Deck refinishing....

So.....when I moved into my house I had a beautiful deck out back - compete with a gate so Miss E could enjoy the deck with me and I wouldn't worry about her running off. Only ONE small problem with my beautiful deck...the hideous red stain. In itself the red might not have been so awful (other then why on earth they would have chosen red is completely beyond me)...but it also was in desperate need of refinishing. The stain was peeling in many places. So....the first on my to do list of activities during layoff....refinish the deck!

To set the mood...here is a before picture.


So last week...can't remember which day...I set to work. First I got out my power sander and started sanding away some of the obvious peels. Then I headed to home depot to get paint and stain stripper. Since then I've been working 2-4 hours per day painting on the stripper, wetting everything down, and scraping it with a wire brush. Good times for sure! Slowly but surely though I'm starting to make progress. And despite how bad the stained deck looked, the wood underneath is in near perfect condition still!

Here's the same point of view as above, missing stain:


I think I have one more day of stripping to finish it up. Not sure when that will be since I think its going to rain the rest of this week and I'm going to head up to mom's this weekend. Once that is finally done then I'll clean the entire thing and decide on how I want to complete the project. Ideally, I'd just put sealer on it and let it stay natural. Unfortunately, there are some spots that I just can't seem to get all the red off of. Which leads me to believe another solid stain will be necessary (though at least I could pic a more neutral color than RED). Though I'm hopeful that if I do a good enough job with the red maybe I could do a semi transparent. Did you guys know how many options there are to choose from? Check this out:



And some additional progress pictures for you all:

Long overdue...

Well I've been a horrible blogger these days! Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk make it so easy to post little updates that it seems I abandoned my blog.

For my readers who haven't seen/heard already....I'm unemployed as of Monday. I was notified on March 6 that I was being affected by the first round of layoffs for my division of the company. March 20 was my last day. They were generous and let us take our vacation, so the next three weeks I was on "vacation". My last day of vacation I received a call, someone doing my old job had just had a baby, and they wanted me to come in and cover her maternity leave. Fortunately for me, she covered the local area, so it was an ideal situation to prolong my layoff. As everyone around me expressed their hopes that she would not return from maternity leave after all, I was just grateful to have a job for a bit longer and an opportunity to put a little more money away. My savings have been .... well....tiny...since moving because I wanted to be able to put more into my house than I did on the first one. Between that and buying stuff for said house...I just haven't really built back up any kind of emergency fund. Anyway....on May 26 the girl came back to work. My temporary boss got permission for me to work through Friday, but May 29 was my last day.

Yesterday marked a milestone I had hoped never to have to see when I hired on with my company - my first trip to the unemployment office. People often ask how/why I ended up where I work.....I saw my mom get laid off from too many jobs and liked the idea of how special my training program at work was, how much money the company was going to invest in my development, and the level of (now false) security it gave me. This same sense of false security also probably kept me from cutting back on things last fall when business started to turn south...because I honestly never in a million years imagined I'd be included in the group of people that were laid off. The only solace I have, is that everyone else I've talked to both within my company and at the companies I worked with, is just as shocked and horrified that the company would waste my talents. Unfortuantely...that doesn't pay the bills. So anyway.....

I got up bright and early to be at the unemployment office when the opened. I remembered horrendous lines back when my mom went when I was in high school. Unfortunately for me, although the state of Illinois lets you file online in most cases, because I lived in two states in the past 2 years, I had to go file in person so I could fill out some extra paperwork. I looked up the address for the local IDES office, checked it on the map, and hopped in the car. I circled the block it was supposedly on four times with no luck. At that point I started trying to actually look at the building numbers..and there were NO numbers even close to the address I was looking for. I dug out the GPS (in a bag in the backseat since my St. Louis trip the previous week) and plugged it in. It sent me directions to a TOTALLY different place. Drove up and down the street four times there....building numbers were impossible to read on any of the buildings. Finally I noticed a rather cryptic sign on one of the buildings and upon looking closer it turned out that was the right place (I then heard two different people inside talk about how impossible it was to find the place so I felt a little better). I headed towards the "start here" sign and looked at all the forms. One bunch said "worked in multiple states" with smaller print saying if you'd worked in 2 or more states in the last 18 months (yup..not the 2 years I saw online) to fill out those special forms. I sat down...and didn't have a CLUE how to fill out the top, multistate form. From what I could tell this was how Illinois was going to get Pennsylvania to help pay my benefits since I was there thru July of last year. I filled out all the paperwork to the best of my ability and then got in what was already a growing line...with only ONE person working. As I was next in line, someone came over to see if any of us had any quick questions to ask. I indicated I was filing a new claim, but wasn't sure about the out of state paperwork. She indicated a couple of things on the form I needed to fill out and moved on. I unfortunately had to get OUT of line, make the corrections, and get back in...now 5 people back again. Finally my time came and I got up to the counter. The man put my social security number into his computer, and said that because of how high my Illinois wages are, we don't need to worry about the multistate paperwork, and tore the paper up and tossed it. So glad I spent all the time on that one..... Anyway....it was less than 4 minutes at the counter and I was done. I get the maximum benefit for the state...not that its much. Little things one doesn't know (or maybe people but me know?)...unemployment in Illinois is no more than 47% of your previous income..but there's a cap..and sadly I'm WAY above that cap...so in my case..its like 21% of my previous income. OUCH. When I add up my necessary expenses (and I've already cut out a ton of the fat since March) there still is a gap in my income versus outgoing expenses about equal to my mortgage payment. Lucky me. Thanks to the extra few weeks working..I think I should be able to get through 4-5 months using my savings to subsidize the difference. Now my goal is to find a job..and sooner rather than later.

