Amore

I sure do love trading, purchasing and receiving goodies in the mail. In one of my previous posts, I showed you how I had framed one of Corey's pieces. I then saw another one she had done that I had to have also to go with the first one. It came today. Isn't it beautiful? It's going in my bedroom when it gets finished right next to her other lovely piece.


I had told you about my ATC trade with Shelley with a Beatles theme. Look at what she came up with! How creative! I love them all. (She also added quite a bit of goodies to use in upcoming ATCs! Thank you!!) I am feeling the love with the new Beatles' Love compilation. Very fun. It's been years since I've listened to a lot of Beatles in one sitting. And since Shelley has received mine, I can post them. I did an obscure one of "The Benefit of Mr. Kite" which was written by John after he had purchased an antique circus poster. It almost goes word for word by the poster. Then, growing up, I was in love with Ringo (and so was Ms. Dianne, I later found out this weekend!). He was the quiet one and I loved all his rings, of course. So, I had to do an I Love Ringo ATC.

The other is self explanatory, I think. A blue meanie searching for the yellow submarine while the octopus' garden is gentle on the floor. It was such a fun trade. Really made me think! Thank you, Shelley, for the valentine too! I still can't get on your site! (BTW, there are so many I still cannot get onto, it is getting quite frustrating as I've never had problems before!)

Well, when it rains, it pours. I also received a surprise package from Bethy. She sent me lots and lots of ATCs. Gorgeous ones! Look at the valentine ones. To die for, gorgeous. And then these. She has a technique of embossing this metal tape that I just adore. Thank you Beth! If we don't get snow tonight (keeping fingers' crossed), I hope to see you tomorrow!!


Yes, we are supposed to get snow. We are ALL hoping for it just like little kids! We haven't had any in a long time. Actually, the last time we did get a lot of snow was when we first moved in here and we were having some hard wood floors put in. Hmmmm, maybe that's the connection, ya think?

The hub is in Geneva where he says they too have snow. Crazy times. Today was a much calmer day. But, I am still tired. Think it's jammy time.

Still Busy

Warning: This could be Part II of Alice's Restaurant, (in other words, it kind of rambles) so you can skip it, if you wish.

Crazy, crazy around here these past few weeks. Phew. I'm exhausted! I spoke with my SIL today, MJ, and she told me her family was all in a ruckus when they called her after 9 p.m. last night and couldn't get a hold of her. She had been so exhausted after worrying about her sister being ill, she hasn't been sleeping. Guess last night was the night, because she said she fell into a hard sleep at about 9 p.m. When her son tried to call with no answer, he became worried. Apparently, the entire family was called and no one had heard from her so panic set in. My nephew phoned MJ's neighbor to go over and check up on her. By this time, she heard the phone ringing and let everyone know she had only been asleep. I think it's good when you know you have folks looking out for ya. I am telling you this only because I, too, went to bed at 9:30 last night. I'm a night owl, ya know. I normally don't go to bed until, at least, after 2 a.m., 3 a.m. is my limit though. So, last night, when I could barely hold my eyes open, I thought to myself to not fight it and just go to bed. I knew today would be a busy day, just as yesterday was, and the day before that, and so on, and so on.

Saturday, as you remember, we purchased another Honda ('96) for the teenager after finding out his first car was deemed "totaled" by the "other" insurance company. Of course, after we purchased it, he drove it all day Saturday and after work on Sunday called to ask if he could run to a friend's house because he had left his ipod there. We received a phone call not an hour later. Dun dun dun . . . . The radiator had begun leaking. Lovely. New car (to us anyway) and already breaking down. I was furious! He made it home safely, and I called and left a message at the Honda place to bring the car in first thing Monday morning to see what else we may be up against! Cars! Grrrrrr.

