We got snow. They hardly ever manage to come close, I guess that the law of averages caught up with them. Or the dart hit the right spot on the target! It has been snowing since mid-morning. At times it's been pretty heavy. We probably have a couple of inches and it is sticking to the yards, some streets have sticking snow also. We decided against karate today, the roads were beginning to get slick and Tulsa drivers are dangerous on a good, clear, dry day so I decided not to chance it.
Otter and I had a snowball fight in the back yard when we got home. Probably not the best place to be picking snow up out of the yard, considering that we have two doggies... She bent over to pick up snow and was complaining that falling snow went down the back of her jeans, so as soon as I could I got behind her and put more in her pants! Of course, she paid me back in kind so we both had cold, wet rears for a while. But we had a good time. She started a snowman, but it turned into our snowball fight so we might go out in the front yard later and see about making a snowman. We did manage to get the birdfeeders refilled while we were out there, but we are now out of bird food! We stopped at the grocery store on the way home yesterday and bought groceries, but I didn't realize that we were so low or I'd have bought another 25 pound bag. Tomorrow probably. If they actually have any left, that is.
We went shopping yesterday after work/school and she found everything she needed to complete her spring formal outfit. She chose a purple (what other color is there, really?) scarf drape, a silver crystal earring and necklace set, black high heeled sandles and she also found some purple eye shadow. She already has plenty of eye shadow and several purple, but apparently there was a shade she didn't already have! She is still thinking about how she wants to do her hair. Her friend Lizzy wants to "experiment" with her new curling iron - on Otter's hair. We said no to that one! I'll get pictures soon of the entire outfit. She made some great choices and it all looks really good.
The dogs were running around with us out in the back yard, but I noticed that as soon as we came in both hounds followed and they both immediately took naps. Lazy babies! I guess all that excavation they did today must have exhausted them. Frasier is parked in the floor by my desk, he's a big obstacle to walk around. Maggie is back in her usual spot - curled up in the middle of Otter's bed and probably on the blanket I washed this morning! There is one fleecy blanket of Otter's that Maggie just loves, I have to wash it frequently to get all the dog hair off of it and lately the Magginator has taken to licking it for some strange reason. But then she's a strange dog!
I read an article on the internet just now. Apparently, some scientist has made a discovery that all people who have blue eyes share a common ancestor. Well, duh! We all share a common ancestor (two, really), no matter what color our eyes are!
Oh, before I forget: The official count is now Otter 5, glassware 0.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday's Meandering Thoughts
I ate too much today. Actually, I've had too much fat in my diet the last couple of days - not that I've eaten too much in terms of quantity, just fat quantity. And not just today. But it was all self-inflicted, so I can't blame anyone else! Although I might try to blame Bill. There is a particular Mexican place he likes to eat at, I like it just as much but I try to restrain myself. But it's quick to get in and out of in the limited time Bill has for lunch, so when we can meet for lunch that is generally where we end up at. Friday of last week, yesterday and then today. And I'm paying for it now. I have got to get serious about it again and get back to being strict on the amount of fat I eat. I have done better since the first of the year, I didn't worry too much in December. But the last few days I've fallen off the wagon big-time. So, it's going to be rabbit food for me for the rest of the week.
Otter made it through the entire karate class this afternoon, she didn't need her inhaler once. Although she was pretty tired when class was over. This is the first time in two weeks. She will test in the next testing class which is at the end of February.
I have another Clara remembrance! When I was a kid, the Waltons was a very popular tv show. We always watched it. Two of the characters were spinster sisters, their father had made moonshine and the two ladies apparently never realized that it was a) alchohol and b) illegal. It was a recurring joke in the show. The sisters called their product "Recipe." Somewhere along the line, my mother was given a start of a product that she and Aunt Jessie decided to call Recipe - it was made with mixed fruit, sugar and a few other things. They made up a good sized batch, and kept it going by adding fresh ingredients to it when it ran low. It became an afternoon snack, we had it on cake, ice cream - just about anything. Keep in mind that I was in elementary school at the time or possibly in middle school, so I was in no way of legal age! As a recall, we all consumed it and we enjoyed it. Then one day, it suddenly disappeared with no real explanation. In talking with Froggy, we think that it might have vanished about the time that Mom realized it was actually FERMENTED fruit and therefore, alchoholic and that she'd been feeding it to her two daughters! For anyone that knew my mom, that would have been the absolute LAST thing she would EVER have given us. For some reason, I was trying to tell Bill about it this morning but I don't think he believed me - he just can't quite imagine my mother letting us have something like that. It's a funny story now, although at the time I'm sure mom was scandalized when she realized what it really was, and just how close she was when she jokingly called it Recipe after the moonshine on the Waltons tv show.
Jan/Bax, I will eventually post a picture of Otter's dress. I will probably take a picture of her in it, although I don't intend to show her face. Kind of like the camo quilt pictures. But I think I'll wait until she has the shoes to go with it. We're going shopping for accessories tomorrow afternoon, at least for jewelry and possibly hair stuff. Then we might look at shoes after that. This is one of those times when it's fun being the mother of a daughter! Especially now that she's turned into a girly-girl. A girly-girl who can break bones and take down anyone who crosses her! And she'll have the black belt to prove it in just a few months.
Groundhog day is next Saturday. And if he sees his shadow, we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. But if you look at a calendar, there will still be 6 weeks left of winter even if he doesn't see his shadow! Because the first day of Spring is 6 weeks after February 2nd!
Otter made it through the entire karate class this afternoon, she didn't need her inhaler once. Although she was pretty tired when class was over. This is the first time in two weeks. She will test in the next testing class which is at the end of February.
I have another Clara remembrance! When I was a kid, the Waltons was a very popular tv show. We always watched it. Two of the characters were spinster sisters, their father had made moonshine and the two ladies apparently never realized that it was a) alchohol and b) illegal. It was a recurring joke in the show. The sisters called their product "Recipe." Somewhere along the line, my mother was given a start of a product that she and Aunt Jessie decided to call Recipe - it was made with mixed fruit, sugar and a few other things. They made up a good sized batch, and kept it going by adding fresh ingredients to it when it ran low. It became an afternoon snack, we had it on cake, ice cream - just about anything. Keep in mind that I was in elementary school at the time or possibly in middle school, so I was in no way of legal age! As a recall, we all consumed it and we enjoyed it. Then one day, it suddenly disappeared with no real explanation. In talking with Froggy, we think that it might have vanished about the time that Mom realized it was actually FERMENTED fruit and therefore, alchoholic and that she'd been feeding it to her two daughters! For anyone that knew my mom, that would have been the absolute LAST thing she would EVER have given us. For some reason, I was trying to tell Bill about it this morning but I don't think he believed me - he just can't quite imagine my mother letting us have something like that. It's a funny story now, although at the time I'm sure mom was scandalized when she realized what it really was, and just how close she was when she jokingly called it Recipe after the moonshine on the Waltons tv show.
Jan/Bax, I will eventually post a picture of Otter's dress. I will probably take a picture of her in it, although I don't intend to show her face. Kind of like the camo quilt pictures. But I think I'll wait until she has the shoes to go with it. We're going shopping for accessories tomorrow afternoon, at least for jewelry and possibly hair stuff. Then we might look at shoes after that. This is one of those times when it's fun being the mother of a daughter! Especially now that she's turned into a girly-girl. A girly-girl who can break bones and take down anyone who crosses her! And she'll have the black belt to prove it in just a few months.
Groundhog day is next Saturday. And if he sees his shadow, we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. But if you look at a calendar, there will still be 6 weeks left of winter even if he doesn't see his shadow! Because the first day of Spring is 6 weeks after February 2nd!
Monday, January 28, 2008
It's Monday! A New Day!
Just miscellaneous ramblings today.
Yesterday was a momentous day in Otter's life. We bought her first formal dress! She's going to the spring formal at school, all the girls in her "group" are going together since none of them are allowed to date yet. Otter wanted a long, purple formal with spaghetti straps and we did look but the only ones in purple she could find were either "old lady" style, way too big for her or too "adult" in style. So she branched out. She finally settled on a short formal after trying on a few, but it's very pretty. It's black satin, has spaghetti straps and has a chiffon-type drape at the top which goes around the entire dress and flows down the back a little bit. There is just a hint of tulle netting that shows at the hem, it's just to her knees. She is thinking about a sheer scarf type wrap to drape over her shoulders. Shoes, jewelry, hairstyle and make up to be determined later but the shoes will have heels. It's funny watching Bill realize that his little girl is growing up! I didn't think we'd find a dress this soon, but we were lucky and it came from a consignment store so it was a very good deal. I think I'm going to take it to the cleaners pretty soon, so I won't have to worry about that later.
I see that Teddy Kennedy has endorsed Obama. Frankly, I think that is hilarious! Although he's really disgusting, Teddy is very powerful in his party and his endorsement means a great deal. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Hitlary's house when she heard about it! Bill made a comment that Hitlary is campaigning as if she's running against George W. Bush. I have to say I agree with him, and I've heard a few other people make similar comments. I guess that's easier than campaigning against her real rivals? Kind of reminds me of her husband's tactics.
It's no longer Limbsville in my neighborhood! The piles of tree limbs that have been decorating everybody's yards were here this morning when I left for work, but they vanished sometime today. Hooray! It will be nice to not have to worry about not be able to see when I pull out of the driveway now. The city said that they would post signs at the entrance to each neighborhood informing the residents when they would be out, and according to their published shedule we shouldn't have been on their route until March. But I'm not complaining! My yard looks so strange now that all those limbs are gone, and with the trees gone it really looks different. Well, at least we'll have grass in the front yard now!
Poetic justice: Frasier was running around the yard and as he was picking up speed for his final dash into the house, he tripped in one of his own holes! He popped right back up again and ran inside, but it was funny. Of course, now I can't tell that I ever ran the vacuum today because he left me a trail of doggy prints across the carpet. He's currently curled up on his blanket having a snooze.
It was supposed to rain this afternoon, and it might but nothing yet. It's been very windy today, I half way expected to see the Magginator flying off with those long ears of hers! Today was forecast to be in the 60's, but with the wind it felt much cooler. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold, and I think we have a good chance of snow by Thursday. Well, we have plenty of firewood!
The people who sell firewood are having a lean year, there is so much of it piled up at the place where we've bought it from before that it almost looks as if Bubba and Bubba are building themselves a fort! They've also dropped their price considerably. Bill thinks that we should buy a load from them, to have so it can age over the summer since the green wood we have is burning so quickly and also because they don't seem to be selling much - if any.
I think I'm going to make some changes to my rock garden. We're going to take the fountain out of it, the fountain is going to be moved around, somewhere out in the yard most lilkely and it will be turned into a planter. I'm thinking something like moss rose maybe, I want something that will drape and be colorful. Then I'm going to get a large rock to put where the fountain used to be. I'm thinking a very LARGE rock. Maybe a limestone, I'll decide on the actual rock later on. Of course, if a certain sister of mine would admit that the rocks are MINE or at least that it's my turn per the shared rock custody agreement, I wouldn't have to go to the expense & trouble of finding a rock! Bill seems to think that he has a voice in the rock choice, don't know where he gets that idea from! :) I'll eventually post pictures, but this is a summer project so it's going to be a while. For one thing, we'll have to get all those dog craters filled in first.
I've also noticed that the daffodils are beginning to break through, they are in the tulip bed and they always come up about this time. No sign of the tulips yet, but I kind of expect them to be early this year since we haven't had a lot of real cold weather. If the ground is warm, they will come up sooner. We've had cold weather, just not consistent or long-lasting.
