Random Thoughts & Musings

This is the tree outside my office, it is suddenly "on fire" and is beautiful. Until today, when it rained and we had lots of wind - which deposited quite a few of those leaves all over my car!

This is a recipe for disaster if there ever was one. Both dogs have had a condition lately that we've called "Burning Rubber Butt" and now with both dog rear ends together, it's only a matter of time until everything in this house melts from the stench!

This picture is blurry, sorry about that! This is the Fenton (what else is there, really?) piece that Froggy got me at the flea market last summer. It's a cranberry opalescent hobnail vase, I can't remember the years it was produced but it's not recent by any stretch of the imagination. It is fairly rare, especially to find it in such a good condition. She got a very good price for it, which I might have paid except that I was trying to make my Fenton $$ last and get as much bang for the buck as I could. And I did get a lot of bang for my bucks! But I'm very thankful, Froggy! It's on the new wooden shelf that Bill built for me.

Here's the shelf! Both hummingbirds are Fenton as well. I'm thinking that I need another piece (or two!) in cranberry or rose pink to go on the shelf. But since I don't currently have any other pieces...

Well, I'll see what I can do about remedying that situation! :)

Anyway, the shelf was going to be a very pale pink but the color I bought turned out to be a lot closer to pepto bismol pink than the label & sample showed. Also, the varnish coat caused the paint to bubble so I got the sander that Bill bought me a couple of years ago and sanded all the paint off. Then I hit it with Kilz, and then painted it a green color that is very similar to the green fabric on the bulletin board I made a while back. The green paint is paint that I originally bought well before we moved, the label said it was 5/30/04, so I've had it a while. Bill was going to replace the curtains on the sliding door we had in our bedroom in the old house and he was going to put up a wooden curtain rod. I bought the paint to use on the curtain rod. Then a month later, Dad left us and we bought our then-new home in a matter of weeks so the curtain rod never actually got painted beyond the kilz coat and is in fact hanging up in the garage. Where it's been for 5 years and will probably stay until I can think of a use for it! But I did at least find a use for the paint!

We got the 2nd opinion on the chimney today. It does need to be repaired, but it is at least clean now. The problem it has is something that is probably related to the way it was constructed when this house was built. It wasn't constructed badly, but over time things change as a matter of normality and some of the bricks are a little loose. The first inspector told me that some of the bricks had fallen in and that we were in danger of losing the entire chimney, basically. Well, Bill didn't think that was right and after I cleaned the fireplace last week (dirty, messy work), I stuck my head in there and I could see what Bill was saying was right. So that's when we decided to get the second opinion. He came out today, and some of the bricks have loosened up a little which is what happens over time. The concern in that case is that if we have a really big, hot fire (and we usually do have that kind), a stray spark could concievably get behind one of the bricks. If that happened, we could lose the entire house and possibly us along with it. He gave us a bid to repair and it's similar to the first bid, but the work he wants to do looks like it will be better and will last longer. The two prices are virtually the same. So we are going to go with the guy from today. I'm not sure when, soon, but Bill's got to arrange the time off because it is probably a 2-day job. And we need to get it done before the roof work. He suggested that we not use the fireplace, unless it was a situation of an ice storm and no power but we have a little time before winter hits. Not a lot, but enough.

We may have missed our window on the roof, however. Winter is coming and it's not far. So, although we would prefer not to have to wait, it looks like it might be next spring before we can get the roof replaced. We know we have missed our weather window to do the painting outside that we need to do.

Sunday is rock garden day! It's been raining all day and it's just way too muddy & wet to even think about it today. Yesterday would have been good, but it was very windy and as soon as I went outside my allergies fired up and they are still around. There really isn't that much left to do, it's just been a matter of finding the time when it's not raining. And in NE Oklahoma, it rains pretty much all Fall!

Product Un-endorsement

I'm not big about product endorsements. I like what I like and that's about the end of it. However, if I DON"T like something I am very likely to talk about it.

This is one of those times.

I've done the research on this one, and although it sounds to horrible to be true - it's 100% true.

Neocutis is a brand of make up. I don't wear make up because my skin can't handle it, that is the only reason I don't. However, even if I did and even if I was paid to wear this brand it would never happen.

One of the ingredients is "Processed Skin Proteins" which sounds harmless, right?

But "Processed Skin Proteins" means something else entirely. This company has come out and admitted that they are using SKIN CELLS FROM ABORTED FETUSES. That's right, UNBORN BABIES WHICH WERE MURDERED.

For profit, no less.

There are times when I fear for the human race. This is one of those times.

There is no excuse for this one, no matter what someone says. There is no justifying this one. And yes, I did the research. Unfortunately, this is 100% true.

Itchy Fingers!

If I don't get to use this:

and do some of this:

in the VERY near future, I think I'll just lose my mind!

I hate HATE having my skin at times. Usually, I like my skin but not when the air is dry and it cracks. And bleeds. At the moment, it's the pointer finger on my right hand and the thumb on my left hand.

I'm going to have to figure something out soon, I need to seriously feed my crochet addiction.

Sunday Mustard

Well, I've already used the title Sunday Ketchup! Besides, I like mustard better than ketchup anyway. :)

This is a general idea of what we've been up to lately:

This little grey sweetheart was at the auction we went to Thursday. She was not for sale, she's a pet of the auctioneer and is very spoiled. And very friendly! She loves people. She came running up to the fence as soon as she saw Otter. Well, as fast as an obviously very pregnant donkey can run, anyway. Froggy, the picture I texted you was of this same donkey. No, we didn't buy her! But Otter would have, if it had been possible.

Lazy Frazy. He's actually licking the carpet, I don't know why but that's what he does.

I stuck my head into Otter's room and discovered Maggie, up in bed and as close to her Mom as she can get.

This is the office cat. She showed up a couple of years ago, and of course my older boss immediately was in her power. Otter calls her Miss Whiskers. This cat is extremely spoiled, and she's got us all well trained.

Here's a better shot. She was very skittish about the camera, she ran off as soon as I took this shot. Of course, she came back later on and begged for more food. She is the only cat I've ever known of who likes to have her belly rubbed like a dog.

We've been busy today. Bill had several things he did, including mowing the back yard and cutting a bunch of wood. And he also steam cleaned the carpet in Otter's room, her bathroom and the rest of the hallway. At which point the dogsters got put out! They weren't happy, but Oh Well!

Otter did a bunch of chores inside the house for me, we both did laundry (and still have some left) and then we spent a lot of time outside playing in the dirt. Also known as working in the rock garden. I was hoping that we could get finished with it today, but we had so many other things we wanted/needed to do that we didn't have the time to spend on it. But we're nearly there. Oh yeah, we also hit a couple of thrift stores & ran a few errands.

Also, Otter's very much her mother's daughter. It's very easy to tell why. She has shoes. 22 or 23 pair as of Friday's count and she found another pair today. Bill asked her how many shoes she had on Friday, and he just about fell off the couch when she told him! He just couldn't understand why she needs so many shoes. His reasoning is that she's only got two feet and there are only 7 days in each week. At that point, I got involved in the conversation. I told him to not even try to figure it out, that it's a Girl Thing and guys just don't get it - they never will. She really does wear all of them, incidentally. I used to have lots and lots and lots of shoes. Then I broke my toes on my right foot when I tried to kick the couch into orbit. Now, I can't wear most types of shoes and certainly nothing with a heel because of the angle it puts my toes at. So I've switched my shoe addiction to purses. But it was more fun when it was shoes!

Winter is Coming!

It got into the 30's last night. The high 30's, but still the 30's. So in other words, it was cold. But then, I'm usually cold from September 1 to May 31 just because of the fact that I'm a South Texan through and through.

Lots of stuff going on lately, quite a bit of it is house-related. We got the estimate on the chimney repair from the guy that came out last week. But there are a few things he said that don't quite make sense, so Bill's getting a second opinion this week. Then we'll decide what to do about it. The chimney is dirty, but we have a serious question about whether the chimney is really bad or not in terms of the work that the cleaner says it needs.

Also, Bill is going to steam clean Otter's carpet tomorrow after church. Along with the carpeted area in the first bathroom and the part of the hallway he didn't get the other day. It will be a few days before the living room, he was waiting until after the chimney cleaning and since that still hasn't happened it's going to be a few more days until he gets to the living room.

