I have 1 follower!! Yay me! Yay Sue! I am just starting to share this blog with the people in my life. I wanted to make sure there was content. Regular consistent content before I let everyone know about it. Along with my time management issues, I occasionally have issues completing things. Have I mentioned that?
I have 2 other blogs that I had the very best of intentions for but as life got right in front of me and held up a stop sign, I slacked off. So I created this blog to address my issues, share some how to's and and amuse myself. And hopefully amuse y'all.
I am currently working on my first big How To. And I think you're gonna love it. Of course I'm writing it and rewriting it but it's coming along. I should be posting it in the next couple of days. I have some free time coming up because Bubba is going to a an construction convention for a few days. So I'm gonna get off of my big slacker butt and get to work. Gotta go, Bubba needs help packing up his portable radial arm saw. Talk to ya soon!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Airing my dirty laundry.
Have you ever walked into someones immaculately clean house and had them say
"Oh, sorry my house is such a mess."
And you're looking around thinking
"What mess? You mean the dish sponge that is very so slightly crooked on the beautiful dish where you keep your dish sponge? Really?"
I hate these people just a little bit.
The reality of my house is very often quite different. While I do "pick up" every day. And the house gets vacuumed every day, a lot of the time my house looks like this:
Make sure you take note of the full of dryer lint trash can. Wouldn't want you to miss that. I know you're all just dying to get your hands on the paneling. And the vinyl flooring. It's definitely my favorite part of our laundry room. It just "makes"the room.
We're very lucky to have a laundry sink. Because where else would I keep this stuff:
And I wouldn't want you to miss the proof that I have a hard time completing many, many of the projects I start:
This is the gun cabinet I'm turning into a "coat closet". Almost complete, except for the last piece of trim that needs to be painted and installed. The hooks I need to install so we can actually hang coats in here. And the baskets I need to find and purchase for us to throw our shoes in. Oh and the sanding that needs to happen to the drawers so they slide a little easier.
So there's a small peak at my "real life."
In my "novel life" I have a laundry room like this one:
photo courtesy of Hampton Design by way of coreasotropa.wordpress.com
I think I could do the worlds laundry in this room.
Gotta go, I must have overloaded the washer. Bubba just came out covered in soap bubbles. Talk to ya soon.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Quote o' the Day
"A sheltered life can be daring as well. For all serious daring starts from within." Eudora Welty
Saturday, July 31, 2010
A+ for effort
In an effort to figure out what this bliggy blog will be when it grows up I'm gonna be trying all sorts of stuff then going back and rereading and editing and generally balling it all up and throwing it away only to start over again and probably end up with the same stuff I started with. So bear with me if you read a post then check back and see that the post has changed only to look again and see the first post. I'm kooky like that and I'm also my own worst and best editor. I 'm currently working on a house magazine style photo spoof. Yes, I meant to say spoof. Because you're gonna get it all real. Not the fancy glass pitcher, pillow tossed casually on the floor kind of shots like this:
But the real gritty down in the dirt photos of a real house with real issues. Like the lack of a full time housekeeper and the addition of a 3 year old. Shots like this:
This is a photo taken in my actual house but neither of these boys is the Bubba.
So anyway, stay tuned. Gotta go now, Bubba's ready to go to the beach and he's got the truck started and his hand on the gear shift. Talk to ya soon.
A Welcome Interruption.
My friend Sue came to visit! Actually that should be "MY FRIEND SUE CAME TO VISIT!!!" That's how excited I am. I met Sue when I lived in the Fabulous Florida Keys and she should be called "Fabulous Sue". Because she's FABULOUS! Can you tell that I'm excited she came to visit? Sue is an amazing photographer. And a fabulous mom to two beautiful hippie girls and a fantastic wife to "The Professor". And a goofball. Not necessarily in that order. The "goofball" part is my favorite.
