What are you up to today? This week?

[havanaholly]

Well, yesterday was "interesting", I stayed home from a tent-camping/ paddling trip, we didn't think wet, cold weather in a tent would be just the thing three days after the violent part of the tummy "bug", so I packed DH off early yesterday AM and settled in for a weekend of a few chores and lots of doll-stuff. For some reason I decided to wash clothes AND clean the bathroom (upstairs) and somewhere between the two I managed to lose my rather faulty balance and fell down two steps and bounced on the landing, and when I was able to get up I had some wonky looking, tender spots rapidly changing size & color. Fortunately my friend who used to puppysit The Beautiful Melody for us was home, not working, and she immediately came running over and snatched me to my doctor's office to get checked out. While she was on her way I found a couple of Ace wraps and had wrapped my worst places so I could stand the discomfort.

Miraculously, nothing was broken. I took my friend to the new IHOP that has just opened up, for a late lunch. It turned into a ridiculously late lunch when the six tables of people who came in after us all got their food and we were still sitting there making sick jokes about our borborigmi and wondering where our check got lost. Finally the manager came up and informed us that our check had, indeed, gotten lost, and the kitchen was making our orders right then & there & he was discounting our bill 50%, and otherwise going into the obsequious mode. We thanked him for letting us know and fixing the problem, and (since it was my treat) I thanked him for the discount. LATER, when the waitress brought our order, she told us wat had happened was that one of the other waitresses had snagged our order and delivered it to the wrong table!

When I got home the mail was sitting on the front porch along with a big brown box from Gayle, who had sent me her extra Adams kit! so my poopy day had a delightful end! I'm still a bit stiff today, and put the Ace wrap back on my left wrist & hand, so no playing with clay today, but the SEC Championship is on this afternoon and I can knit doll clothes and do The Chop!

[AuntDee]

My neice called yesterday and her three children want to come and visit the cat we adopted from them. It is always so much fun to have the girls visit (age 8,6,4). so last night I went Christmas shopping and found 3 Christmas paper weights. one with a tree, one with santa and one with a sleigh. So they each will have a present. I now have to get the living room re-aranged so we can put the tree up. I am happy I will have help decorating this year. it has been about 20 years since I have had help with the decorating. I can't wait. We will put Christmas music on and have a great time. We are makng homemade pizza for super. Each girl will make her own. Oh happy day!! Rita

[bookmarm]

Oh dear! Poor Holly! Feel better soon! Glad you got a box from Gayle to cheer you!

I had to be at our store early this morning so I could let in the staff. Jim had to be a the Holiday Market at the fairgrounds by 9:30. I sat and drank my coffee in the office and reknitted the row on the new shawl that I've pulled out twice. Finally found the mistake this time!

I dashed into goodwill before heading to the grocery store. I saw '$1 sale' on green tags, so I headed in. Spent $38 on: 1 pair of pants, 5 skirts (two were ann taylor and one was lily pulitzer, one pretty j jill corduroy, and a nice short brown velvet one), Also found 5 tops and sweaters (liz C, chicos,old navy). Got three things for $1 (including the lily skirt). There were three very loud shoppers who were there to buy 'tacky clothes' for some party. They were so obnoxious talking about how ugly everything was and that they would have no trouble finding horrible outfits. No one could escape from their comments and I really wanted to go over and tell them that not everyone can afford to dress from Nordstroms, and they might keep their insults to thems selves since they don't know how others in the building might live. They certainly don't need to hear thoughtless comments yelled at them. I had no trouble at all finding lovely stuff to wear to work and I always amaze my coworkers with my finds. I can afford to go to malls, but choose not to. All it takes is a little imagination and some time to go through the racks at GW. Why not consider it 'recycling'?

[havanaholly]

Gayle, that type has issues & problems, probably terrified they might be seen by someone they know (never mind anyone they're afraid of seeing them there is probably doiing what you are!( I still prefer "renting" my clothes from Good Will to going out and $pending all that money for one new thing; you rock!

