Please Tell Me It Really Is Friday!

Because it's been one of those weeks where I just want it to be over & done with. Not any one thing in particular, but it has just been very stressful this week. But I think it really is Friday, because I went to the grocery store today and I got paid today. So it must be Friday!

Frasier said that he's not interested in blogging today. He was too busy finding a good snoozing position, and making sure that his tail was behind me so I couldn't move without setting off the Frasier Alarm. No matter what position he was in, and he changed position a lot, his tail was always behind my chair. He finally got up, but he'll be back!

It got into the 80's yesterday, but we never had any weather to speak of. East and southeast of here had thunderstorms but I don't think that they had any bad stuff. It was in the 50's today, but the windy made it feel much colder. Tonight will be below freezing with a slight chance of light rain or snow, then tomorrow will be back to the low 40's. I brought in plenty of firewood, so we'll probably have a fire in the morning. Which means that both dogs will be snoozing in front of it!

I'm not too concerned with the cold as far as the tulips and daffys go, but I don't know if my tiny bluebonnet plant can handle it or not. It's not going to be icy or anything, the snow will be very light - if at all - but Otter's watering everything at the moment since that will help it a little bit. Seems like watering would make freezing worse, but it actually helps the plants to maintain a good temperature. The daffys that my mother-in-law planted when this was still her house are blooming. I think that they are probably about 6 year old plants now, she actually planted all of them including the ones in the tulip bed but they don't come up as early as the ones in the front yard.

Otter just came in from watering. She said that it's cold. Or maybe she said that she is cold!

OK, I'm off to unload the dishwasher now. Then I'm going to find my houseshoes and go park on the couch for a while.

Maybe A Stormy Thursday Night

It's cloudy and breezy. Which is not unusual for this part of the world at this time of year. However, it was warm today. Very warm, like in the 70's to 80's. Which is not good for this time of year. There is a storm possibility, but the weather line is supposed to be well west of us. Supposed to be and Actually is are not the same things, the forecasters don't seem to really know what they are doing. So we could get rain, or we might not get anything. I was going to water the tulip bed, but if I do water then we'll have a lot of rain. If I don't water, we won't have any. If we don't get any rain tonight, I'll get out there in the morning and water everything. But tonight's tv viewing will depend entirely on if it rains. Because if it does, even if it's not in our area and won't ever be in our area, that is all that will be on tv!

Froggy, you commented about the churn and the blue vase. I remember the blue vase, I also remember you wanting it for as long as I can remember it. Mom did know what she was doing, we each got what we wanted and we each have things to treasure. You also asked about Dad's roll-top desk. Did you and Toadly sell it at the yard sale? Or maybe Corky got it? I don't really know what happened to it. I still come across things that I got from their stuff but have forgotten about.

Blogger is acting strange this afternoon. Hopefully, this will all post. I'm not sure what the problem is.

Otter's school play is tonight and tomorrow night. She's not in the play, but she is working as an usher. Drama students have to work at least one night or attend the play, as part of their grade, even if they are not in it. She did try out, but there were very few parts for girls and a lot of girls tried out. She worked the last one as an usher and enjoyed it. We have to leave in about a hour, then I have to go back and get her about 8:45 or thereabouts. Hopefully, it won't be raining!

Back to the weather for a moment. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow and then we have a cold front coming in tomorrow night. Back to the 30's overnight, but I don't know if it will freeze or not. But Saturday is supposed to be in the low 40's, which seems to be the pattern lately. I'll bring in firewood, just in case.

It's Otter's turn to pick our movie to watch on Saturday. She wanted a Futurama movie, there are two out that we haven't seen and she wanted to get the first of the two. They tend to go in order, so it's best to watch them that way. The video store didn't have it, I asked the clerk and it turned out that someone stole it. They cut open the plastic case and took the dvd out of it! How tacky is that? She said that they have another one on order, so we will eventually see it. But I'm still just amazed that someone would do that. Otter chose Prince Caspian, the next installment in the Narnia series since we haven't seen it, either.

We had already decided that whatever movie she chose was a popcorn movie - we don't make popcorn that often, but we will this Saturday. On the stove, like Mom used to make for us. But I use canola oil. It's one of the few things I use salt on. I'm not sure when Mom taught me to make popcorn, but it seems like we had it a lot when I was growing up. Along with bacon and tomato sandwiches. Froggy & Toadly, got any family food memories? I think we've discussed Aunt Jessie's meatless hamburger and Dad's burned french fries already, but they are still funny stories. I know we've also talked about Mom's dumplings.

Well, I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead since Blogger is acting up.

Mid-Week Ramblings

It's Wednesday. I could whine, but I'm not in a whining mood. Even though I had a migraine yesterday late in the afternoon, and that is my 3rd one in 5 weeks. Which is often enough that I need to start tracking them again, as well as food & any possible environmental triggers. But not enough yet to check with the doctor, although that is probably in the future. I still have a hint of the headache. But Otter and I took the dogs on a long walk this afternoon and it is breezy, so my allergies could also have something to do with the headache as it is now. Allergies and migraines are not related, but allergies can aggravate a headache of any origin.

Here are a few pictures of the bedroom, now that the redecorating is finished. Captions are underneath the picture they are describing.

The butler's cart that formerly graced my dining room window. It has two plants on it, the two peace lillies are on shorter stands. This is the bedroom window.

This is Otter, as she was about 1o years ago. Nana painted this, it's a local park that is filled with azaleas in the spring. And squirrels! Froggy, this is the park where we fed the squirrels last summer. We might go over there pretty soon, it's early for the azaleas but the squirrels are there year-round and always ready for a hand out. This picture is on the bedroom wall, where it's been since we moved in and I think it really goes with the room now since it's got all the floral colors in it.

When I took this picture, I was standing in the doorway from the hall to our room. On either side of the window are the bookcases we had to unload to move from where they used to be. They were very heavy! Then we got to move all the books back and reload the shelves. They had been sitting in one spot since we bought them 4 years ago. I could not believe the amount of dust that was behind them on the wall.


My bluebonnet wall pocket filled with silk bluebonnets. It's on the wall by the bookcase that is visible on the right side of the picture.

This is a very old butter churn base. It was Mom's, and possibly Aunt Jessie's before that. It is something I remember seeing for many years. When we lost Mom, I thought that it was to go to Froggy but after we lost Dad when we were cleaning out their house we found my initials on it so it came home with me. And I absolutely love it. It was in front of the fireplace, but I've relocated it. It is now on top of the chest of drawers that used to have the tv on it. The chest is over 6' tall and I had to get my step-stool to be able to reach enough to get the churn far enough from the edge so it won't fall off. (I'm not used to not being able to reach things). It's also full of silk bluebonnets. (Otter's already warned me that when she gets married, her boquet will have silk bluebonnets. I think I'd better hide mine!)

Our bed, with the camo quilt! The camo quilt will probably stay on the bed until Bill gets through with the new quilt he's making. I took this picture from the doorway to the bathroom. The bed and chest of drawers (it's in the next picture) are probably my favorite eBay purchase. A few months before we moved, we decided it was time to replace the water bed we'd had for years and years. I had no idea what type of bed I wanted, so Bill suggested I look on eBay to get some style ideas. He knew that I had always wanted a sleigh bed, so he suggested I start with that. And one of the first items that showed up was a sleigh bed with matching chest of drawers. And it was in our town. And it was at a store less than a mile from our house. So we ran over there immediately, and it was exactly what we wanted. So Bill made a deal with the seller, I forget the price but it was a very good deal. They are solid, real wood and not the cheap lightweight stuff you usually find. I can't remember the brand at the moment, but it is one of the better ones. The bed is king-sized, so it takes up the majority of the room. We had to literally take it apart, just to turn it a quarter turn and move it a few feet. Then Bill had to put it back together, which almost requires an Engineering degree - fortunately, he has one! The only problem is that the feet of the bed are not fun to walk your toes into, in the middle of the night!

My bulletin board is above the bed, at the moment it only has an Alamo post card. Also, on one side is my glass lamp. To the side of the lamp is a brass chest that Nana gave us a few years ago, it holds blankets. And it also has a humidifier sitting on top of it. The cover on the brass chest was crocheted by Bill's late grandmother. The floral pillow on the bed is also from her.

The chest of drawers, as well as the foot of the bed. To the side of the chest are two small pictures that Nana also painted, they are the flowers that I wanted to put in the bathroom. But I think they work much better in the bedroom.

And that concludes our tour! The tour of the kitchen & dining room redecorating will commence as soon as I've finished in there. I am going to get my antique gadgets attached to the walls this weekend. Then I'll see where I stand.

