Wednesday September 30th

I know everyone's life is crazy right now, but mine seems likes it's especially spinning in a direction I can't follow. Here's a short list of the current life of Becky Carroll - my thoughts, my experiences...

1. My boss says "you know it's Fall when Becky wears argyle." (This was actually pretty hilarious.)
2. Backing out of the spot on my way to get some lunch (at 2:30) I hit one of my employee's cars in the parking lot...WTF? (Thank goodness neither of us could find ANY damage)
3. My left eye has been twitching on and off for two weeks.
4. I've decided that I like Party in the USA and I really don't care what anyone thinks about it.
5. Got a facebook message from someone I haven't seen or heard from since my freshman year in college. Flooded me with memories - and laughs, right Mel? (Togo's and pee bags, HA!)
6. Got the BEST heart hug from my Dad tonight - I love you Daddy!
7. One of my employees quit in a climate where I KNOW I won't be able to replace him due to a hiring freeze. We're better off in the long run, but damn that sucks!
8. It's our four year anniversary tomorrow and my husband is spending the night in a hotel with his brother (Okay - they're away for a work meeting.)
9. Ferrari Carrano Fume Blanc is excellent - although this 2008 bottle is my least favorite vintage.
10. I bid for and won a pair of 7 jeans on eBay that I have no hope of fitting into in the near future - my fault for not trying them on in the store first. (My purchases for AJ have been much more successful.)
11. I might have to manually open 900 new credit card accounts on one upcoming weekend because the criteria for setting them up and creating them automatically is taking just as much time.
12. I miss my hunny and he hasn't even been gone 12 hours yet.

Enough whining from me - just needed to write, share and vent. Nite!

~Becky

The Time Traveler's Wife

Just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife last night and I thought I’d take a moment and write down my thoughts on the novel. I picked it up after seeing the ads for the movie not knowing what it was really about.

As many of you know, I am not a romantic, but this story had enough drama and tragedy to keep me entertained for all of the 536 pages and deal with the romance at the same time. And it didn’t delve too deeply into the science fiction world either, even though I have been known to read an Orson Scott Card book or two.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the story of a man and woman that find each other over the course of the man’s time travels. He suffers from Chrono-Displacement Disorder (CPD) which whisks him from the present to another point in time (usually the past.) Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20 – however Clare meets Henry when she’s 6 and he is 36, time traveling from the future. Although this might seem confusing, Niffenegger (who I will refer to as N from this point on cause that’s way too hard to spell and makes me giggle) does a fantastic job of keeping it all straight. She quickly notes at the beginning of each chapter, and even in between, the date and the ages of the main characters. Thankfully - because there is no way to progress through this novel without throwing it across the room if she didn’t.

So the story progressed and evolved. I enjoyed the way N differentiated the characters. Clare, the artsy romantic who found her true love at age 6 versus Henry, the irritated time traveler that always ends up beaten and bruised (and naked), drinks to excess to forget some of his life atrocities and is the unwavering realist. Maybe that’s why I liked Henry’s character more than Clare’s?

Time travel is, in my opinion, just a small piece of this novel’s premise. Of the reviews I’ve read online, there is much fuss between whether to classify it as science fiction or romance. I would choose the latter as the science fiction angle is only used as a way to develop this extraordinary relationship. Would Henry and Clare have fallen in love had Henry not traveled back in time and met Clare? I would say yes. Would their lives have moved forward differently? Maybe not. Throughout the novel the restrictions on free will are discussed. Henry states that “there is only free will when you are in time, in the present.” Their relationship progressed in real time because they shoes for it to, not because Henry had already traveled to the future (into the present or into Clare’s past) and decided it so. Confusing, I know, just read the book.

This was one of my better reads of late. I’ve spent too much time on murder mystery fluff or vampire drivel (sorry Twilight fans!) that it was nice to cuddle up each night with something that really kept my attention and made my brain work.

What’s next on my list? Don’t know. I’ve got a non-fiction novel called Founding Brothers that I’ve started and seems interesting (albeit necessitating an encyclopedia at my side – bad girl with my lack of U.S. history knowledge.) But it seems promising and educational at the same time. Anyone have any others to recommend?

~Becky

The Finished Product

It only took us four and a half years but we finally did it. We painted the house. All 1000 square feet of it. It really needed it. The guy that owned it before us must have just spray painted the thing one color. It was peeling, showing through to the wood in places - just ugly. So with the Carroll / Costello / Rodrigues clan in tow we got out our brushes and paint clothes (and the sweet paint sprayer.)

Here's the house the night before we painted. It hasn't looked like this for four years. Steve just got done pressure washing and sanding down some of the rough wood. I would say that it looked the worst it has ever looked in this picture.

As you can see, the house was in need of some TLC. So this past Saturday morning we jumped right on it and started painting.

My brother Matt bought a paint sprayer a few months ago and I'm thrilled he did. Without it, an eight hour job could have easily doubled. Here's my Dad giving Matt a few paint pointers (he could be telling him he missed a spot just to mess around - you never know with my dad.)

Here's a pic of our paint "crew," Matt, Dad and Bryan.

They were a jolly group - okay - mostly wise asses and jokesters - as you can clearly see from the picture they "drew" for Allyson.

Can't you tell this was super-hard work? Dad and Bryan felt it very important to invoke a little "Cal-Trans" every once in awhile. (I kid - these guys worked their tails off for us.) I think this was more of telling Matt he missed another spot.

Steve finally got his hands on the sprayer at the front of the house. Matt here is the official ladder holder. My father-in-law, Bruce, is now on paint roller duty.

I was even able to get in on some of the painting action. My mother-in-law took Allyson on Saturday so I was able to do the gutters and trim.

And in the next few pics you can see how happy everyone was that we were finally painting this house. Here's one of Steve and I...

...and one of my Mom holding the ladder so I don't fall and break my ass...

...and Matt in his "Man-well" labor hat (HA!)...

...and did I mention that we had an audience? These people even brought lawn chairs!

Just kidding - that's my sister-in-law, Kirby, and my grandparents (my grandparents really did pull out their own lawn chairs though - they crack me up!)

And of course - the obligatory picture of the kiddo "painting." I do love this little kid.

So - three days, loads of help (I have to thank Mike, my brother-in-law, as well, he was gone over the weekend but came over Monday and pressure washed all the concrete - what a guy!), about nine hundred trips to the Home Depot and finally a feeling of accomplishment.

Here are a few shots of the final product.

We have to continue living in this little tiny house for the foreseeable future. We might as well be proud of what it looks like when we drive home after work every day.

Hope you enjoy - we do!

~Becky