Useful information

Useless information would have been a great title for my blog since I am always spewing out random and ....well...useless information! But you are still here reading so you must be interested in my silliness.

You will remember that my friend "Ryan the pest control man" went to the "new" house weekend before last and.... well let's just say my carbon footprint got bigger because I paid him money to dump lots of chemical in and around the house. Good news (?) is that this past weekend when we were there I saw 2 dead scorpions! Dead is the operative word there. So the chemicals are indeed doing their job.

Now that I have my scorpion fear somewhat under control, it is time to move on to rattlesnakes. I have not seen a rattlesnake yet. Yet. I am not going down without a fight. I have been attacking every local I come in contact with, picking their brain for the best way to keep those sons of bucks away from the house.

You know what they say?....
So the first place I go to generously spread moth balls is this scary place....Uh-uh, it is the shed where the pool pump is. My mind envisions all manner of creepy crawlies in there. I'll be danged if I am going to walk in there to find a snake, have a heart attack and die on the spot before even being able to enjoy our pool.

So I liberally tossed about the moth balls in there. It looks like a hail storm came through the pump shack. It's all about my peace of mind people.

I then also tossed some under porches. Not enough mind you, but I plan on buying a box or two every time I go to the store. I know one thing, there won't be a moth within 600 miles of my house!

The other weapon against the war on snakes is cats. We have who knows how many barn cats here, and 3 of them just had babies. So we have the cat thing handled. I just have to figure out how to capture the little buggers AND move them to our new house 90 miles away. I don't know if the cats eat the snakes or if the cats eat the mice that the snakes are hunting. I don't really care as long as it works.

People have also said that just the movement of having animals around keeps the snakes away. So between horses, cats, dogs and moth balls I will have done all I can do.

This wild little badger running around is sure to scare the snakes off...

Oh wait....once they see that it is.......an Oscar Mayer product with legs, all bets are off.


Until they see it start running around like a wild rabid maniac.......they hopefully will turn the other way.

Missy's other purpose, besides scaring snakes off with her spastic ways, is to be a walking billboard of my paint color choices.Here she is sporting a lovely blob of "Cotton Balls" by Benjamin Moore, which incidentally is the color I chose for trim and doors. It looks great on her and you should see it on wood!

My own Craigslist story

It is terribly frightening what happened to that girl who was killed via her Craigslist contact.
Even more scary that the killer appeared to be a normal, or what appeared normal to his family and friends, college student.

My Craigslist furniture adventures are always very dull. I would never meet someone in a hotel room, for crying out loud and usually when I go look at furniture the piece is in the open garage so I don't even have to go in the house. I have never even been frightened or even remotely uneasy. I also as a backup always call hubs and tell him the address of where I am.

I have been looking for a little club type chair, with ottoman preferably, for what is going to be my little nook in our "new" house. Remember, new granite...so my budget for a chair is like $50.

I found one on Craigslist last week for $55, without an ottoman, but still looked promising and I could always find an ottoman.

So I call the nice lady and set up a time to see it. I tell hubs my whereabouts, go to her house in a nice neighbor (in fact your neighborhood Lorie!), a nice house and am all set to see this chair that I can afford.

She comes out in front when I pull up and she doesn't look deranged or anything. She was older and her hair was way too long for her age and way too grey & stringy for the length..... but otherwise nice enough!

As we are walking towards her door into her house she says "I have an older cat, so you know, please forgive the litter box." Now I am a cat owner and terribly paranoid about the litter box and odors. If you take care of the litter box regularly then odor is not a problem. My biggest fear is a visitor walking in through the back door, in the litter box vicinity, immediately after the cat had pooped. In which case it would smell like poop.

So I was prepared to give her a little grace. I am a cat lover after all.

We walked in and the smell of cat pee TOOK MY BREATH AWAY! I kid you not, it was foul. I was mortified. I am assuming her entire house was the litter box. To top it all off the house was wall to wall clutter. The kitchen counters were piled high with clutter, the living room was a maze through all the clutter. In the middle of the living room was a 1970's variety orange and green burnt velvet couch and love seat lovingly ensconced in the fitted plastic cover...not just plastic thrown over it, but the fitted, squeaky version the likes of which I have not seen since the 70's.

