Almost Ready For Plants

When last we’d discussed the front yard conversion, Mother Nature had been wreaking havoc with my progress.

That was last week.  This week?  Lots of progress!

First, all the mulch was moved out of my driveway and into the yard by the end of the day Monday.  I only worked a half-day Monday so I was able to spend the afternoon checking the bark mulch off my to-do list.

Thanks to a four-day holiday weekend I was able to spend a few hours Friday removing the sod from the path before I shifted my focus to indoor projects.

Saturday morning I covered the wagon area of my CRV with a piece of the black plastic that had covered the bark mulch pile and put all the sod on the plastic.

I dumped the sod in the compost pile at a friend’s house before she and I headed out for breakfast.  After enjoying yummy pancakes and eggs, and then visiting with my friend for a couple of hours, I was home and in the yard by noon.

I spent a few hours digging trenches on either side of the path, inserting the plastic edging, stomping the dirt back into place and then using the steel rake to pull the bark mulch up to the edging.  I have to admit that I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how easily this task went in the area where the big tree was removed.  I was expecting a lot of problems with smallish roots still being in the way, and though there were some that required me to clip or cut them away, overall there were a lot fewer than I thought there would be!

Yay!

When the edging was in and the mulch moved, I hauled some extra pea gravel from the backyard to the front and put it in the path as a base.  I also used the steel rake to pull up as much of the dead grass in the future dry creek bed as possible.  By the end of the day Saturday I was pooped, but the yard was looking good!

That brownish strip coming towards the bottom of the picture is the future home of the aforementioned dry creek bed.

Sunday dawned sunny but cold so I didn’t get outdoors until 8:30AM, and even then I was wearing a jacket even though I was laboring in the sun!  I was back indoors by 11AM, the decomposed granite successfully moved to the path!

As I packed the DG down, I even stamped the path with a pattern!  People pay a hundred bucks or more (depending on size of area) to have this done when concrete is poured, but mine was free!

The pattern name is called Reebok…as in sneaker.  Yep, I walked all over every square inch of the path to compress the DG!

The best part?  Look — no more piles in the driveway!

Next weekend I hope to get the dry creek bed completely done.  I was going to work on it Sunday but I discovered that I have 5 sprinkler heads that need to be capped as they are in the creek bed, so that put the brakes on any additional work.  Besides, I still had a huge bowl of turkey meat in the fridge that needed to be used in meals, so I had some serious cooking to get done (chili, lasagna and pot pie).  During this week and next, I’ll seal the bridge and arbor after work so they’re ready to place in the yard once the dry creek bed is done and set.

After that?  It’s time to buy the plants and put them in the ground!!

As much as I had hoped to have the dry creek bed done this weekend as well, I really can’t complain about the progress in my front yard.  Not when I look at the “before” and “current” pix…

Just a teeny bit of difference…with more changes coming! 

Interesting Observations

Saturday morning I headed over to a friend’s house.  She lives on 5 acres of land, has 5 horses, 2 dogs, 1 duck, I don’t know how many roosters, hens and chicks, 1 guinea pig, 1 husband, 3 kids…just your average chaotic place that never lacks for something interesting to observe.

Her husband and kids weren’t home, so Friend and I were getting together for breakfast – after I dropped a trunkload of my front yard sod into her backyard compost pile.

On the way to her house I was stopped at a traffic light and burst out laughing when I read the sticker in the back window of the Beetle in front of me.  I don’t know if you’ll be as amused as I was, but it was definitely camera and blog worthy…

Friend and I went to a pancake house for our breakfast and just before we left the restaurant I used the bathroom.  I’ve seen those Koala baby changing stations in stalls and/or bathrooms all the time, but I don’t ever remember seeing this in a stall before!

From the pictures at the top of this, it’s a child seat!  Yep, you can strap your toddler in while you’re doing your thing or while your changing said toddler’s sibling’s diaper at the Koala station to the left of the seat.  This alternative sure beats trying to keep a child from crawling out underneath the door while you’re otherwise occupied.

Of course, never having had kids, this seat may not be anything new to those of you who are parents, but I found it quite interesting.

There were other interesting things, like the spectacular view of the valley from Friend’s compost pile, the five hot air balloons that were bobbing in the morning sunrise and the jogger who must be a golfer based upon the unique way he was dressed (psychedelic primary colored stretchy pants, a windbreaker of different bright colors and pattern and a yellow and green striped knit cap), but I didn’t get pictures of these, and this post is all about a few words from my fingers with a picture to add the extra 1,000 words.

