It has been pointed out to me that I have not yet posted today and it is very late. Apparently, the only thing that could keep me from posting if I don't clear it with my readers would be death. Thank you for checking on me Mary!
I had a great weekend at home! Part of the reason that I am just now posting is that I have been trying to figure out how to post the photos for a couple of hours..... I took pictures on my phone and they are GREAT! But they require too much memory and I am not computer savvy enough to figure out how to save them at some sort of lower level so that they can be posted or even edited. Apparently, my cell phone has a much better camera built into it than it should. So good in fact that the photos cannot be shared! Oooh!!! Shared! I will share them on Facebook then you can see them after you read this!
So, Saturday night Mom, Dad and I took two bottles of wine and met Robbie and Eileen at the Pinecreek Lodge out near Douglass. Robbie and Eileen brought a couple of bottles of wine and some beer as well. We had the best time! There was a saxophone player who played on the deck and we had cheeseburgers (the only choices were hamburgers or cheeseburgers) so we went with the more complicated of the two. I think Mom and Dad said the cheeseburgers are $6 or $7 so, if you live in the area, go out there next Saturday night. It is so nice and it is byob and the entertainment is good! I also understand that they are getting a guitarist for the 1st and 3rd Saturday's so check before you go to insure that they have gotten someone.
Ronnie and Rebecca came over to Mom and Dad's house yesterday and we fried shrimp... my all time favorite food. Rebecca's boyfriend came over too. His name just happens to be Jacob. He was very nice and a very nice looking young man!!! Good job Becca! I think Dad and I beat Ronnie and Mom in 42. At least that is the story that I am going with. Since Ronnie doesn't read my blog, I think I am pretty safe in reporting that. After Christina got off from work at the hospital on Sunday she came over. I think we finally have a real plan for our girls outing in June.
In June Mom, Eileen, Christina, Rebecca and I are all going to a tea that I purchased on living social or groupon a few months ago. We have a spot for a 6th. But I am not sure who that is yet. Then either that night or the next night we will all go see The Jersey Boys! I love that play! Anyway, we were originally looking for a weekend to do it which would be a problem for Christina since she works in a hospital, but now that I am not working, we can go in the middle of the week. So we are going to try to do that. Can't wait!
Mom and Dad and I finally decided on a trip. We are going to Arkansas next week. I am really excited about it. We already have a lot of fun things planned. We are spending next Wed night in a lodge on top of a mountain. So, I'm pretty excited about that. It should be fun. I'm going to drive to Nacogdoches next Monday morning and pick them up and we will leave from there.
I will talk to you all at a much earlier time tomorrow. Have a great evening!
Roatan
Pirate ship?
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Day Twenty-Two - A Quick Update
So, I'm just making a quick update this morning before I leave for Nacogdoches. You're not going to believe this, but I did knock a few things off of the list yesterday so the week has not been a complete waste. Yea!!!!
Neither me nor the cats did anything the least bit interesting yesterday. Jenny had invited me to come over to her house last night. Her friend Stephanie was coming over too. But I had gotten nothing done and knew I was going to Nac today so I was forced to stay home and get the laundry done and make the beds. I hope they had fun. But I wish I had been there rather than folding towels.
I only have one topic that I wanted to bring up today and then I will leave you alone to enjoy your weekend. If you ever watch Big Bang Theory or Two and A Half Men you have probably noticed the Chuck Lorre vanity cards at the end of each episode following the credits. Are you like me? Do you pause the DVR so that you can read them? I don't even like to watch Two and A Half Men anymore. But I still will watch the end of an episode just to catch the vanity card if I happen to be passing by as I surf channels. I don't know where he comes up with his topics but I just love it. If you don't know what I am talking about please do yourself a favor and record an episode or two of Big Bang Theory and then pause the DVR following the credits when the white Chuck Lorre Productions vanity card comes up and read it.
Time for me to get packed and get out of here. I will catch up with you all on Monday.
Neither me nor the cats did anything the least bit interesting yesterday. Jenny had invited me to come over to her house last night. Her friend Stephanie was coming over too. But I had gotten nothing done and knew I was going to Nac today so I was forced to stay home and get the laundry done and make the beds. I hope they had fun. But I wish I had been there rather than folding towels.
I only have one topic that I wanted to bring up today and then I will leave you alone to enjoy your weekend. If you ever watch Big Bang Theory or Two and A Half Men you have probably noticed the Chuck Lorre vanity cards at the end of each episode following the credits. Are you like me? Do you pause the DVR so that you can read them? I don't even like to watch Two and A Half Men anymore. But I still will watch the end of an episode just to catch the vanity card if I happen to be passing by as I surf channels. I don't know where he comes up with his topics but I just love it. If you don't know what I am talking about please do yourself a favor and record an episode or two of Big Bang Theory and then pause the DVR following the credits when the white Chuck Lorre Productions vanity card comes up and read it.
Time for me to get packed and get out of here. I will catch up with you all on Monday.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Day Twenty-One - It's All About the Cats
So, yesterday I was going to start getting up earlier, posting earlier, being more productive... yadda, yadda, yadda. Let me just say that being a productive member of society is not all it is cracked up to be. I did it for 30 years, I know. Big deal if I took this week off from being a productive member of society. I am going to call it my Birthday Week Rebellion of 2012 and next week I'll go back to that whole responsible adult thing. But in the meantime, I have new photos of my patio including a look at the new rug and water feature since I know that you have all been dying to see it.
This is, of course, the new rug with my existing chairs and cat on them. I have decided that Shiner and Jingle are photo hogs. I did not invite either of them to be in the pictures. I was trying to take photos of my new rug and chair to share with my readers because I know that not seeing them has been killing you. But there you have it. Shiner and Jingle each made it into one of the photos.....
Below is the new water feature with Jingle inside the house because he is a big gigantic chicken and will only come outside while the door is open in case a mountain lion comes across the fence and he has to get inside in a hurry.
The really annoying thing about this obsession of Jingle's where the door has to remain open for him to walk outside is if the door is closed and I'm outside, he sits on the other side of it and meows constantly at the top of his lungs begging me to let him come out. So, I have to put my wine and book down, get out of my nice comfortable chair and open the door to let him out. But if I stand there as though I am going to close the door behind him once he is outside, he won't come out. He just rubs his face against the door frame. The only way he will walk outside is if I go sit back down. Then he thinks it is safe to walk outside and I won't get up and close the door. I'm being played by my cat and I must say that it is upsetting. He is fully aware of my laziness and has no problem with taking full advantage of it. My other option once I have stood up and opened the door is to close it back if he won't walk outside. When I do this, the loud meowing starts back up.
Jingle was blessed with a powerful meow. He is doing it right now. I think he knows that I am currently telling you about it and he wants to demonstrate so that I get it right. It is hard to describe his meow so that you get the full picture. But I will try. Imagine that you are sitting inside a room and imagine that there is a full size fire truck sitting in the room next to you. Now imagine that the firefighter in charge of the siren has turned it on... in the room... and will not turn it off unless you do whatever he wants. Now imagine that fire truck is my cat and he is sitting in my living room as I type this. You get the picture. So here is what happens when Jingle wants something. Several of my friends already know about this thing we do. If I have already told you about this, just bare with me.
Jingle decides he wants something. I am sitting in the living room and not paying attention to him. So, he starts meowing. As the minutes go by, he begins to meow louder and will try to make eye contact with me as he does this to communicate whatever he is trying to say as though I speak "meow" and am simply ignoring him. When I still don't do whatever he wants, he goes to the photo collage that is hanging in the living room near the TV. If he gets on the credenza that holds the components for the TV he can stand on his hind legs with his feet on the wall and reach the photo collage. So, he starts moving it with his paw as he continues to meow louder and louder.
If he doesn't get a response, he then goes to my desk and climbs up on the printer where he can reach a framed autograph of Bob Hope's which I got when I was twelve. He starts moving that with his paw and trying to take it off of the wall, again, as he continues the meowing. That is when he usually gets my attention. So, I finally get up and then I have to follow him around the house so that he can take me to whatever he wants and "show" me. As I told my friend yesterday at lunch, it is like Lassie taking the mom to where Timmy fell in the well. Only with Jingle, he was trying to tell me, "I want this door open." or "This water has been sitting here for more than four hours.... can you get me fresh water now?" It is very seldom anything life threatening.
The most annoying place he takes me is to his litter box upstairs. It's not that the litter box needs to be scooped when he takes me there. The issue is that if I am at home and downstairs, he doesn't want to walk upstairs by himself to use the litter box, so I have to go up with him!!!!! So, I have stand there with him while he uses the litter box. Really???? So, anyway, that is him sitting in the house at the door probably meowing at the top of his lungs yesterday while I was taking pictures of my patio. The water feature by the way is the pottery looking thing on the right.
