Sew happy!

Can ya tell what I did wrong? I didn't flip it inside out and then sew. I just sewed. I was just so dang ecstatic I got my sewing machine to work - and right! - that I didn't want to stop to think. I was afraid the machine would decide it had had enough and stop working again. I had just started sewing and thought, "Damn, I was supposed to flip this inside out....oh well...it's just an apron..."

Do you know how many doors (& windows) this opens for me?!? Pillows! Curtains! Maybe I'll take up quilting! I said maybe. I can make anything! Anything! 

We'll see how long this apron keeps it together. If it doesn't survive one wash, I may need to rethink my above comment...

"Cyndi Lauper claims that "girls just wanna have fun". Pfft, please. Girls just wanna eat without getting fat."

Who doesn't, lol? When I tell people I've lost 20 lbs, they laugh and say, "What? You don't eat?" to which I respond, "O-o-oh no, I eat. I eat like a king!" Then they usually say, "So you workout all the time?" to which I laugh and say, "Puh-leeze, if I can lose weight without exercising, I'm going to...and I've found a way!" 

Loving this low-carb diet. I was even under 125 lbs this morning. I don't know how. How is that possible? 

I made this today:

Low-Carb Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

MM-mm-mmmm

So, so good. I pretty much followed that recipe (link under picture above) but I just chopped my cabbage up and put it in the casserole dish and nuked it for 10 minutes while the hamburger was browning. I took 1/2 out (leaving a layer as the base), dumped 1/2 the hamburger mixture on top, topped that with the tomatoes (which I could have lived without...not much of a tomato fan here), topped that with cheese and then repeated. I think it could have used more cheese, too. I'm not sure how much I used. I had some left in a bag and used all of it. I didn't think it was that much but it was probably close to a cup. It was de-lic-ious! 

I'm on the hunt for a large box to make Snoopy's doghouse for the library's Christmas event(s). I've left a message with our local HVAC guy to see if he has any. If he doesn't or if I don't hear back from him, I'm going to try SEARS in Atl. 

*sigh* Who cares? I'm just writing about what I have to do. This blog is like my agenda. How boring for you. 

I'm off to see if I can fix my sewing machine. It hasn't worked in years. Mom got it for me (& one for my sister-in-law) at Christmas...how many years ago? I don't know. A lot. I broke mine pretty much immediately. We got it fixed in CB and it broke again shortly after that. I'm not sure it's me, but it probably is. I hope I can fix it because stitching my next project by hand is going to be a pain in the ...... hand. :)

"It's amazing how the simple potato gives us potato chips, french fries and vodka. Get your shit together, every other vegetable!"

I don't know who said that, but it was too funny not to use in my title. And I have to say Zucchini might be stepping it up a notch.

Baked Parmesan Zucchini Chips

Mm-mm-mmmmmm

I tweaked the recipe a bit. I used coconut oil instead of olive oil. I just used bread crumbs (I buy the $1.00 cheap-o bags @ Walmart and they're only 5g carbs per 2 Tbls.), parmesan cheese & salt. And I baked for 30 minutes @ 450 degrees, removed the ones that were "done", baked the rest for another 5 to 10 minutes. 

I have to say...it'll be a miracle if these make it through the night!

I've been desperate for something snacky. I think part of the reason I drank so much (beer & soda & whatever) is the repetition of lifting something to my mouth. Same with smoking. Same with eating Peanut Butter M&M after Peanut Butter M&M...one right after the other....and Trailmix!  Obviously I have some sort of oral fixation. I wonder what Freud says about that? I should know...I took enough Psych classes. The only problem is, they were 20 years ago. I can't remember anything from 20 years ago. 

I can't eat M&M's anymore and damn the person to hell who gives me any because once I start again, I'm not sure I'd be able to stop. I can't eat Trailmix....super not good for you! So much sugar! And popcorn. *sigh* It's good, just not good for my stomach. Moderation. Definitely. And I'm sure these wouldn't be good for me, either, if I ate all of them in one sitting. I don't think I'll have a problem putting them down because I have an aversion to oily things. I just imagine all that oil soaking into my face and zit after zit popping up. I can't have that. Potato Chips are one thing I've never really gotten addicted to and that's why. The ONE THING. Sad. 

