I've Been Thinking.

I can hear you all saying, "Oh. Oh."

Really, it's not all that bad--honest.

I have wanted a fireplace in my home for many years.  When we remodeled my grandmother's house, we had a perfect wall for a fireplace.  Unfortunately, the contractor convinced my husband (who didn't want one) that a fireplace would draw all the warm heat from our living room, up the chimney, therefore increasing our oil bill.  UNLESS--we had an insert or a draft pipe up to the outside and tight glass doors on the front.

Now--more than the heat source, I just wanted the look of the flames and the SOUND of the crackling logs.  So I said, "Never mind."

When I was staying with my friend, Ernie, he put an electric heater Franklin stove in his living room.  We could see the flames, but there was no sound.  No crackling of burning logs.

When I moved in here 13 years ago, I looked at electric fireplaces,  I knew right where I'd place it. But, I also needed an entertainment center, and there wasn't room for both.

A few years ago, Fred and I found an electric fireplace, plus media center all in one!  At the time, most of them were up into the $1,500-2,000.00 price range and no way we could afford that.

I have not lost that long held dream.  I've been searching the Internet, looking for just the perfect one.  I found it last winter.

So--I have an idea!

This is my entertainment center in the living room.

Painted a pale, washed green.

This is part of the closet in my den.  Plastic boxes filled with yarn.  Patterns, etc.

 This is the corner of my bedroom.  Plastic box and boxes and bags filled with yarn for the projects I am working on for Chrissy. My bedroom furniture is a painted green

I want to put this in that corner.  Take ALL the totes I have filled with yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks,

from the closet and put this in that bedroom corner.  I hate clutter and want it hidden behind the closed doors!

Then, I want to place this lovely Craftsman Media

Center, in light oak, in it's place in my living room.

 

where this stood.

I am going to have the outlet rewired with a ground (like the ones in our bathrooms and kitchens) so I CAN use it for a heat source, but I probably will never use it for a heat source.  Basically it's just a small space heater behind the magical flames.  The one I want costs only $402.00--much lower price than the $1,200.00 one I first fell in love with that had glass front doors on the storage.  These doors will cover up the sight of the videos hidden behind. :-)

The "mantel" of the fireplace is (34" tall) three inches taller than where my TV sits now, so it would be just above that chair rail thingie that runs the length of the wall.  It is also 20" wider and 2" thicker, than the now entertainment center.

The electric fireplace itself can be used just with different flame heights, patterns and different sounds, campfire, dying fire, whatever.  So I can get the ambiance of the flames flickering and the SOUND of crackling, burning logs.  All run by remote clicker! and not use the heater.

I have several friends that have these and, they ALL love them.  They come in all sizes and prices.  Tall, very wide, ornate.  Cherry, Mahoganey, Red Oak and Light Oak, that will match my furniture.  I want to keep my wee house with an open, clean, minimalistic feel so I am going for the one I finally chose.  The TV sets on top, the media stuff in the shelf underneath and the videos behind closed doors.

I have been saving up for my 5th and hopefully last car repair, and when I get that taken care of, will put money in the jar that has the pix of the fireplace on it. :-)  Maybe by next fall?

 =====================

Now--what I have been thinking about is this:

I want the many knitting/crocheting storage boxes all in one place AND I want that corner clutter in my bedroom GONE--what if I got a 34" tall stand or table or something, at the Salvation Army Store, to put my TV on and move the entertainment center into the bedroom NOW?

YES--my living room might look strange with the TV sitting on the "whatever", but it also would give me a sense of not having that tall piece of furniture that is now there, and I would get used to the idea?  I really don't know how I am going to feel with a lot of open wall space above the fireplace. 

Although that tall piece was purposefully purchased and sat there on the slant, to kind of use as a room divider between there and the kitchen.  Am I going to feel like the kitchen is invading my living room with it gone?  

