GOOD BYE 2016!!

Dear 2016,

You have been a rough year.

Obviously, there have been some bright spots.  Such as Bill's job being phased out and the buy-out he qualified for.

But there have been a lot of dark spots as well.

I'm glad you are just about over, 2016.

2017 - It's your turn.  Please be better!

I will see about a year in review post, probably tomorrow.

In the meantime:  Happy New Year, everyone.

Christmas Eve 2016

Yes, I know it's been just over two months.  I'm still here!  There just hasn't been anything spectacular to blog about.

Billyboy is still working on the pachinko machines, our side business is doing very well.  At some point, he will most likely need to get a "regular" job - but that might be problematic in this area and in his area of expertise.  But we are still chugging along, trusting God to get us to where we need to be.

Over the last few months, we've been attending a different church.  We have been unhappy with our church for a very long time, and we have not attended it in over 2 years now.  And in those two years, we have heard from them exactly once - and then only because I made a mistake on a tithe check we mailed them!  We have discussed going back to the Methodist church and attended one for a few weeks before we realized we did not like that particular church that much.  We've visited a few others and one Sunday we decided to visit a Baptist church that we visited years ago.  We were there on a day when another smaller church was visiting with the idea of combining the two churches, and they would be meeting at the sanctuary close to us.  We really enjoyed it and decided to continue to visit.  And then we realized that we were attending a Baptist church but it's actually a lot closer to some of the things that we enjoyed in the Methodist services.  For one thing, they observe Advent.  I don't know of any other Baptist church that does that.  Some of the prayers are occasionally given by women - which never happens in the Baptist church!  We met with the pastor and really liked him.  Tonight, there was a Christmas Eve service - candle light, and with the final observance of Advent - and Communion/Lord's Supper.  We are either joining it tomorrow or next Sunday (New Year's Day.)

Otter is doing very well.  She's gotten a couple of raises at work and her reviews have been very good.  She's basically been told that she's being groomed for management at some point.  She is a very hard worker and has been full-time for a few months.

Maggie is at my feet at the moment - hogging the blanket I have on my legs.  She's been very playful lately, we switched her back to the Pedigree food because the Iams did not seem to be satisfying her, and I think she likes the Pedigree better.

Froggy's middle kid got married in November.  Otter and I were able to go, it was in McKinney Texas which is a really neat little town.  We finally got to meet Froggy's grandbaby, who is absolutely precious, and he was really cute during his parent's wedding.

OK, that's about it.  Sort of caught up but there really has just been "normal life" going on and that is fine with us.  Especially considering that this time last year, we were expecting Bill to be out of a job at any time.  But we didn't anticipate it being like it was, and that is just one more example of God taking care of us.

July 4, 2016

Memorial Day 2016

Let us not forget them.  Any of them.  And what they were willing to do for us.

I Know...

Been a while since I've blogged!  As Froggy reminded me.  (I already knew, Froggy.)

Anyway.

It's just been normal life lately, which is not what it looked like for the last 2 plus years.  We've basically rearranged a lot of things in the wake of Bill's job, the contract buy-out, his position being officially eliminated after he'd taken the buy-out and all the associated stuff.

One thing we are doing differently:  Bill's not looking for a job very hard at the moment.  Beyond me reading the Sunday paper with the employment ads, that is.  His original plan was to take April as the catch-up time since he had several restoration jobs waiting (pachinko machines all over the living room again!), but since then he's been getting very regular calls for restoration bids and quite a few of those calls have resulted in jobs.  More machines all over the living room!  Business on the parts for sale and dvds for the do-it-yourself restoration has picked up considerably.  The booth was not doing too much but then since about April 1st, we've had several dvds and pachinko ball sets sold.  In fact, pretty much everything has picked up since April 1st.

Which was his official last day of unemployment.  Can we say God's blessings?  I think we can.  And we do.  Often.

At some point, he will need to find a job.  But not yet.  In fact, we can go for several months and quite probably for the rest of the year before we need that to happen.  And possibly even later, depending on how well the pachinko business does.  We are NOT taking anything for granted.  But we do have several plans in place.

We went to a local art fair in downtown Tulsa last Saturday.  Actually, we went to two.  They run concurrently and are in the same area so that people can walk from one to the other easily.  It was a lot of fun.  We didn't buy anything, we usually don't, but we always enjoy it.

Otter went to the Renaissance Fair in Muskogee last weekend.  Muskogee is not really next door but it's not too far.  Well, the locals might think it's far.  But we measure distance by TEXAS standards, so it's not that far to us.  Anyway, J was dressed up as a pirate and Otter had a long red skirt with a black net overlay, and she had a black corset with a white short-sleeved blouse underneath it.  Their faces are in the pictures so I'm not posting them, but they had a good time.

Otter is finished up with her dental work.  The original estimate at the not-good dentist was about $7,200.00.  Our "old/new" dentist gave her an estimate of $3,200.00.  The final cost was actually just over $2,500.00.  And that included a few things that the not-good dentist simply missed.  Otter has also been officially put on full-time at her job.  Which means she now qualifies for their insurance plan.  She's on ours still for this month but that is fixin to change, she has been self-sufficient since October 1, 2013 but we still carried her on our health insurance because it is expensive and she was part-time.  She still managed to support herself on a part-time salary, but she did not really have a lot of extras.  We didn't mind covering her insurance, but now we won't have to.  She had considered moving to a different apartment complex way back when she knew that she was going to tell Roomie they needed not to be roommates any longer which would have been this coming July or August - based on the lease when they moved into the 2-bedroom unit.  Then Roomie pulled her stunt and moved out in October, Otter stayed in the 2-bedroom unit until the end of November and then transferred to her own 1-bedroom unit with a lease ending November 30 of this year.  She likes her apartment and the complex, it's pretty close to work for her and not too far from us.  But she was thinking that she might need a cheaper rent, since she was still part-time.  But now that she's full-time, she is most likely not going to move.  Which is fine with us, it was hard enough to recover from helping her move the last time!  :)

Memorial Day is this coming weekend.  IF it's not raining, we may grill some steaks or burgers.

