In -Laws and Spring Cleaning.............

THE IN-LAWS!!!!
I have met my In-Laws and am happy to report that they are absolutely the most wonderful, sweet people I could have possibly asked for had I been able to custom order a set of in-laws and since meeting them I have no idea why I was so nervous about meeting them.

So far we haven't been able to do much in the way of going out or day-trips because of the weather, but we have gotten to go shopping and watch some movies and such. Also my kids have been by, except for my daughter Julie and her babies, to meet the parents.
Buddy(the dog) is especially hyper because we have company and he thinks we will let him get by with anything(he's wrong).

SPRING CLEANING!!!!

Mine is done and thanks to a wonderful friend it was especially easy to do this year.
Shall I share the Method with you?



HOW TO CLEAN THE HOUSE

1. Open a new file in your PC.
2. Name it "Housework."
3. Send it to the RECYCLE BIN.
4. Empty the RECYCLE BIN.
5. Your PC will ask you, "Are you sure you want
to delete Housework permanently?"
6. Calmly answer, "Yes," and press mouse button firmly......
7. Feel better?

Works for me!

The Mermaid Chair

Me and my "Chosen Sister",Lois, frequently exchange books-her sending me books and me offering her suggestions of books to read more often than the other way round. She recently read "The Secret Life Of Bees" by Sue Monk Kid and I had just finished listening to "The Mermaid Chair" on NPR by the same author. She sent me "Bees" and she bought TMC and read it. I LOVED "Bees"- uplifting and sort of sad/sweet at the same time. But The Mermaid Chair was another story altogether, in more ways than one.



The Mermaid Chair left me feeling a bit..."ashamed"... of the woman.
I too am loyal to my man and if I found myself becoming too... comfortable-for lack of a better word- in my marriage, I would find a better way to deal with it. Hell, spice it up a bit- do something that your hubby would not expect of you and it will most likely set off a like response from him. Then you will learn things about each other that you never would have guessed. And your marriage would be stronger for it- not shattered by a stupid fling that she will probably go to hell for even tho Whit wasn’t yet a FULL Monk yet.

I don't understand that concept anyway. I STRIVE to become that comfortable in my marriage. I WANT to know my husband that well, and I WANT to know that kind of sameness and normalcy. I don't want to constantly be guessing about what is going on with my marriage. Why would anyone want less for their marriage and their life?
Not to say I don't want Passion to stay in our marriage- but I think you can have passion stay in your marriage and still be comfortable in it without becoming bored.

Am I crazy? Do I strive for too much? Can't we have both Passion AND Comfort?
I think we CAN!!!

It’s sad that Sue felt the need to write such a troubling story. But look at us- are we discussing the one that we really LIKED? No- we’re upset about the one that was a bit risque in the storyline.

Are we fueling the fire?
Maybe- but I’ve found that the people who have read T/M/C have very strong opinions on it one way or the other and tend to be passionate about stating their opinion when discussing the book.

If I ever get Hunters Revenge finished-(I have to remember to try and find a more appropriate title if I decide to change the storyline to include other women’s revenge plots in it)- it will probably have the same effect. I don’t know that society is ready for a story about a woman/women who are capable of harboring such horrific thoughts and acts of torture when they are abused- Especially one/ones who wait/s for YEARS before exacting that revenge. Sometimes it worries even me a bit that I have to ability to come up with the things that are going into this book.
Imagining some of these things is one thing- actually carrying them out would be quite another.

Or WOULD it?
What would it take to make a person cross that line and actually carry out their fantasies? How long and how horrific would the abuse have to be. What would be the "straw that broke the camels back" so to speak?

There is a scary person lurking in my imagination......very scary indeed.

TAXES

I hate paying them. SUCH a hassle.

I think either they should do the flat tax for everyone or do away with all income taxes and only do sales tax. Either way it would be better than the system we have now.

And some of the absurd things the government has seen fit to use our tax dollars for.....a million dollars for building a TEAPOT MUSEUM???
For Crying out LOUD!!!!
I don't know about you guys, but that's money I could have used for my own trivial uses...like food- and shelter....perhaps a medication I should still be on but can't afford because of all the taxes that they take out on me now.

Stupid.
Stupid!
STUPID!!!!!!!

Bah- HUMBUG!!!!!

Spring Cleaning.............and FIREWORKS!!!!

My in-laws will be visiting us next week. Paulius and I are both very much looking forward to it.

The past two weekends have been spent doing our usual spring cleaning as well as a few "special" projects like painting the living room a new way, (which I have been dying to do ever since we took the wall down between our old living room and the old bedroom to combine the two and make one huge family room area), taking down the old window treatments, which made the place dark and cave-like, and putting up new white sheers and white toppers, and taking up the black carpet in the laundry room and replacing it with some new vinyl tile.