Yesterday was a momentous day in Otter's life. We bought her first formal dress! She's going to the spring formal at school, all the girls in her "group" are going together since none of them are allowed to date yet. Otter wanted a long, purple formal with spaghetti straps and we did look but the only ones in purple she could find were either "old lady" style, way too big for her or too "adult" in style. So she branched out. She finally settled on a short formal after trying on a few, but it's very pretty. It's black satin, has spaghetti straps and has a chiffon-type drape at the top which goes around the entire dress and flows down the back a little bit. There is just a hint of tulle netting that shows at the hem, it's just to her knees. She is thinking about a sheer scarf type wrap to drape over her shoulders. Shoes, jewelry, hairstyle and make up to be determined later but the shoes will have heels. It's funny watching Bill realize that his little girl is growing up! I didn't think we'd find a dress this soon, but we were lucky and it came from a consignment store so it was a very good deal. I think I'm going to take it to the cleaners pretty soon, so I won't have to worry about that later.
I see that Teddy Kennedy has endorsed Obama. Frankly, I think that is hilarious! Although he's really disgusting, Teddy is very powerful in his party and his endorsement means a great deal. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Hitlary's house when she heard about it! Bill made a comment that Hitlary is campaigning as if she's running against George W. Bush. I have to say I agree with him, and I've heard a few other people make similar comments. I guess that's easier than campaigning against her real rivals? Kind of reminds me of her husband's tactics.
It's no longer Limbsville in my neighborhood! The piles of tree limbs that have been decorating everybody's yards were here this morning when I left for work, but they vanished sometime today. Hooray! It will be nice to not have to worry about not be able to see when I pull out of the driveway now. The city said that they would post signs at the entrance to each neighborhood informing the residents when they would be out, and according to their published shedule we shouldn't have been on their route until March. But I'm not complaining! My yard looks so strange now that all those limbs are gone, and with the trees gone it really looks different. Well, at least we'll have grass in the front yard now!
Poetic justice: Frasier was running around the yard and as he was picking up speed for his final dash into the house, he tripped in one of his own holes! He popped right back up again and ran inside, but it was funny. Of course, now I can't tell that I ever ran the vacuum today because he left me a trail of doggy prints across the carpet. He's currently curled up on his blanket having a snooze.
It was supposed to rain this afternoon, and it might but nothing yet. It's been very windy today, I half way expected to see the Magginator flying off with those long ears of hers! Today was forecast to be in the 60's, but with the wind it felt much cooler. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold, and I think we have a good chance of snow by Thursday. Well, we have plenty of firewood!
The people who sell firewood are having a lean year, there is so much of it piled up at the place where we've bought it from before that it almost looks as if Bubba and Bubba are building themselves a fort! They've also dropped their price considerably. Bill thinks that we should buy a load from them, to have so it can age over the summer since the green wood we have is burning so quickly and also because they don't seem to be selling much - if any.
I think I'm going to make some changes to my rock garden. We're going to take the fountain out of it, the fountain is going to be moved around, somewhere out in the yard most lilkely and it will be turned into a planter. I'm thinking something like moss rose maybe, I want something that will drape and be colorful. Then I'm going to get a large rock to put where the fountain used to be. I'm thinking a very LARGE rock. Maybe a limestone, I'll decide on the actual rock later on. Of course, if a certain sister of mine would admit that the rocks are MINE or at least that it's my turn per the shared rock custody agreement, I wouldn't have to go to the expense & trouble of finding a rock! Bill seems to think that he has a voice in the rock choice, don't know where he gets that idea from! :) I'll eventually post pictures, but this is a summer project so it's going to be a while. For one thing, we'll have to get all those dog craters filled in first.
I've also noticed that the daffodils are beginning to break through, they are in the tulip bed and they always come up about this time. No sign of the tulips yet, but I kind of expect them to be early this year since we haven't had a lot of real cold weather. If the ground is warm, they will come up sooner. We've had cold weather, just not consistent or long-lasting.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
23 Years!!
It's our 23rd anniversary. We decided against going out, we stayed in and broiled steaks. Of course, we had to have baked potatoes. I think that's the law, steaks must be accompanied by baked potatoes. (And Froggy, before you correct my spelling - potato or potatoe are both correct spellings and acceptable).
The steaks were good, and the ice cream pie was absolutely wonderful. The pie was from Braum's, strawberry cheesecake and considering that the last time I had one was actually the first time I got sick (symptom-wise, I'd already been sick for a few weeks by that point in March), I was just glad to be able to eat it and enjoy it.
Otter's gone to her friend's 14th birthday party. Bill was a little hesitant about letting her go, since it's from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and there will be a couple of boys there, but her friend's parents will be there and the kids will be well supervised. The Spring Formal dance is in March, and she's planning on going to it. It's not a date situation, most of them go on their own. But it will be the first time she's been to something like that, the parties in middle school were just that - middle school parties. This is high school now, so it's different. She's still going to need a nice, long dress for it. We are not going to spend a fortune on it, but we'll come up with something. And then we'll probably have to tranquilize her father!
The score currently is Otter: 4. Glassware: 0. One of the things I remember about being a teenager is that I seemed to grow overnight, and I remember the clumsy phase well. Otter is learning about that, and how much fun it is. Not. Today's victim was the salt shaker, which was nearly empty fortunately but still a mess to clean up - all 50 million pieces of it, that is! A couple of weeks ago, it was a bowl. A plate was before that, and a drinking glass was the first one. Of course, they are all part of my dishware set so we're uneven again! Sigh. Well, that's what eBay is for! Otter did tell me that maybe we should just go with all wooden or plastic items for a while.
New search engine: http://prolifeinternet.com/ It's sponsored by Google, and it's exactly what it sounds like from the name.
Movie recommendation: Apocolypto. I'm not sure if the spelling is correct, but it's a surprisingly good movie. There is some violence, but it is part of the story and not overly gory, but it is intense at times so be warned. There is also some slight nudity, but in the Mayan culture it was just part of everyday life. It's got a few funny scenes, but the story is very good and it's very well done. It is not in English, but it is subtitled. It was Bill's turn to choose our Saturday movie, and I really didn't expect to enjoy it.
There was something else, but I don't remember what it was. It will have to wait for the next blog. TTFN!
The steaks were good, and the ice cream pie was absolutely wonderful. The pie was from Braum's, strawberry cheesecake and considering that the last time I had one was actually the first time I got sick (symptom-wise, I'd already been sick for a few weeks by that point in March), I was just glad to be able to eat it and enjoy it.
Otter's gone to her friend's 14th birthday party. Bill was a little hesitant about letting her go, since it's from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and there will be a couple of boys there, but her friend's parents will be there and the kids will be well supervised. The Spring Formal dance is in March, and she's planning on going to it. It's not a date situation, most of them go on their own. But it will be the first time she's been to something like that, the parties in middle school were just that - middle school parties. This is high school now, so it's different. She's still going to need a nice, long dress for it. We are not going to spend a fortune on it, but we'll come up with something. And then we'll probably have to tranquilize her father!
The score currently is Otter: 4. Glassware: 0. One of the things I remember about being a teenager is that I seemed to grow overnight, and I remember the clumsy phase well. Otter is learning about that, and how much fun it is. Not. Today's victim was the salt shaker, which was nearly empty fortunately but still a mess to clean up - all 50 million pieces of it, that is! A couple of weeks ago, it was a bowl. A plate was before that, and a drinking glass was the first one. Of course, they are all part of my dishware set so we're uneven again! Sigh. Well, that's what eBay is for! Otter did tell me that maybe we should just go with all wooden or plastic items for a while.
New search engine: http://prolifeinternet.com/ It's sponsored by Google, and it's exactly what it sounds like from the name.
Movie recommendation: Apocolypto. I'm not sure if the spelling is correct, but it's a surprisingly good movie. There is some violence, but it is part of the story and not overly gory, but it is intense at times so be warned. There is also some slight nudity, but in the Mayan culture it was just part of everyday life. It's got a few funny scenes, but the story is very good and it's very well done. It is not in English, but it is subtitled. It was Bill's turn to choose our Saturday movie, and I really didn't expect to enjoy it.
There was something else, but I don't remember what it was. It will have to wait for the next blog. TTFN!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The Quilt is Finished!!!!
We did a little creative recycling.
Remember all those maternity fatigues that Bill found in the dumpster at the school for unwed teenagers? The ones that were donated to the school, then the school threw them in the trash. Then they told Bill he could have them. We sold a few on eBay, we donated a boatload of them, Otter and I each picked out one of the shirts to use as jackets and then we had a bajillion trash bags full of them just sitting in the garage.
Bill finally found a use for them. He turned them into a quilt. He cut squares until his hands nearly fell off, then he bought 4 yards of another camo pattern to use as a backing, then he discovered that he didn't have enough squares to make the size quilt he wanted so the additional fabric also got cut into squares and sewn in to the quilt. He bought a green leaf-pattern fabric for the actual back.
He finished it today. It turned out very well. It's also going to be a very warm blanket.
Please note that we have a model in the last two pictures. She is holding up a sign she made, it says "I'm invisible" and in the last one, she nearly is! Except for the socks, that is. the jacket she's wearing is one of the original fatigues, the pants are the ones we bought her months ago and she wears them all the time.
Boring Thursday Ramblings
I realized today that when I did my year-end blog, I forgot about a couple of things. One of them was in March, our friend Larry lost his battle with cancer. He was a very good friend and we'll miss him. The other thing was that October was not quite as quiet as I originally thought - the check theft happened in October. But it's been dealt with and it's a closed chapter now.
It's pretty cold, it was about 12 degrees this morning. Today I remembered to get out and warm up the car before leaving for work. Unlike yesterday! Talk about cold! We just brought in some more firewood for tonight, then tomorrow night we'll bring in a lot more. We have a chance of wet, white stuff tonight but only a slim chance. The forecaster said that it would be well south of us with the probability of only a mild dusting for us. In other words, exactly what they said in December! And that turned out to be a bad ice storm, the proof of which is still in my front yard and yards all over the area, in the form of assorted limbs.
I see that Otter has finally gotten around to posting on her blog again. About time!
Bill got Otter big time today. We heard his car when he got home, so she went to the door to greet him. He snuck around to the side of the house and came in the garage door, through the kitchen door. He saw her outside on the front porch looking for him, so he shut the front door behind her and ran to the office. She comes in the door yelling at me for shutting it on her, then she said she couldn't find him and WHERE IS HE HIDING NOW! About that time, she heard him giggling and realized that he'd been the one to shut the door and get past her. He isn't managing to put quite so many over on her, she's catching on to him.
We've officially closed our eBay business. I filled out the final forms with the IRS yesterday and the state tax commission today. Any eBay sales we make now will just be as individuals and not as a business. It's been fun, but it's run it's course and it was time. Probably past time! Anybody want any cardboard boxes? We got plenty left over! They'll probably get taken to the recyling center in the near future - or as soon as I can get Bill motivated! So maybe by this time next year...
It's pretty cold, it was about 12 degrees this morning. Today I remembered to get out and warm up the car before leaving for work. Unlike yesterday! Talk about cold! We just brought in some more firewood for tonight, then tomorrow night we'll bring in a lot more. We have a chance of wet, white stuff tonight but only a slim chance. The forecaster said that it would be well south of us with the probability of only a mild dusting for us. In other words, exactly what they said in December! And that turned out to be a bad ice storm, the proof of which is still in my front yard and yards all over the area, in the form of assorted limbs.