Maybe next time… 

Meet Skittles!

When I moved to California 5-1/2 years ago I brought three kitties with me.  The oldest was Scotch…

the middle child was Squib…

and of course you all know Scarpetto…

Unfortunately, my feline roommate population had gotten down to just one…Scarpetto.  Though he is quite entertaining I worried that he was lonely all by himself.  He’d never been the only kitty before.  Adding a new feline to the family had been on my mind for a while, and after meeting a neighbor’s kitten last week, said feeling got fast-tracked.

Two days ago I stopped at the local shelter to see what kitties they had for adoption.  I was looking for a female to avoid territorial issues at home, and one preferably a year old to avoid the kitten stage.

What did I end up with?

A 7-week old male who tugged at my heartstrings instantaneously!  No other feline in the whole shelter evoked that emotion from me, so I knew my original plan was history.

Could you have resisted this furry face?

If so, you’re a far better person than I!

I think Scarpetto was the only one who slept Tuesday night, though I can’t be sure as I opted to sleep with the then-nameless kitten in the guest bedroom, currently his room.  He cried and hid under the bed for 4+ hours before slithering out to play with the noisy toy that came home with him from the shelter.  As soon as I crawled to the edge of the bed to watch, he bolted back under said bed.

And resumed his crying.

Whenever I got on the floor and put my hand under the bed in an attempt to reach and pet him, nameless kitty hissed at me, then resumed his crying.  I was exhausted and frustrated even though I knew this was going to happen, and it that would straighten out after a few days when the kitty became comfortable with his surroundings.

Wednesday when I got home from work I was able to snag nameless kitty and spend some time with him on my lap…

And that’s when we bonded…and when his name rolled right off my tongue.  For the past 17 years, every time I’ve called a feline roommate the first sound uttered was “Sk”, and I wanted to keep the tradition going.  Two names that I’d been toying with were Scuttlebutt and Scarab, but when I was petting the kitty, Skittles popped out, so Skittles is his name!

In an attempt to be fair, last night I slept in my own room with Scarpetto.  This morning after I fed Scarpetto, got my coffee going and put the turkey in the oven I checked on Skittles.  I gave him a small plate of moist food and when he was done I took him into the family room with me.  He and Scarpetto are very cautious around each other — when one gets too close there’s a bit of hissing – but both are curious as well, so I’m taking that as a good sign.

After 20 minutes or so, when Scarpetto was contentedly ignoring me and Skittles…

I let Skittles explore the coffee table.  Ever curious, he jumped down and started exploring the rest of the family room.

After 1/2 an hour I decided I needed to put him back in his room so he could rest and Scarpetto and I could have the room family room to ourselves.  Kitties need to be acclimated to each other slowly, not only to ensure that the new kitty didn’t bring home any germs to share, but also to ensure that neither feels threatened by the other.

Unfortunately, catching a kitten on the loose is a game best won with two humans, not one.  Scarpetto perked up and smirked at me as he watched me struggle for nearly 15 minutes before I finally won the game. 

Another unfortunate incident is Scarpetto seems to be working on a hairball – he’s thrown up twice this morning.  At least I hope it’s a hairball and not a stress reaction to Skittles or a bug of some sort.  Though Scarpetto seems fine in every other way, this is just another reason to keep the two separated…

Life is going to be so interesting as the felines get comfy with each other.  Be prepared for more stories!!!

Cookies, Rain and Mulch

Saturday in Southern California was very soggy and windy but that didn’t prevent the arrival of my rocks and boulders…

The 3 boulders were placed in my yard and the bag of river rock (1 ton) was placed in my garage.

It’s quite a bit of rock – that palette is 44″ square and the part of the bag filled with rock is 30″ tall.  But the rocks are really great – lots of fun shapes, colors and sizes!

Half an hour later the mulch and decomposed granite arrived…

and were promptly covered with plastic…

Thanks to all that dreary weather I spent the day inside baking my family’s traditional anise Christmas Cookies.  After 8 hours of laboring I had 38 dozen shaped and decorated cookies and another 101 decorated scraps (the latter are made when the dough is rolled out for the last time and no more cookie cutters are being used).

They look really impressive spread out on the table, but they look just as impressive when you know that all four of these containers are full to the top with cookies!

Sunday morning dawned just as soggy as Saturday so I worked on Christmas gifts while watching the NASCAR race.

By the end of the race the sun was out so I spent a couple of hours moving mulch.

