VACATION!

Hello all! I hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. I will be gone for about 10 days so you will all have to enjoy yourselves without me.

Cats make good rollers!

On Saturday, as we were preparing to finish the priming of the kitchen, we discovered that we needed another roller. What to do? Neither one of use wanted to volunteer to run to the store. As we sat there trying to stare the other one down forcing the trip to the store I began to think. What would Lumpy do? Just as I was wondering what Lumpy would do our white cat talked by. While looking at her I started to think she looked like a roller and she would match the primer. No one would even notice that she had primer on her. She was round and white just like our roller. Now how will I get her on the roller device? I tried showing her the roller device in hopes she would volunteer. She walked away with little interest and no worries for my problems. So I looked around and across the room there it was. The stuff that fixes everything. Duct Tape! So I grabbed the duct tape, roller device and cat. As I started to pull stripes of tape and wrestle the cat around the roller device I heard a, “What are you doing?” from across the room. I thought at this point it was obvious what I was doing. I was preparing the cat as a roller to paint the walls. But I stopped and started to explain my idea to save us a trip to the store and time. For I remembered cats are clean animals so she would just clean herself when it was all done and we wouldn’t have to spend so much time cleaning up. I was brilliant. But wait, what? Mr. Toad is giving me that look. The one that says I am crazy. After a long lecture on how the cat was not good for painting Mr. Toad said he would go to the store. I win! I can continue to be lazy while he makes the drive. It is all for the better anyway. The cat had disappeared under a bed.

I love the green and yellow paint we picked out for the kitchen!

Well the rest of the weekend was great. I sold buttons at the Mardi Gras parade. Yes the Jaycees run a Christmas parade to bring Santa to town November and call it the Mardi Gras Parade. They wanted a festive parade 55 yrs ago when they sponsored their first parade. Anyway there was a contest to see who could sell the most buttons. My partner and I ran out of buttons a half an hour after leaving the office. We spent the next hour trying to get new buttons to find out another member was hoarding the buttons. All that for a $25 gift certificate. Well we still sold 175 buttons in less then an hour. In the end I did not feel bad about the whole thing because the other guy gave his gift certificate to the teenage boys that were helping him. They will have more fun with it then the rest of would have. We may have done something silly like pay a bill or buy socks.

Yesterday I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Everyone should see this movie. I do suggset reading the book first. I felt like there was a lot missing but I think it was still a great movie. I can't wait to go back and watch the movie again.

Visiting and ADD

Well I am back! Being home is always great. I think my parents are happy to see me come and then equally happy to see me go. As a slightly energetic person that can talk for hours nonstop I feel that I may be a bit overwhelming to some. The other problem is I have no attention span. So I will be talking about cooking and something in a sentence will get me thinking about tractors and so I change subjects. The average person has no idea what I am talking about and can’t keep up with the subject changes. This particular issue drives Mr. Toad up the wall. He is forever asking me “what are you talking about?” Which just annoys me because I feel that he is just not paying attention. The problem is his mind works like an engineer’s mind. Everything needs to be in order and logical. Very silly indeed. The progression through the different subjects makes sense to me but not everyone can do this. My parents use to be good at following my conversations but now that they are out of practice I think that they struggle to follow. They do better then Mr. Toad but they have many more years of practice. I have some friends who are very good at holding conversations like this and never skip a beat. They blame the ADD for being capable of holding such fascinating conversations. Sometimes I miss having conversations with someone that I do not have to stop mid-sentence and give him or her a map of my thought process. It has taught me to be careful about changing subjects.

Ok so anyway I went shopping with my mom. I bought Christmas presents. I actually have started Christmas shopping before the week before Christmas. So I would tell you what I bought but I am not sure who reads my blog and they may be on my list. Mr. Engineer if you would like to give me a hint of what you would like for Christmas this year that would be fantastic! It is very difficult to shop for little brothers. I saw my Poppie while home visiting. I love seeing and spending time with him.

The drive home was not as I first expected. I originally thought that I would be making an attempt to writing a paper in the car while Mr. Toad hit all the potholes on the road. Yes ilovcoffee there are always potholes in areas outside your bubble. Someday I am going to make it to the bubble. I am thinking of hopefully catching the train in Jan or Feb. Anyway I wrote my paper on Saturday at my parent’s house. Oh how I have forgotten how slow dial-up is. I could hold entire conversations while waiting for pages to come up. In the end the pages came and the paper was finished. Let it be an A.

Friday - Sunday

I am going to try to entertain ilovcoffee for the weekend.

First I would like to say Happy Veteran’s Day. Thank you for what you have done and what you do today.

Ugh now that the pressure is on, what do I say?

