Well all have “one of those days” every now & then…

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Just For Me, VINTAGE FAVORITES |

THIS IS A COPY OF A NOTE i SAT AND WROTE TO MY HUSBAND TODAY, AS I WAS RECOVERING FROM MY MORNING ADVENTURES…. OUR LIVES ARE SO BLESSED THAT I CAN SIT AND WRITE AND LAUGH AT MYSELF AND NOT MIND ONE BIT SHARING MY DAY WITH EVERYONE ELSE…. AND ALL THIS BEFORE NOON.

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How goes your day?, mine is as follows, feel free to share this with anyone who complains they are having a boring uneventful day.

I am not having a good day. I am going to blame it all on *@*@*@* with his WTF wake up call this morning at the butt crack of dawn.

I could not go back to sleep, but that was ok,

So I got up and got Victoria up and to school. Then I came home and decided to mow the yard before Lyndon got home. But I had no gas, in my mower or in yours….

So I gathered both cans up and carried them out, going through the garage doorway I made sure I only lifted it up SLOWLY so it did not bang all the way up, and I left it down just a little cause you said I should not let it go all the way up, or it gets sticky and doesn’t want to roll down.

So I came back and mowed the front yard, but the wind was blowing and it blew the back blow of the dirt and mowed grass into my eyes. I feel my way back to the porch, hoping no one steals the lawnmower while I am inside.

So I went inside and washed that out and finished mowing the front, and then mowed the back small yard and ran into a big ass spider web built between the branches of the fallen tree I was trying to mow under.

So I ran around the back yard squealing and waving my arms smacking myself in the head until I was assured that if it was still there it was squished enough that it would not be able to bite me (or crawl in my ear).

So then as I continued to mow… ever so slowly a little forward a little backward, I worked my way over to the area where the air conditioner is… and hidden completely by the seaweed grass we have which grows above ground and over everything else was an L shaped piece of broken concrete …. and guess what? I ran over it and it got stuck up under.

So I tried to pull it out, it no budgie. . . I tried to kick it out. . .it no budgie. I go and find a prybar bangy thing and beat on it till it chips and then it loosens just a smidgen and I fight wiggling it back and forth and back and forth, scraping my knuckles and eventually it comes out.

So I go back to mowing, and it cuts like it should but every so often it makes a loud banging noise for no reason. With my brilliant powers of detection I determine … the blade must be bent. UUUUGGGH.

So I go get your lawn mower, it has no gas. So I figure I will fill it up too, I did not figure on getting into the light so that I could see as it began to be full, instead I opted to stay in the shadow and pour gas all over my dog shit covered shoes. Which will come in handy later when I burn them, but right now, it was frustrating.

So I tried to get yours to crank, and I couldn’t get it to go. GRRRR. Ok, fine, I will go get a new unbent blade for mine. I change out of my gas soaked shoes in the drive way and go to get my good shoes out of the house and my sock snags on the brick steps somehow and tears a hole in my sock, and I nearly bust my ass going up the steps.

So I get my shoes on and load the lawnmower, taking a moment to be thankful I didn’t somehow cut off three fingers or cause a spinal injury putting it into the truck, and I drive it around to the guy next to the Frozen Egg Store and he looks at it and says “Yes’m you done bent up yo’ blade thar, but I reckon I got one up in here for ya” He changes the blade and puts on a brand new one.

So I pay him the 15 for the new blade and putting it on and he cranks it up mowing a bit of the grass there, hooray, no more banging noise!!!! But before turning it off and putting it in the truck he looks at me, drags it backwards over to a line he has some clamps on and says “cmere” . He puts the clamp on to hold the bar up to keep it running and then lets go of it.

So we stand there looking as the lawnmower kinda does this thing that looks like a cross between the hokey poking turn it all about and the skip of a two step. It turns itself in a circle with a vibra-hopping motion.

