Saturday morning at the junk store

Blonde rascal and I headed out Saturday morning for the junk store. Whoot! Sale sign!

It was $5 day. Fill a grocery bag for $5. Blonde rascal and I scored a gold mine for $10. It appears to also be"drive your weird color truck to the junk store" day. Honestly, yellow and orange in the same parking lot at the same time. Odd.

That blonde rascal, he knew there would be payoff for him.You didn't think he would go with me for nothing, did ya?

Oh, and then there was this....
The coffee shop was the only thing shaking on the sleepy little town square.

We made a quick stop at the grocery store.Yippee....see the boxes, little girls? Score. Girl Scout Cookies.

Followed by a visit to the hardware store.I probably don't need to tell you what happens when a horse kicks a faucet in a pasture. It involved a flood and then hubs doing his least favorite thing....plumbing. He sent me to the hardware store with a list of pieces parts.


We finally made it home and unloaded my loot...

A simple pitcher. Always good for fresh flowers.


Check out this nightmare...I have plans though, assuming I can get the glass dome off. It is glued down. I ran a razor knife, over and over, around the bottom to try to cut the glue. Then heated it with the hair dryer. Tried a little Goo-Gone and the razor knife again. No go. Any suggestions?


Some cute pink cloth napkins,
Some pegs,Hello? We have a swimming pool. Never enough places to hang towels. (Really, who am I kidding? I could have 7 miles of hooks and there would STILL be towels thrown on the ground) A quick coat of spray paint and those will be good to go.


Look at these monsters...Wicked medieval/1970's wall sconces. I have big plans for these bad boys.


Frames and plaques just screaming for a makeover....
Red polka dots, need I say more?
3 little wall shelves... Again, spray paint and good to go.


No brainer....Turquoise dishes. Love.


Lastly was this doozie....Oh dear. I feel pretty certain this was ugly when it was brand spankin' new.


However, a surgical removal of all fake greenery and fruit was all it needed. That and a little paint, candles and some ribbon for flair.




The polka dot jar found a home on the kitchen counter holding my most used utensils.


Blonde rascal then commandeered the camera.
Just look at me, the bizarre smirk on my face is from the joy of hunting for $10 worth of treasures that just need a little imagination and spray paint! (I have no idea what Missy's excuse for being bizarre and smirking is, she sleeps all day for cryin' out loud!)

Really, you know what's even more fun than rummaging through junk? Rummaging through junk with my favorite little man. Laughing, talking, being silly and treating him to a Saturday morning donut. That is bliss!

I copy my ideas from other brilliant people...no need to strain my own brain power, right? Go get some inspiration at Metamorphosis Monday!

Random thoughts and a farewell

Another busy week goes by....is it just me, or do they all seem busy?

A skunk sprayed my car. Seriously, my car. We live in the middle of nowhere and he gets my car? Miles and miles of country....yet my car is the target. Nice. Smelly Volvo, it's how I roll.

I went to the library this week. Grabbed a book off the shelf, one I had wanted, and checked it out. Turns out it is the large print edition. Who knew? I kinda like that huge print. So easy to read. I'll be heading to the geriatric section every time I go to the library now.

I have had an eye infection of some sort, thinking maybe it stemmed from a cold I had last month. The infection cleared up, but eyes still red. Now, corneas irritated and swollen. Corneal edema.... again with the who knew? Currently hoppped up on eye drops for that. I have not been able to wear my contacts for the past 3 weeks and I have seen the eye dr. like 100 times. It is finally clearing up thank goodness. I am incredibly irritated by wearing glasses. Should be cleared to wear contacts in a few days. Yay. Glasses make me downright grumpy.

Blonde rascal told me the other day that Google was not doing very well. What?? He told me he had been looking at the stock market on his iPod Touch when he goes to bed. What???

The Marine will be coming home from Afghanistan in about 2 weeks. Thank you Jesus. God bless our soldiers.

I had to have my cat put to sleep today. Hard day. Sad heart for me. He was 14 years old. My Valentine. Hubs gave him to me on our 2nd Valentine's Day as a married couple. Hubs was a police officer at the time and worked the evening shift, getting off duty at 11p.m. I got off work at 5 p.m. so kitten Val was my source of entertainment in the evenings.

14 years of sweet memories. Val perfected the aloof "cat-ittude" as the years went by."I am not paying any attention to you, I will not acknowledge your lowly presence"

Our 4 legged fur balls grab hold of our hearts, don't they?

Rest in peace, buddy. Valentine~ 1996 - 2010

Sew, what's new?

