Sky Shots. Bird On A Wire. Houses.
Just random pictures. I wanted something new here before I go to work. I have a potential 2-3 days off ahead, but I wanted to freshen up the site for any straggling viewers. And I actually need to go in a bit early to let one of the other girls leave so I better stop typing and hit the showers. We’ve been busy while the kids were gone and even busier since they came back. (Early return! Yay!) The yard is ship-shaping and my flowers are not dead anymore. You can read (and see) all that later in the week. Exciting stuff ahead as we roll into mid-July. But for now, one more shift. Later.
Now Where Was I? Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves. And The Sprinklers.
Because I just realized that all these pics are curved in some way. But I don’t want to start posting just based on themes. The sprinkler “system” above and just a curvy hose below. I was going to put this up next anyway, but I got distracted with the bigger blog world. The same way I have been distracted already with the blue jay, the little baby rabbit, and the momma rabbit in our yard, the sprinklers, the sod and the tree fauna we have growing out of our gutters. Of course I have pictures. I took 20 pictures of the baby rabbit just sitting on a log. Same position. Same zoom. I can’t stop myself. Anyway. I need to eat. So I am taking a quick break. We went and got the new sprinkler so I think the grass might have a fighting chance now. Plus it’s trying to rain out there. I was wrong. Any plans you made, based on my weather predictions are probably gonna get rained out. And the sod is still viable. Double fail on seeing the future. My daughters grad party is today too, so, like you, I will also be taking shelter in a garage somewhere. But I will be telling my daughter, “Everything will be fine. Rain is good luck! It’s still a great party!” Later.
Sprinkler Break.
It’s a cheat. I will get to the underwater thing. Too much build up though, is definitely gonna backfire on me here. But. In between posting I have to water the sod. We have grass again. Remember from yesterday? They were laying it? Well, the BF spent A LOT of time setting up this complicated sprinkler/placement/timing system thing. And I must comply with the program. It’s actually not that bad once you get the hang of it, but we will be heading out to the store asap when he gets home because I am not liking the one sprinkler with its “throwing water in an arc” coverage, compared to the “cascading back and forth” sprinkler you see here. We must have even water distribution! I guess you really can’t tell how the water is moving just from this picture and I did not take a picture of the other, less desirable sprinkler, for comparison. You will have to take my word and/or use your imagination and personal, real-world experience in lawn care to figure out what I am talking about and if I am over-thinking this whole thing in general. As I am oft to do. (That was a fancy phrase, no?) Yea though I wasteth much time, I do say, get thee to the end of thine post fair lady. Fore thy day is a furtive foe that shall not wait for mere mortals to complete thine tasks at hand as night always must creep along, cloaked in thy mist of a fading fire, whispering, murmuring, on thy curls of dusk and dagger, and follow thy setting sun ere into a western slumber.
That makes no sense. I am really flexing and bending the rules of language and grammer right now as if I have nothing but time to waste. The BF is home. The watering is complete for the moment. Below is a picture of the grass as it was layed before the watering commenced, all shimmery and full of promise. Of course, now that we have the grass, and could use all that free storm water, it hasn’t rained one drop. Not even a cloud in the sky. This is the weekend to plan outdoor activities if you want. I’ve insured good weather until the grass turns brown, dries up, and dies. I will let you know when the good days will be over. Later.
Thank you unemployment for this Merry Christmas!!
Yep, still don’t have a job! Humiliating. Sad. Depressing. We finally got some snow today and all my decorations that I will bother to put up are up. It looks really cheerful despite my lack of employment outside my own house! I dread going anywhere that I might know someone because they always ask…Job?? And I have to say…No. And then they say…Ohhhhh, really? Well…don’t worry…blah blah blah…in that sad, feel sorry for me, but wonder what the hell is wrong with me, voice. I can’t take it anymore. Everyday I have to think of a new reason not to hang myself from the rafters. And then I remember, one, I don’t have any “rafters” and two, even if I did, my house isn’t big enough or built well enough for me to be successful at the hanging thing. My ceiling would probably just come down all around me and then I’d be alive but with a giant hole in my ceiling that I would have to clean up! Better just to stay alive and wait.
