Why don't I have one of these?

Now this would have made an excellent shower present!

It's girly because it's pink. =)

Updates, updates

Tomorrow, I am supposed to demonstrate what I've accomplished with "the chair" so far. This is all related to my new muscle energetics project. Unfortunately, the undergrads were a bit too enthusiastic when trying an isometric test and stripped the teflon coating from the cable that connects the motor to the test subject, controls, and dynamometer, meaning that right now, there is no working machine for me to use for the demo. Great. The good news is that we are supposed to receive a new cable tomorrow, so I may be able to pull off my demo without having to reschedule.

Work on our house is coming along pretty well. We've gotten everything unpacked and out of the way in the main living areas--there is stuff in the attic that will come downstairs when we have more furniture/organizational supplies and stuff in the basement that will come up either as we need it or after we've renovated the kitchen, but that's it. We are going to look into furniture soon--right now, we definitely need a dining room table, chairs, a coffee table, a bed (we just have the frame that came with our mattress). Some closet organizational supplies would help too.

We're picking out paint colors and hope to do that soon. Right now, our biggest priority is finishing the bathroom floor. Our dads took up the carpet and most of the linoleum, revealing the original hardwood floor. So far, we have scraped up the big chunks of linoleum glue, hit the rest with a heat gun, and have gotten a good start at sanding. Once we've finally gotten back to the bare wood and gone over the floor again with finer sandpaper (we're using 60 grit now--soon it'll be 120 and 240). Then, we seal areas around the tub and toilet and apply many, many coats of polyurethane or some other protectant/water-proofer. Our research tells us that hardwood can be just fine in bathrooms as long as you are thorough when protecting the wood and don't stand around dripping for ages. Good ventilation (to keep the air dry) will be very important as well--fortunately, we have plenty of space to run a vent up to the attic and out near the attic vent.

I have discovered that having a house made me care about the lawn. Not only am I very careful to make sure that the lines the lawnmower cuts are perfectly straight, but I am pondering mulch, landscaping, seeding, and fertilization. I talk about a weed whacker every week. I really want an edger. I am highly allergic to the bushes that form a sort of privacy fence, but that doesn't stop me from mowing in/and around them, getting stratched and rashy in the process.

It occurred to me yesterday that we really need to be taking pictures before, during, and after any big house projects, so I think I'm going to start that tonight. I found a great blog run by people who have a (much bigger) house renovation project that I thoroughly enjoy--House in Progress.

On the big accomplishment front, we only have five thank-you cards left to write and send, and none of those are my responsibility. Hooray!

Time to get back to work!

I'm a homeowner!

Jud and I finally closed on the house today. First orders of business: bedroom furniture delivery and mowing the lawn (which took 90 minutes and filled 3.5 40-gallon trash bags, but that's another story).