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Showing posts from August, 2004

Adventures in home ownership.....

or how I am going to seriously hurt the people who built our trailer grrrrrrr The fixtures are avacado green, since the place was built in 1973. A year or so ago hubby, deciding he REALLY didn't like avacado green (even moreso then I), went after the toilet and bathroom sink with spray paint. Fast forward to last weekend and we pulled the now badly peeling sink out to repaint it properly (he'd spray painted them in place, the toilet is still on the list to re-do, without the water still in it). Come to find out it is cast iron (this we discover when we took the clips off and the darn thing almost put a hole in the floor as we weren't expecting something so heavy and almost dropped it) and we hauled it out and proceeded to sand off the rust on the underside and go after it with paint. This was a couple days project as we wanted to make sure it dried hard, esp the clear coat. So yesterday we decided to re-install it. We'd finally gotten the metal trim piece off to also

SIGH!!!!!

Beloit College's 'Mind-Set List' Shows What Separates Today's Freshmen From Their Professors By KELLIE BARTLETT In 1986, the Challenger space shuttle exploded, Chernobyl melted down, and most students entering college this year were born. To help faculty members better understand the pop-culture gap between themselves and their students, Beloit College has released its seventh annual "Mind-Set List." Following is the list for the Class of 2008: * Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986. * Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary Grant have always been dead. * "Heeeere's Johnny!" is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon. * The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going. * Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines. * Photographs have always been

OOOOOOOO thank the Goddess it's Friday

Talk about completely wiped out, I've been having difficulty keeping my head from hitting the keyboard! I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I've got a big stack of Narnia books to take home. I was watching a PBS show on C.S. Lewis last night when I got a sudden hankering to re-read the series, so I hunted them down at morning break and have already blasted thru The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. One of these days I am going to break down and get the boxed set, tho I want a nice hardbound set with illustrations if possible. In gardening news, I put the epsom salts around the tomatos, so we'll see what happens. I also discovered the eggplants have a zillion or so blossoms forming, so I may get eggplants after all. I may have to cold frame them in a few weeks, but with luck

If anyone even attempts

to charge this poor guy with anything, I hope the good folk of Florida hunt them down and seriously hurt them. If they don't, I sure as heck will.

Almost over

Goddess I hate the first week school is back in session. I usually drag myself home and collapse on the couch with no energy to do anything. 1 more day to go and then a nice two day break. I think the only thing I plan on doing this weekend is getting that bathroom sink re-installed, it has been sitting in the living room since Monday when hubby brought it in from the porch. We still need to pull the old caulking out of the metal stip it sits in. We'd hoped to pull it up and then attach the sink and drop everything in from the top, but the strip is too well attached, so we get to put the cast iron sink back in from the botton. Not going to be much fun. Check my garden last night, I've a cucumber about ready to pick and lots more starting to grow. The big cherry tomato I've been keeping an eye on split big time after yesterdays rain :-( Not sure it will be salvagable. It is just starting to turn orange before red. I got a tip from an online firend about getting tomatos to

And it begins again

Today is the first day of classes and the students are back in full force. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, no students, no university and therefore, no job. But still, I liked having a relatively quiet town for the summer. Sat I finally finished painting what I wanted on the porch and the steps. I sprinkkled crushed walnut shells on the steps between layers of paint to make them no-skid, so hopefully I can make it thru the winter without sliding down them for a change :D I still have some paint leftover, so may do a bit more on it, tho i may save it to throw a single coat on the back of the shed once my garden is ready to dig up and I can get to it. Yesterday it rained to beat the band. Luckily most of the fields have been harvested, so the farmers are happy. They are thinking if it keeps up it will make conditions for planting this fall ideal. My lawn will be estatically happy, it is pretty soaked thru. My tomatos are ticking away, some of the cherry tomatos are starti

Rest in Peace Silkie Miller

Folk singer, biker, author and a pretty cool dude, Silky passed over last night. 8 What you said.

AW Crap!

I may have mentioned in an earlier post the hubby of our friend and next door neighbor is dying. His doc last week said 3 months, but most of us thought that was very optimistic. Just got a call from hubby, he's over there and it looks like it is a matter of hours. So he is there providing a shoulder to cry on and support. The home health nurse is coming in and B is making phone calls. It is going to be a few rough days.

