Wet-Humid-Cold-Gray, but It's Friday!!

52 Degrees today

The carpet cleaning guy was supposed to come at 10:00.  I had everything ready last night, but just had to vacuum the bathroom.  I was going potty, when the door bell rang at 9:00.  There was his little smiling face and there I was in my pink cotton nightshirt.

"Hi, I'm Darryl.  I'm here to clean your carpet."  Sunshine radiating from his big smile.

"At ten.  My appointment is at ten."  Bed hair rising from my head, crossed arms to conceal boobs under night shirt.

"Oh...do you want me to come back at ten?"

"Nah.  Unload your truck and I will run and get dressed."

So, in he came all smiles and out I came all dressed.  Vacuumed the bathroom while he was measuring the areas to be cleaned.  The living room which is 18 x 16, the bathroom, which is 8 x 6, four feet into the bedroom and den and the huge, long couch= $124.30.

"Sounds good!"  I say.  The last time I got it cleaned with Stanley Steemer, it cost $120.00 three years ago and all they did was the living room and bath.

So I came in the den/computer room/catch-all room and played games on Face Book while he got to work.  The cats were traumatized and hid--somewhere I don't know where.  They didn't come out for an hour after he left.

Exactly one hour later he was done.  He even did that small area behind the toilet--Stanley Steemer said they didn't have a tool that would fit back there.  AND he got a stain out of the bathroom carpet that has been there for eons--Stanley Steemer said they couldn't get it out.

A local company--I prefer to do business with locals when I can--he had me go around and inspect all of it.  I am very pleased.  Two to four hours for it to dry--but with it so humid and wet outside, it may take longer.  I don't care!!!  Lately, the carpet has felt "crunchy" under my bare feet when I walked across it.  Crunchy from all the embedded dirt I suppose.

I took down the shower curtain, liner and towels and rugs in the bathroom and threw them in the washer.  Might as well make it ALL clean and pretty.  And, I have to mop the kitchen floor.  You know how it is, they get water on the floor when they move their hoses around.

Look at this picture.  I found this old bottle, up on a shelf in the horse barn out on The Farm.  I have a bunch of old bottles, cobalt blue bottles and old wooden boxes in this house--from The Farm.

The last time I washed it, the cork would not come out of the bottle and broke off.  RATZ!!!  Last night I had an idea.  I put a needle in the top of the cork, placed the top part of the cork on the bottom which was stuck in the bottle and pounded the needle down in.  Secured the top part to the bottom part and--good as new.  I love when I get an idea that works.

Not a very good picture--that streak is because it was sitting on a cushion.

Another invention of mine--a feeder for Baltimore Orioles--doesn't appear to be working!  I have also not seen any hummers as yet.  I think it is still too cold for them to appear--although, I can hear the Orioles song in the woods across the street.  Why won't they come over for lunch?  I have everything they could want.  Grape jelly and oranges!!

So glad I didn't plant my annuals.  They are on porch with a nice, soft old mattress pad drape over two lawn chairs, with geranium, tomato, rosea vinca and assorted vines are nestled against the predicted frost.  We are in for a cold weekend.  Any thought of having Mother's Day brunch, al fresco, are put to rest.  We will be wearing our winter coat to church and then dining INSIDE.

Got my living room all put back together with no injury to back or hips.  Have the furnace turned back on and it smells and feels warm, snuggy and clean in here.  

I am exhausted!  I think I will pop in a video--as Friday TV viewing leaves a lot to be desired--and watch and cross stitch a bit.

Hoping your Mother's Day will be warm and sunny, with children present.

Terrific Thursday

80 Degrees today

I don't think I ever showed you this.  My gal pals gave it to me when Fred died.  It represents his dog Tootz and it will go on the corner of Fred's grave stone--which is flat, so this will work well.  It is an angel dog and I love it.  It has been residing in the living room, just inside the door, where Fred's shoes stayed for months.

I got up this morning and headed for the laundromat--groan!  Last year when I had to wash my big, heavy bedspread, I went to the laundromat in Howell--the town 3 miles west of me.  I posted then about the nice older lady I met and how she encouraged me.  The rest of the laundromat was small, dirty and filled with a lot of weird people.  I figured, since Brighton, the town 3 miles east of my is inhabited by rich, snobby people, their laundromat might be a tad nicer?  I was not disappointed!