As you can see I still have to remove the sod from the path – that’s on the plan for this afternoon (I’m only working a 1/2 day today) – and then I’ll put the black plastic edging along the edges of the path and move the mulch up to it.  The black plastic strip on the right is the location of the dry creek bed.  It won’t be quite that wide, but I’m leaving myself plenty of room to work.  Once it’s in place and the cement is dry I’ll move the mulch up to meet it.  I’m hoping the dry creek bed will be completed by the end of my four-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Now here are shots of my boulders.  This first guy is 30″ across and is in the garden nearest my house…

this one, the back side of the one I showed you in last week’s post, is 34″ across and is closest to the street (though it’s  my favorite I thought it would be nice to be up front for passers-by to see)…

and this one is in the skinny strip of lawn between my house and my neighbor’s.  It measures 28″ across and will look just as awesome as its siblings once I was the sand off it.  I really wanted you to see the fun shape so I need to clarify that the 28″ goes from the far right up to the left turn the shape makes ( took the pic from the side)…

Though I was able to get a huge project out-of-the-way and make progress in the front yard, the best news was that my CRV was able to be in the garage the whole time!  Everything was put to the left side of my driveway and garage so that Putt-Putt could continue to live in its house…and still get in and out!

The weekend was super busy and exhausting for me.  Seems Scarpetto agreed with that thought too, though I’m not sure why he was the one curled up on my fluffy robe instead of me!

Topsy-Turvy

Those are the best words I can think of to describe my plans for the next 9 days.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, my plans have undergone a wee bit of a change (to put it mildly).

ORIGINAL PLAN

River rock, boulders, mulch and decomposed granite would be delivered Saturday morning the 20th.  All the mulch and decomposed granite would be in place by noon on Sunday and the balance of Sunday and all of Monday would be spent building the dry creek bed (I took Monday off from work as a sort-of comp day for working through the weekend at a trade show).  If it wasn’t completed I would finish it sometime over my four-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Speaking of said long weekend, I was going to cook my turkey Thursday morning and make stock Thursday night.  The afternoon would either be spent outside on the dry creek bed or inside making the annual tri-colored vanilla Christmas cookies.  Friday my car would go in for a timing belt/water pump replacement while I spent the day making meals with the turkey then freezing them in individual portions.  Saturday would be Santa’s Bakery as I made the traditional Anise Christmas cookies — a 9-10 hour project that nets 24+ dozen cookies.  Sunday would be spent on the dry creek bed or the vanilla cookies – whichever I didn’t do on Thursday.

Now for the two issues which have turned my plans topsy-turvy.

First – Mother Nature.  As I stated in yesterday’s post, it’s going to be a rainy weekend.  Fortunately, the majority of the rain is scheduled for Saturday.  Sunday is supposed to be showery (50% chance) and Monday even less showery.

Second – death.  Assistant’s brother-in-law passed away rather suddenly on Thursday.  She’s not going to be in the office at all next week as she needs to fly to Kansas for a wake and funeral.

My subconscious spent a goodly amount of time Friday re-arranging my 9 day schedule so that I’m able to get everything done in a timely manner based upon “real” priorities as opposed to “desired” priorities.

PLAN B

I’m not even going to worry about whether or not the rainy Saturday forecast is correct.  I’ll welcome all the new additions to my front yard, watch the boulders be placed and cross my fingers that the forklift can get the river rock into my garage.  I will cover the mulch and decomposed granite in my driveway with leftover black plastic weighed down with blocks, then ignore all of it and spend the required 9-10 hours baking the anise cookies. YES – for the first time EVER, the cookies will be made BEFORE Thanksgiving!  But don’t worry – they last for a whole year without going bad 

Sunday I will start moving the mulch and decomposed granite, ditto for Monday and Tuesday afternoons after I spend half a day in the office.  Boss told me I could still have Monday off, that I have more than earned it, but the work-me doesn’t feel comfortable with that since I now have to cover the customer service aspect of things Assistant does.  Sooo…I told Boss I would work Mon and Tues mornings and leave around 11:30AM both days.

Thursday and Friday will remain unchanged, but next Saturday will be spent in the front yard working on the dry creek bed…ditto for Sunday (if necessary).

If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m a major planner.  I have to be since I’m single and responsible for everything.  At the same time, I know that I need to be as flexible as possible, definitely NOT my strong suit.  The front yard conversion to drought tolerant landscaping and the holiday preparations are both HUGE projects, and the fact that they are happening simultaneously is stressful on their own, never mind adding in the double trade show chaos AND missing Assistant next week.