Froggy commented about Lent and I answered her in the comments section. But in a nutshell, Lent is not normally observed in much detail by the Baptist Church. However, it is something we do observe. We are Baptist, but we belonged to the Methodist church for many years and we always observed Lent. Lent is not strictly one particular church, it is a Christian tradition and we have decided to still observe it. I gave up chocolate, which is a hard one for me. Otter, supportive & thoughtful girl that she is, said she gives me 3 days tops. But since Sundays are not counted in the self-denial part of the observations, I can have it on Sunday. If I want to, sometimes I keep my self-denial on Sundays but I'm just going to see how I feel on Sunday. If I do have any chocolate on Sunday, it's not going to be much.

Some Slow Tuesday Thoughts

It's a slow Tuesday. Or I should say that I am slow today. Comes from hardly sleeping last night. I don't know what the problem was, but I woke up several times and a lot of it involved waking up with a stiff neck. I've been getting a crick in my neck on the right side a few times lately. I have tried changing my pillows around and sleeping in a different position. But it hasn't helped all that much. I am going to try something else tonight: I'm leaving my dentures in. At least the upper. I have a problem with my jaw that used to be known as TMJ Disorder but I think now has another name. It hasn't bothered me in years, I had a couple of years of treatment and it's pretty much gone away, except for the very occasional soreness or episode of jaw popping. But the way my neck is, and with the fact that nothing is working, I'm wondering if my jaw might be the cause of the problem or at least an aggravating factor. It's the jaw joint that is involved, but it also can affect the muscles surrounding the area and it seems like I did have neck problems when it was at it's worst. So I'll try leaving the upper in, because that way my jaw will be held in place better. It's worth a try anyway. I'll still brush the denture like normal when I get ready for bed and then since it won't be soaking in efferdent tonight, I'll brush it again in the morning when I get up. Hopefully, that will help. I'm really not supposed to sleep in them, but I have on accident a couple of times. I don't think that one or two nights will hurt.

We donated the tv, dvd player and stereo system to the Salvation Army, the equipment that used to be in our bedroom but we never used. I also took the prom dress to them at the same time. But I didn't shop there this time. Which is rare, I usually drop stuff off and then go park so I can go shop. Next time, probably. I am in desperate need of blouses, I've gotten rid of a few lately and one that I bought in the last few months got torn in the dryer somehow. I have several skirts, but I really need a few more blouses. Maybe Sunday Otter and I will go shopping!

Frasier has now taken to sleeping in the office most nights. Occasionally, he'll still sleep on his blanket in the living room but he seems to treat the blanket as his daytime spot. He also will move to the doorway of our bedroom, causing me to literally run into him this morning! He saw me coming, I could tell that he was watching me. I thought that surely he would move out of the way, I was not moving very fast so he had plenty of warning. But no, he just stayed parked there. And I walked right into him, at which time he looked very surprised and then got up and left. Silly boy! Somewhere in the same general time period, Maggie came into our room. I discovered this when I put my feet down on the floor and she licked one of my feet. It was a surprising experience, to say the least!

I have been thinking about Lent. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. The Baptist church doesn't really do a lot with Lent observances, but we usually do. We used to belong to the Methodist church and they observe it. I have always thought that it should be observed. I haven't come to any decisions yet, but I am thinking about a few of them. One thing I'm thinking about is chocolate. As in giving it up for Lent. But I'm not sure yet. Traditionally, Sunday is a day off from Lent observances so you can have whatever it is that you gave up IF you want to. I'd like to give up housework...

I need a nap! Or at least an early bedtime tonight. Or both.

Last Monday of February Already!

It seems like it should still be early January, and February is nearly over already. This year is shaping up to be a fast one, like last year. I don't particularly want it to be fast but it looks like it's going to be. At least the first two months have been.

I see that Maggie has been busy. She seems to like everything. We took her and Frasier for a short walk, it was getting colder and the wind was picking up so it wasn't a long walk. And my lungs are strange, which probably means that the walk was a bad idea but we (and the dogs) needed the excercise.

After Otter and I talked about it, we've decided to donate the prom dress instead of putting it on eBay. She really likes the idea that maybe some other girl can enjoy it, who might not be able to afford a nice dress. So I'll take it in the next couple of days. Otter did look beautiful in it. But then, she always looks beautiful.

We have officially decided to have a home vacation this summer. We had discussed a Texas trip, but have decided against it. So, if anybody wants to come see us - the road runs both ways, you know!

And FutureJediMom has finally admitted that yes, they are Star Wars inspired when it comes to naming their children! The newest one is Benjamin. (Ben Kenobi, Obi-Wan). But we still think it should have been Chewbacca! Although I think Toadly said that he wanted Jar-Jar Binks.

I think I'm finally finished with the bedroom/bathroom redecorating. I still have to finish up the trash can for the bathroom, but part of the reason it's taking so long is that the decals are not sticking very well. They are coming loose on the edges and curling up. I have had to resort to glue to keep them on in places. But that's all I have to do, really. I bought new curtains for the bedroom, they are sheer white with floral details and are very pretty. I moved the existing green ones to the inside of the window since the sheers don't give any privacy at all and wouldn't block out the street light that shines right into our window. I'm pleased with the way the curtains look with the green ones behind them. I just have to remember to open the green ones in the mornings so the plants get enough light. Bill thinks I'll forget, but I'm going to prove him wrong on that one! I'm also happy with the way we've arranged the bedroom now. Frasier figured out pretty quickly which side of the bed is Bill's. He goes to Bill's side and "talks" until Bill gets up. This morning, I heard him making noises from the floor on Bill's side. Oops, I just remembered - I am not finished with the bathroom yet! I still need to find a drinking glass. I know what I want, Fenton of course (what else is there, really?), but it's hard to find. I have seen a couple of them on eBay and will probably buy it there. But I don't want to pay more than a certain amount, including shipping.

Now I am going to get the kitchen finished up. It's just about done, I just have a few things I'm thinking about with my decorations. I have an idea for the coookie cutters that used to be Mom's and Aunt Jessie's, but I need a few more first to make it work. I'm not sure if I have enough antique gadgets or not, I need to attach the rest of the ones I do have to the walls and then see where I stand. Then, when it's all finished, I'm going to see about replacing my dishes. I still like the set I have, but over the years some of them have gotten broken and we really do need more plates.

The set I have is by Corelle, it's the ivy pattern and is very pretty. But it was discontinued a few years ago so I'm probably going to have to go with something else entirely. But I'm not there yet. However, if I do get a new set(s) I think I will probably skip the salt & pepper shakers since I have the Fenton set. I might just go with a solid color that goes with lots of different things, but like I said - I'm not there yet. If I do go with a solid color, I might just get one set and use it with the ivy plates. But I still intend to use my Fenton salt shaker set. Although Otter probably hopes that I don't, considering how many things she's broken! :)

It's Maggie Moo!

Hi! Hi! Hi!

My mommm's mommm said that it is Munnday so I think it's my turn to play with this. It's fun. It's my favorite.

My mommm came home from wheverrr she goes all day. I was happy to seeee herrrr. She's my favorite.

Mommm's Daddd playyed with me this morning, we played tuggg with my towell. Playing tugg is my favorite.

Frasier was nice to me today. He groomed my ears. He's my favorite.

We got to go for a car ride the othoer dayy. Car rides are my favorite.

OH BOY! Mommm's mommm just said the Wallllk worrd. Walks are my favorite.

Busy Sunday!

We've been busy. I guess that's obvious by the title, right? :)

Bill finally agreed with me that we needed to rearrange our bedroom. So that's what we've been doing today. Part of the rearranging included cleaning out a few things, such as the tv and stereo that were in there but hardly ever get used. I think they'll be donated. Also, the two overflowing bookshelves have been cleaned off a little bit. Since the bed is no longer in front of the window, I brought my butler's cart from the dining room with the two plants it has on it and also two plant stands with peace lillies that are on either side of the cart. It looks great, and there is more room to walk in there. The bed is pretty big, so it's going to stick out far any way we arrange it. But this way, we have more room and a place for some of the plants. I also dusted and vacuumed the entire room, it gets vacuumed on a regular basis but some things don't get dusted very often because I can't reach them.

Since the butler's cart and two plant stands are out of the dining room window, it is less crowded in there as well. We moved the table closer to the window, which will make it easier to walk through the dining room to the kitchen.

Of course, we did have to work around a beagle! Frasier is smart, he went outside and has been outside pretty much all day. But Maggie is very curious, whatever is going she thinks she needs to be part of. Usually, she is in the middle of it. Today was no exception.

