Monday, October 31, 2016

Painting


If I ever decide I want to paint over paneling again, somebody just shoot me, K?

When I started this project, I had no idea how much work was involved.  First you have to sand the finish off, then wipe all the sawdust off with a damp rag before you even begin to think about painting.  And in my case, I had about a bajillion nail holes in the wall to patch.  I was tired before I even started.

Then you have to cover everything with drop cloths.  I said my bedroom was dressing up as a mummy for Halloween.


The next thing is, you have to paint all those grooves between the panels by hand.


Oh, the grooves!  The grooves!  I'm going to have nightmares about those grooves.  Five hours it took me to do two walls.  FIVE hours.  I don't think I'm going to be able to move tomorrow.

I got two walls painted, but one of them still needs a second coat.  Fortunately, the second coat goes much faster than the first coat.  But by the time I got done with the first wall, putting the second coat on and all, I was plumb knackered.  I'll put the second coat on the other wall tomorrow after work.  I really wanted to get the wall in the picture completed so I wouldn't have to move that big, heavy dresser again.

But when all is said and done, I think I'm going to like this color.  Oh, by the way, once I started painting, I found at least a dozen more holes in the wall, but by then, I just didn't care any more.  I keep telling myself that this is just until I can save up enough to get the paneling pulled down and replaced with new drywall.  I'm still going to paint it the same color, though.  It's not as blue as it looks on my monitor, and goes with my comforter very well.

Yes, I know I have a smudge of paint on my door frame, but I'm going to paint over it anyway, so it doesn't matter.

The bad news is, I didn't get any trick or treaters.  Not one.  I guess that means I'm going to have to eat all this Halloween candy myself.


Or maybe that's good news.  He he he...

Anyway, I'm going to bed, but before I go, I'll leave you with my traditional Halloween Prayer:

From Ghoulies and Ghosties 
And long legged beasties
And things that go bump in the night
May the Good Lord deliver us.





Friday, October 28, 2016

On Second Thought

That patio I was so excited about last night is going to have to wait.  The reason is simple.  See, after I'd posted, I went to YouTube and looked at some videos on how to install a paving stone patio.  It looks pretty simple.  You stake out the corners of your patio, then string mason's line, and make sure it's square and all that.  Then you dig.

That there is the problem.  It's been so dry this year that my back yard is just about as hard as those paving stones I want to put down.  Seriously.  We're under a nearly state wide burn ban.  Some guy decided to ignore the ban and burn his field.  It was so dry that the fire got out of control, overtook the guy, and killed him.  Yes, it's that bad.

I'm thinking that if I wait until Spring, after the rainy season, it'll be easier to dig out my patio base.  That'll give me a lot of time to plan, and try to decide which paving stones I want to use.  There are so many options, I can't make up my mind.  There are also molds that I can use with Quikcrete.  I will probably go up to Lowe's and see what they look like in person before I make a final decision.

I did get out this morning and measure out where my old patio was.  I was thinking it was bigger than it was.  I was thinking it was 10' x 12', but after measuring, I now think it was only 8' x 8'.  That's how big I'm going to make the new one, so that'll be a little less money.  I don't need a really big patio.  Just enough for a lawn chair and maybe a table.  And a small fire pit.  Maybe.

The other thing I did today was to get in my bedroom and pull the rest of the screws and nails out of my walls.  And there were a lot of them.


I think I've finally gotten them all out, except for one that I left on purpose.  I'm going to hang my calendar from that nail, so I decided to leave it where it is.  Then I got out my trusty wood putty and filled in all the holes.  Again, I think I got them all filled in.  I'll probably find some I missed when I paint it.  Next thing to do is to sand all the putty smooth, and lightly sand the paneling.  I've already started sanding the door frame to get the finish off.  There is a lot of damage to the door and door frame, but it's nowhere near in as bad a shape as my bathroom door was.  I'll eventually replace it, but probably not until I get the whole room remodeled completely.  