It took my brain nearly 20 hours to rearrange and accept the new schedule (Assistant had called me at home Thursday night) but by mid-afternoon Friday I was totally fine with it.

Besides…there are three silver linings!  Honest!!!

1.  The storm that is bringing rain to the So. Cal. valleys will be depositing snow in the mountains!  Once the clouds disappear on Monday I should have awesome views of snow-capped mountains (these views NEVER cease to catch my breath).

2.  My work-me halo is shining for being responsible and going into the office both Monday and Tuesday

3.  The reduced front yard hours on Monday and Tuesday are a HUGE benefit to me as they prevent me from overdoing it!

Don’t congratulate me on the way I’ve readjusted my schedule…at least not yet.  Should I have to make any additional changes you will most definitely NOT want to be the reason.  If you are, you will be the target my flexible rubberband self hits as it sails across the room from the finger/thumb launching pad.

Swimming Upriver

Yep, that’s how I’m starting to feel right now.  I have several projects in the works and plenty of energy and brain matter to deal with all of them.  That is until forces beyond my control decided to step in and challenge me.

As you all know, I’m in the middle of converting my entire front yard to drought tolerant landscaping.  Saturday morning I have 7 yards of bark mulch, 1/2 yard decomposed granite, 1 ton of Arizona river rock and three 400-lb boulders being delivered.  And what’s it going to do?  RAIN!  Yes…here in always-sunny-Southern-California it’s going to rain!  Well, most likely shower and drizzle, but no matter, the blue skies will be gray and the sunshine will be liquid.

The weather will not impact the boulders as the rock place is going to bring along its large forklift and place them for me, but the rest of the goodies?  It’s beginning to sound like I’m going to be inside staring at them with muscles itching to play.  I even sent an e-mail request to cyber-buddy Jennifer Bjorklund asking her to get NBC4′s meteorologists to beg Mom Nature for a change of forecast, but she just snickered and said “it’s gonna RAIN honey”.

Just in case the forecast is correct, I’m going food shopping Friday before heading to work.  I’m going to be partaking in a massive 3 day cooking/baking spree Thanksgiving weekend so I need to stock up on supplies this week as I have absolutely no desire to dodge hundreds of my non-best friends in the food store next week.  If the forecast is correct, my CRV will be garage-bound until such time as I’m able to relocate all the goodies in my driveway, so I’m food shopping long before any of the supplies arrive.

Speaking of the Thanksgiving weekend — it’s four + days long for me.  I’ve dedicated 3 days to cooking and holiday baking, decorating, card writing and gift wrapping.  The fourth day is my catch-up day for the front yard conversion.  Once the holiday is over, Christmas will be done except for the mailing, and I refuse to do that until I can have a December postmark on the envelopes and packages.  History has taught me not to send Christmas items with a November postmark.

Anyway…since I’ve decided the kitchen and I will be one for three days, I scheduled a timing belt replacement for my CRV the day after Thanksgiving.  The mechanic will bring me home after I drop off the CRV and will pick me up when it’s ready.  Though having this done now is blowing my budget to smithereens, the convenience and price are so worth it.  Right now.  Today.  A week before said work is done and a month before the resulting bill arrives.

With the car service and holiday baking, card sending and gift making out-of-the-way you’d think my life would coast, but it won’t.  I have a slight issue with my automatic garage door opener.  It has become an incredibly spoiled rotten Southern California mechanical thing.  Last winter whenever it was damp or rainy, the door would open a few inches then stop.  I’d close it then try again.  On the third or fourth try the door would finally open or I would use the emergency release.

This fall, the door is now acting up even when it’s cold.  It opens a few inches then stops…

Care to guess what I’m scheduling for the week between Christmas and New Year’s?

Add to all of this the two trade shows I’m coordinating, plus two sales presentations, plus all the development work I’m kinda sorta keeping up with, and you can understand why I feel like I’m swimming upriver right now.  But its all good — nothing is too out of control, I’m just having to deal with a few unplanned forks in said river.

Where Do I Start?

Seriously…there has been so much progress in the front yard that it’s nearly overwhelming…especially to my eyes and my muscles!!

In preparation for the tree removal, I called 811 and had my yard/sidewalk/street marked for all utilities…for free!  By the end of the day Wednesday it was very colorful in front of my house!

Thursday afternoon Sod Neighbor and his neighbor came over to check out the plants they are planning to move to Sod Neighbor’s house.  While looking them over they decided that one of my two trees would be perfect for Sod Neighbor’s backyard garden.  Bye-bye tree, I hope you love your new home!!!

