thelooneys.com

Yesterday, after enduring weeks of erratically lukewarm water, I submitted a ServiceMagic request for estimates on replacing our 40 gallon water heater.  We’ve been having trouble with the stupid thing for a while now, and since it recently reached its average lifespan (10 years), we figured it was time for a ...

I'm not sure what to think of the words ''Sleep Lab.''  I have trouble sleeping from time to time, but my insomnia is usually caused by anxiousness and/or the lack of a nearby refrigerator.  In other words, for me personally, knowing there were sensors and humans watching me try to fall asleep would be enough to keep me awake for ...

I hate the snobs who think they're above making New Year's resolutions.  Do they really think there's nothing about themselves that could use some changing?  No aspect of their life has been sliding in the wrong direction?  Really? Life is busy and crazy and it's easy to lose our balance, forget priorities, and run our credit ...

Sometimes I love being me.  But most of the time, I hate it.  Never am I anywhere between these extremes. I sleep a third of each day away, and it's in this happy, happy time that I'm fairly fond of myself.  In my dreams I lose complete track of reality.  This is why I wake up expecting to see Brad Pitt in the mirror, but ...

Last night I hung two small paintings in our bedroom, one on each side of our bed.  One painting depicts a sandy beach with a lighthouse in the background.  I chose to put this one on my wife's side of the bed, since she is the beacon of hope for our family. On my side of the bed I hung the picture of an empty row boat. I ...

I had the book Getting Things Done several months before I got around to opening it (naturally), and once I opened it I had some trouble getting through Part I.  In fact, if I hadn't been trapped in an airplane, I probably would have given up on the book altogether (naturally).  I've since spoken with no fewer than FOUR others ...

''You would be just as married without a big fancy wedding,'' we are told.  But the thing we're never told — the thing no one ever says — is, ''That dead guy over there will be just as dead without a fancy casket.''  We don't buy the fancy caskets for the dead guy, do we?  Nope, we buy them for ourselves.  We want ...

I'll start with the good.  We live in Northern Colorado and recently had our house painted, inside and out.  We hired Perfection Painting of Longmont to do the work, and they did a fantastic job.  The interior had its challenges (a wide variety of colors, lots of transitions, a kitchen, etc.) but their work ...

Sarah and I don’t enjoy drawing attention to ourselves, but it doesn’t matter.  In our neighborhood, we’re famous. In the evenings, our neighborhood often has a warm, orange glow.  This is a result of the paint color I chose for our front room.  Cars slow as they pass, mothers point, and someday I will break down and ...

A-Dog and I sit outside The Home Depot, eating hot dogs.  A man comes strolling out from a nearby exit, makes eye contact with the hot dog dude, and quips, “What’s that stink out here?” The man keeps walking.  A-dog, the hot dog dude and I give him polite smile-grunts.  But, not one to be satisfied by smile-grunts, the man throws out, ...

My wife and I packed up the kids a couple of weekends ago and made our way to a ''starving artist'' art sale in Fort Collins.  These sales are a great way to find affordable art, especially art hand-painted by individuals lacking a basic understanding of perspective and proportion.  (And color.  And paint.  And ...