LIfe at Number 17

It Just Doesn't Get

2011-10-29T07:39:00.004-05:00

any easier than this!
I bought the Cute Halloween Gift Bag just because...well, I had another project in mind for it, but
like so many projects...let's just say it didn't come to fruition...and my friends would say well, imagine that...

so, the bag is just hangin' there on the coat rack...kind of makin' me feel crappy with those unspoken taunts because it is Yet Another Reminder of the Un-Done Things...

but then I get a flash of Cheap Door Decoration Inspiration: find some twigs, paint them black and orange*, stuff them into the bag** and stick on the front door...

as an aside, a good indicator of my Crafting Abilities is that when my husband sees me standing on the driveway, spray painting sticks, he doesn't even ask any more...he just heads in the other direction...
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*The black-and-orange thing didn't work out so well...at least not using both on the same twig...kind of had a Creepy Halloween stripe thing going on...painting each twig a solid colour is a better way to go...unless you like the Creepy Halloween Vibe...I prefer the Cute Halloween Vibe...just sayin'...

**the bag, bein' paper, will not hold up for a long time if you leave in a Naturally Moist Environment like southeastern Georgia...but it'll last several weeks as long you give it a sheltered spot...

We're The Proud New Parents

2011-10-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

of Samantha!

Many thanks to Lorraine for posting about the chimp sanctuary...I decided I'd much rather
have a bouncing 19-year-old baby chimp than that new laptop I don't really need ('cause, yes, I do lay around on my large behind too much as it is...)...and I believe DH is thinking about adopting Elway...

At # 17

2011-10-16T17:58:00.010-05:00

in October, it is allllll about the pumpkins!
(normally, scarecrows freak me out but this guy cost only 10 cents plus he stays on the porch sooooo...)
I confess to havin' a pretty serious Pumpkin Problem...But gettin' your pumpkin on is soooooo easy...you can just plop them down anywhere...

in the house...on the porch...another scarecrow but this one is a Bear Scarecrow and surely he can't animate some dark Georgia night and go all Horror Picture on me...plus, he too lives outside with his other little freaky scarecrow mate....yes, I do have issues....somewhat belatedly realizing I really should have found time to paint the wicker this year...pretty sure it ain't gonna happen in 2011...in the garden...
and *poof* you're callin' it done...and the older I get, the more I like *poof* easy...

and then we have an entirely different type of Pumpkin...Pumpkin Butt plopped down in our bedroom...watching my Leslie Sansone walk-aerobic tape...the tape finished and Chubby sprawled out like "whew, man...that wore me slap out!"

No, Chubby Bubby...trust me, I've tried...just watching the exercise video does not melt those pounds away..

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*before anyone gets hysterical, I do try to "exercise" the Bub...she loves to chase the red laser light from the level around the floor...

Appearances Can Be Deceiving...

2011-09-25T15:38:00.010-05:00

at least when you have Blind-As-A-Blind-Bat vision...or limited attention span...and I can raise my hand on both of those...

I thought the garden was all petered out except for these spider lilies that I completely forgot I planted*...so, nice surprise there...

once I was out & about with my camera, I decided to taunt MB, a northern friend of mine, with this shot...the woman can gather up buckets of osage oranges that are crazy beautiful but, somehow, I still find myself pickin' up dirty old magnolia pods for her...

and then I noticed some blooms here...a couple more here...and I realize this garden is still bloomin' along...and that makes me smile...

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*I truly cannot remember these at all...I wonder if they have been lurkin' under the dirt for the 5 years we've been here, just waitin' for the right time to pop up...but I love these...my granma grew these alongside of her house in Thunderbolt...and since they weren't blooming when we moved away from Thunderbolt, well, I didn't get the chance to bring any along with me...I've regretted that...that and the Snowdrops that didn't come along either...

and what is this strange weed that grew up in one of my butterfly bushes?! it has papery pods that remind me of the orange Chinese lantern pods but I don't know...

Re-Purposing That Cooking Spray

2011-09-18T17:15:00.007-05:00

around the house...

You may know this...might never have crossed your mind...

but if you have one or more of these who like to *L*I*C*K * whatever/whomever cannot run away fast enough...

or one of these who likes to get into everything not intended to be gotten into...then try using your cooking spray on those Squeaking Door Hinges because that ceaseless squeaking will drive a person to Crazy Land...

I mean I'm not an expert or anything on this* but I figure slurpin' up WD-40 is probably not good for one's gastric system, human or otherwise...so I'll just be on the safe side and try to avoid that tragedy-waiting-to-happen-slash-ginormous-vet-bill...I believe we're already financing a new wing on the vet clinic as is**

First, my closet door started...eeeek eeeeeeek eeeeeeekkkk...and every time during the of the day that damn door eeked at me, I'd make a mental note: Spray Hinges...that went on for at least 3 or 4 weeks...Additional Footnote: the laundry basket resides in my closet so DH is in & out of that closet several times a day too...just sayin'...

Then, the garage door started....eeeek wweeeeeeeeeeellll...Mental Note: spray hinges...Footnote: DH is in & out of this door more than I can count...

Then one of the interior french doors started...errrrrreeeeeekkkkkk...Mental Note: Doesn't this bother him*** at all?...Spray Damn Hinges My Own Damn Self...We won't even bother with the Footnote here, okay?

Yesterday, it became a Matter of Sanity to, finally, make myself stop in the middle of going from Point A to Point B in the house cleaning, go to the kitchen, get the spray and Take Care of Business...

aaaahhhh....sweet non-squeaking door silence...

The Cherry on Top? DH wanders up to the last door where I'm spraying, swingin' door widely to-and-fro to work the spray in, spraying again...and says "aren't you just the little Miss DIY..."

Don't worry...he only got The Stare****...

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*as I said: Not a professional on squeaking door hinges or using cooking spray on them...don't have a fit if you do it and you get a funky residue or the finish comes off...I'm just sayin' I've done it for years without a problem...that's all...will not be financing all new hinges in your house :)

**L-O-V-E our vet...but, seriously? with all the FB (Furry Babies) that shack up here, our vet bills already sit right next to our mortgage in the Expense Category...

***of course not...

****Not the Assault with the Cooking Spray he was buckin' for...

Ever Have One of Those Days

2011-09-14T04:38:00.008-05:00

when nothing will do but some blog time
3 candy bars

and a big diet coke?

apparently? I did...

Just sayin'...

I'd link up to Wow Us Wednesday but I'm not sure
it is the kind of Wow Miss Kim has in mind...

R. I. P.

2011-09-12T17:41:00.002-05:00

my dear Sally

I gave it my best shot, but simply could not get Sally the Sourdough Starter to thrive...

Um, Beg Pardon...

2011-09-04T13:02:00.007-05:00

but is it supposed to look like this? I mean, seriously? I'm thinkin' this is either some Kick Ass Sourdough Starter or a guaranteed jail term after I kill somebody off with this stuff...

Bart appears to be leanin' towards the jail time option...
Typically, situations like this whole sourdough mess begin with my good intentions...good intentions and an impressive lack of actual knowledge...

"by gum, I'm going to actually do some of these cool things in the magazines I buy!"*
Generally, this is when my closest and oldest friends dissolve into helpless laughter**....

It smells sour...so that is a good sign? maybe? yes? no?

Sally (yes, I've named her so I'm under even greater pressure to keep this thing alive) looks like this after her mid-day feeding...Okay, open for opinions here...

although, at this stage of the game (meaning after being caught several times dubiously staring into the jar, giving a half-hearted swish with my wooden spoon and then putting Sally back into the pantry), I'm pretty sure even Hubby won't consider eating anything that evolves out of this project...and I'm even more certain I won't...

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*sort of trying to justify the ridiculous amount of $ I spend each month on magazines...and we're not even talkin' about the ones that arrive courtesy of our lovely mail lady...

**and then I get to hear all of the Remember When You Tried stories...

Out of the Box

2011-08-27T20:16:00.008-05:00

while hitting my usual Saturday thrifting haunts, I found these...6 immaculate large heavy cloth napkins with a groovy 70s vibe goin' on...

you don't even have to think it, much less say it...I know a lot of people would pass these by even if the price was a dime...but since I L-O-V-E orange...seriously, today? I painted a one-armed rocking chair bright orange...home these came to #17...

once in the door,*snap* went the tape holding the napkins in the box so I could count my junkin' booty (arrrgghhh*), the count started and, beneath the last napkin, I found this
maybe these napkins weren't exactly the Birthday Girl's favourite** so the box and its wild napkin contents made its way into the linen drawer just in case Ginia ever popped in for fondue and the naps had to make an appearance at the table***

But, knowin' myself and knowin' a lot of other women, I think, more than likely, this gift entered that Eternal Black Hole of Uselessness...Savin' It for a Special Occasion...

what a shame...they're only napkins...Cool Ass Groovy Napkins, true, but still just napkins...

Confession time...what have I Saved for a Special Occasion?...clothes, of course***...candles...china, crystal, sterling...and, yes, napkins and table clothes...and things that are so weird even if I could remember, I probably wouldn't share it with ya'll...garden twine...that's all I'm sayin'...

We should make a pact...with one another...with our selves...no more waiting for some around-the-bend imaginary perfect occasion to start busting out with Special Things...

Every day is special...light those candles, grubby up those napkins and wear that dress you bought because you were channeling your Inner Real Housewife...what on earth could it hurt?****

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*Junkin' Pirate Talk

**I can see that...these napkins are pretty Taste Specific

***some of those clothes were waiting for the Special Occasion of my large butt being able
to squeeze into them...I'm just going to toss those to the GW...sick of those downers every time
I open the closet...Ralph Lauren linen suit from, oh, at least 15 years ago...the jacket is almost long enough to be a dress...I don't know what wishful thinking that was all about...apparently, I was channeling Miami Vice and The Great Gatsby that day...

****technically, I guess, you could 1) burn the house down when you forgot the tapers were lit because you Never Light Them 2) piss off your mother-in-law when you get lipstick all over the family Irish linen napkins that came over on the boat back when and 3) have people question what you do for a livelihood...but probably those things won't happen...

Considering

2011-04-17T19:52:00.009-05:00

it took me only 10 years to finally unpack my granny's Fostoria, it should be no surprise that I am a somewhat unreliable blogger, right?

But since, apparently, today is a Red Letter Day around #17 what with me unwrapping all that glass from newspaper dated 2001, I thought "what the hay"...

Mungo is a Very Helpful Cat...

Every summer when I was in school, I spent a week or two with Granny and Papa...and when I got older, Granny would let me take her Fostoria out of the china cabinet where it spent the rest of the year just hangin' about the place and set the dining room table with her good dishes and the Fostoria...

I don't know why I've taken so long to get around to this...and I could swear there were more pieces...in 10 years time, any other pieces could be anywhere...

The Hubby got that panicked look on his face when he realized I wanted to put my hands on something that was in one of the Endless Tubs in the Garage...inevitably that involves bringing each tub (you say "tote", I say "tub") house for me to rummage through and announce "No, not in this one"...why is whatever I'm looking for always in the last tub?

But I was a real stinker this morning (let's just chalk it up to hormones and call it good) so I let the whole missing Pickle Dish* go for the moment...

All of that aside, my granny's Fostoria at all set out and then it is going into our new island (dragged it home from Habitat for $30**...love it) so I can actually get my hands on it and use it...now I've got find where I stowed that cake plate...

I did mention Mungo is a Very Helpful Cat...

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*I know I did not dream up that Pickle Dish...

**and with that fantastic price, I can so give serious thought to buying that great vintage chandelier at the little antique store...

What is Better Than

2011-01-29T20:56:00.006-05:00

One Rrraaahhh Kitty?Why, Two RrraaahhhKitties, of course!and, Little Rrraaahhh Kitty, you must have a ribbon too...yes, this is how collections get started...Thank Goodness :)

One of Life's Little Windfalls

2011-01-22T06:57:00.009-05:00

So what is your knee jerk reaction when you get a nice little piece of unexpected pocket change?

Hang onto it for a while? Spend it on the family? Indulge in a Spa Day? Something nice for the garden? or for the wrist/ears/neckline? Buy a stack of BOOKS?! (yes, I keep a running list* jotted down on little bits of paper for just such occasions....those little bits of paper have a tendency to get lost in life's jumble but show back up from time to time...)

My knee jerk reaction was D) All of the Above but, unfortunately, $200 can spend like $20 when you're tryin' to cover all those bases! well, excepting covering the Spa Thing...I'm not a Spa Chick...I'd like to be, but I'm more comfortable digging around in the dirt & weeds and then climbing into our hammock than layin' butt naked** on a table with a stranger kneading my fat cells...it kind of ticks the fat off...and we don't like to get the fat angry...bad things happen...the fat will respond with a retaliatory counter-offensive and my butt will end up needing its own zip code...

Back to subject matter: It is time to make a list...I'll write down everything I'd like to do with my Happy Card, along with pricing, and then winnow out until I get the Very Best Things to Buy...

This is some really serious business...I mean, what if I buy Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage...and then I cannot stay awake through it? A Waste of My Happy Card! somehow, I don't think I will be bored with it because I'm fascinated by marriages...even wonky ones...but still, there is that possibility...

Or, what if I buy 2 urns for the garden that I've been eyeballing ? then comes our Mandatory Freakin' Hot Summer and I will have to spend a great deal of extra energy cursing them (and me) because I have to drag out the watering can twice a day and my plants still get fried?

Or, perhapsI treat the family to a very nice dinner out (and maybe still have enough for books and urns...heh heh...if we make if coffee and doughnuts I'd have the books and urns......although I could do that (the doughnuts and coffee) at home for much less...practically free...hey, family time is family time), and it turns out to be Crappy Night at the Restaurant...that would be HUGELY Disappointing...Plus, I'm not inclined to spend Windfall Money on food...here today, gone tomorrow if you know what I mean...

I could be making too much of a big deal about this...A list...yes, definitely, I need a list...okay, I'm off to find some paper & a pencil***

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*Current List Includes: Chernow's Washington, Mark Twain's autobiography, Franklin and Eleanor, a score of Home and Garden books...the OED...a little bit of fiction...I'm not much into fiction...

**I'm sorry, ya'll, but towels and/or sheets (unless at a Toga Party...and then a flat sheet in lieu of pants is only acceptable because of the vast amounts of alcohol to be consumed) do not constitute "Clothes" unless you're a baby wrapped in swaddlin' clothes...

***with a big eraser

When I Get on a Roll

2011-01-17T18:28:00.009-05:00

I can be dangerous!!! at least that is what Fred is thinkin'...since he is one of the Resident Kitchen Monitors, Fred spends a lot of time in the kitchen when there is activity that needs, um, monitoring...that would be any activity where a food particle might hit the tile...We bought ourselves an early 21st Anniversary present*...a Kitchenaid 12-cup food processor... now, I'm not one much for a kitchen full of Specific Task items...my Food Saver taught me that lesson (once I realized how much the replacement rolls cost *Bam* into the cabinet where it sat until I dragged it off to Goodwill...what incredible waste of $ for me...now if you love yours, that is great but I just didn't get into it) and I have resisted getting a food processor ever since I managed to kill the 1970-era one DH brought to our marriage...there were words like "deliberate" and "malicious" tossed around that day...along with phrases like "piece of dilapidated crap" and "ancient piece of crap" (I know, but you gotta switch it up a little when havin' a self-righteous hissy fit)

(and here it is, the "but" you knew was comin') BUT after hearing a couple of good friends (visit Miss Char) keep on about how much they loved their food processors for this, that and the other, well, I finally yielded myself up to temptation...

On Sunday...or was it Saturday?...I forget...anyhoo, we had a veggie bin full of citrus from the holidays and then somebody gave us more...and neither of us really are all that into citrus (I bought wayyyyy too much for tour traditional ambrosia) so we decided to take the juicer out for a spin**... and this wasn't all of leavings! we have, count it, 1 full pitcher of juicegood grief...I never realized how many oranges must go into all that OJ sittin' on supermarket shelves! what do they do with all of the leftovers? now, I will make a batch of crystallized orange rind when I get in the mood but it just wasn't happening on Sunday (Saturday?) so into the compost spinny bin with it all...(yes, that is a banana peel, not some strange skinny citrus fruit rind...I had a snack)

then we made coleslaw...the outer leafy green part was aggravating to get into the mix but I do love how the rest of the cabbage chopped up all super-tiny...like the kind you get at Carey Hilliard's...we tossed in an onion and some carrots too...

didn't take a photo of that and I'm too lazy to get up, go to the fridge and then load more photos...and it is just cole slaw...

next, I realized there were some potatoes that were getting a little long in the tuber lurkin' in the other veggie bin...ya'll know what is comin' right? yep, potato photo... these little potato slices are very nice to have on hand to toss in the oven for a carby side dish with a dollop of fat free sour cream up on top....

