Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday Night Miscellany

HOUSE WOES! Hola! I was so put out last night, I couldn't do a single post. There was scheduled a 7 p.m. showing of the house, for which I cleaned for 2 days beforehand and ran home from work last night to do last minute dusting and putting away of this and that, leaving the house before 6:45 p.m. just in case someone should show up early. I took a leisurely stroll to the Walgreens and then the Pick and Save supermarket a mile away, and took an equally leisurely stroll home, a mile back, and got within sight of home sweet home about 7:40 p.m. Guess what - there were STILL cars in the driveway. I couldn't frigging believe it! Mind you, not only was it cold and extremedly damp out, we are experiencing our first January "Thaw" in years and it's more "raw" than usual out there, with all the semi-melted snow constantly fogging into the air. I was tired and bitchy as hell and lugging two heavy bags of groceries. I had envisioned arriving home, finally kicking off my shoes and warming myself, having a large glass of wine, and eating something - anything. I was starved! (It's hard to believe that photo was taken about 2 months ago!) NOT! I was pissed! But I dutifully lugged my groceries a couple of blocks away from the house and then a couple of blocks back - and those damn cars were still there. So, I say to myself, "Self, that is your house. GO HOME!" And so I did. As I was putting my key into the door, it opens and there is an older man holding a flashlight. A FLASHLIGHT? There are several people behind him. They all seem intent on looking at something on the carpet by the heat register. What, I think - is there a bug that decided to appear through the grating? Or a dead mouse? I take off my glove, roll up my coat sleeve and look - POINTEDLY - at my watch. What happened to the 7 p.m. viewing? It is now 7:45 p.m. FINALLY, as I start to muscle my way into my own home, one, two, three, four, five - six people come out of my house, the last being a young attractivl lady who must be the broker, at least I hope she was because she has the key in her hand and puts it back into the lockbox hanging on the doorknob. I would have slammed the door on their butts, but with the weather-stripping in the frame there is no way it slams anymore. Damn! THEN it takes them another ten minutes to leave. What the hell are they doing out there, I wonder? Having a pow-wow? Smoking crack? This house ain't exactly Buckingham Palace. It would be a stretch to say it would take 30 minutes to THOROUGHLY view it from top to bottom - and that is only if one decided to go through the hatchway in the upper hallway into the attic and also crawled around the outside foundation with a FLASHLIGHT on hands and knees. So, I fire off an email to my less than useless brokers reminding them that they told me at the beginning of this incredibly stupid waste of my time and energy that a viewing takes TEN MINUTES - in and out, they both said. Yeah, so what happened to that TEN MINUTES STRETCHING INTO FORTY PLUS MINUTES? And I hear - nary a word. From either of them. So now I am doubly pissed off. The house is coming off the market. I'll do the letter and send it out certified from the office on Monday. Enough of this baloney. On a more pleasant note, Kevin the Wonder Handyman called me on Sunday morning about some work I wanted him to do - but I didn't have a list prepared and so he said he would call me on Wednesday. Well, he didn't call me. So if I don't hear from him this weekend I will give him a call on Monday because now I have my list! More things to be done around here - for me, ALL FOR ME. Bwwwwaaaaahhhaaaahhhaaahhhhaaa! I have decided that crown moulding will look wonderful in the family room, with it's classic Phi proportions :) And I am going to more seriously attempt to track down some painters who have the means to do this two story living room of mine and make any necessary mends to the drywall inner and outer corners, etc. That is, if it comes in less than $2,000. Otherwise, forget it! For that money I can go back to New York for a week. Darlings, do me a favor. I'm not sure if this will work, but please try it. Please click on this link and feign lots of interest in Maison Newton's listing, as if it were the mansion of someone like Pi Diddley or Rush Limbaugh or Mama Gaya - oops - I mean, Lady Ga Ga - rather than a mere Goddess like me. MOONWALK FOR BREAST CANCER I had not heard of this wonderful way to raise funds for this worthy research cause - I think it must be a Euro thing - they have a lot less hang-ups than us pseudo-prude Americans. We have the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to raise funds for breast cancer, which is a worthy cause, indeed. But I have to tell you - the Moonwalk sounds like a lot more fun! All of the participants must wear bras. The kids, the women, the men (yes, men and boys too). All to make a point, er - no pun intended. Yeah, you know the kind of bras, like gals wore back in the not so old days - the real pointy ones, with seams and tips! Like Mae West worek, and Jane Russell wore! Like Madonna wore during her early Whore-Look Days. Yeah - THOSE BRAS! Playtex Pointies! The mechanics of which were patented by an engineer employed by Howard Hughes, no less. Remember THE OUTLAW? Banned in its day - yeah, baby! And, you've got to check this one out - I dreamed I was half-naked... Hey, sometimes I do. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! The theme of this year's Moonwalk (and I think, the Sunwalk too), is "SHOWTIME." The imagination runs wild :) What fun! STAY TUNED! A couple of Las Vegas Show Girls I happen to know have been asked to render assistance in designing some costumes for this very special walk... BUYING MOVIES AT BLOCKBUSTER It has recently been bandied about the financial pages of various newspapers and websites of late that the business model of Blockbuster cannot be sustained and DVDs have gone the way of the dinosaur. Well - tell that to Milwaukee! Five days a week, I happen to walk past a relatively new Blockbuster bricks-and-mortar location on my way to and from work - and sometimes I walk past it on Saturday and Sunday too. The parking lot always has cars in it, no matter what time of day. I have walked past in early morning, to late at night, doesn't make any difference. I had been thinking for the past few days about re-activiting my Blockbuster "membership" and renting a movie or two for the weekend since I recently discovered less than a week ago that Netflix bumped up its basic membership from $4.99 a month to $8.99 a month. RIP OFF! TOTAL ABSOLUTE RIP OFF! I freely admit it - I'm a cheapskate when it comes to stuff like this. I cancelled my Netflix membership a year or two ago when I decided I wasn't getting my money's worth at $4.99 a month. Ha! But with the new year, and with some movies out there that I wanted to see, and hearing that the coming season was going to have several more films that I thought I'd like to see when they are eventually released into DVD, I thought I might renew my membership. Only to be disappointed at the doubling of the cost to re-join. NO THANKS, NETFLIX. So - there was the Blockbusters building. i was walking up the hill past it on my right. On an impulse tonight, as I was nearly past the building, I decided to stop in. It was right around 6 p.m. A busy time! There were lots of people in the place and more cars pulling in the parking lot even as I was taking the sidewalk off a side-drive toward the entrance. At this particular Milwaukee-area location, they are doing okay business-wise. I go in. Lots to see - but my eyes zero in on tables where they are selling "used" DVDs. Some are 4 for $20. Some are 3 for $20. Bargain! I picked out three and gladly smacked down $20 for these DVDs: Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince; Angels and Demons (which I will watch and have fond thoughts of our 2009 May trip to New York, where I first saw this rip-roaring film in my first visit to a high-rise cinemaplex); and Julie and Julia! There are at least 3 more films I quickly spied that I will gladly purchase next pay-period :) and more after that - some not-so-recent releases that I would like to add to my film "library." I was in and out of the place in less than 10 minutes. I'LL BE BACK... So now I'm cutting this short, because I want to watch a movie tonight and forget all my relatively stupid and slight cares and woes.

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