I see that Otter has finally gotten around to posting on her blog again. About time!
Bill got Otter big time today. We heard his car when he got home, so she went to the door to greet him. He snuck around to the side of the house and came in the garage door, through the kitchen door. He saw her outside on the front porch looking for him, so he shut the front door behind her and ran to the office. She comes in the door yelling at me for shutting it on her, then she said she couldn't find him and WHERE IS HE HIDING NOW! About that time, she heard him giggling and realized that he'd been the one to shut the door and get past her. He isn't managing to put quite so many over on her, she's catching on to him.
We've officially closed our eBay business. I filled out the final forms with the IRS yesterday and the state tax commission today. Any eBay sales we make now will just be as individuals and not as a business. It's been fun, but it's run it's course and it was time. Probably past time! Anybody want any cardboard boxes? We got plenty left over! They'll probably get taken to the recyling center in the near future - or as soon as I can get Bill motivated! So maybe by this time next year...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Interesting Tuesday
I can't think up a good title at the moment. I could have put something in about the weater - very COLD! But at least we did not get the wet & fluffy stuff that we could have gotten. There was a little ice on the cars this morning and a few spots on the roads, but it wasn't bad at all. I was a mean mom, I scraped the ice off the windshield but when the windshield got dirty & I couldn't see out on the way to take Otter to school, I pulled into a parking lot and made her get out with the squeegee. She was not amused!
I do have one comment before I get started with the fun stuff. Today is a Very Bad Day. It's the 35th (I think) anniversary of Roe v. Wade. And I'm sure that all those murdered babies are aware of it. Never, ever should have been made legal. Ever. We'd prefer it to be overturned, but we realize that the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
I do have one comment before I get started with the fun stuff. Today is a Very Bad Day. It's the 35th (I think) anniversary of Roe v. Wade. And I'm sure that all those murdered babies are aware of it. Never, ever should have been made legal. Ever. We'd prefer it to be overturned, but we realize that the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
This is what the dogs are up to today. It looks like Frasier is eating Maggie, but they were actually playing chase. One of them will catch up with the other one and pounce, and as soon as I took the picture Maggie bounced up and was chasing Frasier. They will run all over the yard, in the dog door, around the living room, down the hall and then reverse course to retrace their steps. Then they do it again! When Maggie wants to play, she'll bite Frasier's feet until he'll run with her. When he gets tired, he'll pin her down and start grooming her - which might be what she was after in the first place!
I should have taken a picture of them last night. When they were stuffed so full of treats that they could hardly walk! They get a treat when they get put out in the morning, the treats are in a can in the garage and they always have access to the garage in case of bad weather. Well, the treat lid either got left off yesterday morning or they figured out a way to open it because the lid was sitting beside the can when we let them in yesterday afternoon. And the level of treats in the can was several inches below where it had been in the morning! Bill was working on his quilt, so they were blocked outside for several hours because he needed to be able to spread it out on the floor. He said that he heard them in the garage quite a bit yesterday - now we know why! This morning when we fed them, Maggie still seemed to be full from yesterday because it took her a long time to eat. Normally, she inhales it!
And for the record, Froggy - TOADLY IS THE ONE WHO GOT LOST IN THE PARKING LOT! I was only following him because he (supposedly) knew where he was going and I was unfamiliar with the area. So when he turned into the parking lot, I thought that maybe he was cutting through it to another exit. Then he turned around and grinned at me. I should have known he was lost, he generally always is anyway!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Holiday Monday
At least for Bill! He's still kind of sick anyway, so it's a good thing that he didn't have to go to work today. He's much better, he's just still sniffly and has that awful cough. The cough is not so frequent, but it's pretty hard when it hits. I bought two cool-mist humidifiers yesterday, for the static problem and for the assorted snuffiness. One is plugged in by the bed, the other one is in the living room. They seem to be helping a little bit.
Otter originally had a school holiday today, but they used up more than their alloted ice days so she had to go to school today. But there was hardly any traffic for me to deal with, which was good. But it was a cold, wet day for the MLK parade in downtown Tulsa.
It's very cold today. The temperature probably got up to the low 40's today, but it's been alternating between mist & rain for a couple of hours with a wind, so it feels pretty cold. Could be really cold tonight, we have a chance of winter weather. Guess we'd better go bring more firewood in! Otter just about turned into a popsicle on the walk from the bus stop to the front door just now.
Froggy, I will put Woolaroc on our schedule for your visit. It's not right by Hominy, but it's close enough that we can do both in one day if we don't spend hours & hours in Hominy. But we have to have flea market & thrift store time in there, too!
Speaking of thrift stores, Otter and I went to one yesterday. I found a piece for my Fenton glass collection for 79 cents! Obviously, they didn't know what it was. But I did. It's now on one of the entertainment center shelves, along with a few other Fenton pieces. I really need to come up with a better way to display my glass, the china cabinet is full already so I'm out of options! Oh well, I'll come up with something. Eventually. When I get around to it. One of these days, anyway.
This coming Saturday is our anniversary! 23 years. (we don't count the break in the middle in case anyone is actually counting.) I don't think we're going out this year, I am probably going to broil some steaks and bake some potatoes. Possibly we might splurge on an ice cream pie from Braum's. We're real party animals, aren't we!? :)
Otter originally had a school holiday today, but they used up more than their alloted ice days so she had to go to school today. But there was hardly any traffic for me to deal with, which was good. But it was a cold, wet day for the MLK parade in downtown Tulsa.
It's very cold today. The temperature probably got up to the low 40's today, but it's been alternating between mist & rain for a couple of hours with a wind, so it feels pretty cold. Could be really cold tonight, we have a chance of winter weather. Guess we'd better go bring more firewood in! Otter just about turned into a popsicle on the walk from the bus stop to the front door just now.
Froggy, I will put Woolaroc on our schedule for your visit. It's not right by Hominy, but it's close enough that we can do both in one day if we don't spend hours & hours in Hominy. But we have to have flea market & thrift store time in there, too!
Speaking of thrift stores, Otter and I went to one yesterday. I found a piece for my Fenton glass collection for 79 cents! Obviously, they didn't know what it was. But I did. It's now on one of the entertainment center shelves, along with a few other Fenton pieces. I really need to come up with a better way to display my glass, the china cabinet is full already so I'm out of options! Oh well, I'll come up with something. Eventually. When I get around to it. One of these days, anyway.
This coming Saturday is our anniversary! 23 years. (we don't count the break in the middle in case anyone is actually counting.) I don't think we're going out this year, I am probably going to broil some steaks and bake some potatoes. Possibly we might splurge on an ice cream pie from Braum's. We're real party animals, aren't we!? :)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
OK, Let's Try This Again!
I posted a nice, long, chatty blog last night. Then I did something stupid like pressing the wrong key, and deleted it all. I couldn't recover it, and I finally just decided to try again this morning. Technology is nice, but it can be so frustrating!
I remember some of what I'd said. One thing was that the neighborhood newspaper updated it's site and the arrest report I read has been corrected. The person arrested back behind the house was not a neighbor, which is a good thing. We were concerned about a possibly vindictive person, if he put 2 & 2 together and the answer was us. We'll still be cautious, but then we normally are anyway.
We are all feeling better, but we decided to skip church this morning. Bill's still got a strong cough and he was afraid that he might be contagious. With a lot of older people in our church, he didn't think that it would be good for him to be around them. Otter's pretty much over her spell, I'm mostly dealing with asthma residual now but I think I'll be able to go to work tomorrow. And hopefully, Otter will be able to make karate this week. Because if she doesn't, she'll have to wait until the end of February for the next belt test and this one is a very important one as it's the last one before the big one. Then about 6 months from now, she'll earn her Black Belt.
It's been pretty cold the last few days, but no ice or anything. The air has been pretty dry, and we're all electrified. Frasier now flinches when he comes up to me to get his ears scratched. Doesn't stop him from wanting affection, he's just very careful! I'm going to go buy a humidifier today. Maggie doesn't seem to mind the occasional shock, but she's certifiably insane so that might have a lot to do with her being unconcerned!
The other problem with the dry air is that my already dry skin is even worse. I'm rapidly turning into an alligator!
I mentioned political comments the other day. We're still strongly in favor of Huckabee, but it doesn't sound like he's doing as well as we hoped. Which is not unusual or even unexpected - our minister made a comment about how his church is not huge because his messages are the Truth and not just what people want to hear. I think that Huckabee has a similar problem - the truth hurts at times, and lots of people don't like that. It's not going to be a feel-good, everybody loves each other and we should all get along message. I'm not sure about McCain, he has some attributes I like but sometimes I think he's really a liberal in conservative clothing (Sorry, Toadly!) Romney is probably our last choice of the three, but I would support him over Hitlary in a heartbeat, and I would also support McCain if he were to be the final candidate. We were interested in Paul at first, but upon researching him and where he stands we have decided that he ranks about with Hitlary as far as we're concerned. For one thing, Paul seems to think that we should abandon Israel. We are of the opposite opinion, Isreal has to be strong and we HAVE to support them. I'm not going to discuss the Democatic candidates, because I think that everyone already knows which side of the aisle we're on.
OK, now that I'm through with the political stuff - remember, this is my blog and my opinion. Feel free to disagree! Just keep any comments polite please - no profanity!
Well, Otter is up and Bill is about to start on his quilt so I'm going to post this now. He ran the vacuum in the living room so he can spread the fabric out on the floor, I hope he remembered to put the Deconstruction Crew (Frasier and Maggie) out first!
I remember some of what I'd said. One thing was that the neighborhood newspaper updated it's site and the arrest report I read has been corrected. The person arrested back behind the house was not a neighbor, which is a good thing. We were concerned about a possibly vindictive person, if he put 2 & 2 together and the answer was us. We'll still be cautious, but then we normally are anyway.
We are all feeling better, but we decided to skip church this morning. Bill's still got a strong cough and he was afraid that he might be contagious. With a lot of older people in our church, he didn't think that it would be good for him to be around them. Otter's pretty much over her spell, I'm mostly dealing with asthma residual now but I think I'll be able to go to work tomorrow. And hopefully, Otter will be able to make karate this week. Because if she doesn't, she'll have to wait until the end of February for the next belt test and this one is a very important one as it's the last one before the big one. Then about 6 months from now, she'll earn her Black Belt.
It's been pretty cold the last few days, but no ice or anything. The air has been pretty dry, and we're all electrified. Frasier now flinches when he comes up to me to get his ears scratched. Doesn't stop him from wanting affection, he's just very careful! I'm going to go buy a humidifier today. Maggie doesn't seem to mind the occasional shock, but she's certifiably insane so that might have a lot to do with her being unconcerned!
The other problem with the dry air is that my already dry skin is even worse. I'm rapidly turning into an alligator!
I mentioned political comments the other day. We're still strongly in favor of Huckabee, but it doesn't sound like he's doing as well as we hoped. Which is not unusual or even unexpected - our minister made a comment about how his church is not huge because his messages are the Truth and not just what people want to hear. I think that Huckabee has a similar problem - the truth hurts at times, and lots of people don't like that. It's not going to be a feel-good, everybody loves each other and we should all get along message. I'm not sure about McCain, he has some attributes I like but sometimes I think he's really a liberal in conservative clothing (Sorry, Toadly!) Romney is probably our last choice of the three, but I would support him over Hitlary in a heartbeat, and I would also support McCain if he were to be the final candidate. We were interested in Paul at first, but upon researching him and where he stands we have decided that he ranks about with Hitlary as far as we're concerned. For one thing, Paul seems to think that we should abandon Israel. We are of the opposite opinion, Isreal has to be strong and we HAVE to support them. I'm not going to discuss the Democatic candidates, because I think that everyone already knows which side of the aisle we're on.