Yesterday, I woke up at 6:30, got the kids off to school and then woke the hub to begin our chores. To fill you in, I don't "do" 6:30 a.m. (See night owl, above.) I normally go back to sleep after the kids get off to school. But yesterday, I had to take advantage of having the hub home all morning. He was leaving for Geneva mid day. The first thing we did, at 7 a.m. was get coffee, of course. He then followed me to the Honda place to drop the teenager's "new" car off. After that, we came home, picked up the rental car that the other insurance place was paying for since the teenager's car was in the shop (NOT getting repaired--rather being labeled as TOTALED). They were only paying for the rental through Monday, so I had to get it back. It just happens to be right next door to the repair shop where his "old" car was sitting "totaled." Of course, after I learned it was "totaled," I went to the shop and had to take every item out of the teen's, including taking out the stereo system. This was all done on Friday. Fun. Now, you'd think I wouldn't have missed anything, even with dingo dogs biting at my butt (behind a fence, but still close enough to scare my butt). But of course I did and was told by the teenager late Sunday night that I "forgot" to remove some component of the stereo that is screwed to the back seat from the trunk. Hmmmm, how could I have ever missed that??? Lord. And so, after dropping the rental off, we went back to the old "totaled" car where the hub had to literally crawl into the trunk in order to get at this thing. Lord. It was only about 17 degreesƒ outside, so we were both chilled to the bone by the time that little chore was done. Then we received the bad news from the Honda place. They wanted about $1800 to fix everything that was wrong with the car!! OMG! I told them not to do a thing, we would pick it up. In the meantime, I called my trusty mechanic and asked if I could bring it over there, knowing Honda was gouging us. Of course, bring it on over. We go back to the Honda place, where the car is not yet put back together. We wait. Fifteen minutes, still not ready. By this time, the hub really needs to get back home to shower and pack for his trip. I have to get back to get mom to her doctor's appointment. Lordy.

The hub got off on time, we made it to mom's doctor's appointment; and as you can see, the wood was delivered. They even pulled the carpet up. My floor guy, Jack, said he had a friend who was looking to put carpet in their, get this, garage. Perfect. Hey, knock yourself out! The wood needed to sit in the house for 24 hours before they would begin to lay it. Thank goodness, because I still needed to put that second coat on the walls. As soon as the teenager got home from school, we went to pick his "new" car up and drop it off at my mechanic's. He then forgot his cell phone in the car and we had to drive back to get it. By the time we made it home, it was already dark and I had to finish putting the second coat on the walls. I did. I finished about 8. So, by 9:45, I was bushed!

Before the hub left, he phoned the dealer where we purchased the wonderful "new" car and chewed the guy out. They offered to buy a new radiator, but I had to go pick it up. Now, the dealer is about 45 minutes away (North of Nashville--are you proud of my direction ability?). Joy. He promised to call me when it arrived today.

The floor guys arrived around 9 a.m. this morning and began installing the floor. What ruckusus that is. I had forgot how loud that is. We had wood floors put down in the guest room and upper hallway when we first moved in here. Oh yes, now I remember, the noise, the dust, then the smell of the polyeurothane. Lovely. Oh well, I guess I have a few days to enjoy the nice new wood smell before that smelly stage, at least. By 1:30, I figured I better call the dealer to see if our radiator had arrived. Do you think the guy called me and let me know it was there? Nope. And so, after a friend came over and could keep an eye on the "guys," I had to drive all the way out to North Nashville and pick the radiator up. I had a 3:00 appointment at another location right in Nashville, so I really had to book to make it. I did, barely. Did I mention I was also having my kitchen redone? AS if I don't have enough going on! Lord. We are finalizing those plans and getting close to demolition there. Joy. And, so after that, I had to drive the new radiator to my shop at which time my mechanic tells me they don't install parts purchased by the customer! Ha. Wrong thing to tell me after I've been driving for two hours getting this sucker. Thank goodness I had brought them apple cinnamonin buns, I think that did the trick. They said they would do it, just this time. hehe.


Here's the progress. It's going to be gorgeous. Of course, they still have to stain it, sand it and coat it. But, I can tell, it's going to be gorgeous! I cannot wait!

Since you've been such good readers, here's a little funny for you.

Abby does "Tricks for Food."

PS Can you see why I want to re-do the kitchen. Look at where they put the return vent when they built the place! You can only imagine where all the dust and animal dander ends up. Yep, right in the cabinets. Yum. Want to come over and have dinner with ME? I promise to dust the dinnerware before I serve.

Coat One Done

Sherwin-Williams "Creme" No. 7556

Aw, to have accomplished one coat was big doings today! Not only that, but I also found the time to run out and get a dresser for the hub at half price! (Last day of sale.) Wooohoooo! Take a look at the difference in the colors. It's such a fresher color. The entire house was done in this drab beige. Slowly but surely, I'm covering it all up. I am getting so excited about the new bedroom, I can't wait!