Yesterday afternoon I stayed holed up in my quilty shack. It was divine. I am so close to finishing a very important project, that will go in the mail this week. Then I can show you.

I am feeling motivated and organized and pumped up and the mojo is flowing. 2010 is the year for quilting baby. I am taking pics of all the projects I AM going to finish this year. I will post a big quilt to-do list, and then I will be accountable to finish them. Right? Right!

In other news, blonde rascal has spring fever. It was like 60 yesterday. Sunny & pretty, but still a little brisk. B.R. however was dreaming of hot weather.

First we made snow cones.Did you have one of these when you were a kid. Holy smokes it is an arm workout. Good thing I only have one kid to crank out ice for!!!

Next he put on shorts and splashed around on the pool cover.He had fun, perhaps we'll just leave the cover on all summer. His own water trampoline, if you will.

Crazy kid, his legs were beet red. Now, it is forecast to snow tomorrow. Weather is bi-polar in these parts.

Finally in my most important tidbit of news for the day....guess who turned 3 today?Mmmmhmmmm...it's Missy. She got a weenie dog baby for her birthday. Does this mean the terrible twos are over?"Terrible is my middle name, dude."

Snow, dogs, kid...and lots of laundry

FINALLY we got some snow. I know the rest of the country is cursing the snow at this point, but I have been waiting for this. We woke up Thurs. morning to 4" of snow. School was delayed 2 hours, so Blonde Rascal wasted no time getting outside.It was a wet heavy snow, the pretty kind that sticks to everything.

I have titled the following picture...
"Please God let it freeze solid and go away"


Blonde Rascal could not have been more thrilled with the weather conditions.


Likewise the dogs enjoyed frolicking.

Bianca stayed on task as usual, despite the fluffy stuff...
"Must. Herd. Horse."


Our newest addition, Jake (the Australian Shepherd that showed up at our house a few weeks ago and after checking with the pound for a searching owner, we could not turn his lovable self away) was beside himself.
He is slightly A.D.H.D and the largest sugar lump personality I have ever seen. He thrives on lovin'.


Of course it goes without saying that the most entertaining part of the 4" snow was the minature weenie dog with 3" legs.

"Missy, where are you?"
"Huh?"



There was no walking through the snow for her. No sir, it required more of a flopping, bucking motion.

Speaking of flopping, check out those ears...


Because she had to plow through the snow, it completely stuck to her.
She was the abominable snow weenie.


Good times for sure. Except that B.R. changed wet clothes 3x's that morning, 2 more that afternoon. And now, now it is mud. Which requires ridiculous use of the washing machine. Additionally I will mention that Missy has had three baths in as many days. Oh well, snow and mud are what little boys (and their dogs) thrive on, right?

Hope everyone it having a great V-Day with their loved ones. My two favorite fellas and I went to church this morning and are now spending a leisurely Sunday together.

Tomorrow is a school holiday and we are going to the big city for teeth cleanings and then an orthodontist appt. Blonde Rascal is somewhat irritated that his holiday is chocked full of dental appointments. Poor kid, rough life.

The best day of my life

Wedding Day? ....meaningful and wonderful, for sure.




Birth of child? ....undeniably a gift from God.




I'll even be materialistic for a moment and say... Christmas 2 years ago when hubs completely knocked my socks off with a beautiful diamond ring? (Bling always makes for a good day no doubt)


I have to be honest, nothing compares to today.



I walked into our house this afternoon.......



....after the cleaning lady had been here all day.


Sweet merciful heavens.

I am sitting here all slack jawed basking in the glory of the cleanness. I mean it is ridiculously clean and I am not the least bit tired! Usually when it is this clean I am laying on the floor crying like an unruly toddler because I am so exhausted from the torture.

Base boards....spotless. Light fixtures....no dust. Bath mats...still warm out of the dryer. (Honestly, there is something remarkably wonderful about fresh bath mats)

In all my 39 years I have never hired someone to clean. Thank goodness we started our own business and I was forced kicking & screaming to be the bookkeeper thus not having time to clean the house.

The even better glorious news is that the cleaning lady is coming every other Thursday. Sigh.

I am signing off now...I must go gawk at the spotless glass shower door.

Electricity Nazi

Got the electric bill this weekend....$540.00. Say what? Yes, $540. Never in my life. Shocking? Devastating? No. It just flat pisses me off and I will win.

The problem is Hubs. Our roles are reversed. He is cold and I am hot. (hehee giggle...I am hot) He gets a slight chill and cranks up the heater to 72 which to me is completely unbearable. Hot air blowing around is utterly intolerable in my opinion. I blame this neurosis of mine on growing up in Houston. I feel like I can't breath when the heater is filling my lungs with hot air.