Anywhoo, these sure are tasty. I'm not sure how crispy they got but with the bread crumb, they're crunchy. I let them soak onto the newspaper for awhile after taking them all out of the oven to try to get some of the oil out of them and then I just put them in ziploc baggies. We'll see how good they are tonight while I'm watching the new t.v. shows. 

And can I just say....I love rainy days. I really do. I love the cloudiness, the sound of rain, the lack of noise from people because they can't be outside in the rain....love, love, love. How-ev-er....it is not helping my mood. I got some semi-good-news today but I think I need some sun to really enjoy it. And I need projects. It's so rainy, I can't go outside and start the second coat of stain on my fence - I can't do anything outside. And I'm at a loss for what more to do inside. I need to start thinking about Christmas gifts & decor and I need to get a hold of some cardboard boxes for the Charlie Brown theme. Tomorrow....

“One reason that cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers.” ― Gwendolyn Brooks, In the Mecca

Ain't that the truth?

So I started doing something...or rather, not doing something. I'm on day 3 of boycotting the news. I haven't watched a single news program in 3 days. No early morning local news. No Today show. No CNN. Nothing.

I just couldn't take it anymore. My goal is to boycott for 30 days and see how I feel.  I wanted to try for a whole year + 1 month...until after the next Presidential election, but that seemed unattainable so I'm aiming for a month...and then maybe two months....and then maybe 3 months. Not only that, I'm only getting on Facebook if someone has tagged me in something and I only look at what they tagged me in. Otherwise, I'm not scrolling through my news feed, I'm not searching anybody else's page, I'm not clicking into news stories...nothing. I'm off. Off it all.

And It. Is. Tough!

Every morning, I'd watch the local news...then maybe the first 1/2-hour of the Today show because let's face it - it's pretty much crap after the first 15 minutes. I'd flip to Robin Meade on CNN's Morning Express- I love her. And I'd be set for the day...and then I'd watch the National News at 5:30 & local news (again) at 6. And I'd periodically flip to CNN throughout the day.

I just don't want to know. I don't want to know what stupid-ass thing Donald Trump has said today and I don't want to hear anymore about Hillary Clinton's stupid email-NON-scandal and I can't stand to look at Kim Davis' hypocritical face and see Mike Huckabee's homophobic fat-ass and I just cringe to think what our country will look like if the Right-wing, christian fanatics have their way and our judges can't judge anymore and I really think we're going down the tubes...and it bothers me. It bothers me heavily. I had so hoped with gay marriage being approved and upheld that our country was moving in the right direction but it's not. It wants to revert to the 1950's where everyone was "in their place". Sure the 1950's were great...if you were a straight white rich man.

See? I just can't. I just can't do it anymore. Thus, the boycott.

Morning's are the hardest. What do you watch in the morning if not the news? Crap. That's what. lol.

So I had a couple of pretty rough nights due to the chicken gnocchi "soup". That's it. I've realized I can't eat pasta anymore. No more pasta?!? *sigh* That sucks...but what sucks worse is that pain and being woken up at Midnight with it and having to suffer through it. That sucks way worse. I'd forgotten how horrible that damn pain is. Forgotten! How nice! It was good to have a reminder. This low-carb diet has really done wonders for my body. I mean, I still have the occasional flare-up but they're far & in-between. And nothing like the pain I've felt in the past so that's a relief.

Spaghetti Squash and I are going to become really good friends. Friends who let their friends eat them.

I made another "broom" today:

Still need to dust that damn table-set!

I even used my new/used jigsaw that Dad gave me! The branch was twice that size so I cut it in half....and did not cut off any body parts in the process, so good job!  I could even make another broom but I ran out of sticks for the bottom part. I hot-glued fake leaves to the top part and painted the bottom section orange. Cute.

What to do tomorrow?

I had a job interview a week ago and while I always try to keep my hopes low, I fail miserably at that and constantly imagine saying "Yes! Yes, I'll take the job!" I would have heard by now if I'd gotten it so now I'm just waiting for the rejection letter in the mail. I can't tell you how disheartening it is to have applied to all of these jobs and be told, in so many words, "you're not good enough", "you're not what we're looking for", "we can do better". I just try not to dwell on it, pick myself back up, keep looking & applying and try to convince myself I am good. I am smart. I am talented. Some company would be ridiculously happy to have me working for them. 