Anyhow, at least I got to put up decorations this year. I have been neglecting them because of school and what not. I even decorated the inside too. With all my stuff. That includes things like Christmas figurines, stockings, lights, candles, snowglobes…all the things that I never want to drag out and hang or put up because I will have to put it all away again. And speaking of snowglobes, we had a modern day tragedy this season. I stupidly put one of my snowglobes in the large, plastic, lidded (and taped) container I store all my decorations in, including the white tree we had last year (we only get a 4 foot table top one because our space is limited here), and then put the whole thing into the garage last winter. The garage that is outside. Away from the house. I imagine that snowglobe froze right away and then burst and leaked and dumped its water all inside the bin the minute the temperature let it go back to liquid. Then it sat there freezing and unfreezing all winter. As summer began, I see that bin just heating up and broiling and molding for months. We had rain, humidity, extremely high temps. My decorations didn’t stand a chance. When I dragged the container into the house, untaped the lid and pulled off the cover and saw that there was condensation on the underside, I knew it was too late. You would think the smell would have hit me first, but no. And it did stink. If you know what damp, musty, black spotted mold smells like, times that by 5 and unleash it in a 12 by 20 foot room. Yuk. I ALMOST cried. The white tree was totally ruined, brown and black and moldy. All our stockings. The tree skirt. Some frames with baby pictures swirled into colorful destruction. The star. Mason’s mini tree. Stuffed animals. Most of our hanging things. We had to start from scratch. I managed to save a wreath that was made for the kids and me many years ago, that I could not bear to get rid of despite the smell. And I saved the star Mason uses for his tree. Everything else is gone now. But I think it was fine in the end. Fitting really. New beginnings and all that.
I have been exercising too. Might as well right? I can’t get much fatter or I will have no pants to wear. My jeans are at maximum hold. My abdomen protests every day because of its loose, unelastic shape. I can’t even suck it in anymore without giving myself a cramp. But that still didn’t stop me from baking cookies! I really had no choice. Stevie starts these things and then loses interest, which is probably key to her “trouble” with recipes and getting her baked goods to come out tasty and delicious. (If you scroll down a few posts you can read all about her cookie adventures—pretty funny stuff actually) So I help but then end up having to help more and eventually just finish the whole process or have various bowls of flour mixes and melted butter and sugar granules all over the place. And we end up with cookies that look like dangerous weapons or dog droppings. (You really have to scroll down now don’t you?)
I don’t even like to post here anymore and my numbers have gone wayyyy down! I feel so disconnected! And so neglectful of my readers! After I spend hours filling out applications at various hospitals, I do not feel like typing one more thing. This happens every day. I check all my job apps, apply for any new ones, and then re-check later. Believe me, I should get paid for just doing that all day! It sure feels like a job!
But enough about that. I am not one to sit and mope for too long and I have new and exciting features to brag about and never actually follow through on!!
Birds of the Yard! I finally caught my hawk!! You know, the bird. I have been trying to get pics of it all summer. Success! And my cardinal. And the hummingbirds. And the woodpeckers! Blue ones (not sure what they are called) and the red-headed one!! Even got a yellow goldfinch…somewhat blurry, but so beautiful! I am too obsessed with getting pictures of birds. It drives me crazy. I finally downloaded all the pictures from the camera from the last few months (over 1000) and it was like re-living my whole year in picture form! I forgot we did half the stuff we did!
Which also leads me to ANOTHER new feature: Looking Up! Photo posts featuring the city of Chicago that will actually hurt your neck if you look at them all at one time. Apparently we took A LOT of pictures of the buildings looking up at them. And as I was going through them all, I really felt like I was looking up at them all over again. SO of course, I will share with you! My one or two still loyal fans. Or someone. Strangers probably. I manage to get about 3 hits a day now. Most likely random searches that come up when you are looking for something else. But I’ll take it. Zero is too heartbreaking.
So much more… I have football stuff and car stuff and pictures of the sky and trees. If it’s not a picture of a bird, it’s a picture of a tree. Or the sky behind the tree. Or a cloud. I really have too much time. Period. I MUST share! Really, you’ll thank me. My little site will give you nothing but fluff to ease you through the long winter. Who could ask for more?
