are pictures really worth a thousand words? each?? 

ray and i thought we might try going to a portrait studio, thinking the pictures would make easy christmas gifts. so we booked a sitting at sears portrait studio for last night.

i think it had been 15 years since i'd been forced to do that, and now i remember why i haven't done it since... the photographers are dunces.

i swear, the woman only would pose us in positions she'd found in a photographers' manual. "face towards each other, put your hand around her head, place your arm around his waist, tilt your head to the left... no, the top of your head to the left."

good god.

all of the shots looked totally corny and after a half hour we just left. i think the woman just didn't know what to do with us. we kept saying, "something less posed. something more spontaneous!" but she just didn't get it. there's a chance we'll be able to see all of our rejected poses online in a day or two, but since we didn't buy anything the woman didn't know whether we'd really be able to or not. believe me, if they get posted online, you'll see 'em.

so ray & i came home and we decided we could do better ourselves with the auto-timer function on our digital camera. who needs a formal portrait studio, anyway? we had lots of fun playing around with the camera:

this is one of my favorites from our impromptu session, but ray thinks he looks weird. i guess we'll keep trying.

i watched what not to wear afterwards, and i suddenly started to feel ill. my throat got really sore. (i just knew i wasn't going to be able to weather ray's illness without getting sick myself. feh!) but as i swallowed cold medicine before heading to bed, i calculated in my head... if i get sick now, i bet i'll be better by the time we get to the beach. *fingers crossed*

we were awaken this morning by the floor refinishers knocking on the door (how prompt they were this morning!). they buffed the work they did last night (that's them doing friday night's work in the photo) and then they put on a second coat of polyurethane. it didn't take long at all and on their way out i said, "so, is that it? are you guys done?" and the guy said "i don't know."

what do you mean, you don't know??!?!?

grr! that's it. i'd gotten such great recommendations for these guys (bullock's floor refinishing), but i don't know if i can recommend them to anyone myself. they're doing truly great work, but dammit if i have been left feeling totally left in the dark about scheduling.

the guy actually said "you need to call bobby bullock (the owner) and see if he's going to have us put a 3rd coat on the floor." i need to do that?!? sheesh! so i called... and got his voice mail. which means i've been waiting all day for a return phone call. they kept me waiting yesterday, and they're keeping me waiting again today. dammit.

the reason it's so important for me to know this information about the 3rd coat is that it's the last step before we can inhabit that bedroom again. actually the very last step is painting the room, and then moving back in. but it's really difficult to know how to schedule the painting and the moving-back-in until i know when they're done with the floor. garh. it's been over 2 months; i want that room back.

so anyway, while i was waiting for the phone call, i went to work on the baseboards in the bathroom. (at the bottom of the photo you can see what it looked like without the trim, and at the top of the photo, well... duh. trim.)

this is definitely a difficult job. the cutting is relatively easy (though the measuring is hard). but the nailing.... god, the nailing. it's terrible. i hate it. i actually went to home depot in the middle of the project, just to see how much nail guns cost. $200-$300 is the answer (you have to buy the nailer and an air compressor). and that's just too rich for my blood. it's a tool i would love to have, but this is a bad month for my finances.

so i got about half the room done before i quit for the day. i am feeling a little sick and run-down, and it just seems sensible to take it easy for a while.

i have to say, though, that sitting around doing nothing results in anything but a relaxed feeling for me. i get so totally anxious thinking "i could be working on the baseboards. or i could be working on the sink drain. or i could be raking the yard." that nagging voice always propels me from the couch and gets me working... even when i shouldn't be. i hate that voice.

Posted by xta at November 22, 2003 4:32 PM | TrackBack