The books have taken over!

I never realized until today how many books I have. I moved a few of them from Michigan to Texas, then back to Michigan again. And the move back was almost 7 years ago! (We were loading the U-haul on 9/11 - left on 9/12. Was weird driving all that way and not seeing a plane in the sky.)

I am sorting books and have realized that I have a TON of books I've not read. Yet I am compelled to buy more. I buy the clearance books at Borders, I buy used books at yard sales and Salvation Army. I beg them from friends, and DEMAND them for my birthday and Christmas. You wanna make me happy? Send me a bookstore gift card.

Heaven is a day spent at a book store with no other demands on my time.

Hi. My name is Tuli. I'm a book addict.

The downside to the sorting that I'm doing is that my house has books everywhere right now. Stacks.Of.Books. And I live with a dog that thinks books are her personal chew toys. So that's a small dilemma. Will have to carefully move the stacks to the "library" (which is really the "2nd bedroom" but is too small to rent out so I converted it into my office. but 'library' is a word I love, so I've applied it to my home office. I never claimed I wasn't a dork.) and hope I don't confuse my organization system in the moving. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll have to resort them.

I added shelves to my library walls today -- 36 glorious feet of shelf-space -- and I now have room to acquire more books! (This is a good thing, people!)

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Tigers opening day is tomorrow. Against KC Royals. Here's hoping they kick some ass this season.

Once more ...with feeling!

Had a chiropractic appointment today and the massage therapist was giving free 15 minute chair massages. So, today I've had a steady diet of sunshine, a wonderful back-cracking, a 15-minutes-of-pure-heaven chair massage, a ton of water, and on my desk is a rose-scented Yankee Candle glowing it's little heart out and reminding me that, yes, Virginia, there really is a Spring.

It's a good day.

Such a good day, that I'm not at all bummed that we're going to Detroit for dinner. (Last week's dinner at DB's yacht club got canceled because Mother Nature dumped about 6 inches of snow on us. So we're going tonight.)

Such a good day, that even though it snowed again yesterday...who cares!?!. (90" of snow so far this year! That's 7 1/2 feet, people!) The sunshine today has done me a world of good.

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On a totally different note, I got one of these:


on super-duper clearance (cheap, I tell ya! $20). I'm still on a cloud over that one. Oh, the things I'll be able to slice! Sweet potatoes and cantaloupes and watermelons for DB & his dog and meats of every kind and... and...veggies and fruit and OMG the possibilities!

Laters!

Happy Spring!

It's the first day of spring and Mother Nature is giving us a glimpse of what's to come -- sunshine and cool breezes. But of course the wench is going to give us snow at least once more. Tomorrow.

Been a busy week since my last post. PMS, a missed Spanish class, melting snow, shopping, Bushmills and Smithwick's (on the 17th of course), work, school, dogs, more shopping, and now a three-day weekend. Whee!

Spring organization is happening over here, people! Gettin' rid of some shit and organizing what I'm keeping. Bought shelves to organize my library, some brackets to add shelves in my bathroom, storage tubs for the kitchen, and green cleaning products.

I need about a week off to clean, organize, and cull out the shit I don't want/need. I'm half tempted to get rid of EVERYTHING (except the most awesome lamp ever, of course) and start over.

Dinner tomorrow evening at the yacht club DB sails out of. And I have nothing to wear. [Edit: Found something! And I didn't have to go shopping! And I hate going to the yacht club! But the company is good. So it all balances out.]

A rave or two.

Ok. So PBS is doing their fund-raising thing. And they're showing an Andrea Bocelli concert. So it's a good time to tell you that he gives me chills and I think he's the cat's meow.

Also loving the alstromeria's I bought myself today (because DB doesn't). I put them in a glass milk bottle as these flowers were made for glass milk-bottle vases.

NOT raving on Detroit's mayor. My governor. Nor the state of my State.

I LOVE this lamp. And some other stuff, too. (And one thing I don't love.)