OK, Froggy.  I blogged!  By the way, I also went to Braums for lunch today.  In case you are interested.

Mother's Day 2016

Today is Mother's Day.  My day actually started yesterday.  Otter had to work today, so she came over yesterday.  We made pizza, went to a church sale and a couple of estate sales, visited with her local grandparents and went to Michael's.  She made me the best brownies!  We had a really nice day and I think everybody enjoyed it.  Even Maggie!

Maggie got a bath Friday evening, she had probably rolled in something and she was way past ripe.  But she was so glad to see her Otter yesterday.

So was Bill, he hadn't seen her since her last dental visit because of her work schedule.

Today was nice, too.  I have had a quiet, relaxing day and I've really enjoyed it.  We went to a local hamburger place for lunch and had chili/cheese fries.  They should probably be their own food group!

I'm having a drink and parked on my couch for the rest of the day.  It's been really nice.

Just A Nice Sunday

Today I have really noticed the lack of the crushing stress we've been dealing with for the last 2+ years.  Sunday evenings are usually when I would start thinking about what I was sending in Bill's lunches for the coming week and also I made sure that his shirts were ironed along with making sure he had clean jeans for the week.  I did iron his shirts, because there may be times when he wants a nice golf shirt to wear and they are hanging in the closet where they usually do.  But they will probably be hanging there for a while as opposed to needing to be washed, ironed and hung up again for the work week.

I still need to do meal planning, but that's the normal "what are we eating for dinner this week" thing that always happens!

We had a nice Easter dinner.  Otter had to work until 5:00 today, so she came over when she got off work.  We had ham, rice, brown gravy, rolls and green bean casserole.  And Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream pie that I picked up at Braums on Friday - Froggy, you didn't get on me about it when we were talking on the phone!  You must be slipping.  :)

Maggie Moo has had a nice day herself - she's spent most of the last few hours snoozing.  I did try to get her out in the back yard earlier, but she wouldn't even move off the deck.  She was very happy when Otter got here.  That is about the only time the little fluffbutt actually got out of her bed!

Now that things are so much calmer around here, I am thinking I'll probably be blogging more.  There was just so much stress to deal with.  It was constant and never seemed to get any better.  Until suddenly, without warning, it went away.

And it's really nice.

Easter 2016

Christmas 2015

 

Luke 2:10-11King James Version (KJV)

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

King James Version (KJV)

(Credit to the Author)

Happy Thanksgiving! And More. (EDITED)

Hopefully everyone is having a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Just because Maggie Moo wants to say hi:

This picture is from a few days ago.  I came across this bandana in my craft stuff and Maggie looked kind of happy when she saw it.  So I tied it around her neck and she was very happy.  I left it on her for a long time and she seemed quite content.  She was eager to go out in the back yard when I took this picture, that's what the look on her furry face is about.  "Hurry UP!  I gots stuff to do!"

She attempted to get a squirrel this morning.  I let her out in the back yard and she was about half-way across the deck when she spotted a squirrel all the way across the yard, in the shady corner behind the shelf.  She went from slooooow mid-step to full warp speed the second she spotted it, and evidently she thought she could actually catch it.  But it was already too late, the squirrel saw her before she saw it and it was up on the fence and running down the top to safety before she was even off the deck!  Silly doggie. :)  By the time I was able to call her name, she was already half-way across the yard.  She is fast when she wants to be.  She was not happy that I wouldn't let her go after the squirrel, but he was long gone by that point.  Not that I would have let her get it, but she is a beagle and that is the instinct.

Otter's internet was not transferred after all yesterday.  The company had both her cell phone and J's, they also (obviously!) knew which apartment they were transferring from and which apartment they were transferring to.  The guy called her (she was at work) about 20 minutes after 5:00 and she told him that someone was at the apartment they were transferring from.  Then that was the last she heard of him.  At about 8:20, she called me so I could look up the office number for her and I gave it to her but I also told her to call him back at the number he called her from.  He said that he'd gone to the apartment but nobody was there so he left.  IF he even went at all, he went to the one that they are transferring TO and never to the one that they are transferring service FROM.  He never called either one of the phone numbers to say he was there or to ask where anybody was who might be waiting on him - both things he was supposed to do if he got there before J was at the old apartment.  I told her she should call him back again and remind him of all that, and demand that he get back and do what he was supposed to but she didn't have enough time on her break and is going to call the office Friday.  She's going to give them an earful, and it's going to be her version of *RHTW.  She is going to tell them that they need to get out there tomorrow afternoon, but who knows if they'll do that or not.  They will get it switched, it's just a question of when and if they will do what they are supposed to.

Because we originally thought we would still be moving furniture today, at least that was the probable plan if it had rained like it was supposed to do, we didn't really have anything in the way of Thanksgiving planned.  So J and Otter have gone with J's dad to visit his family outside of Tulsa.  Otter texted me earlier, they were giving her a tour of haunted sites in the county that they are visiting.  I think she was really enjoying it.  I have a frozen lasagne in the freezer and some garlic toast, Bill and I are going to have that tonight as our Thanksgiving feast.  I did get to Braums and managed to snag one of the two strawberry cheesecake ice cream pies they had left, so we even have dessert.  We have already gotten into the pie, we had a very light lunch and decided we needed dessert. :)

When she moved out of our house, she left her stackable shoe shelves and I used them with my craft stuff.  Bill bought a tall plastic shelf unit, like the ones we have already.  He put it in the office/pachinko/junk room.  He claims he's going to get a little more organized in there, but I'll believe it when I see it!  Anyway, I decided to get one for my craft stuff.  I put it together and put it in the room, but I haven't had time to really get it organized yet.  My stuff WILL be organized!  I'm also going to be able to get the sewing machines out of the closet and sit them on it and possibly some (or maybe all) of the fabric/sewing stuff - although quite a bit of the sewing and fabric related stuff is Otters and it may be going to her apartment at some point.  She said she wanted the shoe shelves since I'm not using them anymore, so I took them over to her new apartment this morning.  Nobody was up yet, so I left them in her living room.  Along with a hammer that Bill is loaning her and some wood.