We're also still working on the rock garden. We haven't been out there in several days, I think it was Tuesday afternoon when we worked out there last. We've had a few rainy days, which is normal for this area. Tomorrow (Sunday) has a chance of rain, but that doesn't always mean anything given the talent (or lack thereof) of the local forecasters! But if it's possible, we'll be out there and it is quite possible that we'll be able to get it all done. Possible, not probable - there is a difference! So, while Billyboy is cleaning the carpets, Otter and I will be outside playing in the dirt and rocks. We'll be having a Clara moment, in other words.

And since it's Fall, I have housecleaning to do. Which means that we (Otter, that does include you) are going to be busy the next several days. I clean pretty frequently anyway, but spring and fall mean that I have to CLEAN. Yes, I know my Borg Queen side is showing.

But one thing I haven't done in way more days than I care to count is crochet. My skin is doing it's thing. There are times when I really, really hate having sensitive skin (extreme sensitive in the words of the dermatologist - like I didn't already know that) and this is one of them. Happens every Fall and winter when the air gets dry. Not fun! I go through a huge amount of lotion. Maybe I should buy stock in one of the companies that makes it! :(

Yeah, that would be a good idea!

This, That and The Otter

I like puns, ok!

Otter has decided not to enter Maggie in the costume contest this year. She's had a problem coming up with a way to attach a fin where it won't fall off or tip the dog over. So it's shelved for this year. But it's probably going to happen next year. In the meantime, here's a few Maggie pictures in her clothing.

This is the bigger t-shirt, it fits closer to her tail part.

This was waiting by the front door, in hope that the big yellow bus would be bringing her mom home soon.

This is the first shirt, the smaller one. She was checking out the sleeves on her legs. She was a little mystified. But then she frequently is!

This is also the first shirt. The sleeves are tighter and longer.

This concludes the Maggie style show portion of this entry.

The dryer vent was cleaned out today. The chimney wasn't, it has some issues that we need to get fixed and we're looking into that. But now, I can use the dryer and it doesn't take (literally) 3 or 4 times to get a load dry.

We had a power outage last night. About 9:30, the power went out and flickered a couple of times. Then it quit completely. It was obviously the entire neighborhood. As I was reporting it, there were several other calls coming in. We found the flashlights and Bill fixed up his (work only) cell phone alarm. But I still slept badly, I was afraid that we would oversleep. I woke up at 2:00 and called the electric company then for an update, they said that there had been a serious car accident which is what we thought. At that time, they thought that it would be around 4:00 before our power came back on. We woke up with Bill's temporary alarm at 5:00, then about 15 minutes later the power came back on. It wasn't cold last night, but it was cool. But we have blankets, and Otter had a warm beagle, so we were fine. But I was very glad that the power came back on when it did - otherwise I would have had to do without coffee!

And that would not have been pretty.

Doggie Jail

Poor Maggie.

She can't quite figure this contraption out.

She'll learn soon enough.

HOOK 'EM!!!!!

3 YEARS IN A ROW! TAKE THAT, SOONERS!

Overflowing with Romance!

Today is the anniversary of when Wild Bill and I met. 1983. 26 years.

What are we doing to mark this momentus occasion?

Having pizza.

Then we are going to get started steam cleaning the carpet.

Real romantic, huh!?!

Maggie Moo!

It's not Maggie Monday, relax. It's just a post about Maggie on Monday. :)

Otter got a size 18 month grey shirt at Wallyworld today. It's the basis of the shark costume for the dog. When Maggie saw me holding it open at the neck in her general direction, she pretty much ran into the shirt. She is very obviously used to being dressed up and she really does like it. Of course, Big Brother Frasier immediately came over to her and pulled the shirt off of her. Then he chewed on it.

I took it away from him and put it back on her. All good up to this point, but she really did not like having to put her legs through the sleeves. Of course, part of that was probably because Frasier was trying to play with her at the time. He does that, you know.

Anyway, once we got it on her we discovered that it was just a little snug, so Otter might get the next size up (24 months) and cut the sleeves down. The shirt is a mock turtle neck, Otter might just cut the cowl neck off and see if that makes it fit better. But a larger size would also be longer, which I think it will need to be so that we can attach the fin to it.

My life has gone to the dogs! But they are cute dogs, so no complaints.

Froggy, there is no way I could even get near Frasier if I tried to put anything on him. It simply will not happen, so that's why he isn't going to have a costume for the dog parade. He's not left out, he's just not into dressing up. We tried to put one of Maggie's bandanas on him one time, he avoided us for hours after that!

I'll post pictures as we get Maggie Moo's costume situated. We got a couple of pictures tonight, but Maggie was more interested in going up to Otter than in posing for the camera that Otter was holding.

Halloween is Coming!

And the beagle is going to be a shark. A carpet shark, to be excact.

There is a farm and ranch store we like, it sells all sorts of things besides just farm & ranch supplies. They have a pet costume contest the Sunday before Halloween. Otter talked about taking the beagle last year, but we had some other things we had to do that day so we just went to look at the dogs. This year, Otter wants to take Maggie. There is a pet parade as well as the contest. (Froggy, remember Atwood's?).

One of Maggie's tricks is to roll over on her back when she wants a belly rub, and if nobody pays attention to her she will start to squirm and twist until she can reach anyone who happens to be close by. With her teeth! She doesn't bite, she just nips. But it does get your attention! Otter's been trying to come up with a costume idea, I suggested she dress the dog up like a baby - so we can put a diaper on her. But Bill suggested that she dress the dog up like a shark, since we call her the Carpet Shark when she's trying to get belly rubs. Otter loved the idea.

We have some left-over carpet pieces from the rent house, from the carpet that was destroyed, and no use for it anymore. Bill got a couple of small pieces out of the attic, and I brought them inside. Otter is probably going to get a small sized grey t-shirt to put on the dogster, then the fin will be made out of the carpet pieces. (Carpet shark, get it?). The fin will be attached to the t-shirt, but it will probably have to be strapped around the beagle belly so it doesn't fall off. We measured Maggie this morning, Otter had a great time measuring the dog and the dog seemed to like it too. We measured her belly, chest width, neck and just for fun we measured her tail and ears. And the tail wagged the whole time.

I'll post pictures later on, Otter is just getting started on the costume. She's having fun with it. And I think Maggie will enjoy it. But Frasier isn't going to be in costume. He'll go with us, but just for fun. Besides, Frasier's costume would be easy: Incognito Coyote!

Shot. Warm. Friday.

We got our flu shots this afternoon. I checked, and since I had not had fever nor actually thrown up they said I was safe to get the shot. So I picked Otter up at school and we went "around the corner" to the grocery store where the visiting nurse association was holding a shot clinic. They go to most area grocery stores and we usually go to the one closer to home, but the news made an announcement this morning about shortages of flu shots because it was running out already. Which it isn't! I asked about that when we were getting our shots, they said that once the news report hit they were immediately inundated. If the aim of the media was to encourage people to get the shot, they succeeded. We usually get ours as early as we can anyway. I kind of expected a run on them this year, with the hysteria over the swine flu. It's one we don't want, but we have decided against the shots for it. Just the regular flu shots for us this year.

I let Bill make the decision on this one, but I agree with his reasoning. The swine flu immunization has simply not been out long enough nor been tested enough for us to feel safe about it. It's not available here yet, anyway.

It's been very cool today, it was in the 50's all day. Grey, overcast sky and rain throughout the morning. It's going to be in the 30's tonight. Probably the high 30's, but still the 30's. So we turned on the heater just now. I don't like the smell of the dust burning off, but a friend of mine told me once that he thought it was the best scent in the world - because he knew that once he smelled that, he would be warm soon. Good point. We don't usually need the heater quite this early, but this year is colder earlier than normal.

I'm going to get the humidifiers loaded up and turned on shortly. I've been shocking myself for a few days now. The dogs have probably already gotten their spot staked out, they get right in front of the heater vent in the living room and snooze. Sometimes we have to move them out of the way!