A friend suggested yesterday on Facebook that I change my task list so that it reads something like:
I am planning to go to Nacogdoches tomorrow. My mom and dad have started going to a place that serves hamburgers and is BYOB and has a band on Saturday nights. So, they suggested that I come down so we could all go. Hopefully, my brother Robbie will also be there with Eileen. I think Ronnie will be at his daughters softball game and Christina is working. But I am looking forward to it. I may attempt to post on my blog while I am there but with their internet connection, you should not count on it. So if you don't hear from me again until Monday, that will probably be why.
I have to go now....Jingle is moving the Bob Hope autograph around and the door is already open, I have already followed him upstairs in the last hour and he has both fresh food and water. So, it is possible that Shiner has fallen into a well. Have a great weekend!
This is, of course, the new rug with my existing chairs and cat on them. I have decided that Shiner and Jingle are photo hogs. I did not invite either of them to be in the pictures. I was trying to take photos of my new rug and chair to share with my readers because I know that not seeing them has been killing you. But there you have it. Shiner and Jingle each made it into one of the photos.....
Below is the new water feature with Jingle inside the house because he is a big gigantic chicken and will only come outside while the door is open in case a mountain lion comes across the fence and he has to get inside in a hurry.
The really annoying thing about this obsession of Jingle's where the door has to remain open for him to walk outside is if the door is closed and I'm outside, he sits on the other side of it and meows constantly at the top of his lungs begging me to let him come out. So, I have to put my wine and book down, get out of my nice comfortable chair and open the door to let him out. But if I stand there as though I am going to close the door behind him once he is outside, he won't come out. He just rubs his face against the door frame. The only way he will walk outside is if I go sit back down. Then he thinks it is safe to walk outside and I won't get up and close the door. I'm being played by my cat and I must say that it is upsetting. He is fully aware of my laziness and has no problem with taking full advantage of it. My other option once I have stood up and opened the door is to close it back if he won't walk outside. When I do this, the loud meowing starts back up.
Jingle was blessed with a powerful meow. He is doing it right now. I think he knows that I am currently telling you about it and he wants to demonstrate so that I get it right. It is hard to describe his meow so that you get the full picture. But I will try. Imagine that you are sitting inside a room and imagine that there is a full size fire truck sitting in the room next to you. Now imagine that the firefighter in charge of the siren has turned it on... in the room... and will not turn it off unless you do whatever he wants. Now imagine that fire truck is my cat and he is sitting in my living room as I type this. You get the picture. So here is what happens when Jingle wants something. Several of my friends already know about this thing we do. If I have already told you about this, just bare with me.
Jingle decides he wants something. I am sitting in the living room and not paying attention to him. So, he starts meowing. As the minutes go by, he begins to meow louder and will try to make eye contact with me as he does this to communicate whatever he is trying to say as though I speak "meow" and am simply ignoring him. When I still don't do whatever he wants, he goes to the photo collage that is hanging in the living room near the TV. If he gets on the credenza that holds the components for the TV he can stand on his hind legs with his feet on the wall and reach the photo collage. So, he starts moving it with his paw as he continues to meow louder and louder.
If he doesn't get a response, he then goes to my desk and climbs up on the printer where he can reach a framed autograph of Bob Hope's which I got when I was twelve. He starts moving that with his paw and trying to take it off of the wall, again, as he continues the meowing. That is when he usually gets my attention. So, I finally get up and then I have to follow him around the house so that he can take me to whatever he wants and "show" me. As I told my friend yesterday at lunch, it is like Lassie taking the mom to where Timmy fell in the well. Only with Jingle, he was trying to tell me, "I want this door open." or "This water has been sitting here for more than four hours.... can you get me fresh water now?" It is very seldom anything life threatening.
The most annoying place he takes me is to his litter box upstairs. It's not that the litter box needs to be scooped when he takes me there. The issue is that if I am at home and downstairs, he doesn't want to walk upstairs by himself to use the litter box, so I have to go up with him!!!!! So, I have stand there with him while he uses the litter box. Really???? So, anyway, that is him sitting in the house at the door probably meowing at the top of his lungs yesterday while I was taking pictures of my patio. The water feature by the way is the pottery looking thing on the right.
A friend suggested yesterday on Facebook that I change my task list so that it reads something like:
- Post on Blog
- Drink coffee
- Sit on patio
- Have lunch with a friend
I am planning to go to Nacogdoches tomorrow. My mom and dad have started going to a place that serves hamburgers and is BYOB and has a band on Saturday nights. So, they suggested that I come down so we could all go. Hopefully, my brother Robbie will also be there with Eileen. I think Ronnie will be at his daughters softball game and Christina is working. But I am looking forward to it. I may attempt to post on my blog while I am there but with their internet connection, you should not count on it. So if you don't hear from me again until Monday, that will probably be why.
I have to go now....Jingle is moving the Bob Hope autograph around and the door is already open, I have already followed him upstairs in the last hour and he has both fresh food and water. So, it is possible that Shiner has fallen into a well. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Day Twenty - More Random Thoughts
Today should be a pretty decent day. I'm not saying that I am going to get anything done, but it should at least be decent. I'll be having lunch today with a friend who still works at TFE (The Former Employer in case you haven't been keeping up). So it will be nice to catch up with her. If no one asks what I marked off the task list from yesterday, I won't tell. It's really sort of discouraging and I don't think any of us really want to go there.
So, last night was dinner club and as I mentioned yesterday it was in Frisco which had me a little worried. Ok, I admit - I thought there was no way it could be a pleasant evening in Frisco. I was so totally wrong. Janet picked the location and could not have done a better job. We ate at Platia Greek Kouzina on Gaylord Pkwy. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was wonderful. Toward the end of our meal a family came in with two perfectly behaved children who sat quietly in their seats and ate. Beyond that I don't know if there were any other kids in the restaurant. But the place was packed all evening. I brought enough food home to have another meal or two today.
You may notice that I am posting a little earlier today than I have been. I have gotten into an ugly habit of staying up until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and then sleeping until nearly 10:00. So, I'm trying to turn that around. Although, I was up last night until after one, I made myself get up at eight this morning. I'm hoping that this will make me very sleepy tonight so that I can turn this thing around. If I don't it is really going to suck when I get a new job and have to start living by an alarm clock again.
I am thinking that this might be a perfect day to head out to the pool after lunch. I think it is supposed to be around 90 degrees this afternoon. So, maybe the pool water will warm up a bit. Even if it doesn't, maybe it will be so hot that the cold pool water will feel good.
You may be interested to know that the guy in the white van with the shovel yesterday turned out to be a plumber. Glad I didn't panic and call the police or anything. That could have gotten a little embarrassing. But in my defense, there was no "Acme Plumbing" sign on the side of the van and the guy was just wearing bluejeans and a tee shirt, no "Acme Plumbing" shirt..... You would think that service guys who go from house to house like that would want to be identifiable so that they don't run into problems with crazy blog writers.
I am really not looking forward to this evening. I am going to have to come up with a regular Thursday evening activity. I have discovered that there is nothing on TV after 7:30 on Thursday nights and I don't really have anything saved up on the DVR. So, around eight on Thursday nights I become terribly bored. When I was working I don't think it was a big deal, because it gave me time to catch up on other stuff. Now I suppose I could catch up on stuff that I haven't done off my task list, but who wants to do that? I mean that would be like a few weeks ago if I came home on Thursday evening, ate supper, watched Big Bang Theory and then sat down to do some fun-filled reforecasting and analysis. If I don't enjoy doing it during the day when I am supposed to be working, why would I want to do it in the evening when I am supposed to be relaxing. I know what you are thinking.... Hey Susan.... how about you go to the gym on Thursday nights.... again, not fun! Maybe I'll try Thursday evening bike rides. That could be fun AND burn a calorie or two. You will probably need to check back in tomorrow to see about my follow through on this one. I really can't guarantee anything.
Well, I guess I better get busy. I plan to take at least one thing off that pesky task list today and those sheets aren't going to change themselves.
So, last night was dinner club and as I mentioned yesterday it was in Frisco which had me a little worried. Ok, I admit - I thought there was no way it could be a pleasant evening in Frisco. I was so totally wrong. Janet picked the location and could not have done a better job. We ate at Platia Greek Kouzina on Gaylord Pkwy. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was wonderful. Toward the end of our meal a family came in with two perfectly behaved children who sat quietly in their seats and ate. Beyond that I don't know if there were any other kids in the restaurant. But the place was packed all evening. I brought enough food home to have another meal or two today.
You may notice that I am posting a little earlier today than I have been. I have gotten into an ugly habit of staying up until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and then sleeping until nearly 10:00. So, I'm trying to turn that around. Although, I was up last night until after one, I made myself get up at eight this morning. I'm hoping that this will make me very sleepy tonight so that I can turn this thing around. If I don't it is really going to suck when I get a new job and have to start living by an alarm clock again.
I am thinking that this might be a perfect day to head out to the pool after lunch. I think it is supposed to be around 90 degrees this afternoon. So, maybe the pool water will warm up a bit. Even if it doesn't, maybe it will be so hot that the cold pool water will feel good.