My trusty partner supervised me all day. Poor girl. She has to just be feeling horrible if she feels as bad as she looks. Think I will have to take her back in to the vets so they can take another look/see. She's just breaking my heart so I let her work with me all day, even though she was in the way most of the time.

I'm letting this coat dry overnight and will hit it with another tomorrow. Momma has her check up at 11; so I'll get back to finishing up after then. What a difference.



I think we wore Abby out with our whirlwind paint job. She's passed out in the hall right outside the bedroom.

I have to send get-well wishes to our Bethy who was under the weather last week. Yuk. Glad to hear you're doing better Beth!! And, of course, I have to give a shout out to Miss D. who was soooooo much fun to visit with last night. Miss you already!! pout. You look marvelous dawling, hope your trip home was safe and uneventful! Burr, I think you left a little Minnesota air here. It's freezing!!

PS STILL having probs getting into most of your blogs. Getting the same "Error 400." Who knows why. So, if you happen by, please leave a comment even if it's "Hi" so I can click into your Profile Page. That seems the only way to get there these days. And, for some reason, I can't get into the old blogger posting site from Safari. Therefore, I can't check my spelling. So, forgive my ignorance, ya'll.

Note to Self

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, write post while under the influence.

Do not expect to get much done the next day either.

Pink Sheets Find a Home

Today has been one of those days. Oh my. The internet connection has been down all day, probably a good thing. I have been so busy TCB (taking care of business).

We settled with the insurance company on how much the teenager's car was worth and therefore went out first thing this morning to find him another car. We went back to the same place we purchased his '92 Accord and found a '96 Accord that fit the bill. Done, boom, sold. (No pics, yet. He didn't take long to shower and leave in new car.)

Came home and moved all the furniture out of the bedroom to geust room. Boom done. Went to the paint store (have to paint tomorrow), closed. Closed at 4. Have to drive to next closest Sherwin Williams store. Boom done. Paint in hand.

(Thought you could see paint can in bathroom, but you can't. Oh well.)

Home again and make old bed moved in guest room with pink sheets. It looks great. I am quite proud of the finished room. Although, I think(s) some rugs are in store. Boom done. (see main pic above.)

Back up to master bedroom where I begin to dust blinds, ceiling fan and carpet. Cough cough. No wonder I want to get rid of the carpet. I cannot believe the amount of dust under where the bed was. Ew. Not to mention where I had my grandmother's quilt hanging on the wall (although I just did, mention it, that is.) now soaking in tub. Cough cough. All done. Now, late for seeing our Dianne from the hood who moved to Minnesota.

Quickly take shower at time I should be at restaurant to meet up with Dianne and others. Boom done.

Finally make it to restaurant, late, where I begin to cough dust and allergies hit. Lovely. Cough cough. Love fest with neighbors and fellow Dianne, love. So good to see her although too short, since I was late to arrive. Several drinks and time to go.

Meet up with hub, more drinks, some shrimp for dinner, then home. Here I am, too many drinks, much love and ready to hit new home for pink sheets.

Yawn. I'm not ready to switch over to new blogger, so forgive me for mistakes. I am NOT ready to change to Beta. (They want me to, according to Safari, will not let me log on unless I change . . . grrrrr.)

Now, let's go test those pink sheets! zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Think(s) I will feel this in the morning.

ISO

In search of used car for teenager. The insurance agencies have deemed his car totaled. Do you want to tell him? Pretty please? I don't look forward to that conversation and searching for another car, not in the least. Grrrr. Gonna be a busy couple of days. smile

Oh, and PS (in my best NY accent), Comcast never did show up. I called them at 4:30 and they said the problem had been taken care of last night--someone should have called me. Of course, they should have. smile

And Today, I Smudged

Finally got a call from our wood guy who will be installing our hard-wood floors in the master bedroom. He'll be here next Tuesday! Nothing like giving a girl a little notice! Thank goodness the schedule couldn't be better. The hub is in town until Monday, at which time he sprints off to Europe. He asked if I wanted to go. Well, yes, I do want to go; but I have way too much going on right now. Way too much!

And, so, the hub will be here this weekend to help move ALL the furniture out. Joy. This is our chance to move the queen bed down to the guest room, where I will be sleeping until the floor is finished. He'll be out of town, hopefully, during the entire transition. Amazing timing. Hey, at least he'll be home to do the heavy lifting! Yea!! All I have to do is empty all the drawers and the armoire. Another joy.

