early to rise, makes Average Jane kind of a party pooper. Sorry, I can't help it. I get up at 6:00 a.m. almost every day to go walking for an hour and then I'm ready to turn in by 9:30 p.m. I'm going to try to nap my way to a more late-night-friendly schedule for BlogHer, but we're talking about a two-hour time zone shift. It's too bad I don't drink caffeine anymore.
4. At big parties, I get a little wallflowery. However, that doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you. It may just mean that I should probably retreat to the hallway and talk to you there.
5. I am trying to get more fit right now. Hence, the hour-long walks in the mornings. I am also a big fan of yoga, I'm starting to cut way down on meat consumption, and I'm pretty sure most of the weight I've lost in the past few months is from having Shakeology shakes for breakfast every morning. If you see me at Starbucks trying to convince the barista to make me a blended latte with my own shake power in it, that's what's going on.
6. There is no way I'm using 10 drink tickets at a two-day conference. See #5. Also, ask around and you may hear a few stories about how I learned the hard way that it's a good idea to take it easy on the partying at BlogHer.
7. I am not a mom blogger. That's because I'm not a mom, in case you were wondering. I'm your standard-issue Gen Xer with a career, a mortgage, no kids and the aforementioned cats.
8. I am a big fan of mom bloggers. Some of my best friends are mom bloggers (or non-blogging moms, for that matter) and I read a LOT of mom blogs. Just so you know.
9. Fashion is not my strong suit. All you have to do is meet me to figure that out. That said, I am putting in a concerted effort to stop exclusively wearing jeans, t-shirts and sneakers. However, I'll probably wear my Average Jane t-shirt on my flight tomorrow because it's always a nice ice-breaker when I get to the hotel.
10. When it comes to interpersonal online drama, I am Switzerland. No matter what's going on, I will not get involved in any online feuds. I am inevitably friends with people on both sides of the altercation and while I may have an opinion about each person's degree of responsibility, I will never side with one person over another.
That ought to do it. Have a lovely weekend, feel free to follow my Twitter stream if all of the BlogHer chat won't drive you around the bend, and I'll be back with regular posts next week.
August 3, 2011
Average Jane’s Aging Car

I love my car. I really do. How can you not love a car that averages 50 miles per gallon of gas? However, it has a few quirks and I think they're starting to intensify with age.

Over the weekend I learned that my car is not really suitable for a long drive on mountainous highways in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, I was already driving said highways before I reached that conclusion, so I had no choice but to soldier on and hope I could get where I was going and back.

The problem is the summer heat. I don't know if every hybrid is like this, but mine doesn't do well in the extreme heat. The battery doesn't want to charge up, it has almost no acceleration power (especially with the air conditioner on) and I spend a lot of time gearing down and down to get the car to reach or maintain the necessary speed.

Add a passenger and a full load of cargo and you have a recipe for getting passed by everyone on the highway. Except we were mostly on two-lane rural highways. Sorry, everyone behind me!

Before I left town I had the oil changed and was informed that it's time I had my brakes repaired. As in brake pads and rotors, all the way around. Since I'm still gathering up the $450+ that will cost, I obviously didn't get them repaired on the spot. Thus, I had the extra thrill of zipping around corners and down steep hills knowing that every tap on the brakes was shortening the lifespan of the parts just a little bit more quickly.

I hope my car manages to last for many years to come. It's already 10 years old and it looks remarkably good for its age. It still gets really good gas mileage (although it used to be somewhat better), and I like its futuristic shape and details. There's also a lot to be said for having a car that's paid off, so I'm really quite willing to pony up for maintenance and plan to take another vehicle the next time I visit the mountains.

How's your car holding up?

August 1, 2011
Average Jane Goes on Vacation

I just got back from four days in gorgeous Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I went with a group of friends and my sister—there were 17 of us in total. We spent the trip in a very leisurely fashion, gathering in smaller groups to visit various attractions and larger groups for meals.

One of the first things we noticed is that it's butterfly season there. Wherever we went there were beautiful butterflies flitting around the flowers. My sister led us in a yoga practice on Friday and Saturday mornings and we enjoyed seeing the butterflies on the plants as we exercised.

