Just When You Think . . . .

 . . .  you can relax and get on with your day.  Not gonna happen.

Scenario:

Ben leaves for gym.
Audrey has her usual heart attack.
Begin folding towels at the dryer about 20 minutes later.
Look up and out the living room windows.
Something white moving at the Pastor's house across the way ~ around his shrubs.
Looks furry.
Feel nauseous.
Where's Audrey? ! ? !
Worst fear ~ Ben let her out!
Suppress urge to run to door and scream for her for fear she would bolt across the street and get flattened like a pancake. 
Can't think.
Frantically search living room for her.
WHERE IS THAT DOG? ? ? ?
Little dog across the street moves to the back of the house.
Go into living room and scan again.
Well, I'll be.  There she is.  Under the blankets.
Silly me. 
Why didn't I remember she was in the house?
Why?

Blind AND senile!

Senior moment.

Just missed the stress.

Bye for now.  Going to check on Itty Bitty before I lose her too. 

Have a nice day.
I will.
Thank you.
You're welcome.

September Summary

I can relate to the poor cat chasing his tail.  I feel like that's all I do anymore ~ 'round-n-'round we go!

September arrived quickly and now it's almost time to say goodbye.  A quick month for sure.

I guess that's what happens when you get busy.

Busy finishing up projects purchased in the spring:

 

This is the heinous coffee table (bottom) I purchased at a flea market for three bucks . . .

 I think I over paid.  It was rickety and glue laden.

Not to mention, filthy.

 

 

The boy taking it apart and bracing it up.

It needed to have the glue scraped off, a couple bolts and

the drawer re-glued.

 

 

 

Top sanded and polyed.

 

 

Bottom primed.

Like my workshop?

 

 

First coat of paint.

Really liked the color but it was just a little

too "beachy blue" for our living room.

 

 

Second coat - in a pale green. 

Um . . . . no.

Not quite.

 

 

The same green with a dark glaze, polyed and

waiting for knobs.

Tricky, tricky ~finding just the right accessories.

 

 

Then we have this:

 

Itty Bitty and pre-school at Mom-mom's house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there was the bazillion birthdays and all the every day stuff that happens in life.  There is quite a bit of truth to the notion that the older one gets the faster life gets.  No pause.  No rewind.  And thank goodness, no fast forward! 

 

Toodles for now!

 

 

In My Spare Time

In all my five minutes of spare time ~ between cleaning out, cleaning up, buying plants, planting, moving junk stuff around, getting the third floor ready to turn into my sewing/crafting area, refereeing fights, calling the heating and air people, and trying to remember to eat ~ I have been doing this:



Don't ask me what's going on with the wallpaper here. 
I think it's user error.
Pay no mind to the candy dish ~ it contains my
sanity ~ dark chocolate kisses.

Back this winter I purchased a china cabinet from the gal who cuts my hair.   Thank you Kellie! !
It sat on my side porch until last week.  She was lonely.  I could hear her calling me.  I brought her in. She needed a good make over,  and by George, I was going to give her one! 

I didn't take "before" pictures because, apparently, I don't know how to operate my camera properly.  The memory card was full and wouldn't let me delete anything insisting the card was "protected".  Since when?  I didn't protect it.  I had to get the manual out to figure out how the card protected itself.   Hm.  Seems somewhere along the way when I took it out to download, I apparently hit a switch on the side of the card that prevented me from altering it in any way.  Now, since when do little 1 x 1.5 inch SD cards have a "switch"?  Since forever, I guess.  Perhaps I should mention that my boy helped me figure it out.  Just in case he decides to read this funny business I call a blog.   At any rate we are  back in business. 

But, if you are really curious as to what it looked like before, just look at the inside of the middle picture.  It was all that 70's walnutty color.   I haven't done the top doors yet.  Perhaps I will photograph them later on ~ just for kicks and giggles.  You will get a better idea.  The bottom doors are done.  I have to find hinges and handles that I like.  I'm thinking something black.

I'm pleased with it.  It didn't take as long as I thought it would.  One coat of some pinkish-red chalk paint over the finish made it look dark and aged.  I liked the way it turned out.  I was scared at first because it was so "pink".  But it dried nicely.  I wouldn't use it on a light piece of furniture ~ too pinkish.   I put poly over the red (instead of waxing it).  I knew it would get a lot of use.  The black is Glidden paint with primer ~ two, not so serious, coats.