The house made what my teenage son's room used to look like at its worst, look tame. And yet they were worried about preserving a 30 year old couch?

We made our way to the chair and it was perfect. Dang it, it was perfect. The perfect size and in good shape, meaning the frame was strong with no wobbling. I knew I would most likely be recovering any chair I found so the fabric didn't phase me.

There was NO way in heck I was buying it. I was breathing through my mouth at this point. She insisted I sit down on it. I was so grossed out, but not to be rude, so I precariously perched on the edge touching as little of the chair as I could with my body and said "oh yes, very comfortable" and then jumped up.

I was just dying inside because it was just right....except for the nasty horrid putrid house it was in!!! I was feeling claustrophobic both from the clutter and the thick stench. I felt like I could not breath.

While still breathing through my mouth, I politely thanked her, telling her unfortunately the chair was the wrong size.

I walked out and took a huge cleansing breath of fresh air...without my perfect chair.

Poor thing, she will never sell that chair while it is in that house.

However, I found the perfect chair and ottoman the next day on Craigslist. No pet odors and I bought it. It is in my new nook and is purrrfect. I will have to recover it, since it is an interesting lavender color. I think this fabric is going to be my #1 choice. Seriously, could you just die that is so cute? I took a picture of the chair in my nook...but then remember I left my camera at our "new" house 90 miles away. Ooopps.

No pictures

I was at the "new" house this past weekend...again. Painting....still. The two bathrooms are what remains to be painted. I can see the light.

Anyway I took some pics this weekend and then left my camera there. Oops.

You will be glad to know that the pest control man came Friday and sprayed the snot out of the house...attic...exterior....it's all good. I saw no sign of any insects anywhere. We will probably all be growing third thumbs any day now.

I will admit that after all the people who told me about scorpions in their bed (shudder) that I performed a nightly before bed ritual that could probably go down in the history of anal tendencies. (Remember I was there by myself, no hubs to protect me from scorpions) It involved completely stripping off the bedding, while wearing leather work gloves, while armed with wasp spray. Followed by a thorough flash lighted search under the bed. BOTH nights that I was there. It was exhausting really.

Some of you emailed me and said when you left a comment, you got a reply message about about my firewall doesn't like you or something. Something. I am not smart enough to figure this out OR even care right now.....BUT it does still leave your comment so please keep commenting!!! I love my comments!!!! I love you!!!! It has abruptly stopped emailing me when you comment. That is where I think the flaw is. I checked on my settings in blogger and it is still checked to email me when I receive a comment, so obviously the problem is with my provider or email account or some such nonsense.

I have to tell you that you MUST read this. This brilliant and brave woman painted her countertops. And it looks amazing. We just spent blonde rascal's first semester of college tuition on our granite countertops. Wish I would have read this 3 months ago!

Our house has not shown yet. We know that there will be much fewer showings than a city house, since this we have to be a cowboy buyer... so no worries yet. The keeping clean thing is about to push me over the edge however. I decided yesterday to test the theory that if I left the house in disarray then naturally a realtor would call for a showing. Didn't work.

Something smells in the vicinity of the fridge, pantry or trash. I can't quite confirm a location. That is my immediate mission, so I must sign off for now.

Happy Easter!!

He's alive.....and I'm forgiven!!



Hope you are all having a great Easter weekend so far.
As is par for the course here in Lubbock on Easter...it is cold and rainy. I should mention it has not rained here in like 5 months. One Easter a few years ago it snowed. It is like the Lubbock Murphy's Law Easter Edition...instead of if you wash your car it will rain, if you buy your daughters sleeveless frilly dresses and new sandals for Easter Sunday, it will be rainy and cold!

However, I don't have a daughter so this does not affect me...and I personally don't wear frilly dresses and sandals so it is all good!

In anticipation of a huge crowd tomorrow morning our church had a service tonight, which they really encouraged people to attend in order to offset the crowd Sunday morning. So we went to church tonight. Tomorrow morning we will have a lazy Sunday morning noshing on chocolate bunnies and Peeps left for us by the big bunny man himself!

Blonde rascal after church tonight......have mercy. This is BEFORE a big basket full of sugar. I fear tomorrow!

Last night was scrapbook night with the girls, at my house. There was very little, OK...no scrapbooking going on but lots of chatting and laughing instead. Good times indeed.