You may be interested to know that the guy in the white van with the shovel yesterday turned out to be a plumber. Glad I didn't panic and call the police or anything. That could have gotten a little embarrassing. But in my defense, there was no "Acme Plumbing" sign on the side of the van and the guy was just wearing bluejeans and a tee shirt, no "Acme Plumbing" shirt..... You would think that service guys who go from house to house like that would want to be identifiable so that they don't run into problems with crazy blog writers.
I am really not looking forward to this evening. I am going to have to come up with a regular Thursday evening activity. I have discovered that there is nothing on TV after 7:30 on Thursday nights and I don't really have anything saved up on the DVR. So, around eight on Thursday nights I become terribly bored. When I was working I don't think it was a big deal, because it gave me time to catch up on other stuff. Now I suppose I could catch up on stuff that I haven't done off my task list, but who wants to do that? I mean that would be like a few weeks ago if I came home on Thursday evening, ate supper, watched Big Bang Theory and then sat down to do some fun-filled reforecasting and analysis. If I don't enjoy doing it during the day when I am supposed to be working, why would I want to do it in the evening when I am supposed to be relaxing. I know what you are thinking.... Hey Susan.... how about you go to the gym on Thursday nights.... again, not fun! Maybe I'll try Thursday evening bike rides. That could be fun AND burn a calorie or two. You will probably need to check back in tomorrow to see about my follow through on this one. I really can't guarantee anything.
Well, I guess I better get busy. I plan to take at least one thing off that pesky task list today and those sheets aren't going to change themselves.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Day Nineteen - Random Thoughts
Alright, you can all officially call me a slug now. I did not do a thing on my list yesterday. What I did do is finish a book. I did a few meaningless things around the house but nothing on the list. I am seriously going to make an effort to be an actual contributor to society today. We'll see how it goes.
I took a package of Jenny-O ground turkey out of the freezer yesterday afternoon and intended to make something for dinner with it last night but then I lost interest. So it is in the fridge now. I have dinner club tonight, so I am going to have to cook today and then put it up to eat for the rest of the week. I really hate trying to figure out something different to cook with turkey. I have a recipe for this Weight Watchers Turkey Stroganoff that I used to make and it is really good. But I would have to go to the store for ingredients and I really don't want to go to the store. Lately, I have been making Turkey Pot Pie with ground turkey. It is good too. But I have made it like three times in the last six weeks and I am starting to get kind of tired of it. Those are the only two things that I really make with ground turkey.
The deal is, that I'm grossed out by meat that isn't the right color after it is cooked and since ground turkey is sort of off white after it is cooked, it is kind of hard for me to eat. It tastes fine. It just looks kind of funny. So I have to add enough stuff to it to disguise the color of the meat. That is why I am so limited on turkey recipes. I know that this is all very strange. But I am weird this way.
Dinner club tonight is in Frisco. So, at dinner tonight there will be obnoxious children running around the table like it is the playground at McDonald's. I have a lot of friends with young children who are perfectly behaved and some of these people even live in Frisco. But for some reason, the majority of people in Frisco seem to raise their children with no rules making Frisco a miserable place to dine out. It is as if the further north you drive from Dallas the more obnoxious the children become. Plano kids are kind of bad, north Plano kids are worse. Many Frisco kids are totally out of control. (Although, again, I know some Frisco kids who are terrific!) And I don't even want to speculate about Prosper kids. I wonder if I can get the Frisco Chamber of Commerce to post my blog on their website since today's edition is such a ringing endorsement for dining out there.
Recently, I spent several months helping a friend look for a new home. She had sold hers and since I love looking at houses, I invited myself along every opportunity I got to go look at houses with her. While she was looking at houses, one of her requirements was that it had to be VERY quiet inside the house. No loud neighbors, nothing that might become loud outside of the house, etc. There is a slight chance that I might have ridiculed her during this process concerning her quiet obsession. (I know, this is shocking to you that I might ridicule anyone!) Now that I am staying home during the day and there is no one around my complex in the middle of the day, I hear every car that passes by. I am totally freaked out when a car pulls up and parks in front of my house. I can set my watch by the school bus that passes by at 11:42 every morning. As you may have observed yesterday, I notice all comings and goings of both FedEx and UPS.
I tell you all of this because a white side panel van just pulled up in front of my house... you know, the kind serial killers drive.... and a guy got out and walked down the sidewalk to another unit. Now he is back at the van that he carries the bodies of his victims around in. OH MY GOD!!!! He just got a shovel out and is walking back toward the creek! Jenny, please forgive me for anything I might have said during your house hunt regarding your obsession with a quiet neighborhood. You were right. One should never be able to hear ANYTHING that is going on outside of their home. I'm inserting a photo of said van....
I have to go now. I think I am going to go see about purchasing some traffic cones to place in the parking places in front of my condo so that crazed killers cannot park there anymore.
I took a package of Jenny-O ground turkey out of the freezer yesterday afternoon and intended to make something for dinner with it last night but then I lost interest. So it is in the fridge now. I have dinner club tonight, so I am going to have to cook today and then put it up to eat for the rest of the week. I really hate trying to figure out something different to cook with turkey. I have a recipe for this Weight Watchers Turkey Stroganoff that I used to make and it is really good. But I would have to go to the store for ingredients and I really don't want to go to the store. Lately, I have been making Turkey Pot Pie with ground turkey. It is good too. But I have made it like three times in the last six weeks and I am starting to get kind of tired of it. Those are the only two things that I really make with ground turkey.
The deal is, that I'm grossed out by meat that isn't the right color after it is cooked and since ground turkey is sort of off white after it is cooked, it is kind of hard for me to eat. It tastes fine. It just looks kind of funny. So I have to add enough stuff to it to disguise the color of the meat. That is why I am so limited on turkey recipes. I know that this is all very strange. But I am weird this way.
Dinner club tonight is in Frisco. So, at dinner tonight there will be obnoxious children running around the table like it is the playground at McDonald's. I have a lot of friends with young children who are perfectly behaved and some of these people even live in Frisco. But for some reason, the majority of people in Frisco seem to raise their children with no rules making Frisco a miserable place to dine out. It is as if the further north you drive from Dallas the more obnoxious the children become. Plano kids are kind of bad, north Plano kids are worse. Many Frisco kids are totally out of control. (Although, again, I know some Frisco kids who are terrific!) And I don't even want to speculate about Prosper kids. I wonder if I can get the Frisco Chamber of Commerce to post my blog on their website since today's edition is such a ringing endorsement for dining out there.
Recently, I spent several months helping a friend look for a new home. She had sold hers and since I love looking at houses, I invited myself along every opportunity I got to go look at houses with her. While she was looking at houses, one of her requirements was that it had to be VERY quiet inside the house. No loud neighbors, nothing that might become loud outside of the house, etc. There is a slight chance that I might have ridiculed her during this process concerning her quiet obsession. (I know, this is shocking to you that I might ridicule anyone!) Now that I am staying home during the day and there is no one around my complex in the middle of the day, I hear every car that passes by. I am totally freaked out when a car pulls up and parks in front of my house. I can set my watch by the school bus that passes by at 11:42 every morning. As you may have observed yesterday, I notice all comings and goings of both FedEx and UPS.
I tell you all of this because a white side panel van just pulled up in front of my house... you know, the kind serial killers drive.... and a guy got out and walked down the sidewalk to another unit. Now he is back at the van that he carries the bodies of his victims around in. OH MY GOD!!!! He just got a shovel out and is walking back toward the creek! Jenny, please forgive me for anything I might have said during your house hunt regarding your obsession with a quiet neighborhood. You were right. One should never be able to hear ANYTHING that is going on outside of their home. I'm inserting a photo of said van....
I have to go now. I think I am going to go see about purchasing some traffic cones to place in the parking places in front of my condo so that crazed killers cannot park there anymore.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Day Eighteen - REALLY Unmotivated
I was correct about the patio yesterday.... It was a little like a trap. With the perfect weather, the new water feature and the new rug and it being clean, once you got out there it was impossible to come back in the house. I downloaded a new book yesterday and spent the afternoon out there. Also, I made a pitcher of that Mojito Crystal Lite. I highly recommend it. I mean, how can you go wrong with that? No calories and it has the slight hint of a mojito, just like heaven! So, nothing was really accomplished yesterday.
I was able to get my car into Kia for the 5,000 service and oil change. E.T. is now spotless and has fresh oil and the tires are in all new positions. In addition to that, I did go to a Career Care thing at a local Methodist church last night. It was interesting. The speaker was good and he had some interesting ideas. It was interesting to hear from the recruiters perspective. I did feel the need to jab my pen into my thigh a few times just to liven things up. Otherwise, it was fine.