When I get back from KY, I will finish her up and dress her accordingly.  She will house my milk glass collection nicely.

Easter Break Review

Call a spade a spade, is what I say.  So it is NOT Spring Break in my book ~ it is Easter Vacation. Period.

Anyway, just a look back at how this past week unfolded.  I am never certain as to how things will flow with three gals ~ ranging in age from "Bossy, Sassy and Don't Look at Me".   I just hold my breath, hunker down, and only peek when absolutely necessary!

On Monday we decided brownies were in order ~ so brownies it was.  I think they may have had a hankering for them.  Let's just pull up a chair.  Nothing like watching brownies bake while enjoying a baggie of oyster crackers. 

Watching Brownies Bake

On Tuesday, it was, you guessed it ~ dump the clothespins day ~ count them, clip them together, take them apart, divide them into piles, pick them up and do it all over again . . . .

I'll say it again ~ cheap entertainment!

On Wednesday I decided to finish polishing the silver I started on Tuesday.  Ben made the statement that old silver should not be used anymore.  The girls on the other hand ~ can't wait to use it! 

Not very ap"peal"ing to Banana Man

oooo  . . . . . shiny

Thursday came and went, as did Friday.  We drove ourselves crazy with Mario Brothers. Being so close, but sooooo far from the end evokes insanity and short tempers!  You should see Baby Girl with the Wii remote.  She'll be a pro soon, guaranteed.  That is ~ if she will keep it away from her mouth so she doesn't lose playing privileges!  Goldilocks and Reasy Peasy left early.  That left Baby Girl and I to ourselves for the rest of the day.  Just when you are getting used to the noise level, it falls back to the chatter of baby garble and the patter of tiny feet being chased by a weary old lady.  So our day goes ~ just the two of us ~ once again.  We are cheap entertainment for each other ;).

It's Jello Jiggler time!

So today, the Little Ladies whipped up a batches of Jello for Jello Egg Jigglers.  We shall have them for dinner dessert tomorrow.

I've been focusing all week on tomorrow and the reason we are celebrating the Easter Vacation that leads up to Easter Sunday.  It is more than humbling when I think of the depth of the holiday and the gift that I so DON'T deserve.   

One Minute

Do you know how many things one can accomplish in just one short minute ~ or less?

Anyone with a child under the age of thirty three knows exactly what I am talking about. You can't leave some kiddos unattended for more than that.  I figured a minute was a good number because by the time they figured out you were gone/busy/MIA you were back again.
Try it ~ set the timer for one minute and see how it goes.  For me these are a few of the things that I can race thru accomplish:

1.  Go to the bathroom.
2.  Run up the stairs with a folded load of  laundry and back down again with a dirty load.
3.  Wash your hands and fill a cup of milk and a baggie of snacks for the those unfortunate babes dying of hunger.
4. Reheat - for the third time - a cup of coffee.
5. Sweep/vacuum up breakfast/lunch crumbs.
6. Change a diaper ~  for squirmy, unco-operative tots
7. Fix a sandwich
8. Sneak eat a snack.
9. Pick up Lego's for the umpteenth-hundredth time
10.  Send older kids out the door in a flurry for school ~ with all their belongings in tow.
11.  Shoot a text to someone ~ pecking one letter at a time.  It's amazing how quickly you can  count the letters on the number pad spell your words. 
12. Load/unload the dishwasher/washer/dryer ~ sometimes these are in steps ~ if you DON'T want any help from a tiny tot.
13,  And sometimes ~ write on your blog.
14.  But most importantly ~ one can pray ~ for a multitude of things ~ like the thirteen things listed above and the gazillion not. 

Sea Glass and Other Such Treasures

Last weekend we drove down to Tyaskin Wharf to look for Indian artifacts, such as pipe bowls, pipe stems and arrow heads and "sea glass". Sea glass is essentially old pieces of broken glass that have been tossed into the sea and over a period of time the sharp edges have been worn down by the action of the water and sand and the surface of the glass is somewhat etched by the same process.

You can find some pretty pieces if you have a sharp eye.  This day would be nil for Indian paraphernalia, but other treasures would abound!

 

I was not initially thrilled by thought of going.  It was very windy and chilly as you can see by the way the girls are bundled.  Not pretty, but  they were warm.  It was crucial that we go earlier in the day ~ around 11:00am because that was when the tide was low.  And low it was ~ extremely low.  The winds and the moon held the water out and it was the lowest I've seen it there! 