I WAS getting better

If you've checked out my profile you'll have seen I dislike spiders. Have since I was about 5. My phobia can be so bad that I have been known to throw books at patrons if the books in question had pictures of spiders on the cover or end papers (I don't MEAN to throw the books at the patrons, they just happen to be in the way as I am screaming and thrusting the picture away from me at a rapid rate). Co-workers who process new books will usually put new ones I need to process for patron in mailers when they send them to me with a note the book is about spiders. I DON'T LIKE SPIDERS! But I have been getting better, I can usually dispatch the smaller ones with very little screaming and have been able to come get my hubby to deal with the larger ones without hysterics. Last night however...... I had booted up the 'puter to play Diablo III and the danged thing kept rebooting itself (which was REALLLY annoying as I had just purchased a defense of 17 helm with 2 sockets th

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

God damn those &^%%$ who schedule the pool to every level of hell there is. They've canceled my deep water aerobics class becasue of "scheduling difficulties"!!!! Can you tell I am a bit pissed. The email that just came thru says they MIGHT be able to schedule it for maybe 6:30 in the bloody AM or possibly around 10:30 or 11:30 am, ALL times that are not suitable AT ALL!!!! Scheduling difficulites my foot, the University is putting money they can get out of kiddie swim lessons and the high school swim team over the health of the employees. So it looks like I am now out my regular relaxing workouts a couple times a week as there is NOTHING else that is even remoting of interest to me, with the exception of weight lifting and again at unsuitable times. I will of course be dropping them a note of displeasure, tho in not so direct terms. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

My weekend

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Had a pretty decent weekend, Friday we melted in the heat and then ran errands. We did some shopping for our neighbor and friend B. Her husband is dying (chronic alcoholic) and she is trying to be tough and strong. We'll be doing a lot more for her including some very good shoulders to cry on. Hospice is coming in today to bring things like a hospital bed to set up in the living room so she wont have to keep moving him from the bedroom to the living room (and hopefully she FINALLY get some rest, which she can't do with S in bed with her). Our landlord was a sweetie and mowed her lawn on Sunday so she didn't have to worry about it. Sat I went out to a friends place while we sorted thru stuff and tried to put together the covens book of shadows (finally, we've only been talking about it for 10 years now LOL). Sat nite I whipped up a quick and dirty noodle stroganoff (packet of stroganoff seasoning, hambuger, eggs noodles and sour cream. Much tastier then ham

A funny for today

20 CLUES THAT A WOMAN SHOULD CALL IT A NIGHT... 1. I have absolutely no idea where my purse is. 2. I believe that dancing with my arms overhead and wiggling my butt while yelling WOO-HOO is truly the sexiest dance move ever. 3. I've suddenly decided I want to kick someone's ass, and honestly believe I could do it, too. 4. In my last trip to "pee" I realize I now look more like Tammy Faye Baker than the goddess I was just four hours ago. 5. I drop my 3:00 a.m. burrito on the floor (which I'm eating even though I'm not the least bit hungry), pick it up and keep on eating it. 6. I start crying and telling everyone I see that I love them sooooo much. 7. There are less than three hours before I'm due to start work. 8. I've found a deeper/spiritual side to the geek sitting next to me. 9. The man I'm flirting with used to be my 5th grade teacher. 10 . The urge to take off articles of clothing, s

Never, ever

boot up Diablo III at 9 pm on a weeknight! I didn't get to bed until almost midnight and my usual bedtime is about 10:20 after the weather on the 10 pm news . Okay, I actually had started earlier in the evening, but was interupted when hubby needed to use my 'puter to get some file transfers from a friend in Canada and he was still fiddling with linux on his box. Since the files were for me, I didn't mind. So it wasn't entirely my fault that I didn't get to bed until allmost midnight :D hehehehehehehe I used to be a night owl, but working days have really screwed up my sleep and if I don't go to bed early now it is damned difficult to get up in the morning. This is where FlyLady comes in handy, I have my lunch ready to go, coffee ready to go and clothes ready to go, so I don't have to rush in the mornings when I can't wake up. It is going to be a hot week again, we stopped at Winco to pick up sandwich stuff so hubby can have cold lunches this week. W

My weekend

What was supposed to be a totally low energy weekend got a wee bit complicated yesterday. At most I was only going to slap some paint on the porch supports, but instead we ended up rebuilding part of the front steps. Sat I levered them up a bit and discovered part of the reason they were collapsing was the wood was rotting away. So we had just planned on stuffing a square cinderblock undeneath that spot, instead Sunday we ended up pulling the steps and rebuilding part of them. We replaced the 2 rotten pieces, the boards on the bottom step, a whole bunch of nails that had rusted and broken, put down the cinderblock so the front corner of the one side is no longer on dirt (the other edge of the steps is on the sidewalk). The steps are definately more solid, we will be rebuilding them completely next year. Whoever built them in the first place didn't know what they were doing and there really isn't proper support, just a whole bunch of end pieces nailed together. I've surpri

WHEW!!!!