I spent most of the rest of the day watching ST: TNG and knitting.  At one point, I looked over and saw a little spidey sitting on my shoulder watching me knit.  I named him George.

Then I killed him.

Sayonara, George.









Thursday, October 27, 2016

Inventory


Another inventory day has come and gone...and though it may have seemed endless at the time, it's over for another year.  I had to laugh at the inventory noobs complaining about having to stay.  Back in the day, we had to go in at 5:00 and sometimes wouldn't get out until 8:00 or 9:00 at night.  One year, they kept us so late that the plant bought us supper.  So, yeah, those complaining about having to stay until 2:00 aren't getting a whole lot of sympathy from me.

Monday, the plant will be shut down so they can move some machines around, so I have a really long weekend.  Not as long as the people who didn't work inventory, but then I get a day's pay whereas they don't, so I'm not complaining.   The plan is to get my bedroom painted, and maybe go to Lowe's.
Why do I need to go to Lowe's?  That's the good news.  I found someone to dispose of that giant pile of concrete in my back yard.


I put out a call in a couple of the local groups on Facebook and someone answered.  We were discussing his fee when he said, "Have you ever thought of just having it buried in your yard?  It'll be a lot cheaper doing it that way."  I said, "Yeah, let's do that!"

Yesterday when he got done with whatever he was doing, he came by and looked at the concrete.  He said, "That's not as much as I thought it was."  He thinks it will only take an hour to bury it, so that'll be even less money.  Since he is already working in this area, he's going to waive the equipment mobilization fee and only charge me for labor.

First, he's going to call that number where they come out and mark all the underground lines and cables and stuff -- just to be on the safe side.  I know there's nothing where he wants to bury it, between my shed and the back fence, but he'd rather make the call than risk hitting something.  It usually takes them three days to get all that marking done, so it'll be Monday before they are finished.  He said maybe he can get to it Monday evening, he'll let me know.

I'll be so glad to get my back yard back!  That's the reason for the trip to Lowe's.  I'm going to get some of those paving stones to rebuild my patio.  I can probably do that cheaper than getting someone to come pour a slab.  Then I'll have my patio back!

Hmmm, I'm going to go to the Lowe's website and try to figure out how much it'll cost.

I'll let you know how it goes.





Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Hair Of The Dog

There I was at work, just a working away, when my coworker Edna called me over.  She and Supervisor Ronny had been talking about how much they enjoyed reading my blog.  (Thank you!) They said I have a way of saying things that makes them interesting.  If they had blogs, Ronny's would read, "I went fishing", and Edna said hers would say, "I sat down and watched TV."  Well, guys, this one is just for you.

Look!  I brushed the dog!


Yay, me!

OK, that's not all I did.  I finished binding off my cowl.


I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which takes more yarn than a normal bind off.  I'm telling ya, I was really sweating it there for a minute, but I got it done.  This, yes this, is how much yarn I had left when I finished.


iPhone 5 included for scale.  Giant eyeball included for freakiness.  (No, seriously, I didn't notice that when I took the picture.  It's just a lagniappe.  Which is Cajun for bonus...roughly translated.  Or something.)

For those of you who may be new to my blog, let me fill you in with a little backstory.  When I moved to this house a year ago, I dug up a bucket full of spider lily bulbs from my old house and brought them with me.  Because the ground was so hard at the time, they sat in that bucket for a couple of months until I could get them into the ground.  This fall, I was worried that they'd all died when not one single one of them bloomed.  Not one.  Oh, I had some spider lilies, but they were the ones that were already here, planted by a previous owner.

I was in the yard the other day chatting over the fence with my next door neighbor, and saw that the leaves are coming up!


They aren't dead after all.  Maybe once they've gotten settled, I'll have some blooms.


Well, for most of the plant, this was their last day of work until Tuesday.  For those of us who have to work inventory, we still have tomorrow.  The good thing is, I don't have to be there until 7, so I can sleep in until 5:30!

Believe me, after getting up at 3:30, that is sleeping in.



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

I'm Back!

Did you miss me?