I have already taken down the guest room. I took the bed apart and have it waiting for the teenager to move to the basement. While I was pulling up the rug, I found yet more remnants of the "crazy woman." I just can't rid myself of her. Every time I turn around, there is something there that reminds me of that sick time in my life. She had cut a piece of her pajama bottoms off and hid it under the padding. There was also a piece of gum stuck under the pad, right in the corner. Lord.

I had purchased some smudge sticks in Arizona last year and I knew this was a good way to begin the year anew. (I have yet to make my black-eyed peas for luck! Ooooh! I even had the peas and ham hocks ready to go and just never go around to it. I have been totally discombobulated since New Year.) And so, I did my first smudging with sage. I've used incense before never the Native American ritual of sage. Since I have a speck of Iroquois running through my veins, I decided now was the time to reach out to that part of my ancestors. I used some sand from Gulf Shores in Alabama from this summer and an old shell I found when the teenager was quite small from Sanabel Island, Florida. I began with cleansing myself and tried to rid myself of all negative thoughts and then moved straight to the guest room. While I was at it, I moved the smoke to each room and said a prayer in each. Sigh. I'm hoping this rids me of all negative thoughts towards her and allows my memory to fade in regards to that horrible stage.

Now I need to go out and find another rug that will fit in the guest room. With a queen bed, it would cover the entire one that I am now using there. Of course, we also now have to order a king size bed and another rug for the master. While I say that, I am stuck here at home waiting on the cable guy. "He'll be there between 12 and 4." Well, it's now almost 2:30. I know he'll show just after four, leaving me here waiting. I really do need to learn to meditate!

A Note on Blogger

I have had so many problems getting on many of your blogs these past two weeks. Tonight, I just found out if I click on your comment and go through your profile, I can then log into your blog from there. Just a suggestion if anyone else is having difficulty. I'm going to hold out for one more week and then see what I need to do to set things straight if I continue getting the error messages.

Beans & Franks

I have been a horrible haus frau this year. Cooking dinner is about the last thing on my mind, it seems. Tonight, I took the easy way out and made the all-American meal of beans and franks. To this day, it reminds me of my childhood. I used to love to smell mom cooking hotdogs. Sometimes she would just slice them regularly and other times, she would cut the dogs at a diagonal. I always loved the diagonal ones most, for some reason. When mom cooked hotdogs whole, she would make a spiral cut down the length of the hot dog and they would open so pretty. It's the little things that make dinner special, no matter what you're eating.



Mary Jane called me this afternoon to tell me the results of Trisha's tests. All of the results came back normal! Yahoo!! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. All of us thank you, I know it made a difference.

Bev is doing a little better today. She actually came out from her hovel and asked to be fed. I have her back on the duck and green pea diet. The kid snapped this tonight. As you can see, her tongue is pink again. Her nose, gums and tongue had almost no pigment in them last week. I'm hoping this is her turn around. Poor little thing. All her sores are just horrible. She has begun scratching again, I guess that's a good sign as she has the strength to do so. The vet seems to think her anemia and skin condition are two different ailments. Lawd. The teenagers calls her "crack addict" as she looks so horrific. I found a picture of her in one of last January's posts (while eating our soup!) and what a difference. I hadn't realized how poor she looks.

Thank you also for your warm thoughts for Miss Bev. That goes without saying.

Comcast was out most of today again. I phoned them, and they will be here, again, between 12 and 4 tomorrow afternoon. A lovely day spent at home waiting on the cable man. hmmmm. I insisted they give us a credit for January since it's been mostly down the entire month. I tell you, I have had to read the riot act to more people over the phone this week than I care to admit. The teenager's car has been sitting in the shop for almost two weeks now with nothing done because the other insurance company did their entire estimate based on all USED parts. Go figure. I swear, what a racket. Had I not called the repair man, I wouldn't have known. I was ready to go pick the thing up, all nice and new. No one called us to tell us the car was just sitting there in limbo. Now our agent is on the trail trying to hunt down the adjuster who has yet to return any one's phone calls. Hmmm, I wonder why. I don't know how some people sleep at night when they clearly try and take advantage of situations. It gets me so aggravated, I just want to scream! Ommmmmmmmmmmm.