We have planned a big scrapbook/pool party/girls weekend at our "new" house this summer. However, in light of the recent revelation that a scorpion could crash the party, has squashed some of the enthusiasm from my girls. Sheeeesh, city girls. I assured them though, that I had a long conversation with the pest control man who is scheduled to come next Friday when I will be at the "new" house, for what is hopefully my LAST painting marathon weekend. I told "Ryan", my new best friend pest control man, that he better come to the house fully loaded with every toxic chemical he has in his possession. It will be a war zone...no scorpion will be able to survive.

By the by, I appreciated NONE of your comments on my last post!!!! What in tar nation is wrong with you people? Everyone has a scorpion story to tell and as a result I may never ever never ever ever never never never ever sleep peacefully again. (Kristen, I know without a shadow of a doubt you have a doozy of a scorpion story in you somewhere, but I appreciate you restraining yourself.... and sharing a BAT one instead....love you girl!)

Have a Blessed Easter!!!

Wild Kingdom

I am a city girl at the core of my being. When I moved to Lubbock 20 years ago from Houston, to go to college, I was a little taken back by the winds, hurricane force winds and blowing dirt. Dust storms that turn the sky an eerie brown/red. FLAT, open terrain. It all took some getting used to. Then after college I married hubs who has a passion for team roping which introduced me to horses and cattle and manure and boy stuff. We moved outside of town, hardly roughing it, but country living all the same. That started chipping away at the city girl in me.

Now we are moving 90 miles south to a little more rocky, a tiny, tiny bit hilly, pretty rugged area. Again our "new" house is outside of town.

I am afraid the city girl is about to be gone forever.

About 3 weekends ago when I was at the "new" house for a painting marathon, I was standing on the porch talking to hubs on the phone and a skunk ran out from under my car and directly below my feet, where I was standing on the edge of the porch. After I screamed at the top of my lungs into hub's ear, I was sort of amused by the skunk. He was very fat and cute. Luckily he was not at all alarmed by my shrill screaming. He happily waddled off. Thankfully bold Missy, who was also outside at the time, never saw him. I can guarantee she would have been all up in his bidness... and one very stinky pooch after that.

Always in the back of my mind is also the fact that our "new" house is in rattlesnake country. Watching your step and common sense will keep that risk at a minimum....AND there is a hospital in our little city Praise God. I try not to dwell on this new issue. I have not seen one... yet...but when I do, I just might lose my mind.

I do not like guns, mainly because I do not like loud noises. I will be purchasing some of those noise canceling headphones and hubs will be teaching me how to fire some weapon out of his arsenal. Mama will shoot a rattlesnake if necessary. I will be like Annie Oakley...with ear protection.

Our "new" house is surrounded by deer and wild turkeys. That is fun to see. They don't bite or smell (well, I bet they do smell but you know what I mean) or hurt you. AND if the economy completely tanks and we spiral into another great depression...Mama can hunt for dinner, while shooting rattlesnakes. It's all good.

Then this past weekend is about where it all ended for the city girl turned country bumpkin. I almost threw in the towel on country livin'. I was on another painting weekend. It was Sunday morning, hubs and blonde rascal were on their way to the "new" house. I was sweeping the baseboards, which I was about to paint. I moved a light fixture box from Lowe's (which hubs was coming to install) with my foot...my foot that was still in my slippers...and I notice something moving on the floor. At first glance I thought it was one of those ugly wolf spiders. But no, it was.....


A scorpion.


I should mention that the only "Scorpions" I like, would be the hair band from the 80's.


I screamed bloody murder "OHGODHELPME!" and beat that thing with the broom like a possessed woman! Then I grabbed a can of wasp spray and sprayed the living daylights out of it. The scorpion was very, very dead at that point.

It was all flattened out, from its beating, and was 2" long. I was traumatized. I decided right then we would have to move somewhere....somewhere with no critters. But where would that be? Every place has their own species of some disturbing critter or another.

This entire SW region of the country is scorpion territory, but I have never seen one. Certainly it could have come out of the Lowe's box. But, also our "new" house has been under some construction with open walls, etc... So it also stands to reason that a scorpion could have easily wandered in.

I will be calling pest control to come spray before I sleep there again on my next painting marathon weekend. AND I will put our house on the regular quarterly spraying schedule. No question about that.