Alright, I must now go out to the malls today with my kids. They got early X-mas gift cards that are burning holes in their pockets! Here is my tree below. I also have a really good picture of a wreath with lights. I mean, truly, a REALLY great picture. It was a fresh wreath that we adorned with lights because it looked so plain and boring. The picture was just a bonus and a credit to my awesome skills. The suspense! But for now, here’s that tree (ornament/decoration close-ups later!):
I can finally use my cup!!!
It’s officially official!! I am an RN!!!
I passed NCLEX and even got my official letter in the mail telling me I passed and would I please fill out this one last form and send 50 more dollars to the state and we will issue a brand new fancy official nurse license!!! GLADLY I will. I had that check written and mailed within an hour!
I took the test at the end of July, got my internet result in 2 days and got the official letter last week. I haven’t posted because, one, the shock and numbing disbelief that it could really be done and true still hasn’t worn off, and two, the BF was on vacation so we took that week to do TONS of back breaking, hard labor on the house and catch up with all the chores we have neglected up to this point. I cannot begin to tell you how good (and suspicious) it feels not to have ANYTHING to study for. Literally. Nothing. I am done with that whole part. Now it’s just adding letters to my name and RN status. I will just become MORE of a nurse, with specialized skills and advanced degrees. That feels so good to type.
Anyway, the house looks great. Nice and fresh and up-kept. We even ordered the last of the windows to be put in before winter. Laundry is done. House is clean. I went thru my school notes and recycled the things I will never need again. And I am weeding out the closet-crap that has built up from many months of shoving things away, out of sight. Even my mom and sister were shocked at how clean the house actually looked! That means it must have been pretty bad. Oh well, no time to worry now. It will stay this clean for approximately 5 more days as the kids are due home from their very, seemingly, long vacation. I miss them a ton, actually. This particular 2 weeks seems extra long this year. Time ticks. They keep me up and moving forward.
There is still much to do, but I feel happy. And hopeful. The hard part of my 1000 day journey is over. I have 38 days left of it to get a job. Then school must start again. For all of us. Kids are rounding out Junior High, 7th and 8th grades this year, and the BF and I are in a race to the Bachelor’s. Who will get theirs first?? My classes start next week and I think I have fewer to take. The BF’s start the week after, but his courses are shorter AND online. So I will keep you posted. Then we have moving to think about and a whole other 1000 day plan to institute, although I think I am going with 500 days this time, with possible extensions.
It’s exciting to go down a brand new road, I’ve been on that other one a long time now. Even though I said it publicly on facebook, I will say it here too…this whole trip was not possible without the love and support of my kids, my BF, my family and friends, who constantly had to hear every detail and live thru every one of my ups and downs, passes and failures, and fears of failing, whether warranted or not. All the late nights, the early mornings, the constant brokeness; the take out food, the dirty house, the piles and piles of laundry and stacks of books; for all the stuff I missed and all the things I was too tired to do; for wearing all those wrinkly clothes and never complaining!! I love my kids. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my BF. Without him by my side and patiently waiting for the end, and taking care of everything that I couldn’t…thank you. I love you. I could not be here without you.
And that’s really it for now. Last chapter of this gripping tale coming right up. Where will I work??? Mystery! Stay tuned! Here is one final shot of the proof that I had to have to believe my dream had finally come true!
What a glorious, beautiful 4-letter word! Say it with me….PASS!!! Cheers!
Dawn gets the blood out of anything
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Dawn Dishwashing Detergent gets blood out of anything. Seriously. Clothing. Furniture. Carpet. Throw rugs. Anything that can get stained, dripped, splattered, etc. with blood can be quickly and easily removed with some Dawn and cold water. (You can probably use any temp water, but I always use cold). Anyhow, just squeeze some right on the stain and rub it, scrub it, brush it, whatever, and the stain starts lifting and moving. Rinse, repeat, or throw it in the washer, until it’s all gone. Even if something has been washed AND dried, it can still take the stain out. I am always amazed that it works as well as it does. Like, literally no trace. Well, CSI could probably pick it up, but that’s a whole different problem.
So there you go. Tip for the day! This info might come in handy later when you go outside and realize it’s about a billion degrees and all the crazies who can’t take the heat start flipping out and causing some mayhem. Now if you get caught up in any bloodshed at least your clothes won’t get ruined! Stay cool! Drink lots of water! Later.
Rest the brain, rest the body. Running will have to wait a few more days.
