4/25/10

What a positively dreary, rainy day today! I just lit a coconut candle so it’ll seem more cheerful in here. I didn't even get Angel up to go to church. She went to a sleepover birthday party Friday night & it must have been one heck of a party! I was over at Mom’s yesterday & Randy told me he had seen her dozing on the couch a few times – that’s totally unlike her! So she must really need the rest. And poor Randy is working at the March of Dimes walk today in Troy. Maybe it won’t be too bad – he said he’s net control so he’ll be inside. I feel sorry for the walkers, tho. Maybe they should be called waders!


Mom got her new carpet yesterday. When spokeslady Laurie called me Friday, I was under the impression that Mom was going home with her, and needed someone to be at Mom’s house when the carpet guys got there. Nope, I guess she thought Mom wasn’t a big girl and needed someone else there. I was tweaked for a minute, but then thought it would be nice to go visit Mom for a while, so I went. They tore up that nasty brown carpet that’s been in there as long as I can remember. I didn’t know there were gorgeous wood floors under that! I was sad to see them get covered again – but then again – I’m partial to wood floors. Oh well. The color she picked is really nice. It goes well with the new paint. And the two – very silent – guys who did the work did a really nice job. Even on the stairs. So now she’ll be getting new furniture! I get to envy Mom now since I can’t imagine anything ever getting done around my house.

Case in point – the biggest sore spots in this house are the bathrooms. The nice hole in the floor of the shower off our bedroom– makes it totally useless. I’m perfectly content with the idea of ripping the darn thing out and putting an armoire in that corner, then a new taller potty & a pedestal sink. Nice. A half bath works fine for me even if the shower was convenient, I can deal without. The hall bathroom is useable, but the tiles around the shower are coming loose, allowing water to get behind them. There is a plastic bag taped to the wall right now covering where Randy pulled off one of the tiles. Classy. We found at Home Depot you can get a 5 piece shower surround for $50. Trims to fit & says it’s easy to install. However….. Randy wants to temporarily (forever half-assed) patch the hole in our shower as back up IN CASE IT TAKES LONGER THAN 3 DAYS TO DO THE OTHER (! ! ! ! ! !)  Then he wants to pull all the tiles down from the hall shower, which means replacing all the drywall that had gotten wet underneath….THEN putting the cheap wall panels up. Personally – I’d just cover the crappy 70s brown tiles with the panels. And I was going to do that anyway while he was in Dayton for HamFest. Heck, even if you call one of those places that will custom make a new surround – they just cover the old stuff! So he’s making a LOT more work than there needs to be. Which, happily for him, backs up his story about how horrible home improvements are. He’s even mentioned waiting to get our shower fixed until closer to when we’re going to sell the house. That makes no sense. Why not get it fixed so we – the ones who currently live here – can use it??? Gggrrrrrrrr! OK, done venting.

~gusty sigh~

So, Friday night we had date night! First, on a whim, I stopped in to Fantastic Sam’s and got a haircut. Just a smidge shorter than I thought, but I like it and am getting used to it. Man I look old.  Should have put some makeup on!  After dropping Angel off at the sleepover, I met Randy for dinner at Red Lobster & OD’d on shrimp (BBQ bacon wrapped, pecan encrusted and lobster & crab stuffed – with coconut shrimp for an appetizer!!) Mmmmm yummy. Then we went & walked around Michael’s for a bit. I wanted to find a smallish shadow box so I could put Grandma’s turtle pin & great-Grandma’s hanky from my wedding in. We ended up finding one that was bigger than I wanted in the clearance section. But I liked it better than the one on the regular shelf because of the black background and it was marked 50% off. So $4.95. But then when I went to pay, it rang up $.99 !!! Crap! 90% off! Outstanding! Then we went home and did nothing exciting until game 5 started at 10. We turned it off at 2nd intermission and went to sleep. We are such party animals. But we did do our co-ed naked hockey watching! LOL! And the Wings won again - so all is good!  Oh, we did have some excitement. Jack was outside & was barking like an idiot. We can usually tell when someone or something is in the yard. He really sounded distressed, so I grabbed a flashlight & went out to see what it was.