The place is large, with lots of sunlight, tons of machines and CLEAN!!!  I loaded that thing in the big washer and sat and watched it roll around--17 quarters was the price.  Then I threw it into the big dryer and watched it roll around--6 quarters.  I walked outside while some of this activity was going on.  It is right next to a nice walk-way that goes around the millpond in town.  If there hadn't been so many geese, I might have walked, but every time I went near the walkway, they started over toward me and geese can get pissed at you if you don't have food or if you make a sudden movement.

After the spread was dry, I had a nice long, big clean table to fold that big thing on.  I went and found the manager and told her that I appreciated how nice and clean she is keeping the place.  About the only thing I noticed while I was in there, people watching--two old guys--they both had New Balance shoes on--YAY!  Two younger guys--their jeans pulled up around their waists where they belong, and one young pregnant woman who loaded ALL her clothes in one of the big washers, stuffed them in there nice and tight.  I don't think they had room to wash. Apparently her momma never told her the first step in doing laundry--separate your colors.  Her whites went in with her blacks, reds, purples.  Tsk, tsk.

I have hated this bedspread since the day I bought it--at Fred's request.  It is heavy--too heavy for me.  I like a Mattlaisse spread, with a light weight thermal blanket under for winter.  Pammie loves this bedspread, so guess what--she's getting it.  She wants a heavy spread.  I got my old Mattlaisse spread out of the cupboard and put it on and slept like a lamb last night--no heavy thing laying on me and making me tired.

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Now--a gripe.  This is the view I have outside my front window, when I am sitting at my computer.

I can almost pretend I am living out in the country--it is very quiet. 

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

This is the view when I look out my living room window,

and kitchen window.  It annoys me.

This is what I see through my bathroom window

and

my bedroom window.

There is just too much stuff!!

This unit sits between Pearl and I.  We try to ignore the resident!  Note--the large wood pile over by her porch--it is against park regulations to have wood or anything flammable stored by your unit.  It is suppose to be in your storage shed.  Plus, she has more "whatever's" in her yard--you are only seeing about half.  It looks the same on Pearl's side, except she has many wooden planters--that are rotting out and full of weeds.  This is AFTER she spent hours, cleaning up her space.  Before, there was a bunch of wooden tables piled up on top of her wood pile, a broken rocking chair on top of that, several chairs stacked to the side and other junk all along this side of her unit. She wonders why she has a problem with mice and other rodents getting under her unit and tearing out the insulation.  Get rid of the wood pile!

She was married, when she moved in, to a very nice young man who kept the place immaculate.  She threw him out after a couple of years and now has a guy living there that performs magic tricks for a living.  You never see him outside doing a thing.

But wait--that isn't the bad stuff.  She is loud--she is always angry--and she has a few links missing in her chain of thought.  She gets home, sometimes, at midnight, when apparently she deems it is time to dump things in her garbage pail--which sits on the porch and is another infraction of the park rules.  She bangs the cover, throws that garbage pail around and in essence, wakes me up.  Sometimes, she gets on her cell phone, which she has with her constantly, and either stands on her porch or walks around the yard and talks--very, very loud--and laughs--somewhat the sound of a mule.  This all at midnight or after.  She is always arguing with someone on the other end of the phone--so at times, she gets very abusive in her language and gets even louder.  She paces a lot--either around her yard or out in the street.  

She "thinks" she has a lot of problems--someone is always messing up her life.  She likes to fight with posts on FB. Back and forth with the person she is angry with--let's let the whole world know you are an idiot, shall we?

She went to medical tech school a few years ago--paid by her husband--and had two jobs in that field.  Fired from both.  Then she worked in two different nursing homes--fired by both--because at the first home, she got too "close" with one of the older residents and at the other one, she "forgot" to give out the night time meds because she was playing Angry Birds on her phone.  Then she went to work at a home for mentally challenged men.  Got fired from there when she took one of the guys out to Wal-Mart and neglected to tell anyone they were going.  That place actually had to call the police because they thought the young man had run away from the home.  Then she worked at a fast food restaurant for three months until she got fired because she was giving out free food to her son and friends of his.  (Her son was born when she was much younger and raised by her parents.)  Now she works on assembly line at a small manufacturing place--should be able to handle that I think?

As for some of her FB posts--I remember one post in particular that really floored me.  She said something to the effect--"I need help with my car.  It needs repairs and I don't have the money.  I have asked God to help me.  He is the only one who can help my ass and he better damn well get moving!"  Pray and curse in the same sentence.  Hm-mm.