I got to do the "fun", creative stuff.
****Doing a happy dance*****
(Think Snoopy in the Charlie Brown Holiday Specials)

Paulius volunteered to do the hard stuff that I prefer not to do. Namely, the manly job of cleaning the carpets in the living room and the kitchen with a big ole carpet-cleaning gadget.

Yeah- the kitchen....somebody, in their infinite wisdom, decided it would be a good idea to put carpet AND vinyl on the kitchen floor. Granted it IS an eat-in kitchen, but they decided to put the carpet in the COOKING area and the vinyl in the eating area. And just to make things interesting, they decided to NOT use any padding under the carpet and GLUED it directly to the floor so there is no way to get it up to put all vinyl tile, linoleum or hardwood type flooring down.

In a KITCHEN.
What the HECK were they thinking?

Anyway, All the cleaning is done for the most part. I would still like to clean the oven, but if it gets done- it will get done, and if not...oh well. I'm sure my in-laws will have visiting on their minds more than looking to see if my oven is spotless.

We have a couple of outings planned for the parents visit, but mostly we are going to play it by ear. I'm sure fishing and target practice will be on the agenda for Paulius and his dad. I hope his mum will try them out too.

But that's all we have been up to this weekend and now it's time for me to begin my work week again tonight. I'm looking forward to taking my full weekends off while Paulius' parents are in town. After working 6 and 7 day work-weeks for the past 2 months having from Friday morning until Sunday night off will feel like a vacation!!!

I can't wait!

On other things, can you believe that in all the excitement of having to go to Charlotte to get Paulius' INS stuff taken care of and doing all those projects for Paulius parents visit and spring cleaning, I completely forgot it was Easter tommorrow? I usually have a big get-together for my kids here for the BIG holidays, and I completely forgot!
I know my babies are thinking I am losing my mind.
I guess we will have to have a BIG fourth of July celebration with fireworks to make up for this Easter celebration slip-up.

I'm sure Paulius will be heartbroken having to buy and set off all those fireworks.
Yeah right.......very heartbroken.

Sigh........
Happy Easter everyone!

Stealth Decorating........ Again.

One Woman

One Floor

One Morning




I can do tile too!!

(Like it was real hard to do with self-adhesive tiles and a floor already partially laid with linoleum. The hardest part was taking up the carpet that was covering the black, white and grey lino and then deciding what pattern to put in the middle of it.)

I don't wanna grow up ........I'm a Toys-R-Us kid...

I Need A Cigarette.

I don't smoke often- but today I need a cigarette.

We had a good, no, GREAT, day yesterday- but this morning is turning out crap.

I won't go into the reasons why- It's just been a very stressful and annoying morning and I am tired and irritable and it has driven me to smoke.

Once in awhile it won't kill me.

I want my one day off to be a nice, quiet, stress free one.
I'm not sure it will happen, tho.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I need some of MC's luck to come out of this blue funk.
I need some A/P MOJO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is NOTHING Sacred?

Fox TVs ad for "Lord Of The Rings" showings this weekend.....

NO they are NOT gay. They are just good friends who actually DO care for each other. Much like BROTHERS!!!!

Fox Can EAT MY SHORTS! I wouldn't watch it on thir crummy channel if it was the last one on Earth.
I'll pay a hundred dollars for the movie discs before watching it on Fox.

Bastards

Guilty Pleasures.........

I have one.

I love to listen to Radio Reader read by Dick Estelle on NPR on my drive home from work.

It's so nice to be have someone to read to me and have to do none of the reading myself.

Don't get me wrong- I LOVE to read- it's probably my biggest passionate hobby...but to have Dick Estelle read TO me for a half hour is absolute bliss! He usually chooses a book I probably wouldn't have chosen for myself had I been at the bookstore or the library. Occasionally, tho, he will read one that I have read and loved. Even if I didn't like it the first time round I listen, because there are so many ways to phrase things that might change the whole tone of the book for me.

I love it.

I have thought about recording some children's books on tape for my grand kids so their parents can have a night off from reading a bedtime story every once in a while. Let Grandma have a bit of the fun, why don't they?
;-)

One in particular I think they might enjoy in a couple of years is a book called "Walter, The Lazy Mouse".

It was my Dad's book and about a year ago, right before he got sick again, he had went thru some books in their basement and had about 10 boxes of books they were going to donate to charity. Daddy told me to go down and sift thru them and see if there was any of interest that I wanted to keep before they gave them away.
First box I looked thru had WALTER in it. I snagged it in a heartbeat and when I went back upstairs I told him I couldn't believe he was going to send Walter away. He laughed and said he hadn't realised Walter was in the group, but he was glad I had rescued him. Walter was one of his first books, you see. Walter has a new home and a place of honor on my bookshelves with a select few others that can be read BY adults to the kids- but not handled by the kids themselves til they are WAY older than 5.

Some things are just way too precious. Like the book called THE HARVESTER that Paulius bought a new copy of and gave to me for a wedding gift. My original copy was literally falling apart at the seams and it is one of my favorite books of all time.