Friday
I could talk about my dislikes or likes.
Dislikes
1. People who keep me waiting (which is why the kitchen project began)
2. People who tailgate (do they think my car can jump over the car in front of me if they drive closer?)
3. Irregardless – it is not a word people
4. It drives me crazy when people are intolerant of others. It is our differences that make life interesting.
5. Why is your life better then mine? I may not have your same beliefs and goals. Get over it.
6. The color orange – it just doesn’t work with to many things. Matching should be easy

Likes
1. Dancing – though I have gotten to old to dance on the bar
2. Hanging out – I have gotten good at Bridge.
3. Shopping – I love new clothes, purses, shoes…
4. Fuzzy slippers and flannel pants all wrapped up in a blanket sipping hot chocolate and reading a book on a cold night with snow falling
5. Making the world a little better by just giving time – so simple and cheap and people overlook this
6. Mr. Toad – Hello Mr. Toad thanks for reading.

I don’t think I am good at this list thing.

On to Saturday:
Story time?
Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess who was loved by all her subjects. One day while walking the royal gardens news was brought to her that there was a Purple Elephant with Pink Polk-a-Dots walking through the woods. The Princess was very excited about such a discovery and so she sent her people out to bring back the elephant.
After some time the people came to the Princess and said “We are sorry but we cannot capture the Elephant.” The Princess was surprised to hear this. She always got what she wanted. Everyone went out of his or her way to give the Princess everything.
So she marched out to the forest herself to find the Purple Elephant with Pink Polk-a-Dots. After a short walk she found the Elephant sleeping in the shade of the trees. The Princess walked up to the Elephant and tapped it on its trunk waking the Elephant from a very pleasant dream. The Elephant jumped up startled and confused. Then after looking around noticed the small Princess standing there. The Elephant at once recognized this as the Princess that had sent the people to capture him. The Elephant started laughing and laughing. This angered the Princess and she demanded to know what the Elephant was laughing at. He responded that he was laughing at her. This spoiled Princess that was use to always getting her own way had come out to forest thinking she could do what her subjects could not. With this the Princess kicked the Elephant and walked back out of the forest. Who needs a Purple Elephant with Pink Polk-a-Dots that talks back and laughs at you!

I never claimed to be good at writing. I am just trying to entertain.

Sunday:
I have run out of things to talk about. What could possibly follow the story of the Princess? Well Sunday I guess I will be sitting in the car for hours and hours and hours. There will be a laptop on my lap as I try to write a paper that I have put off until the last minute. Mr. Toad will try to hit every pothole from NY to PA. He says that he is not trying to hit them but I think he is. So slightly carsick with a laptop bouncing on my lap and fingers typing away I will probably give up and think “I’ll do it when I get home” and then I will take a nap. The car will pull into the driveway and I will go maybe I’ll write that paper now. As I unpack, eat dinner, have ice cream, check and write emails, oh wait did anyone write anything on my blog…. the list goes on and the paper is still there. Sometime around 10 or so when I am really tired I will run out of excuses not to write my paper. Yes Sunday will be a great day.

Home

The Kitchen is falling, the kitchen is falling….
Well not really. But progress is happening. We are going to sand the cupboards and prime them tonight. Everything will be ready for painting. I feel like singing. The home stretch is just ahead. Go home renovations. Please let it look ok when it is all done or I will never hear the end of it from Mr. Toad. That is ok. I’ll just threaten to start all over if he complains. I can imagine that Mr. Toad will run right out and buy a toolbox that he can lock and keep me away from all hammers and crowbars in the future. In fact I am surprised that he has not already done such a thing.
So this weekend I am going home to visit the parents. I am really excited about this because I don't see them very much. Also currently I live in the middle of everything and they live in the middle of nowhere. There are no trees and houses are all thrown together. Why everyone wants to live on top of each other always amazes me. Someday Mr. Toad and I are going to move and live in the middle of nowhere. A place with lots of lawn and no other houses to be seen. Lots of trees and fields will surround my house and I will plant lots of flowers around my house. I can have a couple of dogs. I want chocolate labs. No I don't want a farm. They are to much work and I don't see Mr. Toad working in the barn. He can have a shop though where he can fix the cars and hide from me.

Lumpy, I am bringing the crowbar and drums for the family. Just kidding!

Ok so this past weekend I was gone. I left bright and early on Friday and returned Sunday evening. Do you think the love of my life would want to cuddle with me? Nope he was watching football. Not that he ignored me but I wanted more attention. Those who know me realize this is normal. I am very demanding and feel as if I should be the center of attention. At least I realize that I am like this and he does too. He makes fun of me, gives me a kiss/hug and returns to his game. I whine about coming in second to football and that gets me a smile, kiss, and hug. I win.

Now a discussion on alcohol. There are a few rules that everyone must know before drinking.