When we were moving her furniture yesterday, Bill was moving her bookshelf and it kind of had an accident.  It's wooden and very heavy, about 6' tall and we bought it out of surplus and a local school district when we first moved into our old house when Otter was 2.  It has always been in her room to hold things and she's been using it lately as an actual book shelf.  It's huge and she also has more books than it can hold, which actually is a Good Thing.  Anyway, Bill got it (with the dolly) out of her old apartment, down the stairs and across the sidewalk to the door to the other side of the building without a problem.  But then he stopped to rest a minute and check his cellphone to see what time it was.  It was windy and cool, and as soon as he stopped and took his hand off of the bookshelf there was a very strong gust of wind and the bookshelf went right over.  It landed flat on the front and it landed hard.  It wasn't broken, probably due to the sturdy construction and solid wood, but there are a couple of places where it looks like part of it tried to separate at the top corner and bottom where the feet are.  It can be hammered back into place, but she only has a small hammer so Bill loaned her one of his (many, too many) hammers and also a few pieces of wood to use as hammering blocks.  She may also wind up using them as shims to secure it because when she and Bill put it in place, it looked like it was leaning to the front.  They moved it to another corner and it wasn't leaning.  She asked the apartment office about that, and they said what we thought - it's an old building and it's quite possible that there may be some settling.  Not enough to even be worried and the building is structurally sound.  But the bookcase may need a little support under the front if she decides to put it where she originally wanted it.

The plan at this point is that I'm going to the grocery store in the morning and Bill is going to take the El Camino to get the oil changed and also to get something checked on it.  If his car is going to be there for a while, I'll bring him back home.  If it's a quick thing, he'll either wait at the mechanic or walk around the grocery store with me - they are in the same shopping center and so is Otter's store.  She has to work the Black Friday opening and when she gets off work, I'm going to meet her at the old apartment so we can see about getting what is left moved.  I could tell that she and J did manage to get quite a bit moved after we left yesterday, but there is still more there.  When I talked to her about 8:30, I woke her up when I called her and she said she wasn't awake enough to think, much less converse with any sense!  I told her to go back to sleep, she worked her behind off yesterday with moving and then she had to work until midnight last night, getting the store ready for Black Friday so I think she deserved to sleep in a little bit today.  She couldn't remember how much was still at the old place but she thinks we may be able to get the rest of it moved in one afternoon, it's boxes and probably trash bags with stuff but all the furniture is moved already.  We hopefully will be able to get the cleaning done tomorrow afternoon as well, but she doesn't have to work on Sunday so that is our second plan of attack if tomorrow doesn't work out.  A lot of it depends on the weather, the rain that was supposed to start yesterday finally arrived this morning.  It may be strong rain but it might not be steady.  It could be off and on, and it could be heavy at times.  Sunday is supposed to be dry I think, but we want to get it done as quick as we can.  The apartment office said that they won't change the lock until Monday so she can have all weekend, but we don't want to wait until the last minute if we don't have to.  Also, we want to go to a local museum that has a really fun Christmas tree exhibit.  We haven't missed too many years of the museum exhibit and it's only there for a very short time, so Sunday is probably our only chance this year.  J has to work, otherwise he would go with us.

Hopefully, the El Camino is a minor issue.  The engine temperature light came on yesterday when Bill was on the way to Otter's.  He checked and there was plenty of antifreeze, the radiator was not leaking and the system seemed to be working.  The car had plenty of time to cool down but he said it came on again when he was on the way home (we took separate cars since I went earlier than he did) so he's going to ask them to check it when he gets the oil changed tomorrow.  It is very probably the sensor itself going bad, the car is a 1976 model after all and it is probably the original part.  But it is still odd/funny that out of three cars "we" have, two of them have similar issues!  My car had better not decide to join the party the other two are having!

**EDIT:  I turned the oven on about 4:30 for the lasagna, and I turned it off about 5 minutes later when the electricity went out!  We looked out the front door and it looked like it was at least our neighborhood, so I called the electric company.  I was the first person calling, so they couldn't tell me what/why/how long.  I opened the freezer long enough to toss the lasagna back in.  We waited a little while, then we decided to go in search of a restaurant that was actually open and had power.  The police department already had an officer out to direct traffic at the intersection closest to us, but there were lights on a little farther than that so we knew it wasn't very widespread.  We wound up at a Taco Bell, because they were open and had power.  Most of the actual restaurants and fast food places that were in the area with power were closed.  But it was still good and kind of fun, even if it wasn't what we expected to be doing on a rainy Thanksgiving night.  We were gone about an hour and when we got back the power was back on.  I looked on the news station website and I think it was a squirrel that caused the outage.  Maybe Maggie Moo had the right idea this morning?!!!!

Really Beginning to Wonder...

If we are ever going to have a so-called traditional Thanksgiving meal again.  Last year, we were dealing with Otter's dental issues and the fact that she couldn't eat just about anything!  We made pizza, which worked because it was crispy enough without being too chewy.  This year, we were originally planning on the traditional thing, but then Otter's roommate moved out and the apartment manager is letting her transfer to a one-bedroom unit.  The day before Thanksgiving!