I know at least one of you did...*cough cough* ...Cyndye...

Truth is, my mind just hasn't been into blogging this last week.  I have been dealing with a difficult situation at work, or rather a difficult person.

You know, all my life, I've always assumed that I just can't get along with people.  But the more I open up and talk to people, the more I hear, "Oh, yeah, she's like that."  Or, "That's how he is", or "No, it isn't just you."  or something similar.  I'm not looking for vindication, but it's nice to know it's not just me.  The same holds true in this case.  It's not just me.

Anyway, this situation had become so stressful and tense that Tuesday, I went and spoke to my supervisor about it.  He went and discussed it with the other person...and, well...All I was asking was that she follow the production schedule and clean up her work area afterwards.  I didn't think those were unreasonable requests.  Apparently she did.  She came back to our work area and loudly announced that she was not going to follow the schedule, and how dare I even suggest such a thing.  She was going to do what she wanted whether I liked it or not.

For the next two days, she stood hovering over me, all bowed up with her hands on her hips, glaring down at me.  I just went on about my business like she wasn't even there.  I so wanted to say, "I ain't your Hillary Clinton, girl.  It's going to take a lot more than that to intimidate me, Chicky-Boo".  Y'all would have been proud of me.  I kept my mouth shut.  I just ignored her for the rest of the week, and I think that made her even angrier.  This week, she's in another area of the plant, so I call this my week of peace.  Unfortunately, she'll be back next week.

Because of that stress, I just haven't felt like doing much of anything.  I did get my bathroom door re-hung, and that one little bit of wall repainted.  I just have a few touch ups to do where I spattered paint, and it'll be pretty much done.


I was going to do some more work on the house last weekend, but in the end, I didn't do anything.  I just sat and watched TV all weekend.  And did nothing else.  I guess I needed that rest -- from everything: work, the house, this election cycle, everything.  This week is inventory at work, then Monday will be a plant shutdown day for maintenance, so I'll have a very long weekend.  My goal is to get my bedroom painted.  Then I can get the guy out to do my crown moulding and baseboards.

While I was sitting and doing nothing all week, I did some knitting.


I'm almost through with this cowl.  I started the bind off last night, and hope to get it finished today.   I was going to try to finish before blogging, but my fans started clamoring for posts.  So, I write.

The only other exciting thing that has happened is that I bought some new slipper socks.


They were a bit pricy, but are lined with fake woolly fleece, and are very warm and squishy.  I might just spring for another pair or two.

Finally, a few days ago, it really hit home that my cat is getting old.  I mean, you know your pets are, but you don't really think about it.  Squeaky will be 16 in January.  I don't really know when she was born, but she looked to be about 4 months old when I found her in April of 2001.  So I just arbitrarily gave her a January 1st birthday.  I have pet gates across the doors where her litter boxes and food bowls are to keep the dogs from eating her food and, um, her poop.  Last week, I was watching her try to jump over the gate.  She would bounce, and hop a little, and gather herself, start over, hop a few more times, then finally jump over.  I said to myself, "Self, that there cat of yours is getting old.  You might need to raise that gate up a bit so she can get under it."


Now, she can crawl under it, but I have to lift my legs way higher to get over it.  I was really sore for a few days, but I'm getting over it.

No pun intended...


Monday, October 17, 2016

Star Trek Stamps

I like to knit.


If you've read my blog for more than say...2 days, you already know that.

Blanket photo notwithstanding, the thing I knit most often is hats.  They are quick and pretty much mindless.  When you get up at 3:30 AM, you need mindless things to knit.  So, I knit hats.  Lots and lots of hats.  Any time I finish a hat, I stuff it into a drawer.  Sooner or later a need arises, and I have hats to donate.

Sunday, one of my online knitting buddies put out a call for hand knit hats.  Her church is doing a weekend program for their youth and college age kids.  It's all about growing in their relationship with the Lord.  At the end of the program, they are going to get to choose a hat to take with them.

Naturally, I volunteered to send some, so I boxed up a few and mailed them off to her.  While I was at the post office, the clerk asked me if I needed anything else.

