lights and spring

My boyfriend's mother came over and gave him a very simple solution to our wobbly light fixture problem. I wasn't home, so I'm not sure what this very simple solution was, but I'm just happy to have it done. I got this new fixture just for aesthetic reasons. I didn't realize there was a practical benefit until we had it installed: the old fixture only had one light bulb and this one has two. The extra brightness is appreciated.

I brought Perry along when I purchased this light since I didn't want him to hate it. Perry is pretty unconcerned about home decorating in general but when he has an opinion it's a strong opinion. This was not the case this time. He said he didn't like it, but he didn't hate it. This was a win in my book, since I loved it. Ambivalence on one side and a strong opinion on the other means the strong opinion wins, right? It's like the agreement Perry and I have with lace clothes: I like (not love) clothes with lace overlay. Perry hates lace. So no lace when Perry's around.

What I'm trying to say is that I love my new kitchen light. My godmother had a stained glass light in her kitchen and when I saw this, it reminded me of her and I knew I must have it.

The weather has been incredibly mild for February and I was able to open the windows in the house for the first time since fall. Opening the windows doesn't get to happen too often, but I love it when it's feasible. I think the thing I like the most is when the breeze blows my veil-y curtains around like I'm living in a romance novel or an 80's music video.

The warm weather also means that the trees and grass and flowers are beginning to wake up. Perry's been having worse than usual seasonal allergies and we're not sure whether we should blame it on the dog or not. We had to mow the lawn this weekend because the grass (weeds) were getting a bit tall. I normally don't have to break out the lawn mover until March, but I don't mind. I miss working out in the yard. It's really the only outdoor exercise I ever get.

oscars

The Oscars are tonight. You already probably knew about that though. All through middle and high school, I loved watching awards shows from beginning to end. I loved the glamor and formality of it and I really couldn't have cared less who actually won, I just wanted to see the spectacle.

Now that I'm older and jaded, I just want to see the best/worst dressed list and maybe watch a few of the sketch/joke highlights on youtube. I still don't care who wins. I don't have much faith in what a panel of people thinks is "best". Taste is subjective and ask almost any group of people about art and the consensus on what's "best" will most likely be what ever is least offensive (most bland and boring).

All that being said, because I have opinions and I matter, here's my review of the Oscar nominated films that I've seen and who I think will/should win.

Django Unchained - I like Quentin Tarantino films but I didn't think this was one of his best. Two men being forced to beat each other to death was hard to watch but the scene where the man was ripped apart by dogs had me in tears, which had never happened in a Tarantino film before. It was hard for me to laugh at his quippy writing after that. I feel that those scenes were to help the audience understand the main character's desire for vengeance and perhaps find the cartoonishly bloody finale enjoyable, but it just made me feel drained and I couldn't get back into the movie.

Les Misérables - This movie was long and it felt long too. I didn't care if any of the character's lived or died, I just wanted this movie to be over with. I've never seen the play before this or read the book and I thought most of the song lyrics weren't very good. The only part I enjoyed was the "I dreamed a dream" song. Anne Hathaway killed it.

Life of Pi - This is the film I think should win. It's a unique and beautiful film with a simple story that you can make as complex as you'd like.

Lincoln - This is the film I think will win. It has good acting and writing. And it's as boring and bland as films come.

Zero Dark Thirty - I liked this movie. It wasn't flashy. I liked seeing the political side of the search for Bin Laden and the actual execution of the plan.

kiki

I almost had a dog induced breakdown today. Today was the last day of my 70 hour work week so I was already breakdown prepped. 

I came home to find out Reggie, our once believed housebroken dog, had peed on the carpet. And not normal pee: toxic neon staining pee. It took three scrubbing sessions and a few passes with the carpet cleaner for me to give up and turn to the internets. A suggested mix of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap worked perfectly. 

On top of this a muddy Reggie had decided to hide his chew bone underneath the white sheets on my bed. The sheets are currently in the washer.

And then I dropped his newly filled water bowl on the kitchen floor, which from the height it fell at, had enough velocity to splatter water over the fridge and almost every wood cabinet and thoroughly drench my rug. 

