So, the first big topic of discussion was which room to convert into a nursery: the den/guest room or the office. It would seem silly to get rid of the guest room just as the grandparents-to-be who live far, far away begin visiting more often. (At least, I assume they will be visiting more often.) The spouse would be loathe to part with the video game setup, except that he hopes this would move the flat screen tv-fund up the budget spreadsheet priority list since it would take up less space than the current tv and can be wall-mounted. Both of these are good reasons not to convert the den.?

The office seems the most logical, especially since it still needs to be painted from two years ago, when we painted everything but the kitchen, bathroom and computer area. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all the computers that live in the office. Sigh.

Now that we’ve decided on the room destined to become the nursery, and before I start nagging the spouse to clean up his area so we can start figuring out where to put all the computers (since said nagging would require me to clean up my area and figure out where I’m going to put all my crap), we’ve begin discussion themes for the nursery. I offered a Mario Bros. theme, but the spouse suggested Dr. Seuss. Seeing as I’m excited about surrounding our child with books, this sounds like an awesome theme to me. My step-mom has been sending me links to pictures of other nurseries done with Dr. Seuss themes. I’ve found several myself. And I’ve found a couple of places online that sell Dr. Seuss-themed nursery items like a Cat in the Hat blanket, plushies, and various accessories. I haven’t even hit ebay yet. Some pics of items I’ve found so far.

Most exciting part: a local artist might do the character/mural painting for us.

Ahem, I believe I have gone on the record previously to say that hand-holding and kissing are not scary and do not lead to sex (even if most academy girls’ deans think so). And I have said that sex is not scary or bad (despite what some Adventists believe).

For the record though, sex is productive. And by that I mean it is now obvious to the world that Ted and I have had sex at least once***: because we are going to produce a child. In January. The first week of January, approximately.

***OK, sorry to gross everyone out, but you know that’s what everyone thinks. In fact, when I told one of my co-workers about the forthcoming baby, she immediately said to Ted across the table at the office picnic, “I know what you’ve been doing.”

Discovery of the day: fresh mango, frozen strawberries, frozen orange juice and soymilk make for a yummy, refreshing smoothie.

My iphone ebay selling episode has finally been resolved. Sold iphone on ebay in February and sent it insured to Italy. Recipient said he never got it. Opened tracking case with USPS; waited several weeks. In April, received letter from USPS saying Italian Post lost iphone, has no record of it, and if I want, I should file insurance claim. So I refunded the buyer his money and made the insurance claim.?

Yesterday, I received a letter from the USPS denying my insurance claim because the iphone had been confirmed as received on 5-16-08. Freakin’ three months it took the Italian Post to deliver the package. Of course, It’s also been a month since the guy got the iphone and he never told us he’d received it and never paid us back for the iphone money that we’d refunded. Grrrr. Sent ebay message to buyer yesterday, nicely saying: hey, dammit, you got the iphone a month ago, and you never said anything; pay up in three business days.?

This morning, received paypal of funds from buyer for iphone.?

Generalization Conclusion: never sell iphone on ebay to a person residing in Italy; Italian Post sucks.

Current balance on the 10% section of our original 80/10/10 mortgage: $0. Huzzah! Yesterday, I wired the last $204.14 to the mortgage company of sheer incompetence and now I never have to deal with Coldwell Banker Mortgage again (except when we file taxes next year to report the $40 in interest we paid on it this year). Since they sold our 80% loan late last year, I have been itching to finish paying off the last bit to Coldwell.?

Needless to say, I was quite cheerful yesterday, when I had the money wired (though I got the IMAD–tracking number–of the wire, just in case, true to form, the evil company “lost” the wire and didn’t post it in time for the payoff date). Thankfully, there were no hitches or glitches, and we now officially own more than 20% of our house, not counting appreciated value over the last almost four years. W00t!

Now if only I can keep the spouse from spending that extra money each month on purchases such as his recent ebay spree . . . which he claims are completely necessary for future events of the next year and about which I will blog when I’m not procrastinating getting ready for work.

This weekend, we had family visiting, which is always wonderful and tiring. To celebrate fathers’ day today, we went to my dad’s for waffles. (Yep, on fathers’ day, he made us breakfast.) Then my brother, his wife, their three boys, the spouse and I (soon joined by my younger brother) all went to my grandma’s to help her move from her trailer into an apartment. She told us she’d packed everything but the kitchen, because she didn’t want to pack the kitchen since she still had to make food.

We arrived to find maybe a dozen boxes packed. Guest room: not all packed. Guest bathroom: not packed at all. Grandma’s bedroom: not packed at all (all the clothes still in the dressers and the closet stuffed with clothes and misc. stuff.) The kitchen: not packed at all. I spent the morning packing the kitchen: pots, pans, dishes, the pantry, the refrigerator (it took two loads and two ice chests to empty the fridge), the multiple junk drawers. (Actually, I tried to leave a couple of the junk drawers full of nails, screws and tv cables from 20 years ago–rabbit ears included, but grandma caught on and dumped all the stuff in a box anyway.)

The part that irks me even more than doing the packing, loading and unloading while the grandmother supervised instead of packing all the other crap that she had not yet packed, is that she won’t get rid of anything. She has stuff from two houses ago that she’s been moving with her because she remembers how much she paid for it and she doesn’t want anyone else to have it. (Note, the buyer of the house really wanted the curtains in the living room, so grandma took them with her because “I paid a lot for them and she’s not going to get them even if she really wants them.”)

The woman has more stuff than the spouse and I do–and there are two of us in a 1000+ square foot house. She’s moving into a two-bedroom apartment. With no dining room. And no real kitchen space. And a half-size living room.

Perhaps it’s because I’m not nostalgic myself, and I may allow untidiness to build up, but I really hate clutter in general. If and when we ever move (further than say, across town), I’m giving to Goodwill all our miscellaneous end tables, lamps and probably at least one of the dressers (it’s dang heavy). I see no reason to lug stuff around forever. It’s just stuff. Seriously.

Right, so, long rant is done. On to happier things, like prepping for the BBQ tomorrow, which I did by visiting almost every grocery store in town in order to assemble the perfect ingredients for the celebratory hot dog roast and eating extravaganza. (That’s also why it was a long day. Grocery shopping is hard work. It’s all that spending money; it saps my energy. I should make the spouse do it since he likes spending money.)

Today the spouse has put up with me for six years. I am happy.

From today’s UB: “A new Thai restaurant is slated to open at 311 S. Ninth Ave., the former home of Time Out Tavern and, before that, the Polar Bear Club.” Looks like Bangkok will have a little competition. I’m always willing to try a new Thai restaurant, though I’ve yet to try one that can beat Bangkok’s food: phat thai, fried rice with tofu, vegetable curry, eggplant curry, squash curry, yum yum yum.?

That is all.