POGO !!!

Wednesday I went to SkyWarn spotter training for Macomb County. That was pretty neat. I enjoyed it. I’ve always loved watching storms, so now I can be useful while doing it! I thought it was interesting to learn was a tornado wasn’t. I could see where a lot of people would freak out at a rain shaft or smoke plume because of the general shape. And I got to meet the EC (emergency coordinator) for the county & chatted a bit. Of course they knew Randy & sent home a nasty gram to him for missing a meeting. Shame shame shame.

Angel got 3 of her 4 recital costumes this week. Of course the one I really wanted to see – ballet - is the one that hasn’t come in yet. Randy picked her up from dance while I was at spotter training & he got to see her do hip-hop in costume. Darn him! Of course they didn’t do it Thursday for lyrical when I picked her up. Pppft.

Hip-hop

Jazz

Lyrical

Last Friday I was supposed to have 2 extra kids at my house, but only ended up with one. Amanda’s mom had asked if she could stay over, because the older sister was having her 18th b-day party. Sure. So we went to the mall & out to dinner. Then they goofed off in Angel’s room because I claimed the TV to watch game 2 of the Coyote stomping (heehee). Then Jazzy came over. She & Amanda don’t always get along the greatest. Amanda is one of those people who gets offended very easily & will hold a grudge for a couple days. Anyway, Jazzy came over at 10:15 – Amanda was calling her mom to go home by 11. I told Angel next time she’s only having one friend at a time spend the night and she agreed.  Too much drama!!

I had a good laugh at Angel & Amanda tho. While we were out, there we got a message at the house from the school.  I enjoyed the looks of horror on both faces before I told them that it was just a recording saying that as a cost cutting measure, report cards were being sent home with the kids on Monday, instead of being mailed. I have to say I am impressed with Miss Angela’s report card. It could be better, but I’m not complaining. She brought home Bs in both English and Innovative Presentations and Cs in Math, Science, Geography & Art. I’m not complaining about the C in Art. It seems like it should be easy, but they’re learning a lot tougher stuff than I did in 12th grade.

This was our entertainment at work Friday.  He was eating lunch - we assume a pigeon - but there was nothing but a pile of feathers left when he was done.  Magnificent!  Not a bad pic for being thru the glass on the front doors, zoomed in as far as possible, then zooming in again on the camera.  I impressed myself!

So that’s about all for today. I’ve got truckloads of laundry to fold / iron / hang up and put away. The entire loveseat is filled. Scary. Plus 2 more loads in the washer & dryer and probably 1 or 2 more after that. Cringe!

Random LFMF - blue food coloring on french toast makes them green.

4/10/10

Oh man – my 4 day weekend is coming to a close – boohoo! I got a lot done Thursday. Pnut was on Spring Break this week, so I just took her in to the Boys & Girls Club like usual (to keep her out of my hair!!). I concentrated my efforts on the laundry room & kitchen/dining rooms. I got a full clothes basket + some to donate & at least two trash bags stuffed full. And it’s still not done. The laundry room is almost nice to be in. Guess I’ll make an attempt to finish the kitchen tomorrow, just so it looks like I did something.

Friday Randy had taken the day off, too. I took Pnut to the Club, stopped by to visit Dad, and then went to weigh in. Then met Randy for breakfast & got new tires on my car. Then we dropped it off to get an alignment & new struts. He had the DirecTV peeps coming out to upgrade our stuff to HD, and then Allied out to pump the septic tank – just in time from the sounds of it. The drains have been gurgling for a couple weeks and he said the tank was only inches from being completely filled. Too close on that one!

Today I fitted all the patio bricks back over the tank, did a bunch of laundry & hung rugs & pillows outside. We went to get my car (it drives so nice!!) the new tires almost stopped the annoying wobble in the front end, but it needed the alignment. While we were gone the wind picked up and broke the clothesline right off the side of the garage. I’m going thru an average of one a year. I don’t use it in the winter, since the spring tends to snap when it’s cold. Next winter I’ll take it off the wall completely & bring it in the house. Maybe it’ll last longer. I’d really like to have one of those old time permanent metal cross-bar clotheslines that are set in cement. We also killed the BBQ grill tonight. I started to burn some old papers Thursday, but stopped because of the wind. Randy went to finish them & it blazed up so hot that the lid caught on fire & burned the heat-resistant paint right off. Ooops. We’ve had that grill since our first spring here, so without a doubt we got our money’s worth out of it. And now Randy has a reason to put together the new gas grill tomorrow! I have a nice thick steak already thawed, so that’s his incentive.

