It's Mine!

We closed on my new house today.  It's mine!

Well, technically, it belongs to the bank for the next 30 years, but let's not quibble over details.

I met the lady who was selling it.  She seems like a really sweet person.  Her husband had passed away a couple of years ago, and she'd been living alone in the house ever since.  She decided it was time to move closer to her children.  She is moving to a town just a few miles up the road, near where one of her sons lives.  She teared up a little when she was talking about how difficult it was to leave the house she'd been living in for 30 something years, and the house she'd raised her children in.  I assured her I would take good care of the house.  

I went ahead and took the day off of work, since I didn't know what time we would close.  First thing I did was to sleep in -- if you can call waking up at 6:30 as sleeping in.  Before it got hot, I got out and dug up my spider lily bulbs out of my front flower beds.  I got nearly a 5 gallon bucket full, and I didn't even get them all.  If we had closed earlier in the day, I was going to go over and start planting them, but it was late afternoon before we got done. 

Oh, I still could have done it, but I didn't.  I was going to come home and start hauling stuff over to the new house, too, but I didn't.  I swanee, the older I've gotten, the less I like to get out.  Once it hits 6 PM, I'm in for the night, and ready for bed. 

Anyway, after I finished digging up bulbs, I came inside and cleaned out a couple of kitchen cabinets.  I found an old set of plates my ex mother in law had given me.  They are the decorative kind, not the eating off of kind.  I had mentioned once that I loved Canada Geese, and she found those plates and bought them for me.  I'd never hung them up in this house, because I didn't really have a good place to display them.  I will get them cleaned up and back on the wall in my new house, though.  Point is, I was going to take a picture and show you, but my card reader broke.  The USB port came disconnected.  I tried to hook my camera up directly to my computer, but it keeps saying it doesn't recognize it, or something like that. 

Windows 10 is crap, by the way.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.

While I was piddling around in the house, I heard the familiar sound of helicopters approaching.  I ran outside, and soon spotted them.  There were four Apache helicopters, flying so low I could wave at the pilots.  Seriously, they were barely above the tree tops.  That is one thing I'm really going to miss when I move away from here.  I always loved watching the Army and Air National Guard flying over the house. 

Some 20 years ago, when I was moving into my first trailer house, a congressman died of cancer.  Several senators and congressmen flew in for the funeral, and they flew in on Air Force One.  Only it wasn't, because the president wasn't on board, but it was one of his planes.  Several more flew in in the vice president's plane.  James and Cody went for a tour of it, but I didn't go.  I was grubby from digging in the yard.  I think I was digging the trench to run my electrical lines, but I'm not sure.  It was a long time ago.  

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with my day off.  I'm heading for bed now, and I'll dream of paint colors, and helicopters.

And the sound of freedom.   

Cranky

My internet is being cranky this evening, so this may or may not post.  Nevertheless, we must persevere.  I'm determined to get back to blogging regularly, once I get all moved and stuff.

Speaking of, I'm just a bit aggravated.  Someone was supposed to let me know today whether we would for sure be able to close on Monday, but I haven't heard a word from anyone.  I hope we can, since I already took the day off work.  People just don't understand how difficult it is to get a day off on short notice.  Oh, I can just call in, but then I'd lose my attendance bonus for the month, and that's a lot of money.

Well, well, well, funny thing.  Just as I was typing that, my phone binked.  It was a message from the mortgage person letting me know that we still plan on closing Monday.  She's just waiting for the termite report, but thinks it should be ready by Monday morning.  So, disregard all the previous griping. 

Now, on to some fun stuff.

I've always loved this movie, Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris.  I used to have a copy on VHS, but haven't been able to watch it since my VCR crapped out. I was thinking about it the other day and decided I would try to find it on DVD. 

Off to Amazon I went, and lo and behold, there it was.  I had to buy it from a third party seller, which made me a bit leery, but it arrived today, and was a real DVD.  Not a pirated copy filmed from someone's phone or anything like that.   

It arrived today, and I've already watched it.  It was just as good as I remembered.

What with all the house hunting and stuff, I'm afraid my poor flower bed has been rather badly neglected.  It's over run with grass and weeds, what hasn't died from lack of water, that is.  I was in the store yesterday, and they had some garden mums in pots.  I thought, what the heck, I'll pick one up.  I can always take it with me when I move.  They weren't but $6, and here it is.  

I love the cute little burlap bow.    It ought to be pretty when it blooms.  I've already hollered at Jesse for peeing on it.  

Number 7385 on the list of things I never thought I'd hear myself say, "Don't pee on my mums!"

All this week, I've been waking up in the 3 AM hour, and not been able to get back to sleep.  Tomorrow, I have to wake up in the 3 AM hour.   I have the feeling I won't be able to wake up.  
Figures...

