Can you hear the violins playing? (hehe) The hub is leaving tomorrow for China for a week. He always heads off into the sunset after the security level has been raised. Joy. I'm glad he's going to Asia rather than Europe. I've been asking for a lot of thoughts and prayers lately, but there's one more for ya! Please?
Peggy is in need of support from our little community. If you have a moment, please give her a visit and let her know she is in all of our thoughts. Her latest addition to the Homestead is little Davie. He has come down with an incurable disease and she has to make the decision . . . well, you know. Sniffle, sniffle.
Not only that, but now she has to worry about Miss Diva who may also contract the disease."Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen."
Warning!! The teenager has his license! Yahoo. He passed his driving test, of course. Poor kid was so terrified, I had him driving all morning to get the nerves out. The good thing is his car is in the shop getting tuned up to MY standards, hehe. I think it's good he has to wait another day to drive on his own. He's been through the ringer (as far as teenagers go) so he needs a day to get the adenalin out of his system.
Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers coming this way to the teen. It worked! Now, I'll probalby never see him again until he needs something. Oh well, such is life. I remember those days!
(And looks like a new driver, to boot!)
Of course, the teenager had his eye on a couple of sporty cars; but the dealer talked him out of them (yea!!) and he went for the 1992 Honda Accord. (It reminds me of my first car--1970s Toyota Corolla sedan.) It's a perfect little first car. It's a four-cylinder so he can't go too fast, which I like, a lot! He's so proud of it. Now if we can get his license!
We went online yesterday and made an appointment for his driving test. I set it up in Columbia, TN, which is about 30 miles away. The one in Franklin is in a little trailer (I kid you not) and has to deal with all the growth out here. The one in Columbia is brand new and huge for a tiny town--you do the math! So I make the appointment for 11, and we leave here at 10:30, plenty of time to get there--IF I DROVE!! The teenager drove the speed limit (GRRRRR--hehe) and of course, we were five minutes late. Would they take him? Of course not. The bureaucratic DMV Queen Be-yotches that they are--you know the type--said, "Nope, he's late, ain't gonna happen--NEXT!" It just demoralized the teenager. I wanted to reach around and strangle the woman.
A place for everything and everything in its place. I also found these great brown and red cubbies for what nots--writing stuff is what I put in there. I also found this quilted bag for almost nothing which I have informed the hub of the following: "Your mail will be put in there everyday so you will know exactly where it . It is yours to do with as you wish, just don't put it on my desk!" Ha. We'll see if he ever looks in there and removes it.
I feel so much better. All I need to do now is get to my upstairs desk, where I sit now, and go through everything. It's as bad as my downstairs desk only three times as large!! Lovely. I think I need some advil.
As soon as we walked in and were greeted, I asked them if they knew a little kitten was out in the parking lot. You know, people may have come in and told them. Nope. No idea. No one had said anything all night. I told them how cute he was and all and how we took him back home in fear that he would be run over or something. The guy said, "I'll take him if you don't want him!" Can you believe that? It's as if we were sent there to care for this little kitten for a little while until the right family could be found. And, just like that, he was adopted. Awww. Doesn't that just warm the heart?
The waiter waited until we were done eating; and then he and his girlfriend followed us to our house so they could pick the little kitty up. On the way there, all I could think of, OF COURSE, was that they were going to see my hissy fit on the kitchen floor! ha. Can you believe it? AS if!!! No one has been in our house for over a week (and it's been tidy), but the day I have crap lying all over the kitchen floor, someone comes over. hehe. And, of course, they came through the horrible garage with all my boxes from DC thrown about only to enter the kitchen next. They must have thought "Gee, these people are P-I-G-S! ha! I told them to be careful as they walked by my "pile" and they just giggled. The guy, Joe, wished me luck with my pile as he was leaving. Isn't' it always the way? You can keep your house clean for-EV-VER, but the time you don't is the time you're bound to have unexpected company. Didn't' I just say, I hope we don't get anyone visiting????!!! Yep, I did. I remember.
Painting by Brueghel
Five things in my closet:
Five things in my wallet: 
We finally got a little well-needed rain yesterday. It was glorious. It didn't really cool things down until the evening, but just not having the blazing sun burning down on you made things bearable. I could feel quite a difference in the upstairs temperature. I really think we're going to have to break down and get an attic fan. It actually got cold in our bedroom last night. I used all the "kivers" to stay warm--which I love!