OK, now that I'm through with the political stuff - remember, this is my blog and my opinion. Feel free to disagree! Just keep any comments polite please - no profanity!
Well, Otter is up and Bill is about to start on his quilt so I'm going to post this now. He ran the vacuum in the living room so he can spread the fabric out on the floor, I hope he remembered to put the Deconstruction Crew (Frasier and Maggie) out first!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Kind of a Hard Day, Friday
I've been fighting off the cold bug that Bill and Otter had, I gave in yesterday and stayed home but I still felt like crud this morning so I called in again. Bill was home yesterday, he went in this morning but he came home about 10:30. I don't have all that many cold symptoms, but it is aggravating my asthma. The sore throat comes & goes, but my lungs hurt and they don't want to work the way they are supposed to. When that happens, my inhaler gets a regular workout. Bill even used it yesterday, and also Otter's inhaler at one point.
Virginia's daughter would have been 27 today. Instead of a birthday party, her services are being held this afternoon. Sara did not want an actual funeral, so her parents are having a visitation this afternoon with a Rosary this evening. When Sara was in high school, she had a difficult time and at one point they weren't sure if she would actually graduate. But she pulled it together and managed to graduate, it was one of her proudest accomplishments and in recognition of how much that meant to her, the picture Virginia & David chose for the printed obituary was her graduation picture. I spoke with Virginia this morning, she's holding up as well as she can under the circumstances. But it's going to be very hard for them. Sara's husband, Jesse, had a pretty hard life when he was growing up and does not have a close relationship with his father. Virginia said that Jesse told them last week that he would really like to continue to stay with them for a while, that they are really more like his parents than his real parents ever were. I hope that having him there will make it easier on everyone. Froggy, thank you so much for going to the visitation in my place.
We had an exciting evening last night. The area behind our house used to be a cow pasture. It was sold a couple of years ago, to be developed for a subdivision. There are paved streets now, one house has already started construction. We've seen cars park back there for a few minutes at a time and we figured that it was probably parking teenagers. Last night, we saw a truck back there, it turned around to where we could see the front of the truck, then the lights cut off and the truck stayed there. After a little while, another vehicle came back there and parked by the truck. The second vehicle left after a little while. But the truck was still there. At that point, Bill called the cops. He explained that it was an isolated area, and that in his opinion if someone was parked back there like that then they were probably up to no good and since they had been there so long Bill was afraid that maybe the neighborhood was being cased. The officer agreed with him, and about 10 minutes later a cop car showed up. We figured that the police officer would be enough to convince the person that maybe he should not be parking back there. However, when three more cops showed up and they all had lights going we decided that maybe it was more than just a parking teenager! After a while, all the cops left except one. He stayed there until a tow truck showed up to move the truck. In the local newspaper's website there is a column on arrest reports. I just checked it. It seems that one of our neighbors on another street in our subdivision was arrested last night for possession of pot and drug paraphenalia at the same general time as all that was going on. I see a definite connection!
I had some political thoughts the other day, but I've decided to hold off on posting them here. I need to think about them a little more, but rest assured! They will be posted!
Froggy, I'm still thinking about what we're going to do when you come visit me this year. I have a couple of ideas. Check this out and tell me what you think. http://woolaroc.org/ It's not much farther than Hominy, we could possibly make a Hominy trip with a detour! So, what do you think? We haven't been there in a few years, and Otter's asking about it.
I'm really on time lately. I found two rolls of 35 mm film that had never been developed, along with two disposable cameras that Otter took to camp and Texas last June. I thought that the film was probably from the same time period. I got the two rolls developed, I forgot to take the cameras but will drop them off in the next day or so. The film was from last June, alright. And also from Christmas 2006! It's easy to figure the date out, because that's when we went to the Alamo and it's in some of the pictures. So, Froggy & Toadles, you might get a few pictures mailed to you from Dec. 2006 at the Alamo and vicinity. Some of the pictures are from Froggy's visit last June, when we went to the zoo. I'm not sure what else, I just skimmed through the pictures. I did see a few from July, when Bill's brother, sister & families were here and they were flying kites out in our back yard. Nothing like being current, is there!
Virginia's daughter would have been 27 today. Instead of a birthday party, her services are being held this afternoon. Sara did not want an actual funeral, so her parents are having a visitation this afternoon with a Rosary this evening. When Sara was in high school, she had a difficult time and at one point they weren't sure if she would actually graduate. But she pulled it together and managed to graduate, it was one of her proudest accomplishments and in recognition of how much that meant to her, the picture Virginia & David chose for the printed obituary was her graduation picture. I spoke with Virginia this morning, she's holding up as well as she can under the circumstances. But it's going to be very hard for them. Sara's husband, Jesse, had a pretty hard life when he was growing up and does not have a close relationship with his father. Virginia said that Jesse told them last week that he would really like to continue to stay with them for a while, that they are really more like his parents than his real parents ever were. I hope that having him there will make it easier on everyone. Froggy, thank you so much for going to the visitation in my place.
We had an exciting evening last night. The area behind our house used to be a cow pasture. It was sold a couple of years ago, to be developed for a subdivision. There are paved streets now, one house has already started construction. We've seen cars park back there for a few minutes at a time and we figured that it was probably parking teenagers. Last night, we saw a truck back there, it turned around to where we could see the front of the truck, then the lights cut off and the truck stayed there. After a little while, another vehicle came back there and parked by the truck. The second vehicle left after a little while. But the truck was still there. At that point, Bill called the cops. He explained that it was an isolated area, and that in his opinion if someone was parked back there like that then they were probably up to no good and since they had been there so long Bill was afraid that maybe the neighborhood was being cased. The officer agreed with him, and about 10 minutes later a cop car showed up. We figured that the police officer would be enough to convince the person that maybe he should not be parking back there. However, when three more cops showed up and they all had lights going we decided that maybe it was more than just a parking teenager! After a while, all the cops left except one. He stayed there until a tow truck showed up to move the truck. In the local newspaper's website there is a column on arrest reports. I just checked it. It seems that one of our neighbors on another street in our subdivision was arrested last night for possession of pot and drug paraphenalia at the same general time as all that was going on. I see a definite connection!
I had some political thoughts the other day, but I've decided to hold off on posting them here. I need to think about them a little more, but rest assured! They will be posted!
Froggy, I'm still thinking about what we're going to do when you come visit me this year. I have a couple of ideas. Check this out and tell me what you think. http://woolaroc.org/ It's not much farther than Hominy, we could possibly make a Hominy trip with a detour! So, what do you think? We haven't been there in a few years, and Otter's asking about it.
I'm really on time lately. I found two rolls of 35 mm film that had never been developed, along with two disposable cameras that Otter took to camp and Texas last June. I thought that the film was probably from the same time period. I got the two rolls developed, I forgot to take the cameras but will drop them off in the next day or so. The film was from last June, alright. And also from Christmas 2006! It's easy to figure the date out, because that's when we went to the Alamo and it's in some of the pictures. So, Froggy & Toadles, you might get a few pictures mailed to you from Dec. 2006 at the Alamo and vicinity. Some of the pictures are from Froggy's visit last June, when we went to the zoo. I'm not sure what else, I just skimmed through the pictures. I did see a few from July, when Bill's brother, sister & families were here and they were flying kites out in our back yard. Nothing like being current, is there!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Prayer Request Update
Virginia's daughter passed away this afternoon, about 30 minutes ago. Virginia just called me, she said it was peaceful.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Trying to Stay Healthy Tuesday
I'm trying very hard to avoid whatever Bill and Otter have had. I've sneezed a lot and have had some slight tickly throat, but that's all so far.
Otter went back to school today, but she had a nosebleed so the nurse had her call me to tell me. Which is what the nurse should have done a few weeks back but didn't! I think the nurse got the "fear of Mom", and she made sure that I was informed. By the time Otter got through the apparently long line at the nurse's office, she'd stopped bleeding and she felt like she could make the day. She managed to stay all day, and she's tired now but she feels much better than she has been. She's still congested and sniffly, but the asthma seems to be better. No karate today, obviously!
Bill went back to work, but I don't think he should have. He obviously felt cruddy this morning. Then he called me this afternoon and he sounded terrible.
It was nice today, in the 50's and clear. But it's supposed to be winter again tomorrow and the next few days. I brought in some firewood when I got home, but it's not really enough so I'll probably head out to the woodpiles in a bit. The dogs like to help me, although their version of helping is to run around and chase each other when I'm out there - although they always make sure that they are waiting by the door to be let in & out! At the moment, Mags is parked in the floor on her back with her belly scooted up to Otter's foot for a belly rub. And she's purring! (Maggie, not Otter). I think that dog is part cat. Maybe that's why Frasier is always chewing on her?
Interesting search engine: http://prolifeinternet.com/ It's a legitimate site, and is powered by Google. Basically, by using this search engine a donation is made to various pro-life groups. So we're using it more and more instead of the regular Google site.
Otter went back to school today, but she had a nosebleed so the nurse had her call me to tell me. Which is what the nurse should have done a few weeks back but didn't! I think the nurse got the "fear of Mom", and she made sure that I was informed. By the time Otter got through the apparently long line at the nurse's office, she'd stopped bleeding and she felt like she could make the day. She managed to stay all day, and she's tired now but she feels much better than she has been. She's still congested and sniffly, but the asthma seems to be better. No karate today, obviously!
Bill went back to work, but I don't think he should have. He obviously felt cruddy this morning. Then he called me this afternoon and he sounded terrible.
It was nice today, in the 50's and clear. But it's supposed to be winter again tomorrow and the next few days. I brought in some firewood when I got home, but it's not really enough so I'll probably head out to the woodpiles in a bit. The dogs like to help me, although their version of helping is to run around and chase each other when I'm out there - although they always make sure that they are waiting by the door to be let in & out! At the moment, Mags is parked in the floor on her back with her belly scooted up to Otter's foot for a belly rub. And she's purring! (Maggie, not Otter). I think that dog is part cat. Maybe that's why Frasier is always chewing on her?
Interesting search engine: http://prolifeinternet.com/ It's a legitimate site, and is powered by Google. Basically, by using this search engine a donation is made to various pro-life groups. So we're using it more and more instead of the regular Google site.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Mid-January Monday's Ramblings
Otter and Bill were both home sick today. Otter slept most of the day, which is the best thing for her. She's up now, but other than getting up for meals she's been snoozing. Right now, karate does not look likely for tomorrow. The belt test is on the 26th, so there isn't much time for her to get well if she wants to have practice and the official final qualification. Otherwise, she'll have to wait until February to test. Which is kind of what I expect to happen, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Bill worked on his quilt, he's now finished with the top. It's 100" x 121", now he has to get the batting and fabric for the backing. I think he's decided against the yarn details. It looks pretty good.
Frasier was clawing at his ear again this morning, so he got a rinse. He was not amused! I've been cleaning his ears out weekly, usually on Monday anyway.
It was pretty cold this morning, but it turned into a nice day. Slightly cool but sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be much colder, and the rest of the week as well. It's going to be a chili night at my house! But then we have chili all year long. That's something I learned from Mom - it's never too hot for chili!