 

It's All Coming Together

We went to my new house today for the final walk through.  Everything is on track for us to close on Monday.  I even met one of my new neighbors, and he is going to mow my yard for me in the morning.  Isn't that sweet?

We found a lot of little things we'd like to take care of.  James went with me, and he was saying, "Oh, that's nothing.  I can fix that."   Nothing major was wrong.  All the appliances and stuff work.  No rotting stuff or anything like that.  We still have to call for a termite inspection, but other than that, we're good to go. 

The bad news is, the people still have a LOT of stuff left in the house.  The Realtor said she was going to call them and make sure they get it out by Monday.    The other bad news is, this back bedroom was a kid's room.  He seemed to have taped a lot of stuff to the walls, and when he pulled it off, it left tape marks on the paneling.   You can't get it off, either, because it pulls the top layer of the paneling off.  But, if I make this the snakes' room, you won't be able to notice it much.

Eh, I'll probably just leave it, at least for now.  I won't be spending a lot of time in this room anyway. 

 More good news, the guy who said he wants to buy my trailer called to get the make, model, and serial number for his bank guy, so I think he's going to follow through. 

What with all the stress and stuff of work and moving, all the knitting I've been doing has been a few squares on what was intended to be my sister's sock yarn blanket.  Yesterday, I was working on it and I found this: 

I checked the rest of the blanket, and it looks fine, so I think this may have been just a snag, and not moths.  Fortunately, I have some of this yarn left so I can darn it-- as soon as I can find a tapestry needle, that is.  The hole is small enough that it shouldn't be too obvious.

Frankly, I'm not surprised that this yarn was the one that got the hole.  It was very cheaply made yarn, and such a disappointment.  The socks I knit from it wore out in about two months.

Needless to say, I never bought any more yarn from that company.

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night.  I was thirsty.  I tried to ignore it, but eventually, I had to get up and get something to drink.  While I was in the kitchen, somehow the cat got into the bedroom, and I didn't know it.  I was momentarily freaked when I felt something jump on the bed and didn't know what it was.  When she came up for snuggles, though, I figured it out. 

Normally, she's not allowed to sleep with me because of my allergies, but I just didn't feel like getting back out of bed.  So, she got to stay.

Just this once. 

Feel It In The Air

I could feel it in the air as soon as I walked out of the plant today.

I know, according to the calendar, it's still almost a month away.

Cooler temperatures are even longer in coming.

But still, I could feel it in the air.

It felt like Fall.

Eye Candy Friday

I don't care what the calendar says, or what the temperature is, or about that equinox thing, when the Candy Corn hits the stores, it's FALL. 

The bank finally called, requesting the last bit of information needed to close on my house.  It's time to get the ball rolling! 

Throwback Thursday

Back in the day, I was in Acteens. 

For those of you who aren't Southern Baptists, Acteens is a mission oriented church group for teenage girls.  The name is short for Active Teens In Missions.  We had lots of fun doing missions projects and things. 

The year I was 14, our leader -- Mrs. Daly-- decided we would make quilted lap robes for nursing home patients.  We all got together at her house one Saturday with all the scrap material we could find to work on them.  We were allowed to use the sewing machine to piece them, but once we got done with that, and got the backing and batting sewn into place, we were supposed to do all the quilting by hand.

That was the year my grandma fell and broke her hip.  She was in the hospital for a week or so, and the day she came home, she had a stroke.   Back into the hospital she went.  After several weeks, she was able to come home again.

While Grandma was in the hospital, I asked Mrs. Daly if I could make my lap robe for her instead of a random nursing home resident.  She said I could, and because I wanted to have it done by the time Grandma got out of the hospital, she also gave me permission to use the sewing machine to quilt it.

However, before I could get the lap robe finished, my Grandma died.  After that, I didn't have the heart to work on it any more.  I stuffed it into the corner behind my mother's sewing machine, where it sat neglected for several weeks.

I was looking at it one day, thinking I really ought to do something with it, when I realized two things:  Christmas was coming, and I had another grandmother.

I sat back down at the sewing machine, and in a few days, the lap robe was done.  I will admit that more than a few tears slipped down my cheeks at the thought of the grandmother I had lost.  Those tears turned to smiles when I saw the look on my Mammaw's face when she opened it that Christmas Eve.

She cherished that lap robe for the rest of her life, and I ...

I will have a treasure to pass down to my own grandchildren, the robe I made for both my grandmas.

Sweet Relief!

Look, y'all!  Look at what our high for tomorrow is supposed to be!

Sweet relief from the relentless heat.  It makes today's storms totally worth it. 

