The whirlwind begins...

There's things I need to get done, and in short order too. But I can't start this weekend, even though I have three days off, because I have a horse show to work at. And that's just fine with me. I am very much looking forward to the horse show.

But it is going to mean that I am going to have to kick it into high gear come the end of the show on Sunday.

I have a tv and laptop to set up in the basement so that I can start to utilize the exercise DVDs I purchased a little while back. I've been meaning to do that, and have been working on getting it done, but have had a few roadblocks along the way.

You see, my laptop, which is not my main computer (I actually dislike laptops... give me a good keyboard, monitor and a tower hard drive any day...) had to be upgraded. It has Windows XP on it, which is fine. I like XP. But it only had Service Pack 1. That is ancient history. So I needed to get it up to snuff, which meant installing Service Pack 2 and then Service Pack 3. This was painfully slow on an old workhorse that only has an 18gig hard drive.

Yes... you read that correctly.... only 18 gigabytes. My desktop has a terabyte. It's a gazillion times faster and bigger and shinier and much more user friendly. But it stays in my office. The laptop has portability... and it plays DVDs.

Or so I thought.

Turns out Windows Media Player, even when upgraded to the latest and greatest version, needs a decoder installed to play DVDs. What the hell is up with that???? Microsoft even says right on their website you need to download a decoder, which they, of course, do not supply. So I hunted around online until I found a free media player that plays my DVDs, decoder included. So I'm all set to go.

But to work out in the basement, I needed to get a lamp. There is one measly light in the recroom and it is in one corner (ceiling fixture = not easily moved) so I went to Sprawlmart and paid $20 for a floor lamp. The assembly will happen more than likely tomorrow evening, along with the relocation of the small LCD tv from my bedroom and the laptop from my office.

Then I can start getting all buff and shapely. After I get all sore and stiff and disillusioned. But I plan on sticking to it, even through all crap you initially hit when you start working out seriously, because I know... I KNOW... that I can do this and I can look HOT! Come midsummer, I plan of buying me a 2 piece bathing suit and hitting the beach. Without scaring anyone to death.

The other things I need to get done are:

- paint the spare room
- paint, cut and install baseboards in the spare room (there are none at the moment)
- hang a curtain over the closet in the spare room (there was no door on it when I moved in)
- shorten a curtain (matching the closet one) to hang over the window in the spare room
- repaint the living room
- paint the kitchen walls and cabinets
- paint the dining area, hallway and small downstairs bathroom
- plant the flower seeds in the front garden (after I dig up the weeds and grass that are growing the in the dirt there)
- wash all the windows

And if I get ambitious enough, and have the time and energy, pull the carpet out of the livingroom, put down some plywood to built up the floor, and then install some nice flooring that is easy to clean and does not hang on to cat hair like velcro and soak up dog spit to show the stains forever more.

I want to replace the vanity in the little bathroom too, because the one that is in there is original from the 70's and was made for midgets. It is 31" high. That is midthigh level for me... I'm 5'9", not 7'2". Why is it so short??? Was my house inhabited by dwarfs way back then? It baffles my mind that someone thought you should have to bend so far over to use the sink. Plus the porcelain on the sink is chipped so there's a bit of rust showing. It's time...

Have to get a new accordion vinyl door for the little pantry in the kitchen, as the cats have split it up one of the folds in their dartings about, firing toys under it and diving in to get them out.

I'd like to get all this stuff done (or the painting at least) in the next four weeks. I have company coming to visit in the third week of June. This gives me the incentive to get the ball rolling and git 'er done!

If you don't hear from me at all in the next month or so, it's because I am either much too busy doing all that crap, or I've died from overexertion...