Hemming the prom dress took a lot longer than I expected. The bobbin case on my machine kept messing up. I finally got that fixed, but I had to loosen it up quite a bit and the stitches showed more than I wanted them to because they were not quite as tight due to the case being loosened. But it worked out great. I am not posting a picture of Otter on here, but I have already emailed them out to assorted family. She looked absolutely lovely. And I think Bill had a heartbreaking moment when he saw her in the dress, with her hair & makeup done. He had a strange look on his face - the same look I saw on my dad's face when he was about to walk me down the aisle and saw me in my wedding gown. You know, the look that dad's get when they realize that their little girls are grown up. And that they can't do anything about it. Then he said he was going to lock her in the bathroom and never, ever let her out. It was a hard moment for him. I'm going to get the dress on eBay, possibly today but more likely tomorrow.

New baby in the family! FutureJediMom has another future Jedi. He was born yesterday, I don't think he's been named yet - or at least they haven't announced his name. But considering that their first two are named Luke and Leah (Star Wars, get it?), we think that C3P0 would be a good name. Toadles, you are now even older! You seem to have quite a collection of grandchildren now. But Froggy and I will always be younger than you are!

We raised a lot of dust with our rearranging activities this morning. I already had a sinus headache and it didn't help, and I've also been sneezing a lot. I discovered something. I think the parakeet has learned to say "bless you". I sneezed, and the bird immediately chirped at me. It was the right rythm, I think he's heard us sneeze and somebody say "bless you" enough times to make the connection. (We all have allergies so we sneeze a lot). It takes him a while, but the parakeet is capable of learning and repeating. He also makes a squeek that is the same sound as Bill's tape gun and he has echoed some of the birds that we hear outside. The little blue featherbrain is fun, that's for sure.

Fast Friday

I only have about 40 minutes until sundown as I type, so I'm typing fast! Which is normal for me. My younger boss needed me to type a letter for him yesterday. He had part of it written out, but he was stuck on composing it. So I typed it up for him, I fixed what he'd done already and then he stood beside my desk and dictated. And then he told me that I needed to stop typing so he could catch up, because he said he couldn't even think that fast. I'm quick.

Anyway...

The prom dress did and did not get hemmed last night. I hemmed quite a bit of it, by hand. But then I stopped and looked at it and it looked really bad. So I pulled it all out, and I'm going to get my sewing machine out in the morning. It won't take me that long to do it, but I am going to recheck my measurements at least on the part that I did by hand last night. The reason I wanted to do this job by hand is that the fabric is stretchy, and the skirt gets fuller towards the bottom. I'll just sew slowly! And yes, I will take pictures once she's ready to go. I took her for the manicure today after school, her nails look great and they should last well past tomorrow evening. When we get manicures at the place we went to today, I think they must use industrial strength polish because it lasts and lasts and lasts.

It was in the low 70's today, very nice day. Which will make tomorrow's cold feel even colder. Well, I brought in firewood and we have plenty of blankets so I'm not worried!

We took advantage of Subway's $5.00 Footlongs today. Otter and I stopped after the manicure. A footlong sub is a lot of sandwich, so they will probably be two meals. Well, Otter's will and mine probably will. But Bill's won't last that long, he'll polish it off in one sitting!

I'm out of time. I want to get my shoes off and find my comfy pj's, then I think I'm going to go read the paper and keep the couch from flying to the ceiling until it's time for Battlestar Galactica to come on. Which I think is 9:00. I am tired, I hope I make it that long! :)

Warm Thursday!

It's in the 50's or thereabouts today. Which is nice, although probably not warm. But very warm for this time of year in NE OK. I think the groundhog must have seen someone else's shadow and mistaken it for his own.

But this is Oklahoma, after all. So it will change fast. And without warning. But then, TEXAS weather has that characteristic as well. Just maybe not quite as fast at changing as OK is, and it doesn't generally get quite as cold as it gets here. It will be nice tomorrow, then a cold front should hit tomorrow evening and if we are lucky then Saturday might get as high as 40 degrees. Which I think is how last weekend was. Whatever, I brought in plenty of firewood this morning. I might go get a little more later on.

I could also have titled this post as "Dog Day Thursday" because the hounds went to the vet. Frasier needed his rabies shot, and the vet looked him all over while he was there. His ears look pretty good, which for any other dog would probably be bad but with Frasier's ears we have learned to take what we can get and not complain. I think it's been about a week since the last time I had to treat them. The vet also checked the cyst spot on Frasier's leg. It's still there and probably always will be, but it did shrink up quite a bit. It has gotten as small as it is probably going to get, but like his ears - I'm happy with that because the other option is that it grows again. And we don't want that! He weighs 60 pounds today. Which means that he's gained a little weight.

Magginator also went to the vet. She was originally just going to go for moral support, but she has been dragging her rear a lot the last couple of days so guess what she got to do?! That's right, butt-squishing time for her. She was not pleased. I don't blame her, but it was necessary. It's been 2 1/2 months since the last time, and the vet said that it was a lot worse this time than it has been. I wouldn't say Maggie is exactly happy now, but she was very, VERY glad to leave the vet's office and come home. She could not get out of the door fast enough. Maggie weighed 30 pounds, she's down about 4 or 5. Which is a good thing, but she's still a fat beagle.

The White Lightning has a radio now. Bill put in a radio and speakers this week. I think he is planning on taking it tomorrow, he had a rock fly into the window of his Impala today and now there is a nice chip. I will probably take his Impala tomorrow and see if the repair place can come out and fix it while I'm at work. His old El Camino, the red one, had major chips that became major cracks in it's windshield. He didn't seem to mind, but I do! So I'll see if I can take care of it tomorrow. It is a safety hazard, after all, if the windshield cracks. FYI, the White Lightning is possibly not the final name, although I think it might be. But I'm not going to get his decorative license plate for a while yet. He could still change his mind!

I've put off hemming a certain green formal dress for long enough. Time to get busy with my needle and thread!

Not Maggie Monday!

She's taking the week off from blogging. She is probably planning her next trick. Today, I discovered that she gets Frasier running full-speed, then she runs under the shed. Which causes him to nearly fun INTO the shed, because he can't stop on a dime. I think she's trying to make him run into it. She was not running from him in the sense of being afraid, it was definetely part of her play. She did it several times, then she would wait for him and then rocket out as fast as she could go. Which is pretty fast, actually. She's done similar things when we play with her, she will run down the hall into our room and under the bed. Then she will wait until somebody comes looking, and she'll fly out from under the bed and back up the hall. Then she'll wait for the person chasing her to catch up, it's very obvious that she's enjoying it.

I don't think I posted this, but I nearly had a bad accident yesterday. It would have been heartbreaking. I was carrying in an armload of firewood and I dropped a piece of wood. And it bounced off of the lowest shelf on the entertainment center - the one where my Silver Turquoise Fenton is! I'm not too sure that it didn't hit the Fenton, it looks ok and I couldn't feel any damage. But the front part of the shelf is a little dented. I probably would have cried, and then probably said a few of those words I quit saying months ago. And then cried some more! And then I might have thrown something. When I told Bill about it, he said "Ouch!"

We got Otter's hair trimmed this afternoon. She says that now she no longer looks like a sheep dog. I didn't think she looked like one to start with, but I see what she means about her bangs not being so long anymore. Her hair looks good. I was going to get mine cut, but I decided against it. I am toying with the idea of letting it grow out again so I can do another Locks of Love donation. But I haven't completely made up my mind. For one thing, it would be literally several years before it would be long enough. My hair does grow quickly, but it has to be a certain length before they can use it. So I'm still thinking, but until I decide it would be kind of pointless to get it cut. Bill doesn't care, he'd love me to have long hair again - except that he'd probably prefer I keep it! Actually, while he does like long hair - like most guys - he supports my donating it, it's a very good cause.

Since Bill was such a Good Boy and bought me a Fuze for Valentine's Day and games for Otter, Otter and I decided that he deserved something special. So we stopped at Braums for a strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie. It's in the freezer now, but we are going to attack it after dinner. Somehow, they never last long in my house! Can't imagine why that is...

Discoveries

This is what I discovered this afternoon:

Daffodils! We are going to have a lot of them, they tend to spread. Which is fine with me, they are among my favorite flowers. They really multiply.

Tulips! The tulips are up! About a dozen of them, this is one of the bigger ones. Most are just barely poking through the dirt. There should be several more, which should break through the dirt over the next few days. Once one starts, they all start.

The full shot of the tulip/daffodil bed. Not visible are the several earthworms I accidentally uncovered while I was pulling weeds. The worms got buried back again, where they are happily doing what they do.

But this is the biggest discovery of the afternoon. It might look small, but it's huge.

It's a BLUEBONNET! It's in the whiskey barrel and is tiny still, that is Otter's finger holding the leaves up for a size comparison. Sorry it's not a clearer picture, the camera that I was using is the older one and it's losing a lot of close-up focus. But the point is that last year's naturalized bluebonnets have sucessfully seeded. Or it could be from a seed I planted, but the seeds were off of last year's naturalized plants. Happy, happy!

