my life in swedish conspicuous consumption

We have to buy a new couch, cause the frame on the old one is broken. The old one was the cheapest Ikea couch I could find, that was high off the ground for Mr Pee-pee (so he'd piss on the easily-washable legs and not the fabric). But it's been over a year since he passed away, so we can move up to something a little more stable. ...But still Ikea. ...I prefer to not worry about furniture fitting through the door.

I want a sofa bed. And it has to be tall enough that my legs are at about a 90 degree angle, so it won't trigger headaches.

Since this is a big piece of furniture, I have to carefully pick the colour, cause it's my big chance to have something jazzy--like red!

But then I'd like to get a couple end tables to match...

I love this end table...

 ...but I think I'll save $60 and just settle on this. It'll be covered in crap anyway.

Maybe a new poster too, I've had my old ones a long time.



The rest of my furniture is all inherited, and is fake wood, so it has to match that. And maybe match the curtains I bought and never put up, though... new curtains are pretty cheap.

cheap ikea curtain:


uncheap but lurvly ikea curtain:



Since we're going tomorrow, I'm sitting up thinking about this. Hmmm. Hmmmm...

It's a bit sad to buy all your furniture at one store, but without (a) a car, and (b) enough passion for decor that I'd want to spend time running around in my car looking for treasures... Ikea it is.

Nano nano

I have some last vacation photos to post, but I've been mostly sleeping since getting back, mixed in with a bit of groceries and husband-movie-watching. And keeping Minion off Haley's back-ness.

I'm getting excited about Nanowrimo. I just officially joined and updated my author page.

Here's the off-the-cuff cover image I created.

Til now I could only picture a white blonde girl in the title role, because she's supposed to be a Paris Hilton esque Dumb Blonde (on the surface), but those pink and green borders remind me of Nicki Minaj, who might play Idiot Socialite really well, too. Hmm...

Here's the exerpt I put on the site for the moment, from last year's nano--which was the first 50 000 words of my novel. (I'm going to do another 50 000 this year.)

“I don’t regret my choice,” Jenny said melodramatically. “I made great music in the 70s. But don’t think I didn’t suffer too.”
“Suffered your way through the bed of every rock act,” Lank snapped. “Kris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger, Lindsay Buckingham, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart—”
“Don’t forget the actors,” West said. “Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Malcolm McDowell, Gene Hackman—”
“Oh Gene Hackman!” Hallow turned to Jenny. “He’s good in everything he does.”
"Don't I know!"

Vacation 2010 - sploo loo looo

I don't ever remember feeling this tired on a vacation, except the summer after I finished my BA in English Lit. I remember feeling reaaallly zoned out that time.

Usually after this many days of sitting around watching tv and reading, I'd have recovered some zip. But I have no zip. I can barely converse. Every night I'm exhausted, no matter what time I've been going to bed, or how much sleep I've had.

I still have a few days left when I get home, before returning to work, and I shall need them!

So sorry, no photo etc updates tonight... I'm toooo woooorn out!

Vacation 2010 - zzzz

Hey there. Not much to report, I'm still so tired! I'm never usually this tired this far into my vacation. I just sit on my biiiig bed and watch movies and read. (Last night Wall Street, right now Ferris Bueller.)

It's been cloudy and rainy, so not really balcony weather. But it was still worth the chance paying for it, because all last week it was sunny and 20 degrees. So worth the chance.

I'm very happy with my hotel too. It's got everything I wanted, and things I didn't expect like... big towels! Shocking. What are hotels coming to these days?

Vacation 2010 - like a queen in my king sized bed

Today it was off to Vancouver!

We went for a Lebanese lunch in downtown Nanaimo, which was very good.

Then the boys and I cruised over on the ferry. Not many people, and this one had a covered observation deck, so we were able to sit in the sun but out of the wind, and finish reading Juliet on the kobo.

Portho Shakespeare was quite inspired by the mysterious misty isles.

The Mother is just getting over a big sickitude, so she took me for groceries and then dropped me at my wee hotel. It's so cute and nice! I got one of the redecorated rooms! And look, doesn't the balcony make alll the difference? 

There have been no bed bug reports in Richmond, but we check just in case.

Then climb up and settle in.

Our view is of the park.

The writing paper is Oscar sized.

Why is it the mini shampoos are the best part? Lotion too. Smells nice, like candy.

Vacation 2010 - more relaxin'

Lots more sleeping. Doing crosswords. Chatting with Parental Units. Then the Step-mommy and I went to see Inception, which was very good. And that's it!

Los Step-mommios & Oscar Doll

Vacation 2010: another day another laze

Today was another blue sky 20 degree cool breeze day, so I ventured out in the RV with my dad, to airport to work on his plane. Well, he worked on the plane; I sat in the sun reading Juliet, while the boys sunned themselves.

(Except when they were taking the plane out for a spin.)

We drove through Qualicum Beach on the way home, which is really really lovely (not just the shore, but the little town and nabes). But I didn't really capture much of that in these lazy drive-by photos. You'll just have to take my word for it.