End of 2015 blog #3

This will be the last blog entry of 2015.  I do not think I will be awake when it turns to next year.  That's okay though because I know it will come whether or not I'm awake at midnight. :-)

I made some coffee with Kahlua after settling in this evening.  We've been hearing fireworks ever since I went to make mom's dinner (around 6 PM).  I hope whomever is setting them off, knows what they are doing.  I wish they would just end already, not to be a party pooper, but it is scaring at least 2 of the dogs and I'm not sure they will relax enough to go out and got potty before we turn in for the night.  Besides fireworks is for the 4th of July ONLY, at least that is how it was when I was a kid.  Seems to be just as popular on New Years these days. 

I'm looking forward to a fresh New Year. This one was rough with dad and Kaci passing away.  So bring on 2016....with a year of good Heath, Happiness and Prosperity!  Happy New Year !

End of 2015 blog #2

Tonight for dinner I made for the first time Pad Thai.  I had bought all but the Tofu at a Thai store/eatery that is near where my youngest lives, last time I went to visit her.  The Tofu was just bought at H.E.B. but I've had it before and I like it okay so that is what I was going to make as my protein in the dish.   Here are some pictures.

Here's the ingredients. Tofu was on paper towels, I added some green pepper and onion too.

First time ever making rice sticks. You don't cook them, just soak in hot water for 5-10 minutes or whatever. They turned out a bit chewy so I probably should have soaked them a little longer

Took my time frying the tofu correctly. Turned out great!

Pad Thai sauce added to noodles in a little bit of oil

Finished dish Pad Thai with fried Tofu

It made so much food that I froze 3 decent sized portions as well as saved a 4th portion to have for lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully it will taste just fine being frozen.

I am happy to have tried this and it turned out pretty well except I probably could have used two jars of Pad Thai sauce as there were a lot of rice sticks (noodles) and so the sauce had to cover a lot of it.  I'm so glad that I have 3 more servings (dinners/lunches) to have whenever I'd like.  Yum!!

I made shrimp scampi for my mom for dinner because I know she likes it. She would not have eaten the Pad Thai.  There are only certain things she will eat at this point. And at 105 lbs, I want to make sure she eats what she will gladly eat. :)

Off to watch some American Pickers.  It is actually one that I have never seen before.

End of 2015 blog #1

My oldest daughter pointed out today that I only blogged twice this entire month.  I sometimes don't give it much thought because I figure who cares...but obviously some do, at least she does and that is good enough for me to blog a few more times this year.  And since this is somewhat of a lifeline for her since she lives miles and miles away, I will promise to write more often.  Will give it a shot next year to write every day again. There are days that are uneventful but will still do my best! :)

I am not really making a lot of New Year's Resolutions either but make a few.  One is to blog every day in 2016 and another is to read at least 2 books.  Yes, that pales in comparison to many people, especially my book worm oldest daughter.  I know I have a few around here that I can blow the dust off of.  ;-)

Here are a few pictures of the finished dining room walls with things back in place.  I love it!  The two birds and the wall planters/scones were all made in Mexico so it carries the theme of the Mexican tile floor we had put in a few weeks ago.  

Time off

It has been a long time since I wrote but...I did get out 377 Christmas cards, all but 33 of them were for the Angel Card Project so that is what I spent a lot of time on until the 19th.  After then I don't know, there was work and such and probably didn't have anything interesting to blog about.

The youngest came home on the 23rd for the holidays.  She had gotten me a gift certificate to a local spa called Novita LAST Christmas so we had already decided a few weeks before to go get massages while she was visiting and I'd finally use my gift certificate.

We went on the 26th because they were booked up prior to then. Our appointment was for 6PM but we were to get their earlier to fill out some questionnaire which asked several questions that could be used for future sales attempts such as for skin care which they also sold.  When I booked the massages I said that we'd like to get them together.  She said she'd write it down as a couples massage.  Didn't matter to me what she put it down as...what I pictured was both of us side by side chit chatting while getting soothing, nice massages.  We were taken to a waiting room which was a small room that had a two bench seating area. One was occupied by a man who was on his phone and drinking a glass of wine.  He appeared to be waiting for someone.Who knows.. The only other bench had a wet towel on it, so the gal who took us back there took the towel away but it didn't make it any drier to sit on.  She did ask if we wanted coffee, tea, even wine.  I took tea but only had a few sips before these two ladies came in.  They were about to take me into one room and my daughter into another one down the hall.  I protested that we were to have a massage together. They looked surprised and also said there was no room with two massage tables. Wonderful. So in their attenpt to accomodate us, they placed us in two rooms with an adjoining door but the massage beds were not close to the door and facing the same directions (my feet were facing her head). So whatever, that was the best that was going to happen with that.