We had Subway for dinner tonight. I like to make it easy on flu shot day, since I usually feel cruddy all evening. I don't feel the best at the moment, but it's tolerable. It's the normal reaction I have. My arm is a little sore, which is also normal. Otter usually has some arm soreness but not much else in the way of reaction. And there is ice cream pie in the freezer, which we'll get into a little later. Nobody has room for dessert! Froggy, if you were here I would share it with you. But since you aren't here, I'll have to eat yours for you.

Thursday, Fall Thoughts, Bugs, Weather, Dogs!

It's Thursday. I will be glad when it's Friday, but we aren't there yet.

It's Fall. And we have the Weather to prove it. Cool & misty, with periods of rain. We have a good chance of hard rain this afternoon, the tv stations are already putting flash flood watches up but that doesn't always mean anything. As Bill says, they couldn't predict a hole in the ground if they dug it themselves... By the way, a lot of what I put here is stuff that comes from Bill.

Bugs refers to the fact that we are passing some type of tummy bug around. It's already been around the office, but I think I got it from Bill. Who knows where he got it from, but he came down with it before I did and although both of my bosses have had it, they have not been in the office too much so I really haven't been around them. Yesterday, Bill woke up with it at 3:00 a.m. and then as an indication of how bad he really felt, he asked me to stay home with him. I started having symptoms last night, but not severe. Just enough nausea that I'm being very careful because I don't want it to get worse! So I decided to stay home today and take it easy, I'd like to avoid the worst symptoms if I can. Otter may have already had it, she had some symptoms a few days ago. But we are still planning on getting the flu shots tomorrow, having an ongoing bug might mean more of a reaction but it's a risk we have to take at this point. The flu is already starting to show up in this area, and there is also a possibility of not being able to get the shot if we wait since there are a lot of people getting it this year. Froggy - Otter and I have already been to Braum's and there is a strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie in the freezer. Billyboy hasn't found it yet, there was just barely enough room to hide it behind all the soups, beans, etc., that I have frozen in containers for him to take for lunch. Of course, we also bought a carton of neopolitan which served as a good distraction for him!

What's left? Oh yeah, Dogs! Well, in this case it means that both of them are causes for concern but for different reasons. Frasier's foot is a little swollen, the area on his foot looks a little bigger and redder but some of the hair might have grown back. I'm going to have to talk to the vet about it.

Maggie, well she's another story. She went through a spell very recently where she apparently forgot that she was housebroken. We're pretty sure that it started because she does not like to go outside when it's raining, because her "accidents" only seemed to happen when it was rainy. We were not really sure which dog it was, then Otter caught Maggie in the act. Since then, she hasn't had any more on purpose accidents that we know of, but there is a smell in the house that we've been trying to track down and it can only be one thing. Bill decided to get the blacklight that we used when we were selling on eBay, it illuminated glass items wonderfully. Blacklight also illuminates other things, including dog urine. Well, we found it alright. EVERYWHERE. It looks like that furry little brat has been having on purpose accidents for a long time, and probably not just because of rain. Some of the spots are obviously pretty old, but the majority of them seem to be new. Maggie had taken to sleeping in our closet and under our bed - and both places have huge areas. There are spots by the back door in the living room, in Otter's room, all over the place. We are going to have to steam-clean the entire house. We will probably buy a steam cleaner instead of renting one. I am not sure if I need to talk to the vet or not, since we don't think Maggie's done it since Otter caught her. But it is one of the symptoms of diabetes in dogs. It's not the only symptom, there are others, but she doesn't seem to have any of the other symptoms. However, it is something we need to watch her about.

Because it is Fall, it won't be long until it's Winter. Everyone I've talked to seems to think that we'll have an early winter and a bad one. I'm kind of thinking that as well. I have already started my storm supply stock up. I have a few days worth of canned food and misc. stuff on hand, it has come in handy when we've been unable to get to the grocery store due to ice and so forth. I'm not obsessive about it, it's not like we could survive for months on it, but it's nice to have. Canned stew, chili, soup, crackers, peanut butter, candles, matches, stuff along those lines. And also a little bit of dog food, can't forget about the poochies no matter how much they drive us crazy!

I Must Have Rocks in My Head!

We started on the rock garden redo this afternoon. It's a lot of work, it's going to take us several days and it is hard, dirty work. But once it's done, it will be so nice. The rock garden will be larger and we're going to rearrange some of Otter's concrete animals a bit. As well as move the fountain-turned-planter back a few inches and see what else I come up with.

Basically, today's activities included moving all the aforementioned concrete animals out, all the fossils, limestone, geodes, "grammy rocks", statues, the TEXAS shape, the signs and any rocks that we thought were interesting and wanted to make sure they got back on top instead of buried in all the other rocks. Bill's wheelbarrow is now full of rocks and there are still a bunch more to go. Bill's got some large heavy-gauge nylon type plastic bags that we originally bought the rocks in, and as soon as he finds them :) we'll start putting rocks in them as well. Then, after all the rocks have been removed, we're going to pull all the plastic up, get the hoes and get busy re-leveling the dirt. Oh yeah, the fountain-turned-planter will still need to be moved out before we can level, but it's the last thing we'll move out because it weighs a TON. Or at least it feels like it, when we've had to move it. Then, after all that, we'll move the sandstone pieces that are my edge out of the way.

Then, after all that fun stuff, I am going to use the ground liner from the pool in place of the thinner plastic I used when we first put the rock garden in. It's fairly thick and should last for several years. This is a spot where I want to keep weeds & grass out of forever, so I'm not going to use anything such as newspaper which would biodegrade. The next step will be to do everything in reverse to put it all back in place. Although some of the places will be changed, Otter has a lot of concrete animals and some of them will be put on the other side of the trellis so that they'll be at the base of the trellis. But I have to level some of the dirt underneath the trellis, thanks to a certain small & fat beagle who shall remain nameless. Otter's concrete animals used to be in assorted places, there were some in the rock garden and then she had some of them placed in the flower bed that used to be along the back of the house. When we took that flower bed down, they moved to the rock garden.

I'll be glad when it's done. It will look very nice. Until then, I think I'll go take a motrin or two and hopefully my arms & shoulders won't be too sore to use tomorrow. And then I'll think about Mom, and how she moved all her rocks from one side of town to the other when we all moved. And she had way more rocks to deal with than I do, along with all sorts of other interesting objects.

My Find of the Year!

Fenton, obviously! I mean, what else did you expect from me? :)

I have been looking for a particular pattern for months. Many months. I've seen it once, at Salvation Army in the case where they keep the good stuff. That particular time, it was priced appropriatly. Which is way more than I will generally pay. So, I kept looking. And looking. And looking some more. Today, I found it.

Anyway, back to the story. I was looking for something else, for a project Froggy and I have going (be afraid Toadly!). I usually have seen a lot of the thing(s) I was looking for, but not now that I'm actually trying to find them. I was about to give up when I spotted something. Something that I had to look at a few times to accept what I was seeing. And then I immediately grabbed it!

It's in absolutely perfect, exquisite condition. The pattern is Cactus, Fenton produced it from 1959 to 1963. It's fairly rare, and even rarer in opalescent vaseline. Vaseline is greenish, it glows when exposed to a black light. It glows because it was produced with a slight amount of radioactive material in the glass, but it's not going to set off any geiger counters! I have a few other pieces of vaseline, but only one of them is Fenton and that one is actually Otter's.

Did I mention that it was $2.00? And it was at the Salvation Army where they usually have the good stuff in the locked cabinet (and usually overpriced). I think the pricing expert must have been off the day that this came in. Not that I'm complaining!

Movie Review & Sunday Stuff

Read this:

http://movies.msn.com/mom-pop-culture/toy-story-double-feature/story/feature/?GT1=28137

Toy Story was the second movie we ever took Otter to see at the theater. She was born in early 1992 and it came out in 1995, so she was pretty young. So young at the time, in fact, that she doesn't even remember seeing it in the theater. But it has been a major, MAJOR part of our life since it came out and we bought the dvd as soon as it was released.

It was always a tremendously good movie. There are a few lines that Bill has more or less adopted as his own and we still hear them from him. For a movie aimed at young children, it has always had a huge popularity among adults.