This is the view any guest has, from the couch.  Can you picture the fireplace sitting in that space, flat up against the wall and only 3 inches above the chair rail with the TV on top?

From the rocking chair, where most guests sit.

That tall piece DOES accentuate the height of the ceiling and sort of divides spaces.

What do YOU think.  I was never any kind of room decorator!!!

===================

OR--should I just leave everything right where it is until I get the fireplace?

OR--should I just forget the whole damn thing because in reality, how many years do I have left to enjoy a new piece of furniture?

AND I probably need to buy a new recliner first!

=============

Move it now?

Leave it until fireplace arrives?

Forget the fireplace altogether?

Raised by Wolves

At 5:00, I saw her headed this way.  Walking with a very determined stride.

I girded my loins and went to open the door.

"I feel nervous and upset, so I came over.  Make me feel better!"

"Okay.  Sit down...here's your ashtray.  How's it going?"
=====================

Her grandson is moving to Canada when he turns 18 in June.  He met a girl on-line and they have been chatting for a year.  They are in love so he's going there to get married.

Dar took them to supper last night,  The boy hunches over his food and shovels it in as fast as he can.  The girl eats with her hands--even mashed potatoes--she dips two fingers in and sucks the potatoes off.

Neither one of the kids gets up until afternoon.  They, of course, do not know how to work a Microwave, a Dishwasher, a washer or dryer.  They don't even know to set at the table for meals--taking their plate and heading towards their bedroom, not returning the dirty dishes.

"What is wrong with these kids?" Dar asked.

"Obviously...they have been raised by wolves."  I answered, which made her laugh. I continued, "It's not that they are stupid...they've never been taught."

Her son has a Welfare card from Oregon, that he also was able to use in Indiana, so I am assuming he only needs to go to our Welfare office to get his food card "reloaded" for this month.  He also has an abscessed tooth that is making him sick.

"They have nothing!  Except a dog.  They have two sets of under wear and jeans and tops.  They have worn and slept in them since Friday night!"

So I said, "Okay.  You have tomorrow off--right?"

"Yes."

"You get up early and by 9:00 you head to the DHS office up in Howell.  Get his food card reloaded, fill out the forms to get him help finding a place to live.  Ask them how to get testing for your grand daughter and see where she can go to school.  Tell them that this family is homeless and you are trying to help them.  Don't even mention you are the Grandma.
On the way back, stop at Gleaners and sign him up to get food there.  When you leave there, you drive straight to the free dental clinic--Vina--in Brighton and make an appointment to get his tooth pulled On the way back home, you stop at the Salvation Army, where you used to work, and get them some pajamas and some clothes, coats...whatever they need."

"My life had just evened out and was peaceful.  I don't wanna have to do this!!!"

"Well, your son doesn't know where all these places are, so you gotta take him and get it underway.  The sooner you get everything underway, the sooner they can move into their own place.  Plus, if the boy is moving to Canada in three months, you need to get him a Passport.  He can no longer cross the border without one. Post Office for that application."

"Oh.  I forgot all about that!"

"Has Wayne checked to see if the kids can collect from their mother's Social Security."

"Oh my Gosh!  Probably not."

"Well then,  you need to have him call the SS office and check on that.  My Gosh--each kid could be getting five hundred a month until they are eighteen."

"He won't do it.  He wouldn't even know how."

"Then, you gotta do it for him!"

"I did stop up at the office this morning to register them living with me."

"That's a great start.  Now you just gotta do the rest and then you can go back to work the rest of the week and be away from it--at least until you get home."

"I didn't want to get into anymore trouble with the office, so I even told them that Wayne is a felon."

"A...is...what?"

"If they check his background.  He was in prison for five years for robbery."

"Okay."

"And...he won't allow his daughter to go to school."

"Why?"

"She weighs over two hundred pounds.  She can't read or write.  He's afraid the kids will laugh at her."