On normal low tide the water level would be where Rease is standing.  Being as low as it was this day allowed for some interesting "digs" up and down the beach. And dig we did!

I love the patterns on the sand that the waves had made earlier.  Mother nature is so creative, don't you think?  I added my own little design in letters ~ with an ole wet stick.

This particular dock is usually only accessible by swimming during normal low or high tide.  This day we were able to walk right to it.  Two of the "treasures" we found were sitting right on this dock!  On the top of the first pole on the right sat the bottom to a clear salt/pepper shaker.  Waaay down further on the dock, someone had sat an old Ball canning jar.  That is what Goldilocks is retrieving.  Much to our dismay, it was barnacle clad on one side.  It will take some doing to get it clean, but we have high hopes!  The two bottles Reasy Piecy is inspecting were dug up by her Daddy and Pop-pop.

There were "little docks" scattered in the thrushes along the way.  Like little "Islands in the stream".

On the left is a box of some of the treasures we found ~ not much sea glass, though.  In that box is my favorite piece.  It is an emerald green glass jar with "Juice" embossed on one side and "Water" on the other.  The other two sides have the ounces measured out.  It was literally buried in the wet sand under a fallen tree. I love it! I shall show it to you some day.  On the right are goodies the girls found in the water ~ with the exception of the clear salt shaker ~ full pieces in tact. The green piece looks like a piece of depression glass ~ the bottom of a salt/pepper shaker.  If its not the real deal, it is a good reproduction.  The cool thing is, you rarely find whole pieces of anything along the beach.  This day we hit the "Mother Load".  We left a lot where it was ~ simply because it wasn't that old.  But ten years from now, if they aren't all broken and battered, some lucky duck will find the sea's cache of precious glass, and they will ponder it's meager purpose, and they will save it, and clean it, and admire it.  It will be their Treasure. 

My New Year's Resolve. . . . .

Oh, yea.  It's that time of year, again.  Like a gazillion others I've made resolutions ~ secretly, to myself.  If I don't say them out loud, then I can't be held accountable if I fail.  I will tell you ~ they are the same ole, same ole.  With one exception.  This one I will share, simply because I need to be held accountable for this decision.  And guess who my accountability partners are going to be?   They don't know it yet.  Can you guess?  Have they guessed?   Well, without further delay, here they are ~  my Aaron and Hur.  But you knew that already didn't you?  I bet they did too!  That's why they are who they are!

As I was cleaning my room today it hit me.  Like a thud ~ my resolve.  Don't know why ~ just did.

So, here it is, plain and not so simple:  I, Me, the one assuming my accountability partners are going to be there, the one who is a wreck fifty percent of the time, am going to stop owning other people's problems, situations, circumstances, or issues.  I am a good one for dwelling on those things for so long I finally make them my own.  I can't do that. Not any more. It eats me up.  It leaves no room for me to deal with the daily rigors of my own life, let alone any problems, situations, circumstances or issues that come my way, specifically for me.  Not only that.  I am stepping in where I should not be.  The best I should and can offer is:  an ear, a shoulder, prayer and love.  Let God do the rest.  It is, after all, His job.  That's what He signed up for.  He is "The Potter" and we are but clay.  I'm sure one hunk of clay can't make something decent out of another hunk of clay.  But we could be on the same wheel.  Being spun simultaneously.  We could share the same pain, joy and love.  We could end up great pieces of pottery, if we do as we should.  We could.  I could.  I just might.  You never know.

There, you have it.  A resolve formed from the "sweat of my brow", as it were.  Plain and not so simple.

Monday Quietness

This morning is pretty quiet. Baby Girl isn't here yet, the other two dumplings are in school and Ben is at the gym.  I've managed to have a financial meltdown while balancing my checkbook and paying my bills, I've vacuumed and mopped (with my new favorite mop), I've blogged, I've done laundry and I have had lunch ~ all.  by.  myself.

So I thought I might take a little more time and share my finds, my "doings" and just things in general.

On Saturday I went anti-quing with Heidi Jane.  We had a maa-vo-lus time.  She hit the jack pot with the bargains.  Her new name is Bargain Betty!  I love it!  I didn't hit the bargains, but I did manage to find a gem or two.

 I've been looking to buy a juicer for a while now ~ this one came in at five dollars.  Bargain Betty got hers for under four.  Hm.  Helena is already making lemonade.   And . . . . the most adorable muffin pan I've ever seen! ! !  I walked around with it for a bit before I convinced me to buy it.  I've never seen a glass one before.  Rease is waiting with bated breath for some muffins!


