From painting to ripping up the floor...

I've noticed that ripping up the floor is a lot less satisfying than painting. Why you ask? Well, it takes a helluva long time. And then what are you left with once you rip up the floor? A subfloor...or perhaps more floor to rip up. It depends. I'm sure I'll feel better about it when the new floor goes in.

Still no sublease for the apartment. Surely someone must want an apartment from May through July....? Anyone? Spend a summer in beautiful Ithaca? It really is beautiful in the summer. Perhaps live in one of Nabakov's former haunts?

In other news, I'm back at school. Spring Break is over. And you know, as always, the break was nice, but I could have used two weeks. Did I get the work done I was supposed to? No. Did I get some work done? Yes. I guess it all evens out in the end. Now I have to decide on what to do in my writing class tomorrow. I'm thinking of doing some in class writing and revising. We haven't done any of that.

Please ignore the "God, no" that followed my response to "Job Title" in the last response. It has since been erased and was from a post I copied. I certainly don't have that feeling about teaching.

Also...

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Oh, and I'm posting from my new HOME. Of course, that means that I'm sitting on the floor, because we don't have any furniture in here...yet...

Accent – None, I think. Though I bet some voice people could still detect a bit a trouble with pronounciation of "r"
Bra size – 34B.
Dad's name – Dan
Essential make-up– Nothing essential. I like wearing lipstick when I have time to put it on. I have trouble wearing eyeliner because of the small mole underneath my left eye.
Favorite perfume – I'm allergic to most of them.
Gold or Silver - Platinum.
Hometown – Quincy, MA (City of Presidents)
Interesting fact - I'm wearing a blue sweater and bright pink pants.
Job title – Graduate Student/Writing Instructor
Kids - None. But I name my plants: I have Julia (Spanish pronounciation please!), Pablo, Vince, Medusa, and The Plant With No Name.
Living arrangements – I have a house! I also have an apartment. Would anyone like to lease a 2 bedroom in the Ithaca area?
Mom's Birthplace – Boston.
Number of apples eaten in last week – None. Perhaps I should have had some apple tart at CTB.
Phobia – Mustard.
Religious affiliation – None. But I like to go to church sometimes.
Siblings – Two pseudo brothers. One sister-in-law. One step sister-in-law.
Time I wake up – Let's see, either sometime between 6 or 7 a.m. or somtime around 12 p.m. Sometimes both in the same day!
Unnatural hair color – I've done it. I'd never do black or dark brown again unless someone was paying me a lot of money. But strawberry blond? I'd consider it!
Vegetable I refuse to eat– tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash
X-rays – Many of my chest because I test positive for consumption. One recently of my hip. And of course, many of my teeth.
Yummy food I make - Cookies. From Scratch. 5 hour Martha Stewart Lasagna
Zodiac Sign - Virgo

That last post was quite repetitive...maybe it's the paint fumes.

So officially, I'm a homeowner. And you know, it's nice.... though it doesn't really feel like I'm a homeowner since we're not fully moved in yet. We have been painting, though. Let me tell you, those years of living in apartments with lots of paint chips has really motivated me to paint, paint, paint the rooms inside the house. And let me tell you, it seems to make a big difference!

Of course, all this painting means that I'm neglecting my need to research and write my end of the semester paper for The Female Dramatic Tradition. Yes, I will begin work on that tomorrow. Yes, I will.

In other news, I found out that I can't have Verizon phone service at my new house. It's not in an area that Verizon services. How crazy is that? The new phone company, Frontier, is exciting and it seems to be less expensive -- so I guess everything works out...except for the fact that I have to change my phone number. Poo.

I should be commenting on a student's paper. But instead, I'm blogging because, once again, I missed my weekly Monday post. This past weekend I decided on a mattress. You may not think that this is such a bit deal, but I assure you, when you go to shop for mattresses, and you think "I want this to be the mattress of my dreams," you will discover that you cannot get the mattress of your dreams. Why not? It will fail and cause you tremendous back problems within a few years. So you have to go with the firmest mattress you think you can stand. And even with that, there are no guarantees. I went with the second firmest. Cross your fingers for me.

More importantly, in two days I will own a house. Actually, it's really almost a day and a half at this point. At times I get butterflies...at other times, I just don't believe it's happening. And once again, I will say, it's weird to be purchasing something huge that you've been to just 4 times. Just 4 times! For the biggest purchase!!! Craziness.

So that's about all the big news from here.

Did you know that Nabokov lived in my apartment building? I like to think he lived in my apartment, but who can say. This weekend, coincidentally, we got Kubrick's Lolita through Netflix. Quite a good interpretation of the book (the fact that Nabakov wrote the screenplay probably helps). We also watched The Italian Job. That wasn't bad...a bit formulaic, but who can escape that these days...especially with a remake?
So there was more looking at beds this weekend, more dessert, and we even went briefly to see a band. The "briefly" has to do with the fact that the band wasn't really good. In fact, they weren't a band -- just a bunch of guys playing together. Unfortunate.
In the meantime, I'm working on a directing scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" -- I remember seeing a version of that at Brandeis back in high school. I think that there were only four actors -- maybe six? Anyway, I have four actors for my little scene. I'm looking forward to it.

Shame on me. I missed my weekly Monday post. Ahh...so two weeks from this Friday we're closing on the house. How excited am I? Pretty damn excited.
This past weekend we looked at beds for the house. Did you know we still sleep on a futon? And did you know that we've been sleeping on this futon for 6-7 years? Now, I know that futons are great, and this one is great. But folks, it's time for a bed. Unfortunately, the bed we liked best is the same bed that my parents have. It's a dark wood sleigh bed, but it doesn't have a sleigh bed footboard. If we end up getting the same one, it won't look the same because we'll be getting a Queen to their King.
I also had a massage last weekend. It was fantastic. Mike enjoyed his too, until his knee started hurting like crazy the day after. Someone at work told him: "Sometimes tense muscles are all that's holding a knee together." Not a good sign.
In other news, I slept a lot and am less stressed. I'm enjoying my reading and my work. I'm also enjoying drinking some delicious Virgil's rootbeer which I bought as a treat. yum.