I spoke to Virginia this afternoon. Sara is very weak, hospice is doing all they can for her. She's hardly able to keep anything down, but is managing to keep a little bit in her stomach. Her pain medicine is also not working very well. But since she is able to at least keep a little bit in her stomach, it might not be quite as soon as we were afraid of. She still doesn't have much time, and it could well be only days. But it's in God's hands now. Virginia's 5 year old granddaughter told her over the weekend that she was going to miss her mommy when she dies. Virginia said that nearly broke her heart, to hear that from Sara's daughter. I can't even begin to imagine how much that hurt, to hear that.
So keep praying. It's all we can do for them.
Bill worked on his quilt, he's now finished with the top. It's 100" x 121", now he has to get the batting and fabric for the backing. I think he's decided against the yarn details. It looks pretty good.
Frasier was clawing at his ear again this morning, so he got a rinse. He was not amused! I've been cleaning his ears out weekly, usually on Monday anyway.
It was pretty cold this morning, but it turned into a nice day. Slightly cool but sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be much colder, and the rest of the week as well. It's going to be a chili night at my house! But then we have chili all year long. That's something I learned from Mom - it's never too hot for chili!
I spoke to Virginia this afternoon. Sara is very weak, hospice is doing all they can for her. She's hardly able to keep anything down, but is managing to keep a little bit in her stomach. Her pain medicine is also not working very well. But since she is able to at least keep a little bit in her stomach, it might not be quite as soon as we were afraid of. She still doesn't have much time, and it could well be only days. But it's in God's hands now. Virginia's 5 year old granddaughter told her over the weekend that she was going to miss her mommy when she dies. Virginia said that nearly broke her heart, to hear that from Sara's daughter. I can't even begin to imagine how much that hurt, to hear that.
So keep praying. It's all we can do for them.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sick Sunday!
Well, not me anyway. Bill has been fighting off a cold and then of course Otter started with it Friday. Now they've both come down with it. I don't think it's really a cold, but it has similar symptoms. So Otter is playing the Asthma Game. I'm just hoping I don't come down with it! I have had a slilght scratchy throat off & on, but I'm trying to ignore it. I don't have time to be sick.
I did manage to get to church this morning - I wanted to spend my morning around healthy people! But about half of the women in my Sunday School class were coughing, so I'm not really sure that I accomplished my goal.
Bill's nearly finished with the quilt! He's sewn all the squares together in strips, now he's piecing the strips together and sewing them. Then we have to measure it, it was 105" x 121" pre-sewn together, and then we can see about the batting and backing for it. Then he wants to use my camo yarn to do some detail tied areas on it, but I don't think I have enough yarn. We can pick more up when we get the backing & batting. The yarn work needs to be done before the backing & batting are attached anyway.
I started working on my cow skull. I haven't done much on it yet, I brought it inside and also the Kilz so it could warm up. There were a few rough spots on the horns, from the mold edges and I've smoothed them down. I might get started on the actual painting today. I'm not really in a crafting mood at the moment. If I'm not in a crafting mood, I have learned to not even attempt anything because it will look cruddy.
However, I am in a cleaning mood! I've been doing laundry, but we haven't tackled Otter's bathroom yet. She's not feeling too good, so I'm not in a hurry. It's not a big job and it might still get done today. But maybe not, either!
I'm also in a thrift-store mood, but my thrifting buddy (Otter) doesn't need to be out and about. And it just isn't as much fun by myself. So I guess I'll go find something to clean now!
I did manage to get to church this morning - I wanted to spend my morning around healthy people! But about half of the women in my Sunday School class were coughing, so I'm not really sure that I accomplished my goal.
Bill's nearly finished with the quilt! He's sewn all the squares together in strips, now he's piecing the strips together and sewing them. Then we have to measure it, it was 105" x 121" pre-sewn together, and then we can see about the batting and backing for it. Then he wants to use my camo yarn to do some detail tied areas on it, but I don't think I have enough yarn. We can pick more up when we get the backing & batting. The yarn work needs to be done before the backing & batting are attached anyway.
I started working on my cow skull. I haven't done much on it yet, I brought it inside and also the Kilz so it could warm up. There were a few rough spots on the horns, from the mold edges and I've smoothed them down. I might get started on the actual painting today. I'm not really in a crafting mood at the moment. If I'm not in a crafting mood, I have learned to not even attempt anything because it will look cruddy.
However, I am in a cleaning mood! I've been doing laundry, but we haven't tackled Otter's bathroom yet. She's not feeling too good, so I'm not in a hurry. It's not a big job and it might still get done today. But maybe not, either!
I'm also in a thrift-store mood, but my thrifting buddy (Otter) doesn't need to be out and about. And it just isn't as much fun by myself. So I guess I'll go find something to clean now!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Typical Quiet Saturday
As usual, we stayed home and didn't do much of anything. Well, we played with the dogs, cooked a few things and watched a movie. It was my turn to pick, so we watched Galaxy Quest which is really funny, and one of the best Star Trek parodies out there. It's Otter's turn to choose the movie next Saturday so there is no telling what we'll watch!
The cooking included pizza, as usual we made 4 (they aren't very big) and we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. Bill also made a cake, we haven't gotten into it yet but I'm sure we will. Soon! And the pizza is not nearly as un-healthy as what you get from Pizza Hut or Domino's. We use non-fat cheese and lots of vegetables. The pizza dough is made in the bread machine, I use my very low fat butter and non-fat dry milk in the mixer, the pizza sauce doesn't have a lot of fat and the only realy fat is the pepperoni. So I just restrict my fat intake even more on days when we decide to make pizza, so that the pepperoni isn't too much of a problem for me.
I did manage to get all 5 birdfeeders refilled, it takes about 13 pounds of seed to fill them all. The dogs helped, they cleaned up any spilled seed. And Frasier almost caught a squirrel. I saw him outside, he was spinning around in circles while looking up in one of the trees. I could see a pretty big squirrel up on the limb above him, and the squirrel seemed to be chattering at him. The poor squirrel just wanted to get down, every time it tried to climb down the dog was right there. Eventually, Frasier went to the other side of the tree and the squirrel flew down and took off for the other side of the yard with Frasier right on his heels. Frasier can really move when he is so inclined, and he was practically flying today. The squirrel just barely managed to get up the fence on the other side of the yard and into the neighbor's tree. I was yelling at the squirrel to go faster the entire time, by the way. Frasier stayed out there for a long time, then he went back to the tree he'd originially seen the rodent in and sat there looking up for quite a while. Maginator was inside sleeping through most of this. Which was where she was most of the day!
The skating plans have changed. Otter is trying to come down with a "cold" and we've put off the skating until next Sunday. She's misplaced her peak flow monitor (measures lung strength) so she's been using mine today. Her asthma is still not quite reacting, but it's definitely thinking about it. So she decided that maybe she shouldn't go skating tomorrow. We'll see about church in the morning, but church is a lot calmer than skating would be!
So since we will be home tomorrow afternoon, we are going to do some cleaning out and organizing! Tomorrow's target is Otter's bathroom drawers and cabinet. I had already been thinking that we needed to tackle that area, but then her peak flow meter wasn't were she usually keeps it (in the bathroom in one of the drawers) and she suggested that we might need to clean out the drawers. Of course, I agreed with her immediately! That won't take too long to get finished up with. Then I might see about my craft shelves and workbench. I did some cleaning out and organizing in the summer, but I've noticed that my workbench is suddenly covered up again. Mostly with Bill's junk, and I will remedy that situation asap! But there is probably stuff I can rearrange or get rid of on my shelves.
Otter's ipod came on Thursday, she's been happily uploading her cd's to it and looking on itunes for any songs to download.
I have not heard from Virginia since Wednesday, I might try to call her tomorrow. I didn't want to call her today since they had the church wedding and baptism, I didn't want to disturb her. But possibly tomorrow. She is supposed to be back at work on Monday, so hopefully she'll email me then.
I guess that's it for now! Think I'll go have some of that cake. (We won't discuss the healthy vs. non-healthy aspects of the cake, but it does not have any eggs or butter in it!)
The cooking included pizza, as usual we made 4 (they aren't very big) and we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. Bill also made a cake, we haven't gotten into it yet but I'm sure we will. Soon! And the pizza is not nearly as un-healthy as what you get from Pizza Hut or Domino's. We use non-fat cheese and lots of vegetables. The pizza dough is made in the bread machine, I use my very low fat butter and non-fat dry milk in the mixer, the pizza sauce doesn't have a lot of fat and the only realy fat is the pepperoni. So I just restrict my fat intake even more on days when we decide to make pizza, so that the pepperoni isn't too much of a problem for me.
I did manage to get all 5 birdfeeders refilled, it takes about 13 pounds of seed to fill them all. The dogs helped, they cleaned up any spilled seed. And Frasier almost caught a squirrel. I saw him outside, he was spinning around in circles while looking up in one of the trees. I could see a pretty big squirrel up on the limb above him, and the squirrel seemed to be chattering at him. The poor squirrel just wanted to get down, every time it tried to climb down the dog was right there. Eventually, Frasier went to the other side of the tree and the squirrel flew down and took off for the other side of the yard with Frasier right on his heels. Frasier can really move when he is so inclined, and he was practically flying today. The squirrel just barely managed to get up the fence on the other side of the yard and into the neighbor's tree. I was yelling at the squirrel to go faster the entire time, by the way. Frasier stayed out there for a long time, then he went back to the tree he'd originially seen the rodent in and sat there looking up for quite a while. Maginator was inside sleeping through most of this. Which was where she was most of the day!
The skating plans have changed. Otter is trying to come down with a "cold" and we've put off the skating until next Sunday. She's misplaced her peak flow monitor (measures lung strength) so she's been using mine today. Her asthma is still not quite reacting, but it's definitely thinking about it. So she decided that maybe she shouldn't go skating tomorrow. We'll see about church in the morning, but church is a lot calmer than skating would be!
So since we will be home tomorrow afternoon, we are going to do some cleaning out and organizing! Tomorrow's target is Otter's bathroom drawers and cabinet. I had already been thinking that we needed to tackle that area, but then her peak flow meter wasn't were she usually keeps it (in the bathroom in one of the drawers) and she suggested that we might need to clean out the drawers. Of course, I agreed with her immediately! That won't take too long to get finished up with. Then I might see about my craft shelves and workbench. I did some cleaning out and organizing in the summer, but I've noticed that my workbench is suddenly covered up again. Mostly with Bill's junk, and I will remedy that situation asap! But there is probably stuff I can rearrange or get rid of on my shelves.
Otter's ipod came on Thursday, she's been happily uploading her cd's to it and looking on itunes for any songs to download.
I have not heard from Virginia since Wednesday, I might try to call her tomorrow. I didn't want to call her today since they had the church wedding and baptism, I didn't want to disturb her. But possibly tomorrow. She is supposed to be back at work on Monday, so hopefully she'll email me then.
I guess that's it for now! Think I'll go have some of that cake. (We won't discuss the healthy vs. non-healthy aspects of the cake, but it does not have any eggs or butter in it!)
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE
I talked to Virginia tonight. It's bad. M. D. Anderson dropped the ball, they lost Sara's file and instead of admitting it they kept saying that the doctor hadn't ever referred her. The doctor sent stuff to them more than once. But it's been so long now and the cancer is so advanced that they probably couldn't do anything for Sara, and Sara has decided that it's time to stop fighting. She has basically been sent home to die. Virginia is still hoping for a couple of months, but I really think that it's just a matter of days.