In the meantime, I'm still looking at my paint cards.  I really like these two color combinations.

They both remind me of being at the beach. 

No, the colors aren't true on my monitor, but you can at least get an approximation of what they look like. 

Colors and Sugar

I was singing at my brazing stand.  Fernando walked by, and apparently thought I was yawning.  "Should have gone to bed last night," he quipped.  So, tonight, I intend to take his advice.  I'll be heading for bed as soon as I finish with this post.

After work, I finally made it into True Value and picked up some paint brochures.

So many colors!  So many choices!  I was feeling overwhelmed, so I just grabbed a bunch and brought them home to peruse at my leisure.  I've already seen a couple of the blues that have caught my eye. 

They also had some smaller cards showing what color combinations work together.  I got some of those, to coordinate my kitchen walls and cabinets and such.

Speaking of, we close in less than two weeks.  I asked James today if there was anything I needed to be doing...as in trying to contact the bank or the Realtor.  He said that they would get with me when it was time.   He seemed to imply that they would all pounce on me at once. 

I'm getting excited.  It won't be long now. 

After I left True Value, I ran by Wal-mart to get what I went into town to get in the first place.  While I was there, I decided to splurge. 

Old fashioned Dr Pepper made with sugar instead of corn syrup. 

I wish they'd all go back to using sugar.  It tastes so much better. 

Weekend Knitting

I'm not sure what is floating around in the air, but it's got my allergies all stirred up.  Not the sneezy, itchy eyes kind, either.  The gasping for breath, can't breathe kind. 

It got so bad that I bought a dust mask when I went to the store for my weekly resupply run.  It has helped a bit.  So has the rain we've had the last couple of days.  I feel a bit better today.  Better than I felt yesterday. 

So, what did I do when I was gasping for breath all day yesterday? 

I finished the scarf I'd been knitting out of my wheel spun yarn.

 Then I felted it.  I ran it through the washer and dryer twice, and this is as felted as it's going to get.  

Because I was just learning to spin, my yarn was really inconsistent.  It was really thick in spots, and really thin in spots.  That made the felting interesting.  As you can see, it felted a lot more in some spots than others.  I'm just going to call it an artistic design and let it go at that.

I am thinking about dying it, but that's not a given at this point.

Once I got through with that, I wanted to knit some more, but wanted something pretty mindless.  Most of my yarn is packed up in anticipation of moving, so I picked up one of the sock yarn blankets.  

This is the one I eventually hope to send to my sister. 

Eventually. 

Employee Appreciation

We had an employee appreciation day at work this afternoon. 

They were handing out ice cream and candy during the hour between the shifts.  The problem is, both shifts had to make their way through the break room at the same time. 

So, after work, I went and got in line.  The line was all the way out of the door.  I stood there, and stood there, and stood there.  Holding my 40 lb tool bag.  Hot, tired, and frustrated, I stood there.  The line never moved. 

Finally, I said, "This isn't even worth it,"  and I left without getting a tiny little ice cream sandwich and two bite sized candy bars.

I didn't feel appreciated. 

They really don't know how to do appreciation things out there.  One time, they had a fish fry during our lunch break.  Now, our lunch break is only 20 minutes long, but that day, they gave us an extra 10 minutes. 

The problem was, they didn't make up the plates ahead of time.  They just put trays of food on the table and let people serve themselves.  Only, they didn't cook enough food.  They were bringing in trays of half raw fish, and people were taking all of it. 

There was one big, fat guy.  He had to have weighed at least 400 lbs.  They brought in a tray of fish, and he took every last piece of fish and put it on his plate.  They should have had people serve the food.  Some people stood in line their entire lunch break and didn't get anything to eat.

They didn't feel appreciated. 

Do you want me to feel appreciated?  Here's an idea.  Start resolving some of the issues with production that we've been complaining about for years.  Buy us new bins to put our parts in, so they aren't falling out of the big holes in the bottom of those worn out bins.  Buy us new kit containers with dividers that stay in place, so that we don't have to sort out a bunch of mixed up parts. 

Don't make us wear the same nasty gloves day after day after day.  Stop being so stingy and give us what we need to do our jobs. 

And for the love of Pete, stop treating us like kindergarteners. 

I'm an adult.  Treat me as such.

That will make me feel appreciated.  Much more than an ice cream sandwich will.

Happy Jesseversary!

It was four years ago today that I went down to the adoption fair and found a sad, skinny little dog.  The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he was meant to be mine.

Today, he is happy and healthy, and I couldn't imagine my life without him in it.

But he still doesn't like the camera. 

Yesterday, I picked up a paint brochure to start looking at colors for my new house. 