Of course I took a picture. Not a zoom though, because I did not want to see it up close. Had I found it OUTside I think I could have looked at it up close. But there would have been nightmares had I studied it up close while in my house. Weird neurosis, I know.
It is right in the middle of the picture, amidst the pool of wasp spray. I know it is hard to see due to the construction dust covering the floor. By the way that is our new floor and I lurve it, dust and all.

(edited to add I cropped the picture so you can see the little beast. Y'all thought I was imagining it on my dirty floor! It is blurry from being cropped, and it rotated the picture for some reason...but it still gives me the heebie jeebies)

Lord have mercy. It is a good thing this "new" house has a pool, that is the only saving grace considering the conditions I will be enduring.

Well, the pool and this........"Brazilian Jewel" granite counter tops. It was installed last week and is so completely gorgeous. I didn't take a picture of the whole kitchen yet because they had not grouted (is that a word?) the back splash yet.

DO NOT leave a comment saying you had a scorpion in your bed, or shoe or whatever...because you will cease being my friend!! My fragile mental state cannot handle that info right now. Just lie and say that was probably the ONLY scorpion within 200 miles of our house...that is what silly hubs told me.

He better be thankful we have a pool, and granite that I adore.

There is power in some prayin' , folks!

The whole house selling thing is so wrong. Such a pain in the hiney. Stress. Compounded by the fact that we own 2 homes now. Woo hoo! Owning 2 houses sounds great...unless they are only 90 miles apart. One house to live in and then another in say Lake Tahoe or Cabo, THAT'S what I'm talking about!

We have a great house....but it will have to be a special buyer who is looking for a horse property. But I am trying not to focus on that small detail. This is West Texas after all, not Philadelphia or something. We do have horse people around here.

We had a couple of word of mouth bites on our house early on, that got our spirits up, but never panned out. We set this past Monday as the day we would list with a realtor. Sunday at church when I was filling out the attendance card, there is a section where you can put prayer requests and they have a prayer team that prays over all requests every week. So I put "pray for a buyer for our house".

A couple weeks ago on a whim I put on Facebook that our house was for sale. On Sunday, a girl that I lived in the dorm with my freshman year of college sent me a message saying they would love to see our house. (I was a freshman in college in...yikes...1989...I haven't seen this girl for 20 years!!)

Also on Sunday our banker came over to our house to rope with a bunch of guys and he told hubs that he and his wife had been talking about our house.

On Monday a friend of hubs called to say that a couple he is in an equestrian club with are looking for a horse property. He told this couple about our house and gave them our name, it turns out I worked with this woman at the job I had before I had blonde rascal!

I know the house will sell in the Lord's time...which I also know may not be my time!!! We had hoped and prayed to sell w/o a realtor in order to save some green...and that may not pan out either. However, this new interest in our house, all in one week and all right when we were about to call the realtor, sure feels like a pat on the back from God. Like He is saying "Quit worrying, I have this one handled" and I am sooooooo thankful for that!

We have packed up all clutter, the closets are cleaned out. That leaves the heavy duty cleaning....blinds, baseboard, light fixtures. Blah. Touching up paint. Primping and fluffing.

I started Sunday afternoon...painting the front door, planting some flowers, cleaning windows...

Ugh.

Yesterday I started on the blinds and went full force all day from there.

I should also mention I ran on the treadmill yesterday morning and today. That equals six miles of sweat followed by non-stop cleaning.... and I have not had a shower since Monday. EWWWW! I just dropped into bed last night. I couldn't even muster up the energy for a shower. (Poor hubs!)

I promise I will be showering momentarily....after I prune the rose bushes. Which I might add is happening way later that it should, but oh well.

We are showing the house Thurs. and Fri. evening. So my friends, PRAY!

I also cleaned out blonde rascal's drawers, switching out winter for spring/summer clothes. This morning the forecast showed 77 on Thursday ...and 39 on Friday. Wheeee! That negates my whole wardrobe switch AND flower planting. Thanks a lot mother nature.

I will leave now, to go do the pruning and then I can assure you I will be in the shower. I am starting to attract flies.

Boo hoo, Spring Break is over.