Then, in 1999, Toy Story 2 was released. And it was as good as the first, although for one specific reason we think it is the best of the two. There is a specific character which is extremely popular around our house. Anybody who knows us will know exactly which one I mean and why. We actually think that Disney should owe us royalties for that one! For very obvious reasons, that particular character was one of Otter's Halloween costumes and was probably her favorite. It was certainly a very easy costume to make!

So when Otter heard that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were going to be re-released theatrically and in 3-D, there was absolutely no doubt that we would be in the theater for the double feature. We saw them today, they were as wonderful as they always were and since she doesn't remember seeing the first one in the theater it was almost like she was seeing it for the first time - instead of about the millionth! There was also a preview for Toy Story 3, which will also be in 3-D. And yes, in case it's not already obvious, we will see it in the theater. And it is definetely what we call a popcorn movie!

It was really fun to see the movies today, there were quite a few children who were young and were very obviously seeing it for the first time. It would have been worth the ticket cost & snacks just to see/hear their reactions. They were great. And I noticed that there were as many adults without children as there were with young kids and quite a few grandparents taking grandchildren. They are just the kind of movie that is popular with all ages, and it was a lot of fun.

Other stuff: Well, it's raining. Again. But it is Fall and that happens up here. A lot. It's also been consistently in the 40's at night.

Before we went to the movies, I took Otter back to the rent house. It was a trip down memory lane for her. She hasn't been there in a while, not since we first started getting it ready to sell. She wanted to go back to it again and then we drove around the neighborhood for a while. Lots of memories!

Frasier has another spot coming up on his foot, the same leg that has the tumor/cyst/growth. The older growth shrank up quite a bit but never went away. The vet checks it each time we take him in. Now, he's got a spot on the top of the foot but I'm not sure if it's a growth or if he's just licked the hair off. So we're watching it, and I might have to take him back in to see the vet. It wasn't there when he got his shots a couple of weeks ago. But he seems to be in good spirits, he's playful and doesn't act like anything hurts. Unlike before, when the first place came up. Maggie Moo, on the other hand, is crazier than ever. She just is.

OK, I'm off to catch up on laundry now. Laundry never ends!

Surprise!

Otter and I went to the pumpkin patch this afternoon. We saw a bunch of animals and I was going to post pictures, but I think I'll wait until the next time or so because I don't have a lot of time before sunset tonight and blogger is being slow about uploading pictures. But we had a great time. We petted a lot of goats, watched the turkeys, ducks & chickens, saw the camels, looked at the cavies and spent a great deal of time watching the piggies. There were several litters of piglets, they were so cute! And there were a couple of very protective mama pigs, they watched those babies intently.

The title refers to what I found when we got home. We stopped at the grocery store for a couple of things for dinner, since I had forgotten to take any meat out of the freezer. But what we bought (sliced ham, frozen Texas toast, vegetables & Pioneer brown gravy mix) will wait until tomorrow or Sunday. Because when we were putting it all in the fridge, we discovered that Bill had been shopping. He bought bagels, Digorno pizzas (dinner tonight), a bottle of the wine I like and then Otter informed me that she'd discovered something else when she went to find Bill to let him know we were finally home.

Sitting on my desk was this:

I moved it to the table so we can all enjoy them. There is nothing in here that Otter is overtly allergic to, Bill knows what to avoid as far as she's concerned.

Here's a better shot of the entire boquet. Please excuse the fact that it's in what is essentially a large beer glass! Bill didn't know where any vases might be, and now that I think about it I'm not sure if I have any that would have been big enough anyway. One time, he used the blender to hold roses so I suppose this is a step up! Also, the beer glass/pitcher is the one remaining souvenier Bill has from the bar his dad owned when Bill was a kid so it doesn't get used very often. It would be a shame to break it, it's got a lot of sentimental value.

I'm very spoiled. And I know it. And I'm not complaining one bit.

September Books and Other Stuff (Edited)

September's book list:

1. Beating Back the Devil, On the Front Lines with the Desease Detectives of the Epidemic Intellegence Service by Mayn McKenna. Long title. Very good book, I learned a lot from this one.

2. Simple Crochet by Erika Night. Not impressed!

3. Cozy Crochet - 26 Fun Projects From Fashion to Home Decor by Melissa Leapman. I got a couple of ideas from this one.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Book 6. Many times re-run. I started re-reading the series last month, but I read it out of order. Now I'm finished. For the moment, I'll read it again.

5. Dear Laura, Letters From Children to Laura Ingalls Wilder. This one was fun.

6. 24 Hour Crochet Projects by Rita Weiss. A few ideas.

7. New Ideas for Today's Crochet by Jean Leinhauser & Rita Weiss. Not much new in this one!

8. Stitch and B_tch Crochet, The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. I might buy this one, there were several interesting patterns in it. And for the record, if you want to insult someone who crochets then you call them a hooker. It's not a "nice" insult, it's a real one.

9. True Blue Police Stories by Those Who Lived Them, by Sgt. Randy Sutton. Very interesting and informative.

10. Easy Living Crochet edited by Carol Alexander. Not much.

11. Sensual Crochet, Luxurious Yarns/Alluring Designs by Amy Swenson. Not much at all, except for the fact that there were lots of pictures and some of them were swimsuits - which Bill liked and wants me to make. (No!)

12. Lark Kid's Crafts Crochet by Jane Davis. Every so often, I like to look at beginner or basic books because they sometimes have patterns I haven't seen. This one didn't have too much but it would be a good book for anyone of any age who wanted to learn.

13. Crocheting School, a Complete Course. This was a refresher for me, see comments on # 12. But I learned a few things I didn't know from this one.

14. Cursed by Carol Higgins Clark. Fluff, as usual. I read her books when I just want something to read but not anything heavy. It wasn't as good as her earlier books in this series, which is saying something!

15. The Secret by Beverly Lewis. Part one, I have ordered the next book in the series from the library but there is a long waiting list. I hope it comes before I forget this one! It was not as good as other books by this author.

16. Mortal Danger by Ann Rule. I've read this one before. Ms. Rule is one of my internet friends, I correspond with her and she is a very interesting person. The subject of the main story of this book is also someone I've corresponded with. This book is more scary than some of the other books Ann has written, it deals with spouses who aren't quite what they appear to be and has some very good information.

17. The Zombie Survival Guide, Complete Protection From the Living Dead by Max Brooks. This is one that Otter suggested I read, it was really a lot of fun. It's written as if it's a serious book, and it was really funny. There are a couple of other books written like this one and I think I'm going to see if I can find them. Very entertaining!

18. Coming Home by David Lewis. He's Beverly Lewis' husband and this book was good, but somewhat predictable.

19. When Men Become Gods by Stephen Singular. This book deals with the FLDS. It's a true story, actually several different stories, and very good. I'm actually still reading it, but I'm nearly through so it's on the September list. There are a lot of books that deal with the FLDS, and I have read quite a few. (Later edit: I see from looking back that this book was on an earlier list. I think I did read it before, but I'm not sure if I actually finished it. I think I thought that I had finished it because I was getting it confused with another book, and it was returned to the library before I was actually finished. I did read the entire book this time.)

Not as many books as last month, but we've had the rent house to keep us occupied.

Regarding skeeters, Froggy commented about a filter screen. Yes, I have one. Which is why we didn't look at the rain barrel when we first started to see/hear/feel more of the little suckers. I've killed a few of them today and there are still more. But they won't last forever. At least I hope not!

Since it's October, Otter and I put our ceramic jack-0-lantern pumpkins out on the front porch just now. We are probably not going to have candy this year, because there really are not many kids in the neighborhood that are old enough or young enough to still trick or treat. We had very few last year. Of course, if I don't buy candy this year we'll be inundated with kids ringing the doorbell even though the porch light will be out! But we're still going to the pumpkin patch, tomorrow after school. The one we like has a lot of animals and it's always fun to feed them.

I'm glad that it's nearly Friday. It's been an odd week, we've both been very busy but it feels like we haven't gotten anything accomplished at all. We are all very much in need of a Saturday!

Mosquitos Suck!

And they make me itch.

We've been having a problem with them, we have been unable to figure out where they are coming from but we knew it was close by. Today, I found them.