I'm trying to decide what I'm going to "process" next...I am in possession of the egg whippy attachment so it might be meringues on Valentine's Day... *********************************************************
*I promise no arm twisting was involved...just a wry "you already ordered it, didn't you?"

**Time was runnin' out on the Return Window if "we" absolutely hated this thing so it was time to fire up the FP and take it for a spin...

I Do, I Do, I Do Love Christmas...

2011-01-10T13:46:00.012-05:00

(hence the Christmas Tree still standing at #17) but I've come to realize as much as I anticipate and relish every moment of the the Holiday season that commences Thanksgiving Day Eve (hey, it is my world) and continues until the Epiphany, truly, January lays claim to the position of My Favourite Month... and while I no longer task myself with Resolutions that, I promise ya'll, will go Un-Resolution-Ed, or stayin' awake until Midnight to toast the New Year in as that glittering ball drops in Times Square*, I find great enjoyment in putting the house to rights and layin' down my thoughts for directions I hope I find my life takin' in the coming months. Like the bare branches of this Cleveland Pear tree, the stripped down days of January with no Big Holidays and a Deleted Bank Account allow me to see somewhat clearly what course to set...or at least what direction to face...most likely, that course will alter, over and over again, until it is no longer recognizable by the time Year End nears but that, as we all say, is life...all we can do is pray a little, plan a little and see what fills up our cups...Happy New Year, everybody! and may all of our cups over run with Love, Good Health and Good Fortune in this Year of 2011...

*************************************************************************** *I made it until 8 p.m. this New Year's Eve...we saved the champagne for another day... As a huge added bonus, January and February in Southeast Georgia are pretty much the only months where a gardener can have a Brief Respite from most of those crushing garden chores...havin' said this, I will own up to being outside in the icy rain today, shaking ice from the leaves and branches of my Little Gem Magnolia, my Tea Olive and a Nandina that was completely bowed down beneath the weight of ice...

Be Back Shortly

2010-12-01T04:45:00.003-05:00

the To Do List around here has been crazy...lots of long-put-off chores just piled up to make a Never Ending Chore List...

well, I've learned my lesson said the woman who stood outside in frigid weather pressure washing the walkway...with soaking wet sneakers...and a bad attitude...

Just a Peek

2010-10-12T19:31:00.009-05:00

into the Heart of Our Home

Weegie says "Welcome"...no, really, she does...and are you totin' snackies?

DH just painted the new wall colour that I L-O-V-E...but I haven't finished with the bead board...sittin' there next to the stove is a Large Sample of the Granite I want to use for new counter tops...I'm betting on the price going lower...so I'm holdin' out until after the first of the year...
Yes, I realized after I took the photo below that DH forgot to paint over the sink...when I mentioned this, I got a rather windy explanation of why that isn't such a bad or obvious thing...DH got a rather windy explanation of why that is bad and obvious and why it'll be taken care of pretty darn soon...I took about 12 photos...and they're mostly awful since I take crum-bum photos so this is a Limited Tour of the Heart of Our Home...

Thanks to Shelia at Note Songs for hosting this lovely event...just the perfect time of year to start focusing inward on our homes and hearts...

(I'm sorry, Shelia, I have tried and tried to get your Heart linky to post but it won't!...every time I click to load the image, crazy blogger saves my post as a draft)

Until Mr. Frog

2010-10-10T08:42:00.004-05:00

perfects his camo technique, I'd afraid he'll be missin' out on the breakfast buffet at the local feeder...although, to give a guy his props, Frog is persistent...I've gotten him off the feeder twice now in three days...

I think I'm startin' to tick him off...

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disclaimer: this post was going to be about the cool stack of ironstone platters and plates I dug out of a dumpster...well, "dug" is a little extreme...the stack just sat up on top of a full mini-dumpster...but my photo was so crappy that I decided not to inflict it upon your eyeballs...I might gather them back up from around the house but I dunno...I'm feelin' lazy...

This is How We Roll

2010-10-07T17:59:00.012-05:00

at #17...(well, this is how we bake...but "roll" is a baked item and a passe hip phrase...so, naturally, I could not resist...okay, full disclosure: I didn't try)

I have stacks of baking books...I have Pie...I have The Pie and Pa sty Bible...I have The Pastry Queen ...and list could go on and on*

But since this thing called Real Life (a.k.a. My Job) intrudes upon my Imagined Mad Baking Skills...

Mungo and I busted a move (yet another passe hip phrase) with the

Just Add Milk Bag o' Muffins...

then I tossed in a few things to make it seem like Real Baking**...

used my Cute Little Muffin pan...because everybody knows anything smaller than 2" x 2" has no calories...therefore, Zero Points for WW!***

and look...oh, yeah...Mungo and I are ready for our next Fall Induced Baking Session

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*I do have to get this

**and because those cranberries have been in the freezer since Thanksgiving...time to start makin' room for this year's harvest

***I am so lying...do not make mini-muffins, eat the whole pan, go to weigh in and faint**** when you've gained a few...

****or leave troll-ish comments on my blog...

My Fall Inspired Table Top,

2010-10-04T17:14:00.003-05:00

er, shelf scape...

I did a little work with this wire cloche this afternoon...took it from steel grey to black...the little owl I love...naturally, a thrift shop find...I don't decorate a lot for Halloween...and only a bit for Autumn but I do like to have something pretty and seasonal waiting for us when we open the door...

DH walked by and said "that looks nice"...yep, ya'll got right...he spent the first part of the day in the Dog House...

when I took the pix, I decided that a leaf to the far right needed to go away...too much...and I really didn't feel like taking a new photo...but since I have yet to master more than the "crop" and "resize" tools on my Photoshop Elements*, I had to heft it up outta my chair and go take a new photo...

I will not always be that motivated...

Thanks to A Stroll Thru Life for hosting Table Top Tuesdays

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*trust me...if I had mastered Photoshop Elements, I'd be sporting some Very Good Looking Photos of myself on the ol' blog :)

And So It Grows

2010-10-03T15:41:00.007-05:00

Look! I simply cannot (knock on wood) believe it...but this might be the First Ever Pumpkin I've raised to maturity [this is me grinning from ear to ear]Do these things just fall off the vine when they're done? (sssshhh, my ignorance is showing)

And we're* working on a bead board back splash in the kitchen...the bead board is left over from the new ceiling on the front porch...hence the current multi-colour look...

And the kitchen getting a new coat of paint...Tan Almond or something like that...I've lost my paint chip...a BHG colour from H/M**...the paint man opened up the can and all three of us (me, DH and Paint Man) looked, first, at the paint can, then at one another, then back at the paint can...

Let's just call this one a Case of Painting Dangerously...

Teddy says "Hey"...sure, he looks all sweet and cute...It Is A TRAP! you go to rub that soft white tummy and then the Claws O' Death come out...

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*we're=The Husband

**I tried to find a link on-line but Good Luck with That

My First Table Top Tuesday

2010-09-27T19:01:00.009-05:00

and possibly my last since I expect I'll get booted...I cannot figure this Mr Linky stuff out!!!
(hey, I got it! I think...)

you know, as I scouted #17 to find a little vignette already set up, I realized I've seriously let my little Niches of Artfully Arranged STUFF slide...but I do love this little area...

I love Mr. Fox and his candle...I love my Little Blue and White sugar dish...I love the Prim Pears I picked up a great booth in the antique mall...along with the little wren note a friend sent me some years ago now*...I even love that little scrap of Red and White Fabric!
I love these Dove Dark Chocolate squares...at first, I doubted them...but the secret is to let them warm up**...oh my word...
today, when I got in from work, Ms. Witch was waitin' on me...seems a dear friend believes my co-worker doesn't already understand the way the wind blows through our office doors...I'm pretty sure Dear Friend is mistaken...

But I decided to not take the More Than Inferred Reference personally*** and plunked Ms. Witch down in my little Table Top Scene...

Thanks to A Stroll Thru Life for hosting Table Top Tuesday

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*I hoard pretty paper

**Just clutch them in your hand for a few long seconds

***Hey, some things in this life you just gotta own

Three Things

2010-09-25T16:36:00.007-05:00

First, Buy This...You'll thank me...this is not just a mustard...it is like Miracle Mustard...amazing on sandwiches, of course...but also in potato salad...and in pasta salad...and the Good Lord only knows what else...

Second, Buy This...cook some rice, dump a jar of this tuff on it...oh man...I'll even re-think getting Mexican Take-Out for this...and my good friends know what a fiend I am for Mexican Take-Out...I could eat veggie fajitas, no oil, with red rice, guacamole side salad and an order of enchilada sauce every day of my life...actually, probably twice a day every day of my life...

and Third...I believe I've been working on this for a year now...possibly two...appear to have blocked out the actual time frame...this bears no relation to the previous two mentions but I just feel like sharing my slow-behind-progress...

A Crow and Some Pink Stuff

2010-09-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

So, I've manage to salvage a decorative resin piece my DH surprised me with last year...or the year before...I forget...

I don't mind mixin' in a resin piece here and there...but I try not to get carried away as I do like things that have some age on them...that have a history...

and these sassy crows and their pumpkins look adorable on the hearth...but some how, Mr Top Crow's beak chipped off...and so the Crows and their Pumpkins have sat in the garage, on a shelf, gathering dust...

because if a resin piece breaks, unless you can glue something back on or back together, it just becomes trash...but I hated to throw the piece away since DH gave it to me...

so there The Crows sat ...and sat...and sat...

until this past Sunday when I decided the time had come to either repair Mr Top Crow's beak or into the trash can with him and his buddy (that is actually a Huge Lie...I would have stuck them in the garden)

so here is the process of My First Attempt at Repairing a Resin Made in China For a Quarter Tchotsky...

[insert disclaimer] I am not a Professional Resin Tchotsky Repair Person so try this at your own risk...

Supplies: Pink wall patch stuff that dries white
Fine Grit Sandpaper

Craft Paint and brushes

First I sanded the rough edges of the beak down and then I filled the cavity with the Pink Stuff (it dries quickly)

After that first layer of Pink Stuff dried, I lightly sanded the area and applied a second layer.

Next, after the 2nd layer of Pink Stuff dried, I worked on sanding the lower part of the beak down some and sanding the ridge of the upper beak down too*...just so the bottom part was sooooo much longer than the top...and the ridge I sanded down so Mr Crow looked a bit more like a crow instead of a black toucan hanging out in a Pumpkin Patch...

I decided since there was no way I could match the multi-coloured finish on the beak, it would be better to just paint both crows' beaks...and while the going was good, I rubbed a little shiny black paint over both crows' feathers...

A good wiping down and I'm satisfied...I'll take The Crows and Their Pumpkins to work with me tomorrow to liven up my desk...

oh...Mungo says "hey"...yes, our cats wallow on the kitchen counter tops...that is a battle I decided to gracefully lose years ago...

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*so sorry about this shoddy photo...

I Thought It was a Wash

2010-09-19T17:06:00.007-05:00

with my pumpkin patch this year...

but, lo and behold, lookee lookeenow I'm busy hoping this is a pumpkin and not some other type of squash...

and we have another baby...smaller than a golf ball, I doubt this little guy will make it to maturity before our first hard frost...but we'll have to see if I can help him along...

we had such a long hot dry summer that the vines just quit bloomin' for quite some time but they've fired back up again...

Really, it would not have mattered...I am Vegetable-Garden Challenged*...

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*I try every year to do a veggie garden but since I don't want to use chemicals, those bugs and assorted mildews and fungii and whatever else happens along kick my behind each and every year...it is enough to make me break out the Sevin Dust...

Oh My Word...

2010-09-15T16:38:00.004-05:00

I've found another Christmas movie I think I'm going to love (I'm watching right now so I'll report back....everybody else is watching their Christmas movies, right?)...I needed to decompress from work so I stopped by the Goodwill...and picked up

Mrs. Santa Clause starring Angela Lansbury* for a cool $1.99...water aerobics can wait...I've got my priorities in order!
*this is a musical...just a heads-up in case some of ya'll tend to break out in hives over musicals

Hollywood Regency-Ish Style...Sorta...Maybe...

2010-09-12T09:13:00.009-05:00

well, only the pumpkin might really make the cut into the Hollywood Regency style category but for the sake of continuity of my thought train...okay, only the Idea of high gloss white ceramic pieces is remotely HR...but my pumpkin and bunnies* suit my Hodge-Podge style category to a T...

thrift store finds, the largest rabbit started off dark grey...not so bad, but he didn't show against the black fireplace surround...but that poor little bun...well, I imagine somebody loved him at some point...but his paint job was crazy ugly...the GW clerk laughed as she rang him up...1/2 off 69 cents, I believe...I'm surprised the shop didn't have to give him away...stick him in some unsuspecting shopper's bag...

but enter these two old palsand before you know it, any Hodge Podge becomes a collection...

yes, two is a pair, but 3 is a collection...I'm a firm believer that old saw...

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*the buns are about to into their "Spring" labeled Rubbermaid container for the fall and winter**...they should have gone up, oh, 'round about June, but I'm Cultivating the Habit of Not Sweating the Small Stuff...

**that means I need to scrounge up 2 fall-ish pieces to spray paint white...I'm still kickin' myself over not buying that hideous old owl statue...

So, Here's the Question...

2010-02-25T05:22:00.011-05:00

why do some people believe helping animals to be less of a calling than helping humans? and, along that line of questionable reasoning, why does doing either one exclude doing the other? and, Lord help, why would you stand in front of me knowin' I know All About Your Expensive Designer Bag ~~Problem~~ Habit and that the only charitable donation you do anyway is some rinky dink paycheck United Way thing* (STOP AND READ THIS NOTE: everybody that is about to have a hissy fit over that previous sentence go on down and read the little * remark at the bottom of the post) you got pressed into doing so the Officially Shall Not Be Named Place of Business could make the Red on the Fake Thermometer Board go all the way to the top and say something stupid about how so many people need help that you didn't believe in giving money to Animal Charities?

okay, that was 3 questions, but did ya'll ever know a Southern Woman to actually stick to her 1 Question Quota? (a Southern Woman on a tear/soapbox/havin' a hissy fit has strange volcanic rhetorical rhythm alongside mad on-the-fly self-scanning skills that just, zuppppp, suck you right in...hypnotizes you against your will)

Whenever you can, wherever you can, please give generously to help others...It is Important...and becomes More Important when fewer people actually have money to contribute to charities because of Lost Jobs, Lost Bonuses and Actual Pay Cuts***...

I know I struggle with giving as much as I could/should...there are times when I have to wrestle My Inner Book Demon or Thrift Shop Demon or Want to Look Pretty Demon (I swear when Face Lifts get sold on QVC's easy payment plan, watch out!) to hold back that debit card...and lots of times My Inner Demonettes kick the livin' snot out of my Inner Goody Two Shoes...it ain't pretty, folks, but it is the truth****...

The easiest way to handle that struggle is to set yourself set up to just do automatic debits from your checking account or to a credit card, if you're Very Responsible with Your Credit Card and don't carry some big ol' balance , to your favourite CharitieS

painlessly thoughtless...

almost all of the charities we give to are set up for some type of automatic debit...and when you get comfortable with that $10, $20 or $30 wavin' Good-Bye to your checking account, then you gradually up the dollar amount...treat those charitable deductions as if they're just like your cable/satellite T.V. bill...when you get used to that little amount comin' out of the bank account each month, your introductory offer expires and your bill goes up*****

********************************************************************
*and before anybody freaks on me, let me say, if you contribute through paycheck deduction to United Way, that is lovely...Mr G does too...and I did when it was an employee option at my last job (I like to choose local options when that is available...like a county-wide plan for people who cannot afford their prescription drugs)...and if that is all your family can do right now, completely understandable...times are tough...very tough...and it is great that you're trying to help others when you're stretching and, or struggling, yourselves...BUT if your shoe closet makes my jaw drop and your bags really are somebody else's Nice Car Payment...at the very least...please please please don't start with me about your Philosophy on Charitable Giving when all you get up off of is a lousy $10 a paycheck...Because the conversation will go rapidly and, yes, irretrievable downhill...I promise you...**

**and before anybody else decides to take issue with this post and trot out that Tired Old Chestnut about this being a Free Country and One Being Entitled to What One Wishes With One's Money, let me just say...if that is the Truth of the Matter, please feel free to try that line with the IRS, your state's tax agency and the Tax Commissioner's Office of Wherein Your Primary Residence is Established...and then still don't start with me...because That Dog Don't Hunt...

***And if you really can't find the extra $ in your bottom of your purse right now, I get it...try to find Something to Do for a charity...I'm finally about to get off my Oh So Valuable Personal Time and start volunteering with a local charity 1 weekend a month...see? I'm doing like the actual $ thing...starting off slowly and then when I reach the level where I'm comfortable with the amount of time I'm committing to give to others, I'll see if I'm willing to up the ante...it Really Is all about tricking myself into not being such a Selfish Cow...again, not pretty, but the truth...