"Well, I'm sure when DHS is told that. they will find a special school for her.  If he doesn't, and DHS realizes he has two kids who have never been to school, they will send out CPS and put his kids in foster care.  Does he want that?"

"If that happens, he will pack up and run again."

"Well Dar, I guess that's his choice and nothing you can do about it.  You can offer to help get them settled, but if your son won't accept living in a normal society...there's nothing you can do about that."
===================
I didn't even know that people like this lived in this world!  I am soooooo naive!  It's not like they've been born and raised up in the highest mountain of Kentucky, away from civilization!  I guess the wife/mother arranged all the Welfare stuff, because the husband sure doesn't even know where to start.

I think the two of them, lived and wanted to live a free-spirit sort of life.  They expected the children to express themselves and do whatever they wanted, not be taught in schools with their regimented ideas. 
When the wife became ill, she would not go to a doctor, or let hospice come in and help.  At the time, they were house sitting--she died in the bedroom of the home owners!!!
==================

So, I helped as much as I knew to do.  As Dar left two hours later, she said, "I knew I had to come over here.  You always make me feel so much better!"

"No problem.  Let me know if I can help in any way."
<Idiot!  Why did I have to utter those last words?>  

Job. Not a money making one--the one from the Bible.

Dar has a new crisis, and of course, it has over- flowed into my life.

She called at 11:00 Friday night wondering if I had an air mattress.  I did not have one and said, "Why don't you check at work?  I think Meijer (where she works) sells them."

"Oh.  Good idea.  I never thought of that."
<dim>

Her oldest son Wayne, whom she hasn't had contact with in three years, lived in Michigan, but moved to Seattle.  She had no idea until her daughter Connie called and told her Wayne's wife was dying.

Dar's son and daughter-in-law have lived a sort of 1960's, hippie lifestyle.  Neither one has worked for the last decade, instead living on Welfare.  They have two children, now 17 (boy) and 14 (girl) and neither one has ever gone to school.  

When the wife died, Dar did send her son money to pay for the cremation.  A few months later, CPS was going to take the children and put them in Foster Care and into school.  They thought both could start in 6th grade.  Can you imagine, a tall 17 year-old boy going into 6th grade?

Dar's daughter Connie heard about it from her brother and told them to come to Indiana and live with her.  He and the kids piled in their old van and headed to Indiana.

After two months living with his sister, Connie told him he had to get the kids in school or he couldn't live there anymore.  

For the last month, he and the kids have been living out of their van in a park near Connie's.  They move the van everyday, spend all day pan-handling on the streets of Indianapolis and go back to the park to sleep at night.

So what does his sister do?  She reports him to the police and CPS.  Then she calls Dar and tells her what she's done.  Dar thought her son was still in Seattle.

Dar tells Connie to find him and tell him to come stay with her.  Apparently, he got out of there, two hours before the police showed up.  The police went to Connie's and she told him, he had left and was headed to Michigan and gave them Dar's address!!

Dar has three bedrooms.  She wanted the air mattress for the 17 year old boy to sleep on in her den.  The son could then have his own room and queen size bed and her 14 year old grand daughter the other bedroom.  

I suggested that the boy could sleep in the Queen size bed with his Dad.  Dar seems to think everyone needs their own private bedroom--which would be nice, I suppose, but this is a crisis situation.

The family arrived in the middle of Friday night.  I have not seen any of them come out of the house, except Dar to go to work.

Dar also told me that "I am NOT taking them in!  They can only stay here a few days.  He needs to find a job, and an apartment and get those kids in school!"

The boy, legally doesn't have to go to school and will turn 18 in three months.  The girl needs to be in school and find some sort of life for herself.

I expect police cars to show up any day now, across the street.  I see he has backed the van in so his license plate is not visible.
===============
Dar wonders why her grown children are so messed up.  Well, let's see.

She has four children and, although I don't believe in abortion, thankfully she had two or there would be 6 of her messed up adult children in this world!!!