When Ry and I got married in 2003, Sue had just had hippie girl #1 and wasn't quite sure she was ready to get back to work, so I begged her to shoot our wedding. And I begged. And I begged. And I begged some more. I think I mentioned that if she didn't do it I would be stuck with this guy -
Anyhoo, we had the BEST time! Our kids got along like peanut butter and jelly. Like peas and carrots. Like hot dogs and beer. And that would be because she is a FABULOUS mom. Did I mention that? We also got a visit from another fabulous girl that we both know from Floor-E-Dah. Miss Anne had moved back to good ol' Delaware (the state of her birth) and was able to come down to the farm. We hung out in the yard while the kids chased all manner of bugs that may or may not be poisonous, venomous, or contagious. Then we all had chicken legs for dinner. We cooked them first. I'm safety conscious like that.
The next day, Bubba and I showed the girls around town. Then we all went over to "Da Fir". Which would be how people around these parts say The Fair. The Delaware State Fair to be exact. We loaded up in Ry's monster truck and boy were we glad we took that. The parking people at "da fir" took one look at the size of those tires and decided we had to be cabbage hand carnies, they just kept waving us through and we drove all the way up to just about the front door for a primo rock star parking spot.
And I know primo rock star parking spots. Not because I'm a primo rock star, but because I know a primo rock star and we once went to see Elton John and Billy Joel, and with my rock star friend in the car, we were directed around all manner of limousines and regular folk cars to park all up inside the arena. It was one of the coolest moments of my life. It's what makes me completely understand the Lohan family.
Da Fir has all the things that make a great fir. Rides, games, pigs, cows, horses, goats, fried oreos, etc. They even have a new food item this year :
When Ry and I got married in 2003, Sue had just had hippie girl #1 and wasn't quite sure she was ready to get back to work, so I begged her to shoot our wedding. And I begged. And I begged. And I begged some more. I think I mentioned that if she didn't do it I would be stuck with this guy -
Really, no one hates anyone that much.
And of course she agreed and she took the most amazing pictures of an amazing day in my life. And if I had them ANYWHERE on this computer I would show them to you. So add that project to my list of
to dos.
Anyhoo, we had the BEST time! Our kids got along like peanut butter and jelly. Like peas and carrots. Like hot dogs and beer. And that would be because she is a FABULOUS mom. Did I mention that? We also got a visit from another fabulous girl that we both know from Floor-E-Dah. Miss Anne had moved back to good ol' Delaware (the state of her birth) and was able to come down to the farm. We hung out in the yard while the kids chased all manner of bugs that may or may not be poisonous, venomous, or contagious. Then we all had chicken legs for dinner. We cooked them first. I'm safety conscious like that.
The next day, Bubba and I showed the girls around town. Then we all went over to "Da Fir". Which would be how people around these parts say The Fair. The Delaware State Fair to be exact. We loaded up in Ry's monster truck and boy were we glad we took that. The parking people at "da fir" took one look at the size of those tires and decided we had to be cabbage hand carnies, they just kept waving us through and we drove all the way up to just about the front door for a primo rock star parking spot.
And I know primo rock star parking spots. Not because I'm a primo rock star, but because I know a primo rock star and we once went to see Elton John and Billy Joel, and with my rock star friend in the car, we were directed around all manner of limousines and regular folk cars to park all up inside the arena. It was one of the coolest moments of my life. It's what makes me completely understand the Lohan family.
Da Fir has all the things that make a great fir. Rides, games, pigs, cows, horses, goats, fried oreos, etc. They even have a new food item this year :
Doughnut + Burger = Doughnutburger!!!
I know, I couldn't believe it either. Why didn't I think of that? The absolute best part was the mechanical bull. Of course Sue took a turn on that bad boy. She went 6.54 seconds and the cabbage hand carnie running the thing got scared and revved it up to Mach 1000. If she had gone the 8 full seconds she would have won $200. Stupid cabbage hand carnie.
I tell you it could not have been a better visit unless they stayed for a month. But Sue and the girls had to get up to NY to celebrate her Grammy's 94th birthday. Happy Birthday Grammy! I should have sent her a doughnutburger.
