Lousy day....

Usual taxi service... drive daughter to school. Son's class didn't start til 10 so come home for a bit, take son to college. Drive back up to go to Michaels to look for greenery for this project. Bust. Drive down to JoAnn to look and figure I'll wait around until he gets out of class. Ok, class should be over now I'll start heading over. I call - oh, he has his meeting with his academic coach or counselor. WTF. I can't remember everyone's schedule all the time, thanks for reminding me. I'm not sitting down there for half an hour. Take the bus up to Walmart. I head to Michaels again (since I called and told hubby about a stamp set I want, figuring maybe he could get it for Christmas and it's on sale. He says to pick it up.) I'm in turning lane (right) and the car that WAS in front of me before reaching the turning lane decides last minute it wants to turn, too. So the idiot nearly causes an accident by suddenly pulling over. Of course I laid on the horn. I have a horn and WILL use it. (Hubby annoys me - he doesn't use it hardly but I have to listen to him gripe and/or holler about the other drivers.) I'm leaving Michaels and an SUV pulls up to the left of me and forward completely blocking my view of traffic so I can pull out to the right. Jerk. And while I'm in Michaels my son calls wanting me to come back and get him because HE'D have to wait awhile for the bus. grrr!
My house is a pig stye. 'Cause you know, why should anyone beside me clean anything without being told? (Eliciting a wonderful reaction from my son. Note sarcasm.)

Ok, I will post something good though because a lot of people don't like to read just a complaint. So I will show you this set that I had picked up at Michaels for 40% off the $14.99 price ($8.99). I've been wanting a custom set (she has another one, too, that I also want that has rectangular blocks and a script monogram alpha) so I can make greetings for cards that I don't have stamps for. I also bought 2 $1 wooden stamps. Not that I needed them. I have holly. But it was cute. And the flower I thought would be neat to cut on the inside petal lines and pop up.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Down came the fall decor (and wouldn't you know it - I got the bins in the shed and later realized I missed 2 garlands, the one in the LR/kitchen entry and the one on the light fixture. I had this nagging feeling there had to be more. I don't know if I didn't look up enough or it just didn't register.)

Up went the Christmas decor. Well, most of it. A couple wreaths to go. Took all afternoon to get the tree assembled and the lights on. All 1000 of them. I put the lights on while I assembled the tree (adding branches) which makes it much easier. I run them up and down each branch which gives the tree lots of light and depth. It's just a pain near the top because the top piece is made up of those long single branches that come out of the 'trunk', not multi-stemmed. I was thinking the decorations would go on when hubby got home from work but that didn't happen. I'll have to climb in the closet and dig them out myself - which will require moving 3 huge boxes first (if you read my Score post, it's the 3 Rock Band boxes - which are on top of other stuff on the floor (if you saw my mess post) so it's pretty high. Can't climb over.)

There's a lighted wreath I want to put in the window of our new front door but plugging it in presents a problem. I think there's a plug behind the hutch I could use by running an extension cord - that way the door opening isn't an issue. But the hutch weighs a ton and I do NOT want to unload it just to reach the plug. However, at this VERY moment I have thought of another idea! I could run the cord the same way (to the hinge side) but bring it over the top of the door frame and down the other side to reach a plug. I'm sure this will require 2 extension cords. I'm not using a big, ugly orange or green one. I will have to give this a whirl tomorrow and see how it works out.

Thanksgiving dinner....

My MIL wanted to have it at her house this year. Which was fine by me - a lot less work. Actually, I really didn't have to do anything this year. She has a dishwasher and I don't. And we can leave when we're ready. LOL This year there was only one small 'fight'. There's a tradition I could do without. *eyeroll* At least it was a short outburst.

After we ate we had the usual game of Skip-Bo. How the hell does my MIL win so often?? She just has some kind of luck with that game.

Here's the food we left with. (Oh, and it was just 5 of us. My family of 4 and MIL.) That doesn't even show the bottles of soda and the ice cream. And then the half bag or more of potatoes she put on top.

Score!