She can't afford car repairs, but she is always coming home with animals.  She has a bearded lizard, an aquarium full of frogs from the Amazon, a guinea pig, and 3 canaries.  One day I heard her crying--really loudly--it sounded like she was right under my kitchen window--and she was.  She was digging a hole in the yard and sobbing.  I called out the window, "Tami, what's wrong?"  "Goldie just died and I am burying him.  He was the sweetest bird ever!"  and she buried him and then put an angel figurine on the grave--which of course her hubby had to move every time he mowed.  

Fred disliked her to the nth degree.  I have seen him be already to leave and then peek out the living room window and say, "Tami's out in the yard.  I gotta wait until she goes inside or she will engage me in conversation and she is just...weird."  The day Fred died, she came over here boo hooing and pacing up and down in my living room.  "I just don't know what I'm going to do.  Fred was my best friend!"  Then she looked at me, sitting calmly in my chair, "What are you going to do?  How can you be so calm?  I'd be laying on the floor and screaming!"  I replied quietly, "Yes you would, Tami....and would that help anything?  Would that change anything?"  Pearl was here at the time and told her to leave.  "Carrying on like you are isn't helping Judy any either!"

Actually, she and Dar react to things much in the same way--they lose their minds!  They rant and they rave and they get all jumpy and jerky in their movements--and the more upset they get, the louder they get, but--THEY HATE EACH OTHER.  

Tami uses the "F" word a lot and Dar will not put up with cursing--unless she is the one doing it!  Pearl has told Tami that she is immature in her actions.  I have told her that the more she thinks on something, the bigger she builds it up in her mind until she is out of control.  

One night, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep--something had awakened me.  So I got up and saw a red flashing light--it was the county sheriff and he was going into her house.  Then they came back out on the porch and she was telling him --loudly of course--with many gesticulations, " My sweetheart and I had a misunderstanding and he left and said he was going to drive into a telephone pole."  Mind you, I am in my house, windows and doors closed and I could still hear her tirade.  So the sheriff left and I clicked on FB to see what she was posting, because I knew she would.  She had already changed her relationship status to "single" and posted, "It's the middle of the night and I need prayers because R has left and I think he is going to kill himself!"

I shrugged and went back to sleep.  Awakened again at around 3:30 a.m. and she was shouting out on the porch again--into her phone.  Then she walked around the back of her house and back to the porch again--on my side.  I kept my lights off, as I do if something awakens me and I don't want whomever to know I am looking out windows.  Then she clicked off the phone and is wailing.  I thought perhaps I should go over to see if I could help, but a small voice told me, "NO!"  So I went back to bed.

Got up at 7:00 a.m. and jumped on the computer as I always do in the morning--and there was a FB post in which her relationship status was changed back to "engaged,." and his car was in the driveway.  I looked for the earlier post and apparently she had deleted it.  Later that morning, Pearl asked, "What was all that ruckus about last night?"  

Pearl said last week, they woke up at 3:00 a.m. and Tami was shouting, "You don't love me anymore!"  But, if you asked, "how are things going?"  She would tell you how wonderful this guy is, how much he loves her and how wonderful life is.

At one time, she told Pearl and I that she was going to lose the house and was going to sell it and move.  We nearly cheered and clapped, but, so far--it hasn't happened. 

Oh good grief--I just heard something and looked out--it's 9:30 at night and she is pacing out on the road and yelling into her cell phone--throwing her arms up in the air and kicking at stones or something!! 

I don't know--she's just nutz!!!  I know--I am being too critical of people.  Snarky, nasty, intolerant, snobbish.  I just want to live in a hut in the woods all alone where the only noise is squirrels chattering and birds singing!

Okay--I gotta get off here and go finish up clearing the rest of the stuff out of the living room and vacuum it all so the carpet guy can clean tomorrow.  

We are suppose to have a frost on Sunday night.  Good thing I didn't plant my annuals yet.

See ya...........  

Wordless Wednesday--From Me?

NEVER

When have you ever known me to be wordless--on Wednesday or any other day of the week.  So much going on--in my head AND my life.

75 degrees today.

This morning the guy--that is his name Guy--came and power washed my house--er-rr, trailer--no--mobile home--no it's not called that either--unit?  Well, anyway, you've seen pictures of where I live, so you call it whatever you want.  $80.00.  The house looks so nice--he puts a wax on it too AND he spent extra time on my back porch, which was dirty, mildewed and awful looking.