They are in the rain barrel. I was getting water out of it, and there were lots of wrigglers coming out with the water. So Otter and I went to the hardware store and bought Mosquito Dunks. The dunks are basically a ring of pesticide granules. They float in the water and dissolve, which kills the larvae but won't do anything about the already hatched ones. When Bill opened up the barrel to drop the dunk in, a bunch of them came flying out. We swatted a few of them, then he closed it back up. We figure that there will still be some that hatch, but the dunk will start working and we won't have to deal with them too much longer. The dunks last about 30 days, but we'll probably be well past skeeter season by then. But next year, when spring comes around and we are cleaning out the rain barrel to fill up again, we're going to put a dunk in it before it even gets used. Then we'll put a new one in every 30 days.

In the meantime, we still have to deal with them. I brought at least one inside with me, it was on my arm. Now it's squished. But I'm itchy.

Froggy, if you ever get around to installing the gutters so you can put your rain barrel in - I strongly recommend Mosquito Dunks! They are safe for plants, which is what we use the rain barrel water for.

I have a serious prayer request. One of Bill's cousin's son has swine flu. I would like to ask anyone who can to pray for him, and also for his parents.

Otter and I are planning on getting our (regular) flu shots next week on Friday. The organization that we usually get them from starts next Tuesday, but because I usually have a reaction and feel cruddy for a few hours I prefer to get mine on Friday so that I can have the next day to rest if I still feel bad. I called our doctor, but she only does hers on Tuesdays. Then I called a walk-in clinic and they said that they only give shots to age 18 and over. Otter's 17 and has asthma, but apparently she would still need to be 18. So we are going to go back to our original plan and get them next Friday. Then we're going to get ice cream, since you have to get ice cream when you get a shot, and then probably stop at Subway to get dinner to bring home. By the way Froggy, the ice cream will most likely be in the form of a pie. Strawberry Cheesecake, if we can find it. Do I need to tell you where it will come from? :)

Just Random Stuff Today

Toadly seems to be very happy with the house pictures. I haven't mailed it to you yet Bro - I can't find a box! But since Froggy and I have another plan hatched, I might wait for just a bit. (Insert manaical laughter here).

Bugs! Lots of them lately.

This little guy was at the rent house the other day, I took a picture of it for Otter because she is her mother's daughter, after all! She liked the picture, incidentally. I don't think I've ever seen a grasshopper like this one. He was pretty big, too. About 3" long and very big legs.

This is actually a praying mantis, but the pictures aren't very clear. The camera battery was about to die, but he was moving quickly and I didn't think I'd have time to go find new batteries and change them. He was on the fence outside the kitchen window at home.


Still on the fence, I went outside of the yard to take the picture and the angle makes it look like the satellite dish is right there but it really isn't.



This creature is a cocoon, the fuzzy thing beside it is the remains of a fuzzy moth caterpillar we've been seeing bunches of lately. I discovered them when we were mowing the last this afternoon and called Otter to see them. Like I said before, she is her mother's daughter...

I just had the camera too close here, but it's the same cocoon and partially eaten moth.

The lawn mower finally died. Bill was trying to start it yesterday and it simply would not start. It almost started the first time he pulled the start rope, but then it wouldn't even almost start. So we went to Lowe's and bought another one. We were hoping to wait until next spring, because we didn't want to lose a lot of the warranty period with it just sitting over the winter. But we couldn't wait, so we faced reality and got another one. The other reason we wanted to wait is that there really are not a lot of lawn mowers available at the end of the summer. But Bill was able to find one for not too much $$ which is always good. By the time we got it home and he assembled it, it was too late so we used it tonight. And that's when we decided that we should have replaced the old one a lot sooner! (One of the benefits of having an Engineer for a spouse is that "some assembly required" is not a scary phrase.)

It was in the mid-40's last night. Time to get the blankets out! We are still using the fan in our room, but probably not for much longer. Then it will be time to get the humidifiers going. Winter's on the way, and possibly very soon.

Maggie Moo Monday!

Hi! Hi! Hi! It's mee, Maggie! Hi! Hi! Hi!

My mommm and her mommm played a mean trick on mee the otherrr day. They told us wee could go for a riiiide. Wee like riiides. Wee got to go in the carrr. You have to go in the carrr for a riiide. This day, the riiide tooked us to the vvett! I don't like the vvett.

My brotherr Frasier was acting like it didn't botherr himmm, but I think hee was just pretending. Hee acts so brave, but I don't thinnk hee is brave.

The vvett made mee go into a little room, hee made mee leave my mommm and her mommm and my brotherr Frasier all alone. I neeeed to bee there to protect themmm from the vvett. But the vvett tooked mee away and then they did some badd things to my beehind. I was scared, but the vvett tolded mee that it would make mee feel betterr. Then they tooked mee back to my mommm and her mommm and gave me a treat. My brotherr Frasier got a treat, but I was braver than hee was and he didn't have to get anything done to his beehind so I think I deserved the treats more than hee did.

I was realllly gladd when my mommm tooked me outside. Then wee got to go for another riide in the carr. You have to go in the carr to get a riiide. Then wee got to riiide home. I was so happee to bee home! I don't ever want to go back to the vvett, but I think I heard my mommm's mommm say that I might have to go back soon to get that bad thing done to my beehind again. I'd betterr get morre treats!

Chickens, Houses & Family

This is what Froggy & I have been up to. It's a miniature house. There is a story that goes with it, which is where the chickens & family part of the title comes in.

There is a set of minature houses called Liberty Falls. It's a whole vilage, there are people, animals and all sorts of things that go with it. Mom and Dad had the set, they started collecting it in the early 1990's when Dillards stores introduced it. It was very popular at the time. People would line up at the doors of the store before it opened for the day, just to make sure they got their houses. I went with Mom and Dad a couple of times, it got pretty intense! These people were serious about their collection.

When we lost Mom, her collection was split between me, Froggy and Toadly. Well, technically it wasn't me - Otter got Mom's collection and she absolutely loves it. She had it out last Christmas as part of our decor. Froggy, do you leave yours out or is it seasonal?

Toadles has quite an extensive collection, and he has it nicely set up and displayed. But because he is who he is, his collection is shall we say, a little different? For example, I think he has some of his train sets with it or at least close by. Probably also has his lighthouse collection in the same general area.

Toadles announced to us that his Village wasn't complete. It couldn't be complete. It was missing something. Something M.A.J.O.R.

It needed a special house.

One that would be very popular, at least with the male members of Liberty Falls Village.

In short, it needed what our mother would have called a Cathouse. Got it yet? :)

Well, Froggy and I decided that we needed to remedy the situation. So when she was here, we found a L.F. house at a thrift store. Then we borrowed a page from Otter's book and customized it. It has red lights, so Toadles can have his very own Red Light District in his Village. The colors have been changed from what it originally was. The house in particular used to be one of the schools, Bill thought that this was so much fun he got involved and he used his Dremel grinding tool to get the name of the school off of the sign. He also made a few color suggestions in the painting.

When Toadles was here in the early summer, I showed him what Froggy and I were making for him. He thought it was perfect, and he wanted to name it after a house in a certain movie about a special house in Texas. So, in honor of the name choice, the reborn L.F. house has chickens on the roof. Chicks, specifically. They are on the roof so that any low-flying planes can find it and won't have to get lost - with Toadles, getting lost is a frequent occurance, so we thought that his special L.F. house needed a landmark - hence the stickers on the roof! I was going to paint the name on the sign, but it was just too small. But I thought that chicks would be appropriate, considering...

So, Toadles, in a few days your very own Chicken Ranch will be arriving in your mailbox! And please ask Mrs. Toadles to forgive us for this one, but we just could not resist. :)

Toadles, you will have to send us pictures of your Village once you've figured out where the Chicken Ranch fits. I'm sure you'll find a place!

It's Frasier Friday!

Woof. Frasier here. I haven't talked to yuu in a lonnng time. It's been a busy time.

My mommm played a mean trick on mee and my little sisterrr today. Mommm told me I could go for a riiide. I like to go for a riiide. But the riiide took uss to the vett! But I'm a gooood boy so I didn't try to stay away like Maggiee did. Maggiee tried to stay out of the dooorrr at the vett, but her mommm pushed her in the dooorrr so shee had to go.