So, today excluding the oil change thing, my task list will be unchanged. And yet, I don't think I am going to be able to cross much off of it. I haven't finished the book yet that I downloaded yesterday. I was up until 2 a.m. reading and got up and started again this morning. When I get into a book like this, it is really hard for me to get motivated. Add to that the fact that none of the things I have planned for myself are much fun and I'm just not feeling very motivated to get started.
I spoke to my dad yesterday about the possibility of re-doing my master bathroom. We had talked about it while he was here last weekend but he had more questions about it. He was going to talk to a friend about what we would need to do as far as sub-flooring goes. But maybe I'll be starting work on that in a few weeks. I would really LOVE to get that done. That should be motivating me to get stuff knocked off my task list since I know I can't start that until I get my garage cleaned out and my garage will not be cleaned out until after I have done all my cleaning upstairs. And yet, I can't wait to finish posting this blog so that I can go back to reading.
New train of thought.... I live in a condo. During the day as I look out there is maybe one car in the parking lot for every 15 units. All the units have garages so, granted cars could be in the garages. I know mine is. But what I am saying is that compared to the evenings, there are very few cars around here which leads me to believe there are very few people around during the day. Yet, FedEx and UPS make deliveries here like clockwork! With that kind of delivery and/or pickup activity there must be people around here working from their homes. So, I wonder what they do?
I cannot figure out what people who work from home actually do at home. I want to. I just don't understand. I mean, are they selling something and shipping it via UPS and FedEx? If they are selling something, what is it? Is it something that they are making at home? Do the deliveries consist of raw products that they are turning into a finished product and selling? I can't even imagine anything that I could make in a condo in large enough quantities to sell enough of to pay the bills.... Unless it's meth.... Maybe my neighbors are running a meth lab out of their condo. I wonder what the HOA would have to say about that..... I mean considering that the HOA won't let me put patio lights in the tree that is on my fenced in patio, surely there is a rule against running a meth lab out of your condo. Maybe the FedEx and UPS guys are just making a delivery to a different person daily who happened to order something on line. It just seems like those guys may actually spend more time in this complex than many of the residents do. I think my money is on meth lab.
Well, it is time for me to get back to that book. After all, Dylan and Grace are never going to realize their love for one another if I don't get busy turning those pages!
I was able to get my car into Kia for the 5,000 service and oil change. E.T. is now spotless and has fresh oil and the tires are in all new positions. In addition to that, I did go to a Career Care thing at a local Methodist church last night. It was interesting. The speaker was good and he had some interesting ideas. It was interesting to hear from the recruiters perspective. I did feel the need to jab my pen into my thigh a few times just to liven things up. Otherwise, it was fine.
So, today excluding the oil change thing, my task list will be unchanged. And yet, I don't think I am going to be able to cross much off of it. I haven't finished the book yet that I downloaded yesterday. I was up until 2 a.m. reading and got up and started again this morning. When I get into a book like this, it is really hard for me to get motivated. Add to that the fact that none of the things I have planned for myself are much fun and I'm just not feeling very motivated to get started.
I spoke to my dad yesterday about the possibility of re-doing my master bathroom. We had talked about it while he was here last weekend but he had more questions about it. He was going to talk to a friend about what we would need to do as far as sub-flooring goes. But maybe I'll be starting work on that in a few weeks. I would really LOVE to get that done. That should be motivating me to get stuff knocked off my task list since I know I can't start that until I get my garage cleaned out and my garage will not be cleaned out until after I have done all my cleaning upstairs. And yet, I can't wait to finish posting this blog so that I can go back to reading.
New train of thought.... I live in a condo. During the day as I look out there is maybe one car in the parking lot for every 15 units. All the units have garages so, granted cars could be in the garages. I know mine is. But what I am saying is that compared to the evenings, there are very few cars around here which leads me to believe there are very few people around during the day. Yet, FedEx and UPS make deliveries here like clockwork! With that kind of delivery and/or pickup activity there must be people around here working from their homes. So, I wonder what they do?
I cannot figure out what people who work from home actually do at home. I want to. I just don't understand. I mean, are they selling something and shipping it via UPS and FedEx? If they are selling something, what is it? Is it something that they are making at home? Do the deliveries consist of raw products that they are turning into a finished product and selling? I can't even imagine anything that I could make in a condo in large enough quantities to sell enough of to pay the bills.... Unless it's meth.... Maybe my neighbors are running a meth lab out of their condo. I wonder what the HOA would have to say about that..... I mean considering that the HOA won't let me put patio lights in the tree that is on my fenced in patio, surely there is a rule against running a meth lab out of your condo. Maybe the FedEx and UPS guys are just making a delivery to a different person daily who happened to order something on line. It just seems like those guys may actually spend more time in this complex than many of the residents do. I think my money is on meth lab.
Well, it is time for me to get back to that book. After all, Dylan and Grace are never going to realize their love for one another if I don't get busy turning those pages!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Day Seventeen - I'mmmmm Baaaaack!
Wow! Last weekend was great! My parents came up on Friday afternoon. Those of you who saw Friday's post may recall that I posted a recipe for a slow cooker Beef Burgundy that I was cooking for dinner. It was terrific. So, I do recommend it. To go with the Beef Burgundy, I also cooked some fresh green beans with new potatoes and carrots in a cream sauce. It was all really good.
Saturday we went shopping and they got me a new outdoor rug for my patio. I love it! It is a little bigger than the old one. The old one was starting to come apart so I really needed a new one. I also, got myself a new little water fountain to go on a table on the patio. And today's weather is going to be PERFECT for sitting outside, so I might not come back in today once I get out there.
Jingle went back to the vet this morning for his final visit from his teeth issues. He had to get another antibiotic shot since I am incapable of giving him pills. I'm so glad that he won't have to go back to the vet for another year! This morning, in order to get him in the cat carrier, I had to leave it in the garage and sneak out there to put his little bed in it. Then when I came back in the house, he somehow suspected something was going on and ran from me when I tried to pick him up. Normally, I can't get away from him because he is so clingy, but he ran and then attached himself to the carpet on the stairs like Velcro. I couldn't peel him off of the stairs. Then, when I got him off the stairs, he climbed my back and I had to let him go. So, Shiner finally cornered him and I was able to peel him off the cat tower and carry him out to the garage to get in the carrier. You would think I was taking him to a gas chamber. He cried all the way over to the vets office. That really stresses me out.
While my parents were here, we talked about maybe taking a little road trip before I start working again. I think we are looking at either going to Savannah, GA. or to Arkansas. I've never been to either Georgia or Arkansas. The only problem I can see with Arkansas is that they already mentioned also going to Branson since we would be so close. Although I just had another birthday, I still don't think I am old enough to go to Branson..... In fact, I don't think I will EVER be old enough to go to Branson. I did a little bit of research on Arkansas over the weekend. It looks like there would be a lot of fun things to do there. If all else fails, it looks like you could just go spa hopping! I am going to look at Savannah this week.
I guess I am going to a career thing at a church in Plano tonight. My friend, Mary sent me the information. I must say that I am not looking forward to it. But I guess at some point I have to actually start thinking about starting a new career or at least getting a new job. I still have no idea what I want to do. So, maybe going to this thing will help me to start getting my thoughts together in that respect.
So, last week I successfully completed the cleaning of the 1st floor of my house. This week, I want to get the upstairs done. I surface cleaned up there last week. I mean, it was clean enough to have company. But I want to dig in and really get it clean, we're talking about cleaning baseboards and cleaning the carpets. Plus, I have to get the closets cleaned out. I'm really dreading that part. In fact, I am afraid to put it on my task list because I don't know how long it will be on there before I can force myself to complete it. After I do upstairs, I am going to have to clean the garage. I cannot even express how much I dread getting out into that garage. UGH!!!!
Well, time for me to get started on today's list. Wish me luck!
Saturday we went shopping and they got me a new outdoor rug for my patio. I love it! It is a little bigger than the old one. The old one was starting to come apart so I really needed a new one. I also, got myself a new little water fountain to go on a table on the patio. And today's weather is going to be PERFECT for sitting outside, so I might not come back in today once I get out there.
Jingle went back to the vet this morning for his final visit from his teeth issues. He had to get another antibiotic shot since I am incapable of giving him pills. I'm so glad that he won't have to go back to the vet for another year! This morning, in order to get him in the cat carrier, I had to leave it in the garage and sneak out there to put his little bed in it. Then when I came back in the house, he somehow suspected something was going on and ran from me when I tried to pick him up. Normally, I can't get away from him because he is so clingy, but he ran and then attached himself to the carpet on the stairs like Velcro. I couldn't peel him off of the stairs. Then, when I got him off the stairs, he climbed my back and I had to let him go. So, Shiner finally cornered him and I was able to peel him off the cat tower and carry him out to the garage to get in the carrier. You would think I was taking him to a gas chamber. He cried all the way over to the vets office. That really stresses me out.