There was another picture, but the disk decided it didn't want to cooperate with me. At the end of the tulip bed is a gate, which leads to our back yard. The picture had a dog nose sticking through, Frasier was watching me the entire time I was weeding the tulip bed. Guess he wanted to help me play in the mud.

I left him alone for about 15 minutes this morning, in the living room without picking up the small trash can we have in there. And that was long enough! I discovered a trail of candy wrappers and peanut shells, from the knocked over can to his blanket. And he was nowhere in sight. Shortly after that, Otter went outside and discovered that he'd also left us a trail of pretzel bag pieces to follow. Frasier stayed way out of my reach while we were picking up, but he watched us closely. He probably knew he was in trouble, because he avoided me for a while. Dog's too smart for his own good sometimes.

Since I had the day off, Otter and I went thrifting. We didn't find a lot, but she did find a pair of jeans that she needed. I saw several Fenton pieces at one particular thrift, the Salvation Army on the expensive side of town. And they were all way overpriced, so they are still there. One piece was a rarer piece, but it was still more than I wanted to pay. The other stuff was reasonably common, but still overpriced!

We also hit the fabric store, Otter chose a dark blue fabric for the back of her quilt. Then we went to Michael's, she has a craft she wants to make, and we bought yarn while we were there for the tie-offs on her quilt. It's a brightly variegated yarn and will look very pretty.

I also finished pinning up the hem of her prom dress. I am going to get the hem actually sewn in the next couple of days, but I'm thinking about how I want to do it. The material is stretchy and the skirt is designed to be fuller towards the bottom. Otter is getting her hair cut after school tomorrow, then Friday when I pick her up I am taking her for a manicure.

Frasier just came to the door of the office, smiled at me and wagged his tail. Then he turned around and left. I probably should go see what he's gotten into this time!

Not so Blah Anymore!

Otter and I went thrifting. No Fenton, but she did find a pair of really cute shoes and she found me another stuffed armadillo for my TEXAS related collection. So it was fun. We went to two thrift stores, she also found a piece for her Liberty Falls collection - a wishing well. She's pretty sure she doesn't have that one. Toadly, is it part of your collection?

I think I'm going to enjoy my Fuze. That's the Ipod-type MP3 player Bill got me for Valentine's Day. I got a better set of ear buds when I was out, and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. It does work in the car, the stereo I have has a jack for it. We thought it did. The one in the old car didn't, it also didn't have a cd player. But it did have a cassette player - cassettes have gone the way of the 8-track, I'm afraid. But now, I can listen to my music and be happy. I have varied tastes, I pretty much like all type of music. Except rap, which is NOT music and certainly not what I consider to be singing or a song. It just isn't. I don't really care for disco,either. Except for the Bee Gees! But I am all over the spectrum, as far as music styles go. Drives Bill nuts that I like Country. But I also like rock and just about all of it. But I'm not a big Elvis fan, although there are a couple of songs I like.

Frasier is trying to get Maggie mad, I think. This time, Otter was playing tug with Maggie and Frasier grabbed the old hand towel that we use as a tug toy since they seem to last the longest, then he ran outside with it as fast as he could go. I yelled at him as he was flying past me and he dropped it before he got too far. I guess he is jealous, although he never wants to play like that and he was getting affection at the time. Who knows what goes on in those doggie brains! But apparently, Maggie does still have a brain in her head. Although I'm not saying that it works really well!

While we were out, Otter and I went to the library. Big surprise, right?! Anyway, we saw a bumper sticker that we thought was just perfect for Toadles. I tried to find it online so I could post it here, but no luck. It was very simple. And very appropriate. It said "I don't know where I'm going." I'd love to find one for you, brudder!

And Toadly - did I ever own up to the Over The Hill & Picking Up Speed bumper sticker that just appeared on your truck one time? I think I did, but just in case - IT WAS ME. :) But I did not make the phone call that you got in the middle of the night that was apparently following the theme of the bumper sticker. Did you ever ask FutureJediMom if it was her or one of her friends? Or Froggy?

OK, back to my laundry mountain now. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate to do laundry? Well, I do.

Sunday Blahs

It's Sunday. It's cloudy & overcast. And did I mention it's in the 40's? Which is ok, but I liked the 70's of last week better - just not the storms that went with the temperatures.

Anyway, it's Sunday. And I'm bored. We have a few fun things to do this afternoon. But it's Sunday, so as much as I would have liked to be out of the house and running a couple of hours ago nobody was open yet. So instead I cleaned the kitchen and did a couple of loads of laundry. And listened to my Fuze until the headphones made my ears sweat. I decided that I didn't want to deal with sweaty ears, so I will get back to the music later. Bill loaned me his headset, I need to go get one of my own and I think that we'll hit Radio Shack this afternoon.

We are going to the library and probably the fabric store. And I really, really need a thrifting fix!

Frasier is occupied with grooming Maggie. I think he's forgiven me, he's been his normal affectionate self today. But now, I think he's about to suck Maggie's brain out her ears. Shouldn't be too hard, the beagle seems to have a brain the size of a pea. :) Strange doggies!

Well, I think it's time to head out the door and do some shopping! Otter agrees with me, by the way.

I'M FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the quilt that I started years and years ago. At least, I'm finished with the top. I have to go buy batting and the backing fabric, but I'm done with the main part of the quilt. We might get to the fabric place tomorrow when we go to the library and probably thrift stores, but soon anyway. Then it won't take that long to completely finish up. Otter likes it, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out. We spread it out on her bed and it will actually work for a bigger bed as well. She says that she does want dark blue fabric for the backing. Then I think I'll use blue yarn on the front. Yes, I will post pictures. But it's not at that stage yet.

It was a nice Valentine's Day. Bill loved the roast, but then he generally does. He liked the chocolate I got him and the video game. Otter loved the video games and non-chocolate candy we got her. And I really liked my surprise present from Bill. Besides the chocolate, he got me something I've wanted for a while - an MP3 player! It's not an Ipod, but it's the same thing. Just a different brand. And a lot cheaper. I've been busy uploading all my cd's to it. My car stereo is equipped with an input jack so I can plug it in there and listen to my music through the car's speakers. Happy, happy! But I need to get a few more cd's, I don't have anything within the last few years since I didn't have a cd player in the car. So I think I need to take a page from Otter's book and go get more music! And a headset, the ear buds that came with it are not the easiest things on the ears.

We rented a movie, The Miracle of St. Anna. It was not exactly what we expected. The basic story was good, but it could have been told in a lot less time. It was edited choppily and the acting wasn't that good. It was ok, rated R because of a couple of brief adult scenes and the language. And one I think we would have been very disappointed with at theater price.

The prom is next Saturday. Otter is going to get a haircut Tuesday or Wednesday. Then she's getting a manicure, which we will probably go get on Friday after school/work. We thought about going on Saturday, but sometimes there is a line and we decided not to wait until the last minute. I have her dress pinned up part of the way, I will finish that and get it hemmed up probably tomorrow.

Froggy, the box is packed & ready for shipping. I think that UPS is open on Monday, that is probably how I'll send it to you. I think you'll enjoy all the hummers, hopefully Uncle Crazy will enjoy the surprise of coming home to redecorating! :)

Frasier is Taking This Friday Off

I think he's mad at me. I got rid of his favorite chew bone, which he had just about destroyed. Then I walked around the back yard and found bunches of black walnuts, which I tossed over the fence along with the remnants of the chew bone, so he couldn't get them. Some of them had already been chewed on. He watched me toss them, then he pretty much ignored me after that. He should just be thankful I let them have access to the rest of the yard! But no, he's not thankful. He's pouting. He'll get over it. He wasn't too thrilled with Otter, either. She ran the vacuum in the living room when she got home from school. It's just not his day, what can I say.

Froggy, yes I will post a picture of my new Fenton. Probably in the next couple of days, I haven't gotten a picture yet. But I'm happy with it! It's a bowl, basically. Cased blue glass with a clear crest (edge). I'll explain it all to you later! In the meantime, I am going to look for your new collection start this weekend. I might get to a thrift store or two (or a dozen, more likely) Sunday or Monday. Otter is always up for a thrifting trip and we also need to go to the library for a book she reserved so we'll probably combine the trip.

Frasier must still be mad at me, he just came in here and turned right back around to leave the room.

Bill's thinking that the Go-Fast Car will officially be called White Lightning. Which fits, it's white and it can go about as fast as lightning. But he's not completely sure yet, so no decorative license plate quite yet. He drove it today, and when we met for lunch he said he was going to go look at pawn shops for a radio for it. Which is actually just an excuse to drive it longer before he comes home! :) Not that I blame him, actually. It's a fun car. I think I'm going to drive it one day next week, it needs an oil change and the place we use is close to where I work.