Oh my gosh, I say my kids are pigs, but I have no one to blame but myself for this. (Guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, Lord forbid.) Yep, I had a hissy fit. Uh huh, talk about p-i-g-s! I'm as bad as they come. I showed you my catch-all in the kitchen. Well, this is one of the drawers underneath! Everything kept coming out and falling on the floor and I was getting tangled up in threads and ribbons and cables and wires and Lord knows what! I just blew up! I figure I'd clean the drawers out if I made a big enough mess. I really wasn't thinking as I threw everything on the floor with a couple of expletives included. Guess what? It's still sitting there. I just don't even have the energy. The kids, however, are getting a kick out of saying, "Don't even talk to me about my room" each time they walk by the junk heap. Does anyone else out there have drawers like this? It's a crying shame, isn't it? How does it get this way? Do little gremlins come in and just mess it all up? I have to admit, I don't think I have ever cleaned these drawers out since we've lived here; and that's going on over two years!!! (Shhhhh.) I just hope company doesn't come a'knockin'! ha.
One of my favorites growing up was Bone Sucking Sauce. I find it a little peppery for my taste now (hormones--I blame everything on hormones). I like my sauce a little sweeter these days, so I added a little honey, Worcestershire (hate spelling that word!) and Pickapepper sauce. It was gud.
Now I'm stuffed to the gills (if I had them) and just feel like putting my feet up and watching TV. All the teenagers finally went home to their own families, so I can even put my PJs on early and cruise the house if I want to! Weeee.
After lecturing the teenager for the past two weeks about his laundry, this is what I woke up to in his bathroom this morning. Granted, it's been a frat house here for the past week. He's had at least three friends sleeping over every night. (That's a whole other issue. ) But after his agreeing last night to "do better," I was amazed (not) that he is still leaving his dirty clothes on the floor. And, do you think he could use a towel twice? Uh uh.
All of these clothes are going right back in the hamper. I refuse to touch them. My only concern is that he will try to jam them all into the washing machine at once. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for when he decides he has no clean clothes to wear. Grrrrr.
In other news, my boxes from DC arrived today. After I packed up all our junk from the attic, I took them to my brother to ship from the shop (what we've always called our photo business' office). They arrived today. Among other junk, I had shipped some of my artwork from high school. There is one piece that I want to frame just because there's something about it that I like. It's the one of the closet and the clothes hanging. It's probably done at our house because my mom used to always iron in the afternoon and hang the clothes up by the closet. And, of course, this is the one that has had the most damage to it. It's very brittle from being in the attic for so many years (1977--eeeek) and was all folded up on the corners.
store until then. Anyway, as soon as I went in, my eye was caught by this green R (bottom right). What it is with green Rs? It's a fabric one and will look cute if I start to stick pins in it, perhaps with little pieces of fabric. We'll see. I love the way they decorate the store. Very eclectic--just my taste. I love this display, what a wonderful idea of a family tree--literally.
Today, since I had all my supplies organized, I thought I would do a quick project. I had this cardboard R from a month ago that I had not done anything with. I brought it out and just started working on it. The picture on the left looks like the teenager when he was about three--exactly! I found it in a card shop. I couldn't resist. I normally begin my work with one pic and go from there. Well, since I had the teenager, I had to put the kid on there too. So, that's him on the right when he was about two years old. This is the 
first time I haven't worked with boxes. It was very simple. I didn't put a lot of time into it (or at least as much time as I put into my boxes) but it's fine, just the same.
You'd think I was either pregnant (I'm not, thank you very much) or it was fall. I've been in this organizing mode. Dunno why. It's really not like me. haha.
This is me. It looks like this 95% of the time. I can clean it up, and it still catches everything in about a week's time. I've been told, everyone has to have a catch all. Guess this is it.
Oh, and just FYI, the desk looks as messy as it did in the pic above. I didn't even touch it! I did, however, have to clean my freezer out. It had so much old junk that needed throwing away in there; and since tonight it trash night, I figured I could get rid of any old meats without worry about it stinking. Yahoo. Now I only need to clean out the other two freezers, and I'll be good to go! (I kind of feel like Peggy! That woman does more in a day than I do in an entire month!!)
This is how I repaid myself for being so good today. This is another one of my French cups. I sat (actually I stood) and enjoyed a nice cup of tea and marveled over my supplies in one area of the house.
I told you last Friday that I took mom to our favorite thrift store (kind of like an estate sale under one roof). She found a cute shirt; and I found these cute little cottage chairs. I told the woman it was for our "beach" house and she asked where it was. I told her we didn't have one, and she giggled. She said "well, my husband bought me a saddle once and I didn't have a horse." I asked her if she finally got one, and she did. So this is a good sign of nice things to come, I'm hoping. I put them outside to air out. They came from a lake house and had been sitting for a while. Aren't they adorable. I love how the cushions were made. And I also love the different fabric on them. I got them for a bargain. I was so excited!! Now I just have to find a little cottage to put them in!
I also saw this hat which reminded me of Ulla's millinery class. It was beautiful in its simplicity. Isn't it sweet? I don't' wear hats so I left it for someone else to enjoy.
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