It's Whining Wednesday

Maybe if I set aside one day a week to whine, I really will become the glass half-full kind of girl that I've always wanted to be (they live longer) for the rest of the week ...

1. First whine- the plumbing in my house stinks. One faucet after another has started to drip, one toilet handle after another is not even jiggle-able anymore. Handy hubby told me this morning to flush the downstairs toilet "very slowly".

When we first bought this house- we were just so happy to be out of our crappy apartment and excited that someone would actually sell us a house that we overlooked a few things.

I remember the realtor turning on every faucet, smiling that happy realtor (ka-ching) kind of smile and handy hubby and I (he was handy boyfriend in those days) smiling and nodding as if we had never lived in a place with running water before.

Later, George and I had a good laugh about happy realtor's faucet olympics - but now that I can appreciate the beauty in a sink that doesn't have an endless parade of potted plants sitting in it to catch the drips, I miss those days when we were young and stupid

(and had empty sinks and toilets that could be flushed fast and thoughtlessly like they are supposed to be)

2. 2nd Whine- someone stole gas from my car in my driveway and no one believes me about this.

My proof of this is:

1. I put gasoline into my tank
2. I went to sleep
3. I woke up to no gasoline in my tank

(and I think, even on my most distracted mornings, I would notice a 10 gallon puddle of Amoco unleaded in my driveaway)

But apparently this is all something I must have imagined because after hubby analyzed my gas cap for "pry marks" - and found none

(and I was unable to produce a gas receipt, although I am left asking what kind of man would even ask his wife for such a thing- where did the trust go?)

he did, of course, find some orange paint on my side mirror and asked who I'd hit - assuming that I had hit someone and not that someone had hit me (this paint is actually from a very poorly placed pole outside of a drive thru window that I had hit, but his assumption totally irked me and so I said)

"it must have been the gas thief"

as you can imagine, this line has now become the family joke line and every misplaced set of keys and sunglasses is blamed on the "gas thief"

so, anyhoo, yesterday I decided to talk to a NJ State Trooper about this (our town has no police department, that's right, no police- probably the main reason for the rise of gas thievery in our driveways) and a small handful of state troopers have moved into the municipal building across the street from our house.

The trooper looked at me a bit strangely (hubby may have been giving her a cuckoo hand signal behind my back, although he denies this) and said that maybe it was "a friend playing a joke"

which is totally ridiculous because

1. I don't have any friends

and

2. if I did, they would be the kind of friends to autograph my side walls with deep key scratches not steal gasoline because they know how much I dislike the oil companies

Well, I could whine all day, but I am off to Home Depot to buy a new toilet handle and ... of course, I have to get gas first.

GIVEAWAY Mod Mobile Trash Bag from Allyson Hill CLOSED


AND THE WINNER IS - SAVING IN STYLE! Chosen by random. org
True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 387 Result: 282

One of my first Etsy purchases was an Allyson Hill trash bag for my car. I thought they were so cool and clever and since then she has sold thousands!

(mine is still good as new)

Allyson has a degree in Woodworking and Furniture Design from RIT in the School for American Crafts. Her trash bags (her own innovative design) and tissue holders can make even the messiest driver's car

(not that we know any of those, right?)

super neat and organized!


WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive your choice of an Allyson Hill mod mobile trash bag!


HOW TO WIN:

Visit ALLYSON HILL and leave a comment SELECTING THE BAG you want to win!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:

MIDNIGHT on Sunday, NOVEMBER 1st! Good luck! CLOSED

Friday Fanatic - INDIE FILMS coming to a theater near you

Now that the summer blockbusters are over

(I love me a blockbuster once in a while, but I love me an indie anytime)

it's time to get back into the good stuff!

Movies are no longer a cheap night out, so check the previews (forget the reviews) and get there early.

The one thing we are (almost) never late to are movies because we really, really love the little previews. Hate the commercials though, so you have to time your entry just right!

Here are a few little previews that might get you into a theater over the next few weeks.

No Impact Man is out now and is a good choice for 350 Action Day (tomorrow) if you can find it. It's a documentary about one NYC family's quest to leave no carbon footprint for a year. Am hoping my Indie cable channel which has indie in theater movies has this one for tomorrow.



A must see for music fans is Davis Guggenheim's It Might Get Loud. He brings together three guitar gods— Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White and listens to their stories and their music.



Before she was a famous couturier, Gabrielle Chanel had lived a whole other life. Coco Before Chanel starring Audrey Tautau (love her) is a must see for me.



Zombieland with Woody Harrelson looks like a hoot - I couldn't grab the trailer, but you can watch it here.

My sister and I watched the roller derby on Saturday afternoons and knocked each other around on our skates in the driveway afterward so I've always been partial to roller derby movies and this one has the totally amazing combo of Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page so Whip It seems like a must-see!



Psychic soldiers, George Clooney and Jeff Bridges - I'll definitely be seeing this one - The Men Who Stare at Goats!

Precious cleaned up at Sundance this year, winning both Jury and Audience Awards. Clareece "Precious" Jones is an overweight, illiterate African-American teen in Harlem about to have her second child. Precious gets into an alternative school where a teacher helps her change her life. Love the power of the teacher!



There are at least a dozen other great indies hitting the theaters within the next few weeks that you might not want to miss!

Uh, Does This Look Safe To You? or if you are our insurance agent please do not read this post

My hubby is actually quite a handy guy and I am pretty handy myself, but lately things around here have begun to get a little out of control...

and maybe even a little dangerous

(which hubby denies)

and since I can't get Sparky the fire safety dog

(I tried)

out here for a proper inspection I thought I would see what everyone thinks of this and if anyone has anything like this going on in their house

For a little background- we have an extra room upstairs that has been my mother's room, my daughter's room, my studio and now it is our "gym"

(ie the room we never use)

which means it has some exercise equipment and some tacky plastic wall mirrors that tend to give you a funhouse kind of body

(well, at least it gives me something to blame)

Back when it was my studio and I needed a particular kind of light, in a particular space, hubby installed a particularly outdated ceiling light from our garage.

Somehow and for some reason he wired this light into the ceiling so that when you want to turn the light on you stick this little plug to nowhere into the outlet below the light


(yup, you heard me right)

plugging this little plug into the outlet causes the ceiling light to light up



(try to ignore the beautiful popcorn ceiling surrounding said light and stay with me here)



So anyhoos, about a week ago hubby and I were having some kind of little to do while "working out" in our "gym" that resulted in my saying how things around here never get done and hubby saying

"like what- what doesn't get done around here?"

and me looking at the plug and then the light - plug, light, plug, light

"what, you want that fixed?"

"yes, I want that fixed- I'd like to go to bed at night knowing we are not going to burn the house down. "

"you'd like to go to bed at night not worrying about the house burning down?"

(hubby loves to mirror my issues back at me in an argument - for years I've wondered if he secretly sneaks home in the afternoon to watch Oprah - this does not make me feel better, this only makes me want to jump off the treadmill and stick the little plug to nowhere ... somewhere)

so tonight at dinner he lets me know that he taken care of our little "problem" with the disclaimer that there really is no "problem"



(not sure this is quite the same as a properly wired plug or a properly installed fire alarm, but you can see why I keep him around)