*sigh* I sound like SNL's Stuart Smalley:

"Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself." -Wikipedia

Last night at 1AM, I wrote the best blog post....in my head. It was perfect. It was funny. It was serious. It was priceless.

I can't remember any of it.

I woke up at Midnight with horrible stomach pain. I spent the next hour in the bathroom. I won't say I was violently ill because even though I thought numerous times, "I'm going to yak - Garfield! Get me the bucket!" to which she did not (useless cat), I did not actually throw up. And while I thought, "I feel weird. I'm going to pass out." I made it to the floor before actually doing so.

I had flashbacks to six years ago and the "shrimp incident". I thought, "Ah hell, I'm never going to be able to eat shrimp again!" and then I realized, this couldn't be about the shrimp. The shrimp was days ago. Days! I had another flashback to May 3 of this year when I woke up at 5AM, horrible pain, time in the bathroom, passing out and hemorrhaging. I said to myself, "So this is what's going to happen every time I have my period?!? Somebody shoot me now..." Because I just had the thought last night, "Holy crap, it's been eight days straight of no period. What am I doing wearing underwear?!?"

But alas, it wasn't either of those things. I think the chicken gnocchi soup, which is so damn good, doesn't have a good effect on me. I'm afraid I'm going to really have to give up pasta. I have one meal of it left and I'll be damned if I'm not going to eat it (sorry, Dad, no sharesies today)...I'm just going to chase it with Pepto.

I still feel like shit.

And then! Oh, and then! I woke up at 5AM to "click-click", "click-click", "click-click". My first hazy thought was that someone was outside my window. My second hazy thought was that Garfield was doing something. My third hazy thought was, "No, that sound is too perfect..." and then I realized what it was.

Last year, I think it was, I was sitting in my living room, with the television on and heard that same "click-click", "click-click", "click-click" and if my new Lasik eyesight wasn't so darn good, I'd've missed it. It was a teeny-tiny little bug jumping up & down on my living room floor. Every time it jumped, it click-clicked. Weirdest thing ever.

That's also what was "click-clicking" last night (this morning) in my bedroom....and if not for Garfield's keen eyesight, I never would have found the damn thing. I'm telling ya, I've got supersonic hearing, man. It's a curse.

So this morning, I googled what the hell it was. I just kept thinking "Mexican jumping bean" but it's not. It's a click beetle. How original.

2 cm long - yep, this is it!

Gross, but seriously entertaining for Garfield. Not so much for me.

I need to mow today because I didn't mow at all last week. Not that the grass looks bad but it needs a trim. I hope I make it so I can go directly back to bed. I do not like feeling unwell. It's not a good look for me. Off I go!

Good-bye 125 pounds. It was nice seeing you on your short, short visit.

I say that because I made Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup (copycat) tonight. I had chicken broth leftover from whatever I made before that only used 1/4 cup so I wanted to use that up...and Dad had given me chopped carrots and I wanted to use those up before they went bad....so soup it was!

And I wanted something lighter than usual. The Baked Parmesan Shrimp was delicious, but two meals of that in one day did me in. I gave the third meal to Dad to eat and he must have liked it because Mom called for the recipe! I think that's a first, lol!

Anyway, something light....Yeah, I didn't really think this one through. I was just thinking "soup" and Olive Garden's gnocchi soup is so good, almost fluffy it's so light....but I should have known mine would turn out nothing like their's. :)

Mm-mmmm

Not very soupy, is it?

It's freaking delicious, don't get me wrong. I think anything made with gnocchi is going to be....however, I maybe should have followed the recipe a little closer. I just knew the basic ingredients and went to town. I had cut the recipe in 1/2 because what it called for was over-the-top and for 10 people. Hello, I'm only cooking for me...and Mom & Dad when I make too much. So I halved it. Which is fine. Except, I still didn't follow my "halve" and well, you see.

I used the entire package of gnocchi (16oz instead of my 1/2 recipe of 8) because who wants leftover gnocchi hanging around? And I probably made 6(?) chicken breast tenderloins (you know - the frozen kind) so I know I had more of everything than I should have and not enough broth and half&half. 

Regardless that it turned out like a casserole instead of a soup...it's still darn good.

Just hangin' around...