Three of them have different fathers.  When they were pre-teen, she moved in with a Harlem Globetrotter basketball player.  She and he lived in the upstairs of a mansion, the four children were not allowed upstairs, so they were cared for by a nanny downstairs.  She left him when Connie graduated from high school.

Each child, except Connie the youngest, have alcohol/drug addictions.  Connie is merely bi-polar.
==============

Her oldest Lisa 61, is a Lesbian, living in North Carolina, awaiting a liver transplant, because of being an alcoholic since she was 18.
<These two have the same father.  He died of alcoholism five years ago.> 
Wayne, 57, also an alcoholic since he was 16, is the one now staying with her.

Jeff  50, who comes to visit once or twice a year--always needing money, is presently in his 15th rehab facility, 15th--trying to kick a Vodka and Vicadin addiction he has had since age 14.

Connie 45, who lived with her for a year, along with the four grandchildren, is the one who Dar lived with in Greece for two years, then Connie gave Dar the money to buy the house here.  Connie was planning her own "get-a-way" from her Greek husband.

Connie and Dar both have their names on the title of the house.  Neither one will sign off so the house could be sold, which is what Dar wants to do and go live in Arizona.  

Connie won't sign off because she wants to keep her mother miserable (so says Dar), Dar won't sign off because she needs ALL the money from the house sale, not just her half.

Connie and Dar got into a major fight, fueled by bi-polar, hysteria on both sides, and took the four grand children and moved to Indianapolis two years ago.

Which put Dar in a hysterical mental state for 18 months, which, unfortunately overflowed into my life, as I was trying to recover from Fred's death!  

Dar has her own mental problems, as I have posted about more than 50 million times!!!!.  She has been in a mental hospital for 9 months, after she left the black guy, and once for 3 months while she was in Greece.  

She has told me, the only reason she works as many hours, as many days as possible, is to keep her from another breakdown and out of the mental ward.
=============

None of her kids actions are her fault!  The fault lies in their father(S) and of course the black basketball player who would not allow her to interact with her kids.

I haven't had a visit from Dar in two peaceful weeks. I expect one tomorrow, so she can get away from the crisis in her house and dump it all on me.

I can hardly wait!!!
===============

God calls me to help my neighbor's.  He must have purposefully put Darlene in my life to see if I can meet the test?  

OR

The devil has tests too.  Remember Job?

Shiny Day

No Slothiness today.

Stripped my bed,  Washed mattress pad, sheets and coverlet.  Shifted memory foam mattress topper.

Vacuumed all rooms--I only have 5 rooms.

New filters in humidifier and air cleaner.

Filled up squirrel and bird feeders.

Called about my prescription drug plan--one prescription went up $1.00 this month.

=======================

My little sister is very sick with the Creeping Crud that has been going around the country.  Luckily she got into the doc's today and got a antibiotic and Mucinex.  The pharmacies are getting low on Mucinex as so many people are so sick.

They have two furnaces for the house, with humidifiers on both.  Her husband insists on heating the house with the big fireplace in the dining room.  They use small electric heaters in the other rooms to keep the chill off.  Every time he opens the fireplace door to stoke the fire, a cloud of oily, sooty smoke pours out.

That, with no humidifier running is why, I think, she got sick.  There is more damn wood smoke in that house then if they both were smokers!!!!!!  He is trying to keep the Propane usage down!  With the electric blower on the fireplace and the electric heaters, isn't that going to drive up their electric bill?

Our Dad did the same thing and Susie's husband used to say, "Why not just run the furnace.  I can barely breathe in there.", and yet, he is doing the same thing.

BUT--that is none of my business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=================

It is supposed to get near 50 degrees this weekend.  YAY.

Our Blanket Has Been Adopted!!!

When Chris was here in September, we talked about some place we could donate the crocheted blankets I was testing for her.  I knew of a woman's shelter outside of Howell, as when I moved here, I applied for a job there.  I didn't know if they took these kinds of donations.