Well, actually after taking blonde rascal to the grocery store with me a few times the past week...I am glad school is back in session. Those trips are so much quicker and definitely more sane sans children!

Last weekend I was in Snyder painting. Duh. Two of my girlfriends came down on Saturday to help me paint. Let me just tell you how I adore them for that. Seriously. They were quite a team, Angie and Staci, they came armed with step stools, paint rollers... and margaritas. They were like the Red Cross coming to my rescue! They painted 2 bedrooms and then we may or may not have sat around drinking margaritas. Paint fumes, good friends and margaritas, it is what all good house remodels are made of.

Blonde rascal and hubs came on Sunday. Hubs was safety supervisor as I precariously painted the crown molding, which I guess is about 12' at its highest point, dangling from the extension ladder. Hubs then headed back to Lubbock since he had to work Monday, while blonde rascal and I started our Spring Break week.

Monday I painted some more and got everything ready for the floor installers who were coming the next day. That evening some friends in Snyder came by to see us. I caught wind of the fact that they raise miniature dachshunds. They had 2 left from the most recent litter. They brought them over so we could love on them.Seriously. Puppy breath, soft fur and that sweet face just about sent me over the edge. Luckily, something about the thought of simultaneously remodeling, moving and puppy potty training kept me from caving in and getting one.

Tuesday we made a trek an hour and a half south to Abilene to go to the zoo. Our first stop was in the creepy critters house where, lucky us, Tuesday is feeding day. So much to blonde rascal's delight we wandered around in that dark building while snakes were digesting mice and there were spiders and my skin was crawling.

We thankfully got out of there alive and I was pumped up by the thought of using my big camera lens at the zoo. My first subject was this stunning leopard......who I happened to catch mid yawn....Clearly the Abilene Zoo does not provide the animals with Crest White Strips.


Hello gorgeous...
We got to the zoo around lunch time and were excited by the thought of consuming zoo food... hot dogs, nachos...you know some greasy gut bomb fare. The dang concession stand was closed. I am sure it is only open in the summer, but come on it was Spring Break! There was a lone vending machine chocked full of peanut m&m's, chips, etc...and it was out of order.At the ticket booth they sold packs of these dry, wheat, rye, cardboard-like crackers that you could feed the animals. We bought some and by the end of our visit, WE were nibbling on them. Good thing the drink vending machines were in operation.


I was glad I could zoom in on this guy....from a distance.


Something about this grand creature made me want to hug his big furry neck. However that may not of ended so well for me.

We got back to the house in Snyder and blonde rascal decided to play in the hot tub. Still enamored by my zoom lens, I sat on the other end of the porch and took pictures. Which is fabulous because since I was not in his face, he had no idea I was snapping away.

There was splashing....
shooting hoops...
...and dancing....

Meanwhile, a little closer to the floor....
Pretty, pretty, princess Missy...
...had rummaged up a horse hoof trimming that she was happily munching on. Ewww.

The little shaggy dust mop...
Blonde rascal, who had for whatever reason gotten in the hot tub fully clothed instead of in his swimsuit, had stripped down to his undies to dry off. He was in a fit of giggles as I threatened to take a picture of him in his drawers....

He'll kill me for this.....



"The End"

Tobacco Road is the bomb.

Any fan of The Nester knows that she claims that Tobacco Road is the end all do all wall paint color. I wanted a warm, cozy, draw you in color. Not khaki or tan, been there done that...but more of a golden brown. I decided to trust Nester and use T.R. for the majority of our house.


Here is the living room when we bought the house.

OK, but the red accent and with stark white walls is too severe. The brown brick is just blah.


Fast forward to some crown molding added, the ceiling painted a fresh white, the mantle painted white and the glorious Tobacco Road....Tobacco Road blends perfectly with the brick....totally changing the look. Brilliant paint color, I tell you! Please note that this picture is mid-way through the project. That is just primer on the molding, second coats, cutting in, etc... are still on the 67 page to-do list.

Hubs loves the color. He was delighted. I think he holds his breath when I decide to paint. He was beyond pleased with Tobacco Road....could not stop staring at it and declaring how perfect it was for the house. (T.R. is a Duron color, but we don't have a Duron store within 500 miles of us...so I used the Lowe's version that the Nester gives.)