****And the Very Worst Inner Demonette for this time of year is about to rear her Ugly Head...the Spring is Here and It is Time to Buy Plants for the Garden Demon...this is a scary time for the ol' pocketbook...

*****That poor Customer Service Rep...it wasn't a good day for him...

2010 Georgia Literary Festival

2010-02-25T05:18:00.001-05:00

2010 Georgia Literary Festival

I love that Statesboro is playing host to our state's literary festival...check out the link

Big Doings in Georgia

2010-02-18T05:03:00.004-05:00

this week(end)!

Starting today, The Friends of the Library/Old Book Sale opens to the public in Macon, Georgia...I've been to this and let me tell ya'll it is a Book Lover's Dream...

Plan on getting there early (you should be on the road right this second) and waitin' in a Long Line to get the best selection...and bring some big bags...and maybe an extra body to sit somewhere so you can deposit books until you're ready to head to the check-out...

If I didn't have to head to work this morning, I'd already be half-way to Macon...

AND Georgia Organics is hosting the Georgia Organics Reclaiming Agriculture 13th Annual Conference & Expo this weekend...

Mr G and I are headin' up tomorrow for workshops and we'll be there Saturday for the educational sessions too...even tho' we're giving ourselves a cool 2 years to build up a fund to purchase a Little Farm of Our Own, there is no time like the present to start building a knowledge base for actually being able to handle some of the what-seems-likely issues of Farm Ownership*...

This is exciting stuff!

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*and I'm hopin' this conference will encourage me to be willing to toe the line on our About To Begin Budget Strict Savings Thing...

Delayed G-R-A-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-I-O-N

2010-02-15T13:27:00.004-05:00

did I spell that right?

We had snow here in Statesboro this past weekend...that is a pretty big deal for our neck of the woods...and I planned to post at least my Very Favourite Snow Photograph...but I can't...

Mr G reformatted my laptop after it began doing Strange and Annoying Things...and the photo editing software I used to, er, use won't work now on my laptop...seems the new version is not working with my operating system...I dunno...as if telling me that is going to get me any closer to making them call a detente...

So, I've busted out the Photoshop Elements 8 Santa dropped off #17 this past Christmas...I've been dreading this...

See, for a person holdin' a degree in English, I have an awfully hard time understanding the written word when it comes to following directions...and makin' change, but since that is a Math Skill I'm not really expected to know how to do that, right?

and, even tho' Cheap is favourite word of mine, I wouldn't mind payin' an extra buck or two to have Actual Instructions on how to use the program in the box...instead of trying to click back and forth between an online video tutorial and my screen...or going out to track down a manual at the bookstore...where once I looked at the prices of these Necessary Manuals, I realized I wasn't going to pay that anyway! I'd order from home, get a deep discount, free shipping and the opinions of total strangers as to which book is best...does any one actually buy books in a bookstore any more?*

at the very least, a disclaimer on the box that reads something like "hey, just so you realize you will have to plunk down at least $25 extra to get a book so you Can Actually Use software you're about to buy...just so you realize, that's all we're saying" would be a helpful thing...then Santa could have stuffed the book in my stocking along with the program and the 20lbs of black licorice and I'd be all set...

So, long story short**, no snow photo until I learn how to operate Elements...I cannot figure out how to save the photos in a web friendly size without actually havin' to edit something...

If any one can point to me to a Free On-line Site with some brief tips about Elements 8, I'd be Very Happy and Very Appreciative...

***************************************************************************
*I feel deeply disloyal to brick-and-mortar bookstores when I buy books on-line (almost always) but how on earth can I justify not buying books online when online bookstores undercut even their own B & M stores by $10 or more with the added incentive of no shipping charges? I don't understand the business model ...Signed, Call Me Confused in Georgia

**Is there such a thing as a Short Story in the South? I think not...

Some Times It is Easier to Dream

2010-02-07T19:39:00.005-05:00

than to implement, isn't it?

I have used my Brand New-To-Me Chalkboard (3.99 plus tax at the Goodwill) to provide an illustration of my 2010 resolutions... #3 is part Mr. G's too...I think, God love him, he is mostly humouring me*...

See, it is not that I really want to be a Farmer...I mean some casual gardening is fine & dandy, but farming, so I've heard, is a hard hard way to earn your livin'... I do want to have enough organic produce to provide for our table year 'round and maybe some to sell at the local farmer's market...

some chickens (some=3)...maybe a little goat...possibly a pet cow...

Let's call it Farming Lite...

And, important footnote, Mr. G and I do have the bad habit of draggin' home dogs and cats that
seem to have found themselves homeless...

our latest find is Lady Bug Rosie...and her room is our master bath...of course, Lady Bug doesn't live in there, but when it is bed time or when Mr. G and I head off to our jobs, that is where she hangs out...Can I just say I look forward to the day when I can take a bath without somebody drinkin' my bathwater? Because it wouldn't be our house if Lady Bug didn't have some cute personality tic...She won't eat unless I'm in the bathroom with her (our dogs eat separately...food aggression drives me nuts)...

We need more room unless we stop this pickin' up every goofy dog that is runnin' in the middle of the road...and that is just a pipe dream anyway...at least until legions of people stop being such incredible sorry-assed creatures...that is an Even Bigger Pipe Dream...

ANYWAY, to achieve #3 on the list requires the sudden onset of intensive saving for the next 2 years...

We hashed out the budget in January, took it out for a test drive this month and decided to "start for real" in March...

seems we burned through our "discretionary" spending $ the first weekend of the February...

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger: Steep Freakin' Learning Curve Ahead...

We do very little credit card spending, have a little credit card debt and a decent savings account...

but we're used to spending, even in these strapped times, whatever is left over from the month's expenses...

magazine here, take-out there...plants for the garden, some thrift shopping...some more take-out...and massive vet bills...

Adds up appallingly fast, doesn't it?

Whether or not we can pull this off will be hanging wayyyy up in the air for some time, but I cannot help but believe that even if our farm never materializes, the next couple of years are not just going to be about learning to control our money (I won't even buy into my own delusion by adding "better" at the tail end of that sentence) but about refining other areas of our life together** and of our selves as separate beings***...

Any and all budget tips welcome...

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*possibly praying to God every night, on his knees in the garage, that it doesn't happen
**this will almost assuredly bring about some serious disagreements
***and possibly involve jail time for somebody

Happy New Year!!!!

2010-02-01T19:45:00.004-05:00

Early on, I decided to start my New Years from 2010 forward on February 1st...it just takes the pressure off of January...

the last thing I need after approximately 6 weeks of Holiday-Holiday-Holiday is angst over what to come up with for a New Year's Resolution...

So, Happy New Year, Ya'll!

I'm about to make a few cosmetic changes here on #17's blog...I thought about deleting #17 all together and starting anew but one's blog becomes like a family member...or at least a great pair of old jeans or sneaks...the thought of separation is depressing...and guilt-ridden...

I just need to be more focused and diligent because I love my little corner of bloggy world...and to stop by other blogs for a read and a smile...

A Quick Question in order to further my redecorating plans:

Photo of the blogger on blog profiles: Yes, No or Doesn't Matter One Little Bit?

(I hate hate hate hate hate having my pix snapped...I always discover some new horror about myself when I end up in a photo...only recently did I discover a striking similarity between myself and Ringo Starr on my left side profile when a buddy snapped a candid photo...I could happily gone to my grave without that knowledge nugget...I did say thanks, right, Donna?...but I do love seeing a pix of the writers on the blogs I visit)

2009-11-08T09:26:00.004-05:00

***Closed Until the New Year***

I do hate to miss the Holiday Season with ya'll

but I'll be reading all of ya'lls blogs and keeping up with your
happenings...

Soooooo, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah,
Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year

Guess Where I'm Going...

2009-10-22T16:40:00.003-05:00

this weekend? along with the Ever Loving and Considerate Husband?

To McDonough, Georgia, (and to Griffin to visit family) but most excitingly (is that a Real Word? I'm too pooped to look it up...shame, shame, English Major, I know your name), I'm going to visit here...

that's right...I've enjoyed The Plum Tree blog for a while now & I'm finally going to visit them (it?)

I'm so very happy...and so I owe the Husband Big time...

There Comes a Time...

2009-10-18T15:47:00.009-05:00

when one must break out the Craft Paint...even if one is seriously Craft Impaired...

I want a Wall O' Chickens...I bought one of these from a lady @ the Statesboro Farmer's Market...Just a hint as to which is mine...as if it isn't obvious...I like to call My Chicken Texumato the Fire Chicken...yes, Tex has legs, you just can't see them in the photo...I'll be doing something about that...

okay, settle down, people...there is a Big Learning Curve here!

Today, the Husband was in his Element...Morning dawned cold enough for a fire! That's pretty darn amazing for only middle October in Southeast Georgia...

That's Fred and Piper lookin' for trouble...usually they find it..This is Weejie (Wilma) The Grande Dame. The Old Lady. The Warden. A lot of white on that beautiful long nose but Weej still rules this roost. Even our Problem Child Piper gives way before the Weej.

The only time I've ever heard Hounds Sing (there is an old country pass-around tale about hounds singing) was the day Wilma and Jasper, our basset who has passed on now, sang together...not howling, not just "talking", but singing...the hair on my arms stood up...until that time I thought singing hounds were only another one of our old pretty Southern Tales...

Only one time and never again...

Sllllooowwwly But Surely

2009-10-15T18:28:00.004-05:00

it is coming together...and since one can, apparently, never have too many things waiting on
The Project List, I plan to refurb this old glass lamp because as much as I love the new PB version, the day I get up off that much change to provide our cats with something new for Target Practice will be, well, never...

Auctions are a Frugal Person's Friend...

2009-10-04T06:14:00.005-05:00

says Mrs. Cheap Pants....

while I'm leery of going to garage sales (or yard sales, if you prefer...we don't have any of those furrin' events called Tag Sales in my neck of the woods...that's just a different world, ya'll) because I have this weird fear of seemin' snooty and disdainful of people's "stuff" if I don't buy something...

and let's face it...some people's "stuff" is really people's "C-R-A-P" that should have been hauled off one pitch black moonless night to the county dump in a license plate-less truck and left outside of the locked gates so it cannot be traced back to the rightful owner*...

The Very Few times I have steeled myself and ventured to stop by a garage sale, yes, I hit proverbial Crap Mother Loads**

but when I'm loafin' about in Blog Land instead of being gainfully productive I gaze wistfully upon all the seemingly endless great stuff people find at these sales to bring home and display in their homes and on their blogs***...

Practically to My Point: check out auctions.

Now, auctions aren't the most efficient use of time...a large auction can drag on for hours...and hours...and hours...

the last auction Mr G & I attended lasted, I kid ya'll not, about 7 hours...7 HOURS....we ate dinner there...twice...the first time from the concession stand (that most established auctions have...at least our Georgia auctions do :) and the second time from the corner Subway shop...and spent a lot of time watchin' the regulars, who apparently are all shop owners or have really really big houses, buy lot after lot...

by the time the bureau/buffet I wanted rolled across the concrete floor for bidding, it was 10:30...that's PM...6 hours into the auction...and no way on God's Green earth was I leavin' that auction house without that buffet****....
That night, the Auction gods smiled upon me...the buffet was mine for $55...and now it sits in our second bathroom waiting for its sink to be dropped in...

Practically to My Point: Check ya'lls local classified for auction listing. Bigger auctions will probably be listed starting at least a week out from the actual auction date. And, don't just look in the Garage Sale column...check out the Announcements section too...

My point: auctionzip.com...the auction lover's friend...just type in your zip, how many miles you are willing to drag your sullen spouse and whether or not you've reached the age when limited night time driving ability makes it inadvisable to go that far and drive home late tired down a deer-riddled country road, with an openly hostile husband beside you in the passenger seat, and a massive oak hall tree bungee corded in your half-open trunk...

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*apparently, there is a reason why allllll of those dumps & transfer stations have signs that forbid leavin' stuff outside when the gates are closed...

**community or charity-related garage sales are cats of a different colour...these seem to work out better....

***Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality has to be the Undisputed Queen of Wonderful Garage Sale Stuff...actually, I bet they actually have Tag Sales where Rhoda lives!

****This is, actually, a dangerous mind set at an auction...don't get emotionally involved with anything you're bidding on...it can mean a month or two of nothin' but beans & rice for dinner as you bid $500 more than you planned on that Oh-Hell-No-That-Heifer-Is-Not-Gettin'-My-Whateveritis*****

*****Auction houses do not look kindly upon bidders who retract bids...ever...

Hmmmmm...What Could These Be For?

2009-09-27T18:18:00.004-05:00

and what could they possibly have to do with these?

Let's just say I'm going to try my hand at a new craft thing...and naturally, I'll burn the livin' fire out of my fingers with the Industrial Sized Black & Decker Glue Gun my husband bought for me years ago...

Life Lesson #283: Never send a guy to buy anything that plugs in and might even remotely be considered a "tool".

My glue gun is so big and gets so hot that it could, in a pinch, be used as a welding device...

Needless to say, any session that involves my glue gun also involves me askin' God for lots of forgiveness for my filthy mouth...

100 Days of holiday cookies

2009-09-22T19:13:00.002-05:00

Starting September 24th!

RUN, Don't Walk...

2009-09-09T12:58:00.004-05:00

to your nearest K-Mart to get these: Rooster Plates from the Country Living Collection @ K-Mart! and even with my horrible photography skills, surely ya'll can see how great these are...the make of these remind me of Buffalo China...which I love...and have...

And the little banner says (no, you aren't having sugar problems, it is, again, my mad photography skills at work) "Good Food, Good Friends"...For me to pay straight retail for anything is amazing...but I shelled out the 19.99 plus 7% sales tax for a set of 4 (that is how they come) and I'm havin' to restrain myself from driving over there right now to get a second set...if there are any left!

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UPDATE: so, apparently, I'm not all that great at restraining myself when Chicken Plates are involved...and, yes, I do call all chickens "chicken"...even the guy ones...

It's Beginning to Feel a Little Fall-ish...

2009-09-06T18:21:00.011-05:00

here in Southeastern Georgia...even tho' the days still climb into the 90s, the nights fall wonderfully into the upper 60s...hot days are bearable when the mornings are cool and it isn't until well after lunch time that heat-induced crankiness and fatigue sets in*...

Besides the thermometer and the level of rage induced by tryin' to quickly move in and out of the local Hell-Mart's parking lot...which is the size of a recreational park's football field...and the hotter it is, the crazier and meaner people get(naturally, I do strongly feel that anybody tryin' to turn left across the oncoming backed-up-to-South Carolina right lane traffic into the backed-up-to-Florida left lane traffic from the parking lane adjacent to the bustling pedestrian crossing ought to be, well,PUNISHED is the politest word I have available for use this moment...severely punished...I mean, really severely punished...when it is cooler weather, I can benevolently smile upon the idiot and wish him/her well in his or her entitled world with only minor karma hit points) , I have another gauge for Fall Weather Approaching...Projects**

Come September, it is time to get Deadly Serious about what projects need to be done, by whom, and by when...the "when" actually being code for "by time to start decorating for Christmas"... Hence my lack of awareness that a whole month has gone by since my last post...not that I'm such a stickler about timely posting anyway...

Exhibit A: stripped down second full bath...installing beadboard, new lighting, base boards and, possibly, a beautiful old buffet to convert into a vanity...only hitch... just this afternoon we discovered this beautiful buffet may not make the turn into bathroom...crud...tomorrow, it'll be like watchin' The Rose Bowl Parade and holdin' our breath to see if the biggest float ever can make that impossible turn on that corner the announcers always get freaked about...Cynthia seems fine with our purposed sink vanity sitting right in the middle of the hallway...selfish selfish kitty... Exhibit B: stripped down master bathroom...new beadboard, lighting and baseboards...thank you, Lord, that we don't need a new vanity in this one...but the tub, well, that is a tale for another day...Exhibit C: master bedroom with patched holes and no baseboards...will be painting and putting in new baseboardsTruly, I do not know why there were so many holes in that wall...well, the big one, yes, I do know why...we had a flat screen mounted there...that requires a big honkin' hole, apparently, for the at-most 1/2" diameter cable...who knew?

anyhoo...a couple of other little indicators of more forgivin' weather here in our little corner of Georgia:

Our pear tree that is only 2 years in the ground. I love an over-achiever in the garden Yankee Candles' Purr-Chouli candle...I cannot help it...I know patchouli got a Bad Rep in the 60s but I love it Fall Mags...what's not to love?*****************************************************************************

*Yes, I know...Mother Nature is only toying with us...

**Made more Deadly Serious this year by our son's pending marriage and backyard reception HERE!!!

***I was at the store, grousing because my issue of CL hadn't come in YET HERE IT IS IN THE STORE ON THE SHELVES FOR EVERY FREAKIN' BODY ELSE, when Mr G piped up with "it's at home...it's under that stuff on the buffet by the front door...I've only back from a trip, excitedly waiting on my cool fall issue of CL, but that's okay...I was too happy to seek revenge...and, yes, I realize I should pursue a more exciting lifestyle...which I would if I weren't happy as a pig in slop doing what I do...