It was 70 degrees today. February in NE OK and it's 70! Tonight will be back to normal, right around freezing and then tomorrow will be in the high 30's or with luck it will get up to the low 40's. Either way, I brought in firewood just now.

Valentine's Day has never been a big celebration day for us. It's so close to our wedding anniversary might have a lot to do with that, but for whatever reason it's not a big day for us. Which probably sounds odd, since we actually got engaged on our first Valentine's Day together. We usually have steaks or something like that, and of course a little chocolate. And Otter gets a small gift, usually candy related. But it's not a day we go out on or really do anything big for. This year, the original plan was that I was going to make chicken fajitas but I think I'm changing my meal to roast & veggies instead.

Which brings me to my next topic. Froggy and Toadly, you might remember when you were kids and Mom would make roast. It was a big meal that would feed several and there were probably leftovers for a couple of days. That's what I remember. Huge cuts of meat. Good cuts, with some fat and a bone. Anybody bought a roast lately? I don't make roast that often, but I have always noticed the same thing. The largest size roast I can find is usually not even 4 pounds, they are tiny, usually have a lot of fat and frequently are boneless. I think I've mentioned before how I will frequently buy two roasts and cook them at the same time. At Wallyworld yesterday when we bought groceries, the roasts that they had wouldn't even feed a goldfish! So I stopped at one of the grocery only Wallyworlds on the way home today and the ones they had were about the same but they were better looking and had less fat. So I bought two and will cook them tomorrow, but even though there are two I think that they will fit in one cooking bag. Interesting trend, smaller sizes of things. It's not just recent with the economy, although I have noticed that there are a lot of things that are smaller since the economy started having hiccups. But not everything is recent. Just one of the things I thought about today!

Before I forget - Froggy, you commented about what Dad would say about the weather and how I should move Home to TEXAS. Yes, he would say that. But I realized something while watching the never-ending coverage of storms that were not in our area and would not be in our area but the tv still covered them constantly and repetitively. What I realized is that there is a reason for Dad's feelings about this area being so bad weather-wise. Hominy is right in the firing line for the majority of the storms that the state gets. My area does still get them, and they can be bad. But statistically, we don't get that many here while the western and northwestern part of the state get more. After we moved here, he always told me how bad the weather had been at times when he was growing up. I think he was probably exaggerating slightly because he wanted me to move back, but he wasn't stretching all that much.

And we never did have chili last night! Bill wasn't that hungry, Otter wasn't hungry at all so I made a tuna sandwich and they ate when they decided they were ready. However, I AM making chili tonight! And I hope that they are hungry, because I'm not cooking anything else for them. I guess that makes me a mean mommy! :)

A Couple More Thursday Thoughts

Blogger is being weird. The last two times I've posted, or attempted to, it's saved & posted all on it's own. It has an auto-save feature but that doesn't actually post the entry. But lately, it's saving and posting so if you happen to check my blog and it's blank but has a title, or looks like I've quit in the middle of a sentence just come back in a few minutes because it probably did it's new thing and posted before I was ready!

On to my other Thursday thoughts. Well, the first one is Fenton. I went back to the crafty place on Main Street and brought home the blue piece I saw yesterday. I had a suspicion of what it was, but I had to come home and check my books first. I found what I thought I would, and now I have a piece of silver turquoise which is fairly rare. That particular color/style was made from 1956 to July of 1959 and there were less styles than most patterns. I paid a little more than I usually do, but I still got a very good buy so I'm happy. I had never actually seen silver turquoise "in person", just in books before and I have to say that it is beautiful.

Froggy's new collection is another thought today. I looked at the crocheted pot holders, but they didn't have anything I particularly liked so I'll keep looking. Which gives me an excuse to go thrifting! Also, to yard sales this spring and summer. But then I generally hit those anyway.

Froggy, regarding your trip to OK/my trip to SA: I have no idea what my summer plans are this year. We were talking about a trip July 4th week but then Sweetie said that some of Bill's siblings may be coming up here that week. So we are still waiting to see what happens with that. I know you've been here twice, but I've still made more trips to TEXAS than you have to OK! :) I would like to come see you for a few days, but I'm not sure if it's going to work this year or not. So if you would like a vacation away from home, which I think you should want just because, then you should come see me this summer and then next year I might manage to come see you. But we still have time to figure out and plan.

Speaking of vacations, Bill and Otter are off on Monday for President's Day. I'm taking a day of vacation on Monday, so I'll be off with them. Bill is off Tuesday and Wednesday, he's burning vacation time so he doesn't lose it. I'm just glad I have a 3-day weekend coming up, because I really need it.

Otter and I ran errands today and spent about an hour in Wallyworld, buying groceries. It was a little crowded, we usually like to go right after school/work so we can get in and out before the crowd and we try to NEVER EVER go on Friday afternoon. But we had a few other things to do first (such as go buy more Fenton!) and we didn't get there until after 4:00. We still managed to get through reasonably quick, but I am tired and my feet are not happy with me.

But I'm also hungry, so I think I'm going to go make dinner now. It's either going to be hamburgers or that Texas staple chili. I'm leaning towards chili, but I think I'll let Bill decide for once. And then I might just make chili anyway!

Early & Quick Thursday Thoughts

Kid # 3, I don't think Froggy and I have decided who is going where this summer. We have talked about me visiting her and about her visiting me. We'll figure it out eventually! There are just more things here that she has not seen/done/been to than stuff in SA, considering that I lived there for over 30 years!

And the tornado that hit Lone Grove was an F4. It was a big one. There has been a 9th person die now.

Froggy, I might be going back to the store where I found the picnic basket - that's where I think I saw several crocheted pot holders. I'm going to look around. That will be today after work. I'll let you know what I find.

DuhWannas

Ever have the DuhWannas? You know, where you Don't Wanna Do Anything. We all seem to have the DuhWannas this week. I have a bunch of things I need to do and a few things I'd like to do. But I just can't seem to find the energy or inspiration. I'm blaming it on the fact that it's February. Or because it's Wednesday. Or because the beagle is crazy and the coyotedog is lazy. Or whatever else I can think of at the moment!

So I've decided to just go with the flow. The sky isn't going to fall if I don't get everything done that I thought I would this week. The trash can is still waiting to be painted the rest of the way and so is the paper box. The box of hummingbirds is still waiting to be gone through, packed and shipped. The _______ for Toadles is still waiting on ________ before it's ready to be sent to him. I also have stuff for Robyn, but Toadles _________ still needs to be _________ before it's ready. (Toadles - Froggy and I have something in the works for you. Be afraid. Be very afraid.) There are several other things, but they involve stuff like vacuuming and other household chores. I think maybe the Borg Queen is on vacation this week, because she's sure not here! Of course, she WAS here on Sunday and drive Otter nuts. But she usually does that. Insert evil grin here.

But I think the DuhWannas is just about over. I suddenly have an urge to get up off my behind and get something done. But, like Toadles says, if I wait long enough the urge will go away! :)

Otter and I did get something done after work/school today. We went shopping. We went to two stores on Main Street in our little town. The place where I found the picnic basket and boatloads of Fenton, - I found one gadget for my kitchen and discovered Froggy's new collection. More on that in a minute. And the other store, where Froggy and I found ponies for Otter to refurbish as well as my stair-step plant stand. I found a whole bunch of gadgets there and also a few more cookie cutters within my price range (also known as cheap!). I might have enough to finish up the kitchen, but I won't know that for sure until I start sticking things on the walls. To do that, I need to drive a few nails and then see how it looks. I might get that done Saturday or Sunday.

And, believe it or not, I did not buy any Fenton today. I saw several pieces, some of it was actually well within my price range (remember, I'm cheap when it comes to that stuff. Usually.) But none of it spoke to me. So I left it there. Although there are a couple of things I'm thinking about going back for.

OK, here's the deal with Froggy's new collection. She seems to collect dogs, or at least she collected one that Scooter found last year when he was running his firework stand. (Scooter, if you want a different blog name you'd better tell me and make it soon. It can't be your real name, and it has to be polite.) But I think she needs to collect something else. I told her I'd start it for her, but neither one of us could come up with something. Then I walked past a display of crocheted pot holders. I suggested that and Froggy seems to like the idea. So, by default, Froggy will be collecting crocheted pot holders. Froggy, at least your collection will be useful! I am going to get it started for you. In the near future. What you do with them is your business, you can use them, display them, donate them - whatever! But I'm going to have fun getting you started. And it might even get me motivated to use up some of that yarn that has taken over the closet.

And I've forgotten what else I wanted to say. It was something rambling, but beyond that I don't remember.