This brings me to a challenging situation. I know I'll get a call back from my company. I'm on what they call "temporary indefinite layoff". Meaning they can't say when I'll get called back, but I will. In the meantime, I can look for and apply for other jobs within the company - which I am doing. But there is no guarantee on when I'll go back. My company is trying to help a little (health insurance and a SMALL amount of supplemental unemployment for 12 months) but the gap between my income and expenses is still to high to wait. Of course, this has to happen when the economy is in the tank and unemployment in Illinois is over 9%. Fortunately I finished my MBA a couple of weeks back - so I'm hoping that helps...but jobs where I live are especially slim. If I don't go back to my company, I'd probably most prefer to move back home. So I'm applying for stuff up there. Unfortunately I'm not getting any bites..possible because of my address which is not local. So I may start using my mom's address on my applications for jobs up there. If I got a job up there, I'd probably be living at mom's for the foreseeable future anyway. With the economy the way it is, it doesn't really make sense to sell my house. I'd probably lose a boatload of money. Plus, I figure until I know for SURE I don't WANT to go back to my company...its better to hang onto the house. Then if I go back I don't have to start over buying something down here.

In the meantime...I'm working on my short term plans...but I've blogged enough for tonight. So...I'll leave you with that..and post again tomorrow or the next day about my plans. You know...since I have all this extra non-work, non-school free time.

But my parting thought....if you don't have one yet...PUT TOGETHER YOUR EMERGENCY FUND! This experience has taught me that it could happen to ANYONE..and anyone who doesn't think so is a fool.

Starting hanging stuff on the walls!

Well I've been a busy girl this week....

I decided to tackle some of the decorating around the house since I'm off both work and school this week.

Basement Before: (Before you ask - the before pics are from the previous owners taken when I was househunting).




Basement Now:




Tomorrow I'll start hanging the assorted Disney artwork I've purhased to turn this into my Disney themed basement. The paint colors are both from Disney's Behr paint collection. The black is "Cinema Star" and the grey is "Mickey's Shadow". I've got a black slipcover for the sofa, a gigantic black beanbag, with plans for a red one as well, Disney pillows for the couch, and whatever else I can come up with without going over the top. The nice thing about using the black and grey as the paint colors - it will be SUPER easy to restage this into a more elegant look when the time comes to move again.

In addition to the basement itself, I've been working on the basement powder room.
Before:


After:


This paint color is "Ariel's Song" also from the Behr Disney line. The towel and trash can I got at Meijer this week at 30% off. Glad I didn't buy it 2 months ago when mom and I first spotted it! I do have some Little Mermaid art that would work in here, but I am going to do a little more searching. I think I saw some paintings on Disney.com that would be perfect!

So..tomorrow will be straightening up down there, hanging stuff on the walls, and then perhaps enjoying my new room! Hopefully my bonus is a nice one this spring and then I can get a nice big tv to fill up that giant entertainment area in the wall (doesn't my little tv look funny there?). The only question is...with the rest of my days off before going back to work Monday, and school Wednesday..will I attempt my bedroom or finish the kitchen? I'm kinda tired of painting at the moment...but both desperately need it. Not to mention the main floor powder room I still haven't gotten around too.....

Been a while since a rant....

So a co-worker told me there was an underage drinking bust at an off campus home by my alma mater this weekend. I went online to find a story, and generally enraged by some of the comments that followed. For anyone who really wants to read the story you can go here.

