Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween

"Watch out for Witches and Stuff." Indeed. On this day, please beware of the spooky aforementioned "stuff." While one never knows where they may encounter this strange entity called "stuff", watch and keep your guard up. Please let me know if you encounter said "stuff". I'm dying to know what it is.

This could be creepy stuff... crows gathering in a leafless tree. I like them, myself, but I can also imagine a scene from Hitchcock's The Birds getting ready to happen here.

Luckily, this witch doesn't seem too spooky. In fact, she seems to be having a rather frank conversation with this little youngster. Maybe she is explaining that witches have been given a bad rap for centuries. My very favorite thing about this picture is all the other little ones up on the hill spying. So cute.


As one of the descendants of one of the Salem witches who was both accused, convicted and consequently hung for her supposed crimes, on this day where we need to watch out for "Witches and Stuff" I will honor her memory by passing out treats to children that come to my door. Most likely while wearing my yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Dressing up like a witch is really not my style.
Happy Halloween Everyone! Stay safe and definitely... watch out for stuff. K?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Oh Autumn, You are Gorgeous

Welcome Ms. Autumn. Just look at you, regaled with all your colorful spectacle. Why do you seem so demure? Surely anyone capable of splashing parts of this earth with such beauty for a few short weeks each year is capable of a little lustiness. And please, don't be so humble... you do such fine work. Your brush strokes are perfect and your eye for color is enviable. I myself try to emulate your color choices in over half the rooms in my home. I shouldn't gossip, but I'm not a fan of your friend Winter's color scheme. (Nor do I approve of her rude and surly behavior. I felt her sending a cold wind my way the other day, and yesterday there were a few snow flurries. SHE is not welcome until the leaves are off the trees. Please let her know I said so.)

I didn't take this photo, I found it on Wikimedia. But I think Ms. Autumn did a lovely job here. And it reminds me of a dream I had once that made me laugh and wonder, and I still remember it vividly to this day. Those are the best kind of dreams.

Just peaceful. A person, me, could get lost just walking endlessly down this road. Peace is what I need today. Received some worrying news last night about a family member. Have been worried sick about another little guy. I am distressed that I can't fix either situation. I hate helpless feelings. So, today is all about me trying to figure out how to deal, and also making some banana bread, and of course continuing work on the house.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Why Don't I Listen to My Husband?

I should listen to my husband. The hero knows me better than I know myself. Really he does. This is why he is the hero. In the space of a few weeks, (what day is this?) I believe I have managed to exhaust myself by my manic quest to unpack nearly every freaking box and organize every single item. This week, I've been meaning to put it all together... the fun part. Hang the pictures, place the knick knacks just so...

I've done a bit of that, yes. Yesterday I hung a small gallery of anscestors in black and white in the living room. Today I installed an under cabinet CD/Radio combo thingy in the kitchen. Oh, and had Jane the Ignorant Slut (the GPS) escort me to the neighbor town to do some shopping for essentials. Back and two loads of laundry later, and I'm hanging my head, not out of shame, just because the muscles won't hold it up any longer.

Back to what I was saying about the Hero. He predicted this would happen to me. He is brilliant that way. I am going to try to rest a bit over the weekend and renew my spirit.
Aren't these photos fun? I found a link for Zoe Jaremus, the photographer, over at Beachbungalow 8.


Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm crawling back into my happy place to rest and maybe do a bit of worrying about a boy I know and love. Will see you Monday.
P.S. Best Wishes and Good Luck or Break a Leg whichever is the proper thing to say to a certain someone I know taking her PH.D exam today.



Thursday, October 16, 2008

Gimme a Break

Photo found Here.
Thanks my loyal readers for checking in looking for updates! I have been lazy with the blogging the last few days, but busy in "real world" duties such as unpacking the house etc... boring for you to hear me go on and on about that and since that is all that is going on in my mind and in my life... well, it follows that I haven't been writing as much. I don't want to be a bore.
Today, I am taking it a little easier and kicking back. Oh sure, I'm working. I'm carting things around up and down stairs etc. But Hero asked me to not work as hard today so I sat down for lunch and watched an episode of True Blood. Now I'm posting on my Blog!
What the heck is wrong with the formatting on my fonts? Are the buttons stuck? Dang. Not typing in Bold or italics intentionally. I will be back soon-ish with more important and exciting things to say. I hope!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Move from Hell... Complete!