We want to get it done in one day, but that may not be possible.  Otter has to work tonight and will get home fairly late so she will be very tired tomorrow.  Then she has to work the late afternoon shift, since she's the Assistant Pricing Coordinator she has to be there to ensure that they are ready for Black Friday.  So she'll be moving, then stopping for a shower and then heading to work while the rest of us keep working.  Bill still thinks we can do it in one day, but she may not be able to get into the new apartment until noon instead of the 10:00 they originally told her.  The carpet has been replaced and they weren't sure that it would be done by 10:00.  Also, the dishwasher has a leak and the part has been ordered but might not be delivered in time for it to be repaired before she moves in.

And, at the last minute (Monday afternoon) it was discovered that the manager told her the wrong apartment would be hers so she had to scramble to get the electric company and the internet provider situated.  The manager apparently has bad handwriting and some of her letters look alike, I think that this sort of thing has happened to the manager before.  Otter discovered it when she went in to sign the new lease, it's on the same hallway as the one she thought but it is at the front of the building and not around the back.  She's actually happy about that, it means that she will be able to make sun tea next summer after all!  The cable was originally to be switched in the morning but they are now coming in the late afternoon since she probably can't get into the new apartment as early as she thought she would be able to originally.  Because of that and the fact that the holiday is causing them scheduling issues, they are waiving the transfer fee which is a nice thing.

And, as if that's not enough:

It is probably going to rain tomorrow.  Possibly all day.  The plan at this point is to get her mattress and box spring moved first, assuming we can get it done before the rain starts.  Even if the bed frame and headboard are not moved until later, we want to get the bedding itself moved and into the new apartment and keep it dry.  Things like her clothes are packed in trash bags, along with her stuffed animal collection, towels, etc., so they are somewhat protected from rain.  But a lot of her belongings are in boxes, so we may wind up wrapping trash bags around the boxes as well.  We'll see tomorrow.  The rain is not expected to start until afternoon, the timing changes depending on which station the tv happens to be on.  It's actually a 20% chance, which is not too bad.  But the forecasters here are not known for being accurate...

Thursday on is supposed to be very hard rain all day, and there are already flood watches being posted.  Not for our area so much, mostly for southern parts of the state.  But we could get localized street flooding.  Because of that, we aren't really sure when we'll finish up.  We should be able to get everything moved, but she might not be unpacked until Friday afternoon.  Also, the cleaning of the old apartment is tenatively set for Sunday but that may change.  I took my vacuum cleaner over there yesterday, the original plan was that I vacuum as each room is emptied and also wipe down the walls and then we finish cleaning sometime on Thursday morning.  But the office said she can have until Sunday to get everything finished, both because of the holiday and the weather but also because of her work schedule.  They are being very nice about this whole situation.

And now, it's time to go get into the Bluebell in the freezer!

Veterans Day 2015

Thank you.  All of you.

Running on Absolute Empty

Or at least that is what it feels like!

We're working on getting the new booth ready and the new antique mall.  That has taken up a lot of time.  It looks like it will be mid-week before we can actually stock the booth.  Bill put the pegboard sides up last week and installed the support boards to hold the wall-mounted machines.  We went up there Sunday and installed the metal mesh top on the booth.  Bill's going to decorate it more than we have done with our previous booths.  The mall owner thought that people would be able to build booths last week and stock them last weekend, but she's never really dealt with contractors and construction.  So, while we were not at all surprised at the delays, she was!  That has taken up a lot of time.

Otter's move is actually going to be Thanksgiving week.  It was supposed to be the week before that, but the apartment office said that it will be Thanksgiving week.  Probably the day before Thanksgiving, actually.  I took her a bunch of boxes and she got several at work, she's been packing and I'm going to go help her pack sometime in the next several days.  She knows which apartment, it is in the same building but it's at the other end and on the back side of the building.  It's going to be a case of "out her door, down three flights of stairs, across to the other side of the building, in the door and up three flights of stairs then into the new apartment."  In other words, exhausting!  She will sign the new lease sometime that week, and is going to ask about getting the keys the day before she will be moving because she is probably going to have to work at least part of moving day.  We may see about hiring a couple of people through someone I know through work, because it's going to be hard to find people to help move the day before Thanksgiving!  If we are not able to get everything moved and the 2-bedroom cleaned in one day, we'll finish up on Thanksgiving itself.  Probably the cleaning is what will be done on Thanksgiving.  I'm thinking that we might have either frozen pizza or maybe a frozen lasagna for our actual Thanksgiving meal.  We were going to have an actual Thanksgiving this year, last year was the stove thermostat having to be replaced and then Otter's dental adventure keeping us from a traditional meal and we thought this year might work out.  But then Roomie moved out and all that...  Maybe next year?

Bluebell is back in the area today!  I had plans to go get some this morning, but I should know better than to actually plan anything because hardly anything has gone according to plan this year.  Last night, sometime after 9:00, I got a call from Otter.  She had gone to a not-exactly-neighboring town to visit J and to go to the Halloween party he and his mom had.  She was on her way back last night when her car started acting like it was overheating.  We're talking very small town, the kind that rolls up the streets and turns the lights off when the sun goes down and that is not too far off from reality!  She hadn't gotten very far, but she was afraid to drive any longer so instead of going back to J's, she pulled into a parking lot and called me.  The restaurant was closed for the night and it was pretty isolated.  We got on our way immediately and then she called J.  He and his mom came to where she was at and stayed with her until we got there, which we really appreciated.  It took us 30 - 40 minutes to get there and that was on the turnpike which is the fastest way.  Bill looked at the car and he could tell it had plenty of antifreeze, but it didn't look like the coolant was getting to where it was supposed to.  The car had cooled off at this point, it never got extremely hot so there probably isn't any engine damage but he was concerned about getting it home and we didn't want Otter to drive it anyway.  So, Bill drove her car, she rode with me and we brought her car to our house.  Bill stopped one time on the turnpike, of course there were no lights out there!  He said the heat gauge was going up again but he didn't wait for it to get too high.  He could still see that there was plenty of coolant, but he was thinking that the water pump might be the issue at that point  After letting the car sit and cool for a while, we started back on the road and he was able to drive it to our house without it getting too hot.  It was well after 10:00 last night when we got back, and she took my car home.  J bought her a microwave, which is now at my house since she didn't want to leave it in the car overnight and was really too tired to carry it up the stairs.  She'll pick it up from us in the next day or so.