Sunny and hot followed by dark and violent. The day is just oppressive as hell until it suddenly isn’t. The Earth is surely trying to tell us something. Spinning wildly and throwing storms all over its surface. Tossing more limbs into my world anyway. Luckily most of the big ones are gone now. The winds are going to have to try a bit harder and go for a whole tree, although I’d appreciate it if they all just stayed where they belong. Anyway, this was after our walk in the woods. Temp dropped about 25 degrees, wind picked up, sky went dark and kind of green, and the rain poured down. Sideways, actually. It was bizarre. But it was fast. The camera didn’t even really capture how menacing the sky looked. The auto focus kept lightening up the pictures. I don’t have the right equipment for the really threatening storms. I can only catch my views from under a shelter. It was nice after though. Humid still, but cooler. Just getting us ready for yesterday.
The thing we learned from this last week of rainfall is that our gutters are crap. They are full of so much junk that water can’t even collect in them, it just pours over the top and makes a nice waterfall around the perimeter of the house. And I had steel, mesh guards over the tops. They were being slowly destroyed, one by one, due to the basketball hoop in the driveway. Seems the roof and gutters are easier to hit with the basketball then the net. The house and garage looked like they were missing teeth.
Thanks to another day of heat and boredom, we decided to take all the guards down and clean the gutters, finally. Should have done it about five storms ago, but it’s such a pain and I can’t reach them without a ladder, and isn’t that really a man’s job?? It is.
Before I get a nasty comment here, let me just clarify that by “we”, I mean, the BF. He, and he alone, did the actual gutter cleaning. Climbing up and down, hands in the muck, removing the soggy, stinky, rotting leaves and whatever the hell else sits in there and blocks the drainage. He even had to dismantle one of the downspouts to get it unclogged. But they do all flow so nicely now. So thank you. I do appreciate all the hard work you do. And we didn’t spend any money! That’s a good weekend project right?!? Now I can hardly wait for the next rainfall!
I did do some stuff to help. I did accessory things, like move the garbage can closer and hand him the hose to flush out the small debris. I think I even moved a ladder at one point. Don’t judge. I am sick. I can’t breathe remember? Besides, I also pulled my dead daffodil and wildflower plants out. I raked the dirt and fixed the border so we can put something prettier there. What I like to call my “wildflower” area in front of the house, most everybody else calls weeds. Things grow in that spot so well, that they just look weedy.
At any rate, we accomplished a lot and the front of the house doesn’t look like like derelicts live there anymore. It’s plain, but we can add some pizzazz next weekend. That’s when we’ll spend some money. Timbers, rocks, flowers…I have pics of all the “before’s” and I’ll get the “after’s”. You know I will. And hopefully, I seem to be getting a little more consistent posting lately, so hold onto your hats people, it’s going to be a crazy summer! I guess it’s not as exciting as some things, but this site is free and you can feel better about your house by comparing it to mine!
I need to get some “going out in public” clothes on before my kids get here. My son has another doctor appointment today to make sure he’s cured and can participate in the last two weeks of “school”. Which is basically field trips every day. He’s going to Springfield tomorrow. It’s the whole history-Constitution-Land of Lincoln thing. Very exciting. Hopefully he’ll take good pics and you can see it too!
I’ve got a few other ideas to spice up this site and get it flowing faster. More pictures, less words. Here’s a few small teasers: “Benches. 2011.” “Stevie Shadows.” “Target Summer Fun.” “Nerf Guns.” “Stink Bug.” Oh yeah. It will be as thrilling as it sounds. Until later.
We interrupt this program for another appearance by Mother Nature
That Bitch!!
When I left a few days ago, happy, P90X’d on day 30, I was recovering from Core Synergistics. I am actually still sore but who has time to think about it when the natural world gives you so much more to do! Let me explain.
I have trees. Big trees. They keep falling down. Not the whole tree, just parts of the tree. Limbs crack and break and then lay across the yard or the fence or the neighbors garage or her house…it keeps happening. Every single time it storms I worry. Every single time a tree part falls on my neighbors house it is the calmest, clearest, least windy day EVER! Every. Single. Time. I leave, the tree is fine. I come home, BOOM, it’s laying on something. Then I have to get tools (now the BF and I have to get tools) and we cut it up and drag it to the nice wood/limb/branch pile I have going in my backyard. I’ve posted pictures of it. I’ll post again in case you don’t believe me. It’s ridiculous now because every time I get it mostly cleaned up, nice and neatly stacked for continued ease of disposal, more falls and the pile grows. It’s a joke to the neighbors now.
