this and that . . .

yesterday was mother nature's last little present before summer hits. Low in the 40's high in the 60's.  today is high in the mid 70's.  oh, thank you mother dear.

still working on the cruise album.  decided to add more shots of us-ings along with the amazing scenery.

did i mention the cook book i am making for kidlet?  easy breezy recipes of all of her favorite meals.  so she can make her own meals when she's ready to fly.  she's use to the 9TS's recipes measured in handfuls, but i had to translate mine into tsps and tbs.  you know a little of this and some of that, won't cut it.  it's still a work in progress.

the mouse is away . . .

again.

more me time.  oh, selfish, selfish me.  and what did i do first?  slept through yoga.  for some reason, i'm a day ahead of myself.  i thought today was saturday.  gah.  please tell me you've done something similar?  please . . .

so i made myself of list of things to do.  a long list to keep me occupied until the mouse returns.  see, mouse, i really do miss you when you're away.

so far i've made a fresh batch of iced tea.  slurp.  it's important. tea.  and cleaned the kitchen and used the dishwasher!!!!  snort.  yes, mouse, i used the dishwasher.  ha ha ha.  but only to drain the water from using it as a holding rack.  yeah, that's my story.

also hanged, hung, stuck the clock on the dining room wall.  it was kidlet's clock from her apartment and this week we not so methodically ran a small bulldozer through her room and this was a reject.  but. but. but it needs a home in the dining room.  and so it was.

and it ticks.

so while i was shooting it, i decided to include the rest of the room.

and here you get a long shot. 

but you think i'm going to leave it at that don't you.  never.  i grew up with that dining room set.  all the nicks and digs are mostly from my little fingers and toes.  i did add the glass when it had to be refinished after i did a lot of gouging doing my homework on it.  my mother-in-law tatted the doily on the table.  the hanging in the back?  my grandmother made it in 1937.  how do i know?  her initials and the date are on it.  see the black and white string on the chair furthest to the right?  kidlet put that on her chair when she was little and already channeling Sheldon. that is her chair.  do not sit on it.  the plant was given to me by my used to be sister-in-law.  now if you look carefully there are two more goodies.  a chameleon stuck between the window and the screen.  he got in.  he can get out. but more often then not, we find lizard bones in the track.  now look through the door.  see the bobby?  he stands on an old dressmakers dummy.  a present for the 9TS from a real english bobby.

and then there is this:

yup came with the table.  it's a breakfront.  do people still call them that?  do people still have them?  do people still have dining rooms?  i know it's a grainy shot but see the pretty pink floral plates behind the bone ones?  if you move the front plates, you can see the rose plates in their entirety.  each one is a scene or building from MIT.  my father, the pack rat, had them.  who else collects dinner plates from their college?  it must be genetic.  i love them.  half hidden.  snort.

and up top? 

yup, that's my $10 garage find.  don't ask.  don't shame.  i like it.

and the last wall. 

now you know the ins and outs of my dining room.  and i'm sitting here like a fool chuckling because this is such an inane post.

got the results back . . .

one just needs to be frozen, the other squamous cell carcinoma. so, as soon as i get back, they'll take a football shaped section out, stitch it up and on we go til next time.  yep, now a total of two basal cell and two squamous.  lather up ladies and gents.  lather up.

so what do i do? i go buy this:

because it makes me happy and it went on sale. 

we're still here . . .

 
been cleaning gutters
buying fabric for purses and wire baskets for toilet paper
getting the deck ready for spring or thinking about it.  a lot.
making a travel journal
buying shoes
readying some fishing poles to hang on a wall
watching the moss grow
getting biopsied
doing taxes
the never ending laundry
sticking my nose in a book
and most recently making a lasagna.
so there.

while the mouse is away . . .

the cat's at play.  kidlet is further north spending the weekend with friends.  what makes me a bad mama is that i enjoy these breaks . . . probably as much as she does. it's my time to catch up on stuff around the house, but sometimes, things don't go as planned. 