[bookmarm]

you're right Holly. Those types do have issues. I've heard comments from coworkers that only poor people shop at GW, and I correct them by saying it's a great place for everyone to donate/shop and that goodwill is a job training program for folks who might need help after hard times. My boys grew up in consignment/thrift store clothes. Kids outgrow things way too quickly to buy new!

I usually donate back through another organization that does supply clothes/household goods/food to needy families.

[havanaholly]

We are fortunate to have Good Will, an orphanage thrift shop, the Refuge House thrift store, Habitat for Humanity ReStore and a couple of church-outreach thrift stores to shop at & donate to. When I was letting the tendonitis heal DH found me a wonderful cane at one of our Good Will stores that came in SO handy yesterday!

[heidiiiii]

Gayle, that type has issues & problems, probably terrified they might be seen by someone they know (never mind anyone they're afraid of seeing them there is probably doiing what you are!( I still prefer "renting" my clothes from Good Will to going out and $pending all that money for one new thing; you rock!

When I was a young girl, I was terrified that one of my friends from school would see me in Kresge`s with my family (boy oh boy am I dating myself now! LOL)..Help me! NO! I do not want to sit at the counter and have a hot fudge sundae. Someone might see me! Then my Dad had some words of wisdom...If your friend sees you in Kresge`s guess what? You saw THEM in Kresege`s. That changed my mind to this day. I love thrifting and have passed it on to the girls.

Tummy is better. I went with my buddy to church flea markets and Grandma`s attics yesterday. We got some real bargains. I think I spent a total of $10 on everything that I came home with! And we went to about 5 different churches. It is the fun of driving around, looking for a church you have never heard of, laughing when we get lost, doing a bit of healthy gossiping, and just an all around good day. Natalie was mad. "You were gone ALL day." I said Yeah so what? Are you my Mother? She is still at that age where the world must revolve around her. But that will not change my Saturday ritual. LOL I bet those two girls wish they never told me to get a life...cause I am.

I received some good news. Remember when I was going to volunteer for the city`s park conservatory? They were going to disband because of lack of donations. Well, they got a butt load of money recently. The president emailed me the other day to tell me that it was back on and invited me to volunteer. I cannot wait until spring!! They may ask me to do some office work and I will do what I can (she knows I have health issues).

[Steve_in_PA]

Yesterday we had our Christmas candlelight tour of homes. They decorate some of the old historic homes for Christmas & have tours of them. It's a big event in our town & always draws a large crowd. I wanted to take photos, but was too busy to get very many. However, I saw one house that I had to stop at & take some photos. The enclosed pics are of their front porch. I think the house started at the Hillcrest. The roof peaks are changed & there is an addition on the side & back, but the house looks very close to their house.

I like the idea that it opens on the side. It was not furnished, but the weather was not very good. I didn't get to talk with the owners, but since they live right up the street from me, I will make it my business to meet them.

Steve in PA

[KathieB]

Steve, the house is terrific ... and just up the street from you. Who'd a thunk it?

Heidi, my childhood fear was having people recognize that my clothes came from Robert Hall, a discount clothing shop in the Chicago area. When I went to college, a woman came into church one Sunday wearing the twin of my winter coat, a bold green plaid with a fur collar. (This was pre-PETA days.) I was thoroughly mortified and ready to slide under the pew and drop through any hole in the floor I could find. But after the service I made a point of going up to her to tell her in a friendly way that I really liked her taste in style. We had a good laugh. I wish I could say we remained friends, but truth be told, I never saw her again. Maybe she was there that day just to teach me a lesson. After that, the clothing issue just didn't matter to me any more.

The Adams general store is on my agenda for today. Less than a week to do the base and wire the light! NJ is getting nervous.