Yesterday afternoon--I did this.

Freddy made me this raised bed quite a few years ago.

It was filled with strawberry plants.  Then they sort of died off

and it went to weeds.  I dug it up, (I actually DUG IT UP) and saved a few of the strawberry

plants to put down at the south end.  It is going to be my vegetable garden this year.

A regular sized tomato plant on the north end, a Grape tomato plant

on the south end AND a hill of a few cucumber seeds in the middle.

Freddy was always going to put a rose in that triangular thing on the south end.

I have sprayed it with Round-Up and will just put in--something--I don't know what.
Don't you love my wonderful crop of Dandelions?

After Guy left, I grabbed Pearl and we went across the road to the garden shop.  She has already made two trips there, but thought she needed more flowers.  We get so crazy this time of year, when it is planting time in Michigan.  This was my purchase--($100.00) waiting a few days for them to harden off and me to plant--probably next week if I can wait that long.  May 15th is our planting time here, because in Michigan, you can always get a late frost.

There are no Impatiens this year.  They developed some sort of mold disease

last year, which killed them  People going back to the garden store for more,

as all their plants are guaranteed.  So this year, they won't sell them.  

Even Lowe's, will not sell them this year.

This led to quite a quandary for me as I ALWAYS plant Impatiens in my pots and planters.  

The manager there showed me a flower called Rosea Vinca--and guess what? 

They look much like an Impatiens to me and sun and drought hardy.  YAY!!!

This combo will go in my large pots.  I think I am going to like the Fuchsia geranium

dark blue/purple Wave Petunia and this chartreuse vine--I can't remember it's name.

The Geraniums are a bit darker Fuchsia then they appear in the photo.  

I so love these colors together--POP!!

Friday the guy--only that isn't his name--I don't know what it is--Lynch Carpets--is coming to clean my carpets.  I can't move EVERYTHING out of the way, so I will clear out the living room and bathroom (yes, I have carpeting in the bathroom--not my choice) and have him clean those two rooms and the door ways to the computer room and bedroom and my couch--sofa--davenport---whatever you call it.  We used to call it a davenport, but I think nowadays, most people call it a couch.  Whatever it is, it sits on a metal frame with recliners on each end and is impossible to move unless you take it apart.  It and the entertainment cabinet will stay where they are and he will clean the rest of the carpet.  $120.00

As I said before, money is pouring out of here like water from a faucet and IT HAS TO STOP!!!  The whole inside needs to be painted--I did it five years ago AND that stupid ceiling stuff they put in these kinds of places, need to be painted also.  I can't do that--I think it has to be sprayed.  BUT--I can't move the furniture out of the way anymore, so...............guess it will just stay and get yellower and yellower as the years pass--then when I pass, the kids can have it all done before they sell this place.

On a more serious note--Dar was over yesterday--she was in a huge anxiety mess.  It seems she may have breast cancer.  She had it ten years ago in her right breast and now--it may have re-appeared in her left breast.  She had her mammogram, or as she calls it, mammy-oh-gram, and they found a "disfigurement" as she referred to it, in her left breast.  She goes in Monday to have an ultra sound.  After all the bad stuff I have gossiped about her!!!!  I have made up my mind, if she has to have treatment, I will drive her to her sessions.  She doesn't have a car.  The cancer treatment center is only one mile away.  It's the least I can do.

Which reminds me, I get my mammogram and chest x-ray next Wednesday!

Until tomorrow--I don't have anything planned, but you never can tell what will come up for me to tackle!!
======================
My other weird neighbor, whom I have never written about--worse then Dar, just posted this on FB--I love it.
"THE WEATHER HERE IN MICHIGAN REMINDS ME OF MOST OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET, CONSTANTLY CHANGING WITHOUT WARNING & GOING FROM ONE EXTREME TO ANOTHER!!!"

My Precious--Well, One of Them.

Pre-race

Crossing the finish line.

This is my 2nd grandchild Susanna, as she finished her first full marathon in Eugene, Oregan.  She was suppose to run in the Boston Marathon, but let her co-workers go in her place, as they had never been there.  All of them were safe, thank Heaven's, finishing before the bomb went off.