The lady doing my massage asked me if I exercise or anything so I told her proudly about my exercise habits and walking.  She decided she would concentrate on my back and neck, which was fine with me (not touching my legs). I had only had one massage before and it was there and I must have blocked it out of my mind or that one was not too bad.  This gal was KILLING ME.  I hurt several times and had to tell her a few times that she was killing me.  She told me to take a deep breath which helped a tiny bit but one time I even felt faint it hurt so badly. It felt like a knife being pressed into my back and then pressed harder and harder.  Anyway. I hated my massage and maybe I am a pansy when it comes to that sort of pain, but I wanted a nice soothing massage, not a hard massage that made me hold my breath and just pray for it to be over!!!  My daughter didn't think hers was bad and she enjoyed it (until the next day when she was a little sore and even her jaw felt numb for part of the day).  Anyway, I am not planning on having a massage there ever again. 

After our massage we were going to get dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant a block away.  When we approached the door it looked eerily dark. They were CLOSED for the holiday.  That sucked big time!
We did end up eating at another restaurant called Gumbos which was a nice dinner. It was just that I had my mouth set for some Mee Krob Lad Na.  

Anyway, I worked this past Monday but after that have had off until after the 1st.  I have been working on a project painting the dining room a fresh vibrant RED color.  The old color was more of a maroon color and had been patched in a few places and scuffed in others while the new floor was being laid.  It was already that color when we moved in too which was over 10 years ago, so no telling how long its been on the walls. Anyway I finished it today but here are yesterdays photos. The duller, darker red is the old color.  You can tell the difference in a few of the photos I took.  We love the new color and I'm glad I had the time off to get it done.

Remember me?...

Yikes okay so this is my first post this month and it will be short because I'm on lunch break. 

Hey life gets busy sometimes!  First there was Thanksgiving and the last weekend visited the youngest, and also have been working and also trying to work on the Angel Christmas card project that I do every year. 100 cards down, 260 to go if I can get them all done. 

I was having trouble trying to print the wallet size of the annual dog photo that I include in each card.  I got some done but have the rest to print out yet.  Will have to get more ink for my printer.

Here is the picture (spoiler to those of you who get cards from me or are on Facebook where I already posted it).   It looks strangely sparse without Kaci there.  I think there was only one other year we only had 4 dogs at Christmas.  But we are trimming down.  We plan to only have 3 dogs as they pass on so that it is more manageable.  Of course we know plans can change..  ;-)

The weather has been up and down lately.  I've taken some walks in the morning when it is freezing out, and then I took one yesterday when it was already close to 60 degrees out.  Yesterday it got up to 81.  Today may be about the same.  Then it will probably get cold again. Oh well. Not complaining!  At least no flooding or severe snow storms here...at the moment.

Well I gotta get back to work.  Just saying I'm here, I'm alive and kicking :)

Nice Thanksgiving!

I had a very nice Thanksgiving!  I worked not quite a full day on Wednesday and then had off until this coming Monday.  Yea!!!  The youngest came for the holiday and by Wednesday night we were up to our elbows in chocolate cookie dough.

She wanted to have a little taste!  Uh. .that was not a little taste. 

I had already made the crock pot mashed potatoes and put them in the fridge to let the flavors blend overnight.  We decided my mom would like it if we had Thanksgiving dinner over there. So Thanksgiving morning we took over the turkey roaster, and 2 crock pots and got the turkey, fancy mashed potatoes and green bean casserole going in each of their cookers.

When we got back home it was time for pie baking.

 
I was going to make corn casserole right before we went over to moms and made the stuffing there at her house after we got there.  I also took some cranberry sauce and had made a small lettuce salad too.  We snuck a bottle of wine over to have with dinner. My mom didn't know what we were drinking as we used little tupperware sippy cups. LOL.She had Pepsi which is what she always has with dinner. When we arrived at moms it smelled wonderful!  The turkey had been basting all day and it smelled wonderful.  I asked my mom if she liked the smell but she didn't really notice much.  I'm sure that was because she had been smelling it all day and just got used to it.

Anyway we had a nice dinner and visit and we left some leftovers including pumpkin pie and cookies. 
Yesterday the youngest and I went to see the last of the Hunger Game movies -  Mockingjay 2.  It was pretty good but I still liked the very first one the best.  The games themselves made it a lot more interesting and riveting. Then last night was pizza night. Yum!