Bill took her car to work today, it seemed to run fine.  He talked to our neighbor who is a part-time mechanic, he talked to the mechanic at work and we both talked to the mechanic at the shop we've been using.  The consensus is that the thermostat is probably bad, or at least it had a bad moment.  It might be that it was a one-time thing, but it might not be.  If it is the thermostat, it has to be replaced.  We drove it around tonight and it was fine.  I'm taking it to the shop in the morning and they'll check it out.  Then, depending on what they say in terms of how long it will take, I will either get it fixed right then or I'll have to bring it back the next day when someone can come get me so I can get to work - or Bill may take the day off so he can take care of it.  The thermostat has been replaced once - by the shop we used before we went to Chevy, the shop that we realized were a bunch of crooks which caused us to go to Chevy in the first place.  At that time, they were owned by a national company and had a good reputation.  But Bill had to take the car back to them a couple of times to get it checked because he didn't think the new thermostat was working right.  After that, they were purchased by their manager and that's when they were dishonest in the extreme which is why we went to Chevy.  The manager eventually sold the shop back to the national company that owned it before, but we will never go back there anyway.  There really isn't any reason to think that they would fix it again, unless we wanted to pay them, and they are not going to have another chance with us.

And we still have to get the pachinko machines to the booth sometime this week!

Maybe I'll actually get my Bluebell ice cream tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!!!

The Carpet Shark wishes you a safe and Happy Halloween!!

Shhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

I have a beagle asleep at my feet and a hubby asleep on the other end of the couch from where I'm sitting.  Both of them have been known to snore, although at the moment it's all quiet.

Today is a fun day. It's National Coffee Day!  One of my favorite days, for probably obvious reasons.  Guess Bill didn't participate in observing it. :)

Is it only Tuesday?

Labor Day 2015

It's been a fairly enjoyable Labor Day, for me anyway - Bill is still coughing his lungs out but that is actually good at this point.  He was already planning on staying home and working on pachinko machines and that is what he did, so he had a good day.  He just is getting tired of the coughing.  He mowed the front yard yesterday morning and the back this morning.  He was careful not to exert himself and I kept bringing him water and making his stop for frequent rest breaks.

I felt much better yesterday although I still had a few moments of feeling tired.  I feel much better today, I think I'm pretty much over the Wave/flu shot reaction.  Saturday, I was kind of thinking it might be a long, drawn-out reaction like I sometimes have but it turned out not to be.  Just Saturday mostly, I felt cruddy most of the day but I woke up feeling fine and have felt good all day.  I saw Otter for a few minutes yesterday when I took some stuff to her, I met her at her store just before her shift started and she had a couple of minutes to talk.  She had a headache off and on but that was it, her arm wasn't even as sore as it sometimes is.

I went to two thrift stores today, I found several doilies at the first one and nothing at the 2nd one but it was still fun.  Although it was apparently "screaming, unwatched child day" at the second thrift!  I bought sheer curtain yesterday and a sheer valance that is decorated with crochet-ish edging on the bottom.  The curtain just reaches to the bottom of the window frame in the Guest/Front/Craft/YARN room and I'm going to attach the doilies to it to make my doily curtain.  I tried pinning a few doilies together and they would have worked that way, but I wanted them to be more secure.  The sheer curtains will work very well, they are a very pale off-white color and won't really show much with the doilies.  The valance may show a little, but the edging will work very well.  The valance doesn't actually match the curtains, it's a different brand and very slightly different in color but it will still work.  I hadn't planned on a valance but the large doily/tablecloth will need a little more support as well.  I think I'm going to pin the doilies on to the curtain at first, because I may move them around until I get them how I like them.  But I am probably going to get out needle and thread and sew them on once I'm happy with their placement.  I have a boatload of doilies, but I'm not sure if I have enough or not.  When I was laying them out on the floor to get a general idea, it did not look like I have enough to make it as full as I want.  But once I start placing them on the curtains, I may have more than enough.  I'll figure that out as I go along.

Pictures will be posted on the craft blog at some point.

Day 9

Last day of my 9 day weekend.  Back to work tomorrow.

Bill and the mechanic neighbor looked at the car seat and determined that the part that broke is not the seat itself, but it is the frame that holds the seat in place.  Bill made a few calls on Friday but apparently a lot of places were also closed on Friday.  So he's going to check on it tomorrow.  Chevy was open but it was somewhere close to $700.00 just for the part (no labor!) from them and we are NOT doing that unless we absolutely have to.  Bill did consider getting a replacement from a salvage yard, but since it is a fairly important structural piece he's decided against that option.  I'll ride with him in the morning, he has to be in at 7:00 but leaves the house earlier to beat the traffic.  I'll get myself to work in the El Camino and then I'll pick him up after work.  Hopefully, we can go pick up the part right then and get home in time for him to install it.  The seat should just come out and go right back in.  We are probably getting rain mid week, starting Tuesday, so Bill's kind of in a hurry.  Me too!

Otter came over Friday morning.  She got her laundry done and then we went shopping.  We hit a few yard sales, drove past a few more and went to a few stores.  We got lunch at Long John Silver's to bring home and share with William.  Then we went to the booth store and another similar store.  We had a good time but didn't really buy much.  We did get to Big Lots, which is probably the only place I really bought anything at and that was mostly household stuff.  I bought her a little gasoline to replace what we used.  She and Roomie are still discussing their options but I think that they are leaning towards a 2-bedroom unit.