She was a cross-country star at her high school, here in Brighton and at her college, Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

She got a job with New Balance shoe company--who's corporate offices are in Boston--she was there the weekend after the bombing and posted on FB, how eerie and surreal it was to have a morning run down Boylston Street--past the memorials.  She works a lot of the marathons, advertising the New Balance running shoes.  She had done many half marathons--this was her first full one--she looks pretty refreshed even as she crosses the finish line.

She and her hubby live in Portland, Oregon and they love it there.  It is so beautiful--I love the North West.

This is what she looks like when she isn't running:

and on their wedding day.  Isn't the grotto beautiful?

She is Karen's second child.  I am so proud of her.  She is as beautiful inside as out.  AND, I wanted a pair of New Balance walking shoes, as my old ones were high and I wanted a lower cut, so she ordered them for me.  Ordered on May 1st, I got them May 3rd, with her discount.  $70.00 pair of shoes for $40.00.  I put them on and went for a walk--no break-in required.  They feel like I've worn them for months.  

She took care of Gramma Judy real well!!

SWEET!!!

Many Pictures

Saturday after the cemetery fiasco------I stopped for a few minutes on my way home at The Farm.  Susan wanted me to see the new back porch and their new fireplace.  I love it!!!!!  They are being so careful to use any and all wood posts, wainscoating  wainscoting (apparently had that spelled wrong--I pronounce it wains coating) and doors from the old house.

You may have to click on the pix to get a better view.

The Farm houses in 1920

1990's

With little house torn down and new garage on back of Big House

November 2012

Old garages removed, new addition.

New construction of kitchen.  Those cupboards (the old ones) open up between

kitchen and dining room on other side.

New large window facing north--she can see the farm where we grew up

and where my son now lives from this view.

The new kitchen plans--the cupboards are Ivory, her appliances are

white--because she (like her older sister) likes white appliances.

The floor is slate tile looking, but it is a laminate.  Her counters will be

granite, also on the island in the middle.  

This kitchen is 6 feet wider then the old one, very open and very bright.  

I LOVE IT!!!

My friend, Bethie, is holding the plans last month when she and

I both visited Susan, after our gal pals luncheon.

The new back entryway.  Note the posts--came off the old porch entry which

was flush with the fireplace to the right.

Now--you have to look beyond all these kids--that HUGE fireplace,

with the mantle, made from a beam in one of the old barns, my Daddy

had built in 1976--it is in the dining room.  The opening behind the girls

on the right, is into the kitchen.  That will all remain the same.

New fireplace in the family room addition.  Note the bead board work on the top--

it matches the wainscoting in the rest of the house.  Facing south--a large door to

the right (west) onto the deck, and the entryway is to the left.

As part of the addition, between the kitchen and garage, she has a large utility room, with an entrance to the 3-car garage, a new small bathroom, HUGE walk-in pantry, the door being one from the old kitchen, and closets, closets, closets and yet, more closets.  There also is a new basement dug under the family room--the old basement was a Michigan Cellar--I had to bend over to get into it.  It still remains under part of the kitchen and is where the furnace, pump, water heater, etc. are.

That new addition has opened up the whole rest of the house--it gives it a different feel--a really nice feel.  The other rooms in the house are small--farm houses may look big from the outside, but they contain many small rooms inside.  Of course, there was always a parlor--used mainly for when the preacher came to visit, where the piano was kept and in my family's case, where all the funerals were held.  Gone is the musty sort of smell of my great grandmother and all the dimness that was this house.  I love the feeling when I go in--it is bright and, once again, IT IS ALIVE!!!!

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

The front yard--facing east--on the other side of those woods

is the farm I lived on and where Pammie lives now.  Note:

all the wildflowers growing in the lawn.  

That barn straight ahead is the old horse barn with a great loft upstairs.

My Daddy had a square dance party up there once.

  

The larger barn to the left is for hay in the loft and cattle, sheep and machine 

storage on the bottom floor.

Both of these are in excellent condition.  The pond is to the left of the

big barn.

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

This means nothing to anyone except me. 

 It is the driveway into the woods between The Farm and my grandparents farm, where I raised

my children and where my daughter Pam lives.  

Pammie's farm is to the left of this--east.  

This is the woods I roamed in and played as a child and older.  I use to walk through the back of it, over to the Big Farm.  To the right a bit--in that sort of clearing, is where I wanted to build my retirement house. (sigh)

 This is where Fred and I got "married" in our hearts anyway--in the presence of God and the wildflowers.  