I didn't think about this when I decided to live in Normal rather than Peoria upon moving back here...but its another reason I'm glad I did. I dealt with this crap for years and its quite frustrating. There's a general attituide around Peoria that Bradley kids are spoiled rotten rich brats. Though I'm sure there are SOME who are, this is NOT the bulk of the campus. When I was at Bradley from 1995-1999 over 80% of students received some sort of financial aid. And personally for me, the scholarships and grants I received through Bradley, in addition to my federal stafford loan, made if FAR less expensive than any other school I looked at. I'm not saying some of those spoiled rich kids aren't probably there - I'm sure they are. But most of my friends were there on financial aid packages like me, not to mention working during school as I did. I don't understand what caused this stereotype to develop in the first place, but its infuriating it gets brought up in comment to an article about Bradley kids getting busted at a big party.

Vacation Pics

First round of vacation pics now on flickr.

Disney World Update

Hello blog land!

I promised princess Di a vacation blog and have not delivered. My free internet is up in a few hours as we transfer from the Disney Beach Club Villas to the Disney Magic so I thought I’d try to get something out now while I had more time!

Friday (Sept 19) I ended up taking the day off work because of the flooding which had closed my parking lot. There was another lot WAY across town (and the river) I COULD have taken…but I’d done that Thursday and decided since I was planning a half day anyway that Friday I’d just take the whole day. Elphaba and I cuddled, I ran some errands, and then by 1pm we were off to Naperville. We spend some time with mom and then I had to take her to the PetsHotel at Petsmart. None of the toys I brought for her were allowable (no internal squeakers allowed, which no one had TOLD me ahead of time), so mom and I did some looking around and picked up a few goodies and said our goodbyes. Miss E was signed up to be in doggie day camp every day from 9am-5pm, and everyone seemed to adore her (of course) and said she’d get lots of cuddle time.

Saturday we were up early as the limo was coming at 7am. We had an uneventful flight down and were at the Beach Club Villas by 3pm. Magical Express was a little slower with our luggage unfortunately. We wandered around the Yacht and Beach Clubs for a while, and then finally we gave up and I wore a dress of mom’s (who packs like a full week of clothes in her carry on) and off to dinner we went. For dinner we ate at Citricos, at the Grand Floridian. I was skeptical, but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I had, seriously, the best ribeye steak I’ve ever had in my life!

Sunday was our first day in the parks, and we selected Magic Kingdom. We didn’t have our timing worked out too well yet and were there WAY early…so we hopped on the monorial and headed to the Contemporary to shop and eat. I also found an Arial Jibbitz to replace the one that went missing out of my cotton candy colored crocs. Oh..did I mention those? The weekend before we left for vacation it was pouring rain and I threw on mom’s size 8 crocs which were WAY more comfy than my size 9 crocs. So I decided if I was bringing crocs to WDW to have water proof socks for all the rain we were supposed to get, they should be size 8s. But my store had NO size 8s in Disney themes. Or really, any size 8s in any good colors in the style I normally wear – the mary janes. So out of desperation I tried on the Cayman style (so ugly) in size 8 and they are SOOOO comfy! So I just bit the bullet and bought them…but prettied them up with some Disney jibbitz. Anyway..back to MK day….we headed to the park and it was EMPTY..seriously…we didn’t wait for anything until late in the day when we waited 25 minutes for Astro Orbiter. We had a reservation back at the Grand Floridian Garden View Lounge, for afternoon tea. Oh my goodness was that fabulous! We both got the “grand tea” and it was so relaxing and decadent feeling…but not OVERLY expensive..I think it ended up being like $60 total. After that we headed to Downtown Disney to shop a little..and walk around. I got the CUTIEST little short sleeve hoodie – covered with “cuties” which are this variation of the Disney characters that I’ve completely fallen in love with. Also – these little stuffed cutties of Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto. Then back to the hotel for an early night.

Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom. Again we were there way early, and again the park was empty. We did the Safarii, on the 3rd car so no wait! Then we headed to Expedition Everest, mom’s favorite ride. Between the empty line and the single rider line, we rode like 5 times before 9:15am that morning. At that point my head was feeling a little scrambled. Then we hit the Finding Nemo show, and Dinasaur, and decided we were done by about 11:30. We headed to lunch at Kona Café at the Polynesian. Mom was bummed because they took her favorite thing of the menu. I wasn’t overly impressed but it was okay. Then we decided to head over to Epcot early since we had a dinner reservation there that night. Like the other parks, Epcot was also empty. Though Monday the rain finally started. Not horrible, but not fun. Again – we did like everything with no wait. Then we had dinner at Teppen Edo which has been completely redone (and renamed) since my last trip to WDW. It was fabulous, and our chef was the best I’ve had at a place like that. He not only did lots of tricks but he was funny too. After dinner we wandered the World Showcase a bit more and then finally walked back to our hotel (which is just outside the International Gateway at Epcot).