Hubby and I went on a Christmas shopping expedition yesterday. Didn't have much luck at Target or Kohl's (which we rarely go into - neither of us care for the store and a bit towards the pricier side.) Went into KMart.
Check out my Halloween t-shirt bargain. LOL 90% off = $1.29


We got the first 7 Harry Potter dvd's for my daughter for $3.99 each, and then the new release of Part 2 for $14.99. We also found the X-Box 360 The Beatles Rock Band clearance stickered (and rang up for)............... $20! We got the 3 there, one for my son, and the other two to sell though hubby did offer one to one of his employees if she wanted it for her kids.

It was so much easier and more fun to shop for the kids when they were little though. *sigh*

I can dress decent again...

After at least a week or more (probably closer to two) of wearing my 'painty' clothes while working on my painting my daughter's room (and some furniture). I'd wear them 2 or 3 days, wash, and wear again. Well, I do have a second pair of painty jeans. A few times I'd had to change out of them to go somewhere - but if it was just the grocery store I went looking like a bum.

I'm ready for a nice, hot bath....

Loss

I just found out my friend's mother passed away. I was actually googling for my friend's address to send a Thanksgiving card when I came across the obituary. Her mom was only 69 but has been in the hospital for awhile with an illness.

I was just going to post on my friends facebook page and ask how her mom was doing. But I saw some other posts that were foreboding so I thought maybe I shouldn't ask. Then right after that is when I found the obituary doing a google search with my friend's name.

I feel so sad. Which may be kind of odd considering. This friend I had in 8th grade. We moved before the school year was even over but kept in touch for awhile. Lost touch around the end of high school or after. I recently found her/reconnected on FB. I think I might have met her mother once, but I don't really remember. But I am so sad anyway. Like, lump-in-the-throat sad. :(

Victory rolls

Not bread... the hairstyle. LOL From the 40's. Wow, women just looked sooo good in the 40's! Anyway, I came across this blog the other day Diary of a Vintage Girl. She does it so well! I'm trying to do the victory rolls in my hair but it's not quite as easy as it looks. I think part of my problem is my hands keep rolling towards the back instead of toward the top.
It's a shame people don't dress nice like they used to. The 70's might've been a bad style decade but there was still effort in looking good. When people went out, they dressed for it. You didn't go to a show wearing what you wore every day (well, unless if you worked in an office maybe. LOL) Nowadays, some people can't even be bothered taking off their pajamas before going to the store. *eyeroll*

Bless this mess....

I thought I'd entertain you (and perhaps make you feel better... or... misery loves company. LOL) Here is a quick tour of my bedroom and closet.
This is from my doorway and going clockwise from left to right. There's even some things on the other side of the bed on the floor you can't see. :p Now, a good amount of the time I actually make my bed because I like getting into a made up bed and having the blankets the way they should be. And the blue one usually is not on it but my husband keeps dragging it in because he's cold. I tell him to put some clothes on. *eyeroll* That blue comforter is actually going to become part of a quilt. I'm going to make a top that will be quilted and bound to the comforter making it the middle and back parts.

So, here's my sewing table which is doubling as my computer desk. I could use it on my scrap desk which would make my sewing table neater (well, once I get the other junk off) but that presents it's own problem. You'll see in the next pic. LOL



My scrap area. Most of the time I have to do the scrap-crap-shuffle so I can use at least a small part of the desk for scrapping or cardmaking. Sometimes I just pull out the writing surface. LOL I seriously need my own room for the sewing, crafts, and scrapping. I don't have room for stuff. When you see my closet you'll see why. It's small (like 5 x 6 feet) and shared. Anyway, on the floor and under the pillows (normally on my bed when made up) are a couple of things I have to get rid of. One to go on Craigslist and the other is a box with an afghan I made for my mother. That'll be going in the mail soon.



Then we have my bureau piled with crap. Sometimes I get it cleaned off and it lasts awhile - then it all goes to pot again. I need to stop doing that. Check out my new straw hat. I got it for $5 clearance (half price) at a hardware store we stopped into. Now I have a garden and beach hat. Woohoo!! I do have a green cotton one I wear but I've been wanting a straw one - nice wide brim. As you can see, I also have more stuff on the other side by the wall. In the corner of the pic you can just see the edge of a small, wood bookshelf. It's next to hubby's bureau - of which you can see in my mirror. With his crap on it. And the stuff piled on top of the bookshelf. LOL



And here we have the closet. Small and shared. Hubby gets the left side (also the longest side) and I have the back wall. But I also have another shelf the runs along the other side high enough so the door can open under it. As you can see, it makes it a little hard to reach my clothes.