[havanaholly]

We went to our local grocery today so I could pick up some bananas and when we got home I baked a humongous loaf of banana-nut-chip bread to take by the vet's office on our way in to town to run errands, to thank them for being so good to us when we had the horrible decision to make for The Beautiful Melody (they all sent us the most beautiful sympathy card this weekend, i'm still teary about it). Now I have to bake some jalapeno cornbread for the Christmas party we're going to tomorrow night (Florida Trail Association).

[heidiiiii]

Today I have been doing the Ebay hokey pokey. Still trying to find a solution.

Did not do much but that today. Tomorrow I am off for a regular dr appointment and some christmas shopping with Natalie. Fred had bloodwork today because they think that he really does have diabetes now (they need to make up their minds). We are waiting for the results of that.

He gets to go to a yummy steak place tonite for dinner with his co-workers. I am a bit jealous. I love the place they are going to.

Going to do some more beading in a bit and hopefully I will see a transaction thru Paypal in my email box..waiting, waiting, waiting.

[grazhina]

Today I started cleaning the living room so I could put the tree up. I'd been putting off washing windows downstairs, but since the tree goes in front of 2 windows in the corner I figured I might as well go whole hog and clean everything.

While bending over to prune my ficus my glasses slid off my nose and hit the floor. They went straight down and the frames got cracked on one side and shattered on the other. Lenses survived, oddly enough. I checked my prescription and yep, I had my exam one year and 3 weeks ago, warranty expired.......so sad. But wait!! I remembered, I'd had a big hassle with those glasses, they just couldn't get them right and had to keep redoing them. I called the optometrist and guess what, they're still under warranty!!! They'll call me when my free replacement glasses are ready. I'd have done the happy dance, but I can't risk my old glasses sliding off and breaking too. I have like 20/200 vision or something like that... regular glasses, computer glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses.

[grazhina]

I forgot, while cleaning I decided to wipe the candle bulbs in the dining room light. I hadn't realized they'd gotten hot and my damp cloth made a bulb explode while I was wiping it.

Yesterday I fixed the toilet, cause the chain broke in the tank and the flapper wouldn't go up. Of course, some weisenheimer decided to improve the darn thing by adding some sort of slotted thingy to attach the chain, but seeing as how it was broken neither DH nor I could figure out how the heck you're supposed to reattach the darn thing.

We did notice that they left the little bump on the top which usually had a hole to hook the chain onto, but no hole, just a bump. I got out my trusty cordless dremel to drill a hole, but it wouldn't fit into the tank and since I couldn't get the flapper off I went to get my old dremel with the cord, which did just fit.

So in short, I managed to drill a hole in the bump on the flapper and reattach the chain without electrocuting myself.

[heidiiiii]

So in short, I managed to drill a hole in the bump on the flapper and reattach the chain without electrocuting myself.

A woman after my own heart..Thrifty and not afraid to stick her hands in the toilet box! You go girl..

[heidiiiii]

It is going to be 60 deg F today. I cannot believe it! Weird New England weather...LOL

Today I have to mail out some packages, grocery store, doctors appt, and Christmas shopping with Natalie. Her friend (girl I take to school with us in the mornings) called last night to ask if she could sleep over tonite. I said yes. Normally I would not allow school night sleepovers but this girl`s mom is going thru a divorce and having troubles. Nat asked her why she wanted to stay over (she is not a regular) and she told her she would tell her today.

So I have to get something for dinner. She is a vegetarian so I think I will make something nice and yummy.

I have to go to Ac Moore to get some more beads for the tree. I am running low. Hopefully I will be done with it this weekend.

[SuzyQ]

Nothing much getting really stir crazy hanging around the house!!!