(It has been cold outside, I understand the need for a little heat, I really do.)

#2. Hubs and b.r. got in the hot tub last month. Had to let it run for like 3 days to heat up and then left it on for another week, assuming they would get in again. The @#$% pool pump comes on automatically when the temp falls to keep the pool from freezing or whatever. You know what I say, let that bad boy freeze. Fill it with dirt. You all know how I loathe anything around here that has a pump or requires chlorine or salt. Bain of my existence.

#3 I had to run the heater in the quilty shack when it was frigid. I can't have the pipes bursting in there. A tragic disaster that would be. So scratch #3, it is ok if the quilty shack burns electricity.

I am the electricity nazi now. Cranked the heater down, I sure did.

These chumps will be glad they got Snuggies for Christmas now....

Hubs being theatrically thrilled with his Snuggie....

Mmmmhmmmm, who's laughing about the Snuggie now? (BTW, the people who invented the Snuggie are laughing all the way to the bank, right?)

So the heater is turned down. We'll live. We had a fire in the fireplace last night. Good, warm. Fire and Super Bowl go very well together. I could really give a flip about the S.B. or football in general for that matter. But you have to watch it, you know? Otherwise you'll be the odd man out around the water cooler the next day. I only love my college team and will faithfully watch them play. I guess that is because the memories of going to those games warms my heart and what was in the flask at those games warmed my heart too. Anywhoo, back to the SB. I think The Who still has it. They rocked and I was happy about that. Rock-n-Roll forever baby.

So here it is Monday, my day off by the way. I am happily at home. It is cold outside and 62 in the house. Guess what? I am cold.

A recipe you need to know

This recipe was in our electric co-op magazine thing that comes monthly. They post member's recipes. The only reason I look through the thing is for the dang recipes. Only folks that live in the country use an electric co-op....and we all know good ol' country folk make some wicked good chow.

Well, I should clarify. This recipe is not wicked good. It is wicked easy....and good, but not wicked good. Many times easy surpasses wicked good in my book. Ya know what I'm saying?

So here it is...

Peach Cobbler in a mug:

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon instant nonfat dry milk
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
dash salt
1 snack sized container of diced peaches, drained.

Microwave butter in a mug until melted. Add sugar, flour, dry milk, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and 2 tablespoons water to cup. Stir, then add peaches on top of batter. Do not stir. Cook for 2 minutes in microwave at 70% power. Let stand in microwave for one minute. Remove and let stand until cool enough to eat.

FYI it is cool enough to eat immediately....assuming you plop a big scoop of vanilla on top. Right?

I made mine w/o the dry milk....because who has dry milk in the pantry? Not me. It was fine w/o it.

Easy and good. It's a keeper!

No news is good news

I miss blogging! Somehow life runs amuck and my blogging gets put in last place. I feel like I am in the eye of a tornado!!

This whole own your own business thing just sucks the life right out of you. The problem, as I have figured it out, is that I consider myself a part time employee with no schedule. Working willy nilly makes the rest of my life, well...willy nilly. The house does not get cleaned, random grocery store trips are made, homework does not get started until after dinner when blonde rascal is tired, laundry is not done until there is an urgent lack of underwear. Which all combined makes me downright cranky.

January was a crazy month. MIL had her knee replaced. I stayed a few day in the hospital with her. She came through like a star. It won't be long until she will be back in the honky tonks dancing the night away with younger men. Kidding! But, she and her new bionic knee are well on the road to recovery. I made a quick trip to Houston for my sister's baby shower. Which was loads of fun. Twins. I made 2 quilts which I will show you...when I have time to download pics.

Then you throw in cold weather, a new adopted stray (outdoor) dog, work and more work....ugh.

Let me clarify that I am thankful for the crazy busy work to be done at the office, which means our business is thriving. It is busy, more successful than we every imagined it would be at this point and we are thankful. God has blessed us. So having to work like mad is really a good thing. Food on the table, roof over our head....life is good.

Also I know there are women who work a million more hours than I do at less forgiving jobs, that don't allow for coming and going as you please, as mine does. Have mercy do I feel for them. They deserve a lot of respect! Don't even get me started on the single mom...and how the heck she ever accomplishes it all. The thought of it all makes me appreciate my 3rd child...a.k.a. hubs!