1. Under no circumstances should you drink and dial.
2. Always have a DD. The great thing about the DD is not only can they drive but they can keep you from doing #1 and avoid the crazy person on barstool next to you.
3. Never think that the person on the barstool next to you is interesting. The next time you see them you will most likely find out they are not. They in turn find you less interesting.
4. This day and age you must on returning home never drink and email. You will always regret it the next morning and the person you write now has proof you cannot spell.

Having said that, all the rules can be broken except #2. There is no guarantee you have picked a good DD that will prevent #1 and 3 but they can drive you home. #4 always seems to be done on the sly when no one is around. But your friends will know. Someone will have proof and make fun of you. For those of you who have called or emailed me after drinking just remember I now plan on saving all messages to play back or put on a PowerPoint presentation for your 50th birthday. I look forward to embarrassing you. It is my pleasure to do this favor for you. Please do not feel the need to return the favor.

Rollers and Little/Big Brother

Clever Mr. Toad! Last night as I am doing the bills he wanders into the kitchen and opens the can of primer. Then it starts. “Should I use a roller for this?” “How do you get the trim with the roller?” “After dipping the roller in the paint can how do you get the extra paint off?” “Are we…?” Running from the other room and forgetting about the bills I grab the paintbrush and start working before he does any damage. Mr. Toad believes he has accomplished a victory by forcing me to paint but he will be sorry when they turn off the electricity. Well the painting has begun. I am really excited about how the kitchen is going to look when I am all done. I just have to save up for new countertops. Who makes countertops in spicy mustard color? It doesn’t match anything and really just isn’t a great color. Hopefully by summer I’ll have fixed that. I’ll give up just about anything for new countertops. Not ice cream. No one should ever have to give up ice cream. I like ice cream with chocolate, nuts, caramel, and marshmallow. I am not sure that life could really go on without it.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you won a million dollars? I know. I would pay off all my debt and whatever debt my little brother and parents have. Did you know I have a little brother? Well back to him later. If there is anything left I would invest and save. I would still work of course because a million is not that much. I would try to find a job I like though. Something that doesn’t require staring at a computer screen all day. I know, you were expecting something fun but I decided that fun could wait. I am just not a fun sort of person perhaps. I have to make sure I can have fun later in life. I would get rid of those ugly spicy mustard colored countertops.

I have a little brother that I shall call Mr. Engineer. That name works for him because he has been an engineer since he was born. At one point we were close but have grown apart over the years. It isn’t that we wouldn’t do anything for each other it is just we live very different lives. We are on different pages of our stories. We will probably cross paths again someday. Don’t be sad. Whenever we happen to be in the same state it is just like old times. I push him, he pushes me back, I push a little harder and then make a run for it. My little brother at some point grew up while I was out finding myself (I still haven’t found me) and became my big brother.

Mr. Lumpy I would like to introduce you to ilovcoffee. She is a sorority sister who worked hard to wake me up in the morning. No matter what time in the morning I rolled into the house she was awake, chipper and with coffee in hand. She is a great friend and I miss hanging out with her. Ilovcoffee, Mr. Lumpy is my best guy friend from high school. I use to enjoy torturing him. He worked hard to keep me out of trouble. I don't think it worked.

Fishnets and Showers

Ok I lied. I did not touch the kitchen this weekend. I just ran out of time. I was finishing the baby bunting after the blood drive and then I needed to go shopping for my black fishnet stockings. Fishnets are fun! Not really everyday wear but I could wear them again. The Halloween party was a lot of fun. I did go as a Flapper. Everyone should try wearing a dress with fringe. Mr. Toad put on a couple of bandages and said he was a CPR Dummy. Mr. Toad may need help with a Halloween costume for next year. The costumes this year consisted of Ronald McDonald and a Fry guy, Salt and Battery, Skipper and Gilligan, and a few other inappropriately themed costumes. I shall not talk about them in mixed company. The funniest costume was one of our friends showed up without a costume so we dressed him up. Nothing like seeing an army man dressed in a short silver sequin dress and blond wig.

Tonight I will prime the kitchen. I have saved time for just this thing.

Sunday I went to a baby shower. It was really nice. But I have noticed something about showers. As the presents are opened the more and more people ignore the mother-to-be or bride. It as if once your present has been opened you no longer have to pay attention to all the other gifts. I feel that it is a bit rude. Part of that is because we are there for a reason and we should all have to watch the presents being opened. The second is no matter where my gift is placed in the pile it is always opened last and therefore I have to watch all the presents. Next time I am hanging a very large sign on my present that says “OPEN ME! PLEASE OPEN ME! I CAN’T BREATH.” Perhaps I’ll have my present opened first and I can be rude.

I would like to welcome ILOVCOFFEE to the blog world. I am not sure why you didn’t go with SweetandSassy. I look forward to hearing from you.