I've been searching for a table lamp for a while. At no point did I ever say, "Self, you need a table lamp for your living room." But I would find myself looking at them at all the stores I went to whether retail or resale.

Now, you should know that I'm not a patient shopper. I hate to do it. So my "looking" consisted of a quick dash through the lamp section. I don't dwell over purchases. I'll know if I like it or not within seconds of spotting something.

So imagine my surprise when at Salvation Army, I found the perfect lamp for me. I was about 1/3 of the way through the lamp row, saw it, and said, "That's MY lamp." It was $8.99. Yay!

So, here it is -- the lamp that set my heart aflutter:


It's like a ginormous flower standing on my end table. And I LOVE IT. Love.It. When I bought the thing, it had an on-off only switch in it. So I stopped by the hardware store and picked up a three-way switch and a three-way fluorescent bulb *cuz I'm all about the energy effeciency, people!* I changed the switch myself and IT WORKS (electrical genius, I am - who knew?!?)!

Anyway, the thing weighs a ton...made out of metal with a milk-glass shade. (I think that's the proper name for it - whatever, it's white glass.)

I'm curious about what era this is. Any clues, anyone? I couldn't find a manufacturer's mark on it anywhere. I'm thinking mid-century modern (hehe! that just cracks me up!) but my knowledge of decorating trends/eras is dismally non-existent.

After Salvation Army and the hardware store, I stopped at Dollar Tree. And guess what they had? You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. They had big Cadbury chocolate bars with Irish Creme filling. Jealous much? Yeah, I knew it.

I remember when I was a girl mom used to buy Breck shampoo and conditioner. They had some at D.T. so I bought a bottle of each for old-times sake. Yeah. Mistake. The shampoo didn't suds up and the conditioner wasn't very, well, um...conditioning. I wonder if I could return it? I wouldn't foist this stuff off on anyone I know - they'd hate me forever.

Hoping to see Juno this weekend. So there's that to look forward to. After yet ANOTHER test in my Saturday class. (Is this semester over yet?)

More "deep" than is called for after only one martini.

Last evening, DB watched a documentary on the Apollo Space Program of the '60s and '70s. At it's start, I kept half an ear tuned in while working a jig-saw puzzle, then found myself drawn more and more over to the TV to hear what the Astronauts had to say.

This documentary was focused on the men of the Apollo program and what THEY went through and WHY they went through it. They talked about love of country and wanting to accomplish the task Kennedy laid before them: landing on the moon before 1970. They talked about national honor - landing on the moon before the Russians did. I just can't imagine what America was like then. (DB remembers it. Granted, he was 6. So his view is that of a 6 year-old. Spacemen and rockets and big yellow moons.) I was born in 1972 in a small town in Michigan and had NO idea any of this had happened/was happening. I didn't know about Apollo 13 until '95 when the movie came out - five years after graduation! Obviously, we talked about the moon landing in school but I sure as hell don't remember anything about Apollo 13.

Have you ever thought about what it would take, today, to pull this country together the way the Space Program did back then? Something that got - hopefully - the war protesters and draft-dodgers and bra-burners to lay down their placards and just be Americans concerned about a group of men undertaking an adventure that would change the world? What would it take to drawn Americans out of their homes, away from their TVs and computers and video games?

9/11 was only a brief respite from our state of consumerism and self-centeredness. We're right back where we were before 9/11 - except with longer lines at airport security and not enough Gulf War "Support Our Troops" sentiment (and who can fucking blame us? It's been YEARS for godsake. We support our troops, but showing that support 24/7 is fucking impossible. Even for Toby Keith.)

I worry for my country's future...but more importantly, perhaps, I worry about democracy. We don't value it like we used to. We take it for granted, often assuming someone else will care enough to tackle the tough issues. I'm guilty of it. And I'm ashamed of myself for it.

OK. Enough of the maudlin shit for what was and what will never be again.

It's Sunday evening and I've just missed AFV. Which is a lot of fun to watch under the influence of alcohol. Which I am. Which probably explains the disconnectedness of this post.

By the way, don't email me about the War On Terror. I will add your email addy to every spam email list I can find.

