Blog Bling

I got me some yummy bloggy bling to show off. Trina over at http://jophiesjungle.blogspot.com/ has left me a very sweet award.

I want to toss this right back to her, and I'm sure the doctors & residents at the hospital will agree (just kidding Trina, they don't deserve nice sometimes) Trina puts up with a lot of stuff from a lot of people when it comes to Jophies care and she is very nice to them, much nicer than I would be sometimes.

I also want to send this out to Kim from http://kimwrites.blogspot.com/. Kim and I have been bloggy friends for a little while now and we sometimes get to gab on AOL at night. The things we talk about sometimes ;-) Kim is always nice and ready with a compliment when someone needs it the most. You really deserve this one Kim!

Last night was the annual Ghost Walk here in our little area. My DD belongs to the historical society here and has been a guide in the museum for 3 years. She also helps out with the Ghost walk every year by being a character or selling programs. The Ghost walk is always exciting and interesting. I took my camera to grab a few pictures for you all but I was selling programs and didn't make it. While DD went for a walk to see what was going on I did the weirdest thing. I was selling programs and my eyes started feeling a little funny. Then I noticed that the world was spinning noticably and I couldn't make it stop. It kept spinning faster and faster and wouldn't let me off! I got my phone and dialed DD to come back and set back in my chair and shut my eyes. Big mistake, the spinning is worse when you shut your eyes. I sat there for a few minutes and the spinning slowed down and finally quit and I have felt fine since. I don't know what happened, I just hope it doesn't happen again. I am not very good at spinning rides at the fair anymore, and really not good when I have no choice and the rides follow me around.

Rewind

I started blogging almost a year ago. I didn't start blogging to use my creative writing skills, I have none and don't even try to pretend I do. I started blogging to make friends, meet new people and have an excuse to keep from cleaning my bathroom.

I love to take pictures, especially of those people I love. For anyone who doesn't know, this is SH (superhubby), the true love of my life. He was so tired when I took this picture, he had been up all night finishing a doll house for my dear niece who was leaving to go back to NJ. This was at a family reunion and he was so tired after this he slept for hours.

This is DD, another love of my life. She is 17 and very smart. I remember being 17 but I do not remember being this smart. When I was 17 I was just thinking about boys keeping my grades up and studying. She has a boy crazy streak too but so far I think she has made pretty good decisions, though I worry all the time that will change. I remember 17 and it was so easy to play with fire....and you always got burned.

DS is the second from the right. The other boys are friends (other than SH) that spent most of their weekends here. DS moved out on his own recently and I have avoided having a nervous breakdown over it so far, but I'm not promising anything. Instead of 8 or 9 teens now I have 1 or 2 on the weekends...hard to get used to.

I mentioned above that I love to take pictures, though I have a lot to learn. In the summer my niece comes in from NJ and spends some time with her Ohio family. I caught this of her and a friend floating around in a friends pool. My niece is on the front and she is truly another one of my true loves....I miss her 10 months out of the year.

I know the two people who read regularly already know all of this, but I felt like I needed a short walk down recent memory lane. My memory doesn't seem quite as good as it used to be but I find that useful since I can just make stuff up the way I wanted it to happen.

Taylor Made

Last night one of DD's good friends took her to a Taylor Swift concert. We love her music and DD says she is so very nice in person. After the concert they stood in line for 2 hours for a picture and autograph and Taylor was apologizing to them for the inconvenience of waiting so long. I wish more stars acted like that so our children could see the nicer side of stardom. It very seldom happens and they are more likely to see stars being arrested for drugs, alcohol and spouse abuse. I hope Taylor doesn't let stardom change her.....go Taylor go.

My sons new friend

Meet Lexy. DS has been wanting a new kitten for quite a while and finally found one. The apartment he is living in is a no pet place so he is hoping Lexy will not be spotted by the landlord.

This is a picture of DS's favorite two women. Two lucky girls! I went up and had pizza with them tonight and to take some pictures of the new kitty.