Image found here.
This image has nothing to do with the body of this post except that it is hellish to me. In my vision of hell, the demons are all puppets and clowns. I freaking hate those things. Really. Look at those eyes.

Really, this should be my final update, whine, moan and groan on the chaos that Hero and I have now deemed the Move from Hell. First, my apologies for not updating back on the 8th, as promised... computer connection problems. I believe that comes with the territory of setting up housekeeping in a new place/town. Gee, if only all of life's problems could be solved by placing a call to Comcast and having them send out a friendly tech to fix things right up! Okay, so here is the final bullet list:



  • I didn't mention it before, but we arrived here on Friday, a bit over a week ago, and Hero had to leave for South America (Columbia) on business for six days on Sunday. We had contracted with the people who set up the move to hire a company that includes UNpacking as a service, because I have a bad (painful as hell) rotator cuff. The company they sent to move us did not offer that service. Hero was out of town for a week, I'm not being a martyr here... I just hate boxes. So I've been unpacking like a crazy woman. Wish I could mention the name of the company we hired. They suck.

  • I'm a little out of order here, but you have to hear this. Back at the old house, we had a leather sofa in our finished basement that reclined on both ends. We had given instructions to Crackhead and Tubby, (my little pet name for the partner of Brokenfoot) how to take the sofa apart because it would not fit up the stairs in one piece. Okay, ma'am, no problem. When it came time to move the sofa up the steps, we hear moaning and groaning and screeching sounds on the walls. Hero and I ran over there and see they are trying to shove this huge sofa up the stairway and through the doorway. When we told them again that it needed to be taken apart first, Tubby glared at me and dropped his end (he standing at the top) and Crackhead had to make a run for it back down the steps because the sofa was coming right at him. In the process, the metal bottom of the sofa gouged out the walls and a side of a built in planter box at the bottom of the steps before it came to rest. They left the sofa laying upside down at the bottom of the stairs.

  • Tubby took a poo in my powder room and clogged the toilet, overflowing it. He had personally packed all the plungers in the house except one and they were loaded already. We found the one. He used one of the furniture blankets to mop up most of the spill, but I had to clean it properly after they left.

  • They ran out of there ten minutes later. Literally RAN, with Hero chasing after them screaming.

  • The new owners of that house have a nice black leather sofa now. We are responsible for repairing the damages, we will send the bill to We Suck Moving Company, Inc.

  • The next morning was filled with phone calls to figure out when and who was coming to pick up the remains of our things. The buyers took possession of the house at 2:00. Moving Company couldn't get anyone out until Saturday. Nice. We had to leave for Chicago to close on our new house the next day, had to hope the buyers would be cool with all our leftovers in their garage for a couple more days. As it turns out, they were perfectly lovely about it. There is a God. Tubby and Brokenfoot didn't show up until Sunday to get our things. We Suck Moving Company, Inc. keeps their word every time.

  • Remaining beds, and furniture were delivered on Wednesday! Much of the wood furniture damaged. Tubby and Brokenfoot didn't wrap what remained. But I'm just happy its over. Really happy its over. The sofa from Hero's apartment here didn't fit into THIS basement, and neither did a queen size box spring (there is a turn heading down the steps) So we have to figure something out for a couple of rooms down there. No big. I gave that sofa away along with that mattress set to the movers (different set of guys).

Largely, things have been very smooth sailing since we have arrived in Illinois. Hero didn't get kidnapped by any drug cartels in Columbia so I didn't have to call upon my standby posse to go down and find him in the jungles. Thank God. Really the only glitch this week aside from a painful shoulder and sore back is that my best dog ever developed a case of bronchitis and I had to find a Vet... pronto. Of course I didn't know she had bronchitis, I just knew she was coughing. Anyway, I found a vet, he seems to know his stuff and the cool thing is the office manager is from Blue Springs, my town back home! She was very excited to meet someone from her home town and I was excited to meet someone who seemed familiar, though a stranger. You know? And I've been tooling around in my car getting where I need to go with the help of my little GPS, who Hero and I named "Jane, You Ignorant Slut." Yes, I'm giving away my age. I'm all about the golden age of SNL.