We had a fairly quiet 4th.  We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to Hobby Lobby to get some sinew-type thread/string to repair Bill's houseshoes with.  While there, I did cruise the yarn aisles.  The summer colors are out and are everywhere, but the fall colors are beginning to be stocked.  I saw a few I really liked but I didn't buy any.  Yet!  Bill actually had the "unsmartness" to tell me that I have too much yarn - which is when I asked him to tell me again exactly how many pachinko machines he has!?  I also reminded just how much room his machines take up vs the corner of the craft/guest/YARN room that holds my stash.  He stammered out that he meant I had a lot of $$ invested in yarn and then I reminded him how much a skein of yarn is vs the $30 - $several hundred he's spent on machines.  At that point, he saw the light and shut up. :)  Which is good, because I was going to take no prisoners on that one!

Speaking of yarn, I finished the mink scarf yesterday.  I had it about where I wanted it when I realized that I'd made a mistake several rows back and had to frog out several inches.  It wasn't a mistake I could leave in and ignore, it changed the stitch per row count and the shape.  Mink yarn is harder to frog than regular yarn, I'm thinking it might felt very easily.  I used less than one ball of yarn so I still have plenty left.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, it is fairly expensive ($33. per skein 2 years ago) but I'm sure I'll find something.  (No, Bill.  It's still cheaper than your machine stash!)  I started a new scarf for Otter, we got the yarn for it a while back but I hadn't gotten a chance to work on it it yet.  I started it and did a few rows because I wanted to see if she likes the pattern I made the mink scarf it - which she does.  I will get back to it soon, I just wanted to get it started so I could show it to her.  She had two sets ordered from different yarns.  I had one scarf made already and made the matching hat this morning but I have to wait for her to come over again so I can check the size before I call tie it off and call it done.  But I'm going to get back on her poncho soon so her 2nd scarf/hat combination may wait a while - but they go fast.

I have some sort-of TEXAS flag printed wall border, the kind that a teacher would have used years ago over the blackboard.  I got it at a thrift store for about a buck many years ago and it's just been stuck in the closet.  I took two pieces of it, it's long, and taped them together.  Then I took one of my many yard sticks and marked it off in 1" increments with smaller marks at the half inch marks.  No, I would not have done that if it was actually the TEXAS flag!  It's now hanging on the wall, attached with pushpins at the top and bottom.  Now, when I'm making a scarf or one of many other projects that need to be measured I don't have to drag out the measuring tape or yard sticks, and then fight to get it flattened out on the floor.

We had homemade cheeseburgers for our July 4th meal.  We were going to grill steaks but it as supposed to rain so we decided against that.  Of course, it didn't rain.  There were quite a few neighbors that had fireworks, including some of the really big ones, so we stood outside and watched the show for a while last night.  There were several lightning bugs, I always wonder if they get confused on July 4th?  The mosquitos eventually showed up, so we came inside but it was fun.  Otter took her sparklers left from last year when she came over on Friday.

I have a prayer request:  The Teenager was hospitalized Friday for low potassium and general weakness.  He's a tough old bird, but the key word is old - he is 98, after all.

I Don't Have to go to Work Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you can't tell, I am really glad that my vacation has arrived.  Took long enough!  I wish that Bill was able to take the week off like we originally planned, but he can't take any time off at the moment unfortunately.  He is off Friday for the holiday, but that's also the day that Otter has off this week and we had already planned a shopping ramble.  I don't think he really cares, he wants to spend the day working on pachinko machines.  However, there is a chance of icky weather on Friday so we might stay in the Tulsa-ish area and not go as far as we have planned.  We'll still shop, thrift and possibly yard sale shop.  Froggy, we're also going to the steakhouse for lunch.

It's been a fairly busy, productive weekend.  Yesterday, Bill mowed the front yard and I got the limblets that had started up again on the trees in front.  Today he got the back yard.  We went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and Cici's Pizza for dinner.  We went to Ace Hardware today, I also went to Joann's Fabrics and Walmart this morning.  I got a lot of crafting and crochet done, Bill has been working on pachinko machines for a few hours.  He moved the freezer out to the driveway so it could be defrosted, then he moved it back in place.  It's plugged in again although there's nothing in it - we gave it to our (nice) next door neighbor and he'll get it sometime this week.  If he and Bill are able to move it to his house without laying it down then it can be plugged in again right away and he can start using it.  There was a big, blue dragonfly that kept zipping into the freezer and then zipping back out.  I think it was after the water from the thawing frost.  Maggie Moo got several walks, and she got to see her best canine friend this morning - Luna the wolf.

Maggie and Luna seem to be smitten with each other.  As soon as Maggie saw her down the street this morning she just about pulled my arm out of it's socket in her haste to go see her friend!  Maggie is not normally like that, she's fairly easy-going and walks well.  But as soon as she sees Luna, she's going to do everything in her power to get to her.  Luna is the same way about Maggie, although Luna is still very skittish about just about every other dog.  I got a picture of Luna with my cell phone this morning, I keep forgetting to take my camera with me when we walk in case we see her.  She's absolutely gorgeous.  Her owner said that she's not sure how Luna will do with fireworks, but her two others (one is part wolf) don't like them so she's already going to be staying home Friday and Saturday evenings.  Maggie Moo is totally unconcerned about them, Frasier never cared about them either.  Maggie is a very low-maintenance dog, Frasier was about as high-maintenance as it got.  I do miss him and I always will, he was one of those extra-special dogs.  But I have to admit that Maggie Moo is a much easier dog.  She is also smitten with her new bed.  When she's in the living room, she often is curled up in it or laying across it.  She sometimes sleeps next to it, but she usually has at least one and usually two paws/legs stretched out over it.  At the moment, she's napping and has her head on it like a pillow.