The far left side and the far right side wood piled up is the old stuff. Everything in the middle is from yesterday.It doesn't look like alot I guess in this pic, but trust, its all tangled and gnarly and high.
This time I really got a surprise. MN (Mother Nature) decided to shake things up by NOT felling the tree limb I was actually worried about but a completely different one that I never even considered! Tricky! I should have known. I took pics of this tree. Foam was coming out of the bottom. I do not know what that means in tree life, but it’s probably not good. Got pics of that too.
So anyway, this real dangerous, heavy, stretched out limb just hangs over my neighbors house looking menacing every day and extra scary in storms. The birds don’t care. The squirrels don’t care. They just keep adding weight to it, running up and down, just doing their thing. I panic thinking it will fall. It’s huge. It’s old. It has NO chance in hell of missing her house and landing neatly in between on the driveway. It’s just that kind of tree. But it’s expensive to remove this kind of tree. Thousand dollar or more type money, which I don’t have. So we wait, and hope, and cringe every time the wind blows, but so far so good.
And oh yeah, there is also another limb that goes off it in the other direction, over my house, that looks fine. No worries. We noticed on Saturday when we got back from motorcycle class that it was dangling its leaves on the roof. Brushing ever so slightly like it was caressing the house. We tell ourselves, well we’ll have to get up there and trim those back. Not me…the BF…he’s much better at that sort of thing…plus it could start interfering with the satellite dish! Oh my! Can’t mess up the TV! He’s off on Monday (yesterday) so we can do it then.
So Saturday is class—sitting, talking, learning, then leaving. Expect to arrive early on Sunday and be prepared to ride the whole time! Ok. After class we take the kids clothes shopping for school, have a nice dinner and chill in the evening. Everyone’s happy! No P90, no other exercise except the brain stuff earlier.
Sunday 7 am. Off to class. Riding riding riding. It’s fun. It’s stressful. I feel worked out. 5 hours on a machine I have never set foot across in my life. And I get to control it and ride it and shift it and stop it…it’s too much fun! Not for everyone though. We did lose some people on the riding portion. 3 out of 12 had to go. As deemed by the instructors. Dropping the bike more than once or stalling it over and over in traffic, or actually flipping off of it, it did happen, right next to me, is pretty much instant exit. So needless to say, I was burning some stress calories and actual cals pushing that bike around. But I survived it and actually had a pretty good time. I am by no means ready for the road. I could drive it fine and turn it and stop it and all that, but I had some trouble with the quick, up and down shift (I think my boots were too fat and I couldn’t get my toe under the gear lever smoothly every time) and apparently I go WAY too slow for the other people! I’ll admit I was putt-putting it, but I shouldn’t be the leader. I need to follow someone else to gain speed! It’s not my fault!
After we got home, the kids are going to hang with their dad and he shows up to get them and notices that lovely, dangling, brushing, tree branch is now sitting on the damn roof solid. Crap. Seriously?? It must have cracked at a seam overnight (no storms, no wind) and laid itself gently to rest on the roof. Nice. So what is the afternoon like now? Up on the roof, the BF, not me, cutting branches and getting the limb up and off, then call someone to remove the rest because it is heavy and big and probably too much for us. Accomplished. The BF managed to use a handsaw to remove enough of the branches that it is up about 6 inches and if it continues to lean it will just rest back on the roof and not cause any major damage. It did crinkle the nice furnace exhaust pipe thing that our friend Jeff put up last fall but thank fully that was easily straightened.
If you look close you can see the crack. The left side is the main trunk to the ground, go across the limb to the dead knob and it's right underneath like a gash in the side. Just enough to bring it down. But not too much that it crashes on to the roof.
