Friday,
March 5,
2004
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A Journal from Austin, Texas. |
| tangled WEB | food | reading | writing | time | exercise | health and mood |
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get out of my room We actually have a few things left before the room is finished. Probably always will be doing something. But today it is pretty much the way it's going to be. And we actually live in it normally a little bit.
This will be the test. The major furniture is moved in. We are going to add track lights in the bedroom and we have to get the baseboards in the closet finished. A chair has to be delivered. We are still outfitting the closet. We may add a plant and a mirror. But this is pretty much it. The movers come. They are my favorite sub-contractor on the whole job. (Not that they were hired by the contractor.) They carefully move the pieces around. We now have a dresser and a wardrobe and a TV that you can see across the bed. I spend some time unloading a small bar to get it moved after they are gone and then I try to get the TV, cable and DVD player in operation. I'm having trouble with the cable box connection. But later it works. The Fed Ex comes with the cube we are waiting for. Who knows when we will get the chair. We'll get the baseboards in the closet and the track lights some time next week. We move some stuff into the closet and, after months of agonizing over what kind of basket or box to use on the closet shelves, I decide on cheap read plastic ones and they actually look pretty good. So in the next few days we will be arranging the closet and getting to really know our new space. Stay tuned. In situations like this I always remember the first time I had a room of my own. We lived on the farm in a two bedroom house. More to accommodate my sister (who was a teenager) than me, my mother and grandmother fixed up a little screen porch that had been enclosed for a 'room of my own'. They put in a twin bed. That almost took up all the space in the room. There was a small closet at one end. And a door that led outside so I could get up on Saturday, put on my jeans and go outside. I felt independent and grown up. Even though my mother and grandmother were fussing over a bedspread or curtains of something to make my room livable...I wanted to say "get out of my room!" Maybe I even DID say it. A little bit of that kid is always bubbling around inside me when someone is doing something in my space. Just get finished and get out and let me enjoy it. Let me relax and get comfortable here. It's my room. Frankly, I even feel this when a bellman is off getting ice so you will give him a big tip after he's carried your bags to your hotel room. Well, it's been over three months. Get out of my room!
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the coolest magazine rack
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This is your
space.
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lunch
snacks none
dinner
Today I
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I wake with a start at six o'clock. I didn't put recycling out last night because it was drizzling. If we don't get it out right away, the truck will come at 6:30. I wake FFP up and we haul out sacks of newspapers and magazines and stacks of cardboard. I actually sit and read the paper. I see Perry is addressing the rumors that have been going around town and the Internet. But I read The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and let FFP have The Austin American-Statesman. Then I fool with my computer a bit and, about seven-thirty, decide to finish getting ready for the movers. I dust the big TV and the dresser in storage. I move out the little TV I've been testing the cable with and put the cable box out of the way until the big TV and its stand are moved in. I prepare paths for the movers by putting boxes under the stairs and such. SuRu shows up and puts stops on some doors and the movers come and I walk around with my battle plan while they move and place and SuRu and Forrest advise. Jim's Movers are the best movers I've ever had! These movers and my friend SuRu are my favorite helpers in this debacle followed by the contractor's painting sub and one of the carpenters. The less said about B&G Floors and some of the others, the better for my blood pressure. After they leave and SuRu is off to a lunch date, I try to get the DVD and cable going with the big TV. I succeed with the DVD and give up with the cable box and go have a brief visit to the gym. When I come back, I shower up. SuRu comes in and then while I'm still damp and in my robe, FedEx shows up with my cube/seat/table from Design within Reach. I get dressed and fool with the cable some more, getting it to work. SuRu has unpacked the cube. SuRu and I go to Container Store and get a bunch of red plastic containers for closet organization and go to Restoration Hardware to get new hardware for the built-ins in the room in front of the bedroom. The old ones look dated. Back home she installs the hardware and we put stuff in the closet and our friend Kevin comes by to get his copies of his West Austin News profile and we talk. SuRu and FFP and I decide to go to Zoot. Sort of celebrate the room, I guess. We take separate cars in case we want to go out after and she doesn't. Ru and I get there first and have a glass of champagne. We all have the tasting menu. With the paired wines. Two of the wines are Alsatian. (Except they run out of one and substitute a similar German one.) Which is appropriate. I find that two years ago we went to a German wine dinner and this summer we will eat a three star meal in the Alsace. For what that is worth. Anyway...we need more experience with German and Alsatian-style wines. I get quite confused with the auslese this and trocken that. Tonight we have: A demitasse of asparagus soup as an amuse bouche. Very tasty, asparagus but not bitter. Oven roasted shrimp with rutabaga puree and fennel relish with Clos Jesbal Pinot Gris 1999, Alsace. (This had a balsamic vinegar reduction...wow!) There were two (big) shrimp and the portion seemed large given it was a tasting. (The wine seemed sweet until one had the dish and then they married in an interesting harmony.) Dandelion and escarole salad with blood orange and rhubarb. Ramspeck Pinot Noir 2002, California. A small portion of salad bouncing with flavor and nicely complemented by the Pinot. It's about now that I feel...life is good. Bear in mind that the wine pours aren't huge...little portions, little tastes. Then comes grilled salmon fillet with parsnip puree and mustard viniagrette. It was served with a Küntsler Halbrocken from the Rheingau 2002. This was a generous four ounces at least and the parsnip and the mustard flavor complimented the delicate fish cooked just enough with a little crust from the grill. The crowning glory is a lamb cassoulet
with foie gras and baby winter vegetables (including little bitty Brussels
sprouts). This dish is enough to make you rue the coming spring. (Had
fondue the other night at my friend's house...I'll miss that until next
winter, too.) The bits of foie gras have somehow been made crisp, the
lamb is rich and melting and it's just wonderful. The Rhone wine doesn't
hurt: Chateau de Trignon "Sablet" 1994. A port and a delicious cheese plate
with little compotes completes my meal nicely. Wow. Can't imagine eating better in New York or Europe. At home, I climb into bed with a shot of Scotch and the remotes. I read, listening to the digital music channels. We watch Third Watch. We fall asleep in what we will eventually be comfortable calling our 'master suite.'
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Newspapers. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler. Skipping ahead decades works for her in this book.
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Occupying our space in a sort of real way boosted my mood. I mean I was lying there drinking a spot of Port Wood Single Malt, back propped up, legs being massaged, listening to Singers and Standards on digital cable and then watching Third Watch. There are several more pieces of furniture besides the bed and its accessories now and the room feels less like a gym. Soon I'll even be able to find my clothes. |
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It's a Tangled |
One
year ago Two
years ago
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152
JUST
TYPING