"You got any of them Star Trek stamps?"

A clandestine deal over the post office counter in which some money changed hands, and I am now the proud owner of a pane of Star Trek stamps.


As I was walking out, the clerk said, "Have a nice day."

I replied, "Of course I will!  I've got Star Trek stamps!"

There were a few people in the lobby, and I accosted them and showed them, "Look, I've got Star Trek stamps!"  A man in the parking lot greeted me with "How are you?"  "I'm great!  I've got Star Trek stamps!"  I've got Star Trek stamps!

On the way home, I was thinking, "How lucky am I?  I got to witness the 50th anniversary of both Doctor Who and Star Trek!  What a great time to be alive!"  

Yeah, I'm a total geek, but who cares?

I've got Star Trek stamps!




Friday, October 14, 2016

Rainy Friday

I'd planned on getting out and getting started chainsawing my big pile of firewood, but alas, is has rained nearly all day.  That's a good thing, though, because it's been so dry lately.  Pretty much the entire state is under a burn ban.

So what did I do instead?  I finished touching up my bathroom door frame.


It looks a lot better now.  But one thing I was disappointed in, when I pulled the painter's tape off the wall, it pulled my paint off, too.


I can touch it up, but I was a bit aggravated, because that tape said it was safe for freshly painted surfaces -- after 24 hours, that is.  And it had been 24 hours before I put it on.  It's just one more thing.

Speaking of one more thing, I finally got that polyurethane on that door.  It'll be ready to hang back up tomorrow afternoon.



It didn't end up quite the color I thought it would, but I really like it.

Not much else went on today, unless you want to hear about all the ST:TNG episodes I streamed on Amazon, so I'll just leave you with this:



If you've never heard of  Norton Hall Band, you're welcome.






Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Insomnia

Friday is Cody's birthday.  I couple of weeks ago, I told him that if he made an Amazon wish list, I could order him some birthday presents.  He said he'd get to it that weekend.  A few days go by, and he still hasn't sent me the link.  I asked him if he'd gotten it done, and he said he'd forgotten.  I few more days go by, and finally, yesterday morning, I told him "If you don't tell me what you want for your birthday, I'm going to buy you underwear and have it delivered to your work."

Last night was one of those nights.  I woke up at 1:30 AM and could not go back to sleep for anything.  After an hour or so of tossing and turning, I picked up my phone and opened my Facebook app.  I don't usually do that, but last night,  I did.

There it was.  A message from Cody with a link to his wish list.

In a fit of insomnia, I'm laying in bed at 2:30 in the morning, ordering my son's birthday presents on my phone, and giving thanks for the capitalistic economy that makes such things possible.


A couple of days ago, my friend Sue told me to be expecting a package.  She's been cleaning out her yarn stash, so I thought she was sending me some more yarns.  Yesterday afternoon, the UPS man came and left a box.  Eagerly, I opened it up, only to find something that was not yarn.


Carefully, I took the bubblewrap off, and it was a hand drawn picture of my house with one of my favorite Bible verses on it!


I have the best friends!  I hung it in my bedroom, so I can see it every morning when I wake up.  Thank you, Sue!  You're the best!  Mwaa!


Finally, my long awaited chainsaw has arrived.


Only 4 days late...but it's here.  I haven't even had time to get it out of the box and play with it.  Maybe this weekend I can get out and chainsaw some stuff.

And I'm finally going to get that dadgum bathroom door polyurethaned.

Stay tuned.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Mike VI


Mike VI

July 23, 2005 - October 11, 2016



Burn bright, Tiger.  Burn bright,

                                         In the forests of the night.*  



Fair winds and following seas, old friend.

Geaux.  

Monday, October 10, 2016

The Rest Of The Weekend

After my very expensive Friday, the rest of the weekend was somewhat more mundane.  Unless you want to get excited about how well my bed skirt matches my comforter.


Because I'm kinda excited about it.

Another thing I'm kinda excited about...