Here’s another question. Why, after all these years, have I never purchased a chain saw? I have needed one almost every spring and summer since I moved into this house. That money spent would have proven itself worthy over and over again. Well, we own one now. A big, nasty, loud, long-bladed monster tree cutter. A few inches short of the commercial kind. I’m not spending 500 dollars on one, but I can handle 200. After removing enough and watching it basically lean right back on over to the roof and then calling some tree services and getting a quote for 1000 dollars (WTF?? Seriously?? We already took half that shit off and it’s practically stand-up accessible) Then for another $1300, he’ll take off that other limb that is super-giant, super-heavy, and hanging so far over the neighbors house that it could be considered a whole tree all by itself. Really? Only 300 extra dollars to take off the giant limb as opposed to the half cut one? I was nice and didn’t say anything. What a rip. They have a bucket! I guess that’s what we pay for. Either that or he just didn’t want to do it so he throws out a ridiculous number hoping we would laugh and tell him to move along.
So I get the idea that since it’s obviously just going to lean back on the roof, we can go get a chainsaw and hack that sucker off ourselves. We can get it on the roof and just hope we can cut it back enough it will swing and miss the house when it goes all down. Ha! Lofty goals on Sunday night! Monday morning. Different story when my shaky ass is standing on the roof, on that treacherous angle, trying to hold limbs and not fall to my death on chainsaw chips and debris. I REALLY underestimated my ability to stand on a roof with confidence and move around. I was constantly afraid of falling off, therefore I was afraid to move too much and therefore not much help in the removal process. The longer I was up there I felt a little better, but those slippery chips were too much for me. Bright ideas look 100 times better from the ground looking up.
I have to give every kind of respect for people that can work on a roof with no problem. That is an awesome balance thing and confidence and surefootedness that I do not have! Your job is tough and scary and I can see why people pay you the money to do it.
Once the BF and I realized there was no way we could do it ourselves, because of my chicken-shitness and his lack of reach over the house and up to the limb, we decided to use the trim, wait, let the tree limb lay back on the house, trim, wait, lay, etc…method of removal. It might take awhile but the lower the limb comes down, the easier it is to remove. The person we finally got to take a look and remove it for us said that method is not going to work and is not really smart. He’s a 20 year tree guy and he has removed stuff for us before. He’s back in the biz after hurting himself some years ago, and ready to take on some small jobs! Ha! Small jobs! That’s what he considers it. I don’t care because he’s cutting us a really good deal and he knows what he’s doing. He hopped onto the roof to look at the tree like he was walking on the flat ground. Jealous!
Anyway, so there it sits now, about three feet off the roof, maybe four. Alot of the weight is off and if it starts lowering, our tree guy said just leave it. Don’t be fussing with it anymore. But, again, I have a giant pile of branches and limbs and leaves and sticks and junk in my yard. So this week is cutting and stacking neatly to make room for all the rest that is about to come. This might be the most yet! Seriously. I just thought about it this minute. We are going to have basically a tree’s worth of trunk and limbs in the yard. I really got to wrap this up and get outside. Those lazy kids of mine are still sleeping and I’m wasting hours typing and we have some work to do. I’m going to need some bribery options to really light a fire under their asses. I’d like to get all of what we presently have cut up today if possible. That’s prob going to save us alot of time and pain down the road. Especially if it starts storming like its supposed to.
Ugh! I may skip P90X again today. I was going to sneak it in (I have missed 3 days already!!) and I’m feeling nervous and agitated, but this might have to take precedence. Ugh! Kenpo too. It’s fun. I don’t HAVE to do it. It’s my choice. It’s voluntary but I feel guilty. I don’t even know why! It’s ridiculous the things that go thru my head. I’ll try to do it later. I swear. It’s not like I’m going to turn into a lump of fat in 4 days. But still…I also have the stress of this cycle class, the test is next weekend. I have to read the book. I have my real school starting the next week and I have to read that material. I have no money. All my savings money is going to stop a tree from poking through my roof. I have laundry and house stuff, and frankly I’m feeling a bit queasy right now thinking about it all. I let myself stress way too much about things I can’t even control. AND things that aren’t even going to happen for 2 weeks! (I’m thinking school. I’m trying to tell myself I need to make it fun like I did when I first started. I love it. I’m afraid of failure. But I love it. Nursing is the best job in the world and I just have to get through. I think I need some BF support tonight. Help!! Thanks honey!! I love you. Sorry for being a baby. Love you!) I feel like an old lady shaking her fist to the sky cursing the powers that be. Ugh!