Then when I got home I told me:  "Self, you are going to finish a project this weekend. Period."  "Okay", I meagerly replied.  So I jumped on a bookshelf that I have had, literally, for years.  It was an unfinished pine piece.  Now it looks like this:

I painted it white (barely) scuffed it with sand paper, rubbed on some glaze and then some poly.  I like the way it turned out.  The picture is a little hard to see, but it sure beats that nasty unfinished pine. I think for now I will put it in my laundry area.  I need a place for diapers, wipes and hair doodles for the girls.  This will work for now.  Then we'll see where it moves to next!



And this morning, Goldilocks tried her hand a "arranging".  I usually keep my apples in my white milk glass fruit bowl.  But Goldilocks liked this better:

I think I will keep it for a while.  I like that you can see thru it and see my lovely pink screwdriver! 

Notice the "candle holder"?  Well, it's actually a miniature pie plate I got from the gal that lived across the street from dad.  Got two  ~ love them!

Well, Be`be` Girl is here.  Gotta run!

This Morning . . . .

After getting Goldilocks ready for school ~ which meant finding a pair of sneakers to fit her feet, because hers were MIA ~  doing her hair ~ and putting on Snow White (she was here very early this morning because Reasy Peacy had a field trip to The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.!), I gave Baby Girl her morning bath ~ I noticed I was able to do something that I have been waiting a looooonnnng time for.  After getting her dressed, I sat her in her place for breakfast. Then my heart took flight, along with a comb and a teeny-weeny pony tail holder!  I just love the results ~ my Grand Be`be` is growing up.

Somewhere in the midst of this, I listened as Jenny descibed how their family pet had very quickly, very unexpectedly,  gone down hill.  They had to put Chessie to sleep last night.  The family was with her.  I can hardly write this without feeling a huge knot in my chest.  I am not a pet person, but I understand all too well the attachment that families have for their pets.  And Chessie had been with them for ten years. She came from here on the shore.  Jenny wanted an authentic Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  How much more so than to come from the bay area?  This silly dog drank antifreeze about five years ago.  They didn't think she would make it, and if she did pull thru chances were slim that she would be "right" or live very long.  She did, however maintain a decent level of sanity ~ tee-hee ~  and lived for five more years.  She loved her humans, and they loved her!

So, with all this transpiring in a matter of minutes I decided in a matter of seconds that I would bake some pumpkin bread when I put Baby Girl down for her morning nap.  She's good about AM naps! I can usually count on a two hour time frame ~ now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

As I'm cleaning up from mixing my bread, I notice out the window the second graders making their yearly trek through Downtown Hebron.  They visit the bank, the post office, and Town Hall. It's important to know about the heart beat of the town that houses your school.  The cool thing is, they were able to use "Shoe Leather Express"!  School is only a couple blocks down from the hub-bub of Hebron.  And it is a beautiful fall morning!

Can I just say that: "I love fall days like this."?  The sky is overcast, the leaves ~what's left of them ~  are vibrant yellows, reds and golds.  The wind is lilting along, as if it too knows today is a perfectly wonderful fall day and it needs to take it's time to enjoy the journey.  It's the type of day that settles my spirit. Calms me from the inside out.  Makes me feel very domesticated and nostalgic.  I think of days gone by, days at hand, and days yet to come.  I think of people that have entered, stayed, and left my life.  I. Think. Of. Life.

Well, Be`be` is rustling.  I think she smells the pumpkin bread!  Better go ~ she's not one to wait! ! !

How Many Ways Can You Watch TV?

Let me count the ways:

1.  You grab a cup and hit the floor for Mickey!

 2.  You get "ticked" because you can't do what you want, so you do the next best thing:

     lounge, pout and watch TV.