I made this using another old pallet board. I made & printed off the image, glued it onto the board, then glued the painted clothespins onto that. It's hanging at my garage door. So much better than having gloves laying around everywhere and in the winter, I can hang wet gloves & hats on it! So cute...

And another way of hanging around that just about gave me a heart attack:

That's a huge drop behind her and if she were to lose her footing, she'd have no claws to grab onto anything with. I know, I know. Cats have amazing balance....but still. Scared the bejesus out of me and I got her down....right after I snapped these pictures, of course. 

Today I made Baked Parmesan Shrimp:

Written on my recipe card for my own memory: "omg, so good"

Pasta, how I've missed you. I caved. I totally caved. So today will be my big-time cheating day. I can live with that.

The last time I made a shrimp meal at home was when I was living in CB. I'd bought a pre-mixed shrimp & pasta meal. I was violently ill not 2 hours later. I remember calling the pastor, because it was a Saturday night (this was before my binge drinking days) and I knew I wouldn't be making it to Sunday morning. I passed out on the phone with him. He told me I should be wearing a helmet every time I go into the bathroom. He's not wrong. I think I passed out 5 times that night. I don't do well when I'm throwing up.

However, I tried to put all that out of my mind (it didn't really work) while I was preparing this meal. The shrimp aren't fresh - they're frozen - but they're frozen alone. I made everything separately and probably overcooked everything just to be on the safe side. It is just So. Damn. Good. I really hope I don't get sick because that'd be a shame. I have leftovers for at least two more meals....

Broom Parking 5c Violators will be toad!

So I did this last night & today:

I should really dust that table set, huh? 

I made the sign from one of Dad's old pallet boards, painted it white, did my handy-dandy word transfer to the board (click here for instructions) and spent 1.5 hours last night, sitting on my bedroom floor, hunched over the board, painting it and trying not to shake too badly, all while trying to pay attention to Big Brother! I couldn't move my right middle finger afterward. I could barely stand up. I just kept telling myself..."Only a little more..." It made me feel very, very old. Which is appropriate, I guess.

I added the 5c today

And then I took the large branch that fell out of my tree (& this is the small one!), broke all of my twigs into approximately the same size, tied them all together and voila!

Then I hauled it down to the basement, spray painted and threw glitter on it while it was wet, waited for it to dry (the hardest part) then tied the only colored mesh bow I have, gold. 

After taking this pic, I decided to hang the sign where I usually have my NSEW sign. 

Whew! It's hotter than Hades outside. I'm dripping sweat. But I'm so pleased with the outcome! Worth the pain!

Yesterday I made spaghetti squash. Ever tried it? I'm dying for some pasta but Walmart didn't have any of the low-carb kind so I decided to give this a whirl. I followed this recipe: Spaghetti Squash Carbonara

Mmm-mmmm!

It really is delicious. I won't say spaghetti squash is "just like" spaghetti but it comes close enough to appease me. Happy! Wish I'd bought all 3 squashes that they had!

And thanks to not eating a bowl-full of pasta last night, I got to celebrate this today!

Does that say 125lbs? Close enough! Closest I've been in a long, long time! Can you believe I've lost TWENTY pounds in 6.5 months? TWENTY! I mean, lots of people lose that much faster than I did, but geez. All I did was change my diet. I'm not even working out...though I suppose all the outdoor work this summer hasn't hurt. Can't tell you how happy this makes me! 

And then today, I had lunch at the bakery with the library gals - we're already thinking about Christmas! Our theme this year is going to be Charlie Brown Christmas because the new Peanuts movie comes out November 6th. I've already wrangled Dad into helping me make Snoopy's doghouse out of cardboard boxes and Lucy's "Psychiatric Help, 5c" sign. Going to be so cool. But anyway - the bakery. Not a place for someone trying not to eat bread, but I couldn't resist their French Dip sandwich. Holy smokes - that bread never tasted so good...Worth it. Really. Here's another thing about this diet - I don't have to be so, so strict on it like some others. I can cheat here & there....just not every day. Nice. So happy I started it. 

In a nutshell, it's been a productive, though crippling & steamy hot, past few days. Productivity is good.

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God."

I took Garfield outside for the first time this morning.

She's so orange in daylight! I should have named her "Pumpkin"

She wasn't sure at first. She was definitely not sure about the river rock. But eventually...