I will be spending the next several computer sessions catching up on alllll the blogs I like...ya'll are some prolific bloggers :)

An August Afternoon at...

2009-08-02T15:52:00.010-05:00

one of our lovely Georgia State Parks...let me tell ya'll...unless they had a snow machine going, no way was this going to be a pleasant outing...

we've been talking about going up to take some family photos for, oh, about 6 months or more...and today is the first day when the planets aligned and everybody got his or her butt into gear...so we ate a quick bite, piled into Speck and headed to Magnolia Springs...

Did I mention it is August? August may be pleasant in some areas of our great country...I'm willing to entertain that idea...

But in Georgia, August is a trial to one's soul...

I didn't even have it in me to insist everybody don the ubiquitous white button-downs and khakis so the photos might have a snowball's chance in, well, Georgia...in August...of lookin' somewhat professional...

I expect lots of killings happen in August...in Georgia...probably more than any other time of the year...I'm being completely serious...

My Grand Plan involved driving up to the actual "spring", hopping out to snap a quick photo or two and hoppin' right back into the car to speed away in air conditioned bliss...Apparently, I forgot to copy the family on that...

I let my attention wander for just a minute (busy checking the ground for venomous snakes camouflaged in the leaf litter...habit of mine) and before I could stop them, all 3 (Husband, Son and Future DIL) headed off into the woods...

Not wanting to be an absolute bad sport (since mostly they find my little tirades amusing and since any extra gesticulation on my part would have resulted in yet more sweating...and since, full disclosure, I didn't have my set of car keys), I trudged into the HOT leafy moist Georgia woods after ~~the butt heads~~ them...we went 'round and 'round...took some photos of some fungi...and the daggum trail came out at the paved road to the cottages...the cottages sited at the back of the park...

Sometimes actions do speak louder than words...so with the words "should we follow the road to the lake" still hoverin' in the HOT humid August air, I simply turned, headed back into the HOT leafy moist poisonous snake-ridden Georgia woods and followed the trail back to the springs...

oh, did I tell ya'll?...Mosquitoes the size of baby chickens live in the in the HOT leafy moist poisonous snake-ridden Georgia woods...I will probably have malaria and/or West Nile within 24 hours, thank you very much...

well...I'm all done whining...for now...

In Pursuit of Imperfection...

2009-07-27T17:10:00.008-05:00

Remember this laundry basket from the previous post?
well, the story behind this basket is two-fold: 1) I'm cheap so it comes from a thrift store and 2) it came pink...and I don't really do pink...pink is loverly and all that but I just don't have a thing pink in this house...nothing...

and my reflex is to paint anything I drag home from the thrift store a nice pitch black...

but here is the thing...I worry a bit about our society being way too into Perfection. Perfect homes, perfect bodies, perfect children...in short, perfect lives...

and that, friends, is a dangerous illusion to pursue...not to mention a costly and time-consuming one to boot...

So, long story short, in an effort to make myself calm down a bit about having to have a Company-Ready-Photo-Shoot-Perfect home 24/7 ('cause really we rarely have company and I don't think House Beautiful is comin' knocking any time soon :) I decided to keep that laundry basket pink as long as I could stand it or at least until I had another project with the black paint going on to paint it (i.e., not make an addition to the schedule just to paint that basket truly had nothing wrong with it...just in a State of Pink)...

I made it 3 weeks...and then yesterday I decided to finally tackle painting the china cabinet black and I had a fire bucket that needed the interior slathered with black Rustoleum before I turn it into a planter for the back deck...and well, it only made sense to go ahead and paint the basket too...see how these things get outta hand?! well, hey, 3 weeks is a start...

and here is the newest project starting's lineup: a buffet we bought at the Saturday Night auction...for, oh yeah, $55...we'll be starting a bath renovation some time in September and this buffet will become our vanity...what do ya'll think? vessel sink or regular sink? I was leaning towards vessel but I dunno...
and here are the faux apple turners I bought at the antique mallnot only do they look good enough to eat but they smell like maple syrup...yes, I said I'm trying harder to not worry about Perfection, but Cute is another ball park :)

and Roxie says "Hey"...TIE, ya'll...

Making the Work Week Easier...

2009-07-20T20:26:00.004-05:00

rather than continuing to get up every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday morning to fruitlessly rifle through my closets trying to find something that not only makes me look 10 pounds slimmer, vivacious and hip but isn't so wrinkled that it looks like, well, my 44-year-old elbows finally got so irritating that I have made myself commit to ironing twice a month...

that's right...I finally decided the Ironing Fairy must hang out somewhere far cooler than #17...because never once did I look in the closet on Tuesday after a fruitless search on Monday to find all my stuff neatly pressed, looking like an ad for California Closets*...loser fairy...

and I finally decided that even tho' "it is linen and linen wrinkles" will fool people for a time, after a while, people realize you're just a lazy slob who hates to iron...

do ya'll know how long it takes to iron 2 weeks worth of clothing? far too long...I stopped keeping track after 2 hours...hours of my life that I'll never get back...and now about half of my ironed stuff is all wrinkled up again after washing, waiting to be ironed again this coming weekend...

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap...crap...

I did ask Mr G if he had anything that he wanted ironed while I was at it..because Christmas isn't all that far off...because you do get points for just for asking...

of course, my inner voice was screaming "OH LORD IN HEAVEN PLEASE SAY NO"...

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*re: California Closets-how depressing to realize that some body's closet cost more than our first home...I try not to think about things like this too often...makes me eat stuff I really shouldn't...

Freeloader...

2009-07-12T15:52:00.005-05:00

have ya'll ever bought worms? not for fishing and not to help turn garbage into compost, but to feed Mama Birds and their babies...well, actually just to help Mama feed those bottomless pits called baby birds...

Wild Birds Unlimited sells mealy worms...for $16...for a pretty dinky-sized bag...okay, full disclosure*...the bag is dinky, but there are lots of those nasty little worms in that dinky bag...

But apparently, our mealy worms don't cut it with Mama Cardinal...however, somebody else has discovered the gravy trainI didn't have the heart to be angry with him...

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*complete complete disclosure...mealy worms need to be kept in the fridge...

Oh, The Havoc That Something Called...

2009-06-27T06:53:00.004-05:00

a Full-Time Job can wreak upon one's good intentions!

yep, I got a lovely 20-hour part-time job at the tail end of October that was just
perfect for my life...

and then come December, it transformed into a full-time position...mannnnnn....

I remember when I was in my 20s that I could:

keep a spotless house
keep a gorgeous garden
have a family (husband & son)
volunteer with animal rescue
keep a house full of our own 4-legged children
work full-time
attend college

and still have a social life...

Pardon me, but what happened?

now if I get 1 little extra thing done in the course of 7 days, I'm pleased as punch...

this week's major accomplishment was...

oh hell...that was last week...

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*Complete disclosure: I haven't really visited my blog friends because I felt like such a slacker but I'm going to try to do better...really...

Colour Me...

2008-11-03T18:28:00.004-05:00

a little Grumpy, leanin' towards Belligerent...

my side hurts, my toes are cold and I'm hungry...and I'm too lazy to do anything about the cold toes and dinner...

some times it just feels good to wallow in the mud, doesn't it?

and I know blog entries are more fun with photos but I am not going to take a photo of my toes...especially since a man I was madly in love with a long long long time ago looked down at my feet once night, as we walked along after seeing a friend off on a train, and completely out of the blue said, and I quote: "You have strange toes"*...

that's right...he went there...

we didn't see one another much after that...he did beg, but that is the way the Big Ball of Rejection bounces on your head after talkin' trash about my toes...peanut head...

anyhoo...Miss Becky over at In Every Season tapped me for a little book love...

here is how it goes:

Pass this on to 5 blogging friends.

Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.

Write out the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that...

well, I reached into the basket under my bedside table and I was hoping against hope to grab Winnie-the-Pooh but I grabbed Jan Karon's Out to Canaan instead...

so here goes: okay...that was boring...so I'll get Winnie-the-Pooh which is right by where Out to Canaan was and I could have just as easily grabbed it...

"Having made certain of this, he took the jar back to Piglet, and Piglet looked up from the bottom of His Very Deep Pit and said "Got it?" and Pooh said, "Yes, but it isn't quite a full jar," and he threw it down to Piglet, and Piglet said, "No, it isn't! Is that all you've got left?" and Pooh said, "Yes." Because it was. So Piglet put the jar at the bottom of the Pit, and climbed out, and they went off home together.

"Well, good night, Pooh," said Piglet, when they had got to Pooh's house. "And we meet at six o'clock tomorrow morning by the Pine Trees, and see how many Heffalumps we've got in our Trap"...

...all I have to say is I thought I wrote rambling sentences...and I'll leave the speculation about what Mr. Milne may or may not have been smokin' up to somebody else**...

I'm going to tap anybody else who'd like to play along who'd like...'cause I already broke one of 2 rules anyway...

Take It Easy, ya'll...

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*and he most definitely did not mean "You have the most strangely cute toes"...he meant "strange toes" period. peanut head...

**don't get angry about my little Milne joke...I love Winnie-the-Pooh 'cause he's [sing along] short, fat and proud of that...I even have Tigger socks that I've had for years and years...

2 Months and Counting...

2008-10-25T17:08:00.004-05:00

and ya'llllll know what I'm talkin' about...Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, you know...

That's right...Christmas!!!!!!

While sluggin' about the house recuperating, I've made a nice little dent in my Christmas Shopping, thank ye very much...

I figured I'd better go ahead and do some of my CS before the economy finishes imploding*...the banks shut down & our credit cards stop working**...all those little plastic cards will be good for is working as windshield ice scrapers***...

not that we'll have gas to go anywhere...buuuuuutttt, looking on the positive side of things, the creditors won't have gas to come and get my stuff...or will they? hmmmmmm...might be time to look into a P. O. box...

and it never hurts to get a little somethin' somethin' for yourself while shopping for others...

and Mr. Travis has a new Christmas DVD available for pre-order too...might have to get that one as well...we'll see...and I also took a Big Ol' Leap of Faith and ordered my first Elvis CD of any stripe...

BN.com is my friend...

So...what Christmas CDs will ya'll be buying this year?
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*am I the only who is afraid to even look at the 401K account any more? just checking in makes me feel like I need a brown paper bag to breathe into...and then I can use it for, um, cookie tossing...

**I don't care much for using debit cards over the Internet so I generally use my Visa that I try very very hard to pay off each month...because debt, along with the deepening RECESSION, global warming and the Iraq War, makes me feel like I'm about to have a heart attack...and hives...and eat my way through the fridge...

***and I don't believe I'm the only one who has ever stood in freezing temperatures with a credit card trying to carve myself an opening large enough to avoid running over small children and pets...and those crazy mean-assed squirrels...****

****yep, Squirrels get an asterisked asterisk...Squirrels will you Mess You Up...and they'll talk all kind of smack at you too...I had one squirrel that his favourite thing last year was to hang upside down on the dogwood tree outside of my kitchen window, glare at me and shriek all sorts of Squirrel Cuss at me...like I need that kind of attitude in my own kitchen...I Don't Heart Me No Squirrels...

What is This?...and those?

2008-10-20T17:24:00.009-05:00

This is the detritus of a sick room...although, technically, I'm not sick...just recuperating from a hurried surgery...thus is explained my lengthy absence...just one more hurdle left to jump, knock wood, and all that is left is for me to heal and get myself ready for the Holidays*...

This is my new best friend...the cheapy little pillow you get at the hospital...it now is no longer a so much a pillow as an abdomen buffer-cushion-massive- compression device...I love this thing...and yes I know I could have at least asked for somebody to put a pillow case on it, but trust me...that hasn't even been a blip on the Radar of My Concerns...

I just decided to name the pillow Bumpy...

This is who is known as Teddy Weddy...found about 3 weeks ago in the local H/M's parking lot...bless his little heart...my husband actually hefted his 45 year-old-haven't-climbed-a-tree-since-at least-grade-school** behind up into a Bradford Pear to try and catch this little booger...I kept waiting for the tree, the cat and the husband to come crashin' down on my head...so I moved around to the other side of the tree...

This is who is known as Roxie Squidge...Roxie found herself lovingly dumped, along with her sibling whom we failed to catch, in the woods next to our house...well, I caught Roxie's sister/brother, but somebody afraid of a little cat bite, let him go...after I was already bitten...in retrospect, I guess that explains the whole climbin' the tree thing...redemption is a powerful motivator, friends...

catching a wild or scared cat is a little like driving through the woods at night with your lights off...it isn't a matter of if you're going to hit a tree, just a matter of how big the tree is and how much is it going to hurt...

RoxieSquidge and Teddys have been keeping me company...they're little enough so when they pounce on my stomachunderneathtwopillows it doesn't make me scream...just wince...but they're so cute it is worth a little pain to enjoy their silliness...

This is what I've been reading...and lovin', I might add...Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Domesticity***...I made a B & N run last weekend (not this weekend, but last weekend) in preparation for my downtime and just happened across the book...flipped through, read a few pages...love the attitude and pixs...get a copy...for me to actually pay full price for a book (well, less my B & N member discount of 10%) speaks volumes about how good I expected the book to be...and I'm not disappointed at all

judging by my book marker...oh yes, I trundled myself and Bumpy into my office to grab a pretty sheet of scrapbook paper, my ripply-edged scissors and made myself a cute little bookmarkish thing to mark down Things Worth Following Up On...

See? the list is long...

and these are just too cute to not share...even if I still take crappy photos...which I always will...

This is my husband...the ever elusive...I ~~banged~~ tapped on the wall for him to come in, hoping to surprise him for a good photo, but he is still too quick for me...the man has been Good as Gold...even went to H/M to buy me an over sized nightie (grey with pink coffee cups, pink roses and a pink ribbon...what can I say? I imagine there are men who wouldn't have even tried...) and over sized pink granny panties (yes, pink again, but also again, how many men would have even gone there? bless his heart, I have to tell this cute story...DH didn't know what granny panties are and he said no way was he walking up to an older lady to ask her to show him where the granny panties were...I laughed even tho' it was very painful and I was very nauseated at the time)****

This is the crappy view out of my bedroom window...the neighbor's half-painted Man Shed...the remains of the trees taken down about 2 months ago...I've got to do something with that area...but I'm makin' plans, people, makin' plans as I stare out this window for hours and hours and hours...

now, I've got a lot of blog reading to catch up on so if ya'll will excuse me...
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*I'll be doing some on-line catalogue shopping here shortly...

**although I'm sure willin' to bet good money there are a few college high jinx involving late nights, liquor, tree climbing and some others things I'd just soon not know about lurking around in the DH's past...

***but if you are expecting page after page of How-To's with Detailed Instructions, be forewarned you will be mightily disappointed...this is Not That Kind of a Book, thank you very much...

****the pink thing is only relevant because I own nothing pink...nothing...but maybe, subconsciously, DH would like me wear a little pink every now & again...well, I'll think about buying a pink t-shirt or a pink cashmere sweater to tool around in every once in a blue moon...just because he's a sweetheart of a guy...and because I'll take any excuse to buy cashmere...

Look What Happens IF...

2008-09-25T15:58:00.005-05:00

you're nice to the lady at Lowe's who is stuck with unpacking all the Christmas Stuff out in the Formerly Garden Stuff area...thatttttt's right...faboo cardboard stars...that I have no idea of what to do with...Lord help...I mangled that sentence, didn't I? but I don't care...I've been under the weather and I'm claiming, um, Recuperating Editing Rights...

she had them in the trash bin! I had to save them...naturally, I'll move them about for maybe 5 or 6 years and then they'll end up in the trash anyway...or at least the recycle bin...

the following day I will be struck by a brilliant idea of what I could have used the things for...

because that, friends, is the Way of the Universe...

Miss Julie over at Gingerbread (yum) Pumpkin (yum, again...because I bought some Pumpkin Spice coffee this past weekend...that I just found when cleaning up the pantry...we'll have another talk some day about so called "deals" with spouses about putting up groceries in exchange for escaping toilet scrubbing duty...and then having to revamp the pantries/cabinets/fridge/freezer every time you use the "deal"...but like I said, that's another day) tagged me to throw 6 Random Facts About Myself Into the Universe...I know the Universe can hardly wait so here goes...

1) I'm absolutely in love with David Suchet's Poirot...the Poirot from before they cheapened the series with the new episodes...I'm sorry but you do not have to Sex Up Agatha Christie...whose ~~idiot~~ brilliant idea was that?

2) I will clap along with a crowd at just about any gathering...and I'll sing along and I'll dance along...now ya'll know to get seats far away from me...