Now I must cut this short. DD is staying at a friends and SH just got home and we are HOME ALONE......my alarm goes off in 6 hours..so much to do, so little time ;-)

Blessings

I have spent so much time lately whining I thought for a little change of pace I am going to count my blessings. I challenge everyone who reads this (all 3 or so) to count your blessings and when you get the chance tell us all about yours. I guess it is kind of a I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
1. I am so blessed to have married the man I married. I was 18 and I feel so lucky that the choices I made were the right ones for me.
2. I am so blessed to have 2 healthy, happy children. Both are smart and have never been kids that get in trouble.
3. I am so blessed that although SH and I do not make much money, we have enough. We live in an area where jobs are hard to come by and the ones that are here do not pay much, so we are happy that we have enough.
4. I am so blessed that I have a large family. We don't hang around together all the time but we do get together and enjoy each others company. We are family.....wait, there's a song there somewhere if I can just figure it out I could be rich. Help me people.
5. I am truly blessed that SH is so handy. He can do anything he puts his mind to, well maybe not lactate, or give birth, but ALMOST anything he puts his mind to.
6. I am so blessed that I am 40 years old and have not had too many horrible upsets in my life. My life has been pretty normal and if it weren't for cancer (and one drunk driver) then I would never have lost any family members too early, but every family has their tragedies and mine are not any worse than most peoples.
Those are the first things that come to mind when I think about my life and many blessings. I know there are many more that I am not thinking about but for right now those are the most important. Have a great week everyone.

New toys

Before I show my new toy (minds out of the gutter please!) I had one more thing to share about the house SH is working on. After I left last night he decided to pull the commode to see if he could figure out why it wouldn't flush. It was easily remedied once he got the dead rat out.

SH and I got up early this morning and went to pick up my new (to me) car. I am so looking forward to dropping the mini van and driving a real car for awhile. This car has all the bells and whistles, 6cd changer, power pedals, heated mirrors, power sunroof etc.......just one small problem.....

It may take a little while before those get going, if we can find all of them. Didn't look half bad from the back did it?

We brought it home and SH and my dad went out to mow the cemetery where SH's parents are buried. I stayed home to nap clean up the kitchen. It is 91 degrees right now and I am not very helpful when it is that hot. The cemetery job always belonged to DS but now that he isn't here it belongs to DD, but you shouldn't have to mow when you look this good (and you are in school).

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Weak stomach?....just go away now.

As most of you know SH helps out his little old ladies keep their rental houses up. A couple of weeks ago one of his little old ladies, who is lucky enough to still have her little old man around, called and told SH they had a job they wanted him to do. Now this couple is a very nice couple. They treat SH well and the little old man would help if he could but a brain aneurysm a few years ago keeps him from doing everything he wants to do. They make it a point to let SH know they trust him to make decisions and tell him to go buy anything he needs for his jobs and they will gladly pay him, and they never question his decisions or fees. They have a lot of rental houses and some are not top notch housing but they keep their houses livable and always tell the tenants that they will fix anything they need, just call. This particular house has had the same tenant for a couple of years. When they talked to her she always said everything was fine. Little did they know at the time that she didn't want them there, no matter what. She moved out a month ago and when the little old couple went to check the house they were in for a shock. They opened the front door and roaches started falling from the ceiling on their heads. The lady and her kids had used the carpet for their ashtray and garbage dump. They had to rip the carpet up and get the house sprayed before we could get in there to work. These pictures are after the house had been sprayed once, swept, carpet taken up and then sprayed again. Tomorrow the exterminator is coming back .....
This is the cabinet where her dish towels were. This was taken after it was vacuumed once and then resprayed.

This is the wall in the kitchen by the stove and yes, this is roach poo. Every place in the house that there was something hanging on the wall or something against the wall has this wonderful stuff stuck to the wall.

The kitchen counters were completely covered by dead roaches. SH had to rip the counters out because the sink leaked and she let it. He also has to replace part of the floor. The roof has been leaking for a long time so it had to be replaced. The commode hasn't flushed for a long time and the shower only sprinkled cold water. The ceiling fans were covered in sticky fly strips that were completely covered in flies and there was 2 inches of black dust on all the fans. I spent 2 hours today scrubbing the walls in the living room to try to get them clean enough to paint. Her kids used them as an art area and she stubbed out her cigarettes on them. I can not even explain the level of disgust I felt while I was there. The carpet padding that was left on the floor had stains on top of stains, which I figure from the smell was partly urine stains.

Now for the part that really makes me sick. She cooks the food and trains other cooks at a local fast food restaurant that we USED to eat at quite often. Not happening ever again.

Sick yet? Just go to yesterdays post and that pretty face will make you feel better, or at least it does me.

Oh what a night!