Today was small business Saturday and we went shopping in town where they have a neat contest with clues and answers at various stores and then everyone met at one place (this year it was a sub sandwich shop) to hopefully get picked the winner of a gift basket worth over $1700!  The weather has sucked ever since Wednesday night with cold, rain and wind.  The temperature was right around 39 degrees while we were in town.  Brrrrr.. The only plus to this sucky weather is that there was not that great of a turn out for this event. There were only about 35 people I'd guess there at the final drawing which really upped our chances of winning compared to the very crowded room last year.  But alas, neither Stac nor I won the basket. Darn!
 Nevertheless we enjoyed walking around, shopping and getting Thai for lunch.   It was a nice time!

Stac went back home around 4:00PM and I went to a department store to get mom some Clinique that she uses. She dined on leftovers from Thanksgiving for dinner.

Now I'm relaxing and watching Pit Bulls & Parolees.  Hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shivering Saturday

I just checked the weather outside and it is only 41!  Brrrr...For this area that is cold! It may be around or below 32 for the low tonight too. Glad I'm in for the night!

I don't have the pictures of the completed Saltillo tile floor on this computer so will have to post them another time, but the floor was done, done Tuesday. It took one of the contractor's guys a day and a half  to clean up and make the crappy grouting that was done look way better.  Hubby is not happy with that part of the job and swears they used the wrong type of grout.  But it is done and I think it looks good so he's just going to have to get used to it.  LOL. This guy also reinstalled the sink, which was a project in itself too but it looks good.  I need to spot paint around 

I did have a suspicious mole removed from my back and it came back as abnormal but all the margins were clear so it means that I don't need to get any more of it removed. That's good news, although I'd love to have my 6 month check up and not have any skin issues at all!  Maybe next time.

I still have one more appointment with the acupressure doctor.  I'm not banking on him being able to relieve my allergies 100%.  I still cough in the morning when I go for my walks, so we'll see.  They are at least a lot better.

Looking forward to a short work week next week since it is Thanksgiving and I have the day after off too.

Eleven

That is how many catalogs I got in the mail today. 11 !  Wow!  I do buy from some catalogs but not that many. Guess the Christmas shopping season is here.  Lot of useless tree were chopped down for all these catalogs. I hope at least a few of them are recycled.  Doubtful!

We have been not happy with the tile job that was done last week. It is still not sealed yet. But there were a lot of uneven areas and rough looking areas. It just seemed the guys who installed it were just wanting to get it done, didn't matter how well.  Even one of the longhorn times that were part of the accent tiles was chipped!  Those were the most expensive ones. And the tiles by the front door are all light, so it looks stupid, not random at all. We are getting that addressed (4 or so replaced so that they don't all look the same).   Anyway the general contractor had a guy here all day trying to fix, smooth and even out the floor. He got most of it done  It looks way better than before.  He's to come back tomorrow and finish cleaning it up and sealing it. Thank God the contractor has this guy working for him but it is just a shame the 4 guys he had working for him to put the floor in, didn't do a more careful job. Then none of this fixing would be necessary.   The sink in the powder room was reinstalled wrong too and that still needs to be fixed. 

I can't wait until this is all done so I can exercise in the living room again.  I've only been able to take walks and those are only every other day (because I don't want to be too hard on my knees, etc).  We've got all the dining room stuff in the living room which is why there is no room.

Tomorrow is my dermatologist and acupressure appointments. The skin doctor appointment has been scheduled for 6 months. I sure hope she doesn't find anything that needs removal (biopsy).  Fingers crossed!

Week's Update

I took my husband to the ER on Monday because his back had been bothering him for at least 2 weeks, to the point he could hardly walk. By last weekend it provided no relief at all to lay in bed and do nothing. He doesn't have a family doctor (yet), and we figured even if we contacted a doctor they'd want him to get an X-ray or something anyway and he'd have to go somewhere else too, so Monday I took him. He could barely walk down the stairs.

They took a CT scan and gave him 2 shots, one for pain one for the inflammation in his back. The doctor came in and sort of scolded him for using the ER for back pain. But I don't care. I had been hearing hubby moan in pain and also be in so much pain he could hardly breath at times and/or was nauseated. Hubby could hardly move at all and I certainly couldn't help him (even though he refused my help as he didn't want to lean on me and hurt me ). LOL.

The doctor said it appeared he has a herniated disk but needed an X-ray. They took a CT scan which I guess can't determine that.  Gave him prescription for pain and also said to take Ibuprofen. It took a few days but he finally was better by Wednesday so he opened the store (antique) and stayed all day.  He got through it okay. He is doing much better now, with just some stiffness. The acupuncture doc he's been going to said he had a lot of inflammation in his lower back and I think it was just beyond the point of the acupuncture helping him much more than a hour or two. 