While my parents were here, we talked about maybe taking a little road trip before I start working again. I think we are looking at either going to Savannah, GA. or to Arkansas. I've never been to either Georgia or Arkansas. The only problem I can see with Arkansas is that they already mentioned also going to Branson since we would be so close. Although I just had another birthday, I still don't think I am old enough to go to Branson..... In fact, I don't think I will EVER be old enough to go to Branson. I did a little bit of research on Arkansas over the weekend. It looks like there would be a lot of fun things to do there. If all else fails, it looks like you could just go spa hopping! I am going to look at Savannah this week.
I guess I am going to a career thing at a church in Plano tonight. My friend, Mary sent me the information. I must say that I am not looking forward to it. But I guess at some point I have to actually start thinking about starting a new career or at least getting a new job. I still have no idea what I want to do. So, maybe going to this thing will help me to start getting my thoughts together in that respect.
So, last week I successfully completed the cleaning of the 1st floor of my house. This week, I want to get the upstairs done. I surface cleaned up there last week. I mean, it was clean enough to have company. But I want to dig in and really get it clean, we're talking about cleaning baseboards and cleaning the carpets. Plus, I have to get the closets cleaned out. I'm really dreading that part. In fact, I am afraid to put it on my task list because I don't know how long it will be on there before I can force myself to complete it. After I do upstairs, I am going to have to clean the garage. I cannot even express how much I dread getting out into that garage. UGH!!!!
Well, time for me to get started on today's list. Wish me luck!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Day Fourteen - The Real Test
Since yesterday's post I have had a major change in plans. Rather than me going to Nacogdoches this weekend, my parents are coming to Dallas. So, today we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt just how clean my house really is. I personally, don't think anybody can dispute that the downstairs is spotless! However, I still haven't done much upstairs other than vacuuming and laundry. So, this morning, I will have a little bit on my plate. But honestly, I don't think it will take more than and hour to get the upstairs clean, believe it or not! Shiner and Jingle did their part by getting me up at 6:30 this morning. I'll get back to that in a few minutes.
So I'm going to put a Beef Burgundy in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. This is something I have been wanting to try for a while. I'll go ahead and post the recipe but I won't be able to let you know whether or not it is actually any good until tomorrow.
French Beef Burgundy
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 lbs. boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, sliced
8 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 cup burgundy wine
1/2 cup beef broth
Combine the flour, salt and black pepper. Dredge the beef cubes in the flour mixture and brown in the olive oil in a medium skillet. Place the beef and remaining ingredients into the slow cooker and mix thoroughly to combine. Cover; cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours or on High for 2 to 3 hours.
I mean, how can you go wrong? You mix beef and wine, people are going to be happy, right? Maybe I'll also bake a cake just to be sure that everyone is happy.
Alright, getting back to my wake up call from Shiner and Jingle this morning. I had set my alarm for 7:30 since I still have a little bit of cleaning to do upstairs and I have to go to the grocery store before Mom and Dad arrive around one. Every night I take a glass of water upstairs with me so that I can take my allergy medicine before I go to bed. I finish the water but there is usually a little ice left in the glass to melt and it sits on my nightstand overnight. A few storms came through the Dallas area last night. That usually puts Jingle a little on edge. So, Jingle was kind of grumpy, Shiner wanted to play and a little argument ensued. Before, they were finished my glass of water was rolling around on the nightstand, all of the lights were on and I was wide awake. The result was that I had some time to sit downstairs and drink a few cups of coffee while posting on my blog before I had to get started on my cleaning upstairs. So, I guess they sort of did me a favor depending on how you look at it.
I was able to help save a lizard yesterday. The little guy desperately wanted to get in the flowerbed on my patio but Shiner had an eye on him. I occupied Shiner with shiny objects while I waved my hands at the lizard sending him up the side of the house. Hopefully, he will stay out of reach today. I really don't have time for any lizard-sitting.
Well, it is time for me to get busy. Have a great day and in case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow while I have company, have a great weekend!
So I'm going to put a Beef Burgundy in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. This is something I have been wanting to try for a while. I'll go ahead and post the recipe but I won't be able to let you know whether or not it is actually any good until tomorrow.
French Beef Burgundy
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 lbs. boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, sliced
8 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 cup burgundy wine
1/2 cup beef broth
Combine the flour, salt and black pepper. Dredge the beef cubes in the flour mixture and brown in the olive oil in a medium skillet. Place the beef and remaining ingredients into the slow cooker and mix thoroughly to combine. Cover; cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours or on High for 2 to 3 hours.
I mean, how can you go wrong? You mix beef and wine, people are going to be happy, right? Maybe I'll also bake a cake just to be sure that everyone is happy.
Alright, getting back to my wake up call from Shiner and Jingle this morning. I had set my alarm for 7:30 since I still have a little bit of cleaning to do upstairs and I have to go to the grocery store before Mom and Dad arrive around one. Every night I take a glass of water upstairs with me so that I can take my allergy medicine before I go to bed. I finish the water but there is usually a little ice left in the glass to melt and it sits on my nightstand overnight. A few storms came through the Dallas area last night. That usually puts Jingle a little on edge. So, Jingle was kind of grumpy, Shiner wanted to play and a little argument ensued. Before, they were finished my glass of water was rolling around on the nightstand, all of the lights were on and I was wide awake. The result was that I had some time to sit downstairs and drink a few cups of coffee while posting on my blog before I had to get started on my cleaning upstairs. So, I guess they sort of did me a favor depending on how you look at it.
I was able to help save a lizard yesterday. The little guy desperately wanted to get in the flowerbed on my patio but Shiner had an eye on him. I occupied Shiner with shiny objects while I waved my hands at the lizard sending him up the side of the house. Hopefully, he will stay out of reach today. I really don't have time for any lizard-sitting.
Well, it is time for me to get busy. Have a great day and in case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow while I have company, have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Day Thirteen - I'm Breaking ALL the Rules!
So, right now I am supposed to be at this thing that The Former Employer (TFE in all future references) is throwing. I imagine a lot of sitting and listening to someone else read something that I either have already gotten or will get in the mail because that's... you know.... what they do there. So, guess where I'm at instead!!!! You guessed it! Sitting at home in my pj's writing on my blog and drinking coffee. For me I think it is a much better use of my time. Hope it was helpful for those of you who went. I just couldn't make myself be there. I feel like I can't keep dwelling on TFE, it is time to move on and this is me moving....
So, I am going to Mom and Dad's this weekend for my birthday! Woohoo!!!! I'm just going down on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. I just put Shiner and Jingle on all canned food at the order of the vet. So I can give them canned food before I leave on Saturday and I have frozen a portion of canned food for each of them that I will put out for them before I leave. It won't be thawed until Saturday evening. That will give them two meals. Then I'll be home by 4 or 5 Sunday. I should have someone come over Sunday morning and feed them. But I am thinking about cheating and leaving some dry food out. The concern is that they will pig out on it Saturday and then they still won't have anything Sunday. This is crazy. Cats are supposed to be easy.
Jingle went back to the vet yesterday afternoon. He is doing very well. He has to go back on Monday and get one more antibiotic shot since I am incapable of giving him pills. But the vet said he has already lost 1/4 of a pound. He only had to lose two pounds. So, I am pleased.
I must confess that I did not get the dining room cleaned yesterday. But most of the junk that I have been throwing on the dining room table rather than putting it up is now put away. I just need to get in there and sweep, dust and mop and it will be done. So, basically, all I need to do is CLEAN THE DINING ROOM! I did get the other things on my list done. Jingle went to the vet and I went to the pool. Of course the water was too cold to get in the pool. So I sat with my feet in it for a few minutes and laid on a chair reading the rest of the time. Again, with the trashy romances.... Oy vei!
Shiner caught another lizard and brought it in the house again yesterday. I'm starting to think that this is his way of supplementing his diet since I have taken away the dry food. Jingle is losing 1/4 of a pound a week and when Shiner goes back to the vet he will have gained six pounds.... That ought to be easy to explain. But again, he is a smart little thing. As soon and I yelled "OUTSIDE" and pointed at the door, he picked it back up and took it out to the patio where he played with it for 20 minutes or so before feasting.
I think the most important thing you can get from this is that if you are a friend who comes over often, never let Shiner lick your face. Because chances are, he has recently eaten a lizard. I wish he would stop eating the lizards. My plants could really use those guys out on the patio eating the insects. Shiner is not really down with the whole organic gardening thing.
Oh here is some exciting news. I think that subconsciously at least, I am starting to try to figure out what to do with my life. Last night I dreamed that I had started sketching dress designs and Nicole Richey, Jessica Simpson and all the other people from that show on NBC on Tuesday nights at 9:00 (I can't remember the name of it) saw my sketches and Saks offered me $200k for my design. This is interesting to me on many levels. The first of which is that I can barely draw a stick figure without erasing many times. Second, I can't stand Nicole Richey or Jessica Simpson. Third, as you can tell by the way I dress, I have NO interest in fashion. Finally, I went to bed last night watching Endless Summer on AMC for the 500th time. Why didn't I dream about becoming something important like a professional surfer or at least traveling around the world documenting hot surfer guys in search of an "endless summer"? Life is so unfair. I want to be something fun in the next part of my life, but my subconscious just wants me to stick to retail.