It was a rainy day for Curt's service 3/28, so when we got home to let Jack out, I had a fleeting thought about watching for toads - since I'd stepped on one (barefoot! ~cringe~) before.  But then I thought it was too chilly still for them to be out.  I was wrong.  What I thought was a leaf on the dark patio was this gorgeous little guy.  Look at those colors! 

Easter was better than I expected. Since it would have been Mom & Dad’s 51st anniversary, I expected some dramatics, but there weren’t any that I saw. Nice! Angel went to Mom’s after dance on Thursday since she didn’t have school Friday, then on up to Laurie’s. We both had to work, so Randy & I went up Saturday afternoon. We went to our first Good Friday service at church, too. Since Discover sold the church building to River’s Edge Fellowship, they did a combined service there. It’s been a while since we’d been there, so it seemed really small & quaint – lol. The service was wonderful. Of course it was all about Jesus’ crucifixion, so yeah, it was very emotional. We were given nails as we came in and had the opportunity to hammer them into a real cross and remember our sins.

Easter

Dinner was yummy, as usual. Lisa & Angel were really pushy to color eggs for some reason. Guess they were excited. Sunday, Catie brought her boyfriend up with her. The poor guy had never hunted Easter eggs before!! What kind of sheltered life did he have?? But he had fun. And he got to get on a horse for his first time, too. I have to admit it is nice with the girls old enough to take care of the horses now. They went & brought them in from the field, brushed them & saddled Captain – after which I wanted to ride. The Lisa had just shortened the stirrups for herself after Isaiah rode, so they were too short for me, but I dealt. Luckily for her, it hurt my knees too much, so I didn’t ride long. So I handed Captain back off to her, & that’s all I had to do! Lisa rode while I lunged Kisses for a little. Then I gave her to Angel & they put the horses away! I went to the barn with them, since I enjoy being around the horses anyway. I think it makes everyone happy for them to still have adult supervision while working with the horses. Feeding & turn out is one thing, but untacking & taking care of them in cross-ties is another.

 We also had our "guys" out for Easter.  Further proof that Ken is a sissy & Joe rocks.  Isn't cousin jennifer going to be surprised with these uninvited little guests at her wedding next month??

We also managed to skip having a "painting party" at Mom's house.  Linda went over one day & put the first coat on in the living room & I went over Wednesday night & put the second coat on.  It would have been too crowded with everyone trying to paint.  It was easier just one at a time.  It looks so nice!  Mom picked this really nice light khaki that looks great.  Now she plans to get new carpet & furniture.

Oh, we had another casualty in the family. OK, that sounds bad. We found out that Lisa’s birth mom had passed away about a week after Curt. Laurie said that Lisa had teared up, but she didn’t get really upset. She’s lived with Mom & Dad since she was 2, plus they’d adopted her legally 2 years ago, so Sue wasn’t really close to her anyway. Guess she OD’d on something. There’d been drug issues since before Lisa was born. Still a sad day, I kind of feel bad for not finding out when the service was. Altho I’d only met Sue in person once, for Lisa’s christening ~almost 15 years ago~, she did name her daughter after me.

So the world is greening up! Tiny little leaves are opening on the trees, the forsythia is bright yellow, and the tulips are all colorful. My daffodils haven’t bloomed for crap, tho! There are plenty of leaves and have for the past couple years, but no blooms since I planted them. Temperamental little cusses!  Alrighty!  I hear Randy over there snoring, so I guess it's time to go to bed.  If I wait any longer I'm going to have a furry lapwarmer, since Skeeter is sitting next to me on the floor, eyeballing my lap.

Jack & Maggie mooching Daddy's dinner.