It wasn't bad, I got two shhotts but then the vett gave mee a treat. It was a good treat. He gave mee two treats! Because I'm so special. He gave Maggie two treats, but I don't think shee deserved another one. But I did. Maybe he gave her two so that she wouldn't feel jealous of me?

Shee had to get two shots and then the vett took her out of the roooom and I think they did something mean to her behind. The vett said she was impacted, but I don't know what that means. But her behind doesn't smell so bad now and she's not draggging it anymore. She always has to get whatever they do to her behind. I think that's why she doesn't want to go in the dooorr.

Or maybe shee's just silly. But I'm not silly. My mommm says I'm her special boy. My mommm understands that I'm Frasier and that I should be spoiled more.

Woof!

All Done!

It's taken us months, but Otter and I finally got out to the garage and reorganized our craft areas. Several months back, like in early spring or thereabouts, Bill switched out my plastic shelving unit that was beside my work bench for a metal one that he had up in the attic. The plastic was lighter, so he wanted to use it in the attic instead of the metal frame/wooden shelf unit that was up there. Otter and I took everything off the plastic shelf and it was all over the garage. Along with all my planting stuff and bird feeders, because Bill also took out two or three other shelf units that where in the garage so I had to find a home for my other, non-craft stuff. So far, so good.

Then our a/c unit messed up, and Bill wasn't sure if it was the inside unit or the outside unit. He thought it was the inside unit. Which meant that I had to move all my still unorganized and on the floor craft stuff in a hurry, because it all happened at the same time. So we literally threw some of the craft stuff on the new shelves, all over my work bench and Otter's desk she uses and in lots of other random spots. (The a/c turned out to be a minor part on the outside unit, so the mass chaotic stuff in the garage was totally unnecessary).

Then the weather got too warm to even think about doing any serious work in the garage. So it all sat where it was parked. Now that it's officially Fall (as of 4:18 p.m. today), and now that it's nice & cool out there, I decided that it was time to get busy. Otter was not amused! Tough, kiddo. :) But since some of it was her stuff, and she uses my work bench along with my paints, glue, glue gun, paint brushes, etc., I didn't feel a bit sorry for her having to do actual work!

We took everything off the shelves, bench, desk, floor, chairs, etc. And then we put it all back on the shelves. It's organized, I can find things now and I have a lot more room than my old shelves had. (FutureJediMom, you can tell Elliegant that I found the crayons!).

And I realized that I have a boatload of bird feeders. I'll probably clean them out, at least some of them are hummingbird feeders that I don't want to use any more. I've been slowly getting glass ones because glass is a whole lot easier to clean than plastic. But I didn't realize that while I was getting new, glass ones - I hadn't gotten rid of the plastic ones. I think I'm going to clean the plastic ones up a little, then see if they are donateable (is that a word?) and take them to Goodwill. Along with a few other things we found out there.

Along with the bird feeders, my plant supplies are also on the shelf. But not too much to clean out there, I did manage to get that at least cleaned out in the spring.

Now I have room to craft, I just need to find time. Maybe Saturday! When I'm not crocheting, that is.

Bill's Done It Again!

He's got an ouchie. This time, it's his back. And it's work-related. And then he told me I could post this!

He came home on Friday complaining that his back was really hurting. He said it had been bothering him most of the day, not from any one time in particular but just hurting. Bad. Of course, he didn't report it to anybody. That would be logical, after all, and this is Billyboy we're dealing with here!

He spent most of the weekend in obvious pain. We had to go to the rent house but he didn't do too much, he just walked behind the mower very slowly. There was no lifting involved, I made sure of that.

So yesterday morning, when he was still in a considerable amount of pain, he finally decided to listen to me. After all, I do have experience with a back injury and I also have quite a bit of experience handling insurance/comp claims from a previous job. I guess I got through to him, because he went to work yesterday and told his boss. Who was extremely understanding and immediately sent Bill to the doctor. The diagnosis is muscle strain, which is what we thought, and he's got Happy Pills to take. He has an anti-inflammatory, a pain pill and a muscle relaxer. He's on regular duty, he just has to be careful.

He took his pills when he got home last night, and he spent most of the evening being grouchy! And sleepy.

He's back to work this morning, he took his anti-inflammatory and also took one with him to take after lunch. He's not supposed to take the pain pill or muscle relaxer when he might be driving or around machinery so they have to wait until he gets home.

At least this adventure didn't involve blood or stitches.

Some Sunday Stuff and Misc. Ramblings

First things first, Froggy this is for you!

I've been meaning to post that picture for ages but I kept forgetting. I think it was from Cute Overload. Funny site.

OK. Enough with the turtle stuff for Froggy. For the moment, anyway.

I'm not sure, but I think the hummingbirds have all gone south for the winter. I haven't seen one in days. I still have feeders out, but I think I'm going to take two of the three down. I'll leave one up for a while, because sometimes they stop on the way south for a pitstop. But it's going to be time very soon to get out my seed & suet feeders.

The bluebonnet that came up in the whiskey barrel is going strong. And it's not alone, there are about 10 plants coming up. I hope that they get to the blooming stage before we get our first freeze. But even if they don't, it's still really nice to know that they are there. But I am concerned that if they have come up now we might not have any more in the spring since they are naturalized now.

We went to the rent house this morning and mowed. I think we are going to have to replace the lawn mower sooner than we wanted to. It's been acting like it was on the verge of breaking beyond help for a while, Bill's been babying it along with the intention of replacing it next spring. But I'm not sure if it's going to make it that long! It smokes, sounds funny, quits a lot and is hard to start. At one point today, Bill thought it had finally quit but then he was able to get it started. We bought it 5 years ago and it's been used a lot, both at home and when we've had to mow at the rent house. And with all the rain we've had lately, the grass is growing fast & tall in short periods of time. We did look at Lowe's the other day when we had to go buy a new blade, and I think we're going to (try to) go with our original plan of replacing the mower next year. Along with the pool!

Otter got to stay home today. She did laundry and dishes for me, so she probably would have preferred going to the rent house to sweep. Such a mean mother, I make her do chores! :)

Fall doesn't officially start until next week, I think on Tuesday. We've had mild weather lately and it's been really nice, between rain storms that is! But tomorrow, Monday, is supposed to be in the mid-80's and we have a chance of SLS's. (Spring Like Storms). Tuesday is supposed to be in the same general temperature range but then it's back to 70's for the rest of the week. We've been seeing trees start to turn for a few weeks now, I'm wondering what kind of winter we are facing and how early it's going to hit. We've gotten quite a bit of firewood but not enough yet. Bill got some, but then the rent house took priority so he put firewood on the back burner. No that wasn't a deliberate pun, Toadly! Anyway, I think he's going to see about getting more firewood soon. We also have to get the fireplace & chimney checked, it's been 2 years and we're going to get the dryer vent cleaned out while we're at it. We have not had time to do anything else towards getting the roof at home replaced, but we'll get back on that soon. It does need to be taken care of, we just haven't had time.

Now, I think I'm going to go play with a certain beagle who is snoozing on the floor beside my chair. She's been following Otter around for a while, but now I guess it's my turn to be graced with her beagle self!

It's Thursday not Wednesday but Nearly Friday

I'm title-challenged tonight, ok? Froggy, you got any suggestions on titles? Sometimes you come up with some good ones.

We actually managed to mow! It quit sprinking today so we got busy. Seems like everyone else in the neighborhood had the same idea at the same time. But we got a later start, we had to go to Lowe's to get another blade for the lawn mower. We only did the back yard, we'll get the front yard as soon as Bill gets home tomorrow. We should have enough time to get it done before sunset, if we get right on it. In the meantime, my feet hurt!

Otter has the day off from school tomorrow. I think it's a teacher workday, I can't remember. She's going to work with me, we'll hit the library at lunch and then after work we're going by to see Miss Dorothy - my 92 year old boss's delightful wife. She's the precious lady who had the broken hip in the spring. She's doing great, but Otter hasn't gotten to see her since before school started and they are both driving me nuts about getting to visit!

Sunday will find us back at the rent house. We're pretty much done, but it's been two weeks since Bill's mowed over there (is there no end to lawn mowing?) and I think that Otter and I are going to vacuum the bedroom and swiffer the rest of the house. We'll probably be done at that point, I don't think there is anything else to be done right now.