So he says, “Yo mower is vibrating cause ya done bent yo’ shaft a little bit too”. I let out a deep sigh and says “well dayum”

So I make sure it is ok to finish mowing with it like that, and he says “Yeah, it be ok as long as you can stand the vibratin” The guy what owns the place is not there at the moment and he is the only one that can do the “unbend magic” it is that capable of straightening the slight kinds of bends. And he “ain’t sho how much it’ll be cause I ain’t the one whut does ‘em”

So I load it up and come home and wait for the Unbend Wizard to call me back about how much it will be to do the shaft magic. I unload the lawnmower and put it in the back yard and get ready to start mowing when I realize I still have my good shoes still on.

So I go all the way back towards the front of the house to get my gas soaked dogshit crusted shoes on and as I am trying to get two hyper bouncing waiting to get fed couple of big ass dogs out from around me, I slam right into that little bit of garage door that I had left hanging down. The impact cause the garage door to go all the way up as the weight on the lift slams all the way down and I damn near hit the floor myself.

So I am sitting here through my blurred vision from the concussion with my greasy petroleum product and grime covered fingers waiting for the courage to return to the back yard to come down from the stars still floating around my head.

And off I go.

I love you, if I am not in the house when you get home, please come immediately to the back yard and rescue me…… if you cannot find me, watch for buzzards.

 

KEWPIE DOLL HAPPINESS

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family Fun, General Interests, VINTAGE FAVORITES |

Domestic Bliss… I am soooo happy with life!!!

Every person has their own interpretation of what makes their home life fulfilling . . . what they feel is peaceful and harmonious. For some people it may be having an immaculate environment from the pages of a magazine to showcase their importance to the world. For others it may be entertaining guests with dinner, wine & small talk. For some it is having a space that is filled with the laughter and chaos of children & family.

Every home and every heart and every lifestyle are differently reflected in the surroundings that bring them comfort. Our home is not yet what it will one day become, we still have several different projects of renovation underway gradually etching their way toward completion, but the dishes are done, the table is cleared and the kids are around us. The baby is wandering around dragging a light saber throughout the house having fun with the different sounds it makes every time he bumps it into the furniture or scrapes it along the walls; Victoria was on the couch using MoonSand to create a water-volcano on a table tray but has since lost interest in her eruption and moved on to the computer in the dining room; Kat is on the phone (duh) walking from her room to the computer to the front porch and then to sit on the bottom steps of the master suite so that she can let Max (via the phone) listen to Walter whom is upstairs in the still-under-construction master suite filling the house with melodic drama.

I sit in the chaise lounge in the living room breathing in the notes drifting throughout the house, warm light cascades across the walls and lands in arched pools cast down from the curves of the antique shades. Shadows lurk in the adjoining hall and dining room but I bask in the lamp lit glow of soft muted greens and the gold cast of the lights. The dark rich woods of the furniture give the feeling of solidity to the room, a sense of being secure and grounded, like being in a forest of strong elder trees which have survived through thousands of years… I love this room, even if it is not yet completed either…

The day is not what others may deem ideal or perfect, I ruined dinner (no really, the London broil was the most horrible thing I have ever made, I spit it out right there at the dinner table – so much for those new spices, they are going right in the trash) Walter had a stressful day at work, Lyndon has pitched fit from noon until about 6 this evening, my truck got a flat tire from a screw in the driveway (all new tires by the way) and I broke the can crusher in the garage. . .

However, when the evening came, it’s all irrelevant. Walter and I snuggled up on the couch, and everything is ok. I ran him a hot bath, and afterwards he played for all ears, we all found ourselves together happily and safe and enjoying just being in our home. Albeit tripping over blinky blinky jingaling toys, negotiating truces between a teen and an 8 year old, slowly but surely transforming our home, and just loving one another.

I am so blessed.

This is the good life. This is our domestic bliss.

And if you think I am flaunting my happiness in the face of those less fortunate, I guess that means that you are not only less fortunate (ie: miserable with your own life) but also a sadistic bastard for reading this whole thing knowing it is about me being happy…..when you apparently aren’t.

Neener neener neener

((sticking out muh tongue))

 

Merry CHRISTmas – -12/1/07

Ξ July 18th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ VINTAGE FAVORITES |

Keeping CHRIST in CHRISTMAS

Traffic, overspending, a zillions mini watt light bulbs slowly leeching your electric bill upwards, decorated stores and malls with glitzy super jumbo everything ornamental, the never-ending onslaught of holiday music which is what really causes you to have haunting dreams of sugarplum fairies dancing through your head…. “Happy Holidays!” and “Seasons Greetings!”. . on everyones tongue.and “Merry X-mas!!” scribbled at the end of every note and email…

What the Holly is going on here?