Last night, I posted a photo of the blanket and asked everyone in this area if they knew of a place that took these kinds of donations.  Many commented that a lot of churches takes these kinds of gifts and use them for fund raisers.

Well--Chris and I didn't necessarily want it to go to something like that.  Back in the 1990's when I left my abusive husband, I had to stay in a woman's shelter for a couple of nights.  I really wanted this gorgeous blanket to go somewhere like that.  A place where a battered woman might run to safety and upon entering her room, she would see this beautiful blanket on the bed and it might make her feel a bit better.  Plus, being made of yarn, it will absorb a lot of tears and still look grand.

This morning, I got a FB message from one of my "friends" (that I've never met) that her friend sometimes worked at the woman's shelter and YES, they did accept donations of this sort.

I had to go to Howell to pick up a prescription.  The Shelter is on the other side of Howell and I decided to take it up there this afternoon.  I had laundered it and dried it and it was soft and smelled fresh.  I put it in one of those large plastic/cloth, zippered bags you get when you buy a bedspread.  It looked so nice.

The woman at the front desk was ecstatic!!!!  She said she knew exactly the room it was going in.  A room with a Queen Size bed, that housed women who had children with them.  The room also had a crib and a two twin beds for the children.

It made my heart so happy that Chris and I could use this gift to bless someone else.  Someone who would really use it.  

So our blanket will "live" at the shelter for awhile and maybe---someday--it just might leave with a woman who is going on to her new home and needs a bedspread.

Home Sweet Home 

Did I tell you, I finished the LapGhan?  It is the kind that works with a wheel chair or just someone sitting in a chair to keep their legs and middle warm.  I have started another one, using this same pattern. A bit bigger--a Throw.   I see it for a gentleman who is in a VA hospital or somewhere like that.

I buy the Caron Pound yarn for the blankets.  Red Heart is also a good yarn to use.  Worsted Weight.  These are done with a K hook.  They wash up and dry like a dream.







Plus, I am testing a knitted shawl pattern for Chris.
===================

I thought you'd like to see my exercise program.  Jane Fonda it ain't, but I can feel it working already.


https://youtu.be/HWWVON924N0

Ah-hh. To Be A Sloth.

Jean, over here, was bemoaning the fact that she is a Slug.  She has lists and goals and she is not motivated to meet those goals and feels like a Slug.

As for me--I am trying to perfect the art of Slothiness.  I am working on a book entitled, "How To Become A Successful Sloth".  Have you ever watched a Sloth?  How slowly they move.  How relaxed and peaceful they seem.

For instance--this morning my alarm went off at 9:30--I turned it off and rolled over for another hour.  A Sloth would do that.

I played a few Face Book games and then ate my salad for lunch.  A Sloth loves his greens.

I climbed into my recliner at noon, picked up my knitting and knitted for the next 90 minutes while I watched my Soap.

Then I switched channels and watched two hours of FOX News, then a two hour movie, while I crocheted and/or petted my cats.

I watched the local and national news from 6-7, switched channels to watch a basketball game, and knit some more and turned off the TV at 9:30.

As you can see--I am quite content to be a Sloth--I prefer that over being a Slug, as Sloths are furry and well..........Slugs are kind of slimy and gross.

I have NO goals for the rest of the days of my life.

I have no adventures planned, other than driving up to the Wal-Mart tomorrow to pick up a prescription and 4 gallons of water for my humidifier.

Of the four loads of laundry I started on Monday, two are done.  One is in the dryer gathering wrinkles and one in the washer.  It can wait until tomorrow.

I haven't been to the mail box in two days.  I have a big enough mail box to hold at least 4 days worth of junk mail.

Life is calm, peaceful and relaxed and very Slothful.

Exercise and Road Rage

Exercise.  Not in my vocabulary!  I have never purposefully exercised.  Oh....I forgot.  I did have a membership at a gym for a year--I went with Fred.  He was into all that nonsense.  (See where it got him?)  HAH!