Hubby didn't call any doctor. He wanted to wait and see if he is better and he is.  He is not lifting anything heavy and limiting the amount of time he bends over which apparently is when it hurts most now.  I'm not going to force him to call a doctor. It will be his decision.  He's had back problems as long as I've known him, just not to this extent. So we'll see what happens. At least he is better and I'm very grateful for that.


Hubby and I had talked about getting the tile floor replaced with the same tile we had back in East. It is called saltillo tile and actually I am surprised it isn't more prevalent in Texas since it is Mexican tile. But then again I haven't been in a whole lot of houses here I suppose. We had this job scheduled for close to a month (scheduled it right after bathroom remodel), and hubby said to go ahead with it so we did. 

Here's a picture of part of our new floor, but it is not cleaned and varnished yet. They have to let the grout cure over the weekend. We had accent tiles put in at the kitchen entryways and the tile put in on a diagonal in the kitchen.  I love it!!

It is the last project that we have planned for this year and likely the last of the big projects for a while.  At some point, probably Spring we may get a new fence on the one remaining side that is rather rickety wood. 

It has been fun finally doing some major improvements to the house the last couple years. We've lived here 10 years as of this past August. Many folks around here tend to do massive rehabs or remodels as soon as they buy a 'used' home. We are in awe with how much money those people must have because they had to put something down on the house they buy and yet they still have tons left to do remodels/rehabs.  I'm fine that it took us 10 years to do as much as we did. We can appreciate it more.

Sorry

It has been a while since I posted but there has been a lot going on. I had to go to Dallas mid-week for some training and drove home Thursday night afterwards amid tornado warnings and such.  I got home after 9PM on Thursday.  Yesterday was trying to get back in the grove after a short evening after the drive.

And for at least a few weeks hub's back has been the worst it has ever been. Today he even had to leave the shop (close the doors for a bit until the owner could get over there to tend it). He left mid morning and could barely get into the house. He was in so much pain and I felt so bad. He was even mentioning me taking him to the hospital.  He had to be really, really hurting to say that.

He laid on the living room floor in pain and I had him call the acupuncture doctor. I mainly wanted to see if he could possibly prescribe some sort of pain killers.  He could not but came over and performed some acupuncture on hubby!  I think it helped.  He told him to lay still for an hour or two.  He is still on the floor but has been able to turn over and has been able to get up to go to the bathroom without crawling. I am hoping he can get better without having to visit a hospital.  He is staying home tomorrow to rest his back to.  The doctor was so nice to come over like that on a Saturday! He actually said if Steve needs him to, he can come tomorrow after church to give do more acupuncture.  That is a very, very nice man!!

I'm ending this here as I am pretty beat at this point.  I'll try to write tomorrow.

Nice weekend

Saturday the weather was nice enough and dry enough to visit the youngest thankfully.  I saw a few areas where I could see a flood line but nothing was flooded any longer than I could see. That metal awning at her apartment complex looked even worse (huge mangled mess) in person.  My youngest said she, her boyfriend and dog had to take cover in the bathroom as they got a warning (on her phone).  She could hear the wind sounding like a train so that tornado was very close.  I'm not so sure it didn't hit that awning too the way it was so mangled.

Anyway we went to see the Martian with Matt Damon.  It was pretty exciting actually.  The only disappointment for me was I did not eat any popcorn. It wasn't that I couldn't but I would have had to take my Invisalign (braces) out.  Plus we had just eaten a nice Thai late lunch so I wasn't that hungry but it was tough not eating some.  Next time I think I'll get some anyway.  What's the movies without popcorn?

We had a nice dinner at Carino's (Italian) and visited a bit longer at the hotel.  It was a nice hotel but the towels were very rough.  It was really nice hanging out with her but next time I hope to be able to go for the whole weekend.

Drat!

Today I had the day off.  It was pouring rain ever since the wee hours of the morning.  As I'm driving down the highway in torrential rains going no faster than 55 mph because that is the speed I felt like I still had some control over, I hear that there was a tornado touch down in San Marcos!  That is where one of my daughters is so I was hoping she was okay.  I was on my way to get that stupid blood test for the wellness credit at work.  I made it down there okay and got it done.  The drive back home wasn't quite as congested so that wasn't too bad.