We stayed at the 1905 Basin Park Hotel in downtown Eureka Springs. Supposedly it's haunted and they offer nightly ghost tours. I didn't think it seemed haunted to me, but what do I know? The only semi-weird experience I had was one afternoon while I was taking a nap. I heard the sound of a door creaking several times and assumed that one of my roommates was coming in. However, I never heard the floor creak to indicate someone walking across it. Once I got up, I checked all the doors in the room and none of them were as noisy as what I'd heard. So if that's my ghost story, it's a pretty tame one.

On the first evening we were there, they had a little festival in Basin Park, right next to the hotel. It featured music, performers, bubble making, etc. What fun!

Every morning I went walking for an hour or so. The hotel was on Spring Street, and as with most towns with the word "springs" in their names, Eureka Springs has a history that included a tourist boom attracted to the healing waters. All along the street you can still see many of the historic springs, although several are dry and the rest are mere trickles of water.

The water isn't drinkable, but I can attest that it's ice-cold and feels great on your hands after a long, hot walk.

My sister and I had decided in advance that we wanted to visit Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, so we gathered a group of six and went on Friday afternoon. Turpentine Creek is a non-profit that rescues big cats, most of which had been bred as "pets" but were obviously not tameable. It's a much more widespread problem than you would think.

As you can imagine, it's incredibly expensive to build safe habitats and feed these animals properly for the rest of their lives. I wish I had the wherewithal to donate lots of money to their organization.

In case you've ever wondered if a liger is a real thing, here's one. This guy is still young and they expect him to double in size. Ligers are bigger than either lions or tigers once they mature.

On Saturday, my sister and I fulfilled our other sightseeing goal: to visit one of the local caves. We chose Onyx Cave, which apparently doesn't have a website.

What they DO have is self-guided walking tours complete with state-of-the-art 1970s technology including bulky radio headphones that pick up sections of a recorded message that you trigger at various points by pushing a button.

The cave is not as pristine as some I've visited. In the past it was the site of illicit activities by moonshiners and bandits, but it was most ill-used during a time when many of the stalactites were broken off for the onyx. Still, it has a lot of cool formations and it was well worth the $7 admission price.

To give you an idea of the age of the audio presentation, it ended with, "Take only photos and leave behind only flashbulbs."

I really loved the town and I am always drawn to turn-of-the-20th-century architecture and design.

If I could afford it, I'd buy this little cottage and retire there, enjoying the mountain views every morning from my back porch.

I'd walk through the hilly neighborhoods every morning keeping an eye out for deer.

I was very impressed by the number, variety and quality of shops and restaurants within walking distance of our hotel. If you were willing to drive a short distance, the options increased even more.

After my sister and I went to Onyx Cave, we stopped for a tasting at Keels Creek Winery and then chowed down on Grandma's Beans and Cornbread before heading to the 1886 Crescent Hotel to go swimming.

This morning I extended my walk all the way to the Crescent, partly to have a destination and partly because I knew I could buy a bottle of water there and pet the lobby cat. Yes, I missed my cats.

Of course, this story leaves out all the fun I had with my friends, gathering for meals and drinks at various parts of the day. I went out with the group on Friday night to see Mountain Sprout play at The Squid & Whale Pub, which is the kind of place that serves your pint of beer in a Ball canning jar and you don't blink an eye.

So what I'm saying is that I had fun, I relaxed, I stayed off the internet for days and, most important, I let 85 work emails go unread until Monday. It was exactly the kind of vacation I needed.

July 31, 2011
Average Jane Prefers To Type At You

Now that smartphones are taking over the world, I keep hoping that the "phone" part will be gently phased out so that I no longer have to communicate with people verbally.

There are so many other options! You can text me, email me, DM me through Twitter, @ me through Twitter, message me on Facebook. I have all that stuff on my phone and computer all day long so I'll definitely see it right away, unless it's after 9:00 p.m. when I'm a Viking.

This leads me to today's scenario in which I was forced to make a phone call despite my strong desire to use a web form instead.

The car dealership where I always get service on the Insight used to have a very simple online form for requesting a service appointment. You told it what kind of car you had, when you wanted to bring it in, what you wanted done, who you were and what your phone number was. The end.