Enough of the whining. Stop thinking. Start doing. Alright. The tree limb is still high and mighty for now. The crack is still cracky but not split all the way through. I will get dressed, cut limbs, exercise, figure out the money situation for the week and do laundry until it doesn’t matter. I will read and absorb and take it one little day at a time. Hour here. Hour there.
If you are still reading this, WOW!, and thank you. It’s like listening in to someone’s therapy. I hope to never look at it again! The internet is a great big toilet bowl of random crazy and I just laid a big old load down! Feels better! And you helped wipe! Alright, eeww, that’s probably enough there.
We need a picture of calm. A picture of soothing. I don’t know what I have, butt, I’ll find something.
Oh man. The hilarity never stops around here. I think it’s bad when you have to add a whole new category to your site, dedicated to tree trouble because it just keeps happening. Ugh! The picture below is much better. I found it trolling for something to illustrate all this text.
Just breath and relax:
My Lottery Dreams are not looking good
Obviously I am going to have to earn money the old fashioned way. Poo. My tickets are losers (although the Mega Millions rolled over again—170 million—that’s better!) And my dream for even $35,000 is looking shaky. First off, I don’t have 35 tickets to input. And second off, I didn’t know scratch-offs counted too! I actually threw away some of those. I still didn’t have 35, but I would have been closer! Oh well, I guess I better buy the rest of my books and get ready for school. It doesn’t look like there is going to be any way around it!
So it’s Sunday morning. The kids are STILL gone. I was hoping to have them yesterday, but the plans got changed to something more exciting and they are still on vacation! Lucky ducks! They start school Thursday, so I guess they should enjoy themselves while they have the time to play.
It’s a broiling 84° already. It’s been hot every day. In the 90’s. It feels hot, it looks hot, it just makes you tired. Today it’s actually windy. Hot, dry wind. Like oven breeze. I hope it blows all the leaves off my patio, then I can scratch, “sweep” off the list! I’m going to spare everyone the actual list of things I need to do (but know that I have a good, long one!) even though it’s my sister’s favorite part of this site (haha). In fact, I am going to her house today for a Pampered Chef party. She’s making chicken! Or something. I actually do want to go because I want to buy this amazing pitcher I just discovered. It has a mixer right inside it! I know I’m the only lady over 35 in America that probably didn’t know about this already, but I don’t look at a lot of catalogs.
I was going to say that I’ll take a picture of it and post it later, but I just realized that I probably won’t have it later. I think I have to wait for it. Hmm. Oh well, if they have one on display I’ll take that picture. In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of our new coffee maker!!
We had to. The other one was leaking. And this one has a timer and auto shut-off. We paid $30. Big spenders! AND we went white this time! To match my beautiful toaster I received for Mother’s Day from my son. It’s especially nice because it has a blue display, a color that I find particularly soothing when I see it in the middle of the night, glowing brightly and casting shadows in the kitchen.
If you are keeping count, this is the third coffee maker we have had since the BF moved in. He brought a lovely, large, coffee making machine, with him. Then we had the black one you saw in pictures. And now we have this beauty. That’s four years and three makers. That’s not too bad.
Here’s the pic:
First Morning Back. I think I can already see footprints on the walls. :(
Well…I thought that I could.
Apparently, at the risk of looking like giant slobs across the internets, as soon as my daughter caught wind of the soon-to-be-EXTREMELY-messy-tornado-blew-through-the-room posting I was about to publish, with pictures, she mysteriously and silently left the kitchen (where I was typing) and slipped off to completely and totally,clean up their bedroom! Including Mason’s side of the room. That’s devotion to an illusion.
So instead of pig sty pics, I have pics of the room, looking neat, but now with posters! And pictures and calendars and what-not, that they put back up. Because you remember, when you were 11 and 12, even after being gone for a week or two, you have to restore your cool as soon as possible. You don’t need clean clothes; that can wait. But you gotta have that “Dream Big” puppy poster and a picture of Jeff Gordon’s race car hanging over your head before you can go to sleep.
Still peaceful. Not too junked up. (Yet)
Stevie Side. She's going for the "photo wall" look this time. (Now she looks blurry--sorry 'bout that)
Mason Side. Has the usual: race car, autographed Loop Rock Girl, Illinois state map...
Hey! It looks like there might be something new here...
just shy of pretty 