So to remedy my dislike for the disjointed lifestyle I decided to take control of the reigns. I will work T-W-TH. Of course there will be some M and F that I will have to work, but at least I will be able to grasp in my brain a "schedule". On top of that I am hiring someone to clean the house every other week. There I said it, no shame, I am making money and so if I choose to spend it on housekeeper so be it!!!

Hello quilting. 2010 is the year of the quilts. I am finishing both the projects I have started and the ones I have not started. I finished 2 quilts and a wall hanging in January which I feel like is a great start. Do you know that happily sewing away the hours in my tiny quilty shack is bliss? Pure joy, make me giggle with glee! Too bad quality quilting fabric is expensive and hours spent sewing a quilt could never convert equally to dollars... if it did I would get rich selling quilts. I adore making them. It is for sure my happy place.

January 15th was the year anniversary of buying our house! A year? Already? Which also reminded me that I have not ever done before and after posts of all the remodeling we did.

Why? Because I am SO behind on scrapbooking and picture organizing. I have got to get a grip on the pictures. I love my scrapbooks, precious memories that are so fun to look at. I need to quickly get caught up...somehow.

Hmmmm...it all sounds like a very basic need for simple time management. Drat.

Boy I have my work cut out for me. I will be back soon....and hopefully regularly, to let you know how it is all going!

On a side note, I have had to turn on the word verification thingy for my comments. I am being bombarded with spam. Vi@gra, shady investment opportunities...you name it. Funny thing is, I never have had spam. I have a Mac. Mac= no spam, no viruses. Mac = love. Then one fine day I logged on to my blog from the office, on my PC at the office. PC sucks. PC = spam and viruses.
I apologize for you having to type "blashwomp" in order to leave a comment....but please still comment because I love you so!

Untapped Potential

Blonde rascal and I were studying his spelling words Wednesday night. One of his words was master. Often times while studying we put the words into sentences. Blonde rascal said..."Mom has her Master's Degree". (I am not real sure where he even heard of such a thing?)

To which I replied...

Mom: "No I just have my Bachelor's Degree, which is sadly not as impressive."

BR: "In what?"

Mom: "Communication Studies"

BR: "What do you do with that? (same thing I am sure my parents thought)

Mom: "Well it is not a specialized degree....it is very generalized, so I could do lots of things!" (read I'll never get paid the big bucks)

BR: "Like be a moto cross racer?"

Mom: "No doubt!"

BR: "Or a Monster Jam driver! You would love to drive a monster truck!"

Mom: "You know I would SO love that!"

BR: "Or you could just keep on being a bookkeeper for Dad's car lot"

Oh yawn! That is so sad. I had so many exciting career options at my fingertips and I end up with bookkeeper.

I laughed and hugged him and told him the only job I ever wanted was being his Mom. Then I showered him with kisses as he freaked out and tried to get away from me.

However, it is comforting to know that should something ever happen to hubs and I need to support the family...there is always that Monster Jam option.

The picture says it all

Greetings bloggy friends! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, blah, blah, blah!

Christmas is wonderful. I love it, eagerly anticipate it, totally adore it. But sort of like a visit from your crazy Great Aunt Myrtle, you're kinda glad to see it end. Amen?

This picture entertains me greatly. It was Christmas night after all the hoopla, and hubs and I look like zombies.
"Santa Schmanta" or "Bah Humbug" or "More wine please"

We drove 1,000 miles to Columbia, TN to spend the holiday with my pesky brother-in-law Mark and sweet sister-in-law Sherri and family. We had a fantastic time....great food, laughs and loving being with family.

The only down side was that on Christmas Eve it snowed like 5" at home, while we were in TN with no snow. Boohoo.

We came home on the 26th and there was still snow on the ground and we got a little more snow on Tues. I believe that snow is proof that God love us and wants us to be happy. I love how it blankets everything in silence. I love how it makes me want to curl up at home with a book and hot chocolate. Sadly for me we don't exactly live in a snow zone, so that may be the only snow we see this winter. Sniff.

We spent New Year's Eve with friends, where surprisingly I stayed awake until midnight. It wasn't easy, but I persevered. Staying up until midnight is so overrated.

So while I am happy to be done with the hoopla, I am not ready for school to start again. I have way too much fun hanging out with my blonde rascal.He is such a source entertainment to me. I love simply talking with him. His thought process, his vocabulary, his sense of humor, his laughter.....it all makes my heart swell. But back to school he must go on Tuesday because unlike staying up until midnight, an education is not overrated. I mean, he is going to have to graduate from college, have a rewarding career that he enjoys and succeeds at, so he can take care of mama when I am old, wobbly and drooly.