I like being read to better anyway- I can listen all day, but I can't read for more than a couple hours before my eyes start throbbing and I start getting a headache.

Thank goodness for audio books. You know- if I went blind-God Forbid- I don't think they have enough audio books to keep me in as many books as I read a month. The audio books would run out before my life force did.

And do you know what I like to snack on while I read? Cinnamon Toast. YUM!!
With milk in the spring/summer and with coffee in the autumn/winter.

Who could ask for more than all the free time in the world to read, a never-ending platter piled high with fresh cinnamon toast, and a bottomless cup of coffee or glass of milk?
ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I suppose it's time for me to go and indulge in another of my guilty pleasures.....sleep.

Ahhhh.....have you ever felt anything as sweet as your very own soft fluffy pillow with the scent of fresh air and sunshine wafting up from the fresh sheets and pillowcases on your freshly made bed?............But that's another story for another day...................................Nighty night!

Color Me Moonlight Drive Blue.....and Sands Of Time Tan.......

That's the colors we have chosen for the living room.........and it's time to do the painting - no more putting it off- I wish I had thought to take a pic of it before I started clearing things out to make a comparison to the after.
Oh well- I'm dang sure not putting it all back just to take a pic of it!
It's going to be a big job- and I am geared up to do it right now. I really should go to bed and sleep for awhile since I just got in from work- but I am ready to get'er DONE!!

So Y'all have a great weekend- and I'll tell you all about the adventures-or misadventures- if anything of interest happens.
K?

Laters ALL!!

Read My Last Post- Then This One.....

Okay, and to add insult to injury..........

Paulius got up and read the post about my little joke before coming into the kitchen where I was busy over-seeing the finishing touches to dinner. He went to the sink, paused, then looked at me and said, "Nice try." and then proceeded to fiddle with the sprayer. Being me, and being distracted by finishing dinner, I assumed he was taking the tape off the trigger on the sprayer.

....................You see where this is going, don't you?

I poured the brown gravy up into the gravy boat and then put the pan in the sink to rinse it out and turned the water on full force....again.

Yep-I shrieked like a banshee AGAIN- for the THIRD time today- and turned the water off in a HURRY -but not fast enough to not get soaked again.
Paulius had just ACTED like he was taking the tape off the trigger.
And got me AGAIN.
And LAUGHED at me-AGAIN.

Sigh........


This means WAR!!!!!

Sunny & The Best Laid Plans ...........

Last week Paulius played a nasty practical joke on me. Not anything too big- but it rocked my world.

In our family, I am the one who plays practical jokes and he is the one who says to me..."Grow Up."

Anyway, that was last week. I let it slide and told him that was pretty weird. But we all got a good chuckle out of it and went on with our day to day routines.

Or so I thought. I just couldn't get over the fact that I had been GOT. I have only been GOT twice in my life before now. And it bugs the daylights out of me when it happens because I pride myself on being EXTREMELY observant. I notice things that no one else catches and then I point them out to everyone. I suppose it serves me right for being such a smart-ass.

Anyway- A little over a week has passed and this morning I thought to myself- "Now is the time for PAYBACK".

Yeah. Uh-huh.

So I go to the kitchen sink and tape the sprayer trigger down with clear cellophane tape. I position it so it is pointing directly at myself and then wipe everything down and walk off. It has a wide spray radius so it will soak his whole front. PERFECT!!!!!

EVIL, EVIL, EVIL LAUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I go into the living room to watch a bit of TV. Then I go to the store and buy a bag of ice and a gallon of milk and come home. I put the groceries away and then decide that I will go ahead and put the roast in the oven so when Paulius gets up dinner will be about ready to serve. I am starving.

You see where this is going, don't you?

Yep, completely forgetting about my little joke, I walk over to the sink to rinse off the cutting knife-(it was already clean, but I am a bit OCD and I rinse them off every time I get ready to use a knife or a pan of any sort)- and turn the water on full force.

"DAMMITT!!!!" I shriek. I don't see how THAT didn't wake him up. But it didn't, and I looked at the front of my shirt and shorts which are dripping wet and I just have to start laughing. My son comes into the kitchen, looks at me, looks at the sink and then turns around and walks off laughing and shaking his head. He grew UP with my shenanigans- he doesn't have to ask what happened- he KNOWS.

I know- I know....That serves me right for trying to pull the same prank on Paulius that he pulled on me.

Well, I dried off, changed clothes-(I can't stand wet clothes of any kind- including swimsuits) and the went back into the kitchen to finish putting on the roast.

And did the EXACT SAME THING AGAIN!!!!!

I. Kid. You. NOT.

I turned on the water full force, shrieked like a banshee again, and this time I just sat down and laughed til tears ran down my face.


I can't believe I did that TWICE to MYSELF.

I'm staying out of the kitchen until he gets up.....I mean it.