It’s CHRISTMAS people… C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.

DO NOT WRITE X-MAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

That has to be my biggest holiday pet peeve of the year. How dare you? Any of you.

You may complain about the “commercialization” of Christmas, but you will de-Christ Christmas without giving it a second thought, just to “save time”, because it “is so much easier”.. Let me ask you this… ever heard the saying God is in the details? Well, Christ is in this detail and it is one you should never omit.

Each time you choose to do so, you choose to reduce Christ to an anonymous mark, an X – you might as well look up at the sky and say “Sorry God, I just don’t have time for your son, it’s too much to write”. Each time you make that choice you turn your back to what the “happy holiday” is actually celebrating.

In my opinion these are the same mindset of people that voted the “under God” out of the pledge, that took prayer out of the schools, and think that abortion is an acceptable “choice”.

If you don’t want Christ in your Christmas, that’s your loss, and I am sorry for you.

But Christ is the reason for the season, as the saying goes, and I pray that he finds mercy for us all.

 

KRYSTAL BURGERS & GRAY GOO

Ξ July 18th, 2008 | → 3 Comments | ∇ VINTAGE FAVORITES |

I used to love to get a Krystal every now and then, especially when I lived up in SC – because they didn’t have them up there and so of course I would crave them…. but now that I live pretty close to several of them. . . I have been increasingly dissappointed with them..

They just kept getting mushier and soggier and GAG ME gross, who the hell wants to eat wet bread? Well, we were out the other day and Krystals was right there and easy to get to so I decided I would order my bread dry, non steamed, and still maybe get a goooood Krystal burger. I had hope.

I told the lady what I wanted, non steamed Krystals. She did not understand. So she got the manager, I explained to the manager what I wanted – non steamed Krystals. She understood, well she understood the “idea” but I was promptly informed that what i wanted was NOT the Krystal way, that is how they are made.

I said, but I don’t like to eat mushy bread, I dont want to eat mushy bread, I will puke on the floor if I bite into soggy mushy bread… I want just the bun, dry, with the meat and the mustard and the pickle, but no onions and no soggy “steamed” bread. It was then that I was educated. I was enlightened, I was awakened and thrust into the realm of boardroom idiocy when it was brought to my attention that it was KRYSTALS CORPORATE GUIDELINES which required each krystals burger to contain, no, I am not kidding you, REQUIRED TO CONTAIN 50 % GRAY GOO.

Seriously. I shit you not.

It is Krystal policy that the bread have 50 % grey mushy soggy gummy nasty GOO in each burger. What corporate 6 figure guru came up with this? He’s fired. That is the term in the cooking guidelines, GRAY GOO. I know, hard to believe in this day and age, that a food preparation instruction includes the phrase gray goo, but there it folks, the phenomenon behind the legendary Krystal is gray goo.

So as I am standing there, feeling stupider for just having heard this from a supposedly responsible person in charge, I asked if I wanted to can I have my Krystals with no onions even though the guidelines require an original Krystal to be made with the onions? ((some of you see where this is going don’t you?)) and she said “yes ma’am you can have it with no onions.”

So i get serious and said “ok fine, I will take a number one combo….. with cheese, No onions, and NO GRAY GOO. ……… and a lemonaide – so just take them there dry buns right out of the plastic celephane baggie package they get shipped to you in, slap a piece of meat a pickle cheese and dab of mustard on it and then put it in the box without ever letting it touch that grill which holds the magical gray goo……… please.”

She stood there and looked at me for a moment.

I looked back at her.

And she turned and walked away.

I got my Krystals, just the way I wanted them as I stood there and watched them being made. And by the way, they were abso-friggin-lutely delcious. You should try it one day.