The plan was for me to have today off to head down to see my youngest for the weekend.  But when I got home hubby had the news on with all the flooding and rain going on in the Austin area. San Marcos had already gotten close to 9 inches by then!  Long story short I decided not to go down today.  I hope to go tomorrow morning but will have to see as we may get even more rain tonight.  Ugh!  They actually closed down the main highway in San Marcos both ways by early after noon. That is how bad it was.

Here is a picture that my youngest sent me to show some of the damage that was done. 
 Good thing I didn't bother trying to go as I would have had to turn around before I even got there.

Crap!

So last night I didn't eat anything after 8PM or so because I had an appointment today to get blood drawn for testing so that I can get a wellness credit on my medical insurance costs at work. So I fasted 15hours.  My appointment was not until 11AM so you can imagine how hungry I was getting. My stomach finally stopped growling a little after 10AM.

I had printed out the appointment confirmation and went into the office and handed her my sheet of paper.  She asked if I had the voucher.  What VOUCHER?  The one with my information on it and what tests it was for etc.  I said I didn't have anything else.  She folded it up and threw it out and said that I needed to get the voucher.  This is one time it would have been advantageous to have an iphone because I would have looked up the website that offers that wellness credit, gotten what I needed and shown it to her.  I was not a happy camper. She wasn't apologetic at all.  I guess they are used to people not having all their paperwork and are extremely unsympathetic.  I asked for my confirmation back (from her trash can) as that was the only record I HAD.  She did say they take walk ins.  So I decided to try again tomorrow morning.

To ease my temper I treated myself to a Sonic Canilla Java chiller and some cinnasnacks!  :-)
So that was nice. I contacted my employer and got an email with the Requisition number.  That is what I needed the requisition number.  You'd think the lab could have just looked it up by my name or something. So will give it a shot tomorrow.  If I still don't have what they need, screw the wellness credit.

I was interested in finding out what my current blood levels are too which is another reason I was going to do it, since I rarely go to the doctors. So tomorrow will be another adventure.

Acupuncture

Okay.  I am convinced it works!  Yes I have only had one 'treatment' today but I could see an improvement immediately. I am coughing a little now but when I got back from my appointment I could breath as if I had taken an allergy pill.  For real!!   Then when I took my walk early this evening (instead of in the dark this morning), I had very little difficulty with allergies.  Yes!!!  The whole treatment is going to be 6 weeks and then he'll test me after a month (after that).  I go twice a week, so that is easy enough!  No pills, shots, nasal sprays...

I am to save a little bit of each meal I eat a day before my next appointment so that he can make a sampling of each 'meal' to make sure I am not allergic to anything I eat on a normal basis.  That will be interesting to find out.  He did tell me to avoid citrus and avocados for now as I show an allergic reaction to those as well as a few things I already knew about like tomatoes and ragweed.  Great.  I always get oranges in the organic fruit I buy and squeeze out enough for some fresh orange juice most mornings.  But I will do what he says and see how I feel. If the treatments work I will be able to indulge in those things just not every singe day. Optimal is 2-3 times a week maximum.  Oh he did test me for animal 'dander' and I am not allergic. That was terrific news as I always wondered if I am allergic to the dogs, since when I was a kid the doctor told my mom to never get a long haired dog or one that shed, which is why we had a poodle when I was young.  So I can have as many shelties, papillons, or whatever we want.  No we're not planning to get any more any time soon.

It was not a real long session.  I would say the actual acupuncture was less than 5-10 minutes but it was effective and actually also relieved a lot of tension that I must have had in my shoulders, etc,.  I actually felt so relaxed when I got back to work that I was getting sleepy.  So it was almost like getting a nice deep massage to boot, so that was fine with me. 

Monday eve' blog

After dealing with allergies for years, I am going to an acupuncture/acupressure specialist tomorrow to see if he can help me.  I heard about this sort of treatment helping allergies twice now and thought that may be a sign that I should give it a shot.   The first time, was this summer when visiting the youngest we were in a vintage shop and the lady behind the counter mentioned how acupuncture has helped her allergies so much she has had hardly a symptom in 3 months.  I think I was sneezing or something and apologized for my allergies acting up and that prompted her to bring it up.

Then last week I was at Walgreen's and bumped into a friend that used to own an antique shop in town and she was there to find something for her daughter, and we got to the subject of allergies and she swore by this specialist who did acupressure on her daughter. So I took the information from her and made an appointment for tomorrow. 

I am willing to give it a shot because my allergies are really bad some days.  I have a hard time getting my walk in sometimes as I'm hacking most of the way quite often.  I really hate taking medicine and would like to avoid seeing an "allergist" and get shots or nasal spray or anything like that. 