I have always been pretty active==gardening, mowing the lawn, cleaning, walking, golfing.  I figured that was exercise enough.  Lately The last three years, I've noticed that my always skinny legs, now have no muscle tone.  My skin is so crepey!!!  I need something.  This morning, I devised my own exercise plan and it takes about 10 minutes.

I stand back, arm's length from the wall.  Then, I do push-ups against the wall.  Leaning forward until my nose touches the wall and pushing myself back.  10 times--I hope to double that soon.  Then I stand in front of the kitchen counter, hold on to the edge, and do 10 squats.  It must have some beneficial effect because the backs of my arms as well as my calves, ache tonight.  I vant to pump me up!!
=====================
I finished up the Lapghan I was making for Chris.  It is the same pattern as the blankets I have made, but 36x48.  Just the right size for wheel chair use or just sitting in a chair.  

This only took me 9 days to make.  South-Western colors.  The colors aren't quite that vibrant, but there was no sun coming in the window so I had to use my flash.  I just take the photos and send them to Chris and she works her magic, cropping them, or whatever she wants to do.

I am also working on a knitted shawl pattern for her.  It was difficult to begin.  I "Frogged" the thing 4 times before I figured out how to do the pattern.  Now, I have the pattern memorized and am going right along.  I have to work on it later in the day.  It is made with #4 needles and fingering (thin) yarn and in the morning, my right hand is too shaky to get the needle to cooperate.  BTW=Frogged means to rip it out.  Rip It.  Rip It.  (Ribbet.  Ribbet),  Get it?  Knitters are truly weird people!
===================
I felt very good today.  Must have been the exercise?  Energized and motivated.  

Per usual, Maisey stopped in today.  She now arrives around 11:00 and when my Cuckoo clock strikes twelve, she looks up at it and I say, "Lunch time, Maisey.  Time to go home??"  Hint!!! Today, her Daddy, John had to get to his volunteer job at the elementary school, so he was in a hurry.  If you call, sitting and talking for an hour being in a hurry to get going.

I was thinking about the campaigns that are going on.  I think that Jeb Bush would make a really good President.  But not in these times.  Conservative, establishment Republican--he would have been good,... back in the 80's.  I guess now, with the way our society has changed in the last 8 years, we need someone a bit younger, perhaps a more liberal conservative.  If there is such a thing.  If I were voting in the Iowa caucus, I'd probably vote for Marco Rubio.  Since I'm not in Iowa, I have 10+ months to make up my mind.
=============================
I got a bit crazy and ran up to Subway at 5:00.  Not the best time to be out on the road that runs in front of here, but hey--I was feeling adventurous.  Instead of getting my usual Spicy Italian Sub, I had it made into a salad.  Oh.  My.

Two meals for sure.  Kind of like an Antipasto Salad, which is my favorite.  Tomorrow for lunch I will put in some Mozzarella cheese bits and green olives.

The most fun I've had in ages--on the way back, the light up the road a bit was red, so I had a clear shot at getting out onto the road.  I got in the inner lane--no one behind or in front of me.  There was another car beside me in the right lane--the left front bumper of his car, near my right rear bumper.

All of a sudden, this huge pick-up zoomed up behind the other car.  One of those big pick-ups the guys like to drive to prove how manly they are?  He was in a big hurry.  Then he pulled in behind me--right on my trunk.  I was going 53mph-3 miles over the speed limit, and instead of going a bit faster, I just stayed steady on my speed--and so did the car to the right of me. 

That guy couldn't get past either one of us.  He was penned in and although, it only lasted a mile, until I turned left into the park, it was so much fun.  He so wanted to go busting up the road at 60mph, which a lot of folks do at 5:30 in the evening, but I wouldn't let him.  My Passive-Aggressive way of keeping him under control--at least for a little bit.  HAH!