Just survived my annual wellness physical. Goddess I hate those. If I'm going to be stuck flat on my back with something getting poked into me, the least they can do is put a picture of Tom Selleck on the ceiling to make it more pleasurable LOL All in all it was fine, my BP was up to a whole 138/88, mostly due to I hate doctors offices and lack of caffeine (I COULD have had my coffee black, but black coffee is foul and I HAVE to have it adulterated before I can drink it). We've come to the conclusion some of the aches and pains I have been having (esp in my feet) has been from the lack of calcium, which makes sense as I've stopped doing a lot of milk and cheeses since the price of them is ridiculous. So we'll look at cheaper alternative sources (calcium fortified orange juice for example). She ruled out plantars facitious (sp?) and tendonitus as I didn't have any pain when she was messing with my feet. I did almost go thru the roof when she was pressing over my

I WANT COFFEE DAMNIT!!!!!!!

I've a doctors appointment in a little over an hour, and since it is for a physical, I haven't had anything to eat or drink (except water) since last night and I am NOT a happy camper. I NEED my coffee in the mornings. This is when I really miss my old doc who semi-retired for health reasons and went to work at the quick care unit of the medical practice we used to go to. He would always order the bloodwork taken several days before the physical so it would be there when I went in. None of the other doctors I've been to since do this. Now I have to wait several days to get the results back and then schedule ANOTHER appointment to talk about any odd results. SIGH!!!!!! So, here I sit, coffeeless and slightly cranky (I hate doctors appointments). Needless to say, if my BP is up, I won't be surprised at all. Thank the Goddess it is Friday, I've not much planned this weekend out side of maybe finishing painting the porch railings and posts and dealing with the small

Costco, gotta love it

So yesterday after work we headed down to Lewiston/Clarkston to do a bit of shopping. We recently re-upped at Costco when prices got to be competative again between them and WinCo for a lot of stuff (not too mention there are a few items we can only get at Costco). Plus it gets us out of town for a while at least once a month. I do have to say, Costco on an evening weeknight is very, very, very eerie as there are very few folk there, but then again, Costco on an evening weeknight is wonderful and peacful as there are very few folk there. Will have to consider making it a habit of going on weeknights from now on, tho one advantage of Saturdays is the free samples they have. We find some of the yummiest goodies that way (in particular the chicken potsickers, we wouldn't have considered them unless we'd tried them first. Didn't get any this trip, but will definately on the next trip down). So we picked up some pork sirloin roasts, a couple types, regular and tip. The tips wh

Normally....

I don't pass along things like this unless it really touches me, this one had me in tears: The baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves, four extra-large pockets trimmed in black thread and snaps up the front. It was faded from years of wear, but still in decent shape. I found it in 1963 when I was home from college on Christmas break, rummaging through bags of clothes Mom intended to give away "You're not taking that old thing, are you?" Mom said when she saw me packing the yellow shirt. "I wore that when I was pregnant with your brother in 1954!" "It's just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class, Mom. Thanks!" I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object. The yellow shirt became a part of my college wardrobe. I loved it. After graduation, I wore the shirt the day I moved into my new apartment and on Saturday mornings when I cleaned. The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I wore the yellow shirt

That's it.....

No more houseguests on weeknights LOL I didn't get to bed until after midnight we were up so late visiting. 6 am was too damned early, esp since I didn't sleep too well (big surprise). They are headed back Vancover BC way this morning, kitties will be happy not to be sharing the house with the dog hehehehe. BBQ last night got a bit changed. We had a wind storm roll thru, a bit of thunder and lightening and a little rain. Not enough thunder and lighting for my tastes and not enough rain either. For some strange reason, storms head straight for us and then die or scoot around us the minute they hit Moscow. It is getting most annoying. Since it was too windy and dusty, I broke out the electric grill, the cast iron grill, steamers and a frying pan. Plan was to grill the steaks, peppers, zuchini, portabellos and corn over the coals, with the walla walla sweets quartered and cooked in a foil bag with a bit of butter (before the storm hit it was 93 degrees out and it was suppose

My weekend

Friday was my day off, so I puttered about, did a load of laundry and then decided to tackle the shed while hubby was off running errands. It is amazing what you can pull out using a grabber and a cane as I WASN'T stepping foot in there for love nor money. I opened the door and proceeded to spray about 8-10 yellow jacket nests with foaming yellow jacket/wasp spray (I go organic in everything except that and spiders. I'm allergic to yellowjackets and we have hobos under the house and in the shed). I pulled what ever I could out and sorted garbage, what is going to the dump and what I was keeping. When hubby came home I sent him in with the spray to take care of the ones on the front wall I couldn't see, and once it was safe I went in and pulled all my pots and other garden stuff off the shelves and moved them to my work area. Then I started hauling the stuff on the deck out and got things arranged and still had lots of room to put all the storm windows and inserts we had s