3) I Heart Me Some Grey...I love grey weather, grey clothes, grey cars...I even can't wait until my hair that I unfortunately coloured an unfortunate shade of dark reddish brown goes completely silver so I can, snap, WearItWithFlair...I have not, however, ever seen an episode of Gray's Anatomy...probably because they spell "grey" all wonky...and considering Henry Gray was British, I totally don't Get It...

4) I never met the jar of jam or jelly or marmalade or curd that I didn't like...or chutney or pesto or whatever funky mix you can put in a jar...along as there aren't chunks of animal parts floatin' in jelly or something equally disturbing...

5) I have a Secret Desire to wear house dresses and chain smoke...this may be tied to the fact that I'm sick of perennially dieting, exercising and having to wear things with fitted waists...or at least the illusion of a fitted waist (the things they can do with elastic these days!!!)

6) I am Not Always Right...just enough of the time to Make It Seem That Way*

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*the rest of the time I just keep my mouth shut...that is the secret to not bringing your batting average down and appearing to have a FGGOE (Fairly Good Grasp of Everything)...hah...

Take It Easy, Ya'll

Sheila

Pardon This Interruption...

2008-09-18T10:02:00.005-05:00

of a blogger who primarily likes to rattle on about little mundane things...

by a blogger who is simply fed up with A Whole Lot of Things...

(click to enlarge...created at wordle.net)

and let's not go into finger pointing...we're so far beyond that that we can't even see that in the rear view mirror...

so all I'm askin' is: Do any of ya'll have a couple of Middle Schoolers who might be available a couple of afternoons a week to help all the grown-ups get this mess straightened out? or even some 4th graders good with long division, multiplication, addition, subtraction...ya'll know...the basic stuff* that we all use to balance our piggy banks...

...because surely the little ones couldn't do a worse job than the bunch currently runnin' the show have...

actually, maybe we should just check the zoos for primates with drinking problems**...

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*basic stuff=apparently unimportant stuff once you enter certain job arenas

**better known as a barrel of drunk monkeys

OOOOOOOhhhhhhh the Shame...

2008-09-15T12:23:00.008-05:00

of it all....

what are these?easy enough, right?

these are magazines...

but what kind of magazines?

old magazines, she said with a hint of defiance in her voice

what kind of old magazines?

old magazines...bought off of ebay...

that's right, people...I've hit a new low for magazine addiction...

I'm buyin' them off ebay...

...and I just won the complete 1990 and 1991 issues of Country Living [hooray...$4.99 plus shipping]...

can I tell ya'll how much I'm loving these old magazines?

a whole bunch...they're a really cheap thrill...keep me amused and out of trouble for hours on end...

several months ago, our bet-ter Goodwill started keeping magazines in the book area...I was thrilled...I grabbed up a handful and practically trampled children on my way to the register to enquire the price (I'm thinkin' to myself "couldn't be more than 50 cents an issue")...

after the check-out ladies looked at me as if I had more than 1 screw loose, one trotted off to the back room to see how much to charge the insane person at the register for the crummy old magazines...

BUT THEY WEREN'T FOR SALE...

just for "customers to browse"...

what? people, this isn't Barnes & Noble...until ya'll start up a coffee bar and sell over-priced slices of cheesecake too, THERE IS NO SITTING AND BROWSING MAGAZINES (that I want to buy)...

I expect I was a pitiful sight, slowly trundling back to the stupid book area to return the stupid magazines to the stupid bin where nobody was going to do anything with them at stupid all...

But I feel, with time, I've moved on...recovered a bit...found a new way to feed my addiction...

next, please...wicker furniture found at the Habitat in Rincon...settee $30, chair $20 and end table $10...the only flaw is that little broken band at the bottom of the chair...easy fix...

I've been wanting wicker for the front porch for a while but refused to get up off at least a cool $300...because I'm frugal like that...

Life Lesson: eventually, all things pass through Goodwill, the Salvation Army and/or Habitat for Humanity...like a good pitch...you gotta waiiiiitttttttt for it...SWING!

a nice coat of olive green paint will perk things right up...a nice coat of olive green paint that will be applied when the heat and humidity back off just a touch...come, say, November...
and a long bloomin', late blooming daylily...that I cannot recall the name of for the life of me...

most daylilies in our area have long since stopped blooming...actually around here, a lot of blooming perennials hang up their hats by June or July so I love having these pretty orange blooms in late August and on into September...

Take it easy, ya'll :)

Thanks for...

2008-09-12T16:08:00.005-05:00

the award, Deb...
it is tres cool...

and since my foreign language skills are, well, horrible, I used altavista's babelfish translator to see what the award says...

it says, according to the babbling fish: this blog invests and credits na proximidade

so...I imagine that letter I sent to the vet in St. Martin using babelfish was a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish...

no wonder I never got a response...

sigh...it is hard to make a whole nation look bad, but I think I did a pretty bang-up job of it with that pitiful letter...

but Deb says the award means "My friend Sharon informed me that the award celebrates how lovely someone is! That's a pretty nice award and I'm sure it means inside.

Mrs. B also found a translation of the award on the post below to be. THIS BLOG INVEST AND BELIEVES IN THE PROXIMITY ( proximity> noun nearness in space, time, or relationship)"

we're going with that...

and now I pick 8 bloggers who I think are lovely...

let's see:

A Girl Named Timi's, um, Timi (she's a funny mess...with a cool car)

Bay Side to Mountain Side's Darla (she's just so funny too...and funny counts for a lot)

The Berry's Patch's Brandee (she is just plain sweet...)

Gingerbread Pumpkin's Julie (another sweetie...and I love Gingerbread & Pumpkin)

Lavender Hill Studio's Penny (Penny is just pleasant and friendly allll the time...plus she likes brown transfer ware too...and I love her roosterchickenpillow)

Rabbit Run Cottage's Susie Q (another funny lady...with a really cool dog co-blogger)

The Pleasure of Homemaking's Manuela (I'm so glad you're blogging again!!! you have a lot to offer :)

Southern Hospitality's Rhoda (because the woman can decorate a house on a dime...& do it well)

there...all done...

Remembering 9/11

2008-09-11T11:55:00.007-05:00

for many Americans, for several generations, September 11th is going to be one of Those Questions...

each generation has some of those questions; sometimes the questions overlap generations...

society-altering, soul-shaking moments that make people say "I remember where I was when..."

like when people say where they were when JFK or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were assassinated or when The Bomb was dropped...or when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up...although, sadly, now there are 2 of those instances to recall...

Too young for the first two, I do remember when Challenger and her astronauts blew apart in a fiery explosion...

and I remember the utter shock and disbelief taking over my emotions...

and now I also remember when a man ran up to me at the hospital where I was working on 9/11/2001...

I cannot remember his face but I can remember him saying "a plane just flew into the World Trade Center" and I remember some of the thoughts that raced through my mind...

the ones I voiced were "a little plane? it was an accident, right?", thinking some poor hobby pilot flew horribly off course and lost control of his plane...

but it wasn't, was it? patients and staff gathered around as we could to watch the tragedy unfolding, hoping that somehow those people would be rescued...we knew those on the airplane were beyond help...

then we watched in disbelief as the second plane flew into the WTC...

I will never forget watching people fling themselves from those buildings, tiny dark figures hurtling down through the air...

...then those towers came down before our disbelieving eyes...

and as that grief-filled day unfolded, we learned of more victims...the victims of the attack on the Pentagon, both the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 77 as well as the Pentagon staff, and the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93...

My heart still hurts for the victims of 9/11...

the people who died, their families and for the rest of us too...

9/11 wounded us all...

I believe time heals wounds...this one will take a long long time to heal all the way...

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Deb at Deb's Country Kisses has gifted me with a Sweet Award...

Deb, I promise I'll pass this award on tomorrow when we all aren't feeling quite so blue...

A Little Christmas Gift Thriftin' Love...

2008-09-06T17:04:00.005-05:00

for my favourite SIL who is absolutely bonkers for PINK! the woman (and her husband) are just finishing up building a great big pink house on the water...that is how much she loves pink...

we're a lot alike in our decorating tastes...but I go with brown/olive green/gold/burnt orange/brick red/black...she goes with turquoise/kelly green/sunshine yellow/pink/turquoise/white...

we love the same stuff, we just choose different palettes...

given the love affair with pink in all of its shades, I know SIL will love this for her Christmas Gift...

The bowl is Polish Crystal (still has the label...actually still had the price sticker on the bottom) with no chips or cracks, stands about 10 inches tall and is about that wide across...and weighs a ton...I love the cranberry colour of it and the beautiful cuts in the surface of the crystal..

and I'm going to fill it with Christmas ornaments...not the ones I was thinkin' about that are pictured above...those don't really fit the bill...I think I'll go with ones I custom make by filling clear ornaments with craft paint, swirling about it all about to create a beautiful look ornament with SIL's palette in mind...

Don't worry...I'll tell her I thrifted it* because we're both into thriftin' , we've a history of exchanging thrifted gifts** and we're both l-o-v-e getting something fabulous for a song ...well, not an actual song because my singing voice would scare anybody who still draws a breath...not encourage the generous bestowing of great things for no cost...

this is a Home Run in the gift department...

so....do any of ya'll Thrift Gift? (I am going to feel so bad if I am the Only One in the Whole Wide World...just keep that in mind...)

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*no, I won't be all uncouth about it and blare it extra-real loud right when I hand it over...

**the most important part of receiving a gift is when a person knows you well enough to just pick out a Perfect Something...doesn't matter to me if it is second-hand, third-hand or picked out of the Free Bin at the thrift shop...it is the thought that counts...I have friends and family I'd gift with thrifted items without a second thought...but I do have friends and family that I know that wouldn't sit well with so I Never Go There...

moral: Know Whom to Gift with Thrifted Items and Whom Not to Gift with Thrifted Items :)

As Promised...

2008-09-05T04:10:00.009-05:00

the bed, the goblet, the new office door...plus my new Mass-Produced-But-Adorable Pumpkins and Crows and our mantel...

lookin' better...but not there yet...I'm going to do some type of glaze...I'm leaning towards a barn red...honestly, I'm going through some type of decorating midlife crisis...I've always mixed rustic with modern/cottage/french provincial...whatever is at hand and works...but I'm a little unsettled that I seem to be heavily gravitating towards a prim feel...this is somewhat new territory...

no, not going out into the back 40, harvesting saplings and lashin' them together to form our kitchen table (although I have given serious thought to doing that for a bed frame...wouldn't the cats just pass out from sheer hysterical delight?) but definitely tilting towards a home with more rustic leanings than before...

although some of my friends would say that seed has always been there, just waitin' to burst into the light...

invariably, when we were going through our auction stage, the worst looking Piece o' Junk that came onto the bidding floor elicited excited whispers of "Sheila! did you see that?!!!! that looks like you! you have to get that!"...

now I know what is meant by that...but still...

movin' along...

new goblets intended for the Thanksgiving table...very excited about these...let's see...new office door...lovin' this...our home is a ranch-style house built in the early 70s...love the layout...mostly...but all of the bedrooms are on one end of the house, opening onto a shared hallway that gets dark as a cave when the doors are shut...and my office door always stays shut because the cats love to knock my stuff off the shelves...

(what can I say? have cats? don't drag it home unless you can put it up and away or don't mind it being wrecked)

solution: french door picked up from Habitat* for a song...$20, I think...

still in the primer stage while I decide what colour I want to sling up there...leanin' towards black, but red is a strong contender...

and this is our mantel "stuff"...do ya'll know how hard it is too find black tapers?! welllllll, pret-ty darn hard it seems...at least in these parts...($1.99 a piece at Grand Harbor)...

my poor swan...I bought him offa e-bay and the seller did such a CRAPPY job of packing that he arrived with his neck broken in 2 places...I could have filed the insurance but by the time the cost of shipping was deducted I would have been out $20....plus I didn't like the idea of Swan being thrown in the junk pile just because some Knot Head is a slacker...

yep, I'll throw that harsh talk right out there and I'm not a bit sorry...unlike that seller...

one of the few bad experience I've had on e-bay...actually, one of two...oh well, I guess I'm batting pretty good...

anyhoo, I decided "HEY! my speciality is decorating with stuff that has been wrecked in some fashion or another" so I glued Swan back together, placed him on the mantel and call it good...Swan gets dusted around...

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*always always always check your local Habitat shop for building/renovating supplies...it keeps stuff out of the landfill and helps others at the same time plus, generally, the prices are easy on the wallet...a visit to Habitat can be hit or miss like any other thrifty shopping so make yourself a list for any future projects and just get into the habit of swinging by...

just this past weekend, DH and I wandered over to look see (we need 2 nice big windows for our garage rehab) and while we struck out, the big find this time if we were in the market was beautiful wood doors with leaded glass inserts that probably came from one of the local home improvement stores who were discontinuing those styles and didn't need the display items any longer...sweet deal if you could use them...

Where There Are None...

2008-09-01T15:55:00.005-05:00

we must create our own...

Traditions, that is...or Hallmarks, if you prefer...

now I love the Big Holidays...I start anticipating Christmas on December 26th...

and Minor Holidays are fun too especially if we don't get all anal about them*...

but there are places in our lives where we need to create Tradition for ourselves...

Traditions not necessarily addressed by a card at the stationery store or in an aisle at your local Wal-Mart**...

My September 1st tradition is, roll that drum, please, to re-read allllllll of Ms. Karon's Mitford books...yep, that's right...livin' large in the 'Boro...

and can I tell ya'll just how excited I've been about doing this?! look how dog-eared my copy of At Home in Mitford is...I love it...

last year, I actually set a Begin Date of August 15th...but somehow I feel that September 1st, the first Official Fall-Like-If-You-Live-Some-Other-Place-Than-Here-Month, deserves a bit more fanfare than being just the Extra Month of Summer around here...or One of the Extra Months of Summer around here...

next year I need to come up with something to add to the mix...maybe bake a Marmalade Cake and eat it alllll up...

The best part of creating our own Hallmark Days is we can add or subtract as we go...whatever feels right...no rules already so entrenched by Generations of Somebody Elses that our own ideas or inclinations are verboten...planning to dress up like a pirate and rent a parrot for Talk like a Pirate Day...cool (please send me a pix)...or just want to answer your cell "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" and call it good? great...whatever floats that proverbial boat...

I may tire of my current September 1st celebration at some point and cancel it...or it may morph into something else...who knows?

the Days roll around come what may...we may as well have a good time while they do...
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*My favourite Minor Holiday has to be Talk Like a Pirate Day...how hysterically funny is that? and how irritated people get over it...oh well...arrrrggggghhhh...I love Captain Barbossa...even if he does need a good wash...I do have a confession...I have never made it through an entire day talkin' like a Pirate...like I said, people tend to get irritated by it pretty rapidly...

I think for Talk Like a Pirate Day we'll watch the At World's End and eat something Pirate-y...hmmmmm...maybe shrimp something-or-another...I have to write this on the calendar...

**don't get me wrong...I can spend lots of time reading cards and laughing out loud over the funny ones (I think greeting card writers must be a fun lot)...and I have actually been known to shell out $3 or $4 for a card...I'm especially weak-willed when it comes to Glittery Cards...those are the best...you actually get to wear some of the glitter for the rest of the day if you're lucky enough to receive or shop for Glittery Cards...My Granny always gave the Best Glittery Cards...

Next Post: the Bed Gets Its Second Coat, my new Office Door and Thrift Christmas Shopping

Makin' a Mess...

2008-08-29T17:27:00.009-05:00

that is what I've been spending a lot of time doing here lately...
this how I bake*...and Fall must be on the way because I cannot make myself bake unless I start to feel like the worst of Summer has come & gone...please let it have come & gone...

although this afternoon has been hot enough to fry just about anything you'd care to put on the driveway...makes me want to cry...and cuss...but ya'll already knew that about the cussin'...yes, I'm still working on the cussing thing...I am getting better...slowly slowly slowly...

so this is what happens when I snap and start a project half-you-know-what-ed...
sick of staring at this stark white king-sized bed, I hit the paint store with a vague idea of what I wanted...sort of Prim-Meets-Pottery-Barn-ish with a dash of Been-In-the-Family-A-While...oh, the Project Gods were clutching their stomachs they laughed so hard...

the paint I chose first couldn't be done in a little can...too much pigment for the can...so I picked another colour...couldn't get that in anything but a gloss...tried again...I was able to move to a semi-gloss for my third choice (I'm workin' in oil so it can be difficult or maybe the Paint Chick just Hated Me on Sight)...

man...I thought I had something akin to honey mustard...not SCHOOL BUS YELLOW...

School Bus Yellow from a school bus with 10 years of Georgia Dust ground into the surface...