The electrical contractor is supposed to come out tomorrow to repair the damage to my yard from 2 months ago.  I would love for them to be able to bury the line that was put in place on Friday but the marking crew would need to come out first.  I'm very tempted to stand out on my deck with my leather whip at the ready, just in case they might need a little encouragement to do their job and do it correctly!  (Not seriously!  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Maybe.)

Froggy, I finally got around to getting a hair dryer.  My blow dryer went to Otter's apartment.  KN#3 was amazed that I didn't have one when y'all were here a couple of weeks back.  I also bought a full-size ironing board.  I've been using a table top size for years and it worked fine, I didn't have a lot of room at the old house so I used the small one and it was fine.  Then we moved here and even though the house is bigger and I have an actual laundry room, I didn't really have a place for a full-sized one.  So, I used the tabletop one on top of the dryer.  Also, I was hanging Bill's work shirts and jeans in the laundry room behind the door and then Otter's work clothing when she worked at the party store - Party City, in case anybody is interested in it (I didn't mention the actual name at the time for safety reasons.)  When she changed jobs, the uniform is one of their t-shirts and jeans so her clothing didn't really need to be ironed.  I just never changed my system, for some reason.  I took the iron holder/clothes hanger off the back of the laundry room door when we put Maggie Moo's pillow/bed in there and I decided to just go ahead and get a bigger ironing board.  It's now in my closet, it's collapsed and leaning up against the back of the closet.  Bill's work clothes are now going to be put in the front of his part of the closet.  I might eventually move it to the front/craft/guest/YARN room.

I might be done with my mink yarn scarf soon.  It's about 2 rows to an inch, and it is measuring about 56 or 57 inches.  My standard scarf size is about 60" in length.  I'll know "when I get there" if it's done or not, but it might be.  I'm going to get back on Otter's slant stitch poncho as soon as the mink scarf is done.  Then my UFO's will be done, with the exception of my scrap yarn lap blanket because I'm out of scrap end pieces for the moment and that's what I'm making it with, and Bill's quilt because I still need a little more fabric but I'm looking for things that fit his personality and interests.  I do have projects lined up, however!  Two scarf/hat sets for Otter and one for Froggy.  I also have a couple of non-crochet related craft projects. I'm finished with the tray I was working on and am nearly finished with the shadow box I'm making with Mom and AJ's stuff.  Next up is a mouse pad that I'm going to cover with the crochet pattern fabric that is on the bottom of the tray, and I may start on the Christmas ornament wreath soon.  I have a few small craft projects I'll probably work on soon, but they aren't anything major and can wait until "whenever" if they need to.

Mother's Day 2015

Happy Mother's Day!

My day has been a lot of fun.  Otter and J came over for breakfast, we had Monkey Bread and assorted fresh fruit.  They stayed for a couple of hours and we had a nice visit.  Otter gave me kitchen towels, which I needed badly.

Bill gave me a set of craft blades, similar to X-Acto knives but they came from the store Otter works at.  It was also something I needed, I originally wanted another cactus but then I realized that I needed the craft blades so I changed my gift request to that.  I actually went and got that one myself, because I had to pick out the specific set I wanted.

Bill and I went to a couple of thrift stores today.  This is what I bought at the first one, it was a grab  bag (clear plastic bags, not a mystery bag) and it was $6.98.  For all of this:

It's on the couch with a blanket for background, but it was a very full bag.  The next picture is what I actually bought the bag for:

Yarn spools!  8 regular ones and one larger one.  And for what is a ridiculously low price, especially considering everything else that was in the bag.  I've seen these priced (and selling for) for upwards of $5.00 each, sometimes more since they have thread on them and the bigger one would probably sell for more than the entire bag.

The tag says it's a handmade purse, silk fabric maybe.  I'm not sure if it's a keeper for something craft related or it it's going to be sold or re-donated.  It's sort of evening bag size.  I didn't even see it in the bag when I bought it, it was in the middle of everything else but I grabbed the bag as soon as I saw the yarn spools.

These are small hats, hand crocheted obviously.  I'm not sure if they are for dolls such as an 18" doll, or if they might be dog hats.  Because also in the bag were three dog outfits.  (The hats are probably for dolls.)

The orange and pink/blue one are obviously hand crocheted.  The pink one is Martha Stewart brand, which I think is really funny.  I did try it on Maggie Moo so I could text a picture to Otter, but it's wool and I didn't even have to look at the tag to figure that out because I started reacting to it as soon as it came into contact with my skin.  The dog clothes are all in the donate pile.

The blue fabric has a tag from when it was purchased originally, I think it was somewhere around $4.00.  The cotton collar is probably not new, but I don't think it's been worn before.  It's very clean and still has that "stiff" feeling.  Not sure if it's etsy, donate, if Otter wants it, or what.

This might be hand-knitted or it might have been done on a knitting machine, but it is homemade and not professionally done.  It's a vest with a sash.  I thought it was an uncompleted cardigan style sweater but the sleeve openings are too big.  It might fit Otter, for a size comparison - I don't think it's anything she would want, but I might well put it on her and have her model it for an etsy picture if I decide to sell it.  The final yarn ends are still attached but they are tied off.  It has a button on the bottom.  It's clean and there is no smell that I can tell.

Froggy, got any idea what these are?  They are obviously holders for "tape" or ribbon of some type and I think they are sewing related.  Possibly etsy bound as well, but maybe not.

There were a few other things, a bag of small safety pins and some misc. stuff.

The next two pictures are from the 2nd thrift store.