Mom's Flowers

These are mom's flowers-of-the-month from my brother. Aren't they gorgeous! Wow, I'll be wearing a grass skirt by tonight and singing Tiny Bubbles. It has me longing for the tropics, I tell you! Mom was sweet and said to keep them upstairs here. Shhh, don't tell Bubba Jim.

Not so pretty is my desk. You'd think with all the remote stuff going on, we could do away with wires! I hate all these wires going every which way! Look at how messy I'm getting, again. Geesh. I have a pile on my kitchen table to sort through and then it's on to work on the desk stuff. It sure doesn't take long, does it, for papers and junk to begin multiplying.

We lost our cable TV today, mom's lifeline. I finally called Comcast and told them enough was enough. We have been on and off all of January. Guess who's outside working in the dark?

Shyness

"Thoughts" by Dome 'nech

I was amazed by the responses I received in regard to my shyness. So many of us here in blogland are extremely shy in person yet who would ever know this by the way we write? Fascinating.

I remember once, when I was in my early 20s, a friend of my brother's (who was a pompous ass, pardon me) told him how stuck up I was. Ha! Me, conceded? I think not. I hope my brother set him straight in telling him I was just shy (I despised the guy after that). I wondered how many other people mistook my shyness as being something other than just that. A lot of people cannot believe I suffer from shyness, even today. Well, yes, I work very hard to overcome it; but unfortunately it is still there. I think, in a way though, it humbles me. I'm glad I'm not a loud mouth that says everything that comes to mind. Some things should be kept to yourself--shy or not. In that sense, I suppose I'm glad I'm a shy person.

Fun Weekend

Grrrr. Our Comcast cable has been out most of the weekend. In fact, it has been on and off (mostly off) for all of January--and thus the lack of blogging or getting several posts in for one day! It has been so frustrating. Today, it seems to be working. We'll see how long this lasts. I think a phone call into them is in order.

Seeing Lottie and Beth was such a joy. I drove out to meet up with Bethy near her house, about 45 minutes from here. We then went to Lottie's (Beth's mom), another 20 minutes away, and picked her up. I then followed them out to (let me look at a map real quick) Northeast Tennessee to where the stamping was happening. All in all, it was an hour and a half Northeast of me. I tell you, moving from your home state at 40 years old and trying to learn a whole new state is diffifult! I'm not that good (actually I'm horrible) at direction so trying to figure out where I'm going is a real "challenge," shall we say. I had no idea were I was until just now when I looked at a map of Tennessee! Is that bad or what? I thought I was up near the Kentucky border, but that was about it. Duh. Look at how beautiful the countryside is up there. It reminded me of Northwestern Virginia where we moved from. Sniffle.

Beth and Lottie had made me all kinds of goodies. Look at my domino (yep, made out of a domino) necklace Bethy made me! I love it! And the pin and the magnets are adorable. I put my magnets up by my desk so I can look at them every day. So sweet! And the ATCs are precious! I've put them up on my little easles to show them off. Those two are just so talented. This one is for the hub. I adore it! How cute is that???? hehe.




We met up with a dozen or so other women at the little community center "up there." One lady showed us some techniques on making greeting cards. That was a lot of fun. We then sat around gabbing and trading materials--always fun to do that! Beth showed me a lot of new techniques. Again, so talented! Lottie was so quiet, but she said she was busy working! Beth is just the sweetest daughter in the world. I just love being around those two (far right in pic above). I am sorry I didn't' take more pictures! Sometimes I wonder about myself. I took the camera out, took two pics and then began using some of Beth's supplies while I could and totally forgot about taking more! I wanted to get some of Lottie and Beth for our ATC group and didn't! No sense.

Since the computer was down almost all weekend, I spent a lot of time making more ATCs. This is what I came up with yesterday from some sheets I got from Beth. Thank you Beth! xoxo I love the vintage valentines, don't you? I need to get a lot of them in the mail for trades. Finally finished my Beatles ones for Shelley, yea yea yea, and my valentines for the ATC group. I am totally out of ATC covers and placed an order for them last week. I hope they come in soon so I can get these in the mail, like TODAY! (Hey Shelley and most everyone else on Blogger, I can't seem to get on your blogs. Says it's a bad request! Ex-cuuuuuse me!)


Cold and damp here today. I need to run out and get my niece, Jacq, her birthday present (late again) in the mail. Some things just don't change, do they? I'm hopelessly late these days, it seems, with just about everything. Hmmmmm.

Think I better get this posted before I get thrown off and lose this post.