We took our "marriage" vows up that lane a bit.  This is the woods I dug up wildflowers and transplanted them here, back at my present home. 

Yes--I know how very fortunate I was to grow up in this area, surrounded by great grandparents, grandparents and friends.  Yes--I know how extra fortunate I am that I can still go back "home".

Sunday, Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo--I like anything with mayo on it.  Sorry--there I go again making light of a very important date in history.

Anyway--church was wonderful this morning.  We had communion.  In my church, we don't have communion every week, so, when we do, it all seems very special.  I have been practicing kneeling by my couch, to see if I could get up.  Today we had communion by in tincture--where you go up, take off a piece of bread from the loaf, and dip it in the chalice of grape juice.  Yes--I know--grape juice.  We are Methodist's--we used to use wine, but when prohibition came along, we started using grape juice and never went back.  We do not get into the whole transubstantiation thing--where the wine and bread are changed into the body and blood of Christ.  Ours is more of a symbol--a remembrance of the Lord's Supper--of what He suffered on the Cross.  We have a prayer of forgiveness of our sins beforehand and a commitment prayer to live our lives in a better way--WWJD way.

So--I digress--(always), the Pastor states that it is the Lord's Table and all who believe that Jesus was the Son of God are welcome, was crucified, dead and buried and rose on the third day and is alive in Heaven.  You don't have to be baptized--you don't have to be a member of our church or even our religion.  Everyone is welcome at the Lord's Table--I like that theory.  All SHOULD be welcome at the Lord's Table, in my humble opinion!.  So you go up, break, dip, eat and walk back to your seat.  HOWEVER--because we are Methodists and don't stand on a lot of religious dogma, you can take communion in your pew if you like, or if you can't walk to the altar.  You can take it and then go kneel at the altar rail.  You can take it and go back to your seat and then eat it.

Well--all my life, we took communion kneeling at the altar rail.  We had a small church so we went up in groups enough to fill the altar rail, then the pastor came along with the bread and we had those tiny little glasses with the grape juice in them.  It just feels more intimate, emotional to me, to be kneeling at Jesus' altar.

So today, I went up and got "The body of Christ," AMEN--over a bit to the chalice, "The blood of Christ," Amen AND THEN DEAR FRIENDS--I went over to the end of the altar rail and kneeled!!!!! I prayed a prayer of reconciliation for my daughter and I and then I got up--it was kind of hard.  I had to sort of push myself up with my hands on the rail and I sorta tweaked my new (left) hip, but I did it!!!!!
==================================
Okay--now to write a little about Dar and her visit yesterday--when she was so tired and just had to tell me why.

That's Dar's house, through my front windows.  The tan one.

As you can see, she has a double-wide.  It backs up to the woods,

but it doesn't face the street so she has no view.  

Before she bought it, Fred and I did look at it and considered buying it

for the extra room, but........I would have had to move away from my glorious Lilac

bushes so--no way.

This is my house.  It is 16 feet wide, but it is longer then Dar's AND

I am on the north side of the street so snow and ice on my parking

pad melt quicker then those on the south side.

So Dar walks in, gives a big sigh, asks about my day, which she doesn't really care to hear, and then tells me that she and her sisters-in-law had a big garage sale and in her words, "I made a fortune!"

"Well...great!" I say with a big smile.  "I saw your brother hauling stuff out and filling up the wagon yesterday."

"We made two trips with that wagon and filled up his SUV!  I worked all day Thursday and today.  We must have had 600 people come through.  I dickered with them too.  I price everything high and then I dicker and they think they're getting a deal."

"Oh.  Did you sell everything?"

"All but four pieces.  I even sold that grill of mine that doesn't work."  (Nice).

"Why would you sell something that doesn't work?"

"Oh--they got a good deal.  They can fix it."

"Did you tell them it didn't work?"

(laughs), "No--they'll find out."

This woman wonders why Jesus doesn't sit in the chair next to her bed anymore.  Hm-mm.

"I made five hundred dollars!"

"Where did you get that much to sell?"

"I emptied all of Connie and the kids stuff out of my house.  I got rid of it all."

"Did you notify Connie that you were going to give her stuff away?"

"I notified her in January.  She e-mailed back that it is her house too and that she didn't want me to give away her stuff.  She said that as soon as work slowed down in the spring, she'd come get it."

"You're going to end up having a problem again.  What is going to happen when she comes to get her stuff?  Are you going to pay her for the stuff you sold?"