Here's another thing, in my dream somebody told me that I needed to get some of the designers from TFE to write me letters of recommendation...... I was like, really????? Who should I get, the leprechaun??? Elf???? Waldo???? All I ever did was make fun of those people and what would they know about my designing abilities or lack there of? Overall, it was a very strange dream. Suffice to say, I won't be entering the world of design.
So, time for me to get dressed so that I can meet Katherine. We are going to Coffee House for lunch. I normally go there for breakfast or brunch. This will be my first lunch there. But I still might order breakfast food for lunch. I love that place!
So, I am going to Mom and Dad's this weekend for my birthday! Woohoo!!!! I'm just going down on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. I just put Shiner and Jingle on all canned food at the order of the vet. So I can give them canned food before I leave on Saturday and I have frozen a portion of canned food for each of them that I will put out for them before I leave. It won't be thawed until Saturday evening. That will give them two meals. Then I'll be home by 4 or 5 Sunday. I should have someone come over Sunday morning and feed them. But I am thinking about cheating and leaving some dry food out. The concern is that they will pig out on it Saturday and then they still won't have anything Sunday. This is crazy. Cats are supposed to be easy.
Jingle went back to the vet yesterday afternoon. He is doing very well. He has to go back on Monday and get one more antibiotic shot since I am incapable of giving him pills. But the vet said he has already lost 1/4 of a pound. He only had to lose two pounds. So, I am pleased.
I must confess that I did not get the dining room cleaned yesterday. But most of the junk that I have been throwing on the dining room table rather than putting it up is now put away. I just need to get in there and sweep, dust and mop and it will be done. So, basically, all I need to do is CLEAN THE DINING ROOM! I did get the other things on my list done. Jingle went to the vet and I went to the pool. Of course the water was too cold to get in the pool. So I sat with my feet in it for a few minutes and laid on a chair reading the rest of the time. Again, with the trashy romances.... Oy vei!
Shiner caught another lizard and brought it in the house again yesterday. I'm starting to think that this is his way of supplementing his diet since I have taken away the dry food. Jingle is losing 1/4 of a pound a week and when Shiner goes back to the vet he will have gained six pounds.... That ought to be easy to explain. But again, he is a smart little thing. As soon and I yelled "OUTSIDE" and pointed at the door, he picked it back up and took it out to the patio where he played with it for 20 minutes or so before feasting.
I think the most important thing you can get from this is that if you are a friend who comes over often, never let Shiner lick your face. Because chances are, he has recently eaten a lizard. I wish he would stop eating the lizards. My plants could really use those guys out on the patio eating the insects. Shiner is not really down with the whole organic gardening thing.
Oh here is some exciting news. I think that subconsciously at least, I am starting to try to figure out what to do with my life. Last night I dreamed that I had started sketching dress designs and Nicole Richey, Jessica Simpson and all the other people from that show on NBC on Tuesday nights at 9:00 (I can't remember the name of it) saw my sketches and Saks offered me $200k for my design. This is interesting to me on many levels. The first of which is that I can barely draw a stick figure without erasing many times. Second, I can't stand Nicole Richey or Jessica Simpson. Third, as you can tell by the way I dress, I have NO interest in fashion. Finally, I went to bed last night watching Endless Summer on AMC for the 500th time. Why didn't I dream about becoming something important like a professional surfer or at least traveling around the world documenting hot surfer guys in search of an "endless summer"? Life is so unfair. I want to be something fun in the next part of my life, but my subconscious just wants me to stick to retail.
Here's another thing, in my dream somebody told me that I needed to get some of the designers from TFE to write me letters of recommendation...... I was like, really????? Who should I get, the leprechaun??? Elf???? Waldo???? All I ever did was make fun of those people and what would they know about my designing abilities or lack there of? Overall, it was a very strange dream. Suffice to say, I won't be entering the world of design.
So, time for me to get dressed so that I can meet Katherine. We are going to Coffee House for lunch. I normally go there for breakfast or brunch. This will be my first lunch there. But I still might order breakfast food for lunch. I love that place!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Day Twelve - Nice Day!
Yesterday was a lot of fun once I got Shiner down
from the tree....
A big shout out to Mary for going to the laundromat with me. We each washed a comforter and walked over to the Bruce Miller Nursery while they were in the dryers. It was actually kind of fun! Who knew going to the laundromat could be fun?
You will note the picture next to this text. It is my patio looking in from the gate. Shiner is, of course, sitting on the table. Otherwise, it would be practically impossible for him to be the center of attention. This picture was taken yesterday afternoon after I finished cleaning the patio. It is so nice now. I sat outside until 11:30 last night enjoying it. I do have to plant the flat of begonias today that are sitting next to Shiner. They have been sitting in that very spot for more than a month.... Again, my amazing ability as a truly great procrastinator is brought to light. I will post a few other pictures of the patio from different angles so that you can really appreciate the serenity.
Today is going to be a light day for me. I can think of other things that I need to do, like cleaning out the garage. But let's face it. I am not going to do it today. So why pretend? I think that when I finally work up the courage to do the garage, it is going to take several days to complete. So, I should start it on a Monday and just work until it is done. Either that, or I'll wait until I can find a husband and let him do it. I mean cleaning a garage is totally a husband job. You don't want to deprive the men of this world that pleasure they get when they start whining about how everybody is always throwing crap out in "their" garage. See, although I have never been married, I am completely familiar with this scenario since I did grew up with a Dad. And that is as much as I am going to say on that topic. Love ya Dad!
I have been threatening since Day One to spend time at the pool and have not made it out there yet. Today may be the day. I mean with this light workload, why not? Right? I think I will take the current trashy romance that I'm reading on the Nook out there, maybe some Crystal Light, the IPod loaded up with Jimmy Buffett and of course my float with the cup holder. This might be the best day yet. Eat your heart out Jenny!
For those of you who have been trying to comment on my blog with no luck, I have not given up trying to figure out why the comment thing doesn't work. It works when I try it..... If anybody has suggestions, let me know.
Jingle goes back to the vet today for his followup from having those teeth extracted. I am including a picture today of Jingle that I took yesterday afternoon. He is really looking quite handsome since the surgery and starting his new diet.
Well, time to get started on that dining room so that I can head out to the pool! Have a great day!
from the tree....
A big shout out to Mary for going to the laundromat with me. We each washed a comforter and walked over to the Bruce Miller Nursery while they were in the dryers. It was actually kind of fun! Who knew going to the laundromat could be fun?
You will note the picture next to this text. It is my patio looking in from the gate. Shiner is, of course, sitting on the table. Otherwise, it would be practically impossible for him to be the center of attention. This picture was taken yesterday afternoon after I finished cleaning the patio. It is so nice now. I sat outside until 11:30 last night enjoying it. I do have to plant the flat of begonias today that are sitting next to Shiner. They have been sitting in that very spot for more than a month.... Again, my amazing ability as a truly great procrastinator is brought to light. I will post a few other pictures of the patio from different angles so that you can really appreciate the serenity.
Today is going to be a light day for me. I can think of other things that I need to do, like cleaning out the garage. But let's face it. I am not going to do it today. So why pretend? I think that when I finally work up the courage to do the garage, it is going to take several days to complete. So, I should start it on a Monday and just work until it is done. Either that, or I'll wait until I can find a husband and let him do it. I mean cleaning a garage is totally a husband job. You don't want to deprive the men of this world that pleasure they get when they start whining about how everybody is always throwing crap out in "their" garage. See, although I have never been married, I am completely familiar with this scenario since I did grew up with a Dad. And that is as much as I am going to say on that topic. Love ya Dad!
I have been threatening since Day One to spend time at the pool and have not made it out there yet. Today may be the day. I mean with this light workload, why not? Right? I think I will take the current trashy romance that I'm reading on the Nook out there, maybe some Crystal Light, the IPod loaded up with Jimmy Buffett and of course my float with the cup holder. This might be the best day yet. Eat your heart out Jenny!
For those of you who have been trying to comment on my blog with no luck, I have not given up trying to figure out why the comment thing doesn't work. It works when I try it..... If anybody has suggestions, let me know.
Jingle goes back to the vet today for his followup from having those teeth extracted. I am including a picture today of Jingle that I took yesterday afternoon. He is really looking quite handsome since the surgery and starting his new diet.
Well, time to get started on that dining room so that I can head out to the pool! Have a great day!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Day Eleven - Maybe It's NOT About Me.... Naaah!
Shiner has a new goal in life but I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is. Either he now wants to be mentioned everyday in my blog or he wants one of his own. Honestly, one of his own may be slightly more interesting than this one. Of course, if I include a daily Shiner mention, and keep him away from the computer, I could increase my number of followers.