Tonight is the annual fall homecoming dance at school. DD is hopefully going to have a nice time tonight. Here are a few of the dozen or two pictures I took before the dance.

Her boyfriend didn't want to go to a high school dance so she found another date. This boy is in her class and is just a friend, but isn't he handsome? Oh to be skinny young again.

Forget that, I don't think I would want to be 17 again even if I had the chance.

Pink is the new Black

Check out this PINK vacuum cleaner being given away at http://www.5minutesformom.com/2334/dyson-pink/ .
Part of the proceeds for every pink vacuum sold will go to breast cancer research, which should be completely eradicated, in my humble opinion.

True romance

Hold on to your panties ladies, the romance going on at my house will knock you for a loop.





Yesterday when I got home from work SH was working on my van. Being the sweetheart that he is he wanted to take me someplace with him before he got ready for work. I really wanted a shower and a nap since we worked on the van most of the night the night before, but being the loving wife I am I jumped in the shower(some days after work I HAVE to take a shower as soon as I get home) and then went with him. Where did my super romantic hubby take me? To a junk yard of course. I really can't complain since he took me there to get some things for my van. The view was spectacular.

This used to be a truck. A Ford ranger, which I only figured out by finding a spot where there used to be an emblem. I often wonder when I am at places like this (and I am more often than most of you I would guess) who was driving this, what happened and how bad were they hurt.My answer to that question was answered for this one when I looked behind the seats and saw these bottles. This would make for a pretty good don't drink and drive commercial I think.

While we were there SH tried once again to get me to buy a Lincoln they have that doesn't need much work. He loves big cars and I am trying to downsize. He and the guys at the junkyard kept after me to buy this Lincoln. Now I agree that the quality of these cars are wonderful but the size is too big for me. One of the guys there tried to sell me a Daewoo, which I refused because we drive Fords. Period. SH and I own 5 of them and as of Monday we will own 6. The guys mentioned a couple of cars coming in yesterday afternoon so I went back today and looked over a nice smaller Ford that I am going to buy Monday. SH is going to fix it up and I will be very happy to get rid of the minivan and drive a smaller car that takes much much less gasoline.

After SH went to work, DD and I headed to the mall for a little shopping and then to a baby shower where DD ended up playing the games, while I acted like I needed to take pictures instead of rubbing vaseline on my nose.

Tagged!

I have been tagged by Kim at http://www.lookingthroughtheglass-kim.blogspot.com/ to post 8 things about me, and then tag 8 more people. So here we go.

1. I am very claustrophobic. I can not stand small rooms or spaces. I also can not stand anything close to my face. I hate, hate, hate warm air blowing in my face. If SH wants to make me nuts he gets in my face and BREATHS MY AIR!

2. I got married 2 months after I graduated from high school. It was the best decision I ever made and I have never regretted it, though I wish I would have finished the other 3 and a half years of college while I was younger.

3. I have, in the last few months, become a complete blogaholic. I need a 12 step program.

4. I have ADD. I truly do, even my doctor (ex-doctor) agrees. My problem is my ex-doctor doesn't believe in medicating adults. The whole 3 and a half years of college I didn't do....I couldn't stand to be sitting in a seat listening to someone talk to me for hours. I had no idea what they were saying, the only thing I could think about was getting out of that chair.

5. I come from a large family. My grandparents had 9 children who all have large families.

6. I have no idea how many brothers and sisters my dad has. They aren't as close and the few I know I see about once every 15 years. I once learned of an Uncle when I read his obituary in the paper and noticed it had my dad's name as a brother. My dad mows his family cemetery and he will point out places where he buried baby brothers and sisters when he was young and there aren't any markers.

7. My mothers parents grandparents were 1st cousins....explains a lot doesn't it?

8. I have a really hard time thinking about who I want to tag...but I will do my best.

Your turn....

1. Trina http://jophiesjungle.blogspot.com/

2. Kim http://kimwrites.blogspot.com/

3.Monkling http://www.monkling.com/blog/

4. Kristie http://www.notquitewhatihadplanned.blogspot.com/

5. Ann Marie http://thewatermanswife.blogspot.com/

That is all I can think of right now...good luck guys.