Hospice has been arranged and they have helped a lot, they had a special bed delivered as well as a shower chair and other equipment for Sara's comfort. Her medication has been changed and that has helped with her pain, but Sara has not been able to keep anything on her stomach for a couple of days and she's lost a lot of weight. Hospice is coming back tomorrow, Virginia is going to talk to them about that. Hospice has also arranged daycare for the kids when they need it, apparently they also have it under the services they offer the family.
Sara and Jesse were married by a justice of the peace when they got married, but they are Catholic and are going to be married by the church on Saturday. They newest baby will also be baptised at the same time. Their priest has made arrangements so that they don't have to go through the normal process, classes, etc., and can have the marriage ceremony done without delay.
As happy as they are about the wedding and baptism, it still doesn't change the fact that my best friend is about to lose her child.
Hospice has been arranged and they have helped a lot, they had a special bed delivered as well as a shower chair and other equipment for Sara's comfort. Her medication has been changed and that has helped with her pain, but Sara has not been able to keep anything on her stomach for a couple of days and she's lost a lot of weight. Hospice is coming back tomorrow, Virginia is going to talk to them about that. Hospice has also arranged daycare for the kids when they need it, apparently they also have it under the services they offer the family.
Sara and Jesse were married by a justice of the peace when they got married, but they are Catholic and are going to be married by the church on Saturday. They newest baby will also be baptised at the same time. Their priest has made arrangements so that they don't have to go through the normal process, classes, etc., and can have the marriage ceremony done without delay.
As happy as they are about the wedding and baptism, it still doesn't change the fact that my best friend is about to lose her child.
The Stove Lamp is Finished!
And here it is! Also you can see Otter's hand in the picture, she was helping me adjust the lampshade. I think it turned out pretty well. And if Froggy ever finds hers and sends me a picture, I'll post it as well.
.JPG)
And this is what all the animals are up to this afternoon:
Mags is on Otter's bed, in her usual position. Where she's been since I let them in when I got home, although she did have a brief spell of activity when Otter came in the door. But then she went right back to bed.
.JPG)
And this is what all the animals are up to this afternoon:
Mags is on Otter's bed, in her usual position. Where she's been since I let them in when I got home, although she did have a brief spell of activity when Otter came in the door. But then she went right back to bed.Frasier is parked in the floor, next to his bedding and was about to get up. As soon as I took the picture, he booked it out the dog door. The vacuum is sitting in the living room, which might have a lot to do with his departure. He isn't as terrified of the vacuum as he used to be, sometimes he'll even stay inside the house now - just in the kitchen, when the vacuum is running. Unlike Maggie, who thinks that it's another toy!
And let's not forget Skyler! Or birdbrain, as he's known around the house. He's singing his little feathered head off at the moment. I could listen to him for hours, I really like birds and to hear them sing.
Otter is doing chores. It's so nice when she owes me money! I can work her like you would not believe. Anybody want their house cleaned? :)
I spoke briefly with Virginia today, I am going to call her back later on. She said that they have arranged hospice for Sara and that she had taken the week off to spend the time with Sara. But please keep praying.
With any luck, I'm taking Otter and a couple of her friends skating on Sunday. No, I'm not going skating! I have a bad track record with skates, as anyone in the family can tell you. Although I did manage to stay upright, unlike Bill, when we taught Otter to skate many years ago! So I am just transportation and entrance money, I will probably take a book with me and let the girls skate until they get tired of it. Which might be hours and hours.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Political Comments, and Some Other Stuff
Right off the bat with the controversial stuff!
We are watching the upcoming Presidential race with interest, and so far we really like Mike Huckabee. I'm thinking that he's probably who I will vote for in the primary in early February. Bill can't vote in the primary, Oklahoma has closed primaries which means that only those voters who pick party affiliation when registering can actually vote in the primaries. Which I really think is kind of dumb, in Texas everyone could vote in the primary. There was a stamp applied to the voter's registration to signify that you'd already voted, to keep you from going to both party primaries. But Oklahoma is still behind the times on that one. I have that R on my voter's registration just so I can vote in the primaries, otherwise it would the the I (Independent) like Bill's has. We are independent, but we are both extremely conservative and getting much more so as we get older.
We're pleased as punch that Hitlary was not the winner in Iowa. Hopefully, that trend will continue. Can't stand the women, nor most of the things she stands for.
(Remember, this is my blog and my opinions.)
Anybody remember American Gladiators tv show from the late 80's? It's back! And nearly as much fun as the first one. We used to stay up really late on Saturday nights to watch it, it was so much fun. Although I've noticed a couple of things. One, I'd say that the female Gladiators have the market cornered when it comes to silicon! The other thing we've noticed about the show is that the Gladiators look physically different. As in there was probably a lot of steroid involvement before, but not so much now. It's not serious drama, but it is fun. Otter loves it, but then she's her parents daughter so she would. Also, she's a martial artist so things like that naturally appeal to her. I forgot to ask her karate instructor today if he'd seen the show.
Maggie beagle's eye is about recovered. We quit giving her the eye drops yesterday, she finally figured out that she could struggle and I nearly poked her in the eye one time. Which would probably have defeated the purpose of the medication, if I caused her to get an eye injury! But she was on the drops for the recommended time and she seems to be well. Frasier had a watering eye several weeks back, but his was not like hers so we just watched it and it was most likely allergy in his case. But hers was obviously injured.
My foot is better today, but it changes frequently. Plantar Fasciatis is basically a problem with the muscle on the bottom of the heel, it's incurable but will improve over time up to a point. It never really goes away, but I'm hoping that it will get better. It gets worse after I've been off of my foot, but it also hurts if I've been on my foot too long. Really cruel, resting my foot hurts and using my foot hurts! I'm still using one of Bill's crutches around the house when I need it. Also keeping a shoe on will help, I think because it supports the muscles. Which is also unfair, as we were raised to be barefoot in the Cherokee tradition. So I compromise, I wear my houseshoes a lot when I'm inside. I take them off when I sit down, and put them back on when I get up. The other Cherokee tradition, the one about sitting on the ground/floor is hard for me because of my knee problem. (If you sit on the ground, you are touching the earth that the Creator made for us so you are closer to the Creator - the barefoot tradition is part of that as well). The heel problem and knee problem are both on my left side. My right knee isn't that good, but it's better than the left one.
And if that isn't enough, my jaw has been popping & clicking all day long! My denture actually helps the jaw problem, because it forces my jaw to stay in place. The TMJ (jaw problem) hasn't bothered me much for years, just every once in a while it will remind me that it's still there and today was one of those days.
Otter's finished with end of semester finals, the last ones were today. The only grade she knows for sure is the American Government (History) test, she got a 90. She thinks that the passed the rest of them, but the teachers did not grade them yet or at least didn't tell the kids their grades yet. The second semester starts tomorrow, Debate is done now and Art will be the second semester elective class. The history class for the second semesteer is Oklahoma history. (Otter would prefer Texas history!) The second semester normally would have started when school resumed after New Year's, but the ice storm kind of messed that up with school being cancelled that week.
I mentioned my craft projects in an earlier blog, but there was one I didn't mention. I had been looking for something, but I hadn't found it yet. I found it on Sunday. I bought a cow head! Actually, it's a skull and it's a cast concrete piece because we figured that Frasier and/or Maggie would probably eat a real one. They are bone after all. Otter and I went to our favorite concrete place and I found one there. I'm going to paint it, it will look realistic. It's destined for the rock garden. We'd also like to put an armadillo out there, but all the ones we've seen are too big. But that's on the list of critters that the rock garden needs. I'll eventually post a picture of it. But it's not an immediate project. It also is very heavy! So, Froggy this is for you: Moo!
We are watching the upcoming Presidential race with interest, and so far we really like Mike Huckabee. I'm thinking that he's probably who I will vote for in the primary in early February. Bill can't vote in the primary, Oklahoma has closed primaries which means that only those voters who pick party affiliation when registering can actually vote in the primaries. Which I really think is kind of dumb, in Texas everyone could vote in the primary. There was a stamp applied to the voter's registration to signify that you'd already voted, to keep you from going to both party primaries. But Oklahoma is still behind the times on that one. I have that R on my voter's registration just so I can vote in the primaries, otherwise it would the the I (Independent) like Bill's has. We are independent, but we are both extremely conservative and getting much more so as we get older.
We're pleased as punch that Hitlary was not the winner in Iowa. Hopefully, that trend will continue. Can't stand the women, nor most of the things she stands for.
(Remember, this is my blog and my opinions.)
Anybody remember American Gladiators tv show from the late 80's? It's back! And nearly as much fun as the first one. We used to stay up really late on Saturday nights to watch it, it was so much fun. Although I've noticed a couple of things. One, I'd say that the female Gladiators have the market cornered when it comes to silicon! The other thing we've noticed about the show is that the Gladiators look physically different. As in there was probably a lot of steroid involvement before, but not so much now. It's not serious drama, but it is fun. Otter loves it, but then she's her parents daughter so she would. Also, she's a martial artist so things like that naturally appeal to her. I forgot to ask her karate instructor today if he'd seen the show.
Maggie beagle's eye is about recovered. We quit giving her the eye drops yesterday, she finally figured out that she could struggle and I nearly poked her in the eye one time. Which would probably have defeated the purpose of the medication, if I caused her to get an eye injury! But she was on the drops for the recommended time and she seems to be well. Frasier had a watering eye several weeks back, but his was not like hers so we just watched it and it was most likely allergy in his case. But hers was obviously injured.
My foot is better today, but it changes frequently. Plantar Fasciatis is basically a problem with the muscle on the bottom of the heel, it's incurable but will improve over time up to a point. It never really goes away, but I'm hoping that it will get better. It gets worse after I've been off of my foot, but it also hurts if I've been on my foot too long. Really cruel, resting my foot hurts and using my foot hurts! I'm still using one of Bill's crutches around the house when I need it. Also keeping a shoe on will help, I think because it supports the muscles. Which is also unfair, as we were raised to be barefoot in the Cherokee tradition. So I compromise, I wear my houseshoes a lot when I'm inside. I take them off when I sit down, and put them back on when I get up. The other Cherokee tradition, the one about sitting on the ground/floor is hard for me because of my knee problem. (If you sit on the ground, you are touching the earth that the Creator made for us so you are closer to the Creator - the barefoot tradition is part of that as well). The heel problem and knee problem are both on my left side. My right knee isn't that good, but it's better than the left one.
And if that isn't enough, my jaw has been popping & clicking all day long! My denture actually helps the jaw problem, because it forces my jaw to stay in place. The TMJ (jaw problem) hasn't bothered me much for years, just every once in a while it will remind me that it's still there and today was one of those days.
Otter's finished with end of semester finals, the last ones were today. The only grade she knows for sure is the American Government (History) test, she got a 90. She thinks that the passed the rest of them, but the teachers did not grade them yet or at least didn't tell the kids their grades yet. The second semester starts tomorrow, Debate is done now and Art will be the second semester elective class. The history class for the second semesteer is Oklahoma history. (Otter would prefer Texas history!) The second semester normally would have started when school resumed after New Year's, but the ice storm kind of messed that up with school being cancelled that week.
I mentioned my craft projects in an earlier blog, but there was one I didn't mention. I had been looking for something, but I hadn't found it yet. I found it on Sunday. I bought a cow head! Actually, it's a skull and it's a cast concrete piece because we figured that Frasier and/or Maggie would probably eat a real one. They are bone after all. Otter and I went to our favorite concrete place and I found one there. I'm going to paint it, it will look realistic. It's destined for the rock garden. We'd also like to put an armadillo out there, but all the ones we've seen are too big. But that's on the list of critters that the rock garden needs. I'll eventually post a picture of it. But it's not an immediate project. It also is very heavy! So, Froggy this is for you: Moo!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Too Early to be Awake on Sunday Morning! & Later Update
I woke up about 5:30 this morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but it just didn't happen. We get up at 5:00 on most weekdays, and I guess my body thought that I'd overslept since it was 30 minutes later! Hate when that happens. The alarm was set for 6:30, but since we decided to skip church today Otter gets to sleep in for a while.