Time to call it a day and appreciate the pettiness and silliness of it all.

what I did on my days off

 -I made this:

Per usual, takeaway and eating at restaurants was almost my sole source of sustenance. I enacted the "cook once a week" rule a few months ago when I decided I shouldn't let any cooking abilities I may have shrivel up and die for good. The only reason I think I've been keeping up with this resolution is that I end up with enough leftovers for my work lunches for several days, which makes packing my lunch as easy as throwing tupperware in my purse, and at 3:30 a.m., that's as difficult as I can manage.

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-I said goodbye to clean floors. With it raining almost all week and Reggie's hair's uncanny ability to pick up any debris it comes in contact with, my house is currently scattered with numerous bits of mud and leaves.

 I still really like him though. This is one good dog.

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 - I rediscovered radio. I bought a cheap CD boom box so I could listen to music in the kitchen without having to blast the computer speakers down the hallway. I intended to listen to CDs mostly, but I've become enamoured with the radio. The station I listen to the most plays a mix of 80's and 90's pop. I like it.

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-I bought a light fixture to replace the fan in the kitchen.

When I bought the house, every room had this identical fan in it. They're not so ugly that they slap you in the face with you walk in the room, but they're not pretty either. I've been wanting to replace the kitchen fan with a nice stained glass fixture for a while now, so Perry and I made the attempt to switch it out ourselves.

It didn't go that well.

We got the old fan down just fine and the new fixture seemed to be going well until we realized that the base of the fixture isn't flush with the wall. In fact, it's quite wobbly. We're having Perry's mom come by and take a look at it (her dad was an electrician) before we put on the heavy glass globe. I don't know if you can tell in the picture above, but the shadow on the ceiling is due to the fixture dangling.

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- I made my valentine a valentine. Perry and I both find Valentine's day to be a bit cheesy, so we celebrate the cheese by buying the worst card we can find at the supermarket. This year's picks weren't up to snuff, so I found a birthday card and modded it a bit. I have no idea who Cody Simpson is, but I feel like his people understand the obsessiveness of young girls very well.

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-  I was urinated on in a restaurant. But it was by my 10 month old niece, so that's okay, right? Sorry, but there's no picture for this one.

consumerism

It's not spring yet but my local Target store has started carrying bright colored, light fabric dresses. I need to stay away. I've already reached my dress quota for 2013 and it's only February.

Looking at all of these photos in a row makes me feel a bit ashamed. It seems so silly and decadent to buy so much clothing in a such a short period of time. They only way I can justify it is by saying that I won't buy anymore until fall, which I don't believe.

concerts

I recently became a fan of Tegan and Sara.

 I've heard of them for almost the last 10 years but I was never interested in checking out their stuff. I don't know really why. I did go through a phase when I thought pop was evil though.

I was a little bummed when I found out they weren't touring in Dallas for their new album, but they are playing about four hours away in Tulsa, Oklahoma. So, I bought tickets for that show and found out that the night after the Tegan and Sara show the same venue is hosting the mighty Clutch.

I felt I had no choice but to make it a double header.

Reggie

I adopted a dog from the local animal shelter last week. I actually posted last summer about how I was happy to be done with dog sitting. I didn't like the drooling, the doo-doos in the yard, the dirty floors, or being stalked in the house while I went about my day.

So why in the world did I get a dog? It's fairly simple: Perry wanted one and I caved.

We tried to be as realistic as possible about the type of dog we should get. A small house with a small yard = small dog. Lazy people = lazy dog. So we started looking at nearby shelters websites for small, older dogs.

 It didn't take us long to find Reggie.

reggie at shelter

reggie at home

 He's a 7 year old Shih Tzu mix. We're guessing that mix includes some Schnauzer. He was a stray so we don't know too much about him. After a week together we do know he's very gentle and very lazy, loves car rides and naps on the couch, and is a bit of a picky eater (the vet recommended that we warm up chicken broth and stir it in his dry food to entice him.) He's also house broken. All of this makes me believe he was someone's beloved pet at some point in his life. I hope we can meet his expectations.