2 square doilies which were marked 49 cents each but then they turned out to be half price so they were 25 cents each.  There is also a very long table-runner size doily, I think it was 79 cents.  It has a couple of spots I need to mend slightly and it also has a reddish stain but I think it will come out.  All three are bound for my doily curtain.  The reddish crochet thing is a hanging towel, it has a granny square front and a backing crochet piece.  Not sure if I'm going to copy the pattern or what, but it was somewhere around 70 cents or maybe less.

This is a clear ruler, used in sewing and also in things like crochet.  I'm not sure if it's an etsy item or if I'll keep it, as I frequently need something like this but I have a clear plastic ruler I use.

I keep talking about etsy, I think I'm finally going to start listing things in the store I set up a few years ago and then never used.  I have a few ideas for crochet pieces that are not scarves & hats, because the market is basically flooded with that sort of thing.

We also bought an old nut cracker that it mounted on a wooden board.  It was etsy bound at first, but now I'm thinking we may keep it.

After the 2nd thrift store, we decided to have lunch at Cici's pizza instead of cardboard pizza from wally.  We also went to a fabric store.

Speaking of flooding, we've had so much rain the last several days that there has been some street flooding in the area.  The ground is over-saturated.  We've had several instances of hard rains the last couple of days, yesterday afternoon (I got caught in it literally and got soaked) and this morning were very strong storms.  My back yard literally looked like a lake, the ground can not absorb any more water and it was beginning to stand - which is really saying a lot.  I've drained the potted plants a few times, Bill had to clean out one of the downspouts because it was clogged and the rain gutters overflowed.  The ground is so soft it's almost like walking in a swamp.  There is water standing in ditches and on the side of the road in places it never actually does, and we saw evidence of a few street areas that had obviously been under water at some point either yesterday or this morning.  Next week is supposed to be dry and warm, it's going to be very humid for a few days and then it will be mosquito season so I'm trying to get rid of any standing water I find.

I'm thinking that Maggie Moo might have another UTI or bladder infection.  She's "leaked" twice in the house in the last 3 days, I caught her at it in the hallway yesterday and she would not stop - even when I yelled at her.  I don't think she could really stop.  She's acting like she might not feel too good, she really acts like she did before when she had one.  She might also need to get her rear glands cleaned out, it's been 2 months since the last time and we did think that 2 months would be about right.  Or it could be both.  Either way, I'm calling the vet tomorrow to see if I can get her in there.  She's perky when I say the W or R words (Walk or Ride) but even when she actually gets to do either of those things (or both!), she's not acting like she's 100%.  I don't think she's moping around over Frasier not being here, she seemed to get over that and she acts like she doesn't feel too good.  She's finally sleeping on the pillow we bought to make her a bed out of, at least.

(I did give in the my asthma last Friday and stayed home.)

Time for ice cream now!

Winter is On It's Way! Again. Stupid Groundhog.

(For the record, I did clean first.  But it wasn't my first choice).

Looks like the groundhog is still mad at us.  And he's going to take it out on us starting sometime Sunday.  Afternoon or evening, or thereabouts.  Winter Mix is the correct term.  Monday is supposed to be brutally cold, with the high temps being in the 30's for the afternoon.  Tuesday morning is also supposed to be pretty cold.  It's still "up in the air" if we'll get any actual sleet, which is the most likely.  Or snow.  Or if it'll just be very cold and raining.  We'll probably get something, cold is pretty much guaranteed.  We just don't know what it will contain!

Otter is coming over Saturday with her laundry when she gets off work.  We're going to take one of the two remaining loads to the used bookstore to turn in and I think we'll probably hit the library as well.  I'll get her to work in the morning and pick her up when she gets off, then she'll come home with me and get the car.  Bill's off Monday for President's Day then he's taking Tuesday and Wednesday as vacation days, so she'll have the car through Wednesday at least.  She's had very little experience driving in winter conditions, she's had the lessons/lectures/passenger experience many times but she hasn't really driving in anything other than a small snowfall.  Mom's nervous at the thought, but she's gotta learn sometime!

This is my back fence.  Bill noticed something parked on it one day a couple of months back.  He noticed it for a couple of reasons:  it was suddenly very quiet, no bird noises at all.  And there were suddenly no birds in sight, anywhere, they were there and then they were gone.  He discovered the reason, a hawk sitting on the back fence.  We see them pretty often, but they don't usually park on the fence like that.  One time, we watched a squirrel running along the top of the fence.  Until it nearly ran right into a hawk that was sitting on the fence!  I had no idea that squirrels could put the brakes on and back up at warp speed!  I don't think that hawks are normally squirrel predators, but if it was hungry enough it might have gone after the fluffy tailed critter.

This is the tulip bed last Fall when we were planting.  We cleaned the ground off, stirred the dirt up with a shovel and treated it with oil/soap/water and then left it to sit for several days.  When it was time to plant, Otter mixed up the bulbs and tossed them all around the bed.  Last time, she had them in patterns.  This time, she decided to mix them up randomly.  They are just now beginning to poke up through the dirt and it looks like there will be a lot of them that will come up.  This will probably be the last time we'll have tulips for a couple of years.  We might expand the back fence to the side/corner of the garage, which will mean that this area will not get the sun it needs.  We'll probably have them again in the future, we're just not sure where they'll be.

This is also from last fall, it's the crepe myrtles.  They are not right up against the fence, it just looks like that in the picture.  They are planted between the trellis pieces which have honeysuckle planted against them.  It looks like at least some of the honeysuckle has survived both the mowers last year and the winter.  I can't tell for certain, but the crepe myrtles look like most of them have made it as well.

Hopefully, we'll have all of them come back and they will grow fast this year.  Same thing for the honeysuckle.  They'll all bring butterflies and hummingbirds, probably honeybees as well (but wasps and yellow jackets are not invited or welcome).  Most importantly, they will block the view of the neighbors behind us into our back yard and dining room windows!