I was a bit surprised when the tree removal service I hired arrived that afternoon, complete with a huge claw-like contraption that was controlled from a seat above the truck cab.  I was expecting chain saws and a stump grinder, not the more efficient mechanical process that was used.  Once the tree removal service sprang into action, the view from my front door was a bit different than usual…that tree used to be vertical, not horizontal…

and after they chopped off the trunk they proceeded to load it bit by bit into the truck…

and when they got to the stump they were able to break away 2/3rds of it…

before using the stump grinder to grind down the last 1/3rd of it and as many of the roots as possible…

And so ended my watching of the front yard changes…the rest were of the participatory kind!

Friday on the way home from work I stopped and ordered my Arizona River Rock…and I picked out my 3 boulders.  I LOVE my boulders!!!!  Here’s a sneak peek at one of them…

Aren’t the colors and shape incredible???  The other 2 are just as awesome!!!!

Saturday morning I was at the bark mulch place by 7:15AM ordering the mulch and decomposed granite.  It took another 3 hours before the delivery order of rocks/boulders vs. mulch/decomposed granite was established.  If the river rock will be delivered loose than the mulch has to arrive first so it can be the cushion for the ton of rock.  But, if the rock is coming bagged then it and the boulders need to come first.  After bouncing between the two companies and the employees calling supervisors, the result was in.  The rocks/boulders will be delivered Sat the 20th between 7-8AM and the mulch/decomposed granite will arrive between 9-10AM.  BUT…once the rock delivery arrives I need to call the mulch place…they will then make sure I’m next up for delivery, so the 7 yards of mulch and 1/2 yard of decomposed granite could arrive sooner.

Once all the planning was done it was time to engage muscles other than those in my brain.

Between Saturday and Sunday I spent nearly 10 hours working hard, very hard, in the front yard.  I removed 1 foot of sod along all perimeter areas that border the public sidewalk, my driveway and the sidewalk from my driveway to my house.  I haven’t dared to measure the actual amount but I know it’s more than 100 linear feet.  Not only did I remove this but I also took the sod pieces and clawed out as much soil as possible.

The result?

Two full yard waste barrels – 96 gallons each!!

The one on the left is mine, the one on the right is my across-the-street neighbor’s.  He doesn’t have any green waste this week so I filled his with my sod and will wheel it in front of his house Tuesday night.

Not only are those two full, but look…

That’s the pile of sod that I haven’t yet placed in a barrel!!!  I may move some of it into the two barrels I have since the max. weight per barrel is 350 lbs, but as of now, said bonus sod is just hanging out.  I know the barrels aren’t at weight capacity because if they were, I wouldn’t be able to move them even though they have wheels!

Oh…I should tell you that the front yard is once again totally covered in black plastic (I moved much of it out-of-the-way for the tree removal).  But now the path that will wind its way through the front yard is exposed.   In order to get this in place properly, I measured/marked the beginning, the bridge starting location, the distance between the path and neighbor’s block wall, the distance between the path and the public sidewalk and the ending point.  All of these areas were marked with purple spray paint dashed line.

After marking them I then used a measuring tape to further mark off widths of 2′ by pushing landscape stakes through the plastic and into the ground on either side of the 2′.  Once the pathway was marked, I used my yellow utility knife (YES I found it!!!) to cut away the plastic.

Here’s the beginning of the path…the bridge will span the area where the greenest grass is in this picture…

…and here’s the rest of the path…

This coming week I will work on removing the sod in the 1-1/2 hours of post-work daylight, every night but Tuesday when I’m off to a friend’s house for dinner.  Hopefully between my and my neighbor’s barrels all of the sod will be gone pre-Thanksgiving!

No matter how hard I tried, there was no way to avoid having the two most laborious weekends back-to-back.  This past weekend and this upcoming weekend.  I’ve taken a day off from work for the upcoming weekend in order to spread the labor out over 3 days, but still, they will be very busy days.

And ya know what???  I am totally fine with it!!!  It completely doesn’t matter that I am moving like an arthritic old lady, that soooo many muscles are talking to me in not-so-pleasant tones, that I’ve popped 4 Advil and have enjoyed 2+ glasses of Chardonnay.  Nope,  I am so psyched to see the end result of more than a year of planning, weeks of waiting for HOA approval and weeks of physical labor, that no ache is worthy of anything more than a thank-you!

One of the absolute coolest things?????  Neighbors who did not need to sign off on the Neighbor Awareness form are stopping and asking questions!  How awesome is that????

