I blogged over at Magical Musings today. Head on over if you're interested in reading about writing a kick-ass heroine.
When did appliances get so demanding? Since I've moved into my house, I've had both my microwave and my dryer impatiently beeping and buzzing at me. Like last night. I was doing laundry and the dryer finished. It buzzed. Loudly. And scared the crap out of me. I think that buzzer could be heard at least 6 miles away. I was in the middle of something, though, so I didn't jump right up and run for the thing even though it immediately shut off.
Then I hear it start up again, which surprised me because it was so unexpected. (I normally do head right for the dryer the instant it stops because I don't want my clothes to get wrinkled.) But I thought, oh, good, it'll run again for a little while and I can finish what I'm doing. Nope. In less than 30 seconds, it buzzed again and shut itself off.
This time I did head right for the utility room because I didn't want to listen to this over and over. My old dryer used to buzz and keep running for a while, then buzz again. (And the funny thing is that I used to believe that buzzer was obnoxious, but that's nothing compared to this one.) The old dryer gave me time between buzzes and it kept running to keep the clothes from settling. I think I miss my old one. :-(
Then there's the microwave. Sigh. It beeps three times to tell me something's ready, which is normal and fine. But if I don't open the door in the time it decides I should take, it beeps at me twice more and I swear these beeps are more demanding and shriller. Come on! Sometimes the instructions say to let the food sit for X number of minutes before taking it out. My new microwave doesn't give me that option. Then, when I do open the door, a message scrolls across the clock/time area: "Enjoy your meal."
Maybe it's just me, maybe most people like being told to enjoy their meal, but it makes me think of that Pam Tillis song, Don't Tell Me What To Do. Okay, I'm contrary, but seriously, I don't need or want my appliances to "talk" to me.
Whew!
Okay, blinds are in and they're fabulous! I love having privacy in my bedroom and the room-darkening feature works great. I was able to sleep in for a while longer than I would have if the windows were still bare. I did have to get up and shut my bathroom door since it was really bright in there, but that's okay. I have the kind where the top goes down, which is especially great for the computer room since it's on the front of the house and facing the street. Now all I need is my curtain hardware installed and all my curtains up and that will be another item I can tick off my list. Yea!
I haven't turned the heat on in the house yet. I am cold, I even switched to long sleeved shirts and started wearing socks now, but when I check the thermostat, it says it's 65 degrees in here. Since that's about what I would set the heat at in September anyway, I haven't given in to temptation yet, but this morning, despite being snuggled under the blankets, I was still cold. I'm not ready for winter! Wah!
Although, maybe I should start a pool to see if the phone company will ever switch my service over to the buried cable and get rid of the one lying in my yard. As long as that thing has been sitting there, I'm wondering if they'll manage to get around to it before it snows. The biggest problem is my internet speeds are all over the map and I'm sure it's because I'm on a temporary cable.
I didn't get much done yesterday on my proposal. I'll blame it on how tired I was, but part of it had to do with goofing around on My Space. Can anyone explain how to use this thing? And what's with the friends deal? Do you just click and you're someone's friend and appear on their page? Do they reciprocate generally? I suppose I could read the FAQ, but I operate on the theory: If all else fails, read the instructions. :-) BTW, you can find me at: Patti's My Space Page. If you're over there already, add yourself to my friends because I look pathetic with only "Tom" on there. :-(