I got up Saturday morning and painted my bathroom ceiling.  It's amazing how such a simple thing brightens up the whole room.


I even painted my vent covers.


Good thing I took pictures, because I noticed a few spots I need to touch up, on both of them.


But the whole room looks so much better than before.  Well, except for these spots.


There's one on the other side, too.  This is where my shower curtain rod damaged the wall.


I can patch it and repaint it, but I'll need to get a new curtain rod, or it'll just happen all over again.  In fact, I had to patch two nearly identical spots when I first started working on this room.  I'll have to check out curtain rods to see which kinds won't damage walls.

Sunday afternoon, I got my door frame painted.


I put two coats on it, but I noticed I've got a couple of spots on it I need to touch up.  Seems I always miss a spot or two.  In between coats, I stained my door.


The color ended up a bit darker than the can showed, but I like it.  I was going to start putting the polyurethane on it today, but I had kind of a rough day at work -- which included having to stay late.  Then I remembered Jesse had a vet appointment.  By the time I got home from that, I had a rip roaring headache, and I just didn't feel like it.  Besides that, I'm not sure I have enough polyurethane to do the whole thing.  I'll pick some more up tomorrow.

I'll admit, it was kind of strange taking a bath with no bathroom door, but I made it.  You want to know how tired I am?  I tried to close the door three times before I remembered it wasn't there.

And on that note, I think I'll go to bed.

Goodnight.

Friday, October 07, 2016

An Expensive Day

It started out as a normal Friday -- well, normal for me having a day off, that is.  I slept in until 6:30.  I got up and did a load of laundry.  I checked the mail, and in said mail was my new Navy hat.


I'm not sure why I keep buying all these hats, when I really don't like wearing them.


But they look cool and they say Navy on them.  So there is that.  And I do wear them when I'm mowing, to keep the sun from blinding me.  The irony here is that I used to wear hats all the time, until I joined the Navy and had to wear them.  Now, I don't like wearing hats.  Go figure...

I put my polyurethane on my mantle pieces.


As soon as it dries really well, it'll be ready to put back onto the wall.  I've discovered through this whole process that I really like working with wood.  Well, sanding and staining at least.  We'll see about putting it all back together.

Once I'd done with that, I was just sitting there, enjoying the peace and quiet.  I didn't even have the TV on.  I was just listening to the silence.  Alas, it didn't last, because I needed to go to the store.  I didn't have much on my list that I needed, so I had a bit extra to spend.  I've had the same blanket on my bed for some 20 years, and it's getting pretty ratty.  I've been saying for years that I was going to get a new one, but I never did until today.


I was wandering up and down the bedding department aisles looking for the blankets -- they've rearranged the store again, so I don't know where anything is -- and I managed to find a bed skirt to coordinate with my comforter.


Now, I can hide the junk under my bed!

I have no idea where these came from, or how they got into my buggy, but they were on clearance!  And that's all I have to say about that.


I went over to the paint department to replace the finishing sandpaper that I can't find, or maybe never bought in the first place, I'm not sure which, and while I was there, I picked out this color to stain my bathroom door.


I'd debated on staining my mantle that color, because really I love it, but I thought a darker color would look better for said mantle.  This time, I was looking for something to match the cabinet I'd hung in the bathroom, and this seemed to be it.  When I got home, I took the can in and this color matches my bathroom cabinet very closely.  I'm glad of that.  The plan for tomorrow is to get that ceiling painted.  But then, that was the plan for today, and it didn't quite happen.

Moving right along...

Back in 2006, when I got my trailer house, Beverly and James gave me one of their old recliners.


They'd had it several years already, and I've had it for 10 years myself, so it's had a nice long life.  A few weeks ago, I was sitting there watching TV when I heard a sproing and felt the seat give a little bit.  Since then, bit by bit, the seat has given way more and more.  That brown spot on the right side of the seat is actually the floor behind the chair.   It was getting very uncomfortable to sit in, and not exactly safe either.  I just knew that one day the entire seat would fall out and I'd be sitting on the floor.

