The Rauch Motel

Aug 16, 2010

A Blogger’s Haiku

Shiny new design
Make me more frequent blogger?
Who am I kidding.

Nov 11, 2009

I decided, being a web designer and all, that having a hosted blog over on wordpress.com was really not the best showcase of my abilities. (What’s that saying? The shoemaker’s kids go barefoot, and the web designers have boring pre-fabbed blogs that aren’t even on their own domain?) And, while I love being known as grammar geek, there’s more to me than just grammar.

So, welcome to The Rauch Motel.

The name started as a joke… I used to answer the phone with it when I lived with the parents. Most family members got a kick out of it (yes, you pronounce the name kinda like the bug… yes, I’m just that lame. ), ’til my grandmother made reservations for herself and her bird, Joey. Two days later, she fell at work, dislocated her shoulder, and came to stay with us for a few months while she got better. My mom forbade me from answering the phone like that ever again. But she never said anything about blogs…

I’m not completely sure about the decor around here… it’s a free template that I tweaked a bit, but eventually I’ll have something new and all me. But it’ll do for now. And, I’ve pulled all of the posts and comments from my old blog and another blog I started and pooped out on, so that’s how you may have managed to comment on a blog you’ve never been to before.

But, here we are… there will be posts about our mini dashchund Oscar, who oddly enough is the biggest search term that brings visitors here, about the fixing up T and I are doing in our new move in ready house (the one with no electricity in the top-half of the house, and the kitchen cupboards still in boxes in the dining room), about all things web design, and some grammar/editing posts.

Reservations not required…

1 Comment • Posted in News

Nov 10, 2009

A funny…

Granted, I’m feeling more than a little old after celebrating a birthday this past weekend, but I did get a kick out of this ad:

Web Designer Depot is doing a whole post on funny ads, but this one was my favourite. Hey, if I have to get older, I might as well embrace it…

Why I think Kanye’s a brilliant marketer

Don’t get me wrong… what he did to Taylor Swift at the VMAs? Totally bad form. You just don’t do that to anyone, let alone a teenager who’s accepting her first award and is probably scared shitless to be there.

But here’s the thing… Kanye probably didn’t have a hope in hell of winning any of the awards he was up for… and it was for video, not even for the music, and his competition was pretty big. But at the end of the awards, who’s the one person everyone was talking about? Kanye.

And in six months, when people think back to the VMAs, they’re gonna be like… who was it Kanye interrupted while giving her speech? Oh, I don’t remember. But damn, Kanye’s a douche.

And, really, that’s probably his biggest goal from standing up there and crapping on that poor little girl. He wants people talking about him. And looking at blogs, twitter and forums after the fact? Kanye is the number one topic of conversation… even though he didn’t win anything. Even though there were much bigger stars and much bigger awards coming out of the event.

Because, honestly? Beyonce’s video was the best video ever? Really? I mean, I’ve never watched the whole video, I’ve actually never been a big fan of watching music videos – I’ve never even seen the one I’m in, for Pete’s sake – but from what I’ve seen, all she does is dance around in a little leotard, right? How is that the best video ever?

But what he was talking about? Not the point… Beyonce was just an easy excuse. The whole point? Look at Kanye.

So, douche move? Totally. Brilliant marketing move? Oh, hell yeah.

Peanut, Peanut Butter… Jelly.

I have had this song in my head for over a week and it’s driving me crazy. So now you get to have it in your head:

My senior kindergarten teacher was Bram’s sister in law, so I remember he came to our class to sing with us a bunch of times. Though, it’s kinda scary how I still remember not only the lyrics but the hand gestures too.

I guess it could be worse… I could have made you listen to skinamarink…

3 Comments • Posted in Stuff

Mar 29, 2009

The big bargoons

So, with the big move starting on Tuesday (we take possession on Tuesday, but don’t actually leave my house ’til the 15th…), T and I have been out and about trying to find furniture that’s brand new to us (as in, not hand me down from the parents), looks good and isn’t completely out of our budget.

This morning, while procrastinating the whole packing thing by surfing design blogs, looking for inspiration, I came across this announcement. I’ve done the warehouse sale thing before, and I know these things get really busy really quickly, so I literally ran upstairs, jumped on T’s head ’til he woke up and dragged him outta the house.

We made excellent time across the city, and managed to score this totally gorgeous sectional for the new family room:

It was one of the last few items they had that wasn’t sold out, and we paid only 30% of the original price.

Even better, it’s big and comfy for lounging around on to watch TV (the big screen is our next big purchase), and could double as a guest bed in a pinch.

I’m seeing it against chocolate brown walls, with cream trim, and pops of blue and green…

Now, on to the kitchen.

Leave a Comment • Posted in Decorating

Mar 20, 2009

Elsewhere on the web

Wow, hello blog.. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve visited.