And when I desperately needed a laugh on Saturday, I got one when I took off my sneakers…

…and it repeated itself on Sunday!  Needless to say, both pair of socks are inside-out and sitting on the garage floor, waiting for their opportunity in the washing machine.

Life is so good!!

The Pajama Fetish Continues

In fact, its expanding, and I couldn’t be happier!!!

On November 16th of last year I wrote this post about all my winter jammies.  It was spurred on by my new decadent Axcess brand finds at Kohl’s.  I lived in those new jammies as much as possible over the past year, often lounging in them when I had a stay-at-home day and hopping into them as soon as I was home from work.

Imagine my absolute joy when I discovered that Kohl’s has MORE of them this year!!!  A couple of weeks ago I stopped at the store to pick up some tops to spruce up my trade show wardrobe, and when I found the jammies, I resisted the urge to purchase them.  The tops I had would earn me $10 in Kohl’s cash that I could use the following week to get a pair of jammies, and at an additional savings.

Last week I detoured to the store on my way home from work and scooped up my new treasure.  Soo…here are all the wild bottoms I have (the pink/red plaid ones at the bottom are the newest)…

and here are all the tops (the red one is the new one)…

As you can see, it’s mix ‘n match heaven with these jammies!!  I can wear at least 3 different tops with each pair of bottoms!  And they are soooo soft…a light-weight fleece…

Fate has stepped in since my most recent purchase.  When I got home from work Monday I saw this hanging on my front door…

and when I opened it up and read all the “rules” I squealed with delight!

Any guesses about where I’m stopping Friday after work, and what I’m picking up??? 

Behind The Scenes Progress

This weekend I took all of these pieces…

and turned them into this ( focus on the reddish arbor in front of the wall)…

And I took all of these pieces…

turned them into this…

placed it in the yard to check it out…

then wood-filled the screw holes before staining the entire bridge in a red mahogany color!

I still have to seal these two additions to the front yard and I’ll get that done before they’re scheduled to be put outside (next 2-3 weeks).  Both of these items were purchased at Hayneedle.com, and after seeing the finished results, I highly recommend this company!!!  To be honest, a few of the pre-drilled holes on the bridge railings were 1/32″ off, but that was easily remedied by angling the bolts a bit.

I also cut a pad off Carlton…

and put it in a pot to root…meet CJ (Carlton, Jr)!

My curiosity got the best of me and I peeked underneath the black plastic covering my front yard.  The grass is turning yellow, but its far from being dead.  That tidbit of information, combined with visual proof that the months dead lawn across the street is now turning green thanks to Mother Nature…

has led me to the decision that most of the black plastic will remain on my front yard…forever!  There’s no way I want to go to all this effort only to have green blades intrude into my landscaping!

This past week I also scheduled two steps that will make HUGE differences in my front yard for next week’s update!  These changes will be very visible to anyone driving by whether they know what I’m doing or not.

Though the next two weeks will be very laborious and will result in the most massive changes, every week has put me one step closer to the completion of the project.

It’s all about one step at a time and steady progress…

Four Seasons Hotel

The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston was my home-away-from home for five nights last week and I loved it.

For the wrong reason.

I loved it because it was just feet from the convention center, that massive place where I spent my days, far from any hint of sunlight.  I loved the fact that I could walk out the hotel, across a park and through the convention center doors without having to wait for a shuttle, take a cab or use the hotel car service.

See that white building?  That’s the convention center as seen from my room!

Of course there were other neat things about the hotel, like the floors in the elevator…

the iHome alarm clock/MP3 charger…

the right side closet door that once opened automatically turned on the light in the closet…

and the nightly turn-down service that included a fresh bucket of ice…

and a game of “where’d they hide the decorator pillows that were on the bed”.

I really didn’t need the turn-down service so I contacted housekeeping and cancelled not only that, but also the housekeeping service period.  After all, at home I sleep on the same bedsheets and use the same towels for a week, why should that be any different in a hotel?

I was not impressed with the room service food – it was okay, not great, and grossly over-priced.  The hotel staff were incredibly, almost annoyingly polite, escorting me to the elevator when I checked in and anticipating my every need…all for a price, err, tip, of course.  The room was nothing fantastic – it had a bed, a TV, a closet, an alarm clock, a desk, a phone and a bathroom – pretty much standard hotel fare.  There was also wi-fi at a cost of $45 for 5 days or $12/day.

The Four Seasons wasn’t my choice, the boss decided where we were staying, and I’m sure he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed their suite.  As for me?  I loved how close the hotel was to the convention center!