So much to look at! What's that in the sky? A bird? A plane? A bug I can eat?

She made it all the way to the other side but then...

she'd had enough and was ready to go back inside. She'd spend all day in my garage if I let her. Who knows why...it's filthy and there are dead bugs everywhere (at least they're dead!) and she comes back with gross spider webs on her whiskers. I try to keep her out of there...but wherever I don't want her to go, that's where she most wants to be. Isn't that true for all of us? 

"I have nothing to say/ And I am saying it/ And that is poetry." -John Cage

I added a cauldron!

Ooooooo, Spooky!

Used stuffing for the "steam" and red leaves for "fire". 

I'm so glad I've kept this

little green "bucket" all these years. I just painted it black and *poof*! A cauldron!

Then I borrowed some fabric from Mom and re-did my bedroom banners:

I even moved the "fences" down so they weren't so far away from the headboard. They look better but that wall needs some serious help. It's just crumbling. 

And while I tried to fix my running toilet and non-stoppered sink myself, they're both still jacked up. I put a new flapper in the toilet thinking that's why it was running sometimes. I mean, 9 out of 10 times, it works just fine. It's that ONE damn time that it runs and runs and runs and I'm afraid I'm going to walk away or leave the house and not know it's running non-stop. So, new flapper. No big deal. Yeah, it didn't work. Now I have no idea why it does what it does. Maybe it needs therapy. And then there's my sink. It hasn't had a stopper since I moved in. I mean, I have the stopper, it just doesn't connect to the plunger at all. So it sits on the back of my sink and I remove my rings every time I wash my hands (which seems like every 5 minutes) because I really don't want to take my plumbing apart to dig them out after they fall through that gaping hole. So! Dad looked at it, told me what parts I needed and when I was in the city Wednesday, I picked up what I thought would work. 

It didn't. It did, sort of. On the one hand, I got the plunger and stopper connected simultaneously, screwed the new nut on.....and had water dripping into my luckily-placed-bucket. I cussed at it for awhile, then called Dad. He didn't have any better luck. So at least I know it wasn't me. Or just me.  I am my father's daughter, after all. 

So after all that work, I still have a toilet that runs sporadically and a sink without a stopper. Old houses, man. They should make them with their own sound-proofed rubber rooms.  

I got this much done on the fence:

and by "done" I mean the gate-side has two coats - the small section on the North side just has one. And I still have this much to do:

*sigh* I tell everybody, "I might be done by Christmas" and I don't mean that as a joke. At least today's weather was absolutely perfect - so nice not to have to wash my hat & bra because I've soaked them with sweat every time I step outside. Too bad it's short-lived. I yell at the weathermen (all of them) when I see next week's forecast. I hate the 80's - the temperature & the era!

What's next? More staining, lol!

My porches have no Fall decorations. None. I have the wreaths on the doors but that's it. I have two edging-fences left that are pretty rough around the edges. Maybe I can do something with those? And I have shutters from my brother's house - maybe I can make something happen with them. I don't know. Today's not the day to figure that out.

On a "don't-get-your-hopes-up" note - two things: 1. I have been square-free for.....three days! Today is day 3 and so far, so good. Here's hoping I stay this way for awhile. Four and 1/2 months is long enough, don'tcha think? My body is tired. Tired! I can't remember the days when I jumped out of bed. Now it's a very slow, inch-by-inch progression, hanging onto the bed for dear life so I don't break a hip. Not that being square has anything to do with that, but it can't be helping. And 2: No recent sores! I think, more than anything, the new underwear has helped, though I do put on the Clindamyacin every morning and night. Figure it can't hurt.

At least my neighbors aren't going to think I have Tourette's when obscenities spew from my mouth every time I move my back wrong - the pain is still there, but it's so much less than it was. Now I just groan. With the windows open. Hopefully they think I'm doing something fun instead of just rolling over in bed.

Is this my life now? I feel like I've aged 40 years in one. I'm 40, not 80. This shit has to stop. No more aging!

If the shoe fits....

Hocus Pocus!

I saw the shoe idea somewhere online and thought how damn cute it was and realized I could put them on top of my shadow boxes! So I made them today using things I had on hand - construction paper, piece of fabric (for the bows) and acrylic paints for the stripes & shoe-dots! Love, love, love it! And for the banner...just paper and construction paper - easy peasy! There are difference Halloween images on each letter. You can't really see them here.