I've been paying attention to politics, and I have to say this: Jimmy Carter is an absolute IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'll sign off on that note.

Blue & Green Day

Froggy & Toadles, got yours? We're going to eat ours after dinner.

Today would have been our Dad's birthday. If I'm right on my addition, he would have been 90 today. Dad had a huge sweet tooth, and peanut M&M's were about his favorite candy. I think Blues & Greens is what he called them. I'm possibly off on which colors, but that is what we've always called then in his memory. He had a glass pitcher that he kept in the cabinet under the bar at his & Mom's house and all the grandkids knew where they were. He joked about his candy being eaten, but Dad had a good laugh out of it. And he really did love peanut m&m's.

We eat them in his honor/memory every Sept. 15. Otter is allergic to chocolate, but she can have it occasionally and in small doses. She's been avoiding it so that she can have some tonight.

On second thought, we're not waiting for after dinner. After all, Dad wouldn't have!

Some Sunday Stuff! EDITED & UPDATED in Bold at End

First things first: I'm having computer troubles. It's sick. Dr. Bill is fixing it, but I don't know if it will be fixed today or not. So if you leave a comment here and it doesn't show up for a day or so, that's why. Also, if you email me and I don't respond right away, same thing. I don't normally like to let Bill near my computer, it does strange things when he gets through with it. But this time it's necessary. If you need to email me, use Otter or Bill's email address and put my name in the subject. (Otter's email is finally fixed, it turned out to be one little place that should have been clicked and wasn't.)

We're still getting rain very frequently. It's not officially Fall, but I think it really already is. One benefit is that my rain barrel is full. However, the ground is very soft and the dogs don't like to be out in the rain. So they play and go crazy in the living room. Maggie seems to think that the hallway is her personal runway, she seems to really enjoy running up and down the hall. Several times. At full beagle speed. Watch your feet! We have to sit with our feet up on the couch, otherwise they tend to get "runnd over."

Froggy, I keep forgetting to ask you but can you take a couple of pictures of the crochet bag I made you and email them to me? I forgot to take pictures of it. I'm working on a couple of other projects at the moment, I spent quite a bit of yesterday with a hook in one hand and yarn in the other. I got several books from the library the other day, Bill found several pictures he would like me to make. Such as a swim suit. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that! But it was kind of fun when I had to explain how to read the directions to him, as it's like another language and the Engineer needed a translation. That doesn't happen often! :)

I had more, but it's not in my head any longer. Bill is repeating one word over and over and it's distracting me. Which is probably what he intends. The word? Breakfast!

Later: Bill finished with my computer! It seems to be infection free and working fine. There are a few minor differences. But mostly, the problem now is that I forgot to copy down all my stored email addresses because I thought that the address book would transfer to the back up along with all the stored emails. Which didn't happen! I'm going to rebuild it, but I need a few email addresses from people I can't recover. Jan (in Arizona), you are at the top of my list! Froggy, Toadly, FutureJediMom - I have all of yours. I think I have most family members. But as I find ones that I need, I'll indicate on here so keep an eye out.

This is What it's About

It's about hijacked planes hitting buildings. It's about planes flown by muslim extremists. Planes that killed innocent people. Most of them were Americans, but there were people of other nations who were just as important. It's about innocent blood shed. It's about strength and standing up for what is right, standing up to evil.

It's not about volunteering, although I have heard that today should be called "Volunteer Day" and not what it really is.

If we give in to political correctness over this, what hope is there?

And, more importantly, what would that tell the people who died 8 years ago? What would that tell their families, who were left behind by the evil that attacked us?

Volunteer Day? Get real.

And as for the school of thought that tries to make America look like the bad guy, deserving of what happened because the "others" misunderstood us or tries to make us think that we're arrogant or different or evil Americans - do I really have to say what I think about that? Remember those words I don't use? Well, a whole bunch of them would fit here.

We were innocent.

We were attacked by evil.

We are strong.

We didn't give in.

We stood up to bullying of the worst kind.

We triumphed.

We're still here.

We're not going anywhere.

And we will answer for what is done to us.

Let's not forget.

Thursday Ketchup, Books and Prayers

First things first. I have a serious prayer request. Please click on the link. This is a "friend of a friend", not someone I know personally but literally a friend of a friend. This is the worst situation I can imagine, and I can not even begin to imagine how hard it is for the family.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/piercephillips

I finally have time to post my August book list. Of course, it's nearly mid-September... September's book list might be pretty slim, I have not had a whole lot of down time since we've been working at/on the rent house. But now maybe Froggy will quit bugging me about the book list! For the moment, anyway. But here goes:

1. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. Reread x infinity. After we saw the movie of # 6, Otter and I both decided to read the book and see what was different. She actually decided on the entire series. I just was going to read 6 and this book. This one is actually the last one in the series. I think # 6 was on last month's list.

2. Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber. OK.

3. Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman. Alright but not wonderful. Very predictable.

4. American Pie by Michael West. Michael is female in this case. This is NOT connected with the really bad movie from a few years ago. But it also wasn't very good, I got just a few pages into it and decided that it wasn't for me. I don't like to hear certain language and I try not to ever use it, so I don't like to read it either. Although if the author was very good, I might have tried longer.

5. Collectible Glassware 40s-50s-60s by Gene and Cathy Florence. I like the books this couple writes. Lots of information and very detailed pictures. They do a lot of research and it shows.

6. Return to Promise by Debbie Macomber. I read this because I like her Blossom Street series. But I discovered with this book that she also writes romance novels. Have I ever mentioned how much I despise romance novels? Well, I do. This was not very good, even by romance novel standards it was bad.

7. Oddball Texas, a Guide to Some Really Strange Places by Jerome Pohlen. Obvious liberal writer, but it was funny. And I've been to quite a few of the places in this book. I'd recommend it.

8. Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman. Sequel to # 3.

9. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. I think I'm caught up with this series so far, I thought I was before but then I discovered a few other books. However, I read them out of order. But they have yarn, so they are books I enjoyed. They aren't romance novels, at least!

10. A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber. See # 9. I think this might have been the first book in the series.

11. 20 Wishes by Debbie Macomber. # 9 & 10!

12. Waterfalls & Fountains by Phillips Swindells. Research for something I thought about for the back yard but haven't made up my mind about.

13. Forever Liesel, a Memoir of the Sound of Music by Charmian Carr with Jean A. G. Strauss. Interesting.

14. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. Part 1. I decided (after reading 6 & 7) that I wanted to re-read the series along with Otter.

15. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets.

16. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban.

17. Batman Ego by Paul Grist, Bill Wray and Tim Sale. This was actually one that Otter checked out but of course I had to read it since it's about Batman!

18. The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys - 30 Projects Men Will Love by Drew Emborsky. I don't know about guys loving all the designs, but it had a pattern for socks and I am planning on crocheting at least one pair and then maybe more, if they turn out ok. And maybe even if they don't!

19. The Anastasia Syndrome & Other Stores by Mary Higgins Clark. I think I might have read this many years ago. Typical fluff, but it was quick and not too bad actually.

20. Getting Started: Crochet by Judith L. Swatz. Periodically, I look at beginner books because they sometimes have different patterns. This one didn't have a whole lot, but there were a few.

21. Lion Brand Just Scarves. Nothing I particularly wanted to make here.

22. The Essential Dale Chihuly by William Warmus. Chihuly is the master!

23. Eye Catching Crochet Fashion Accessories You Can Make by Janet Rehfeldt. I think that there was something I liked in this book, it seems like I copied a pattern from it but it's kind of hard to remember!

24. Marvelously Versatile Chain Free Crochet from Annie's Attic. Interesting idea, supposed to be easy and quick but after looking at this book I disagree. But I am always on the lookout for different crochet.

25. Collectible Glassware from the 40s-50s-60s, 8th Edition by Gene & Cathy Florence. More research, still haven't found exactly what I am looking for but I did find a lot in this book.

26. Chihuly Oklahoma City Museum of Art. See # 22 for comment. This one was well done, and since I've seen the exhibit featured I really enjoyed this. Lots and lots and lots of pictures.