[ilovecats]

I spent all day yesterday painting....i spent about an hour of that taping and prepping the kitchen because i wanted to paint the wall about the stairwell....the reason is that my brother has an extension ladder out in my garage and i wanted to do that wall before i ended up buring the ladder under stuff as i move my garage around so that i can park in it. anyway, i spent all that time doing it, bringing the ladder inside (that was tricky) only to find that the ladder is too tall. I was so bummed. so i took the ladder back outside (broke a small chip of my countertop off in the process). I called my other brother so that i can borrow his ladder soon. i know HIS ladder will work because i've used it before when i painted my house about 5 years ago. So anyway i didn't actually get started painting until around 12:30 pm because it took 3 hours to prep my rooms and move things. I finished late last night went to bed after 12 pm and stayed up a little later reading. i slept in til 8:30 this morning. I refuse to do any painting today. i need to get my house in order, put away laundry, do dishes, do bills (i keep forgetting to do them), get the family room put back together, move some dollhouses and stuff into the basement. if i have the energy after that i need to get out into the garage and move everything back over to one side of the garage. i'll probably leave that until after i get home from work tomorrow.

[Jeffrey]

today i have to do some homework. I have a painting to do, a term paper about an author to start and make a study guide for my mind and body final exam.

[havanaholly]

DS#3 has a roommate whose mom had asked DS to let stay with him for "a while" while she moved to take a new job; her son, in his late 20s, is big and muscular and, we are finding out, a bully. DS#3 is disabled (bipolar disorder with psychotic features) and until recently he has had no self-preservative fear, ever, in his entire life. When the roommate brought a pistol into the house I told DS to show him the door; oh, no, it was OK (this was over a year ago); no, I said, it was NOT OK, and I wanted him OUT. Everything was quiet. When DS became engaged to a nice lady with two little boys I suggested the roommate move out and his new family could move in; no, when they got married they'd find somewhere to move into together (alarm bells going off like crazy!) I put my foot down. Well, when I got home from the doctor's office Friday he called, he really thought it was high time "we" get rid of the roommate! So yesterday on our way to the Christmas party we stopped off and invited this mess to leave.

Y'all won't believe this. In Leon County he has rights! Anyone who has been a guest in your home two nights or longer has the right to remain there until you, the homeowner, serve him with an eviction notice that gives the "squatter" 15 days to vacate the premises voluntarily before it can be enforced by law enforcement! I won't tell you what the fee we'll have to pay will run! We have rather a dim opinion of Leon County's Clerk of Court's office...

Those of you who know me well & have met DH know to pray for this roommate...

The party was lots of fun.

[heidiiiii]

Holly, that is how it is here in the Great state of CT. If you have someone stay at your home and they get their mailed delivered to your house...they have rights because they set up residency. You have to evict them through the courts. Nope. Nope. Nobody is staying in my house but us.

Maybe the meathead will trip over his barbells and render himself useless! I will keep you all in my thoughts.

[havanaholly]

It's only that way in Leon County; if DS lived in our county we could call the Sheriff and the deputy would come out and ask him, "You own this house?" and escort him OUT. We will serve him with the notice today and, should he choose not to comply, we will have our attorney file for both proberty damage and assault on a person with disabilities charges on him. He's a bully, but I'm a vindictive b---h when it comes to my kids!

[heidiiiii]

He's a bully, but I'm a vindictive b---h when it comes to my kids!

hehehe..Me too!

[Anna]

I will be right there next to you Holly if that bully throws anything but things in his suitcases!!!!

When it comes to kids, one has to stand up and help them when they need it!!!!

Hugs

[bookmarm]

Wow, Holly! Hope that nightmare gets solved soon!

It's warm here in SC, but a co worker called a relative in Jackson Miss. who said snow is predicted there! We just have heavy rainstorms right now.

This is my late night to work at the library, but I'm going to stop by the grocery store first for ingredients for Key Lime fudge. My SIL sent methe recipe and says it's delish!

[Starfire]

Well the colds in our house are still going strong. DH is in the third week and I hope soon to be all better. I am in the second week, hope I can get everything done for Christmas. Absolutely no endurance and coughing like mad. The tree is half way done, and most of the shopping is done. Just have to pick up DH's. Started some stew in the slow cooker for dinner. Heading back to bed.