Head over heels

I spend a lot of time complaining about SH running to his little old women's houses to do things when I need him, or at least when I want him. I never know when he is going to be home and I don't even try to plan anything because someone will need him to unstop a commode or regrout the floor tiles. I am trying to control my complaining a little because it is getting old, even to me. I know he wishes he had a day off to do nothing just as much as I wish he had a day off to do nothing, or at least go fishing. I am trying to go with him when I have a day off, to try to help him get caught up, even though it seriously cuts into my computer time housecleaning time.

Today I got completely fed up with my mini van. The air conditioner didn't work most of the summer and when we finally got it working it started cooling down a little and now my HEATER DOESN'T WORK. What would I do if I couldn't complain. I got home from work today and SH finally got sick of hearing me complain decided to fix it for me. I had to take a picture of the work in progress because I think the world needs to know the lengths SH will go to to make me happy:-)

Grounded.......

Update: Thanks to Trina at http://jophiesjungle.blogspot.com/ for resizing my header for me!

First let me say to Kim that I took one of bloggers regular templates and made my own header, which isn't working as well as I would like. I can not seem to make it small enough to fit. I have never made one before so I wanted to try by starting pretty plain....now if I could just figure out how to shrink it.
Now to the subject at hand.....my bad behavior. I am grounded! I am grounding myself for the weekend. No computer time (no too harsh), No tv (well unless someone else turns it on), No shopping (unless DD has to go). I will find something I am grounded from eventually.(maybe I should ground myself from cleaning, or from using parenthesis)....that won't work either.
What is the reason for this grounding you ask? I have been lazy this week...heck even longer than that. I am not spending enough time doing things I need to be doing.....

Exhibit A - The skillet I cooked gravy in for lunch.....yesterday. Trust me it was much better then than it looks after sitting out for oh about 30 hours.




Exhibit B - The dresser (with a weird flash pattern on it) that is sitting in the entryway beside the front door, and has been for a week. This was in the room formerly known as the teenage boys room and needs a new place to be.....as soon as I find that place.

Exhibit C - The piles of video tapes in the family room that need put back in the entertainment center I moved to the living room. I even put some in a basket and started that way but DS popped up on messenger about then.

Exhibit D - Part of the 400 or so pictures from SH's parents that I need to copy and put on CD's for his 5 brothers and sisters. They are on the dining room table instead (and the floor).



Exhibit E - The tons of cookies and lunch cakes SH keeps bringing home because they are free at work. I don't like most of these things thank goodness but I am running out of cabinet space.....



Exhibit F - I spent half an hour playing with my camera in DD's bathroom mirror because if I needed one more excuse to keep from doing any of the above. I should have at least cleaned the stupid mirror.

Moving right along

I'm moving furniture....again. The entertainment center from my sons room is too big for the living room (formally known as the teenage boys room) . The one in the family room, which super hubby built, will work. I have been unloading tv's, video tapes and players of all types for hours. Who knew you were supposed to dust back there regularly? Now to get the tv out of the camper for my room, the tv in my room for the family room and the family room tv for the living room. I'll get it all hooked up again before SH gets home from work and then he can fix what I screwed up when he gets home;-)
Warning TMI ahead!
Tonight I am going to run a big bubbly bathtub full of scented water and perform the last of summer shaving ritual. You know what I am talking about. The leg shaving that when SH walks into the bathroom he finds me tangled with one foot in the soap dish, one behind my head (like I could do that on purpose) trying to shave every inch of leg or anything that anyone may see if I accidentally drop 60 lbs. and wear a bathing suit in public. A girl has to be prepared. For the next 7 months or so I am strictly a from the knee down shaver. Oh I may backslide and find myself smooth again in late fall, and again for Christmas. Some habits are hard to break. Of course if I get a cold that requires a visit to the doctor I will be right back to the super smooth look. Everyone knows to go prepared to the doctor because an ear infection could result in paper gown. Shoot, then there is the trip to Amish country. I'm not sure what Amish rules are for shaving but what if I get ran over by a rabid horse pulling a buggy and have to go to the hospital........

