Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Finally -- The End Is Drawing Near!

I am almost settled into my house.  Almost.  I still have stuff that I haven't found a permanent home for, and a few things that I still haven't unpacked.

The other day, though, I took some pictures!  What you should know about these pictures that is that I moved all of my crap from room to room so that the pictures looked okay.  So for each lovely picture, know that the next room is filled with stuff.  Ha!

To begin:

The Kitchen!  This had the most renovation.  It was torn down to the studs, and all I kept was the fridge.

Those of you who saw my kitchen in Seattle will notice that this one is almost exactly the same.  Why change what works?

The door in the back goes to my deck.  I love my deck.  Sterling does, too!  She's been so brave.





My living room:



The picture below shows one of my storage closets.  This is a great one: it goes really deep and has shelves.



This is alcove #1.  In the summer, my window air conditioner will go in this window.  For now this is Sterling's dining area.  Note that she is eating -- one of her favorite activities!  She loves to eat here.  The window is so low that she can look out.  Sometimes she sits there for a long time watching...who knows what.



My oh-so-snazzy electronics area!  Of course, despite hours of trying I couldn't get my TV, the cable, my DVD player and my Wii to hook up properly.  Thankfully one of my coworkers has a genius husband who came over and made everything work in about five minutes.  Sigh...



My bathroom!  It's oddly shaped, so sorry about the number of pictures.  If you saw my bathroom in Seattle, you will recall that it was Pepto Bismol pink.  I have switched to green!






The view from inside the bathroom into the rest of the house.



This is alcove #2.  This one also caters mostly to Sterling.  It has her litter box and a place for her to sit to look out this window.  The box with the blue and white blanket is, cleverly, my air conditioner, patiently waiting for summer.

The two doors to the left are two more storage closets.  The tall one is shallow, but the short one is also very deep.


This picture shows off my built-in bookshelves...



...and this one shows off the built-in linen drawers.



My "dining room."  My Mom is the one who cleverly hung the cafe picture on a slanted wall.  This probably surprises no one!



The view from the dining room to the inside stairwell:


Notice the random piece of floor under my purse rack.  Sterling likes to sit there and peer at me as I come up the steps.  Do you remember how Snoopy used to sit on his doghouse and peer over it at Charlie Brown?  That's just what she looks like.


The view down the inside stairwell.  I don't know if you can tell, but that skylight is huge.



Around the corner and down to my inside front door.  Again, there's the random piece of floor.  You can see how Sterling peers down at me.



Finally, the view from the stairwell up into my place.



Pictures of my bedroom and loft are to come.  I got tired of moving stuff around.











Sunday, October 21, 2012

Pumpkin Chuckin' -- What More Can I Say?

Last weekend my Dad and Sue were visiting.  I don't remember how, but I found out that the neighboring town of Amesbury was having Pumpkin Chuckin' Fest.  What?!  There was absolutely no way we could resist, so off we went!

It.  Was.  Awesome.

This was a group of professional pumpkin' chuckers.  There's even a World Championship Punkin Chuckin!  And unlike the MLB World Series, it really is international -- beyond Canada.  Anyway, I bring this up because this group has won both second and third place on different years.  The year they won second place, they chucked their pumpkin over 1500 feet!  That's over a quarter of a mile!  We watched a number of chucks, and it was amazing.  Most of them went over the trees into the woods, but a few fell short.  The ones that fell short were fun because we got to see the pumpkins explode.  Who doesn't like to see exploding pumpkins?*

Here are some pictures:


Above: This is the chucker, designed and created by the team.




Above: These are their second and third place trophies.




Above: This is the direction they were chuckin'.  The majority of the pumpkins went flying into the trees at the top of the hill.  (This is a sledding hill, by the way.  Come on, snow!) 



Above: This guy is loading the pumpkin into the slingshot.



Above: So, a bicycle is attached to the contraption.  As the guy cycles, the big, blue rubber bands (to the left) tighten.  The bands are what slingshot the pumpkins.  This guy starts out pedaling all easy-peasy.  Then he starts to struggle and even has to stand up to continue tightening the bands.  This is no easy job.



Above: Amongst the crowd watching the chuckin' was Santa.  Do not ask me why.  Perhaps enjoying his last holiday before toy manufacturing and list-checking takes up all of his time?



Below: Randomly, a turtle/tortoise (I don't know the difference) was also there.  He was fantastic and -- against stereotype -- was quite fast!




The next World Championship Punkin Chuckin' is November 2-4 in Delaware.  I beseech you, if you live anywhere near Delaware, please go and tell me all about it.  Hopefully I'll be able to go next year.



*I am not condoning the exploding of people's Halloween pumpkins.  That's just mean.  Though feel free to explode your own.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

It's Just for Fun, James Bond

I was at the movie theater Monday night.  There was one of those huge cardboard cutouts for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  This cardboard cutout had James Bond laying on his back and shooting a gun from the ground.

A little girl, about 2 or 3, ran over to James Bond and asked her Dad, "Why he laying down?"

Dad replies, "Come on, you need to go potty."

The little girl persists, "No, no!"  Then she leans over like she's about to lie down like James Bond.  "Why he laying down?  Why he laying down?"

Once again, Dad says, "Let's go!  You need to go potty before we go home."

"Daddy, why he laying down?"

"Just for fun!" Dad yells, and the little girl finally leaves James Bond to go potty.

That's right, 007.  Just for fun.

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By the way, I saw "Pitch Perfect."  It was so great!  I absolutely recommend it!

May the Force Be with You, Seattle Public Library!

Dear SPLers,

I know that this week you are all finding out about new schedules, new hours, and even new locations. I'm very anxious for all of you!

Please e-mail me (scschinagl@hotmail.com), Facebook me (Shanoobie Shenanigans), or add a comment to this blog post.