Sunday, February 27, 2005 , late evening

That Oxyclean is pretty good stuff

Chelsea.  Vomits.  Still.

I turned down a work project today, and it bugs me because I hated the idea of doing the project, but I also feel badly for turning it down.  It was a big project which was sprung on me unexpectedly last fall, by people I didn’t know but who had a good reputation.  I didn’t want to piss them off, and thought they might be good people to be in business with, so I said “yes” to a project that I felt sort of confused about.  Turns out I wasn’t the only one confused—it was a HUGE project with far too many cooks, yet I was the only one who was responsible for doing “real work”.  Everyone else had “ideas”, and I was supposed to implement the ideas, with the promise of profits if/when the project was successful.  Right before Christmas I decided to turn the project down, as I didn’t know how something could be lucrative if there was no specific goal in mind except, “The project needs to make a lot of money!”.  A few weeks later I received an email from the “idea guys”, begging me to take on their project, offering to scale the project down, and offering to pay me up front for the work.  I thought about it and again said okay, but immediately I began to have doubts again.  The project just didn’t feel right, I wasn’t enthused about it at all, and I had a gut feeling that it would turn into one huge headache.  There’s so much going on right now, with trying to start the new “side business” here at the house, as well as dealing with Chelsea’s illness and doing a bit of home remodeling, well, I didn’t want to have the burden any worry of one more task hanging over my head.  So, tonight I wrote my final, “Sorry, but no thanks” email, and that’s the end of it.  I won’t reconsider, and wish I hadn’t reconsidered in the first place.  It’s so hard to justify saying no to work when you need money, but 90% of the time when I do work on a contractual basis it ends up being a nightmare and a headache.  Nancy and I have enough ideas of our own to keep me designing websites for the next few years, and that’s really what I need to be doing.  I also need to learn how to say no, and to not worry so much about being responsible for keeping everyone else’s lives running smoothly.  I’ll volunteer to do practically anything if a person needs something done, and it’s a stupid thing to do, and I have to stop.  I really, really want to find ways to spend more time doing things I love, rather than just whittling the months away doing busy work.

I watched the Academy Awards, hadn’t seen any of the movies, didn’t care who won.  I was much more interested in the fact that Halle Berry showed up to accept her Razzie Award earlier in the day, and I thought that was really classy of her.  I’m so very into movies and the cinema that on Saturday night I finally saw, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”!  I’m only about three years behind the current trends.  Know what movie I really loved?  “A Mighty Wind”.  I’d like to see that one again, as a matter of fact.

One last thing… I must post about a long-lost love.  I first saw him on a trip to Vegas 6 years ago, when I was living in San Francisco.  He caught my eye and it was love at first sight (for me, anyway), but my financial situation made our relationship impossible.  I’ve since thought of him often and wondered where he ended up, and today I found him again:

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He is Nighttime Winnie the Pooh by R. John Wright, originally selling for $495 I think.  If I can find one in stock today it’s anywhere between $600 and $800, so I still think our romance is doomed.  I still like to gaze at his photo, though, and dream about what could have been if I had a Platinum Mastercard.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/27 at 10:30 PM
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Saturday, February 26, 2005 , late at night

Bears and Art

What do bears and art have in common?  They both arrived in the mail today!  I’m now the proud owner of two pieces of original art by my niece, McKenna, plus a third piece of original art which was perhaps drawn by my nephew Tanner, but arrived unsigned.  I also received two, count ‘em, two new bears—a new Starbucks bear from Pike Place Market in Seattle, courtesy of BJ and Print, and an absolutely adorable “Alice’s Bear Shop” teddy from my sister and her family (the aforementioned niece and nephew, plus a brother-in-law who never draws pictures for me, hrumph).

Here is a drawing which I believe is of Chelsea:

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And here is a photo I took of Chelsea today, so you can see the striking likeness:

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As I don’t want them to feel left out, here are my two new bear buddies:

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I just looooooooooove teddy bears, and especially love ones designed to look old and loved.  I’m getting so many that I’m going to have to find new ways to display them, but perhaps I’ll figure out a way to reorganize the spare bedroom.  That room used to be called “the guest bedroom”, but now we like to call it, “the bear room”.

My day was also very exciting because I got to go to Home Depot, my own personal shopping heaven (after PetSmart and Borders).  I was looking for some carpet remnants so I can finish my cat tree, but wow, they’re hard to find.  I want a remnant around 4 feet square, but to the stores, a “remnant” is something along the lines of 100 sq. ft. or more.  I ended buying a $10 carpet runner which has been edged, but I’ll just cut that part off.  I off course forgot to buy staples and new blades for my utility knife, because that’s the kind of thing I do.  There’s a section of my brain that seems to be perpetually on vacation.  Nancy even seemed to enjoy the shopping trip as we took time to look at flooring—we really want to redo the floor downstairs (the floor that Dante ate right after we moved in 4 years ago).  We’re thinking of this: Dupont Laminate Saltillo Tile.  It’s got the look and texture of tile, without the problems associated with grout (such as staining, cracking, and dog eating it).  It’s also got a great warranty.  I think it will really brighten up the downstairs, and it shouldn’t show the dirt too badly.  We had originally fallen in love with a Pergo design called “Restoration Pine”, but that doesn’t seem to be in their inventory anymore.

Oh, one more thing—even the cats got a fun gift today.  They received their Drinkwell Fresh Water Fountain and Reservoir for Cats or Dogs.  So far they feel ambivalent about it, but I’ve seen Derek drink from it so at least he’s not afraid to approach it.  I find the trickling sound sort of soothing, but Nancy says it makes her have to pee.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/26 at 11:58 PM
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