I did have to spray paint two blocks of wood black to set on top of the shadow box to "raise" the shoes. But that was fast & easy, too.

I love crafting.

I need a witch's cauldron on top of the other shadow box...or something.

"It's bad news when you get to the age when your back goes out more than you do." -Aunty Acid

I've only had back pain once before - when I awkwardly lifted a 75lb bag of ice melt on a Sunday morning at the church. I went to a chiropractor. I don't remember what she did. The pain went away. I know this will, too.

However, it took me 2 hours to get out of bed yesterday morning and I never realized before how much shit I throw on the floor without even thinking about how to pick it up later and why are Garfield's food & water dishes so low to the ground and why does a person have to bend over so damn much?

I became really good yesterday at using my feet & legs to close the stove & dishwasher, pick clothes up off the floor and holy squats, Bat Man. If this keeps up, my legs are going to be in great shape. Though, I don't suppose mostly staying in bed yesterday helped with burning any calories. I apologize to whoever rang my doorbell yesterday afternoon. I couldn't get out of bed fast enough, and honestly, I didn't even try.

Today's slightly better. At least I got out of bed in a timely manner. My home smells like a nursing home and I look like I belong in one.

So true! The words that came out of my mouth - Whew!

It feels like I didn't do anything yesterday but I had to bake a batch of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles and re-paint some tin cans. That's all I did. Today's not looking too good either, but I did do this:

Tin cans painted white with a strip of burlap and construction paper pumpkin, acorn & leaves. 

Painted tin cans in wire basket

I do shit and then don't know what to do with it all. I don't have anywhere to put this shit. I mean, I could probably make room for it somewhere, but why? Crafting is a great activity to keep me busy, but there has to be a point to it.

And now I'm going to go lay down....*sigh*

"Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." -A.A. Milne

I believe in efficiency. I work out the most efficient way to do something and do it that way. Or, I start something, realize it isn't efficient, and change it to be more efficient. I don't know why. I think I'm a little bit OCD. In fact, I know I am. I count way too many things. How many seconds it takes to fill Garfield's water dish, for example (6). It's a bit ridiculous.

However, this - what I'm about to show you - is magical!

You know I've been baking more & more lately (hopefully not to my detriment!) and I've realized my kitchen is whack. Whack, I say! This winter, I realized my sink set-up was wrong. I was washing dishes in the left sink and drying in the right. It wasn't working for me. So I moved things around and I still hate my sink, but it's better.

And last night, while trying to fall asleep, I had an epiphany about how to arrange my cupboards. It'll take me days, probably weeks, to adjust, but in the long run, it'll make a huge difference.

Before:

Glasses on the left, along with my mixers, sifter, protein powder and fiber powder. There's another cupboard on the left that you can't see but it contained junk...extra ashtrays, wet cat food, a jar full of wood beads, a tray. See? Junk. Not a good use of space. And on the right of the sink? All of my baking supplies. Flour, sugar, everything....and on the bottom shelf - coffee and tea. 

I do all my mixing and baking right next to the stove (left), so I swapped everything out! And yesterday, when I was in Atl, I spent $4.00 at Salvation Army for storage containers. 

Now on the left, directly above the counter where I mix everything up are all my baking supplies. I moved the mixers, etc to the cupboard you can't see, still right there. 

 And on the right - all of my glasses & coffee/tea and non-essential food stuff (cat food, vinegar, cooking oil I only use occasionally).

It all makes so much more sense! And I love my containers and labels. The containers were $3.00 for the set of 3 white and $1.00 for the plastic flour container. I made the labels myself and used leftover beading-string to attach. 

I also moved my huge coffee pots that I know longer use out to the shelf (thank you, Dad!) in my garage. Then I moved my baking pans which were in a very awkward small cupboard to the old coffee pot location. My goodness, what a difference it all makes! Why didn't I do this before???? Because I wasn't baking before, nor was I cooking all that much, and now that I'm doing both, I needed to fix what was wrong. 