But there are serious things to discuss. There was Spring Weather in OK last night. We just got thunderstorms and some wind. About an inch of rain. But there was bad stuff, really bad. The western and northwestern part of the state had tornadic storms. There is a very small town, Lone Grove, which is in the southern part of the state. Lone Grove is very small. And it was hit very hard. At least 8 deaths. The early reports were that it was an F2 or F3, which is about the mid-size tornado but any size can be bad. It's only mid-February. We still have several months to go before Tornado Season is over. Technically, Tornado Season hasn't even started yet. This is not good.

Froggy - you have to come see me this summer. My boss told me about a restaurant that I think would be fun. Toadles would probably like it even more, it has to do with model trains. But I think it would be fun and we could go on the way to or from Keystone Dam, which we haven't made it to in two years.

I still can't remember the other rambling thing, so I guess I'll post this and be done with it. I still have the DuhWannas but not as bad. I think I'll go see if there is any chocolate left, Bill was working his way through the bag I bought today when I came back to the office to blog.

Tuesday Thoughts, Y'all!

My first thought has to do with the word Y'all. Specifially, is it a word?

I think it is. At least, it is for Texans. And probably a few other parts of the country, those known as "the South." Except that some Southerners pronounce it as You All. Which I guess is the correct formal way of pronouncing it. But in Texas, and places where Texans live, it's simply Y'all. And it can be used to refer to one person or a group of people. Or animals, at least as far as Bill is concerned because he frequently tells the dogs that "Y'all need to go outside NOW!" Of course, that is usually because they have done something bad and are being sent out and then blocked out.

I don't know why, but the word popped into my head this afternoon and I got to thinking about just how much I use it. Which is quite a bit, actually. But that's ok, it's a good Texasspeak word. I just find it funny when people that aren't Texan or Southerners try to use it. Kind of like the old joke about parents trying to speak to their teenager's friends using slang. Which more often than not is slang that went out of style 30 years before!

The other thing about Y'all is the punctuation. Should there be an apostraphe (sp?) between the Y and the All? I think so, but it's probably one of those things where it doesn't really matter.

We will discuss the word ain't another time. :) And the fact that my boss says I talk funny after I've been Home to Texas, or had company from Texas. I find my Texas accent coming back quite frequently, and I'm always happy about that. I try not to let it go away, but sometimes it does and I'm not aware of it until it comes back or my boss teases me.

One of my other thoughts today is about springtime in Oklahoma. It's not even mid-February yet, and it's in the 70's. Which was nice today, although it was breezy. But it's not really as nice as it sounds. Because we are supposed to get rain storms tonight. Rain storms in late winter/early spring, when it's warmer than normal, in TORNADO ALLEY are not necessarily good things. That's the kind of forecast we could possibly get tonight. Thunderstorms have already started popping up in the western part of the state. So far, they seem to be moving northeast which is normal, but more north than east. I'm not complaining, I live in the NE part of the state and if the storms want to go more north than east, that's fine with me!

I generally spend the first few storms fighting off being nervous. Then after a couple of storms, I'm more used to it and it's not so bad. But since I wasn't raised here (glad to be a Texan!), I have had to adjust. The first year, we were somewhat ignorant. We had no clue what we were in for. We moved to OK on February 28/29 (it was a leap year). It was still pretty cool, we didn't have any snow but we did have some really cold days. I was enjoying spring, it's a pretty part of the country. Then came April 24 of that year. Which was our first experience with that siren and we learned pretty fast what it meant. There was a tornado, which actually hit pretty close to where we were living at the time. We were in an apartment on the east side of the city, and it was within a couple of miles of our apartment where the first strike happened - it took out a church. Which is now and forevermore known as the Tornado Church. We went to that church for a while, it was rebuilt and is beautiful. But it is still known as the Tornado Church and I think it always will be.

Most springs I do ok. But last year, we had so much to deal with and some of it was so close. Too close, in one instance. Like forming over my back yard close. But we are going to think positive here. No bad storms this year!

But I am, as always, prepared. Having had to go through more than one incidence of no electricity, I keep a few days worth of canned food & water on hand. But that does not mean that I want to have to use it!

OK, what's next? Well, I'll think of something.

Oh yeah, food! McDonald's restaurants have their annual Day of Love today. It's a fund-raiser for the Ronald McDonald House. Hamburgers are 59 cents, cheeseburgers are 69 cents. Bill was going to go there for lunch today, but I don't think he actually did. Because he called me shortly before I left work and asked me to go get several of each for us for dinner tonight. Which is probably not on my list of "good" food, OK I know it's not on my list. So I won't overdo it, but I am going to enjoy a hamburger. I also got a couple of orders of french fries, that is a requirement after all! It's all in the fridge, until Bill gets home in a little while. Otter says she doesn't like McD's anymore, but I think she might be able to force herself to eat a few fries. :) Anyway, if anybody reading this has time (it ends at 8:00 p.m.), go to McDonald's. The Ronald McDonald House is a great thing to support. And I don't have to cook tonight.

There is probably more, but I don't know what it is. I'll probably think of it as soon as I post this and sign off!

Monday Funnies!

# 1:

How to clean a toilet... This was simply too much of a time saver not to share it with you.

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a 'power-wash and rinse'.

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift the lid.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Sincerely, The Dog.

# 2:

Doggy Dictionary

LEASH: A strap which attaches to your collar, enabling you to lead your person where you want him/her to go.

DOG BED: Any soft, clean surface, such as the white bedspread in the guest room or the newly upholstered couch in the living room.

DROOL: A liquid which, when combined with sad eyes, forces humans to give you their food. To do this properly you must sit as close as you can and get the drool on the human.

SNIFF: A social custom used to greet other dogs, similar to the human exchange of business cards.

GARBAGE CAN: A container which your neighbors put out once a week to test your ingenuity. You must stand on your hind legs and try to push the lid off with your nose. If you do it right you are rewarded with margarine wrappers to shred, beef bones to consume and moldy crusts of bread.

BICYCLES: Two-wheeled exercise machines, invented for dogs to control body fat. To get maximum aerobic benefit, you must hide behind a bush and dash out, bark loudly and run alongside for a few yards. The person then swerves and falls into the bushes, and you prance away.

DEAFNESS: This is a malady which affects dogs when their person wants them in and they want to stay out. Symptoms include staring blankly at the person, then running in the opposite direction, or lying down.

THUNDER: This is a signal that the world is coming to an end. Humans remain amazingly calm during thunderstorms, so it is necessary to warn them of the danger by trembling uncontrollably, panting, rolling your eyes wildly, and following at their heels.

WASTEBASKET: This is a dog toy filled with paper, envelopes, and old candy wrappers. It is important to evenly distribute its contents throughout the house before your person comes home.

BATH : If you find something especially good to roll in, humans get jealous, and they use this degrading form of torture to get even. Be sure to shake only when next to a person or a piece of furniture.

LEAN: Every good dog's response to the command "sit!," especially if your person is dressed for an evening out. Incredibly effective before black-tie events.

BUMP: The best way to get your human's attention when they are drinking a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

GOOSE BUMP: A maneuver to use as a last resort when the regular bump doesn't get the attention you require ... especially effective when combined with the sniff. See above.

CHILDREN: Short humans of optimal petting height. Standing close to one assures some good petting. When running, they are good to chase. If they fall down, they are comfortable to sit on.

LOVE: A feeling of intense affection, given freely and without restriction. The best way you can show your love is to wag your tail. If you're lucky, a human will love you in return.

# 3: This one is from Bill, he actually thought about this and did the math.

Star Gazing!

Next time you look up to the night sky to wish upon a star, think about it. Other than our sun, the closest star is Proxima Centauni which is 4.2 light years away, that is 24,635,923,200,000 miles away. Sound travels at 767.58 mile per hour so even if sound could travel thru space it would take 7,327,757 years for your wish to get there.

Reponse times may vary.

Things you think of when you have to much time on your hands.

The Rest of Sunday

The trash can is painted! But the decals are not on it yet. I found a dusty rose color that I thought would look very nice. And I just barely had enough paint to finish. Actually, I didn't quite have enough - the outside has two coats but the inside has one coat and the bottom will have to be painted another color entirely. But the part that will be visible, the outside, is what counts. I might get the decals on tonight, but I'll probably leave it for a day or two so the paint can cure into the wood.

I also painted the paper box, I went with what I thought was a dark green but it turned out to be quite a bit brighter than I thought. I've decided to just deal with it, as I tell Otter, and not worry about the color. It will have roses on it anyway, so I'm not really worried about the green not being exactly what I expected when it dried.

Among other things, Otter and I filled in a few holes that the dogs dug. Including the one that Frasier was nearly disappearing into yesterday. It was really deep. We filled in several smaller areas and as much of the big hole as we could. But it's not totally filled in, however it is more shallow than it was.