Well I'm off to watch Blindspot.

I know I say it alot but TGIF!

Well, although I've bitten my cheek at least 3 times today trying to eat, I can honestly say I am getting a teensy bit used to these braces. The worst part is how many times I have to brush my teeth every day.  I'm not about to eat and then put these thing back on, only to let bacteria destroy my teeth!  LOL

I got my new refurbished computer and got it up and running. It is very nice.  The monitor is nice and clean, and every letter on the keyboard is legible. It is great that there is no dust, hair or other who knows what inside the keyboard spaces too. There was probably a whole family of tiny bugs in my old one. Ick!

It rained a decent amount today. I tried to take a walk with just a hoodie and didn't get that far up the road before it went from a drizzle to a steady light rain to pouring rain.  I turned around and went back home. At least I got a small walk in.  Hey can't say I'm not dedicated!

Optimistic!

I got my Invisalign braces put on a few hours ago.  When I got there I had to read and sign a release which I don't know why wasn't provided before I even signed up!  It had all the 'possible problems' with them. Nothing like risk of heart attack or stroke but more things like may have crowns that get loose that may need to be re-attached or replaced, pockets in between teeth that weren't there before or may develop gingivitis. Lovely!  I went ahead and signed it. 

They had to put little nubs on some teeth that help hold the trays (that's what they call these Invisalign things) in place.  I was told when I got the phone call about it that they had to put 6 on, well I think she meant to say 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom.  The gal put something over my salivary glands to keep the liquid level in my mouth lower. Then put something in to keep my lips open and expose my teeth better.  She mentioned putting a third contraption in to keep my tongue out of the way but I think she saw the panic in my eyes and I also told her I have bad allergies, so she refrained from using that.  I was seconds away from a full blown panic attack. For real!

Anyway she got the nubbies on my teeth, and fitted my first tray of braces on.  My mouth was sore by this point. Another gal went over how to use them and showed me some areas where they have a spot for rubber bands.  Rubber bands?  Been there, done that, 40 something years ago. Yes I will probably need to use rubber bands at some point with them.  I was never told that. 

Eating lunch was a chore and I kept biting my cheeks and lips.  See even though I have the braces out to eat, because of all the nubbies I can't just chew and clench down as I used to.  My teeth don't meet like they should as some hit these nebbies.  So I kept missing my  teeth and kept biting everything but; cheek, tongue, lip.Ouch!

So through it all I am remaining optimistic for the outcome. Perfect teeth again and new crown in the front that better match my other front tooth or I will be raising some hell for going through all this crap!

Surprise!

I'm not waiting until the end of the day to blog. Isn't that a nice surprise? 
I haven't blogged in a few days but honestly by the time I remember I am shutting it down for the night so I don't bother.

Today I am done work early (light work weekend), and just got my shower which helped warm me up as it actually got down into the 50's last night and with the door open this morning it is actually chilly.  I cleaned last week so I'm not cleaning today even if it could use it. :0)

So my time right now is my own.  I may see what is on the SciFi channel or pop in a movie that I haven't seen in a while.  Just not sure yet.

Last month I sent the county appraiser's office a copy of my dad's death certificate and a form they sent to my mom as to ownership of the property.  Not only did I do that but I included a cover letter explaining that my mother still resides in the property (in fact included a copy of the will to prove ownership went to her).  That should have been the end of what they needed.  Much to my surprise, Friday night my mom produces a letter she got from the county appraiser's office which was a survey asking some questions about the new ownership and they need to re-appraise the house come January.  WTF?!   Why can't people read and follow proper procedures.  They even had her name down as one of the previous owners and also now her name as new owner.  I am calling them first thing Monday morning because their taxes are homesteaded (cannot go up) and last thing she needs is a new assessment, along with higher taxes that she would have to fight (or me for her). So I need to nip this mistake!!  We weren't going to do anything about the property with my dad dying but since the county required paperwork, I reluctantly sent it.  Now they think mom purchased her house! Unreal!!

I chatted briefly with daughter #1 yesterday and she has been waiting since April, yes April to hear about a short sale offer they put in for their first house.  She said they are to get a letter within a week indicating whether accepted/countered/or rejected.  I told her I think if it is rejected I'll hear her scream from 1600+ miles away.  I sure hope it is accepted!

My screen has gone black like 5 times as I'm writing this so I'm going to end this here. New desktop (well refurbed) has been ordered. :)

TGIT

Thank God it's Thursday. :0)

After turning my monitor off and on three times today I went ahead and ordered a refurbed Dell. It will probably take a few weeks to get here but at least I started the ball rolling.