In case you were wondering, Missy approves too. She got a smudge of T.R. on her bootie (I told you she would) and thinks it looks fabulous with her chocolate coat.


I am working on a "before and during" house tour....it's coming I promise!

Lacking in sleep

After 4 solid days of working on our "new" house, I am beat. Today I feel like a zombie, an arthritic zombie.

Last night we got back home about 6:00 and I changed gears to prepare for the week. Then after a dose of Tylenol PM, I was in bed by 10:00 totally exhausted. Deep in a sleep like the dead...only to be awoken at about 2 a.m. by a sick blonde rascal. Diarrhea. Great. This required a jammie change. Back in bed...and woken up again at 3:00. Sheet change, sitting a spell on the toilet, giving a dose of Imodium (sp?) which was immediately thrown up. Back to bed and woken up again who knows when...another jammie change, starting a load of laundry. Back to bed, woken up again and then I just stayed up. Poor little guy.

What is even MORE tragic about the whole situation...I decided at 6a.m. to go to Wal-Mart to get 7-Up, crackers, soup, etc.... to be prepared for the sick day. I got dressed and tapped my comfortably snoozing hubby to tell him I was going to the store and to listen for blonde rascal....he startled awake and asked why I was going to the store so early. Obviously YOU slept well, dear! Men.

Oh well, if there is one person in the world I would stay up all night for it would be my little guy. I have the rest of my life to sleep, right?

The beautiful thing was that here is what WM looks like a 6a.m.

Sweet.

Oh, and I stopped here at 6:30a.m.


Even more sweet. (Sorry...took that picture w/phone and really don't care to take the time to flip it)

I had planned on posting pictures of the progress in the house...but blogger is now acting up. It won't save and therefore won't let me add pictures. Arg! So I guess you'll have to wait.

I really need to organize all of my pictures stored on my computer, that would make posting pictures SO much easier. However the Canon software is honestly not so user friendly...it is smarter than I am. I should switch back to iPhoto...because you know Mac makes it easy. I wanted to use the Canon software because I had aspired to be all cool and use the photo editing capabilities. Ya, well that is a pipe dream at this point so I might as well switch back to my beloved intuitive iPhoto!

All potentially contaminated surfaces have been sterilized, multiple loads of laundry completed, blonde rascal is 100% recovered and eating everything in sight. I guess I should go think about what is for dinner.

No pain, no gain

That is the back of hub's pickup loaded up with 14 gallons of various paints. I am leaving in the morning for Snyder to submerge myself in a 4 day paint-a-thon at our "new" house. Hubs is going to be Mr. Mom for a few days. He and the blonde rascal will drive down Saturday morning, which is when hubs is going to install the laminate floor in the bathroom.

I am taking my trusty assistant along with me...
Determining just exactly how helpful she will be is a total crap shoot.
90% of the time she is afflicted with severe ADHD.
So while it is doubtful that she will help me paint...
....I can guarantee she will inevitably get paint ON her.
I won't have internet over the weekend, but I will be documenting the whole ordeal with my camera. So tune in next week for the play by play...assuming I am not still high from paint fumes... or in traction.

Based on the pictures I have just downloaded from the past week, here is the long story short since my last post....

If you will recall hubs was out of town last week, Friday night b.r. spent the night with a friend so I rented "Nights in Rodanthe" during which I surprisingly stayed awake. Incidentally, it was not the best movie ever made.

The next morning I was calmly drinking my coffee in the glorious lazy silence, when all of a sudden Missy starts barking. I glance up looking out the front window and what do I see.......none other than these chumps in our front yard. It is Murphy's Law that they get out when hub's is out of town. I called my kind next door neighbor, and he came to my rescue.

Here is how God rewards me (That is how I prefer to imagine it anyway...He is happy I am taking care of my ticker, right?) for getting up at 6am to run on the treadmill....
...this is the view right in front of me as I step off the treadmill at the end of my run. That's good stuff.

There was also a major master bedroom closet clean out....but I only have before pictures because the afters can't be taken until hub's tackles HIS side of the closet. I know you hate that you can't see that. Maybe someday soon children.

Keep your fingers crossed for me this weekend. I hope to put a huge dent in the painting project...but come about Friday night I might drink beer for hours while sitting on the porch I fear I might fall into bed and sleep for 16 hours from exhaustion.