"No!  I don't care what she does!  She can come to the door.  I'll call the police."

Well--isn't that nice.  Connie's name is on the title to the house, along with Dar's.  Dar moved out last summer because one of the neighbor's friends saw Dar hitting Connie's kids and told her.  Remember me telling you how she was hitting them with a broom?  She was accused of child abuse and can no longer work in the church nursery.  So--to my way of thinking, if Connie's name is on the title of the house and knowing that Connie is the one who purchased it, so her mother would have a large enough place for Connie and the kids to live in when they came from Greece--I am thinking that Connie probably has a right to take legal action against Dar.

As Pearl said, "She wants everything her way.  She wants it all when it isn't even hers.  She is going to get in trouble again and.......guess who's house she will run to when she gets all in a frantic panic."  

Thanks, Pearl!!!

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

I didn't make a fortune Saturday, but I did make this.  I am trying to attract Baltimore Orioles to my house.  Everyone tells me to put out grape jelly because they like that better than the nectar.  So not wanting to just set it out on the porch railing and attract an army of ants, I made this hanger.

I got the filigreed pan at Wal-Mart, then put picture hanging wire in three spots--it fit through the filigree so I could tie it off good, put a pot saucer in the pan, grape jelly and tied the wires together at the top.  Then hung it from a hook that clamps onto my railing.  It is near my bird feeding station and hummingbird feeder.  I hope I get to see some of those beautiful orange and black birdies!!!

Until next time-enjoy.

Pause--Breathe--Pray

I just don't know what was wrong with me Saturday--it just was such a bad day--but really it wasn't.  That makes no sense--which is right up my alley.  Eh?

I was to meet with my sister, her hubby and the cemetery guy to see if I could be buried where I wanted to be buried--next to my Mother--and to see if Freddy could be buried down at the other end, on the other side of my sister and her hubby.

I have ordered my two markers.

 The cemetery guy is a kid I've known all his life--knew his parents, his grandparents.  He goes on and on about how many sites there are--I already knew that.  How we use to have 8 sites per lot, now only 6 because the vaults are larger--I already knew that.  Then my sister (who still retains the quickness, let's get down to business attitude of a New Yorker) got a bit impatient.  Then her hubby said, "Aren't we going to the monument place when we leave here?"  and she snapped at him and said, "NO!  We are going to Lansing, you said we had to go to Lansing this morning and straighten out that mess with our countertop."  Then he said, "Judy, how do I get to the monument place?"  and she said, "I KNOW how to get to the monument place."

GEEZ--so I turned to the cemetery guy and said, "Look, can I be buried here?" and pointed down to the spot I wanted,  "Yes or no."

He said, "Yes."

"Okay, then can Fred be buried down there?"  again I pointed.

"Yes."

"Okay--can Susan and Chuck be buried here?  Between Fred and I?"

"Yes."

"Well that's all I wanted to know.  Everything is fine.  Please call the secretary and have her put our names on the site map."

Rural people.  Farmers.  They are slow ponderers, slow talking, slow reacting.

I know--I lived that way for most of my life.  When Susan moved back and got frustrated with them--"They are so casual about things and want to talk and talk.  I am paying them to work on my house, not chit chat!"

I told her she just had to gear down, take a deep breath, and relax.

Today, I knew how she feels.

I guess after living in a fairly big city for twelve years and down here by a couple of middle sized cities--I am use to people being organized, getting things done and not taking up a whole lot of your time with casual chit chat.

I so wanted to say, "I am here on a mission--an unpleasant mission to me.  I don't need to hear about how the people who bought your grandparents farm tore down the old barn!  I don't care how your truck is about to give out.  I don't care how far you have to drive to work.  I don't care how wide or deep a grave has to be--I just want to know if I can be buried THERE!"

So--as we were leaving, the guy who puts in the cement bases for the markers drove in.  I had to go find him and pay him in advance for putting in my two bases.

He is my best friend's nephew.  So we had to chit chat a while, and that was all right.  Then the other cemetery guy came up to him and started talking about a project he had to get done TODAY.

I waited while they measured and talked and measured some more and talked and went back and forth on why the lot owner wanted the stone moved...............GEEZ.

Finally, I interrupted--the cement base builder.  "I need to write you a check."  I handed him the paper from the monument place that told the measurements for each stone.

"Oh--you got two?"

"Yes.  Site 8 on lot 110 and site 2 on lot 117."