We're skipping church because my left foot is killing me. It had been getting better, but we took the dogs on a walk yesterday afternoon and I think I'm paying for it now. But the dogs were at least a little less wild yesterday after the walk. They haven't been out on walks much lately, and every time anyone even heads in the general direction of the closet where the leashes are they go crazy. When they want to be walked, they will lead us to the leash closet and sit in front of it.
So since we're home, I'm getting my laundry done early. When Otter wakes up, she gets to help with the housework I have planned. Lucky girl! She's working off a debt to me, so she can't complain much. Frasier ate part of a library book, he's my dog but she's the one who left it on the floor and then left the room. Even if she came right back, she knows how he is and that he loves paper. I paid the library, since she is out of money because she bought her Ipod she's working the debt off. She's thinking that she might want a real job next summer.
Bill's quilt is coming along nicely. I'll post pictures, but not until it's complete. He says he'll get the box of Mom/Dad's old clothing that I have in the attic for my quilt, and then I'll get back on mine. I've been working on crochet projects a lot lately but I'd really like to get my quilt finished.
We (ok, Bill) put the stove lamp together yesterday. It came out great, but I need to get a shade for it. I put the shade from the lamp it's replacing on it, but it doesn't fit quite right. If I get out later, I'll look for a shade for it. But I want one that actually looks right on it. Froggy, I'd still like a picture of your lamp. Bill found a kit to make lamps out of bottles when he was at Home Depot the other day, I had not been able to find an actual kit anywhere. The closest I'd found was at Lowe's, and then they just sold individual parts. If they had kits, nobody knew about them.
One of the things we want to accomplish this year is to streamline things. We have so much stuff that we don't need or use, and we're going to get rid of a lot of it. I've already done quite a bit of cleaning out, I spent a day last summer just going through my craft shelves and got rid of a lot. I've also cleaned out several things from my closet and the kitchen, but there is still a lot that I can go through. That's not really a resolution, but it is a goal and we've been working towards it.
Since we quit selling on eBay, we've discovered that we had a lot of stuff that either didn't sell or we bought as part of a lot and we've donated most of it now. But periodically one of us will come across a box or an item that we have no use for and don't want or need. Of course, the garage still looks just as bad as it did when we were selling heavily on eBay. Not sure why, as much as we've gotten rid of there should be some progress made out there! I think the stuff that is still out there is expanding to take up the available space, like some fish will grow as large as their environment. I'm sure that there is a lot of cardboard that we can recycle, we don't need very many shipping boxes anymore. The ones we have are broken down and stacked out there, but they need to be gone. That's something Bill is going to work on soon, although I'm not sure if he knows that!
----------------
Ok, here's the later update!
Otter and I were heading out the door to go look for a lampshade, but Bill was outside with the chain saw so we decided that we'd better stay home. Somehow, the idea of Bill by himself with a chainsaw was not a comforting thought! He cut down one of the stumps pretty far and quite a bit off of the top of the other stump. Then he tackled the side tree. It just needed a couple of limbs cut out and some neatening done on it. Then we had a little firewood from that, Otter and I stacked it up and then Bill put his toy away so we felt like it was safe to leave him at home alone.
We went to Goodwill, I was thinking that a modern lampshade might not look too good on the stove lamp so we figured that a thrift store was more likely to have an older style shade. There were a couple that I liked, but they were too big. We decided to look at Target and I found one there. It's not exactly the style I was looking for, but it works so I'm not complaining.
Of course, thrift store also means that we have to shop while we are there. Otter is looking for t-shirts she can cut up and rearrange, she's been having fun with the book she bought about that. She didn't find any t-shirts that would work for her projects today but she did find 3 Steven King books and I found two Maeve Binchy books so it wasn't a wasted trip. Maeve Binchy is an Irish author and I absolutely love her stories.
Maggie Beagle is still on her eye drops, but she's much better. The vet said to give her the drops for 10 days, so she still has a few days to go. But I think that her eye is recovered. She is such a good natured little girl, she doesn't like the eye drops but she will let us give them to her without much fuss. She's also dancing on request just about every time we ask her to. We thought that their might be another beagle in the neighborhood, we'd heard one and they have a very distinctive bark so we knew that there was one close. Their bark has been referred to as "singing" and that's pretty close. When we were leaving for the thrift store, we saw a couple walking a beagle and for a second we both thought it was the Magginator. It looked so much like her. But as we drove past, we could tell that it's not the same "flavor" (gender) as Mags is. But at least now we know that we were right that it was a beagle we heard tuning up the other day.
We're skipping church because my left foot is killing me. It had been getting better, but we took the dogs on a walk yesterday afternoon and I think I'm paying for it now. But the dogs were at least a little less wild yesterday after the walk. They haven't been out on walks much lately, and every time anyone even heads in the general direction of the closet where the leashes are they go crazy. When they want to be walked, they will lead us to the leash closet and sit in front of it.
So since we're home, I'm getting my laundry done early. When Otter wakes up, she gets to help with the housework I have planned. Lucky girl! She's working off a debt to me, so she can't complain much. Frasier ate part of a library book, he's my dog but she's the one who left it on the floor and then left the room. Even if she came right back, she knows how he is and that he loves paper. I paid the library, since she is out of money because she bought her Ipod she's working the debt off. She's thinking that she might want a real job next summer.
Bill's quilt is coming along nicely. I'll post pictures, but not until it's complete. He says he'll get the box of Mom/Dad's old clothing that I have in the attic for my quilt, and then I'll get back on mine. I've been working on crochet projects a lot lately but I'd really like to get my quilt finished.
We (ok, Bill) put the stove lamp together yesterday. It came out great, but I need to get a shade for it. I put the shade from the lamp it's replacing on it, but it doesn't fit quite right. If I get out later, I'll look for a shade for it. But I want one that actually looks right on it. Froggy, I'd still like a picture of your lamp. Bill found a kit to make lamps out of bottles when he was at Home Depot the other day, I had not been able to find an actual kit anywhere. The closest I'd found was at Lowe's, and then they just sold individual parts. If they had kits, nobody knew about them.
One of the things we want to accomplish this year is to streamline things. We have so much stuff that we don't need or use, and we're going to get rid of a lot of it. I've already done quite a bit of cleaning out, I spent a day last summer just going through my craft shelves and got rid of a lot. I've also cleaned out several things from my closet and the kitchen, but there is still a lot that I can go through. That's not really a resolution, but it is a goal and we've been working towards it.
Since we quit selling on eBay, we've discovered that we had a lot of stuff that either didn't sell or we bought as part of a lot and we've donated most of it now. But periodically one of us will come across a box or an item that we have no use for and don't want or need. Of course, the garage still looks just as bad as it did when we were selling heavily on eBay. Not sure why, as much as we've gotten rid of there should be some progress made out there! I think the stuff that is still out there is expanding to take up the available space, like some fish will grow as large as their environment. I'm sure that there is a lot of cardboard that we can recycle, we don't need very many shipping boxes anymore. The ones we have are broken down and stacked out there, but they need to be gone. That's something Bill is going to work on soon, although I'm not sure if he knows that!
----------------
Ok, here's the later update!
Otter and I were heading out the door to go look for a lampshade, but Bill was outside with the chain saw so we decided that we'd better stay home. Somehow, the idea of Bill by himself with a chainsaw was not a comforting thought! He cut down one of the stumps pretty far and quite a bit off of the top of the other stump. Then he tackled the side tree. It just needed a couple of limbs cut out and some neatening done on it. Then we had a little firewood from that, Otter and I stacked it up and then Bill put his toy away so we felt like it was safe to leave him at home alone.
We went to Goodwill, I was thinking that a modern lampshade might not look too good on the stove lamp so we figured that a thrift store was more likely to have an older style shade. There were a couple that I liked, but they were too big. We decided to look at Target and I found one there. It's not exactly the style I was looking for, but it works so I'm not complaining.
Of course, thrift store also means that we have to shop while we are there. Otter is looking for t-shirts she can cut up and rearrange, she's been having fun with the book she bought about that. She didn't find any t-shirts that would work for her projects today but she did find 3 Steven King books and I found two Maeve Binchy books so it wasn't a wasted trip. Maeve Binchy is an Irish author and I absolutely love her stories.
Maggie Beagle is still on her eye drops, but she's much better. The vet said to give her the drops for 10 days, so she still has a few days to go. But I think that her eye is recovered. She is such a good natured little girl, she doesn't like the eye drops but she will let us give them to her without much fuss. She's also dancing on request just about every time we ask her to. We thought that their might be another beagle in the neighborhood, we'd heard one and they have a very distinctive bark so we knew that there was one close. Their bark has been referred to as "singing" and that's pretty close. When we were leaving for the thrift store, we saw a couple walking a beagle and for a second we both thought it was the Magginator. It looked so much like her. But as we drove past, we could tell that it's not the same "flavor" (gender) as Mags is. But at least now we know that we were right that it was a beagle we heard tuning up the other day.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Prayer Request Update
I was going to post a blog tonight with a few political comments, but this takes precedence. This is the email I got from Virginia today. Please, please, please pray for Sara. It's about as bad as it can get.
Here's the email:
Sara had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she informed us that the medicine they are using on Sara is not having any effect on the cancer. It's just not working. She said that she wants to try to get her into M.D. Anderson as soon as possible to see if they have some treatment that might work on her. She said that without treatment she has about 2 months left.She sent her for a blood transfusion today because her red blood cells were extremely low. I went to check on her at lunch and ended up staying until the second bag of blood ran out. Then David came and picked her up and I had to go back to work. You know how it is at the Commission. They always make you feel guilty about taking time off.I have to try to figure out how I am going to bury her. She has no insurance and I definitely have no money. I don't know what I am going to do. I am afraid to ask her if she wants to be buried or cremated. I don't want her to give up hope, but since she found out that she had only so much time left, she seems to be slipping and losing faith. It's scary. I hope that you will never have to go thru watching your child who is suppose to bury you deterioate (sp?) in front of you. It hurts a lot.Please pray for my girl.
Here's the email:
Sara had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she informed us that the medicine they are using on Sara is not having any effect on the cancer. It's just not working. She said that she wants to try to get her into M.D. Anderson as soon as possible to see if they have some treatment that might work on her. She said that without treatment she has about 2 months left.She sent her for a blood transfusion today because her red blood cells were extremely low. I went to check on her at lunch and ended up staying until the second bag of blood ran out. Then David came and picked her up and I had to go back to work. You know how it is at the Commission. They always make you feel guilty about taking time off.I have to try to figure out how I am going to bury her. She has no insurance and I definitely have no money. I don't know what I am going to do. I am afraid to ask her if she wants to be buried or cremated. I don't want her to give up hope, but since she found out that she had only so much time left, she seems to be slipping and losing faith. It's scary. I hope that you will never have to go thru watching your child who is suppose to bury you deterioate (sp?) in front of you. It hurts a lot.Please pray for my girl.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Stove Lamp
Ok, here's a picture of the stove "as is." Dust and all! Trina, now can you picture it as a lamp? The tall part in the back is where the bulb will be attached and it will have a lampshade. The stove is about Barbie doll size. I will post a later picture, when it becomes a lamp again. And it will be cleaner then! The rust spot is not where it can be seen easily, but rust can be damaging. And if Froggy ever gets around to sending me a picture of hers, which is still a lamp, I'll post it. Get with it, Froggy!