Since tomorrow is Friday I am going to try to stay awake and watch some of Jimmy Fallon tonight.  Lately I barely get through the opening monologue. Hey, I'm tired at night.

The next couple of months will be fun as I need to use my vacation by the end of the year (or lose it). I have close to 7 days left.  So I'm putting in for a few days around the holidays and a few long weekends. So that will be nice.  Hard to believe Halloween is a few weeks away.  Where is this year going??

Thinking about computers..

Mostly because my Desktop that I use has had the screen go black more than a few times. But it wasn't the dreaded BLACK screen that means everything crashed.  It is just that my monitor goes black. I've discovered that I can turn the monitor off and on and then it is fine again for a while.  Today it was fine all day until close to dinner time.  Then we black three times in a row. I was thinking that was it, it was dead but now it has been fine again for close to 5 hours.  So who knows. I've checked the connections and everything there is tight.

I do know when it went black the very first first time I rebooted it because i thought it was 'dead'. When it came back on I was thrilled and did the disk defrag and disk clean up (there was over 8Million bits of data in the Recycle bin). Anyway, that helped, well at least I like to think it did.

I'm not sure if I should just bite the bullet and get a new desktop but I have no clue about Windows 10 and whether it is compatible with my work's system.  Thinking possibly going with refurbished. Choxi has some with Windows 7 that are only around $300. Will be something to think about possibly sooner than later.

We at least have the back up one upstairs should this one totally crash while I am working. I have used this one for I would guess about 5 years and have worked it very hard!  LOL  :)

Going to go get ready to hit the sack and watch some Jimmy.

Debating the Democratic Debate

First of all, just because Hillary is standing among a bunch of 'suits' she doesn't need to dress frumpy!  She should have worn a more vibrant color and more flattering look .  I do like the fact though that she is not appearing to read from a TelePrompter like a few of the others did in their opening comments.

Bernie Sanders already lost his train of thought in the first part of the debate. Did you notice? The man is 74 years old!  He couldn't even make it through one term alive.  Look at how being President has aged every man who has taken office!!

I haven't heard of Martin O'Malley before tonight but I think he is the best looking candidate and most charismatic up there.  Well sorry, looks do count for some of the voting public.

Governor Chafee looks vulnerable, like the Republicans could eat him for lunch.

Webb has spoken less than 5 minutes so far so I have no opinion....he is forgettable.

Wall decor

I just wanted to show off our nre bathroom walls with the antique treasures we either got or had and moved.

The glass window on the floor leaning against the wall is going above the toilet

Okay..

I am already sick of the Halloween commercials and it is only the 10th of October. Oye! 

Today we went garage sale-ing early in the morning and I got a few treasures for us and hubby got some for the store.  We got a small wash board that we're going to hang in the new bathroom.  And I got an iron square plant stand for a painting project.  It was painted an ugly brown so it definitely can use some nice new paint. I'll probably use the chalk paint on it.

I worked today and am suppose to work all weekend including Monday, but not sure if that will happen. Will have to see as the work load seems light right now.  If I don't work Monday I do have the day off for the holiday which would be fine if that happens. The house needs to be cleaned. 

This little fellow was just crawling along a table in the garage when hubby spotted it so he grabbed the camera and got a few shots. These little critters are one of the few things I don't mind being in the house. They are so cute!

Tonight is a new SNL and I'm going to try to stay up and watch some of it.  Nite all.

Bathroom Pictures

Although we don't have the towel bar, mirror and other wall hangings up yet, the bathroom for all intent and purposes it is done! :)  The vanity is in and installed, water running, back splash up and we are very happy with it!!  Without further delay, here are some 'AFTER' pictures.  Will post a few more when all the wall hangings are up.

Late

It is late and going to turn in. But would like to say that hubby is excited about the new store that he's helping a friend with that is opening tomorrow.  The sign was his idea and is perfect for the business theme!  I'm sure I'll be there helping out now and then too. :)

Oh I nearly forgot. The vanity came today and it is in place upstairs in the bathroom!  Although the guys punched a hole in the wall with the corner of it, that's fine and all repairable!  Will take pictures soon. The contractor has to add faucets, and back splash.

Because it is October?

...I've been hearing a lot more sirens these days, well especially evenings around here the last week or so.  Is it because it is October?  Who knows? Just weird and hear them once again.

This morning I heard them suddenly stop too and wondered if they were somewhere on our street. Hubby said he didn't see any lights or activity anywhere but they did just stop suddenly and were fairly loud (close).