This one is from Wal-mart.  I was going to go this afternoon and get one from the hardware store, but I made the fatal mistake.  I came home first.

I have a good excuse.  I was tired.  I got up at 1:00 AM and went out to watch the Perseid meteor shower.  I only stayed out about half an hour, but I did see four or five meteors.  It is really too light where I live to see the stars well.  The paper mill right across the way puts out as much light as a small town. 

Back to the paint...I haven't made any firm decisions yet.  However, I'm leaning towards the blue on the bottom row for the kitchen.  For the living room, I like either the light beige -- third from the right on the bottom row, or the very light purple on the top right. 

But, like I said, haven't made any decisions yet.  I want to see what True Value has first. 

I Only Thought

I only thought we were done with the overtime.

When I got to work today, there was a notice posted that our health screenings for our insurance had been postponed.   They had been scheduled for the next three Saturdays.  There is only one reason to postpone them...we are going to be working those days. 

Not only that, I'm hearing rumors we will be working quite a few more Saturdays.  Not that I'm complaining.  I need the money. 

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot to talk about.  It's just too hot to do anything.  I don't even want to knit.  All I do is come home and watch TV.

Well, Netflix really.  There isn't even anything on TV that catches my interest.  I feel like my life is in the doldrums.  It's the waiting.

I'm tired of waiting.  I'm ready to be in my new house. 

And I'm ready to get my trailer sold.

I'm just ready to move on. 

Stop Fixing

what ain't broke!

You know the old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?  Yeah, I really wish people would listen to that.

Long time readers may remember about a year ago, I was having some troubles.  See, when women reach a certain age, they start going through some changes.  Some of the side effects of these changes can be rather unpleasant.  Hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats, and the like. 

When I began to feel these effects, I started taking a supplement called Estroven.  It worked pretty well, up until last year about this time, when they -- for some unknown reason -- decided to change the formula.  Suddenly, I might as well have been taking sugar pills.  Hot flashes so bad, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust.  Night sweats so bad the bed splashed.  Mood swings so Hyde like I don't even want to go there. 

After a few months of trying this supplement and that supplement, I found a combination that works for me.  I've been taking iCool, along with SAM-e, 5-HTP, and Black Cohosh.  No more hot flashes.  No more wild mood swings.  No more night sweats.

Until last week, when I noticed iCool has changed their formula.  Sigh, why can't they just leave things alone?  I've noticed that I've definitely been sweating more these last couple of weeks.  But then, that could be because it's a bazillion degrees outside.

Cody says Southerners are so religious because we get to preview Hell every summer. 

But there is hope on the horizon.  Football is back on the TV.  Kids are back in school.  And Fall decor is back in the stores.

You know, in the far Northern parts of the world, when the sun appears above the horizon for the first time in the Spring, they have a big celebration.  The sun is returning, and with it, life.  That's a little like how I feel this time of year. 

Football.  Fall.  A brief respite from the relentless heat.  And eventually, frost, hot chocolate, and hoodies. 

Life is returning. 

Oddness

Totally out of character for me, I bought a new shirt, and not a work shirt!

I think I still have some black leggings around here somewhere that it will go with.  have no idea where I am going to wear it, but there it is.   No, I can't wear it to church.  I'm too old fashioned.  I just don't feel right wearing pants to church.

Maybe I'll have to go out on one of them there date things....

Um, never mind.  Here.  I'll distract you with some flowers.

Ain't they purdy?

Now We Wait

I finally rounded up and turned the very last thing I needed to get my mortgage taken care of.  Now we wait....

I'm so ready to get into my new house.  Beverly and James are going to give me quite a bit of furniture that they aren't taking back to Texas with them, so I'll be all set.  A couch, a chair, a couple of cabinets, and an entertainment center so far...

I remember after my grandmother died and my grandpa remarried.  The first thing Granny did was to put paneling up in their whole house.  It made the house seem so much smaller.  So, I'm definitely going to paint the paneling in the living room and master bedroom.  I may eventually try to put that sidewise paneling in the master bedroom, because I like the way it looks.  That'll come later, though.  Right now, I'm just going to paint, probably a light beige or ecru. 

I'm thinking of a light teal for the kitchen. I don't like the yellow, but really don't want to get into some of the more gaudy color combinations that are popular these days.  No bright red or deep purple walls or anything like that. 

While I'm waiting, I'm still spinning, a little bit.  I plied a bit more yarn today, and somehow managed to get my singles almost exactly the same length.  When I finished, I had this much left over.

I'm knitting all this homemade yarn up into a giant scarf which I will felt when I'm done.  

Other than that, there isn't really much to talk about.  Work, being hot, coming home and sitting in the air conditioning...that is my life these days.

That, and waiting....