"Oh, I don't know nothing about the lots numbers.  Take me back and show me where."

OMG--we are now probably a hundred yards from where I started out and we have to walk all the way back and my back is killing me!

So he takes a look, then he takes a look at the paper that tells the sizes--then he says, "I don't have a calculator, but I do have my phone.  I can figger it out on that."

"Okay."

"I don't have a smart phone or whatever they're called--I got this dumb phone, but people can text me and..."

For Dear Lord's sake--just give me a figure!!!!!

"Well--ya know...the bases have to be two inches larger then the marker...all around...all around all four sides."

"Yes--I know that."

"And..it is 25 cents a square inch."

"Okay."

"Ah--oops, put in the wrong figures.  ha ha."

I am going to slap this guy up side the head--I don't care who's nephew he is or how long I've known his family!"

"Ah--let me see...that'll be two hundert and ten dollars...that's for the both of 'em."

So I get out my checkbook, place it on top of the nearest monument and write him out a check.  I can barely write legible because of my crippled, arthritic right thumb, but I get er done, so to speak.

It is only when I get half-way home I start to think and realize that I wrote him a check for two hundred dollars and ten cents, instead of two hunred and ten dollars!!!  GEEZ

Then I stop at Wal-Mart and they are out of the kind of ice tea in the gallon that I like.  All they have are jugs and jugs of sweet tea.  Hey--I was raised up here in the north--I hate sweet tea.  This is a store up here in the north--why the hell would you only sell sweet tea?

Two weeks ago, I left a gallon of drinking water on the check-out carousel.  So today I ask the cashier to please make sure I have all my stuff because--"I am having a terrible day and my mind is so mixed up--it's a wonder I even remembered how to get here!"

I asked my doc to re-new my prescriptions and they called them in and Wal-Mart pharmacy filled them all!  I didn't need them ALL filled right now--71.00 worth!  GEEZ

Then my debit card doesn't seem to want to work and when it did, I hit the cancel button instead of the okay button AND then I hit the "cash back" button instead of the "No" button.  GEEZ

As I was walking away, I made sure I had my water--took a few steps and the cashier says, "Ma'am, you forgot one of your bags.  GEEZ

I went back, apologized to the older guy behind me in line for holding him up--"I'm having one of those days," I said.

"Know what ya mean," he says.  "I have them almost every day."  HAH

I had to walk 17 miles back to my car because that is the closest I could get to the store--DO NOT GO GROCERY SHOPPING ON A SATURDAY and loaded all the stuff into my trunk.  Open the drivers door, got in and just sat for a sec...until I realized the SUV next to me was pulling out and going to take my door off in the process.  Pulled it shut.....on my knee.  GEEZ

Down the road, heading for home.  Just before I got to an entrance for the freeway, this big pick-up whips in front of me--obviously he wanted to get on that ramp.  He had one of those "God is my Co-Pilot" bumper stickers and the silver fish on the rear of the car.  I scream,"Good thing God is your co-pilot because you drive like the devil straight from hell!!!"  (He can't hear me of course, windows are rolled up.)  Hey--you got the fish plate on the rear of your car, the rhinestone Jesus pin and the gold cross around your neck, you ought to act more Christian--that's just my opinion.

Backed into my parking spot at home, and open the trunk.  I forgot to ask the Wal-Mart lady to double bag my Diet Pepsi liters and the bottom of the bag rips and two fall out and roll.......one under the car and one ends up out on the street.  I go get my broom off the porch and stick it under my car and get the other one to roll out onto the street.  HEY--if I gotta bend over and pick one up from the street, I might as well bend over once and get two for the price of one--right?

I no more got everything in the house and someone is knocking at my door.

DAR!!

"How's your day?" she says.

"Not very damn good," I answer.

"Well, let me tell you about mine!  I am so tired........................................."

and on and on she goes as I put away groceries.  When she is done with her tirade, she leaves.  Never once did she take a breath and want to hear about my s**t, but that's Dar.  It is ALWAYS all about her.

I was jumpy and jittery and grouchy all the rest of the day.  Money is pouring out of here like water from a faucet.  Plus, the added thinking on my situation with the youngest daughter, and wondering if step-mom really left Susan and I something in her Will--like she told us she did!!!

I feel like I'm losing it.

No one in my family has ever had Alzheimer's--I do believe I am going to be the first!!!!


(But I WILL be smiling tomorrow--I hope.)