I moved the majority of my plant stuff off of the shelf unit that Bill is going to do away with. Otter and I cleaned house, pretty much top to bottom - I thought that I only had a couple of things, but when I get going with cleaning I can't always stop! Otter hates when that happens! I have also done laundry, and since my dryer is going out it takes twice as long to dry a load as it should so even though I only had about 4 loads, it's taken me all day to get it done. Getting the clothing put up might take me a while, I don't mind most household chores but I do not like doing laundry!

Frasier's ears are definetely bothering him again. He was on his blanket this morning when he started rubbing one ear on the floor, then he started rubbing that same ear with his foot. All I had to do was look at him, and he knew what I was going to do because he took off out the dog door as fast as he could go! Eventually he came back in, I was sitting on the couch and he put his head in my lap. Otter brought me the ear rinse and as soon as he saw it he tried to get away. I was prepared for him to run, I had ahold of his collar and as soon as he realized he was trapped he kind of sighed and went right to the floor with a resigned expression on his face. As soon as I was finished, he got up (shook all over me) and ran to the treat can. Spoiled brat! I will have to treat his ears the next several days. Also, he's due for his shots and I'm going to try to get in this week. Which I'm sure will just make him so happy! (Not really).

I had planned on getting some sewing done, but ran out of time. My arms are also sore, thanks to being on the business end of a shovel and hoe this morning. I think I hear a hot shower calling my name, then possibly a motrin and early bed. I'm tired!

Sunday Shots

Quick Answer to Froggy: Come see me this summer and I'll let you visit with my beanie hummingbird.

Bill let me sleep in this morning, he had the alarm set for 5:00 because he was going to his dad's rent house and work on something. But then he decided to wait until about 8:00 or so, and he turned off the alarm. Last time he did this, he forgot to turn off the alarm. That was not a good thing! But he remembered this time. He still woke up early so the dogs got fed somewhere around their usual time which means that they are quiet now - and snoozing. Bill left a little while ago and Otter is still in bed. With a sleeping beagle! I have a load of laundry going and a few housecleaning chores to do, not too much but I want to get them done early. Then I'm going to get my quilt out. My plan is to finish the top this morning, then lay it out and measure so we know how much fabric to get for the back.

I am also going to get the trash can painted, or at least figure out what color I want to paint it. I probably have a color to use, I have quite a bit of paint. I have considered several different colors, I just haven't decided on one yet. But I think it could stand another coat of white, I put one coat on as a base coat but the raw wood sucked the paint up and I think I might hit it again before the color coat. I should be able to finish the paper box quickly also. Paper holds the base coat better than raw wood, so it probably won't need another base layer.

But first, I need more coffee! I got some chocolate flavored coffee from my secret sister at church for Christmas, I haven't used any of it yet and this seems like a good time to try it. Not that I need an excuse, chocolate and coffee - my two addictions! :)

I also have a box of hummingbirds to pack up and get ready to ship. Can't forget that one!

OK, time to go make the coffee now. I might update this later on or just have another post. Probably a second post, but you never know!

After All These Years...

I'm nearly finished with my quilt! The one I started when Otter was in kindergarten. She's now in 10th grade, with 7th being two years due to the district/curiculum (sp?) change when we moved, so I think that means I started it 12 years ago. Anyway, I got it out this morning and discovered that I have more than enough squares cut to finish it and actually just need to sew a few more pieces together. Otter said she likes it, and she think she wants to get dark blue for the backing color. I worked on it for a while today, and I will get back to it in the next day or so. Possibly tomorrow, while Otter's friend is over and they work on a school project. But very soon.

I also need to hem Otter's dress for the prom. It needs about 5 inches taken up, and the prom is in two weeks so I'd better get busy! Actually, the dress will only take me a few minutes and I'll probably get it done tomorrow.

Froggy, don't worry about Frasier! He's very spoiled. He just does not have any interest in wearing anything, and he's usually the first one in the kitchen if there is even the slightest chance of food being aimed his way. All one of us has to do is walk in the general direction of the kitchen and he's there. Especially if he thinks somebody might be opening the refrigerator. Frasier's day today has consisted of most of his time being spent out on the deck, snoozing in the sun. Except for the one time I caught him digging, his entire head and most of his shoulders were underground so I'd say I have a landscaping chore tomorrow.

I did manage to get started on painting the trash can for the bathroom. I was toying with the idea of just painting it white, but I think it will need to have a little color to it. I don't think it's going to be anything bright. I'm just not quite sure what color it will be yet. We had some frames, so I was able to frame the 4th flower picture I got yesterday. It's now hanging where the clock was in the bathroom, we really do need the clock in there so I'm going to have to figure out where to put it. I'll come up with something, I'm not too concerned.

And Froggy, here is my final answer: The hummingbird Beanie Baby is NOT included in the hummingbirds I'm about to send you! But I do look for one for you whenever we are anyplace that might have them. Otter can get through a pile or box of beanie babies at a thrift store in record time!

It's Not a Frasier Friday

It's just Friday.

Frasier is off somewhere, I think he's outside in the dog's yard. With his rawhide chew bone. Magginator is inside, she's parked between my chair and Otter's chair. Her rawhide chew bone is in the doorway to the room we are in. She's about 3 feet away from it, staring intently at it. Every so often, she'll get up and go move it a few inches. Then she'll give it a lick or two before coming back to lie down between us. She's baiting Fraiser, we think. She has done this before, she will put stuff where she knows he has to see it and then she will grab it before he can take it outside. But with the way she acted over rawhide chips a couple of weeks back, we are keeping an eye on her and if we hear him coming then somebody will grab the rawhide chew bone before he gets to it and hopefully before Maggie throws a fit! She hid the chewbone in the middle of Otter's bed last night, covered up by her (Maggie's) purple blanket.

I went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby on my lunch hour today. Between the two stores, I bought 4 matted flower (photograph) pictures for the bathroom. Of course, when I got home I discovered that I only had 3 frames. So that means a trip to Wallyworld on Sunday, since that is where I got the three frames and I'd like them to match somewhat. The three pictures I could frame are hanging on the bathroom wall, the 4th picture is standing up on the counter top against the wall until I get a frame for it. Which will probably be Sunday.

We went to a thrift store after I picked up Otter from school. I donated all the palm tree stuff, with the exception of the bedspread. It might be donated next week, after I wash it. I have to see what shape it's in, I don't think that there are any stains, tears, etc., but I won't donate it if it's has anything like that. While at the thrift store, I did look for a drinking glass for the bathroom but didn't find any. They did have one possible Fenton piece, but I'm not paying $15.00 for a maybe and I might not have paid that amount for a definite anyway! Unless it was one of a few specific pieces. But I did find a couple of things, including another shot glass for Bill's Useless Collection. We looked through the baby clothes very quickly, but they didn't have anything we thought would work on Magginator.

It's very windy today. It's also in the 70's. Quite a change from this time last week. Tomorrow should be like today. Although I'm not sure if it will be as windy. I hope not, it's about 6 weeks early for the real wind that we get in this area. That's when we expect the beagle to take flight, with those long ears of hers! Maybe it's a good thing she is so heavy? :)

I am about to starve, so I'm going to post this now and go make dinner. I'm being a very bad girl tonight, we are having chili dogs. And I don't mean that we are icing Frasier & Maggie!

Before Froggy & Otter Get On Me About It,

I know I missed a day of blogging!

Believe it or not, but my world does NOT revolve around this blog.

It revolves around chocolate.

Well, not really. God, Bill and Otter are pretty much what my world revolves around, but chocolate is up there pretty high. Maybe even higher than Bill, some days...

Anyway. Back to reality. Today's reality included a migraine. This is the 2nd one in 2 weeks. I sure hope that I'm not about to start getting them on a regular basis again. Because I don't really think I can stand that. They were extremely bad, when they were frequent. But unless I have a couple more of them in the near future, this is probably just a fluke that I had one and then another one just slightly less than 2 weeks later. Or at least I hope that's all it is.

Otter has been dressing Maggie up in her bandana just about every day. Maggie seems to like it, she actually acts kind of sad when we take them off of her. I think Otter's going to try her sewing skills out on a costume for her dog. We put one of Otter's outgrown nightgowns on the dog the other day, she seemed very happy. She was bouncier than normal and that tail went about a million miles a minute. She was owned by a very old lady before, we think that maybe her previous Mom must have dressed her up a lot. Frasier, on the other hand, has zero interest in anything like that. Which is good, because I would probably have an evil moment and he'd be girlied up! (Insert evil grin here).

I haven't done anything else to the bathroom since my last post. I will probably paint the trash can this weekend, since I don't have a pile of books waiting on me for Saturday. I don't think it will take more than a few hours including paint drying time, since I'm probably just going to go with white and then the decals. Same thing for the box to store my ear plugs in. Although it might still be another color besides white, I'll have to look through my paints and see what I can come up with. I have a lot of paints, so it may take me a while to decide. It is supposed to be in the low 70's this weekend, possible rain on Sunday, but nice & warm so I will be able to sit out in the garage at my work bench without freezing or it being too cold for the paint.