Now that moving trauma is OVER... Hero and I are looking forward to really and truly starting over here in this strange new land. I have to say, it is lovely here and I can't wait to get out and explore!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I'm still here, and you won't BELIEVE what's been going on!

Hey everyone, Gosh I love you guys. I really really do. In answer to Shana's comment from the other day... YES WAY! Plus, there is more moving hell I haven't had a chance to update and it is not over yet if you can believe that. I'm sitting here as I'm typing waiting for all of our beds to arrive from KC, as they would not fit on the original truck. Turns out the man with the broken foot had some kind of freaky prophetic powers.

I will be back later today to tell you all about the highlights, or lowlights... depending on how you see things. I have a sense of humor, so there is a lot to laugh about. A few things to scream about but hero and I already did that, so we are smiling now. I need to go medicate before the movers show up with that last load. See ya later!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Moving Chaos and Other Trivia


Okay, so chaos. I mentioned in my thinking pink post earlier today that I would follow up on that later so here I am. Its all about this moving thing. One never really expects things to go down perfectly, but smoothly would be good... right? RIGHT? I've never been good at making a long story short, but here are the highlights so far.



  • The movers were supposed to show up Monday morning, but due to delivery issues they had nothing to do with (payment issues on the part of their previous delivery customer) they did not arrive here until 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

  • The Driver promptly fell out of the truck and broke his foot. This prompted many calls back to the home office. He ended up hobbling around all day on his foot packing boxes until he could get the go ahead from the home office to go to the hospital for an x-ray. Confirmation... as suspected. Foot broken. This is the only guy on the team license to drive the truck. He broke his right foot. This is going to make for an interesting drive to Chicago for him.

  • Oh, did I mention that we were planning on leaving for Chicago this morning? Yeah, not so much. This house is half packed as we speak, 2:20 on Wednesday afternoon.

  • Our moving company guys had to call for reinforcements from a local moving company for the heavy lifting part due to the broken foot. One of them seems a little less than healthy, like maybe he's been hitting the meth pipe a little too hard. Nice. I love this day.

  • Good news, the Vet called. The dog's blood work came back and she does not have Hypothyroidism. To celebrate, I ate a Klonipin. Because I deserve it, not sure I deserve it, but I feel better. So .... um, there.

  • Hero is having to take his conference calls outside today. Too much noise indoors. It is a beautiful day out there. See this is not all about whining.

  • Hero and I both agree that perhaps we should have chosen one of the other moving companies we took bids from. This whole deal is beginning to feel a bit haphazard and disorganized. Two of the things I despise the most. For a girl who likes everything Just... So... this is chaos. Hindsight 20/20. I'll check in later if I have anything to add.
  • Back with more to add! Overheard Crackhead a few minutes ago saying as he was carting a load of boxes up the stairs, I'm never going to have this much stuff if I ever live in a house this big. I feel ashamed, and I'm sorry I called you a crackhead, Crackhead. But I do smell the stale doobage on your clothes, so maybe you are just a malnourished pothead. My bad. Can I buy you a Big Mac?
  • The little guy with the broken foot just said, I hope every thing fits in the truck. HUH?

Today is all about thinking Pink!




So despite the chaos going on around me, (more on that to follow) I wanted to pause and reflect. I have been so blessed to have lived forty-five years without so much as a hint of a lump or bump to even indicate a breast cancer scare. Others in my family have had scares and some have had battles in recent years. For them it was frightening and at times overwhelming, for us... the family members standing by watching it was a helpless feeling as we prayed and did the things you do for the people close to you who are given a cancer diagnoses. So, today, in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... take a moment to pause and reflect and say a prayer if that's your gig, or donate a couple bucks if you can, and definitely take some time to print out THIS! If you don't have one or have it committed to your memory already. Oh, and schedule a mammogram if you are due for one. I am.