Ok, I figured you'll want to see the shelves up higher so I went back and took one more pic. That shelf with sweaters is full when I have them all up there. Actually, I have a few I need to put away from the clean laundry.



I'm not showing my kitchen though. Maybe only when I clean it up and post after pics at the same time. LOL It's mostly a dish problem though. I don't have a dishwasher. :( I also need a new mop. Or find a mophead that fits my current one.

My arms are sore....

So I spent all day yesterday on paint removal. Went and got some more denatured alcohol and some steel wool. (Hey, Pam, I finally found a use for that denatured alcohol after my little alcohol burner died. LOL) The vanity table is done with removal. It's not all bare wood - and it looks VERY shabby chic right now. LOL I'm still not done the chair.
Now I have to figure out how to fix a sticky spot on the bookshelf I painted. WTH. grrr. It's not drying, it's tacky. Just this one small spot. I googled. That was useless. So here's the plan - wish me luck. I'm going to rub some denatured alcohol on the spot, give it a wash/rinse, then try and paint over it with a brush. I'll have to spray some paint into a puddle on something. Hopefully, that will work. There is no way in hell I'm removing paint and respraying the shelf. I'm just glad they made the spray buttons on those cans a little bigger. Ever get spray-finger-itis from doing a lot of spray painting?
It's supposed to rain today so I didn't put on the grungy clothes to do more paint removal. It's cloudy but not raining yet. I figured it was a good excuse for a break but now I wonder if I should get back to the grindstone with that chair. Or I could paint the mirror. Or start on the vanity with the primer coat.
I shall consult the weather channel's website.... and then possibly ignore it.

What was I thinking??

So I've got this little vanity and chair that's in my daughter's room right now. (Some day when she moves out, it's mine. :p I just don't have room for it anywhere else.) My husband got it free a couple years ago - guess it didn't sell in the neighborhood yardsale so they were giving it away. Well, now I'm giving it a makeover for my daughter's room but since it has up to 4 coats of paint in some areas, I figured I need to strip it. I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the last coat of paint that was put on it. That one is peeling off from what's underneath. Incompatible or something. I've only just started on the vanity part. What a mess. What a pain! I think with what I've managed to scrape off, I can get the top okay. I can sand that. But the legs are going to be hard since they're round and curvy. I bought a 3 pack of disposable chemical-resistant gloves and I've gone through 2 of them. I should listen to myself because I had a feeling deep down, you know, that tiniest little voice you almost don't hear, saying don't go with the spray stripper, get the one in the can. Pay the few dollars more. But 1. I figure spray is easier; 2. it was cheaper (but obviously not if you might have to buy more!) and 3. I was afraid I'd end up with a lot of leftover paint stripper I didn't need. I also knew I should've started trying rubbing alcohol first because for those who don't know - you can actually remove some latex paint with it.
Did I mention this sucks?

Ok... about those sundials in my earlier post....

I am too simple minded to understand this good explanation. I will not attempt to make a sundial any time soon. Especially if I'm looking for accuracy.
How do sundials work?

Daylight savings time...

Ok, we're at the end of it. Yay! Now who's with me? DST is stupid!! You aren't saving daylight. As one person put it in a comment I saw on an article - only the gov't would think that by cutting 12 inches from the bottom of a blanket and sewing it to the top could they make a longer blanket. LOL
Ok, I read it had to do with energy savings back in WW2 (needing to use lightbulbs earlier in the evening). I guess it didn't occur to people that if it was that big of an issue - change your business hours, not the clocks. :p Which brings me to a thought I had this morning about sundials. (You wouldn't believe the random thoughts I have in my head all the time. LOL) So, if a sundial is 12 noon when the sun is at the highest point in the sky - that would mean we'd have to subtract an hour to get the right time from a sundial in the summer wouldn't we? And how does a sundial work at other times of the year? Lower sun and all that. I'm going to have to look that up....

a new blog

Even though I already have one. But that's for stuff I make or decorate, that sort of thing. Not just random rambling about whatever. Which, if you managed to find your way here, you might find not all that interesting. In that case... there are a kajillion other blogs out there that may be more interesting.

Ok, so that's my first post because I don't know what else to say for my first post. Maybe I will be more interesting next time. But I don't make any promises.