Also, Trina I think that the ornaments you are talking about are actually ceramic and not glass. They're flat backed and have 3-D details. I've made a lot of those over the years, I think I've probably painted at least one of every one ever sold! The glass ornaments I'm talking about are clear glass balls, last year we decorated them by pouring different colors of paint inside them and swirling them. Takes a while, it's very messy and they take forever to dry but they're fun to make. What I'm going to try now is detail painting inside the ornaments, which might not work too well as I'm not good at freehand. Also, the ornaments I bought are square and not round - the only round ones that Hobby Lobby had were tiny!
We just got back from taking Maggie to the vet. She apparently had a run-in with a stick this morning, she was fine when she got up but then I noticed that her left eye was watering and she didn't want to open it. She could still see and was not acting like she was hurting, so Otter and I went on to work and Bill was at home so he kept one of his own eyes on her. When she wasn't better this afternoon, he called me and I called the vet. Turns out that Maggie has a pretty good poke on her left cornea. It's not enough to harm her vision, but it nearly is. She's on eye drops and a pill to prevent inflammation. She tolerated the eye drop pretty good and she thought that the pill was a treat. I have to treat her for about 1o days with the drops, the pills will hopefully make it feel better so she doesn't start scratching at her eye. If she does, then she'll get one of those oh-so-stylish Elizabethan collars! The vet said that it does not look like Frasier bit her or anything.
We actually managed to get out the door with only Maggie, Frasier was outside somewhere and didn't see us getting the leash. When we got home, he kept going over to the closet the leashes are kept in and giving me sad puppy dog looks! Mags was so glad to get to the vet, she was happy and waggy. Then we went into the exam room, and she suddenly put the brakes on and tried to back out! She knew where she was at that point. But the entire time the vet was looking at her eye, that tail was wagging. She's very good natured. She was probably also just glad that her rear end was not getting attention this time!
For some reason, Blogger has decided that I don't really want paragraphs. I keep separating them and Blogger keeps putting them back together!
Ok, Froggy - where's the picture?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year! It's 2008!
And it's the last day I have off before I have to go back to work. Sigh. Oh well, it could always be worse! Otter is off tomorrow, she's going to work with me and then Billyboy is off the rest of the week.
We've enjoyed our vacation and got quite a bit accomplished. Just wish it could be longer.
Like I said yesterday, no black eyed peas for us today! I made a big pot of beans this morning, using Mom's recipe of course, and I put a bunch of containers in the freezer. I also have a bowl set aside to take to Grandpa sometime this week. But I didn't quite get organized enough to make cornbread this time.
I was in bed by 9:30 last night, and I think Bill made it until about 10:00. We're assuming that Otter and her friends probably stayed up way past midnight, it's nearly noon now and I haven't heard from her yet to come get her so they could still be asleep as far as we know!
I'm not making resolutions, I don't really believe in them anyway. But I am going to do a few things like continue with the weight loss and I'd really like to stay healthy this year thank you very much...
And I'd really like to be able to save my sick leave and not use it all in one whack this year! I actually used more than my allotted time when I had my surgery, but my bosses were very nice and didn't dock me for the extra time. They could also have told me to use my vacation time towards it, but they didn't do that either. They are great to work for.
I also have my first craft project of 2008 lined up: I have two milk cans, one is from Mom and at one point she painted it white. The other one came from an auction a few years ago, probably before we moved - I don't remember, it's just been a while. It is painted black and it has sunflowers on it, it's nice but not really my style. Both of them have been outside in the elements, I've used them for plant stands and they are getting rusted and the paint is peeling. So I'm going to redo them. They'll both need to be sanded down to the metal or at least a lot of the paint removed, and as much of the rust as I can get off. It's just a light surface rust, they are in pretty good shape. I'm going to use rustoleum or some type of a protectant spray on them, and then they might be a solid color or I might do some decorating but I will figure that out as I get to that stage. They will probably be brought back inside instead of getting outside and weathered again. Froggy, they were out on the back deck. One had a plant on it and the other one had the small copper fountain on it, by the trellis. Maybe I'll have them finished by the time you come up here again in the summer.
The other project is to turn the cast-iron toy stove back into a lamp. Bill just brought it in from the garage yesterday, all parts are there but it has a slight rusted spot that I have to deal with. No luck on finding a lamp kit, but I'm going to Lowe's this afternoon when I pick up Otter and I'll look for one there. If I can't find one, then I have another option - we have a small lamp that is sitting in the living room by the love seat (where the stove lamp will go) and I can always take it apart and cannibalize it for the stove lamp. There were originally two of the lamps, one fell over and broke many months ago and we tossed it. We should have kept it! But at that point, I didn't have plans to make the stove into a lamp again.
Bill's been working on his quilt a lot over the last few days. Remember all those maternity fatigues he got out of a dumpster at the school? We sold a few on eBay and we donated quite a few to Goodwill or Salvation Army. There were a lot that Bill kept to use as rags, but he decided to use them for quilt fabric instead. I've used some of it in crafting, but there are a lot left still. So Bill's been making a quilt out of camo fabric. I started a quilt when Otter was in kindergarten, and he's nearly caught up with mine.
I don't work on mine very often, although I have sewn a few squares together recently. I need to get back on it, but I have had other projects that were more pressing. I have at least one box, maybe two, of Mom's and Dad's clothing that I brought back with me with the intention of using them in the quilt and I think I'm going to get on that in the next few weeks. A lot of my quilt fabric comes from clothing that we had as kids, a lot of which was made by Aunt Jessie. I will eventually get my quilt finished, hopefully before Otter's grandkids graduate high school! :)
------------------
(OK, It's later and the party girl is home). I ran a few errands, I went to Lowe's and looked at lamp kits. And I discovered that while they do sell parts for lamp conversions, each individual piece is sold seperately and in different sizes & styles. In other words, I was clueless! I told Bill that he'll have to go with me because I wouldn't even know where to begin. But since it's not usually hard to force him to go to Lowe's... Actually, I sometimes think he'd live there if he could!
I also went to Hobby Lobby while I was out, Christmas clearance is now 66% off but they don't have a lot. Let me rephrase that - they don't have a lot of variety but what they have, they have a lot of. Lots of stuff that didn't sell because it's ugly! There were a few other things left, I found some clear glass ornaments because I have another painting project in mind with them. Different from the project Otter and I did a couple of years ago, and it might not work but it might and I'll have fun with it anyway. Oh, I found a plastic wreath holder so I won't have to use a bent up clothes hanger again!
Otter enjoyed her first "real" party last night, they stayed up until 4:30 and then they slept until 11:30 this morning. They watched lots of movies and had a good time. But I'm thinking that she'll be ready for bed early tonight.
I think it's time to go start steaming the tamales now!
We've enjoyed our vacation and got quite a bit accomplished. Just wish it could be longer.
Like I said yesterday, no black eyed peas for us today! I made a big pot of beans this morning, using Mom's recipe of course, and I put a bunch of containers in the freezer. I also have a bowl set aside to take to Grandpa sometime this week. But I didn't quite get organized enough to make cornbread this time.
I was in bed by 9:30 last night, and I think Bill made it until about 10:00. We're assuming that Otter and her friends probably stayed up way past midnight, it's nearly noon now and I haven't heard from her yet to come get her so they could still be asleep as far as we know!
I'm not making resolutions, I don't really believe in them anyway. But I am going to do a few things like continue with the weight loss and I'd really like to stay healthy this year thank you very much...
And I'd really like to be able to save my sick leave and not use it all in one whack this year! I actually used more than my allotted time when I had my surgery, but my bosses were very nice and didn't dock me for the extra time. They could also have told me to use my vacation time towards it, but they didn't do that either. They are great to work for.
I also have my first craft project of 2008 lined up: I have two milk cans, one is from Mom and at one point she painted it white. The other one came from an auction a few years ago, probably before we moved - I don't remember, it's just been a while. It is painted black and it has sunflowers on it, it's nice but not really my style. Both of them have been outside in the elements, I've used them for plant stands and they are getting rusted and the paint is peeling. So I'm going to redo them. They'll both need to be sanded down to the metal or at least a lot of the paint removed, and as much of the rust as I can get off. It's just a light surface rust, they are in pretty good shape. I'm going to use rustoleum or some type of a protectant spray on them, and then they might be a solid color or I might do some decorating but I will figure that out as I get to that stage. They will probably be brought back inside instead of getting outside and weathered again. Froggy, they were out on the back deck. One had a plant on it and the other one had the small copper fountain on it, by the trellis. Maybe I'll have them finished by the time you come up here again in the summer.
The other project is to turn the cast-iron toy stove back into a lamp. Bill just brought it in from the garage yesterday, all parts are there but it has a slight rusted spot that I have to deal with. No luck on finding a lamp kit, but I'm going to Lowe's this afternoon when I pick up Otter and I'll look for one there. If I can't find one, then I have another option - we have a small lamp that is sitting in the living room by the love seat (where the stove lamp will go) and I can always take it apart and cannibalize it for the stove lamp. There were originally two of the lamps, one fell over and broke many months ago and we tossed it. We should have kept it! But at that point, I didn't have plans to make the stove into a lamp again.
Bill's been working on his quilt a lot over the last few days. Remember all those maternity fatigues he got out of a dumpster at the school? We sold a few on eBay and we donated quite a few to Goodwill or Salvation Army. There were a lot that Bill kept to use as rags, but he decided to use them for quilt fabric instead. I've used some of it in crafting, but there are a lot left still. So Bill's been making a quilt out of camo fabric. I started a quilt when Otter was in kindergarten, and he's nearly caught up with mine.
I don't work on mine very often, although I have sewn a few squares together recently. I need to get back on it, but I have had other projects that were more pressing. I have at least one box, maybe two, of Mom's and Dad's clothing that I brought back with me with the intention of using them in the quilt and I think I'm going to get on that in the next few weeks. A lot of my quilt fabric comes from clothing that we had as kids, a lot of which was made by Aunt Jessie. I will eventually get my quilt finished, hopefully before Otter's grandkids graduate high school! :)
------------------
(OK, It's later and the party girl is home). I ran a few errands, I went to Lowe's and looked at lamp kits. And I discovered that while they do sell parts for lamp conversions, each individual piece is sold seperately and in different sizes & styles. In other words, I was clueless! I told Bill that he'll have to go with me because I wouldn't even know where to begin. But since it's not usually hard to force him to go to Lowe's... Actually, I sometimes think he'd live there if he could!
I also went to Hobby Lobby while I was out, Christmas clearance is now 66% off but they don't have a lot. Let me rephrase that - they don't have a lot of variety but what they have, they have a lot of. Lots of stuff that didn't sell because it's ugly! There were a few other things left, I found some clear glass ornaments because I have another painting project in mind with them. Different from the project Otter and I did a couple of years ago, and it might not work but it might and I'll have fun with it anyway. Oh, I found a plastic wreath holder so I won't have to use a bent up clothes hanger again!
Otter enjoyed her first "real" party last night, they stayed up until 4:30 and then they slept until 11:30 this morning. They watched lots of movies and had a good time. But I'm thinking that she'll be ready for bed early tonight.
I think it's time to go start steaming the tamales now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
