Darn Coffee Mug Handle!

I don't know if anyone recalls my frustration with the handle of my mom's coffee cup always ending up facing away from me when I heat it in the microwave. Well, I had another one of those flashes - perhaps if I put the handle in facing away from me, it will end up facing me. And so far, it is working!

Handy Augustus fixed his bed! Hopefully for a little while at least...You would be proud of me - I was quite handy yesterday. The bed I have, I have had for quite a long time - 20 years maybe? No, can't be that long - 16 years perhaps. Anyway, it has a few little issues. The main one being that the metal "slats" that hold the box spring up (and hence the whole bed) tended to slip and fall leaving fewer and fewer slats to support the bed. (A little side note about the box spring. I got this bed when I was living in NYC for a year - I think in 1997. The store delivered it, only to discover that the queen sized box spring couldn't be gotten into the apartment (third floor walk-up). Apparently they were not surprised or flustered by this turn of events and produced a queen-sized box spring that was composed of two smaller box spring units. Yay! Easier to move for sure. The one problem is that if not supported, the bed tends to wilt a bit in the middle, which is disconcerting to say the least...) This eventually necessitates pulling the whole thing apart and putting it back and starting the process over again. I had tried several times in the past with no luck to figure out ways to keep the slats up. Well, yesterday, I had had enough. So I went to the hardware store (avoiding Wal-Mart) (and all large chain stores, actually) and bought little bolts, washers and nuts. Came back and secured the slats for good! Yay! Hopefully. (I borrowed this (mostly) from a note I wrote someone - yes, I know how to copy and paste - why not reuse decent verbiage, hmm?)

Great sorting day yesterday - next step, clean out the study. I spend a good bit of time in the study and it is really cluttered and a little claustrophobia inducing. First step was to take all of the empty boxes that had accumulated in there in the past 6 months out to the front porch. I broke a bunch of them down for recycling and will probably do the same to more of them. It feels great to have them out of the study. Next I went through a tub/pile of stuff that I had put aside for later sorting. Let go of more of that, found some interesting things to keep and made some more room in study. Yay! Next, I want to move the electric typewrite, the electronics (like mom's iMac) and a desk out of there and probably onto the porch for the time being. That is part of today's effort. My longish range plan is to work on the study alcove next. Eeek!

On a side note - I came across a second box of paper from my brother Karl. He gave this to mom I don't know how long ago. It is paper that was designed for use in printers that needed feeding perforations in order to work. Not much use in this day and age. So one of my little side projects is to strip off all of the feeder perforations and to separate all the pages. Not a glamorous project - but mindless and rewarding.

Owie! Yes, I have another odd owie. On my left arm there is a tender spot that is also puffy. I am hoping it is just a critter bite that will soon go away and not a harbinger of greater doom. That would suck.

While out and about getting the hardware (which was quite expensive actually) for the bed, I also went food shopping. And that led me to the idea of getting mom (and me) some ice cream from Mr. Twistee's. They only had orange for their Sherbet (rhymes with hermit) so I got grape frostline for me and cappuccino crunch for mom. She was almost beside herself in happiness. Gotta love that.

Speaking of mom, I am trying to spend more quality time with her. I know that she is lonesome a lot of the time. I also know that it is tough for me to spend a lot of time with her. Not because I don't have the time, but because time spent with her is often sad and frustrating. Sigh.

Last night, I decided to watch Transformers Dark of the Moon - also known as Transformers 3. It was not terrible. Lots of action. Not the biggest Shia LaBeouf (had to look that one up) fan. And I was sad that Megan Fox wasn't in it. The replacement woman was pretty - but had a weird thing going on with her lips, I thought. Only watch it if you like one of the actors or if you like the Transformers in general. Not sad I saw it, but will not be seeing it again. Ever.

Lastly, but not leastly, I started adding wineries to my brewpub blog. Now I just need to make a concerted effort to get out to the many wineries in the area. Maybe I will start next week. Monday even. Are wineries open on Monday? I will find out!