So, a few minutes ago, I was sitting here minding my own business while reading another trashy romance novel (I know what you're thinking.... the trashy romance novel break only lasted two days) when the cats go running through the house chasing each other. This is not uncommon. In fact, I would say it happens two or three times a day. I had the patio door open, there is a tree on my patio that is tall and skinny. At the base it is probably only five inches in diameter and gets very scraggly as it goes up. On this particular occasion, Jingle was chasing Shiner. It varies depending on who started it and where they turned around. They both went running past me and ran out to the patio. There are windchimes in my tree. I heard the windchimes going nuts and knew that Shiner had run up into the tree. I knew it had to be Shiner because Jingle is too smart (and lazy) to do that.
I continued to read for a few minutes thinking that he is perfectly capable of making his way down on his own but the windchimes kept making noise and it sounded like he was going up rather than coming down based on the different windchimes that I was starting to hear. So, I walked outside. Shiner was nearly up to the top of the tree and it was bending over toward the fence! So, naturally, I came back in for a camera. He is in the center of the picture of leaves at the top of this post. Once I got a picture of him I started trying to get him down. The hardheaded cat was convinced that up, which took him to the other side of the fence, was the only way to go. So, finally, I got a ladder and bent the tree the rest of the way over and pulled him out of it. He is laying in the dining room floor pouting now.
In human news.... I got the living room cleaned and all of the furniture re-arranged yesterday. I was right the, desk area took nearly three hours to clean. I worked on it all until 6:30 last night. But I am so happy it is done. Today, I'll be cleaning the patio after lunch with some of my "shoe" friends. Following Shiners antics, there are a lot more leaves out there now to sweep up.
Some of you may have noticed that I did not mention the doorknob full of clothes in my Task List today.... Well, my friends, that is because they are IN THE CLOSET!!!!!!!!! Yes, that is correct, I actually got them in the closet. Not only that, I put other clothes away yesterday (are you ready for this?) AS THEY CAME OUT OF THE DRYER!!!! These are NOT baby steps folks. These are your old fashioned giant steps.
I am still trying to decide if I want to go to Nacogdoches this weekend or ask Mom and Dad to come up here. It would be fun if they came up, but it is always so relaxing at their house. I love sitting on their patio watching their birds. They have much better birds in Nac than we do here in Dallas.
Well, I must go so that I am not late for lunch. I may post again this afternoon since I didn't have time to get to all of the things I wanted to tell you thanks to a certain little cat who seems to think it is all about him.... Later!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Day Ten - Time to Start the Heavy Lifting
It's been ten days, it is time to either do some heavy cleaning, start demolition or find a trip to go on. Of course, you all know that I have scoured every travel website looking for a great trip at an amazing price and so far I have been unsuccessful. That leaves heavy cleaning and demolition.
Although, demolition is not out of the question, I think I will start off with heavy cleaning. So, today I am tackling all of the spaces in my living room that you can't see unless you get on a ladder or on your hands a knees.
In case you haven't been to my house, let me explain. As you walk in my front door, you look directly into an open staircase (the kind where you can see between each step). Below the staircase is my desk where I am sitting now. To the left of the staircase is my dining room with a doorway into the kitchen directly behind it. To the right of the staircase is the living room. Behind the living room is a tiny little eat-in area and a patio. The guest half bath is behind the kitchen near the garage door. Almost the entire downstairs can be seen from the front door. My living room at it highest point has an 18 foot ceiling and the guest bedroom which is upstairs has a loft which looks into the living room.
This morning, I walked the downstairs and decided that while the kitchen and half bath are spotless and the rest of the downstairs is surface clean, it leaves a LOT to be desired. So, don't let today's short task list fool you. This will be my busiest day so far. Cleaning this living room, which leads to cleaning the dining room and the patio will be a chore! Cleaning the desk alone, could take hours!
Of course, as my close followers know.... the most difficult task will be getting those clean clothes off of the doorknob and into the closet. Who knew when I started this, that five pairs of bluejeans would be what finally defeats me??!?!?!?! Oh, and by the way, it is now down to four pairs of bluejeans since I wore one of them yesterday. Maybe if I just stand my ground, I will eventually wear them all without ever putting any of them in the closet.
Regarding yesterday, the first item on my list was to bake a cake. Did it! I found a recipe in an old cookbook that I took from my mom's house when I left for college. I am pretty sure that it is older than me. I'm including the recipe below exactly as it is typed in the cookbook. I hope you enjoy.
Coffee Cake - Joan Wuthrich
Mix:
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 egg
Add to the above mixture (Do not over-mix!)
1/2 c. milk
1-1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pour into 9 x 9 in. greased pan and sprinkle on this topping:
3/4 c. brown sugar 2 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon 4 tbsp melted butter
1/2 c. chopped nuts
Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.
I can't even describe to you how yummy this was yesterday while it was still hot with a cup of tea! Too all of my unemployed jcp 600 who might be reading this..... I am already starting to plan a coffee that I would like to invite you over for where this will be served!
In cat news, as Katherine pointed out yesterday on FB, Shiner is trying to get more of the blog spotlight. With that in mind he caught a lizard on the patio yesterday afternoon and brought it in the house. He loves the recognition, but he is also smart enough to understand that when I scream and point at the door, he better remove all live creatures from the house. So he immediately picked it up and took it back outside where he played with it for an hour or so then feasted... ick! I'm posting a picture of the little hunter in hopes of curbing his fame seeking ways.
Meanwhile, Jingle continues to recover quite nicely from his teeth issues. I think the diet that the vet put both of them on is already starting to make a difference in Jingle. The vet said his coat would become prettier and less flaky within six weeks, but I think it is already working!
Time to get busy on this living room. Maybe I'll just run upstairs and move those clean clothes into the closet...... HA!
Although, demolition is not out of the question, I think I will start off with heavy cleaning. So, today I am tackling all of the spaces in my living room that you can't see unless you get on a ladder or on your hands a knees.
In case you haven't been to my house, let me explain. As you walk in my front door, you look directly into an open staircase (the kind where you can see between each step). Below the staircase is my desk where I am sitting now. To the left of the staircase is my dining room with a doorway into the kitchen directly behind it. To the right of the staircase is the living room. Behind the living room is a tiny little eat-in area and a patio. The guest half bath is behind the kitchen near the garage door. Almost the entire downstairs can be seen from the front door. My living room at it highest point has an 18 foot ceiling and the guest bedroom which is upstairs has a loft which looks into the living room.
This morning, I walked the downstairs and decided that while the kitchen and half bath are spotless and the rest of the downstairs is surface clean, it leaves a LOT to be desired. So, don't let today's short task list fool you. This will be my busiest day so far. Cleaning this living room, which leads to cleaning the dining room and the patio will be a chore! Cleaning the desk alone, could take hours!
Of course, as my close followers know.... the most difficult task will be getting those clean clothes off of the doorknob and into the closet. Who knew when I started this, that five pairs of bluejeans would be what finally defeats me??!?!?!?! Oh, and by the way, it is now down to four pairs of bluejeans since I wore one of them yesterday. Maybe if I just stand my ground, I will eventually wear them all without ever putting any of them in the closet.
Regarding yesterday, the first item on my list was to bake a cake. Did it! I found a recipe in an old cookbook that I took from my mom's house when I left for college. I am pretty sure that it is older than me. I'm including the recipe below exactly as it is typed in the cookbook. I hope you enjoy.
Coffee Cake - Joan Wuthrich
Mix:
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 egg
Add to the above mixture (Do not over-mix!)
1/2 c. milk
1-1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pour into 9 x 9 in. greased pan and sprinkle on this topping:
3/4 c. brown sugar 2 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon 4 tbsp melted butter
1/2 c. chopped nuts
Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.
I can't even describe to you how yummy this was yesterday while it was still hot with a cup of tea! Too all of my unemployed jcp 600 who might be reading this..... I am already starting to plan a coffee that I would like to invite you over for where this will be served!
In cat news, as Katherine pointed out yesterday on FB, Shiner is trying to get more of the blog spotlight. With that in mind he caught a lizard on the patio yesterday afternoon and brought it in the house. He loves the recognition, but he is also smart enough to understand that when I scream and point at the door, he better remove all live creatures from the house. So he immediately picked it up and took it back outside where he played with it for an hour or so then feasted... ick! I'm posting a picture of the little hunter in hopes of curbing his fame seeking ways.
Meanwhile, Jingle continues to recover quite nicely from his teeth issues. I think the diet that the vet put both of them on is already starting to make a difference in Jingle. The vet said his coat would become prettier and less flaky within six weeks, but I think it is already working!
Time to get busy on this living room. Maybe I'll just run upstairs and move those clean clothes into the closet...... HA!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Day Nine - Ummmmm.... Slight Progress
The most amazing thing happened yesterday.... Are you all ready???? This is big.... I TOOK THE CLOTHES OUT OF THE DRYER!!!!!!!! I even hung them. Although they are still hanging on a doorknob rather than in the closet. Baby steps, right?