*sigh*

Not only that, first thing this morning, I rearranged my upstairs. Dad & I had moved my old dining room table (it's an heirloom from G'ma!) upstairs and I put it in the room I thought I'd want it in. I chose wrong. That room faces the South and doesn't get much natural light and I need good light to do crafts so, again, last night while trying to fall asleep I decided to swap everything out. Move the dining room table from one room into the other and move two bookcases, a nightstand, and two chairs into the other room. I did a switcher-oo and oo-oo-oo, I may have tweaked my back. It's a sad day when I can no longer move furniture all on my own!

My new craft room (facing East)!

Room will be a guest room, if I ever find a bed!

Same - guest room.

I didn't take any "before" pictures, but imagine both rooms swapped out. It was a pain in the ass (back!) but I like it much better. Here's the problem with the craft room upstairs....I forget. A lot. I'm going to need lists that I carry with me - Take this, this & this upstairs....Bring this, this, & this down. I'm definitely going to be doing a lot of stairs.

And now that I can't move any more, I'm going to eat lunch and lay flat on my back. I'd take some Tylenol, but I'm all out and didn't buy any more yesterday because I've noticed zero difference in my hips taking them 3 X's a day, so why take them? And now, I wish I had them because Advil doesn't seem to be doing much of anything for my back. 

Being old sucks!

"The reason cats climb is so that they can look down on almost every other animal — it's also the reason they hate birds." ~K.C. Buffington

Someone's happy!

She's already chattering away at the birds & squirrels. Nobody else will ever be able to sit on the bench because I have a feeling Garfield will commandeer it for life. 

It's absolutely perfect! I want another one. And another. And maybe another. 

Daaaaa-aaaaaad!

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice

I'm channeling Fall & Winter:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

It's just decaf coffee, some boiled almond milk, pumpkin spice extract, vanilla extract, Redi-Whip & pumpkin spice spice.

When I worked at the church and Fall arrived, I'd head to Starbucks to get their Pumpkin Spice Latte. It made me so happy. So when I purchased the Pumpkin Spice extract and saw it had the recipe on the back of the carton, I just had to try it....even though I haven't drank coffee in months.

It's delicious. Not Starbucks-delicious, but close enough. Brings a smile to my face. So even though my AC is running non-stop and I have as few clothes on as possible and a fan blowing directly on me to keep cool....I'm thinking of Fall. Crisp air, windows open, pumpkins, falling leaves, smell of smoke from burning all those damn falling leaves....and Pumpkin Spice everything.

"You see that sign over there that says 'Think, Think, Think'? That sign is not for you." -Chair of Wed. AA Mtg

A friend of mine from my Wednesday AA meeting just called me. My first thought was, "Oh Shit, if he's drunk, I don't know what I'm going to do." He's maybe a month ahead of me in sobriety. We met at the first good AA meeting I attended - the 7:00am Friday meeting in The Big O. I was the one who told him about my Wednesday 7:00am meeting in CB and he's been going ever since. He's the one who always gives me my chip. If his sobriety had been jeopardized, oh man, I don't even want to think about it.

But that's not why he called. He was sober as a ..... what? Sober as a mouse? Is that a saying? Sober as a Catholic priest? Oh wait, they drink wine, don't they? Anyway, he was sober. As a ghost. *eye roll*

He called to tell me the Chair of the Wednesday morning meeting is dying. He has 3 months to live, according to his doctors. When I was at the meeting last (August 12), he had mentioned having some tests done on his lymph glands and then having them all removed. I think I said, "I'm sure you're fine..." What an asshole I am. If someone said that to me, I'd want to throat-punch them.  He's not fine. The cancer has spread to ..... everywhere.

3 months.

He's such a big bear of a man. He's sweet. He's gentle. He's ornery. He's funny. He's so solid. So there. I just cannot imagine this world without him. He's 61 years old and won't see 62.

My heart is breaking.


You know what my first thought was, after my friend told me why he was calling?

This is bullshit. This is supposed to happen to me! Not to anyone else! I'm supposed to be the one finding out I've got cancer and it's so bad, I only have months to live! Nobody else is supposed to go out like this! Only me! I'm the one who wants it so bad! 

OK, not really. I know cancer is horrible and painful. And I don't really want to die. I just think, "Eh, it'd be ok". I'm just not going to go there right now because this is about the big man and if I keep going down this road, I'm going to just cry about why I should be the one with cancer and not him. How ridiculous.

