February 6, 2011

How I Got Wood Glue in My Hair and Other Adventures.

Nekos and I got great news towards the end of last week, and so we had a lot to celebrate over the weekend. We also had a babysitter for the first time in two weeks, which isn’t a long time for a lot of parents, but we are spoiled about having time off because my mom is so generous about keeping Tessa. I don't know what's better -- that feeling of hallelujiah when I drive off and leave Tessa behind or the beatific smile that crosses her face when I come to get her. Well, yes I do.

Here’s what we did over the weekend:

-- I tried to teach myself some Photoshop stuff. Thought I'd use an online tutorial to add a border to a picture. I spent two hours trying to put the damn border on. I finally got so pissed at myself that I shut the computer down and stepped outside for a bit.

-- We went Internet-free for 48 hours. No Facebook, no blogging, no nothing. I’m not big into TV so the Internet is the way I veg out, but I didn’t miss it. It was a nice break.

-- I rejoined Weight Watchers. Two years ago I lost 30 lbs. on the diet and luckily I don’t have that much to lose this time, but I want to go ahead and get rid of the rest of the “baby weight” or “ice-cream-sandwich weight” or whatever it is. In that Anne Lamott book I read recently she said something about how, at night, it feels like her stomach is just lying right there beside her, like a puppy. It was depressing that I could relate to that, but I can. So I’m going to lose 15 pounds. OK? You guys hear me? Putting it out there helps. I’ve been trying to retrace the steps to my previous weight loss success, and accountability was a huge part of it. Two years ago, when we were vacationing in Key West, I let Nekos take pictures of me in a bikini. And I liked them. I want to get back to that place.

-- We ate at Cooper’s on Porter with a couple friends of ours and their baby girl. It’s the new restaurant on the corner of Eastland and Porter in East Nashville. The food was really delish and the beer selection is terrific. I had a grilled chicken horseradish sandwich and Nekos got shrimp and couscous. I’m happy to have a new place to eat around here.

-- We met friends for drinks at Red Door. Tessa was with my mom for the night, although we like to tell people that we left her in the car when they ask.

-- We went to a Super Bowl party. They had Rotel and vanilla vodka and some kind of chocolate chip cookie dough that you actually dip cookies into, but all I had was half an Amstel Light. See: I’m serious about this WW thing. Notice I only talk about food in this part. That’s just because football is totally not my thing and I don’t know how to talk about it.

-- But most importantly, WE BUILT SHELVES! We’ve had our TV on this crappy Target brand entertainment center since we moved in four years ago. (I didn’t get a picture of it before we dismantled it, unfortunately.) But we decided to move the TV above the fireplace and build shelves on either side of it. It wasn’t easy, mostly because Nekos had to drill dozens of nails directly into a brick wall. But we feel really accomplished and love the way it turned out. Plus, our record collection is much more accessible now. I love that we can sit on the floor and rifle through them.

-- I glued my hair to the wall with wood glue somehow. The glue wouldn’t come out with a shampoo, so I had to cut chunks of my hair out. It looks pretty fresh.
Our living room before (except there was an ugly entertainment center to the right with our TV on it)
Nekos hard at work. Big man, small space. Drilling into a brick wall is not for the faint of heart. 
This is us trying to figure out how we hung our TV up so that one side was four inches higher than the other. 
We still can't figure out how it happened. We're not math people. But we fixed it after many, many tries. 
The finished shelves!