Sabotage!

I heard the Beastie Boys' Sabotage today and can't help but think, "Yup, gotta be." K, get this y'all (in my best Brittney voice), know that ice maker that leaked and just 'bout "rurnt" my kitchen floors?

Yup, these'ns.

Oh, and PS, the entire back side of the house has to be re-sanded, stained and polyurethaned. AGAIN. Because of these'ns.

Remember having to do just that only a couple of years' back? And how long it took to get the fricken' job done? I certainly do, toots. My saving grace  was/is having "my" floor guy--the same one who has done all of our floors since we moved here. Thank you big guy in the sky for at least giving me enough sense to insist on using my guy when the kitchen was being remodeled. Pheeewwwww! Ha, remember this rant? Ooof, who could forget? Hisssss.

Alrighty then, let's just move along, shall we?

Well, shaaaaaa. Looky at what I found last night after our instant hot-water dispenser began spitting at me. (And by the way, ouchy.) Yuuuuupp, I found another leak. Another LEAK!

Are you freakin' kidding me? This is the THIRD leak in two years from this "new" plumbing.

Is it just coincidence, or are you thinking what I'm thinking? I'm thinking it's the wonderful plumbing work the KITCHEN IDIOTS did for us. Hmmmm. Ya think?

Sabotage? Although I wouldn't put anything past themat this point, pro'lly not. I think it to be more of the same shoddy workmanship we received throughout the entire hellish project. Yup. That's what I think!

Sigh. I keep looking downstairs in mom's kitchen to make sure this isn't going to happen again. This was the first leak caused by the water filter. Wha??? Oh, and we caught that one pretty early also. Ugh.

-SMILE- We did, however, wake up to a beautiful, snowy morn here in Middle Tennessee. -SMILE-

Labels: Kitchen Redo, Snow

This Week

We had a beautiful sunset this evening. It turned out to be a warmish day; a door and a window were even cracked open. We're pretty fortunate to be able to do that during the winter months down here. Gotta love the fresh air wafting through the house most of the time.

We did have a few days of frigid air come through Middle Tennessee this week though. Even had some snow on Thursday! Yay! Didn't amount to much more than in the photo. Regardless, schools were closed on Friday. Yay! I heart the South!

I can now officially say to the hub, "Why, yes. I do drywall." An old family joke from early in the marriage. Of course, he thinks I can do anything. Ha. Well, the ice maker is on the blink, again. It had a leak; and my floors began to warp. After the entire fall trying to figure out what was leaking, we finally traced it back to the ice maker. Loverly. Long story short, it is defective and needs to be replaced, again. Geesh, Louise. But . . . I do give U-Line credit; they certainly do back their products. I have not had to pay for any repair work on this appliance. Cheers to that! And it seems, they are even going to repair the floors. Those types of companies are few and far between these days, unfortunately. Don't EVEN get me started on the KITCHEN IDIOTS! Braaaawwwhaha! See, I can finally laugh AT that saga! Amen.

I've been rehashing my blog this week, if ya haven't noticed. After spending a LOT of time on the header  (comme ci, comme ça), I then learn about all of these new free layouts available out there. And I mean some really nice ones! Wow, who knew? Ok, I know, sorry... I'm the last one on the planet to get that memo. (Yea, yea, I more-or-less took last year off from blogging, 'memberrr?) I still work in Photoshop and Image Shack and HTML code, etc. etc. UGH! Not for much longer, though. Well, maybe. I still enjoy fiddling about with all those PNGs.

Who knows what you might find next time you visit.

More cowbell, baby!

New Post

I couldn't think up a name, so . . .  Seems it's hibernation mode down here in the South.  Burr doggy, it's colder than a, well, you know.  So cold I've even been dripping some faucets!  Now that's cold!   I've been hunkered down in the house staying warm.  I'm still cleansing.

Not only am I cleansing myself, I have been in the basement "cleansing" that.  Oh my.  The things I have saved over the years boggles the mind.  I am, however, happy I saved some of my 45s.  The kid didn't even know what a 45 was!  Oy.  Now, that's scary (and a sign that I'm old).  I figure if I start cleaning out now, clean some every day, by the time we get ready to move in a year and a half, it should be finished!  ha!!  Ya think?  (It is that bad.)  But I know exactly where I get the hoarding issues from.  I remember, as if it were yesterday, cleaning out my mom's house that we all grew up in.  I said, "Daig, mom, did you save every box that was ever mailed to you???!"  Well guess what I'm finding in my own basement?  Boxes, from everywhere!  With nothing in them!  Wha????  Kooky.