Not much new, just wanted to stop by and ponder this question about all the sirens as of late.  Luckily and hopefully they are not headed here to our house any time soon!! :))

Monday is over

I only worked a regular day today. Whoppee!!!

I just spent about an hour chalk painting some shelves that hubby made out of an antique dresser last year.  Since he is opening an Antique store with a buddy by hopefully this weekend, he said he can use them to hang on the walls (and maybe even sell them).  So I got creative in my color choices. They are not sandpapered or waxed yet but here are the colors.

  I also painted 4 little shelves hubby made to go into a metal rack he is going to use to place items on too. 

See these little wooden shelve tops will fit in where the metal shelves are.

I am so glad that I bought a bunch of discontinued sampler sizes of paint while visiting the youngest over a year ago.  They have come in so very handy!  I used two different ones for the powder room cabinet and toiletries rack already and now two different ones tonight!  I still have a few more unopened jars. 

I forgot that I meant to post these two pictures of Kaci. This was the day before she went to heaven.  She liked to lay underneath my desk, and sometimes I would accidentally kick her.  I won't kick you anymore Kaci, promise!

 

Cooler these nights..

We are finally able to sleep with the windows open as it has been getting down into the 60's or 70's and we could give the air conditioning a break too. The only thing is, I forgot all the noises you can hear from outside during the night.  Friday night it was a dog out back that barked until all hours.  Hubby got up and shut the back door.  Then last night there were some sirens from ambulance/fire trucks and one time it was close enough that Merlin started howling. He sleeps upstairs with us too. Although that was kind of funny, I had to tell him to be quiet.  :-)

I really have zero tolerance for folks who leave their dogs out all night long!  Besides the fact that it is animal cruelty, the barking is bothersome to neighbors. How thoughtless!

I worked some this weekend since I didn't work last. It was nice getting caught up.  Tomorrow should be an easy day.  Yah I always say that. Still missing Kaci but at least I didn't reach for her bowl today. Whenever a pet dies, there is always a void, doesn't matter how many other pets there are.

The bathroom remodel is done except for the vanity.  It is suppose to be delivered on Thursday.  I sure hope it arrives unbroken and they can get it upstairs okay.  I'll wait and take pictures until it is all done.

Sad day..

I didn't write yesterday because I just wasn't in the mood. I called the vet's office to see when I could do the horrible deed of bringing our sweet Kaci to her demise.  It was the right decision I know but it was tough. It always is. This is not the first or even second dog that we've had to make this decision for. At first the receptionist said that the earliest appointment was at 4:00PM.  I took it but was sad that this event would be looming over my head all day.  A few minutes later she called back and said the vet can get me in at 9:00AM (she was getting me in even though she was booked.)  I was relieved about that.

It was tough but I got through it.  It is so hard to watch dogs take their last breath.  It is like you are waiting for them to look up at you and lick their lips.  But she is in heaven with my Dad, I am pretty sure.  It was really hard getting back to work and I have to admit I was crying off and on and distracted.  I should have just taken the rest of the day off, but I got through it.

Even though we still have 4 dogs there is a void without her here. I almost filled her food bowl last night and I missed the way she spun in a circle until she got her food although she hadn't done any spinning in about a week. And last night I kept gently turning over in bed as she always slept between my legs and had to remind myself that she wasn't there.

Today was a little better.  As with all things, time will help. 

Kaci

Remember I said one of our dogs was not feeling well?  Well we took her to the vet today and she was way worse than I thought. She wasn't really throwing up daily anymore she was eating some (not totally refusing food altogether). Turns out she is going through severe liver and kidney failure.  The vet did not know if it was acute or cronic but it was bad enough she said if we took her to an animal hospital she only gave her 30% chance of getting better. I know that is better than nothing but it would also cost thousand(s) until they got a full diagnosis which would likely not be good.

They hydrated her for us and we took her home because we think it is just her time. It is a tough decision to make but anyway we are giving her lots of love and attention (and table meat) which she has been scarfing up, as tomorrow we'll call the vet to see when we can bring her in and say goodbye to her. 

She would have been 11 years old come December 28th.  May not seem old to some, but I've never had a dog live to be quite 10, so 11 is a good life in my opinion.  We love her and will miss her!  I'm off to spend a few hours with her...

Yesterday's moon pictures

These were actually taken yesterday morning. I was up at 6:30AM to take my walk and noticed the moon still really huge!  I took a fast walk and the moon was still out so when I walked Tika I took the camera with me.  I had to keep my foot on the leash to keep her still enough to take the pictures. :)

Bathroom is nearly done except for the vanity. Will take some pictures the end of the day tomorrow.