cleaning the laundry room and the kitchen was pretty much average going until i got to the part where i clean up the dinner dishes.  everything was washed and stuffed in the dishwasher to dry . . . yes, i use my dishwasher as a drying rack . . . when i did the obligatory running of the garbage disposal.  the sound was atrocious.  as i quickly flicked the off switch, i expected to pull out a random spoon. instead the jammed item was thick, round and cylindrical.  wth?  and then the light dawned.  last week i managed to break the handle off the hot water faucet in the sink.  apparently, it decided to do a swan dive off the window sill and down into the disposal.  it wouldn't budge.  i tried the handle of a plunger.  sanitary right?  nope don't eat at my house.  then i tried a screw driver.  after much huffing and puffing, it finally let loose but not before reminding me that it must have been a very, very, very long time since i last cleaned the underside of the disposal flaps.  disgusto.  a little comet.  a little bleach.  a little baking soda.  good to go.  really, don't eat at my house. 

tomorrow, i do the touch up paint on the miata since someone pounded the rear end.  thankfully, it was on the plastic bumper so no damage other than needing a little paint.  the following week, after the paint has set, i will get it detailed.  in its 16 years, it has never been detailed.  washed and vacuumed yes.  detailed out.  no.  i'm a little afraid that the dirt is what is holding it together.  fingers crossed.

kidlet, i'll let you know when it's safe to come home.

sometimes things have to change . . .

enough with the chin length bob.  i can now get my bangs into the ponytail to which my hair has been aspiring, and the short hairs in the back.  unfortunately, not at the same time . . . but close.  yep, i am once again growing it out.  long.  if i'm going to be that dotty old woman who loses things like glasses, chopsticks, pencils and small pets in her coiffure, i need the tresses she said logically.

and speaking of glasses, mine are here.  ta da!!!  color me happy. i think it might be an identity crisis of minimum proportions. 

oh and my new passport arrived.  just saying.
 

mother knows best . . .

i'm predicting this is the last fire of the season.

of course if it isn't, mother nature and i may have words.  maybe even bodily contact. just think what a terror i would be if i lived up north in the frozen tundra. mother nature would be found in a body bag by mid november. 

we need a reprieve from pippin inhaling wood splinters.  every time i make a fire, i stack six or seven logs on the hearth so i don't have to go tripping back outside for more wood as often.  pippin, being the curious little monstrosity that she is, carefully sniffs all available sides and then calmly starts noshing on the the loosened wood bits.  nom.  nom.  it's not that i mind that much, it's not my tummy but i also don't want to be dragging the poor little critter to the vet to get her stomach vacuumed out.

so finally, it dawns on me.  enter one day-glow orange water pistol.

the great thing about it is, pippin isn't associating the water barrage with me, so she comes running to me for consolation.  it doesn't stop the water onslaught but she's a slow learner.  not too bright my littlest creature.

maybe mother nature is right after all.  i'd miss these moments.

good karma . . .

remember those clothes i tried on for sizing so i could shop online?  next day notification: 40% off all items.  the shopping fairy lives.  i did damage.

but then does today fall under bad karma?  i pulled off a sweatshirt forgetting to take off my glasses first.  yes, i am sporting scratches up both sides of my nose.  did the white wash.  did well with the bleach but forgot the detergent AGAIN.  oops.  just as long as i don't burn dinner tonight.

nope, i don't eat a lot of beef, but if i'm going to, it's going to be damned worth it.  filet mignon for two.  pass the sauteed mushrooms please and the corn on the cob, oh and i like a nice fat baked tater with that, please. slurp. waddle.  waddle.

aside:  six month check-up.  doc asks if i meant to gain the added five pounds.  did any healthy woman anywhere ever mean to do that? silly man.

did i mention kidlet, lee and i went to see 50 shades.  kidlet came out 50 shades of the giggles. lee came out 50 shades of ticked it ended when it did.  i came out 50 shades of ambivalent.

om!