When I was leaving Wal-mart today, there was a young man at the intersection holding a sign.  One of the furniture stores was going out of business and had everything on sale.  I said to myself, "Self, you need to go down there and see what they have."  So after going home and putting my groceries up, that's exactly what I did.

I came home with this bad boy.


It is a La-Z-Boy rocking recliner that normally runs $800.  He let me have it for $467.  It's a little smaller than my old chair, but I fit in it just fine.  It also sits up higher, so I'm having to get used to the altitude.  I feel like I'm going to get a nosebleed way up here...

Wonder of wonders, they were able to get the thing in my little hatchback.  They had to take the back off and put my seats down, but it fit.  The guy loading it was very concerned about how I was going to get it into the house when I got home.  "I just want you to be OK," he said.  I assured him I could ask one of the neighbors to help me with it.  Turns out, I didn't need to.  It wasn't that heavy, and I was able to get it out of the car and inside by myself.

Before I left the furniture store, I asked the guy if they had any mattresses and box springs.  I need to replace the one in Cody's room, and since they were marking everything down, it seemed a good opportunity to get one for less money.

This is something else I'd been planning for a while.  There is an old bed frame out in my shed that the previous owner left.  I am going to get it down and see if it is still any good.  It looks to be in good shape, but until I see it up close, I don't know for sure.  Even if it isn't any good, I can get a bed frame for less than $100.  I have a plan for the headboard, but I don't want to get into that here.  This post is already long enough.

Anyway, I asked about mattresses and box springs.  He said he could order me one, if they didn't have what I was looking for.  He pointed out one, and I lay down on it.  It was so comfortable, I said, "I might put this one in my room, and let my son have my old mattress!"  They didn't have the size I was looking for -- I'm putting a full in that room because the room is kind of small -- so they ordered one for me.  The good news is, it was a $1297 set, and, even though he had to order it, he let me have it at the clearance price of $584!  So, I made out like a bandit in that sale.

Next step is to beg my bosses for more overtime, so I can pay for all that furniture I just bought.  Or rather, to build my savings back up after using it to pay for all that furniture I bought.  Yeah, that's the ticket...






Thursday, October 06, 2016

A Break, Of Sorts

I was all gung ho while I was at work.  I was going to come home and paint that bathroom ceiling and boy was I going to get a lot done.  Now, it's time for bed, and I haven't done anything. Sometimes, you just need to take a break.

What I did do, instead of painting, was I got my pillow sham and picked out colors for my bedroom.  Well, first, I took it into Cody's room and propped it up against the curtains to see how well they'd go together.  Looks like we have a winner.


Then I got my paint cards out and chose colors for the walls and the trim.


Yes, I know the picture is out of focus, but I'm too tired to take another one.  I'd tell you which colors I picked, but I doubt you could see them anyway.  What with the picture being out of focus and all... I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow.  Then I got my wood putty out and patched several nail holes in the paneling.  The plan is to eventually pull all that paneling down and replace it with new drywall, but for now, I'm just going to paint over it.

Once I get that bathroom done, that is.

Just so this post isn't a total waste, here is my scarecrow, making his annual Fall appearance.


I had a coworker tell me, "You don't talk to nobody.  I been watching you and all you do is stand over here and work, work, work.  You need to step around and conversate more."

First of all, I get paid to work, not talk.  Secondly, I seriously doubt she'd be interested in the things I'd want to "conversate" about, anyway.  She probably doesn't even know what Newton's first and second laws of thermodynamics are, much less be able to use them to refute a well known scientist's theory of the creation of the universe.

Or want to discuss why England keeps putting parking lots over dead monarchs.

Yeah, I'll pass on that "conversating", thank you very much.



Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Not Much Going On

There hasn't been much going on here lately.  I have begun prepping my bathroom ceiling for painting.  By prepping, I mean patching the holes and gouges with drywall mud.  But mostly, prepping means convincing myself that my walls and ceilings will never look brand new, and that's OK.