I believe I can say without fear of the Heavenly Lightening Bolt that I haven't botched a project this badly in a long long long while...

so now we're callin' this The Base Coat...okay, the only coat I hoped to have to do...hah...

now I've re-thunk my strategy...I've bought some white oil-based paint that mix with the SBY so I can attempt to tone this mess down...then I may go back with a coffee-coloured glaze over the top...we'll see...

if this flops, I will be visiting the furniture store very shortly...

this another project ~~one eighth~~ half-done...first coat of poly on the oak table I'm refinishing...the sides are proving to be a nightmare to strip...
and this project...well, let's just say I'm learning to live with Imperfection...the shades are monster-sized on this little dinky chandelier ***...and the chandelier does have to be dink-sized because the ceiling is so low...I kind of like it tho'...so either it looks better than I think or I'm becoming more adept at lyin' to myself...and let's keep it that way...(so what do ya'll think about adding a few amber drops to the bottom center piece...that section is wood so I can screw some little eye hooks in there and jazz it up a little bit without makin' it a hazard to anybody over 5'10 (my height...the DH and DS are, respectively, 6' and 6'5-ish)Chubby Bubby isn't quite sure what to make of all this foolishness...

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*giving a gingerbread biscotti recipe a trial run...it is okay but I've had better...of course, I replaced the dried cranberries with raisins and the walnuts with pecans...I know better than mess with a recipe on the first time out but I'm also ~~too lazy to drive to the store and too cheap to pay for walnuts and dried cranberries right now~~ environmentally aware* that driving to the store for 2 ingredients is Not Good...

and, yes, I actually do have my spices in an old old old Popsicle box...I almost cared enough to cover it in some cute Rooster Contact Paper before I shot this photo...almost, but not quite...

**pretending that oil-based paint is not an Environmental Nightmare...but, she whined, latex paint just won't hold up on furniture or cabinets that is used more than once in a decade...at least not around this household...

***originally bright faux brass, brown wood and bronze metal...and shadeless...replaces a flat ceiling fixture with daisies in bas-relief...

Hurry Hurry Hurry

2008-08-17T18:01:00.004-05:00

for one day only Hearst Magazines (or whatever the official company name is) is having a great sale...there are lots of subscriptions for $6.99...I already subscribe to House Beautiful (my favourite magazine...great decorating and Ina...just perfect) and Country Living or else I'd be allllll about giftin' myself with a, er, gift subscription...

here's the link: https://subscribe.hearstmags.com/multititle/housebeautiful/IXXEM0038/IXXE60038?src=de

Tybee Update: we had a great time...but I'm so out of Marathon Shopping and Eating Shape that by the second night I had to be medicated and coddled a bit... by Tuesday a.m. I was bright-eyed and bushy-haired again (I didn't even consider draggin' hair products and appliances to the beach...why bother? ) annnnndddddd we did some more shoppin'....*

I thought I'd be ultra-hip about the group (well, 3 is a group, right?) photo snapping and take one of those long-armed photos you see all the Young People takin' and they look like they just stepped off the pages of a fashion rag...well, I got a some very strange photographs...

okay...a better word would be frightening...so I'm not sharing them at all...

actually, I could've sworn my digital camera had a self-timer so I thought the group photo thing would be easy enough...good thing I don't get paid for thinking...of course, since I hate with a capital H A T E havin' my photo taken anyway, there may have been some subconscious undermining going on...not swearin' to it or anything, I'm just sayin'...

but that's all right...good memories last a long time too...

our rental cottage has a name: Sunburst Cottage...

very darlin' and very very small...

http://www.renttybee.com/properties/2nd%20Avenue/02AVE-1514-Info.htm

and ya'll know, give some women a little bit of time to start dreaming...we had that little cottage all mentally dolled up and expanded...we added a screened front porch that went from corner-to-corner, opened up the ceilings in the front, enclosed the back deck (all you see if the back of the house behind the cottage) for an additional bedroom and did a jack-and-jill bathroom...and there was loose talk about bumping out the kitchen side, I believe...we added built-ins in the living room, replaced the front windows with single 15-pane doors and did a lot of built-ins for books & sech....

oh...and I got to watch several Not Edited for TV episodes of Sex in the City's first season...my jaw dropped a few times but I made an effort to not gasp...a lot...there were a few raw parts but it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be...but I've been informed it gets, um, more, um, well, Vivid...yes, we'll use the word Vivid...

now I can cuss up a storm when I get upset...it is a bad bad habit I should work harder to remove...but, believe it or not, I'm a Prude when it comes to matters of the flesh...I am, I can't help it, I just am...

and all my friends know it...good Lord, I just had a visual flash-something of some bit of information about one friend's intimate dealings that I wish I never had heard...see? that is what happens...

I hear something I don't want to know in the first place and then I just get these flashes...blech...

so, actually watching SITC at all was a massive undertaking for me...just call me Prudence...

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*I've got to take a photo of the glasses and dishes I bought...I love them so much that I wish Thanksgiving was next week...well, actually I wish November was next week so we could just skip the rest of stinkin' August and almost-as-hot stinkin' September...

Headin' Down to Tybee...

2008-07-31T20:58:00.005-05:00

yep, because there ain't much better than going some place hotter than ~~the 7th level~~ your own home in August...in Georgia...and payin' for the privilege...

tomorrow evening, the DH & I will be pickin' a Northern friend* (yes, we Georgians can be friends with a Yankee...although, does Michigan count as Yankee turf?) up from the airport...a friend who about died from heat stroke when she came down to Savannah in July that first time all those years ago...

and apparently she liked the sensation so much, she's not only comin' back again in the summer, but in a hotter month...

I think she fried her brain down here the first time 'round...

another friend will be joining us so we'll have a 4-day 3-night Girlfriends' Weekend...although technically it isn't a weekend because we don't head down to Tybee until Sunday...just to run our mouths, eat, shop...(Lord, I hope nobody is planning on loggin' any beach sunning time...)

and truthfully we're all well beyond a fair use of the word "girl" but that is what these gatherings are called, I believe...

I must really like these ladies because I truly have no idea why else a Summertime Beach Hater like myself would be going for this unless it was for the company...or a lot of money...

and unless they've been holdin' out on me, we can just go ahead and rule the money thing out...

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*apparently, Michigan is where those Summer Sweaters we Georgians see advertised in catalogs go to get worn...it wasn't until NF explained the weather up there that I realized one could actually wear a chubby knit sweater during the summer and not get signed up for the loony bin by concerned family members...

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movin' along, Brandee of The Berry's Patch has awarded me this:

ooooh ahhhhh...I think this is the prettiest Blog Award I've seen...and now I have one too...thanks, Brandee :) (Brandee must sense that I desperately want to be artistic :)

And I'd Like to Thank...

2008-07-28T14:42:00.004-05:00

Deb for the scintillating

please visit Deb's sweet blog by clickin' on her name...or you can click here to be taken to Deb's Country Kisses

Now to pass the award along to:

Bay Side to Mountain Side's Darla....because she has a great sense of humour...

The Berry's Patch's Brandee...because she is also so sweet...and because she posts photos of all her children...not just the 2-legged one :)

Gingerbread Pumpkin's Julie...because 1) she is movin' and deserves an award just for that alone and 2) I love gingerbread & pumpkin...plus Julie is pretty darn nice :) (well, of course she is because, duh, she likes gingerbread & pumpkin)

hmmmm...I can't quite remember how many bloggers I'm supposed to pass this along to but I have a terrific headache so I think I'm done...

thanks again, Miss Deb :)

O' Tannenbaum, O' Tannenbaum...

2008-07-24T05:13:00.006-05:00

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents.

From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

...the scent of live Christmas Trees makes me giddy...old pieces of our 2-Years-Ago Christmas Tree are tucked into a basket in our hallway and when I go past, some times, I catch a little hint of Christmas...and I love it...even on days when Frazzled is my Middle Name and Badly is my first, those old fir needles bring a smile to my face...

the cats love it too when they remember to get up there and grab a piece, bustin' up housekeeping in the process and makin' me Say Ugly...

last year (because, apparently, I lost my mind) we decided to put up only 1 tree...a pre-lit artificial tree*...a beautiful easy-to-pop-up If One Light Goes Out The Rest Don't Tree that, unfortunately, didn't Do It for Me at all...other than when I plugged the tree in at night, the tree just kinda hung out in the dim dining room collecting dust bunnies under its feet...not a soul pulled up a chair to just sit a while gazing at the tree as one of my Countless Christmas CDs** played on and dreams of Christmas Past waltzed about the room...

I tried to capture that Christmas Scent...

I bought fresh garland and draped just about everything that didn't move...nope, nothing...could have been because the garland was Too Fresh...those live Christmas Tree/Garlands really have to get to the Fire Hazard Stage before they start smellin' good, don't they?...

Christmas is Important...I know we should think and act as if it is Christmas all the time (Christmas does bring out the best in people...well, most people) and I know It Isn't About the Gifts (mostly) or the Decorations (mostly) or the Food (mostly)...or even the Christmas Smell...

But I have to tell ya'll when I get disappointed at Christmas Time, I do not Wear It Well...My Butt tends to climb right up to my shoulders, plant itself and stay there for a good long while...

So this comin' Christmas***, there will be at least 1 Formerly Live Christmas Tree at Number 17...

The younger cats will think they've died and gone to Feline Heaven...Mungo Mungo may simply pass out from Sheer Ectasy...as it is, choppin' vegetables around here is just about impossible because when Mungo Mungo espies a carrot or celery stalk, he cannot rest until the veggie at hand has been thoroughly wallowed all over as if it were the Very Finest of Catnip... I know...makes Not Havin' A Meal With Cat Hair In It very difficult...frankly, I'm getting to the point where I don't care anymore...okay...I've gotten to the point...

what can I say? if you come to eat at our house, then come prepared to have Cat Hair in your food or bring your own...actually, that won't work either because it [the cat hair] floats around in the air, waiting to land on anything it can...

I doubt I'll even bother with ornaments for the next several years due to above mentioned young cats...why court disaster? but the scent of Christmas once again being in our home will make it more than okay...

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*no offense to those who love the pre-lits...they are a blessing when a Formerly Live Christmas Tree just won't work out...

**favourite Christmas CD: Kathy Mattea's Good News...and here shortly I plan to add Randy Travis' Christmas CD to the collection...

***why no, it isn't Too Early to Talk About Christmas...As a Matter of Fact, it is never Too Early to Talk About Christmas... and yes, I do have some of my shoppin' already done...

I Have a Question...

2008-07-21T12:00:00.005-05:00

*cow photo supplied by freefoto.com

what, exactly, does milk do in a recipe?

I mean, is it just a liquid binder?

I've recently decided to not buy any form of dairy (yes, we can talk about it if ya'll want to, but I tend to get a little irritating...a little more irritating than usual when the "Subject" comes up*) but I'd like to continue making baked goods...and while I can search out vegan recipes that use as substitutes soy or rice milk (blech), I'd much rather just not bother with that at all...

so if a cookie recipes calls for 1 tablespoon of milk, can I just sub in 1 tablespoon of water?

...and don't worry...I've got the Butter Angle allllll covered with my old friend Crisco...the best banana bread I've ever eaten in my life is made with Crisco...or whatever vegetable shortening is on hand...calories galore! but a stick or two of butter isn't all that weight-management friendly either, is it?

my Granma used Crisco all the time in her baking and boy, oh boy, could Granma cook...one of those old-fashioned Southern Cooks who didn't really use a recipe but everything she turned out was delicious...except her hamburger patties...Poor Granma...bless her heart, the woman could not fix a hamburger patty that wasn't kin to a charcoal briquette...and every Monday Night was hamburger night...

but that's okay 'cause Saturday Night was Waffle Night (with cane syrup, please) and Sundays were all about the Fried Chicken...

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and if you truly want to know why I'm no longer buying dairy (I stopped buying "beef" (that means "cow") and "pork" (that means "pig"), watch the video...my conscience finally got the better of my stomach and my lazy tendencies...if you have a tender heart, be prepared to be sad and angry...for a long time...but if you're brave enough and don't mind havin' your comfort zone sized down a bit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWmAJlwLnQI

It's Big and It's Blue...

2008-07-14T10:31:00.007-05:00

but it catches sweet rain for the veggie garden & fruit trees so I guess I can overlook its Blueness...

as projects go, this was not an expensive one or a skill-challenging one...we bartered for the rain barrel and the supplies for the gutter system & spigot were well under $100 (purchased from Lowe's)...the wood for the stand we had stashed in our Maybe We'll Need It One Day pile o' wood in the garage...

and I'd say DH spent maybe 2 to 3 hours installing the whole set-up...pretty darn impressive :)

2 things to do differently on the next barrel:

1) instead of removing the whole lid, make a small opening in the top and run the downspout straight into the barrel

2) the spigot needs to be sited lower on the barrel

I truly love the ease of this project and its reward...havin' rain water for the veggie patch...I haven't researched this but it seems as if the plants love rain water so much more than tap water...I've spent countless time and lots of potable water when I've had to water in new plants and ended up with plants just barely hangin' on in the Hot Summer Weather...what a pain and what a waste...

but then a good bit of rain water and it is like the plants stop holdin' their breath and get on with living...

O-Ohhh Domino

2008-07-10T12:09:00.005-05:00

Savvy Goodwill Shopper says Give it Time...everything passes through Goodwill's doors at some point...

I've wanted some nice dominoes for a while now...yes, I know they've been hip (or were hip?) for several years...but I decided since they [the dominoes] were a Peripheral Want, not a Can't Think Straight Until I Have It Want, I would just do without until a set came my way with a Sheila-Sorta Price Tag...

apparently, $1.99 is a Sheila-Sorta Price Tag...

these dominoes are wooden and a complete Double 6 set...(I've been boning up on my domino speak...hah hah...see, that is funny because a tile is also called a bone...well, it was worth a shot)...with a Very Cool Lion Carving on one side...
DH and I spend a lot of time at home...I guess with the price of just about everything up these days, most people probably do...

and while I like a good movie or two, after ~~45 minutes or so~~ a good while, I get bored and wander off...

I can dream up all sorts of House and Yard Projects when I'm wandering around bored...

this is not always a good thing...

So my goal is to re-learn how to loaf...when I was young Summer would come along and the days lasted for an eternity...or at least until the street lights came on...or until your mom caught you pitching water balloons off the top front porch at passing cars...

I remember spending hours just sitting in a tree* or laying in a small field watching clouds go by...

Hours just being...not doing or playing...

I believe our society, regardless of the endless reports of how fat we Americans have become, is trained to Go Go Go...Busy is Best...seems like even our Leisure Time is filled with things to do...no just sitting and watching the world go by...

We don't know how to Not Be Doing Something and Not Be Bored...

sounds like a good thing, but I'm not so sure...

well, all those years ago when I first began to lust after a cool set of dominoes I wanted them just to display in a pretty jar...or to make into a cool bracelet...which would have never happened any way since I am all thumbs when it comes to things like that...

now I want them not just for their looks, but to use them to help set a slower pace around #17...because we can't go all Cold Turkey on the project thing (we've got at least 4 waiting to be finished)...and because we are definitely going to have to build ourselves up to knowing how to Do Sweet Nothing All Day Long without resorting to Marathon TV Watching or Recreational Shopping (because that is sort of like doing nothing, right?)

I believe if I told DH one lazy Saturday afternoon "sweetie, let's go outside, lay on the grass and look at the clouds for a few hours" all sorts of loose and wild talk like "you need a job" would start gettin' tossed around...and we can't be havin' that sort of language around the four-legged children...they're impressionable...

what sort of ways are ya'll slowin' the pace down a little bit? or is that just Crazy Talk?

Signed

Striking a Blow for a Slower Pace of Life by Going Right This Second to Take a Nap...

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*actually, most of the tree sitting was probably brought on in an effort to hide from my mother who was a Big Believer in Children Who Have Nothing Better to Do Can [fill in some horrible chore here like polish All of the Silver or Polish All of That Heavy Big Dark Furniture...and then buff it down]....yep, I expect that is where most of the tree sitting came from...

but it was still nice...

Beeeee Back Soon

2008-06-25T15:40:00.006-05:00

Hey, ya'll :)

I'm not gone, just frazzled by the summer heat...not to mention I've given up coffee (scary things were going on with my digestive tract), feel increasingly unnerved by the ever rising cost of living...and I actually gained 4.5 lbs instead of losing that extra 20!!!!

(I have since lost 2 of that 4.5 but that means I'm now 22.5 lbs in the hole)

I'm getting a brand new look courtesy of The Shabbee Chick Designs...

but for the time being, I'll leave ya'll with something I wrote here on #17, amazingly, exactly 2 years ago today...I guess some things just never change...see ya'll real soon :)

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Starting what has designs to be primarily a garden blog in June...in coastal Georgia...probably displays a great amount of non-thinking...in the lower part of Georgia (not being able to speak to anything more than a few miles off the coastline), June and July and August...and even September are pretty much all about Hangin' On...hangin' on until that first cool breeze skips across your face...hangin' on until it is cooler when you get up in the morning than when you went to bed last night...hangin' on until just running a quick errand to the store isn't an exercise in Steeling One's Will...hangin' on until rain finally comes in countable amounts...