 

The Castle Otttis

Ξ July 17th, 2008 | → 3 Comments | ∇ General Interests, VINTAGE FAVORITES |

Today was a perfectly beautiful day to tour the Castle Otttis. We had a wonderful time full of animated conversation with the owner / builder of the castle.

The word of the day is -Onomatopoeia – meaning the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it – this is one of the many things he taught us today, about the castle and the world around us.

While crouching to take this photo, I got a nice prickle from some sort of small flower thing when I lost my balance a bit while crouching down. It stung like a jellyfish encounter but only for about 10 minutes… with no lingering effects.

This is one of the entrances to the property, the overhanging trees add such a wonderful touch to me…. graceful sweeping branches funnel the ocean breeze.

To me this is what I called a “wall window” and is a cutout of the back fence around the castle. When it was being constructed he thought the canopy was so beautiful and full of life, he simply did not want to block the view of it with the wall, so he left two open sections, one to the left and one to the right of the column that you see. The picture doesn’t do it justice, it truly is a gorgeous spot.

Turning from the wall window and facing the castle wall you can look up and see one of the directional crosses that adorn the structure. This small cross faces Jerusalem and the two windows represent the two tablets of the ten commandments.

This is just a lizard, or ummm, maybe a newt, or possibly a gecko…. I just thought he was cute and he crawled along the wall beside me so I took his picture.

Another picture I took of the wall window from a different angle.

Looking up two turrets and the windows in between on the back wall.

More of the wind bent scrub oaks.

This one gives you a better perception of the height of the oaks, thats my honey (on the right) and the owner / builder (on the left).

This is one side (right side) of the front wall that leads to the Castle entrance, the little doorway opening there leads around to the backside of the Castle.

This is the large cross which is on the front of the Castle Otttis above the front doors. It faces north as the front of the structure and this cross was palced directional as to be facing the north star.

This is the front door, just inside the entry is the only “blah” aspect of the whole creation. It does nothing to give away any clues to the breathtaking sights which are just around the corner and up the stairs. . .

This is the plaque which is inset into the entry floor on the outside of the doorway. It is a quote by John Ruskin which says – When we build, let us think that we build for ever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them, “See! this our fathers did for us.”

And so we ascend. . .

This is the left side of the chapel area. Notice the sawdust on the floor. it gives a natural cushion to the floors, and it was the result of all the carpentry work done within the structure. . .

Looking at the alter side of the chapel.

This is the area to the left of the alter area, it is the seat of honor within the chapel, and I can’t remember the name of the little room behind it but it is the name of one of the same rooms in a Catholic Church. . . and is where the men in the ceremony will prepare…… addition – I remember now, it is called the sachristy… although I am not sure that was spelled right.

This is a fragrant bay tree, yep like the bay leaves you buy dried and cook in your spagetti sauces and such, as seen from second level window.

These five windows in the chapel section are representative of the five wounds of Christ.

The woodwork and carpentry are awesome throughout. It is all cedar/cypress, even though there are different shades from different oils, it is all cedar.

This is an amazing starburst pattern on the wall above the chapel area where the women in the cermonies prepare themselves. Next to it as you see below is another similair style window of the star of David.

And here is an overall view of both of the windows. . .

Below is another window that is the inside view of the previous window which represents the two tablets of the ten commandments.

This is a far away view of what is referred to as the “Mothers Room” built in honor of women. It holds a stauette of the Virgin Mary on the far wall, the ceiling is all the same kind of wood but the dark pattern that you see is represetative of the umbilical cord, a symbol of life.

Here is a close up of the umbilical cord pattern in the wood.

Here is a shot looking down into the chapel area, to the right you see the pulpit stand which is directly across the room from the alter, with matching seating on each side, here you see only the left side.

Here is the shot looking down at the right side of the chapel.

Across the platform of second level which looks across at the room where I will be dressing behind the star and the sunburst.

Here are the four turrets from the roof. You will notice a marker of different color and of shape at the top of each entrance. I cannot remember right now other than the shapes were geometric and that the colors represented the four biblical races of humanity, this is the front right turret.

Back turret with stair well going down into castle.

Back left turret.

Front left turret and part of the front right one.

And this concludes our little visual tour of the Castle Otttis, I hope you enjoyed it!!!!

 

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