al⋅ba⋅tross [al-buh-traws, -tros] –noun
1. any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods. Compare wandering albatross.
2. a seemingly inescapable moral or emotional burden, as of guilt or responsibility.
3. something burdensome that impedes action or progress.
4. the Pages’ basement.

We’ve lived in this house for 10 years now, and for almost 5 of those years we’ve had an unfinished basement. It’s been in various stages of done-ness. See previous posts showing small progress.

Well, I’ve taken the first two weeks of December as vacation from work (because I’m the only one working the last two) and that makes a grand total of 16 days in a row to work on getting the albatross off my neck.

I’ve made up a to-do list and it’s surprisingly small, though some of the jobs are quite time-intensive (for instance “paint trim” and “install trim”). We have a few other things to do on these two weeks, including a trip to visit Mr. Mike and Mrs. Val at their new house that is VERY FAR AWAY FROM US (I’m not bitter) but I’m going to try to work as many of those days as I can, from waking to sleeping.

It will be nice to have people over. To let kids play in the basement. To sit on the couch and watch a movie. To have all the bookshelves out of the living room. To set up the drumkit and the bass amp and the PA. To get out from under this “Oh, when the basement is done then…” guilt.

I’ve set up my to-do list on twodue.com so you can play along and watch the progress. Actually, it’s so I have some sort of accountability, and I can see the progress, but letting you folks watch is a bonus. The list is viewable here.

I’ll try to capture before, during and after pictures, because we don’t have enough of those for this project house that we bought, and it’s hard to remember how far we’ve come.

I’m nervous, because I think I’ll be discouraged if the majority of this stuff doesn’t get done, but I sure hope to give it my best shot. Ash and Snowy might even come by to do some painting!

Updates as they happen…

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it. - Ellen Goodman

If you know me at all, then you know why I had a hard time reading this with a straight face.

Left-handed people are more inhibited

I think “inhibited” is somewhere near “purple” on the list of words that describe me, left-handed Mrpages.

I agree with the typically left statements in the article like “I worry about making mistakes” and “Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit”. I also love colour coding things and writing lists.

But inhibited? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Amazon is quite a force in the world of product sales. So much so that they have actually been able to force companies to get rid of those horrendous plastic clamshell packages and the ever-present black twist ties.

Ever tried to open a kids toy while the child waits for you? There’s always one more twist tie, one more piece of tape, or one more finger to lop off while you hack away at the razor-sharp clamshell.

No longer!

One of the first products to launch with Frustration-Free Packaging is the Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship, which is now delivered in an easy-to-open, recyclable cardboard box. The new packaging eliminates 36 inches of plastic-coated wire ties, 1,576.5 square inches of printed corrugated package inserts and 36.1 square inches of printed folding carton materials. Also eliminated are 175.25 square inches of PVC blisters, 3.5 square inches of ABS molded styrene and two molded plastic fasteners.

Yay Amazon!

Oh, yeah, good for the environment too…