I went to schedule an oil change today and discovered that they had "upgraded" their form. Now, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm a web-savvy individual. However, this new form was incredibly user-unfriendly. Apparently someone in the sales department had decided that they weren't collecting enough information from people, so it started with creating an account and went downhill from there.

Once I'd finished creating my account, I tried to navigate the process of actually setting up an appointment, but it was the least intuitive user interface I'd ever encountered. I ended up accidentally scheduling my appointment on the wrong day and by the time I figured out how to cancel, I was Done. With. That. Form.

So I picked up the phone and called to make my appointment. Yes, the company managed to take someone who had efficiently scheduled all her appointments online for an entire decade and get her to call and talk to someone instead. Way to raise those overhead costs!

Obviously my dream of a telephone-free world is still in the distant future. But I'll be ready when the time comes.

July 21, 2011
Average Jane Hates Crowds

I wouldn't go so far as to call myself agoraphobic, but I have an intense dislike of standing in large crowds. That's one of the main reasons I go to rock concerts so seldom these days.

It also affects my desire to be among the first to do certain long-awaited fun things, such as go to the new Harry Potter movie or check out the new Trader Joe's locations that finally opened in the Kansas City area today.

I'm very excited about both of those things, but I am exceedingly unwilling to allow other people to invade my personal space in the pursuit of either one. The movie can wait until next week (or maybe Sunday night) and I'll probably give Trader Joe's a few weeks to calm down before I venture out there.

"But what about BlogHer?" I hear you saying.

I know, right? Three thousand people at a conference sounds kind of challenging for someone like me. And it is. Back in the days when attendance was measured in hundreds, it was much easier for me to handle. These days I need to jump in for as long as I can take it and then retreat for a while to re-energize. Sometimes a nap is involved.

I'm actually calmer about the whole crowd thing than I used to be. Age and yoga have mellowed me to the point where I no longer get agitated by crowds. Instead, they just wear me out.

What about you? Do you thrive on crowds or are you more like me?

July 15, 2011
Another Week in the Life of Average Jane

I swear I'm going to get back to a more regular posting schedule someday. I never intended my blog to turn into "what I did last week, in brief." Until then, here are some snapshots (literally and figuratively) of the past several days.

Our intrepid adventurer, Dr. Jones, has discovered that he can reach pretty much any high spot in the house. He's chosen the top of this cupboard as his new perch for surveilling the neighborhood. I think he got bored when the baby doves in our front bushes finally grew all their feathers and left.

My garden is looking good. We will definitely have no shortage of zucchini. The cucumber plant looks good as well, although the zucchini plants are encroaching upon it. Not sure yet about the green beans, peppers, eggplant and sugar snap peas. We'll have to see. I harvested and immediately ate the first grape tomato of the season yesterday. It was delicious.

Took this lovely shot on Friday morning from the patio at The Filling Station. Later that morning I felt something weird in my sleeve and discovered an ant-like insect that had probably crawled in there while I breakfasted outdoors. I shook it out of my sweater onto the floor near my desk and then decided I should take it outside to give it a fighting chance. It wasn't easy, but it should now be happily living in the hostas near the front door of my office.

On Friday night I made Cagey's Kai Kratiam (Garlic Pepper Chicken) recipe, served over jasmine rice. I garnished mine with thin strips of red bell pepper, cilantro leaves from my garden, and a drizzle of sriracha sauce. It was super easy and my husband loved it. I'll definitely be adding it to our rotation.

Last night my husband and I went out to dinner and decided to take a "short nap" before going to hear a band down the street. I fell deeply asleep and didn't wake up until 2:00 a.m. I took out my contacts, changed into my pajamas and went back to sleep until nearly 7:00 this morning. I don't know why I was so wiped out, but I must have needed the sleep.

This morning I learned that my photo of the chandelier superimposed over the Western Auto building was voted the winner of this year's Urban Photo Safari. I was really only participating for the fun of it, but what an honor to win! There's no prize, so I figure I need to take full advantage of my bragging rights, which means posting about it here, on Facebook and on Twitter. Okay, the bragging is over now.

So those are the highlights of the past seven days. What have you been up to? Do you have any big summer vacation plans?

June 26, 2011