3.  After your morning nap and lunch, you get up and dance with Jungle Junction!

4.  You get miffed because you can't do what you want, so you lie on the floor, prop your

feet up, suck your thumb and snuggle with your blankie

 and do the next best thing:  watch TV

5.  Once you get over your "spell", you decide all's right with the world

and sit on your pony, and you guessed it:  watch TV

Now, lest you think that's all Baby Girl does, just let me enlighten you.  All the above, added together,

maybe topped out at ten minutes. (all day long)  The remaining eight hours and forty-five minutes included, but were not limited to:

1.  Get down

2. Don't touch that

3. Sit still in that chair

4.  Don't stand in that chair!

5.  No

6.  I.  Said. No.

7.  What did I say?

8.  Stop that before you get hurt.

9.  Put that down.

10.  Leave those things alone.

11.  What are you doing?

12.  Wheeeerrre arrrre yoooou?

13.  Piper!

14.  Put.  That.  Back. 

15.  NOW

16.  Don't throw your cup.

17.  Piper Riley.

18.  It's naaap tiiiiime! !

Oh, and there's lunch in there, and two naps.  And the angels sang!

We are planning to drop cable.  What will Baby Girl do?  Aside from the fact that she only watches minimal TV, she will be doing the following:

Developing her imagination, not that she needs much help in that department, but, hey, I can try!

Back in the Grind

Sometimes my day after a long weekend goes pretty well. This one started off pretty good. Baby Girl took a two and a half hour nap this morning. After lunch was pretty sketchy with her. She just wanted to be walked around by the hand. Well, that's all fine and dandy for her. . . she's not the one hunched over! I opted to let go, and here's the outcome. . . . .

She's not really just sitting there. She's trying to move the cabinet with her foot. She is ticked with me.

When moving the cabinet didn't work, she opted to flop herself on the floor and have a little hissy fit! Not a way to end a good beginning, I say. She continued on for a few minutes, shoving her chair back and forth - not for kicks and giggles, mind you.

She settled a little after a nap and when the girls got home she had a snack with them. But just for the record - she hates having to think that she might just have to walk all by her little self!

Poor thing.

On a side note - Goldilocks came home from school wanting me to Google Blackbeard the Pirate. They had learned about him in school today. She filled me in on all the "details". So, I Googled him. We looked at all kinds of pictures. I found a little cartoon "movie", but that didn't work for her. She wanted the "real" thing. I'm thinking she was thinking she could actually see him. I did find a 1952 Blackbeard movie - but suffice it to say - it kinda scared her. Oh well.

All in a day's work, I say. All in a day's work!

My "New" Kitchen

Ben and I started on the kitchen last March (2010) and finished - pretty much - some minor tweaking here and there - this March (2011). It was a long hard haul with many, I say, many snags along the way. The work was hard and scary. Tempers were short and hot. The result is what I was looking for. My boy did a great job! I wanted my kitchen to feel as if it had been there forever without looking like it. I think we did it!

There was painting of cabinets, Ben redid the old doors to look more "today", new hardware on them and he put down a butcher block counter top for me. He installed a microwave over the stove - now let me tell ya - that one had me sweating bullets! He had to run electric from the microwave to the main panel. I could only imagine him getting french fried! But. . . he did it! We also had to chip off the old plaster so he could put up the bead board. That was easy, but dusty work. He also installed a light over my sink. The last big item was the tile work. Yep, he did that too.

I want things in my home that have a story behind them. On the shelves above the counter I have "vintage" 1976 instant coffee jars. My parents were instant coffee drinkers and when we celebrated the bicentennial in 1976, Maxwell House put their coffee in jars with flags on them. I love them :). The white cup and saucer are Bob's mom's. The rooster was a gift from. . . Jenny? and the green and white hen I picked up at an antique store. The stars - well - they were on clearance at Target, so I dumped the stuff in them out and filled them with various beans.

Over the fridge I have milk glass that is mine and some that is Mrs. Rease's. The clock cookie jar was my mom's. She gave it to me when I started house keeping. Donna gave me the red bowl and the toile cookie jar. Kelly gave me the black hen.

He worked very hard for me and I am extremely proud of him. He will make a fine catch some day!

"How was your day?". . . .

. . . ., you ask? Well, here's a snippet from my day:

Piper learns how to blow raspberries on my front door window!

She thinks it's not only important to have her own blankie, now she must have the blue one.
Ben is trying to chill on the sofa and she wanted his "blankie"!
She won!



It was Grandparent's Day at Helena's school today. There was a little program and then we got to go back to the class room to see their projects, have cookies and punch, and enjoy a little slide presentation from the kids. Of course, now, Helena's presentation was about Pop-pop. How quickly I'm replaced! Oh the agony of it. I guess I shouldn't complain, though. She did give me a dark chocolate candy bar - that I had to leave at school per teacher's instruction - so they could all share their work with each other. Now I just wonder how my candy bar will survive that! Would someone please tell me?
Please?