If you come down South in the summertime, you'll probably see lots of southerners with their faces tilted one of two ways...either up to the sky, scanning for rain clouds, hoping to catch that cool breeze or down towards the earth...beaten down by the heat and humidity, trying to escape the sun...Southerners get hot and harried and downright ugly (say like "ugg-leeee") when the heat comes on...because we know it ain't just passin' through...the people I admire the most have to be people who maintain their grace and manners long after the 4th of July comes on...because after the 4th, well, things can get grim...the 4th is supposed to be hot...so we suck it up & deal with it...but then there is all that leftover part of July with August hot on his heels...and then September...in the coastal South, September can be such a disappointment...

I remember going back to school (years and years and years ago) to find my teachers (dreaming of cool fall weather, Robert Frost's poems and scarlet-clad trees...and mannerly scholarly children) filling bulletin boards and door covers with cardboard cut-outs of leaves in the traditional colors of fall~brilliant gold. pumpkin orange. blazing red. nut-colored brown. One glance out the classroom window into the schoolyard would reveal mostly live oaks, still hanging onto their limp heat-beat green leaves, eternally green pines, and wilted azaleas~obviously my teachers and I bought into the same New England Fall Fantasy peddled by all sorts of enterprising businesses...

When leaves do finally hit the ground around these parts (usually somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas), mostly they are dirt brown...brown oak leaves...brown magnolia leaves...brown & sickly greenish yellowish pecan leaves...I think if you're a fallen brown leaf, it must be your responsibility to limb and root to be confoundedly difficult to rake...if you grow up with oaks, magnolias, and pecan trees in your yard, you'll probably be of the I Do Not Rake Leaves variety when you get a yard of your own... or you'll circumvent even havin' to hold that particular conversation with your Home Owner's Association by buying a yardless condominium...

Anyway, I've never given up hope of having the Fall that I learned about all those years ago in elementary school...the mythical Fall of September lit by a sun hangin' in a clear light blue sky, clouds scudding along driven by a brisk cool breeze, leaves just beginning to turn, temperatures that just barely break 80 in the middle of the day and nights that beguile one with easy coolness...

And, if I live long enough, maybe I'll see the even more fantastical October of blazing color, 65 degree days, and Halloween Nights where children aren't passin' out from heat exhaustion on the front lawn...I just shake my head when I'm at the store and see full body polyester fur costumes that I know some poor unknowing mother will pick up on clearance after Halloween is just a dim memory and then stuff her child into next year...I always say a little prayer and hope for a cool night for the Trick-or-Treaters here in Coastal Georgia...

But, tryin' to close on a positive note, I guess one good thing about Autumn in the South is once it does finally get here, you have one thankful bunch of people...and we might even be a touch more humble...

Pantry Talk...

2008-05-20T13:48:00.008-05:00

noooooooo, I said "Pantry", not what ya'll thought I said :)

several weeks back I decided to be Suzy Homemaker (my middle name is Suzanne so I can say that and it be true...well, my last isn't House or Home or Shanty so it is half-true), delve into the chest freezer, the two pantries and the cabinets, make a list of everything food-related or household-care related and...

and what? I realized after spending the better part of two days getting this list together that I had no clue how to keep a running up-to-date list of all of these things...

a couple of grocery store trips blew by and I realized my hard work was oh-so-quickly becoming just an exercise in wasting time (and not Fun Time Wasting like on-line shoe shopping for a kitten-heeled pointy-toed pair of leopard print pumps)...I needed a way to keep track of this stuff...

now, in my household binder (DO NOT LAUGH) I have some sheets from organizedhome.com for keeping track of pantry items...but repeatedly printing those lists out whenever I need to update is not my idea of Fun or Frugal (printer ink is freakin' expensive...and those leopard print pumps aren't cheap)...and since I obsess about sloppy lists with cross-outs and write-overs this qualifies as An Issue...
I slogged through Office Max and H/M and looked on-line tryin' to find a sleeve (plastic page protector) where I could print out my lists, insert the lists into the sleeve and then mark the sleeve...but here is where the going got rough...I wanted to be able to have the marks be both smudge-proof and removable so I could update the lists...

I tell ye such a product does not exist*...

Bright Idea Time...

after stewing about this for a week or two, I had my Bright Idea...

our second pantry doors need cosmetic help anyway...they're just plain ol' luan doors with a coat of plain ol' soft white paint on them...we put them up to make the second pantry area once the washing machine and dryer moved on out to the garage...

I've been wonderin' what to do about the pitiful doors...and now I know...

I'm turning the doors into chalkboard doors so I can mark my pantry list there, hang a piece of chalk on a string and involve the Whole Household in keeping the list up-to-date...

look...it's my dream, leave me alone...

the beginnings of the project...lines courtesy of DH who can Draw a Straight Line unlike my Crooked Line self...(please note the new little hook at the top)and I slopped the chalkboard paint on this morning...I'm leanin' towards painting the white area some nice wild colour....like my leftover Autumn Ridge (a wonderful orange that I used in the dining room)...and then there is leftover quarter-round in the garage to ~~hide~~ edge around my uneven chalkboard spaces...

naturally, it was only after putting the first big swipe of Chalkboard Paint on one of the doors that a word flashed through my mind...

Erasermate*....

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*or maybe it does exist and I just don't know how to Google It

*however, now that I see Erasermates are made by Gillette, the point was moot before it arrived in my brain...

of Rubber Bands...

2008-05-14T13:08:00.009-05:00

2 silly things strike Real Fear into my heart...the first thing is just a balloon...a regular ol' latex balloon in the hands of a squealing child...because you know that balloon is going to burst with a Huge BaMMM, your eardrums are going to be shattered and your heart will just about stop...and there is a pretty good chance the child will end up shrieking in terror or laughing manically...

if you must give a child a balloon, please, please, please...get one of those silvery Mylar ones...you can even reuse those...but for the love of God, and I'm serious, do not give a child a latex balloon...unless it is not inflated...and it is a medical necessity as the child needs to develop his or her lungs...

the other thing, which brings me 'round to the point, is a Rubber Band...

I grew up with a household where my dad worked as a District Manager for the News-Press and my mom ran a morning paper route before headin' off to her Day Job at a local hospital...and often times I was pressed into service to "roll papers" so Mom could make that job on time...

there aren't too many minor things in life that hurt as much as a rubber band breakin' on your wind-chilled frosty hands as you stttreeeetttccchhhhh that rubber band to fit around the stupid Sunday Edition...let's just say I have Residual Rubber Band Issues...

so, you might say Not Happy was my Emoticon Face when I saw this early in the morning...what is "this"? "this" is 2 rubber bands stretched to the freakin' breaking point on the 2 knobs to the second pantry...because he decided yesterday that he wanted the Kitten Chow on the top shelf and he decided to get the Kitten Chow...regardless of the wreckage...which included a canister of self-rising flour...on the tile floor...

the first few time I dragged his little butt outta the pantry I was amused...so smart! so cute! opening that pantry door all by himself...well, Mungo Mungo did get into the act once the door was opened...

but I sort of lost my patience once the flour got involved...DH (who had the misfortune to be on the other end of the phone conversation when I came across the mess) promised to put a latch on the doors last night...

It appears he forgot...

and when I went to the pantry for this(that's right...I carry the Christmas Cow bag year-round) for a trip to H/M for these because you don't want be around if we run out of these when the kittens are hungry...

and found those Rubber Band Shackles on the Pantry Door, well, that is when I had to seriously debate with myself Just How Much Difference Does 1 (or 2) Plastic Bag Really Make in The Grand Scheme of Things, environmentally speakin'...

as you can ascertain from my havin' the Cow Bag out, my Goody Goody Two-Shoes Side won out...

and then I didn't even need the dang bag because I bought so many cans I kept them on the cardboard box...

now the Cow Bag waits here...until DH gets home and takes care of that Rubber Band Situation...

Strawberry Cakes and Gardenias...

2008-05-09T08:33:00.004-05:00

these are two things I simply cannot obtain mastery over (I don't even feel like tryin' to sort out the grammar of that one...I've only had 1/2 a cup of coffee and not much more is forthcoming since I'm in a Let's Ration Mood) and I'm writin' about the Strawbery Cake thing today...

The White Hot Mess that was our son's 24th Birthday Cake...Birthday Cakes should just be spectacular...I'm not sayin' we have to get All Colette'd up, but still...you should get better than Pink Vomit Cake...my only defense is I was pressed for time comin' down to the Party Time Wire...
Strawberry Cakes just seem to slide around a lot...I've used skewers...a lot of skewers...at the same time...on them with little luck...I do tend to pile on the icing (ya'll pretty much gathered that from the photo, right?) so the top gets a little, um, mud-slide-like...the skewers will remain in place, leanin' a bit, while the top of the cake wanders off...usually there is a big chasm somewhere towards the center of the cake...which, of course, I hide with, say it with me, More Icing...

the poor Strawberry Cake above is really 2 Strawberry Cakes...The first layers were made with real strawberry and added "stuff"...unfortunately, I, being slightly attention deficient some days, WENT OFF AND LEFT THE LAYERS COOLING ON THE COUNTER TOP WITHIN REACH OF THE DOODLES!!!! that is a Major No-No around Number 17...you might as well put the pizza/cake/plastic wrap from the broccoli on the floor and say "have at it, guys"...

I tried my best to fix the bramage...I cut and trimmed and finagled so that finally I had a little Itty Bitty loaf cake...for a party of 6 people who like cake...it just would not do...

well, the Cake Mix Gods were smilin' upon me that day because high up up up up on the baking cabinet's top shelf sat One Box of Strawberry Cake Mix (along with a Red Velvet mix that has seen 1, maybe 2, Christmases roll by) but I had no more real strawberries, no more strawberry extract...and, in a Green Moment, I wasn't about to roll out to the grocery store...

so I made the box mix and while those layers were cooling, I just had a Big Attack of Butt On My Shoulders...no way was I letting allll of those expensive (have you priced strawberry extract? 2 and a lotta change for a teeny tiny bottle) ingredients go to waste**so into a big bowl went the salvaged cake pieces along with a nice healthy portion of the cream cheese icing and then I mushed it all together to create Strawberry Sludge...

the Sludge went between the layers, on top (yep, that dark pinky lookin' mess) and around the bottom...

It was, simply, the best Strawberry Cake I've made...ugly as a mud fence, but oh my word...and now I'm thinkin' What About Banana Cake Sludge? and Carrot Cake Sludge?...maybe even Red Velvet Cake Sludge...hmmm...that might be carrying things a little too far...but I really do need to do something with that mix...

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*this is a doodle...and if you look at my blog header, to the Far Right is another Doodle...that is what here at Number 17 we call the little hound or pit bull mixes that are so pervasive in this area of southeast Georgia...there is always some pitiful little dog that needs pickin' up off the roadside...most will run away and eventually meet some horrible end but some, like Bethy Marie below, just walk up to the car and get in...and , so far, the only dogs we've had claimed by owners are the pedigreed ones...these little mixes are just so much throwaway for many people...**that actually means into the garbage can since I added cocoa to the batter...cocoa isn't a dog's best friend...even tho', apparently, Doodles can eat half a cake with cocoa as in ingredient without suffering any dire consequences...other than being scared to death by a shrieking Crazy Woman***

***I promise I only shrieked once...but it was Real Loud....

I Thought of...

2008-05-05T14:28:00.022-05:00

awing ya'll with some Great Universal Vision-Truth-Thingie...but the best I can come with as I sit here lookin' at the Big Blue Barrel the Husband plans to incorporate into a rain-collecting system (did it have to be BLUE?...that's all I'm sayin'...)is to show ya'll some pixs...

first up...Mungo Mungo, Clara Clara and Chubby Bubby (formerly Christina)...they're siblings and I adore them (not present are Henri Henri and Cynthia Pretty Pretty...yes, I know...the vet receptionists probably just hate us)...I feel certain my adoration is returned...except, possibly, by Henri Henri...he is a little arrogant...which means, of course, I feel drawn to cradle him like a baby while rubbing his tummy and generally just tickin' him off...then there some Garage Photos...I know...I'm about sick of Garage Photos...and Garages...myself...even mentally sayin' it as Garrrr-aggggghhhh as an English Acquaintance says can't quite make me Give a Rat's Bottom too much longer about the Garrrr-agggghhhh...actually EQ doesn't' drag it out like that but between the British Pronunciation and my Southern Drawl...well, ya get what ya get, I reckon....

Advance Warning: Do Not Adjust Your Monitor...that line you see across some of the garage photos is, lol, my Garage Clothesline for when the weather is too crummy to hang clothes out...I truly wish all of our cat carriers matched...if I weren't so all-fired lazy (and cheap and tryin' to be Green), then I'd be grabbing the plastic spray-paint...the BLUE bins are recycle bins...they'd be gettin' painted too...It still is a long way from Serene and Ready for A Swanky Affair, but oh my word, it is a million times better than it was...and please do not look at the White Wall Behind the Stuff on the Shelving...I haven't been able to work myself up to removing all that stuff for painting...I will, but just not yet...the last photo shows the As of Yet Unpainted and Unorganized Big Pegboard...**

and here are some Pig Photos...because if I can't have a Real Pig (have ya'll read about Christopher Hogwood, The Good Good Pig, not the music-ie Christopher Hogwood who, I'm sure, is lovely....), then Pretend Pigs will have to do...
and, yawn, my Little Project of the Past Week...I took an old cafe curtain rod, painted it black, had Husband chain it up and, voila, Basket Station...I love baskets and I'd love to have an Official Basket Hanger Thing for the corner like my MIL but for now, this satisfies my Cheap Self...I plan to stuff the baskets with some nice Fake Hydrangeas whenever I around to it...and whenever I can find some nice lookin' ones that aren't Crazy Priced***...Hey! Ya'll Can Wake Up Now!!!!!! [VBG]

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*I really really really hate when I take a photo of something and am thinkin' it Looks So Very Good...and then in the Photo I see that I just need to get busy makin' it look like it looks in my mind's eye...sigh...

**and can I say that it has only taken Back-Breaking Labor and some $ for the new shelving (the racks were purchased half-off clearance but the rails & brackets were Not on Sale...a guessestimate would be $150 for all of it) along with our leftover paint to make the garage a lot nicer place than the Pit It Was...

***Crazy Priced means Do They Think I Don't Know These Were Made in a Factory Somewhere Else by Some Poor Underpaid Overworked Person Who Made...Maybe...A Buck for a 12-Hour Work Day? (and I realize that is a Big Ol' Over Simplification...but there it is)

and, lastly, I promise to re-learn how to fix the date on my digital camera...sigh...

Frugal Is......

2008-04-28T12:14:00.015-05:00

as Frugal Does...

and far too often, I cannot be accused of being the Poster Child for Frugality...

but I do try to balance my Desire for Pretty and Organized with my other two Desires: Greenness and Cheap (well, not really cheap necessarily because Cheap doesn't always equal Frugal...but in this case, Cheap was definitely the goal)...

so when I decided a week or so ago that I could not stand the Dirty Unloved Pack-Ratty Garage one hour longer*, I also decided that no way was I draggin' out to the Wal-Mart (that isn't my Real Name for Wal-Mart...just a Polite One) or Lowe's to buy paint when I have A Lot of It stored in the cabinets...

but I also didn't want to do a colour-block thing...like I originally contemplated doing to stretch the paint...

instead I grabbed my Pig Popcorn Can...that I dearly love...and sacrificed it in the name of Cheenness...(that is Cheap + Greenness...astound ya'll don't I?)...

to make a Big Ol' Batch of Ostentatiously Olive (hey...that's what I'm callin' it) paint...enough to paint the garage and then some...The recipe for Ostentatiously Olive is a big can of Nameless Yellow leftover from the previous owners (Good Lord at the paint those people left), an almost full canister of Tea Leaf and a full can of Herb Tea...
and a whole lotta mixin'....I almost dragged out the paddle attachment for DH's drill...but I had the unusual good sense to see that had D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R ~~splattered~~ written alllllll over it...I also realized that my Pledge to Reduce my tendency to cuss when D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R strikes ...and I'm home alone to clean it up by myself ~~instead of feigning pain and needin' to Go Rest while DH gets Clean Up Detail~~ (all though truly he generally just wants me to move outta the way)...would be greatly jeopardized if I attempted to paddle-drill stir that huge thing of paint...I'm hopin' we're going to finish this project up this week and then I'll post ya'll a nice photo or two...I can already say it looks so good out there...I painted the old cabinets too (Autumn Ridge...a nice warm orange) and we put up more shelving...and hauled stuff to Habitat...

and I'm going to surprise the Mr by painting his pegboard a soft Cafe Creme and then doin' that little outline-the-tools with a sharpie thing...or maybe I'll just Paint It , Count My Blessings and Call It Good...