Then after I'm finished with the bathroom, I'll get back to the kitchen & dining room. That particular project is coming along nicely, I have several "well-used" tools up on the wall, but I still have plenty of space for more. To the flea market!

Well, the flea market will probably have to wait a week or so. Otter and her friend have a project for school that they are going to work on Sunday afternoon. So I will probably have to wait on the flea market, but I could possibly hit a thrift store or two before that. The problem with thrift stores is that I'm looking for vintage items with a hint (or more) of rust or use marks and those are hard to find at thrift stores. Junk stores is what my parents used to call the type of store I need to shop at for my kitchen project. At least it will be garage sale season around here soon.

It's also be spring around here soon, but we aren't really discussing that yet. At least not the part of spring that this area is known for, anyway.

Speaking of spring, there are two things I noticed yesterday. One, the daffodils are starting to poke through the dirt. No tulips yet, but it's a little bit early for them. The other thing is that I saw the first Robin of the year yesterday. That always means that spring is just right around the corner. Spring flowers, good. Spring weather, BAD. No sign of bluebonnets yet, but it is several weeks early. I hope that they come back this year, and also that the seeds we planted that were from the naturalized ones come up. So think good thoughts that I get 'bonnets this year! Because a year without them is very hard on this Texan. On all of us misplaced Texans, actually. (Yes, Froggy - I do hear Dad whispering in my ear right now. And I'll just bet that you can tell me exactly what he is saying). :)

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!

It's a white El Camino flying by!

Bill "let" me drive the El Camino to work today. And it really, I mean REALLY wants to fly! I just love V8 engines. I asked him if I could keep it, but he said that he might let me sit in it sometimes. I didn't think that was fair, he gets to have all the fun! :)

This next picture is just for you, Froggy. (Aggie Moms fix their shoes with duct tape).

The picture is from the Red Green show, which is a hilarious show out of Canada. It hasn't been on in several years, but we catch old episodes on PBS on Friday nights. It's so funny, and they use duct tape for everything - I think they refer to it as the Man's Secret Weapon. Seeing as how I am married to an Engineer, we use a lot of duct tape in our house! Otter even has two or three rolls of her own, in different colors of course.

Maggie Moo is wearing her new bandana this afternoon. I put it on her when I got home, she saw it and ducked her head so I could reach to get it over her head. Then she purred.

Frasier is being himself this afternoon. In other words, lazy. Otter said that she actually had to check and see if he was breathing just now.

I've already emailed out the pictures of Otter in her prom dress, so the answer is now out there. It's green. When Otter was trying it on, she actually said she wasn't sure about the color working with her red hair. Hello? Otter, we are IRISH REDHEADS. Of course we can wear green!

Redecorating update: I'm nearly through with the bathroom. I need a drinking glass and I think I want to get a couple of pictures of flowers to put in there. I found a poster of roses at Hobby Lobby yesterday, it's now in the frame and back above the mirror. It looks great. The roses have a little pink to them, but not bright. I also bought a stem of silk dogwood blossoms, which will be put in the Fenton perfume as a vase. I bought a wooden trash can while we were at Hobby Lobby, I'm going to paint it off-white and then I have some floral decals to put on it. There is not one particular color, there will be a touch of pink, some rusty or dusty rose colors but not anything very bright. I told Bill that he'd had fair warning, the bathroom was going girly and he'd better get used to it! :) I'll probably get a couple of hand towels in a complimentary color, once I get finished with the floral pictures. Oh, I also bought a small, square paper box with a lid which I will paint the same off-white as the trash can. Then I have a rose decal to put on the top of it. It's going to be beside the bed on my nightstand - to hold my super strength earplugs! Bill doesn't snore all that often, but when he does...

Maggie Monday!!

HI! HI! HI!

My mommm's mommm is busy in the cooking room, so I am going tooo play with herrr toyz. She plays with my toyz with me so I get to play with herrr toy now.

My mommm bought me a new bananandnanansddnaa, ammanddnannama, mannnaddadnnna, um a thinng to tie around my neckk. It's really purrty, mommm said it is pink. It's got circles on it, she says that they are polkahh dotts. She put it on meee and I wore it for a longg time. I even took my nap in itt. It's so purrty! I like to be a fashionable doggg, I want to loooook my best all the time. I like it when my mommm lets me wearr things, especially when they are purrty like my new nanananddda. Well, I can't rememberrr what it's called. But it's all mine. I don't have to share it with Frasierrr. He said that I was being silly when I showed it off to him but I think he was just jealous of mee. I have others I get to wear sometimes, but I think my new one is the best one.

Frasier kind of got in troubble. He played in the big yard and then he rann in our little doorrs. His feet were muddy, I don't think the people like mudd. Mommm and her Mommm cleaned our feet for us. I didn't like it at first, but that was because I thought my clawws were going to get trimmed. But then I saww that my Mommm was helping me to get all the mudd out from my toes. So I let her help meee. But Frasier didn't want to let his Mommm help him, he went back outside for a while but I didn't. I didn't want to get my feet dirrrty, I like them to bee clean. He's the silly one, if you ask meee.

I gotta go! I think I hear my food dish getting food put in it. There are really gooood smells in the cooking room, maybe we're going to get a taste!

I've Been Cleaning. Now It's Time To Go Shopping!

Otter has been doing inside chores involving cleaning. I did some kitchen cleaning & started laundry when I got up at 5:30 this morning, although I was hoping to sleep late. But the bulk of what I've been doing has involved the garage. Bill cleaned out & organized (yeah, I know, but he really did organize) a good size corner area in the garage, but since it mostly involved putting things on shelves you can't really tell. But we can. But he did get a lot done and I'm happy about it.

My garage cleaning involved taking everything off of the 5-shelf unit next to my work bench, pulling the shelf unit out and cleaning under/behind it, then I pulled up the carpet in the dog's area, removed the block that keeps them out of the rest of the garage and cleaned their area. Then I moved my shelf back in place and put everything back on it. Well, not everything. I have a nice big stack of stuff that needs to be put up in the attic. But I reorganized the stuff I put back on the shelf and also filled up a trash can. I am going to go through my craft shelves again, I know that some of the stuff I put back on it will need to be stored in the attic or gotten rid of. But I was at the point where I was ready to chuck it all! Which means that it is time to stop.

Eventually, hopefully soon, Bill is going to get rid of one of the rows of 5-shelf units in the garage and that means that I'll have to find a new home for my planting & bird house/feeder equipment. Which I'm thinking will fit nicely on my craft shelf, I just was too tired to deal with it today. Also, it was dusty out there and my lungs have been iffy all week. But I will probably get on that pretty soon.

When he does get finished and the row of shelves has been removed, he will then have room to move all his big tools (table saw, etc.) to where he was working today. At the moment, I have a trail between two rows of shelves where I can bring groceries in from the car to the kitchen. When he gets the big tools moved, I won't have to worry about walking through a narrow walkway while carrying grocery bags.

Decorating Bug update: I am using one of my Fenton bud vases to hold the toothbrushes. The Fenton cigarette box is holding q-tips, just like it did before. The lid has been taken off of the cigarette box and turned upside down so that the flat side is facing up and that is what I'm using as a soap dish. Although that might change. I'm going to clean out one of the non-Fenton vases that I've previously posted on here and that is going to be the listerine holder, I have several corks and I just need to find one to fit the vase. I have a non-Fenton short candle holder that I originally bought to use as a ring holder in the bathroom, and it's now back in there. I still need a drinking glass, and I think I'm going to see about another shot glass to use with the listerine set up. I'm going to use roses as my color choice in there, so I will see if I can find a shot glass with a rose pattern which probably won't be hard since they are decorated with just about anything you can imagine and probably some things you can't! Also, I have a rose decorated ceramic holder for toothpaste that I've had for years and years and years and years. It's now back in use. There are two small paintings of pink flowers that Bill's mom did many years ago, they are going to be on the wall in the bathroom as soon as I get off my behind and go get them! Then all I have to do is decide about one other thing - the picture of palm trees that is above the light in the bathroom. Bill built the frame for it, and I think I'll see if I can find something floral to put in it's place. Preferably roses, but I might decide on something else if the colors are right. Then in the next several days, I'll get busy and get the palm tree stuff on eBay.

Then I can get back to the kitchen project. Which has now expanded to include the dining room. Froggy, you are probably going to get A LOT of hummingbird stuff out of this!

I took a trunk load of stuff to the recycling center before I got started on my garage project. Now, I think it's time to go shopping. Michaels, here I come! And also Hancock Fabrics. Some people chose to watch football today. I choose to go contribute to the economy. I think I'll have more fun.