And now, I’m gonna send you away… I’m hanging out at Naughty and Spice today, talking about Why your website is turning away readers.

1 Comment • Posted in Editing

Feb 20, 2009

And… it's official

My house has sold. PHEW. Thank goodness. I was really worried my house would linger on the market long after we took possession of the new house.
But as of the beginning of April we’ll be moving from here:
glenanna
to here:
front
Now someone else gets to live here, mischievous ghost and all.

But it’s a little weird. I bought this house right after I started working. It was my first place, other than residence at school, that I lived in other than my parents’ house. And the idea that someone else is going to be living here, calling this place that has been my sanctuary for over nine years home, is a little freaky.

While there’s a few bad memories, and I sure as heck am not gonna miss the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mirrors in my living/dining room, I met T when I lived here. We brought Oscar home here. Wow. it’s gonna be odd.

I’m excited, though, for the new house. It’s a fair bit bigger, which gives us a bit more room to spread out in. I’m looking forward to being able to lie all over the couch while I work without having to listen to sports or narrative history shows. And T’s pretty darn excited about the video game room (or, er, basement. lol). And Oscar’s so gonna love the giant backyard to play around in.

But it’s still gonna be weird.

Leave a Comment • Posted in Adventures in real estate

Jan 19, 2009

Making a little white box

When I moved into my little house, my decorating style was a little…. well, it was weird. I could blame the woman I bought the house from, with her leopard-print toilet seat (which, she actually made part of our sales contract that she got to take with her. lol.), and animals sponge-painted into the downstairs bathroom, but really, I just liked bright colours and slightly odd designs. (Which, considering I’m slightly odd, kinda fits. )

So, I painted Cinderalla’s castle on the walls of my spare room, my upstairs bathroom is an aquarium, and every room is a different colour – from my green and silver kitchen, to my red, black and white living/dining room, to my bright pink office and my dark purple bedroom.

The thing is, I’m trying to sell this house. And the slightly odd colours that made me happy 8 or 9 years ago don’t really appeal to the average home buyer. But, with all of my design ideas (not to mention my budget) saved for the new house, I really don’t have the inclination to repaint this house.

But that’s the thing. When I bought the new house, we didn’t look at the colours. In fact, I think I’d have a hard time telling you what colours they used in that house. Because once I knew it was going to be mine, all I can think of is the new colours I’m going to put in there (even if they will be slightly less in your face as my current house, tho not less odd. ). So, why is it that people come into my house and are scared of some paint? The house is clean, there’s no real “we have to fix that” ares, so there isn’t a lot of work that they’d need to do, except slap a few coats of paint up in a couple of rooms.

My realtor doesn’t think I should go out of my way to repaint, but I’m worried. I love the “sell your house” shows on TV and they *always* repaint in these blah neutral colours.

What do you think? If the house was perfect in every way, except for bright colours on the wall, would you still buy it? Or would you be scared off by pink, purple and red?

Leave a Comment • Posted in Adventures in real estate

Nov 13, 2008

Oh, the embarrassment

So, I have this friend who I’ve known since Junior Kindergarten (and, considering the traumatic birthday I celebrated last week, it scares me how long ago that was…). We kept in touch all through school, even though she moved away sometime during grade 1. She even used to make up Nancy-Drew-type mysteries and plant clues all over her neighbourhood to give us something to do when I’d come visit. (Which, my 13-year-old self who just wanted to talk about boys didn’t really appreciate, but my much older self now thinks was a pretty darn cool thing to do).

The thing is… after we left school and went out into the world, our paths diverged completely. To the point that we completely lost touch of what was going on in each other’s lives. I saw her a few years ago, and she’d had four daughters, two of whom, I didn’t even know existed. And even though we had a great catch up time all those years ago, and even though I think about her every once in a while, the thought of picking up the phone and calling her kinda scares me, because it’s been soooo long. And I *should* call, because again, soooo long. And yet I don’t. Because I’m embarrassed at how long it’s been.

Well… I’m beginning to feel that way about my blog. At first, I was just so overwhelmed, I didn’t have time to write a blog post. (Well, that’s not entirely true, I have about 20 half-written posts that I never got around to finishing). Then, a few weeks had passed, then a few months, and my blog posts have pretty much dwindled down to just blogging my new releases. And I feel bad that I’ve been neglecting my poor little blog, and you my blog readers who come here looking for some kind of grammatical blogging and not just months of silence. And, yes, a lot embarrassed.

So, I’m sucking it up and facing the music… and making an effort to start blogging again.

Hi. I’m Laurie. It’s been a while. How’ve you been? What’s new and exciting in your lives?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really should go make a phone call…

2 Comments • Posted in Stuff

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