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*part of that stems, ya'll see, from DH's Annoying Habit of Always Opening the Garage Door...and Leaving It Open...so ev'rybody and their granmas drivin' by can see the crappy lookin' garage...with its piles of stuff...the man opens that garage door whenever he can come up with the filmiest of ~~you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me excuses~~ reasons to open that dang door and leave it up....alllllll day long on the weekends if he can possibly get away with it...so now we just don't have to worry about that any more, do we? and see...I'm not just lyin' so I can have my way...

We're Poor and...

2008-04-24T19:53:00.004-05:00

I didn't even know it*...

let me explain...

Our 12-year-old nephew spent this past weekend with us...

and when he wandered out onto our back deck where me and the Mr were discussing the cost, time and labor...and the cost...involved in the pergola we are putting up, Nephew quietly listened for a couple of minutes and when a break opened up in the conversation, he ever-so-politely enquired:

"instead of building a pergola why don't ya'll buy a dryer?"

[insert a long-ish pause as both myself and the husband ran that through our tired old brains...]

we have a dryer***...true, it is in the garage and Nephew hadn't been out there this trip...
but what prompted his well-intended remark was the line of clothes hung out to dry in the backyard...

and expounding even further...

many months ago, a friend on an Internet group remarked (or maybe linked to) about an article that said something along the lines that having a clothes line is an indicator of poverty...and I guess I never truly believed that...

I mean, after all, hanging clothes to dry is simple...a no-brainer...if you have the space**, then you hang your clothes to dry because it cuts so much energy consumption and it saves so much money on the electric bill...(unless you have a gas dryer...do they still make those? and I have no idea what the cost of that NG is these days)...how can you beat free and environmentally-friendly?

anyhoo...but differences in attitudes and beliefs came roaring home to me this past Saturday when the Innocent One assumed we put the clothes on the line because we didn't have a dryer like the Rest of Known Civilization...and because maybe we couldn't afford one...

not, because as we carefully explained, we're tryin' to consume less so that perhaps there will be something left of this world and its resources when he is our age...

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*or else we're just backwards and I have had my suspicions about that off and on again anyways...

**and when I had the pleasure of traipsing around Europe after 2 teen-age boys (son and his friend) one summer, I learned you can wash and hang clothes up to dry just about anywhere...I expect DS and his friend loved seein' my granny panties hanging all over the places...'bout as much as I loved seeing their boxers drip drying...but we survived with minimal scarring...

***note the unplugged, um, plug on the dryer...

Consider Me...

2008-04-22T09:47:00.005-05:00

Tagged...

(by DaisyJen and Paula)....

Rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you [check]
2. Post these rules on your blog [check]
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself [aren't ya'll in for a treat]
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry [I will try my best]
5. Let the six people know by leaving a comment on their blogs [ditto above]

Six UnImportant Things About Myself

1. I don't like Face Things in My House...let me explain that a little bit...I don't mind Ceramic Chickens or Stuffed Pigs (don't have one of those yet) or Vintage Landscapes...but there is something about Human Faces hangin' about the place that just kind of freak me out...whether cast or carved or painted, I can do without them...

2. Word Verification...ya'll know...where you have to type a word or gibberish sequence to post a comment on a blog...or try to get It Ain't Happenin' Tickets to James Taylor that don't involve just paying to sit in your car and listen to your own CD...I am awful with Word Verification...there are times I just give up and go away...those times usually involve being on the 4th or 5th attempt and deciding whatever I was doing wasn't all that important to begin with...

3. I am Mildly Superstitious...I knock wood, but I don't freak over a black cat in my path...unless I have to slam on the brakes to keep from squishing him...I love cameos but will not pursue winning an auction for mourning cameo...if I knock over the salt, I will toss some of my shoulder...but since I can never remember which shoulder it is supposed to be, I toss some over both my shoulders...

4. An unfinished dream makes me nervous...I try to go back to sleep to bring my dreams to a Happy Ending...

5. Ever met an Obnoxious Picture Straightener? You have now...

6. I'm not all that I want to be/believe I can be yet...but I'm hopin' to get there one of these days...my baser instincts for pie and cussin' keep getting in the way...

now, I'm going to see if there is any one left in blogland who hasn't been tagged and if I can find someone I'll post them...

Tagged are:

Timi (from A Girl Named Timi)

Julie (from Gingerbread Pumpkin)

Darla (from Bay Side to Mountain Side)

There...that is 3...that may be allllll I do....I'm feelin' self-indulgent and slacky today....

Where is That Fine Line When I Need It...

2008-04-15T11:28:00.009-05:00

Thrifty or Spendthrifty, Green or NSG (Not-So-Green), Actively Helpful or Actively Hurtful... those are the questions that have been buzzin' about my mind for a while now...

the dilemma: I, like millions of other people, love to decorate our home...and then I love to tweak the decorating...and while this Coastal Georgia Gal is not keen on the fashion world's current obsession with layerin' (Hot does not begin to apply to Coastal Georgia in July or August...sometimes September...Volcanic Super Hot or Broiling On the Surface of the Sun Hot might begin to address how hot it can become around here...Volcanic Hot plus an Extra 25 lbs of Fat do not add up to layering clothing), I do loves to layer stuff upon stuff in the house...that means I add more stuff to the stuff already in place...even if I have to move stuff outta the way to add more stuff...

I also love to rescue beings and things...not so much humans...I probably won't drag them home offa the curbside...well, if Brendan Fraser were hangin' out by the dumpster, I might invite him over to have some coffee and lounge in the Adirondacks for a bit...but only if he'd agree to help weed the garden...and play with the EBB...

that is the big lead-up to I tend to haunt second-hand shops...or thrift shops, whichever you prefer...and I tend to spend some $ there...

not tons of it...just a bit here, a bit there...

for a while [read=several years] I have patted myself (figuratively...I do not do Yoga...and did I mention I'm 43...and 25 lbs overweight?) on the back that not only was I wisely shopping to adorn the home place but I was also contributing to what I have designated as Second-Tier Retail...buying from thrift shops does not, to my knowledge, put money in the pockets of manufacturers who high-tailed it overseas so their products could be made for pennies with little-to-no repercussions for environmental pollution, hazardous working conditions and, natch, poverty wages...

but a bulb has began to, albeit feebly, flicker on and on in my cobwebby mind...

even if I'm supporting second-tier retailers (and I made that term up on my own...don't go expecting any real economist to understand what that means...or maybe it really does mean something besides what I decided it means), even if I'm keeping stuff out of the landfills and even if I'm stretching our dollars, those poor weakened things, further than shopping at HomeGoods (which, BTW, is simply hypnotic for me) or one of her sister stores...

what would happen if I didn't buy those necessary unnecessities? how 'bout if I only bought half of those frivolous things?

how much "stuff" do I need? and I use "I" because, and trust me on this one, the Husband could not care less...he appreciates "stuff" that hums and beeps and moves...or chops and burns and so on...but he truly does not care 1) what colour the walls are (he will give an opinion if pressed...and I have always regretted when I've pressed...see Blue Cave Room post) 2) he truly does not care what dishes we eat our food from and 3) he truly does not care if we have the Butt Ugliest Couch in the World...

and more importantly...if I were to not spend so much $ in the thrift shops, then what would that money be available to do...*

...my knee-jerk reaction says "Save that Money Because Hard Times They A Comin'"...and saving is important...and we have managed to save up some change...(not enough to quieten down my Hide in the Bomb Shelter with 500 Cans of Beans personality but I'm workin' on it)

...but lately I've begun to feel that Just Not Spending It is not enough of an answer...

lack of action is not always a positive action...the absence of doing harm is not doing good...at least not in my opinion...

don't get me wrong...I believe having "things" about us that we love is just part of our nature...we're kind of like crows...we likes the shiny pretties...and just don't even get me started on how that side of our personalities is pandered to and exploited by so many entities in our society...LOL...we could be here a long long time...

but you know what? another side of me is that I find it very hard to self-regulate...I mean, I will follow the rules in the workplace, at school, or at church (if we ever find one)...and I am the Keeper of the Board Game Rules (which is why almost no one will play board games with me)...but, evidenced by my 25 extra pounds which I've just decided to name "Bianca" and claim on my next year's taxes as a dependent, I do struggle with saying No to things I enjoy...and I think Big Sellers of Lots of Things sort of depend on that aspect our personalities too...

how long is this ~~rant~~ post?

(I'm windin' down...mostly because I need to excuse myself because I drank a lot of that second cup of coffee(and therein lies yet another stick to beat myself up with...the whole deforestation of the rainforest thing vs the cost of fairtrade coffee...I'm seriously considering just abandoning it all the way 'round)...and because I'm feelin' "Snacky"...and my feet are cold because I have no socks on...)

and exactly what is her point? [feel free to insert your own exasperated teeth sucking noise here]

I don't really know...I'm just floundering about here tryin' to find some direction...my putting these feelings/thoughts into writing, printing them out and then staple-gunning them to the debit card might help strengthen my resolve to not just spend less and more thoughtfully when I do but to let go of my fear and let go of some of our money to people who need it more than I need yet another ~~wonderful antique treasure some fool gave away...hah hah hah...it is allllll mine~~ thing to take up the space around here**...tryin' to build some type of solid idea of When is Enough Enough so I don't have to agonize over every little purchase that doesn't involve TP (and trust me...heard the arguments...not givin' up the TP)...

Just another rudderless Conscience Debacle floatin' around Cyberspace...any Wise Thoughts greatly appreciated...

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Did ya'll see that Byer's Choice Caroler leanin' against the back of the chair? 99 cents at the GW...can you stand it?

*and I do get that there are things that are requirements for alll except the ~~barest~~ bravest and toughest of us...all I'm sayin' is I'm going to fight my penchant for collecting Sets of Dishes...and Pig stuff (did ya'll see that cute little pig toothpick holder in the pix? 10 cents...and, of course, I don't have toothpicks)...and Rooster Stuff...and old Cookie Cutters...

but I cannot promise to fight off my book-buying habit...and I have a strange attraction to fabric...especially toile-ish fabric...God Help Me (seriously because it will only be His intervention that keeps me from whippin' out the checkbook...forget the debit card...take too long to remove all those staples) if I come across a Toile Pig...or Toile Pig Dishes...especially Brown & White Toile Pig Dishes...with a Free Copper Rooster Weathervane...

**we do already regularly contribute to 3 charities...but I know they can always use more money...

What Are They?

2008-04-14T11:52:00.009-05:00

Back towards the woods, we have a ~~Big Swamp~~ bit of a boggy area...along with a little clear stream...well, what with havin' several dogs that love nothing better than running/rolling/digging in dirt and mud, that area has become off-limits to the four-legged children...well, maybe they love animal crackers better than that...but only if it hasn't been raining for 40 days and 40 nights...if the rain is present, then they much more love gettin' filthy and trackin' into my kitchen...

we fenced it off with cattle wire so I'm not often back there...but I've been tuckin' in some things here and there...plants that like moisture and a good bit of shade...

but before I show you a Big Surprise (well, if you're a gardener...and if you live in the Lower or Coastal South) there are few things I'd like to ask ya'll about...

first...is this a white trout lily? I noticed these for the first time this year...

next...is this just a Big Ol' Weed? I hope not...I think it is lovely...and what type of fern is this? I know nothing about ferns...and not much about native plants although I'm tryin' hard to learn about and plant natives when possible...

however...having said that about the native plantings and all...here is My Big Garden Surprise...

Guess what sweet darlin' plant she is (little hint given in the wording of that sentence)...I know...hard to tell with that washed out crummy photo...my 6-month sabbatical from blogging was obviously not spent learning how to take better pixs...

another hint...if you live below, say, Macon, Georgia or Dublin, Georgia...or really even in those places, you'd never think you could grow this species of plant...maybe with a ton of extra work...

anyhoo...I spotted her at GSU's Botanical Garden spring plant sale last year and thought they'd just lost their minds...but decided I would try to grow this plant...because I've always wanted to grow ______s but simply thought the climate made that a pipe dream...

[VeryBigGrin]

okay...that is a Lilac...I know...I didn't believe it either...a Miss Kim lilac*, to be exact...and can you stand it? She is just bloomin' away...and the scent...well, the scent is everything I dreamed a lilac would smell like...

like the first time you step into a warm southern night and smell wisteria...and understand what all those old-timey writers go on and on about in their quaint novels...

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*note the zones listed for Miss Kim on the nursery website...I know**...

**I always feel a little like Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail when I say I know...

Frugal Alert...$5 Magazine Subscriptions

2008-04-13T08:39:00.003-05:00

not a big post...just a Heads Up...

if you go to Countryliving.com to enter their Pay Off Your Mortgage Sweepstakes, you can enter without subscribing to the magazine (look for the linky)...after you enter, you get a page offering a $5 subscription to House Beautiful (one of the few I still subscribe to) and/or a $5 to Good Housekeeping...

if you to Housebeautiful.com and enter their Dare to Dream contest, you can enter that contest without subscribing (again, look for the linky)...after you enter, you get a page offering a $5 subscription to, you guessed it, Country Living and/or a $5 subscription to O! at Home...

I had to get me one of those $5 Country Living subbies...and I seriously hopin' to win at least one of those contests...as if...

The Curtain Saga Continues...

2008-04-10T08:06:00.005-05:00

The Altered Valance...sounds a little painful, doesn't it? and yes, it is toooooo small for the the window...and it was toooooo small when the room was Cave Blue...but I didn't really care because I rarely ventured in...

but if you squint you may be able to see the little O-rings with clips hanging on the end...waiting for Ta-Dah...toile curtain panels...I had this toile in my fabric stash...love it...and the blue is pretty darn close to the blue of the valance...
this is the aggrieved Mungo Mungo...who is cheesed because he had to wear this e-collar...because he developed a little crazy called Pull Out My Hair...but he's better now...or at least he hides his hair-pulling activity a little better...there is probably some new behaviour disorder about to bust out that'll make me long for the hair/e-collar days...
and here is the toile curing in the dryer ...you have to cure fabric before stitchin' it up, right? I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere...I think maybe by summertime it ought to be "done" and ready to be ironed...

there are yards of this stuff...and I do hate ironing...and I'd actually like to add a wide blue grosgrain border...

did I mention I hate ironing? and as for my sewing machine...well, ya'll, let's just say only its price tag has kept it from being flung out onto the front lawn after our last go-round over curtains...

there is a wide streak of trash in me when I get worked up...

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Big Ol' Disclaimer: I realized after I posted that what I should have said (because it is T-R-U-E) is that I hate blue walls in my home...love them just fine in other people's homes...kind of like Magnolia Trees, Wisteria and Rowdy Children...love 'em just fine when they live on someone else's property...

...but then I get to go home...

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oh...and the waverly curtain o-ring clip thingamabobs came from GW for 99 cents...and the fabric came from a great little antique shop in Metter, Georgia, for $10...for the whole bolt practically...I do love being able to dress Number 17 on a tiny budget...

now if we could just get some good Curbside Shopping in our town...

Adapting...

2008-04-06T12:17:00.005-05:00

Our 4th bedroom recently gave up not only its designation as DH's office...but, thankyoumercifulsaintsabove, also the dark blue paint on its wall...the dark blue paint that contributed to the Room With Only 1 North-Facing Window being somewhat cave-like...extremely cave-like...hole-like...rat-hole-like...

DH wanted blue...I (don't get all tensed up) hate blue walls...I just do...can't explain it...although it may have something to do with that Near Death Experience at Tybee Island beach...a rather large woman sort of body surfed over my 5-year-old self...

of course, now being a Rather Large Woman myself I completely get how that could have happened but at the time I just thought I was a goner...

any-hoo...DH built himself a nice new office with a nice bright window and so the 4th bedroom-cum-office has cum-bedroom again...and the dark blue paint had to go...

that blue paint, BTW, smelled so horribly that we thought something crawled into the wall or attic above the room and died a s-l-o-w lingering exceedingly foul death...I feel sure if I get nose cancer in the future it will have stemmed from having to live with that G-Awful smell for a month or so...

we seriously considered taking all of the Sheetrock out...

but after the Rotten Fish Smelling Dark Blue Cave Paint was gone, I realized the thrifted valance was going to look a little odd in the Herb Green room...hey...I'm nothin' if not Sharp as a Tack...

so...time for Valance Surgery...because nothing irritates me more, financially speaking, than buying something from a thrift store and ending up giving it back...well, family members who bum money and don't repay irritates me more than that...and sales tax on automobiles...that irritates me a lot too...but only marginally more than the thrift shop thing*...

that's right...I'm removing the plaid welting that trims out the pretty blue-and-white fabric...the backside of the valance is the same plaid but if I can't see it, well, we'll call it good and move along...

as soon as DH returns home and finds where he stashed the screws to mount the brackets for the curtain rod, I'll post a pix...(unless it just looks T-A-C-K-Y...then I'll just make up some outrageous lie about the valance being stolen by squirrels...)

I know...frugal and a thrill a minute...

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*actually, a whole lotta things irritate me but it is usually what is closest to the end of my nose at the moment that is going to get the largest portion of my Irritation Stick...