The snow storm that wasn't...

The snow storm I was hoping for never arrived. It veered south. Right where my parents are vacationing -- in the mountains...where they're ill-prepared to handle any amount of snowfall. So hopefully the 'rents went to the grocery today and stocked up on supplies.

DB went out last night and had a bit too much to drink. And to top it off, he didn't get home until close to three. So aside from being a tad hung-over he was also drag-ass tired. Even though he is Mr. Responsible and never cuts loose like this, I am finding it hard to be sympathetic. Probably because I find it so damn funny. Oh well, next time I'm out with the gals and drink too much, he can laugh at me in return.

Got my tax return back and EVERY BIT of it will be going towards bills. This really sucks, people!

Have a test in class tomorrow and couldn't give a shit about it. I'm so ready for this school year to be over. It's like this every winter semester but the longing for it to be over has hit a bit earlier this year. Hell. On the bright side, there are less than 2 months left in this semester. And then I've got a four-month vacation. And then I've only got four classes left! One year! TWO SEMESTERS! On the not-so-bright side, I've been back in school half-time since 2003 and have wracked up a hell of a student loan bill for a degree that may or may not improve my employment prospects. But YAY! Only one more year!

Anyone need to hire a criminology major? Here I am.

Work today was awful. Not the people I work with -- *mostly* they're great. But the bits of work that I do? Suck. All kinds of ass. And it's the same old shit each day. Yeah, I know. Wah! (Hence my enrollment in university. So I can get a job that DOESN'T SUCK ASS!)

Think I'll go fix myself a Bloody Mary, curl up on the couch, and watch a movie.

And during pee breaks, I'll study for tomorrow's test.

Yeah. So. Post #1.

Here it is. Post #1. I find I'm a bit anxious about what to write here. Seriously, what does anyone write in their first post?

Personal statistics? Yeah. Sure. You'd be asleep once I got past "female, 35, committed relationship". You'd skip right over the part about what I like (books, movies, all things British. To name a few.) and my hometown (Ypsilanti, MI - pronounced Ipsilanti. Pronounce it Yipsilanti and us natives will laugh and point) and my family (parents married 40 years this year, brother, SIL, 2 nieces, 1 nephew).

Because really? Who wants to hear about that stuff?

Been a Blog Lurker for quite awhile. I'm addicted to PostSecret (perfect Monday morning coffee-break reading), Badger (fuckin' LOVE her! Am frantically working my way through her archives because I found her just recently) and Chuck over at dooce.com is Wonder Dog #4 (behind my two and my boyfriend's one, of course). Figured I'd like to jump on the blog bandwagon and start one of my own. We'll see how long I keep it up.

Oh, yeah. The blog name? Defective Typewriter? From the movie Grease. Remember when they were all at the drive in? Rizzo was in the ladies with Marty. She said she felt like a defective typewriter because she missed a period.

Currently, that's how I feel - a bit out of synch. Like I'm missing some major pieces. (Lack of sunshine, perhaps? Probably. I live in Michigan.)

But I've not missed a period. Thank God.

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Jumping right in:

Books:
Currently reading This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust. Because who doesn't want a new way of looking at U.S. history?

I picked up Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger for $.50 on the Library book cart. It's on deck (ha! a funny! it's a BASEBALL book!) This might have to be my night-stand book. Because I doubt it's as depressing as This Republic.

Yeah. Have a ton more to read but I'm not about to list 'em all. (Duma Key, anyone?)

Movies:
Borrowed Wives and Daughters from the library. It's a British Costume Drama. If you're not into that sort of thing, you'll hate it. I AM into that sort of thing. Andrew Davies (writer, Bridget Jones' Diary) is all sorts of wonderful. Indeed. Sat back with a tumbler of Glenlivet and water (what? you drink your scotch neat?) and enjoyed the hell right out of this movie.

Next up, North and South.

Misc:
Supposed to get hit by another snow storm tomorrow. I hope so...would love to get snowed in once more before winter ends.