Apparently he's left his job of too-many-years-to-count. He & his wife are going on an Alaskan cruise. I hope that ends well and not with the cruise-ship catching fire, or losing power for days, or sinking, though I don't suppose my friend would care. Except his wife might. Would she? Maybe not.

What would you do if you knew you only had 3 months to live? What would you do????

"You are about to exceed the limits of my medication."

Holy crapballs, I think I'm just going to stay in bed all day tomorrow. Like this:

I am so sick of this heat! I'm sick of dripping sweat when I do any little thing! I am SO over FLIES! Damn bugs. And the crickets! I'm being overtaken by bugs and it's driving me a little bit batty.

I forgot to mention, the other night when I was seriously pissed off that I'd cleaned & cleaned & cleaned the dog out of my house only to have the beast return, I whipped up the cookie dough for some more Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies.

I probably shouldn't try to bake when I'm angry.

Luckily, I didn't even turn the oven on. I wanted the dough to sit in the fridge all night to see if that would help me be able to roll the dough instead of having a smooshy mess all over my hands. The next morning, I got about 5 balls of cookies until the dough warmed up and became a goopy mess again. That didn't stop me. Come hell or high water, I was going to bake me some cookies! And I did! And they finally turned out normal:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

And they are damn delicious. They may be the only things keeping me sane this week.

To stay on the food track for a moment, I've been doing a pretty piss-poor job on the diet lately. All these cookies and desserts and I've been eating pizza more often than once a week and popcorn! I forgot how much I loved popcorn...but really, only when I can't have it. So, I'm still on the diet - I'm just cheating more often than once a week...which is a bad thing, I guess, but I haven't gained any weight. In fact, I was 127 this morning so I think I'm o.k. to introduce "normal" food back into my diet....just slowly and in moderation. Like, don't sit and eat the entire batch of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles in one sitting!

I've been staining the inside of my fence since Saturday. I don't even have a 13' section done yet. Only 60 more feet to go! Thank goodness it's the inside of the fence and nobody has to see how slow I'm going. I may have it done by Christmas. 

While I've been doing that, I also did this:

Painted Mason Jars

I took old nail polish, dumped the contents into the mason jars, rolled it around, tipped them upside down and set them outside (I did the whole damn thing outside - the smell is s-t-r-o-n-g). I'm letting them air dry for a really long time. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but I figured it's a good use of old nail polish.

And then.....oh AND THEN! Dad dropped off the finished bench last night. He, so nicely, hauled it down to my basement for me so I could paint it, but then this morning I thought my basement would be too dark to work on this so I moved everything to my garage. Bad idea. Horrible. Worst idea of my life. Holy shitballs, it's hot! I'm going to need another damn bath! I hate that I drip sweat so much. And the damn flies. OMG, I swear, they buzz me to annoy me. Personally. They know how much it drives me insane. I swear they do. I'd like to find every damn fly on the planet and drown it. Or freeze it. Or torch it. Whatever works! 

Anywhoo, my plan was to paint it white - one coat, sloppily - and then rub a dark stain on it. Like this one board:

OK, I thought that looked good so I did the whole bench like that. But then I remembered, just as I was going to varnish the darn thing, I wanted to add some color to it (my brain is seriously not working!) so I found my spray paint and went to town. 

 I wish I had more colors, but it is what it is. And I love the way it turned out! I stuffed papertowels on either side of whatever board I was going to spray paint, sprayed the paint on and then quickly tapped or wiped the board so the paint wouldn't be so perfect. I'm not even going to varnish it. Mostly because I can't take the damn heat and flies anymore and I just want it to be done, but also....I've never varnished a painted piece of furniture I own in my life. Why would I start now? And the more beat up it gets, the better it'll look.

And now that I'm looking at the picture of the bench, I'm thinking I'm going to take another rub-down of the dark stain to those newly "painted" boards. They're looking a little too bright for my taste. Yep, gonna go sweat some damn-more! Geez, I cannot wait to soak in the tub!!!

I have several reason to look forward to Shooter going back home but putting the bench in my living room, where Shooter's kennel currently sits, tops the list.

*UPDATE* Yep, this is better!

Looks like it's been sitting in a barn for awhile - Just the look I was going for!! Gotta thank Mom for the paint & stain idea - genius!