In between cleanses, the hub and I went to see Robert Plant and the Band of Joy in Nashville this week.  I had purchased the new album at Thanksgiving when the bro was here.  I had all but forgot about it as everything happened right then.  A friend in Virginia (who I had seen Led Zeppelin with back in the early 70s) went to see them and raved.  So, I had to go, too.  Of course.  I dragged the hub with me.  As I may have mentioned, the hub's and my musical tastes are quite different.  The kid's take? "Mom is Frank Zappa whereas my father is Frank Sinatra."  hahaha.  But, he is always a good sport and went along.  It was a lot of fun.  Honestly?  I enjoyed The North Mississippi Allstars better.  Go figure.  Now, those two guys rocked it.  When Robert and the BOJ came on, the music was a lot slower.  The audience sat motionless.  I could hardly stand it.  I mean, this is Robert friggin' Plant!  At least sway or shimmy, if only a little bit.  Oh well.  I did.  The band was crazy good.  The drummer, Marco Giovino, stood out in my mind the most.  He had a very distinct sound, which is rare with drummers, to my ear, anyway.  Buddy Miller played some great guitar and Patty Griffin's voice range fit right in with Robert's.  I'm happy I went.

The next day, it snowed.  The kid took these on he and the hub's walkabout.  Beauties!

And, what a beauty Bella is.  The sun is shining brightly today.  Unfortunately, it's not bringing near enough warmth for our liking!

Hope all's well in your neck of the woods!

A Southern Snow

We've had our share of snow this season. Nothing compared to the North, but quite a bit for our neck of the woods. I missed taking photos of the big storm that hit Nashville a couple of weeks ago, but the kid went out and captured the beginning of our latest one earlier in the week. He has a really good eye for composition! So proud!

Frankie seems to be frightened of (just about everything) the camera and always turns his head when I bring it out to capture how cute he is. "Not gonna get it," he says!

The kid has been happy because he's been out of school a total of seven snow days this year. Unheard of in these parts!

Our shaggy corkscrew weeping willow definitely needs to be trimmed.  I love him in the winter months!

I finally got to the basement and began cleaning my junk, again, and trying to organize it. Here is the before shot. You'll notice a hole in the ceiling if you look carefully. A rather large gaping hole, indeed.  Last May, when we were heading to NYC for our nephew's baptism we had a leak. The water filter from the kitchen above began leaking. Thank goodness, I had asked the kid to go downstairs and let Frankie out one more time before we left for the airport because this is what he found! It wasn't there in the morning! Water! Blech!!! Well, this all happened the same weekend that Nashville got the major floods that ruined so many houses. I'll be damned if I was going to pay the raised prices of drywallers in the wake of a natural disaster. Nope. So I waited until I had it completely dried out (last week!), before I called a contractor to come out and give it a look-see. I thought it was going to be a ka-ching moment, but it wasn't. We'll have that finished up next week.

So, this is what I did on a snow day. Cleaned it all up (except my dad's old cowboys boots that the teenager is interested in that still sit in the corner). I' so happy!

The teenager was home for the weekend with his sweet girlfriend. Awwww, young love. Nothing better. I seem to be having back problems, again. Wondering if it's another bladder infection, ew. Nothing would surprise me right about now. Ugh. Gonna call the doctor tomorrow. Back on diet, so hopefully, I can lose the 10+ pounds I've gained since I last saw her before the morning. haha.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yes folks, we do get snow in Nashville.  Personally, I believe that Jeanie from Michigan brought it with her when she flew out here last week.  Snicker.

Although I was unable to pick her up at the airport because of bad weather (wimp, I know), we were able to hook up later in the week when she had some free time!   It took me about an hour to get us out of Nashville.  I had the brilliant idea to take her the back roads so she could see the beautiful hills that surround us while the sun was setting.  Well, we got in a neighborhood and I never did find the road I had wanted to take Southwest.  Ha, I can get lost in my own neighborhood, by golly!  We did find a lot of cute bungalows and saw lots of snowmen!  Well, we finally did make it out to Franklin to have dinner at The Red Pony, one of my faves.