So, in addition to getting those pesky clothes out of the dryer, I sent the email along with pictures to my parents minister. This was no easy feat considering the time it takes to download pictures on my computer. There were nine pictures and it is two hours of my life that I will never get back. But it is done. Hopefully, he will be so enamored of the amazing piano that he will see in those pictures that he will race to Dallas to take it off my hands immediately. A girl can dream.
In other news, I drove up to Allen yesterday to see Jenny. Her floors were getting finished up and they are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am so jealous. They are a kind of dark distressed wood and just lovely. (And that is not a southern mom "lovely" that really means I can't say something nice so I'll just say "lovely". It is a REAL lovely.)
Since the housework is starting to come along and I am actually developing a slight sense of discipline, I am thinking about tearing my master bath apart and starting to re-do it myself. Either that, or I'll bake a cake. Any suggestions? The cake is a lot less commitment, but there won't be a great sense of accomplishment when I am done. The bathroom could turn into a nightmare. I have visions of my house becoming the one in Money Pit once I start one project. Plus there is the issue of tearing things apart and then discovering that my skills are as lacking as I think they are. With the cake, you also have to consider the five pounds that I would be adding to my weight. It's a tough call.
Oh! I found out something great yesterday that I wanted to pass along. Never say that my Blog is not useful.... Kodak Gallery has an app that you can download to your IPhone or Android. If you download your photos to Kodak, you will have access to your entire photo library on your phone at all times!!!! I downloaded it yesterday to my droid. LOVE IT! So, now when I see any of you, I can immediately whip out pics of my latest cruise to bore you with! Aren't you excited????? I knew you all would be, if there are any of you reading this.....
Okay, well, I guess I better get busy on that cake. Did you really think I was going to start tearing my bathroom apart today??!!??! Please check my blog each day to find out if the seal has been broken on the Money Pit.
So, in addition to getting those pesky clothes out of the dryer, I sent the email along with pictures to my parents minister. This was no easy feat considering the time it takes to download pictures on my computer. There were nine pictures and it is two hours of my life that I will never get back. But it is done. Hopefully, he will be so enamored of the amazing piano that he will see in those pictures that he will race to Dallas to take it off my hands immediately. A girl can dream.
In other news, I drove up to Allen yesterday to see Jenny. Her floors were getting finished up and they are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am so jealous. They are a kind of dark distressed wood and just lovely. (And that is not a southern mom "lovely" that really means I can't say something nice so I'll just say "lovely". It is a REAL lovely.)
Since the housework is starting to come along and I am actually developing a slight sense of discipline, I am thinking about tearing my master bath apart and starting to re-do it myself. Either that, or I'll bake a cake. Any suggestions? The cake is a lot less commitment, but there won't be a great sense of accomplishment when I am done. The bathroom could turn into a nightmare. I have visions of my house becoming the one in Money Pit once I start one project. Plus there is the issue of tearing things apart and then discovering that my skills are as lacking as I think they are. With the cake, you also have to consider the five pounds that I would be adding to my weight. It's a tough call.
Oh! I found out something great yesterday that I wanted to pass along. Never say that my Blog is not useful.... Kodak Gallery has an app that you can download to your IPhone or Android. If you download your photos to Kodak, you will have access to your entire photo library on your phone at all times!!!! I downloaded it yesterday to my droid. LOVE IT! So, now when I see any of you, I can immediately whip out pics of my latest cruise to bore you with! Aren't you excited????? I knew you all would be, if there are any of you reading this.....
Okay, well, I guess I better get busy on that cake. Did you really think I was going to start tearing my bathroom apart today??!!??! Please check my blog each day to find out if the seal has been broken on the Money Pit.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Day Eight - It's the Weekend!
So, I'm wondering today, when you don't work, do you still get the weekends off? If so, really all of these tasks that I have planned for myself today could wait until Monday. Maybe I should send the pictures and measurements of the piano to Mom and Dad's minister. After all, the sooner it is sold, the sooner it is out of my house. I've probably procrastinated on that as long as I can anyway. I got his email address to send this info more than a month ago. Is that bad?
To update my progress on yesterday's list, I did turn the dryer back on twice more yesterday, but never actually removed the clothes once it finished. So, I'm just going to go ahead and call that a failure. I did complete the pizza and it was excellent if I do say so myself. There's really no point in bringing up the bathrooms. I think we can all safely assume that I still need to clean one and two thirds bathrooms.
Jingle has been very clingy this morning. For those of you who do not know me too well, Jingle is my older cat. He is a Burmese and fully believes that the world revolves around him. Therefore, he was a little surprised when Shiner came to live with us three years ago and I had the audacity to pay as much attention to Shiner as I did to Jingle. Shiner is a stray cat that I found during a weekend trip to Shiner, Tx. He was a malnourished kitten at the time. He is now a full grown very healthy loving cat.
Jingle had two teeth extracted last week. They had abscessed and it was not good. He is doing very well now. Shiner has been taking good care of him and I'm thinking Jingle is trying to milk all of this attention. One interesting thing came out of all the trips to the vet in the last week. It seems that both of them are considered to be overweight. The vet put them both on diets. I never thought anyone would tell me that Jingle was overweight. But there it is. They both have to lose 2 pounds. They aren't really suffering, however. The diet that they were put on is all canned food. They are the happiest cats on the planet.
Well, time to do something productive. Have a great Saturday!
To update my progress on yesterday's list, I did turn the dryer back on twice more yesterday, but never actually removed the clothes once it finished. So, I'm just going to go ahead and call that a failure. I did complete the pizza and it was excellent if I do say so myself. There's really no point in bringing up the bathrooms. I think we can all safely assume that I still need to clean one and two thirds bathrooms.
Jingle has been very clingy this morning. For those of you who do not know me too well, Jingle is my older cat. He is a Burmese and fully believes that the world revolves around him. Therefore, he was a little surprised when Shiner came to live with us three years ago and I had the audacity to pay as much attention to Shiner as I did to Jingle. Shiner is a stray cat that I found during a weekend trip to Shiner, Tx. He was a malnourished kitten at the time. He is now a full grown very healthy loving cat.
Jingle had two teeth extracted last week. They had abscessed and it was not good. He is doing very well now. Shiner has been taking good care of him and I'm thinking Jingle is trying to milk all of this attention. One interesting thing came out of all the trips to the vet in the last week. It seems that both of them are considered to be overweight. The vet put them both on diets. I never thought anyone would tell me that Jingle was overweight. But there it is. They both have to lose 2 pounds. They aren't really suffering, however. The diet that they were put on is all canned food. They are the happiest cats on the planet.
Well, time to do something productive. Have a great Saturday!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Day Seven - Not Magnificent
I have officially been unemployed for one week now. I thought that by now, my house would be spotless, I would have the beginnings of a truly great tan and would be down a pound or two from my relentless workout schedule. I was incorrect.
My kitchen is indeed clean. My guest bath is actually clean, as well. But that is as far as I have gotten. I seem to be having an issue with motivation. It is kind of like when I was in college and couldn't make myself work on a project until just before it was due. Deadlines work for me. After coming to the realization that this fact has not changed in the last 30 years, I started a list last night of tasks that I must complete before the end of the day today. Please see said list below:
My kitchen is indeed clean. My guest bath is actually clean, as well. But that is as far as I have gotten. I seem to be having an issue with motivation. It is kind of like when I was in college and couldn't make myself work on a project until just before it was due. Deadlines work for me. After coming to the realization that this fact has not changed in the last 30 years, I started a list last night of tasks that I must complete before the end of the day today. Please see said list below:
- Clean all bathrooms
- Finish laundry
- Make pizza crust and bake a pizza for supper
- Bake something
- Start Hawaii photo book
So, from that list I have accomplished the following as of 3:47 p.m.
- Cleaned the guest bath and cleaned the sink in the master bath, have not walked into the 3rd bathroom.
- Turned on the dryer to get wrinkles out of clothes that have been in it for two days, it ran for 20 minutes and now the clothes have re-wrinkled after 7 hours sitting in the dryer.
- Put pizza crust ingredients in the bread machine
- Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!!!!
I think it is a step in the right direction. I mean the day isn't over yet, right? It is so much better than my accomplishments for the first six days that I am calling it a victory. In the first six days my accomplishments consisted of eating at least one meal a day, reading five trashy romance novels (the last of which was so trashy that it may have broke me of that habit for a day or two) and taking my two critters to the vet multiple times (you'll get to know the critters in future posts).
My plan going forward is to post my daily task list on this blog and report on my progress each day. Be forewarned..... I am the most amazing procrastinator you will ever come across. If there were awards for procrastination, I would be like the Nobel Prize Winning Procrastinator. So, if you don't see a post tomorrow, you will know that I just put it off for a day or two.....
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