Decorating 101

In my quest to make the world a better place I am going to post some decorating tips I learned from my 2 years with boy who lives here but isn't mine (bwlhbim). Since he moved out, my own DS moved out and they took with them the 8 or 10 odd teenagers that stayed here often, I am working on fixing up the living room that bwlhbim used as his own room.
Now for the part you have been waiting for. I know you will want to try these out as fast as you can, so I will keep the tips few and easy to follow.
1. When spilling pepsi and /or something with red dye (Hawaiian punch?) in the carpet you can just move the furniture over the spot and it will disappear, on its own with no help from a carpet cleaner.
2. To make sure no one complains too much you need to dust something every month or so. Not everything, just pick one thing that is obvious, like an end table. No one will venture far enough in the room to look at everything else and won't notice the piles of dust behind stuff as long as they see you dust that end table.
3. If you leave piles of clothing on the floor it will make it harder for anyone to get close to those dusty things, buying you more time with the whole not dusting thing.
4. If you need a place to hide your playboy magazines you can tear a hole in the bottom of the loveseat. That one became a necessity when I found them hid under the loveseat and opened them all up to the centerfold and displayed them on his dresser, just so he knew I had found them.
5. When your host has cute little curtains that tie back on the sides feel free to jerk the ties out and throw them down SOMEWHERE so the sun won't get in your eyes when you want to sleep until 3 PM. When your host finally finds the tiebacks and puts them back make sure the next time you jerk on them so hard the curtain rod bends in the middle and then hide the tie backs so no one can ever put them up again.....until you move out and they are found under the couch.
6. Instead of working yourself to death and walking around the corner to the kitchen garbage can just stuff your water bottles, lunch cake wrappers and various packaging for items you buy under the love seat and couch. It can't hurt anything if no one can see it...can it?
Those are my decorating tips for today. I'm going back in that room as soon as the carpet dries so wish me luck.

Good news/Bad news

Good news- The girls volleyball team raised $3,000 for cancer research.

Bad news - they didn't win the game.

Tonight was Volley for a Cure and the girls sold shirts and baked goods with all proceeds going to cancer research. Our little school has raised $100,000 in the last few years. Look at all those pink shirts at the game tonight, and that was just a small portion of the crowd. There were over 800 teams doing the volley for a cure tonight at their own schools.

Good news- Many people in my family have worked hard to raise money for cancer research and I am so proud to be able to be a tiny part of it.

Bad news- Many people in my family have been affected by cancer....way too many.

Good news - I get to sleep in tomorrow morning.

Bad news - I get to sleep in because DD has a horrible cold and I can't risk taking it to the little boy I take care of on Fridays. No work = no pay but to take germs into his house would be devastating to him and could put him in the hospital for a long time.

Good news- It is September and almost fall.

Bad news- Someone forgot to inform mother nature that we don't normally stay in the upper 90's in September.

Good news- In one month I will be eating, sleeping and shopping in Amish country again.

Bad news- An entire month before I can get away and try to sneak pictures of Amish people.

Good news- I have been working on some different types of posts for this blog.

Bad news- I think some of the things I talk about aren't something I want to put out there, it was just important to me to get it off my chest and by putting it in a draft I got it off of my chest.

Good news- I am posting even if it is about nothing in particular.

Bad news- It has taken me hours to get on this site to do it, and it takes me forever to send an email. I have dial up people I do not need any more delays.

Good news- I found a nice home for the last of Koko's puppies and now my shoes will not all be chewed up.

Bad news- Heck there isn't any bad news for this one.

Good news- DS wants me to come up tomorrow evening for dinner.

Bad news- I have to go see DS and then leave him there when I leave.

AND FINALLY

Good news- I only gave myself 15 minutes to finish this post so I wouldn't think it to death. You are almost done reading so be happy.

Bad news- By reading this post you will be able to tell I didn't think this one through and just typed without thinking too much.

The one that leads no where

Busy, busy, busy. The last few days have been filled with time alone with SH (wink, wink), little old ladies that need SH and life. By life I mean cooking, dishes, and all that crap. I am working on a couple of long entries and have part of them saved until I can actually sit down and think them through. I have some heavier than usual stuff saved and want to really think it through before I post, kind of like my own little post secret.
I have been checking my email every few minutes to check on an update about Riley. You don't know Riley and I don't know Riley. Riley is a little boy in my Aunts 6th grade science class. Rileys father is the Principal of the school and his mother a counselor. A couple of days ago Riley was at a friends house and took a spin on his 4-wheeler. Somehow The 4-wheeler ended up flipping on Riley and he was life flighted to a local hospital. The last I heard was that they disconnected his life support because there wasn't any brain activity and he started breathing on his own. The doctors were trying to decide whether to try to get some of the pressure off of his brain or whether it would be worth the trauma to him and his family. I do know that hundreds of people met at his school on Monday evening to pray for him and his family....keep praying people, every little bit helps.