Of course, they have wonderful libations, which we enjoyed.  I love the colors in this photo, especially Jeanie's red cheeks that match the martini!

We had quite the knowledgeable waiter who was very helpful in explaining the chef's work and even brought out an appetizer for us to test, flour gnocchi with a truffle sauce.  YUM.  

Jeanie had been introduced to shrimp and grits, a Southern staple,  earlier in the week, and she decided to try more.  This is what I always order when the hub and I come here, so I know they are good.  She raved!

My stomach has been on the fritz for a couple of weeks and this night it was acting up again.  (I'm sure the Indian lunch I had earlier probably wasn't one of my wisest decisions in hindsight.)  Regardless, I ordered something small, or so I thought.  This is an appetizer pizza.  I could barely get two pieces in.  Ugh.  I guarantee Jeanie, I normally eat away.

Unfortunately, there is never enough time.  It was such a delight meeting Jeanie after knowing her from here for so many years.  What a delight she is, but I knew that already.  What a sweetie. 

I've been  feeling better, as if I'm awaking from a semi- conscious state.  Hello world.  This morning, I made waffles for breakfast.  We had some oranges that needed using, so I squeezed them.  I can't drink the stuff.  Oh my, the one time I tried it, it like made the skin in my mouth peel.  Whattup witdat?  Ew.  So, I skip the OJ,  freshly squeezed anyway.

My computer has been acting up for quite a while.  I was unable to download any photos to it and instead used my laptop.  It's kinda difficult blogging from the laptop; so I got the hub to help me move my photo file (over 36,000 pictures) to an external hard drive.  Hmmmm.  120 GB cleared off, right off the bat!  Wow.  

So, momma's back in business!

Just a Little Bit

We got a little dusting of snow this evening--before it turned to rain. Here the hub is walking Frankie dog. I loved this photo the kid took. I added a little swirl in the street light glare, but that's it. Too cool.

I think everything looks prettier in the snow.

Now, how 'bout those Saints! New Awlins needs the love! Congrats to the entire Who Dat krewe. (Photo credit: Garden & Gun/Daniel Erath)

xo
ro

K, what's up with Blooger? It took me three days to get pictures to upload. Hmm. But I still can't move them around. Oh well, you can figure it out, I'm sure!

Winter Wonderland

The kid and I went out sledding this morning in the back yard. There is about an inch of ice over the snow, so it was perfect for tobogganing. This old toboggan goes way back to my pre-teen years. It has lasted all these years and still holds the weight! Just wax her up and she flies like the wind. We had too much fun.

The trustworthy old walking stick helped walking on the ice. Don't want to break a hip! lol

The kid testing the ice on his head. Something I always suggest doing. Hmmmm.

Greens drenched in ice.

And, of course, Bella didn't want to have anything to do with the cold stuff. Just look at that indignant face! But, we had to let her try it, again.

And later today . . .

We'll enjoy the salsa we made last night. Yum. (No recipe, we just kinda added and tasted using the new Cuisinart.) It's a perfect day to stay inside, relax and nibble!

xo
ro

A Snowy Day

Most of us here in Nashville are giddy with the snow we're getting. Oh-so-pretty. I think we're all hunkered down in our bungalows enjoying the peacefulness of it all.

It started mid morning. The birds were filling up with as much as they could. Funny how they know when it's coming.

The kid and I went to the DMV this morning to get his diver's license! Yay. It's official. Keep your children out of the road!

He's actually a very good driver. Hey, I am entrusting him with my dear old Ollie car, aren't I?

By the time we got back, the snow had begun to stick to the roads.

A little walk about the place.

And enjoyed the silence.

After I ran some errands, I went up to the bedroom where Bella wanted to go out on the porch. Of course, she didn't last too long out there before figuring out the white stuff was actually cold on the tootsies.

Oh, please let me in.

She went right to the down.

Where we both warmed our bones.

And watched the snow fall from the bed.

Until the hub came home. He, Frankie and the kid went for a walk.

The kid shot this on their way back in.

Beautiful snowflakes make me happy. And speaking of which, a very Happy Birthday to my dearest friend Amy. Cheers to many, many more Aim. This is my favorite picture, ev-ver!

xo
ro