I originally wasn't going to paint the ceiling, but one evening as I was relaxing in a hot bath, I noticed how very dirty it is.


Then I noticed that blue blotch where I'd inadvertently painted about two square inches of the ceiling.   So, it's getting painted.  And yes, Cyndye, I'm going to paint the vent cover, too.  See, I remember your comments from a year ago!

But I can't remember my own name half the time.  Go figure...

In sad news, Mike VI was taken in for a checkup, and his cancer is back.  The tumor in his head has begun growing again, and the cancer has spread.


The veterinary school will be monitoring him daily, and when it looks like his quality of life has gone, they will let him go.

Finally, we have Saturday off again, so this time, my long weekend really is a long weekend.  And yes, I double checked.  I really do have Friday off this time.

Not making that mistake again.






Monday, October 03, 2016

Part Of Something Good

So, there I was yesterday afternoon, perusing Facebook and semi watching football, when I got a friend request.  It was from someone I didn't know, and we had no mutual friends.  I went to her page, thinking it might be someone I once knew but forgot I once knew, but didn't recognize her.  Still, she posted a lot of similar things to what I post, so I accepted her request.

Almost immediately, I got a PM from her.  She asked me if I knew how to get in touch with another friend, Betsy, because she thought she had Betsy's dog.

Betsy and her family had adopted Rocky about the same time I got Jesse.  The people at the shelter warned them that he was a runner, and they weren't lying.  Rocky has run away several times, and they have to go find him.  He's like the opposite of Jesse.  Rocky is a runner, and Jesse is velcro-- as in Mr. Clingy.

Anyway, this girl, Chelsea, had found him.  She tried to call the phone number on his tags, but for some reason, the call didn't go through.  When Betsy didn't answer the phone, Chelsea looked her up on Facebook and sent her a friend request.  Betsy ignored the request because she didn't recognize the name, and they had no mutual friends.  Next, Chelsea turned to me, because she had seen that I liked most of Betsy's posts.  To make a long story only slightly less long, I passed along Chelsea's contact information, and Betsy's husband went and picked Rocky up.

And that, my friends, is how a Mississippi girl helped a Missouri dog find his way home.

Except I'm still a Texas girl;  I just live in Mississippi...for now.

Back to my regularly scheduled weekend wrapup.

You know you work a lot when you consider a two day weekend as a "long weekend."  What did I do on my long weekend?  Well, for one, I finally got my new comforter out and onto the bed.


I'm not sure why I was thinking the set included a bed skirt, but it doesn't.  I'm going to have to find one, so I can use the space under the bed for storage.  I mean, I already do, but the skirt will help hide the junk.  Not that anyone goes into my bedroom, but still.  I want my junk hidden.  So, I'm getting a bed skirt.

Now that Cody has his own place, I think I'm going to move the curtains from his room into mine.  That was kind of the plan all along.  I'd bought the black ones when I first moved in, just to have something to cover that window up.  The plan here is to move the black panels into the craft/computer/snake room, and move his blue ones into my room.  When I figure out how I want to decorate what will be his room when he's here and a guest room when he's not, then I'll buy new ones to go into there.  You can see the blue curtains at the top of this photo.  I think they'll coordinate with my comforter just fine.


I got my mantle pieces stained.  They are gorgeous.  I wish you could see them in person.  Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to put the polyurethane coat on them.  Then comes the hard part:  getting them back on the wall.  I can do this.  Really, I can do this.

Saturday, I painted that little bit by my bathroom door.  You remember where I had to patch when we changed the door frame out.


Today,  I had to go pay some bills in town, so I ran by True Value and got the paint for my ceiling.  Funny, it was one year ago today that I first painted the bathroom.  I feel like I've been in limbo for so long waiting to get that tree cut down.  I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on house stuff, because I needed to make sure I could pay for the tree removal.  Now that it's done, I can finally get back to working on my house.

In the spirit of creativity, I picked up a whole bunch of paint brochures at the hardware store.  I just might let y'all help me pick out colors.

Won't that be fun?