27. Pebble Mosaics, 25 Original Step by Step Projects for the Home and Garden by Deborah Schneeben et al. I have been planning a mosaic pattern project for a while, I'm just not quite there yet.

28. 20th Century Glass by Judith Miller. Research.

Considering that August has 31 days and I read 28 books, I think maybe I had a lot of free time. Which was nice while it lasted!

Otter did have something more than an allergy but not quite a cold. She stayed home yesterday. She woke up with hardly any voice and her throat was very sore. No fever, but I sent her back to bed and she stayed there most of the day. She just got up to eat breakfast about 10:00, and then she went back to bed until about 5:00 or thereabouts. She felt much better today so she went to school and she seems to be over the worst of it. It just barely triggered her asthma.

I can't remember what else, there was something else but I forgot. I guess I'll just have to yak about it later.

More Stuff! Rent House and Misc.

Yes, I know I still haven't posted my August book list. I will eventually, I just have not had a lot of time lately. We are nearly through at the rent house, so maybe that will change soon.

We got the carpet yesterday and the installer is coming this morning. Bill is finished with painting the two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. The bathroom needed a coat of Kilz first, since it was tan before and was just barely dark enough to show through the test spots where he put the white paint. There were a whole lot of other things, among them were two fence rail top posts that we had to replace. One was damaged in the ice storm in Dec. 07, but the other one was tenant damage. We've actually done quite a bit over there. We meet with our realtor this week to sign the paperwork to get it on the market. Like Bill says, not a moment too soon!

Froggy, here's some more information regarding Sabbath that Bill found. I forgot to post it on my last one regarding Sabbath.

Saturday is the seventh day Sabbat. Thus, in many languages the Saturday is named after the Sabbath.

Exodus 34:21 For six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in ploughing time and in harvest time you shall rest

And number 4 on the top 10 FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Otter is possibly trying to come down with a cold. She has been sneezy and sniffly the last few days, we had her stay home yesterday (Monday Labor Day) while we went to the rent house and she took it easy. She had her blanket and her beagle, she also coughed and sneezed a lot! Since she was home, she did the laundry that was piled up and dishes for me. But she's been trying to head off whatever this is and while she feels better this morning, it looks like it's trying to trigger her asthma. She is going to school this morning, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have to go get her during the day.

OK, I'm out of time!

Belief & Sabbath

Somebody asked me about our Saturdays, here's the easy answer.

We are "officially" Southern Baptist. Here's the main website, for info.

http://www.sbc.net/

But we really are more closely like the Seventh Day Baptist Church. We do not belong to the SDB church, it's not a big denomination. We enjoy the SBC (Southern Baptist Church) but there are a few things that are closer to what we believe in, in the SDB church. Here is their official website, which has a good explanation of Sabbath Saturday.

http://www.seventhdaybaptist.org/7DB/default_EN.asp?SnID=607549449

I don't see us officially changing denominations, there is only one SDB church in our area and it's further than we would prefer to travel. Although it might be one we visit in the future. They are not too far apart in doctrine and beliefs.

Sabbath is something we've been observing for the last few years. It took a great deal of prayer and discussion, and obviously it was a big change to get used to. But it's one of the best decisions we have ever made. I resisted it big-time at first, but now I find myself looking forward to the next Saturday from the time one Saturday ends. Otter will frequently tell me on about Thursday that she really, REALLY needs a Saturday and that it can't get here fast enough. I know exactly how she feels!

There are the occasional Saturdays where we go somewhere, they are usually when we have visitors (like Froggy and Toadly who have to go to the flea market!), but we generally don't go anywhere. We stay home and spend the day as a family. We watch a couple of shows we've taped during the week, and we take turns choosing a movie to rent. The shows we tape are Charles Stanley, James Merrit (both Southern Baptist), David Jeremiah (forget which church he's part of) and John Hagee (non-denominational but he was raised Southern Baptist and his sermons reflect that). If the weather is cooperative, and we feel like it, we walk the dogs (which the are always ready for) or Otter might ride her bike - which I would also do if I had one right now! We can read all day, nap all day (Bill's done that!), I have several hours in which to crochet without interruption, we frequently have craft projects, we swam when we had a pool, etc., and there is also Bible reading. Just nothing that would be considered as actual work. It can be a fine line between what is work and what is relaxing, and it can also take a while to figure that out. Sometimes I'll cook an actual meal, but usually is F & F (Fix it and Find out what you will eat!). The computers are turned off by Sunset Friday and aren't turned on until after sunset Saturday with very few exceptions - such as having to print Otter's boarding pass for a trip to Texas one time. (Sunset Friday to Sunset Saturday). Other than the taped shows and the movie, we don't watch tv unless we need to check for potential weather issues during certain seasons - this is Tornado Alley, after all!

We generally stay home, but occasionally we have gone somewhere. When Otter was in karate, the tests were always on Saturday for example. Medical care needs, obviously, are the exception. Occasionally Otter will get invited to a friend's house for a party, sleepover, movie, etc., which will be on Friday night or Saturday and she usually gets to go to those.

The other benefit is that if we don't go anywhere, nobody needs to get dressed. We just stay in our pj's all day. Otter likes to sleep late, when MaggieMoo lets her that is, and then she brings her blanket and pillow to the loveseat and makes herself a nest. She usually has a stack of books beside her.

The Saturday observance of Sabbath is more closely Jewish, and since Christianity came directly out of Judaism we feel like that is one of the many customs that we should honor. We are extremely pro-Israel, we always have been, and that is one reason we originally thought about Saturday observance. We feel, as do many people I've discovered, that there are a great many observances in the Christian church that while not incorrect, have been changed for Man's convenience and not because of God's directives. Sabbath day is one of those things.

One other thing that I have changed about myself: submission. Biblical submission. The Bible is pretty clear about the order of authority within the family unit, and I decided several years ago that I needed to follow God's laws. So I did just that. Submission is a very misunderstood topic and one I'll get into later. This post is already long enough. Also, Blogger may be acting up because I have to keep adjusting my paragraphs.

And One More Rent House Update!

The carpet was delayed until Monday. It rained most of the day. However, I did get a very good price on the carpet pad and they delivered! I got a recommendation from my property manager, I called the man today and he was out there in 30 minutes. He measured the room and also told me that he installs carpet. We'll probably use him, his quote was better than the installer two years ago.

Bill painted the kitchen today. He still needs to paint the entrance way from the back door, the bathroom and the two bedrooms. But he was out of paint, we were tired and ready to go home so he didn't even attempt to start any of the other rooms.

I finished cleaning the vertical blinds and realized that they really don't look that much better. In fact, some of them have holes in them that weren't there two years ago. So the tenant is going to buy us a new set.

The plan is to mow the lawn at home Sunday morning (it hasn't been done in two weeks!), then head to the rent house and mow the lawn over there. Then we are going to get started on whatever hasn't been done, with the plan of finishing up on Monday afternoon. We're picking up the carpet Monday afternoon, so if all goes according to schedule we will be donedonedone by Monday evening. Except for the carpet, but we'll see if he can do it Tuesday. Bill will be off next week, so he can meet the guy over there at any time. Then Wednesday we meet with the realtor.

And hopefully we'll get some interest and get is sold soon after. Very soon, we hope!

Still Another Rent House Update

I haven't forgotten the August books, there are a lot of them but the list is in the other room and my feet are killing me so I'm not inclined to go get it.

The dog smell is gone today, there was still a little bit of the carpet pad in the room and I think that was the smell. I did wash down the walls in the master bedroom, but I think the problem was the pad.

Bill did a few things, I did a few things and then we went to Lowe's for a few other things. Including a new ice maker hose, since the one we put in the rent house apparently went with the tenants when they moved. They'll pay for it, too.

We're nearly done, I'm planning on getting the carpet tomorrow (if it doesn't rain), and I have a recommendation on where to get cheap padding. I'm going to call the person who installed the last carpet for us and see when he can do it. There are still a few things, but none of them are particularly big. I just can't do much at this point because it's things like cleaning the hardwood floor and I won't do that until after Bill's finished painting. And the kitchen, which needs a general wiping down but as that's where we're storing all the tools, etc., it has to wait. We should be able to get finished by Monday.

Getting there.