Tuesday was Hollywood Studios day. Again, park was pretty empty. Mom insisted we go to Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror first, even though I’d heard you MUST got to Toy Story Mania first if you have any plans to ride it that day. Anyway, rode the roller coaster and tower of terror numerous times each and finally started heading towards Toy Story Midway Mania at 11:30. At that point, the line was 80 minutes in standby and fast passes were for 4:50pm. By noon it was OUT of fast passes for the day. We did decide to wait ONCE in standby to see the full queue theme, which was ADORABLE. But the line was SOOO slow in standby. But…Toy Story Mania is AWESOME! After that we wandered the park a bit more, and then we had 4:30 dinner reservations at Mama Melroses. I didn’t really remember, but I’d been there once before – mom never had. Food and service was fantastic. After dinner we got to use our Toy Story fast passes and ride that again, Yay! Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Now….MK was beautiful with the Halloween decorations, and it was kind of cool to see what they did for the party. But as empty as the parks were this week, I don’t think it was worth the price of admission to get in – we’d pretty much done everything we wanted at the MK already and just rode some stuff a few extra times. It was fun to see all the kids (and parents) in costumes, but the trick or treating wasn’t great because all the candy was seriously melted an sticky.

Wednesday we decided to take a pool day in the morning and then headed to Epcot again in the afternoon. Rode the good stuff in Future World again, then wandered the world showcase some more before dinner at Chefs de France. Food was okay, service ther was AWFUL. Seriously bad. We stayed to watch Illuninations “Reflections” which is pretty lame, and then headed back to the hotel.

Thursday we decided to do Hollywood Studios again, in the hopes of doing Toy Story again. We were there nice and early, but seriously the ENTIRE park makes a beeline for Toy Story after the gates open. In fact, the cast members direct traffic so there’s only ONE path back there. Mom got in the standby line while I got in the fast pass line. She actually got up to the building before I got up to the fast passes and had to start over. I snagged fast passes for 10:10 and got in line. That time, the queue moved quickly, probably because people didn’t have fast passes yet so everyone had to go through the regular queue. We rode the ride, went on the Back Lot tour (which is SERIOUSLY shortened from what it once was) and then went back on Toy Story. Then we hit Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster a few more times and headed back for an afternoon at the pool before dinner at the new restaurant at the Contemproary – The Wave. Wave was okay, I had the BEST citrius and avocado salad. Service was not good. We then took a bus to downtown Disney for final shopping. I picked up some decorations for the basement which I’m planning on doing a Disney theme, and a Snow White costume for Miss E (we’ll match since I have one!) and then back to the hotel.

Friday was the day we were probably anticipating most – our Around the World tour at Epcot on Segways. Ever since we did the Segway tour in Chicago in July, mom and I have both been anxious to get back on another Segway. Though the Segways were fun as we remembered, and it was cool to get into the World Showcase while it was still closed, and cool to see the last minute prep for the Food and Wine festival which started that day, overall we had much more fun in Chicago. Disney has the Segways there governed at 6 mph…substantially less than the 10-11 we got to do in Chicago. And we weren’t really allowed to zip around much. Plus, the tour itself was only like an hour – the first hour was training. We decided Disney needs to have a certification class for Segways for guests (they do certified cast members who zip all over on them) and then set up some more advanced tours. After the tour, we walked around the world to check out the Food and Wine offerings. Originally, we didn’t schedule dinner anywhere for that day and planned to eat around the world for dinner. But a quick glance at the offerings and we both knew I would not be eating. So we scrambled and picked up a dinner reservation at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse, and old favorite of mine. We headed back to the hotel to do laundry in prep of week 2. Spent the afternoon doing that and laying at the pool. Then off to dinner, which was not nearly as good as our Saturday night dinner at Citricos. After dinner we walked the loop around the Epcot resorts visiting Swan, Dolphin, and Boardwalk. We picked up cupcakes at the Boardwalk to bring back with us, and checked out the premier of Grey’s Anatomy thanks to free internet for Disney Vacation Club guests, and my Macbook.

Saturday was lazy since we had to get the bus to port at 11:30am .We had brunch and laid around the room reading and watching part two of the Grey’s premier. Then off to port we went!

I’m on board now, and internet is expensive – I have to strategically plan to buy a package giving me JUST enough minutes for what I’ll need for class which starts up again Wednesday. But more to come on our week on the Magic!