I would suggest you head right on over to HERE to check out Sue's photography. And right over to HERE if you want to learn more about doughnutburgers. And just in case you've never been to a good ol' country fir check out THIS.
Gotta go, Bubba's trying to make his own cotton candy with a torch and the vacuum and he needs my help. Talk to ya soon.
I tell you it could not have been a better visit unless they stayed for a month. But Sue and the girls had to get up to NY to celebrate her Grammy's 94th birthday. Happy Birthday Grammy! I should have sent her a doughnutburger.
I would suggest you head right on over to HERE to check out Sue's photography. And right over to HERE if you want to learn more about doughnutburgers. And just in case you've never been to a good ol' country fir check out THIS.
Gotta go, Bubba's trying to make his own cotton candy with a torch and the vacuum and he needs my help. Talk to ya soon.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Time Management
I have time management issues. I load myself up with projects and then I get overwhelmed and retreat into a book or the internet or a puzzle with Bubba. Right now I'm currently working on these things: (and I mean I attempt to work on these things daily in addition to cleaning, cooking and keeping the laundry at manageable levels)
-Bubbas bathroom renovations - 75% (OMG so many little things to do)
-Rattan Table project - 45% (wrapping, wrapping, wrapping, you'll see)
-Wallpaper removal in the kitchen - 25% (like peeling sunburned skin)
-Chalkboard in Bubbas room - 10% (because I bought the can of chalkboard paint)
-Organizing our paperwork/mail/junk drawers - 1% (because it made it to my list)
-Surfboard art project - 12% (I started, took it apart, restarted, took it apart)
-Bedroom closet redo - 50% (I built the shelves but that's it)
-Coat Rack project - 90% (Except for 1 piece of trim and the hooks it's almost complete)
-Teaching Bubba the alphabet - 8.666% (We've gotten as far as ABC)
-Cleaning my car - 0% (Disgusting)
-Hanging new porch doors - 50% (1 for 2)
-Dresser and Armoire refinishing - 40% (primed and filled with junk already)
-Grill deck - 70% (ran out of gray stain)
-Weeding - 0% or 100% (it depends on if, like Bubba, you think Polk Weed is a Butterfly Bush)
-Help Ry build NorthEnd (his surfboard business) - ?% (huge endeavor)
-Build my own furniture refinishing business/Etsy Shop
There are about 42,987,875 other things that I've thought of but haven't made it to the do list yet. I'm hoping that by blogging 5 days a week I will feel the motivation to complete some things. Or that I can start to develop the Type A personality it's going to take for me to complete at least half the things on the list. But for now I think I'll go read a book. Right after I take a picture of the sun coming up, and feed the dogs, and put some clothes on, and make breakfast for Bubba, and start some laundry. Talk to ya soon.
-Bubbas bathroom renovations - 75% (OMG so many little things to do)
-Rattan Table project - 45% (wrapping, wrapping, wrapping, you'll see)
-Wallpaper removal in the kitchen - 25% (like peeling sunburned skin)
-Chalkboard in Bubbas room - 10% (because I bought the can of chalkboard paint)
-Organizing our paperwork/mail/junk drawers - 1% (because it made it to my list)
-Surfboard art project - 12% (I started, took it apart, restarted, took it apart)
-Bedroom closet redo - 50% (I built the shelves but that's it)
-Coat Rack project - 90% (Except for 1 piece of trim and the hooks it's almost complete)
-Teaching Bubba the alphabet - 8.666% (We've gotten as far as ABC)
-Cleaning my car - 0% (Disgusting)
-Hanging new porch doors - 50% (1 for 2)
-Dresser and Armoire refinishing - 40% (primed and filled with junk already)
-Grill deck - 70% (ran out of gray stain)
-Weeding - 0% or 100% (it depends on if, like Bubba, you think Polk Weed is a Butterfly Bush)
-Help Ry build NorthEnd (his surfboard business) - ?% (huge endeavor)
-Build my own furniture refinishing business/Etsy Shop
There are about 42,987,875 other things that I've thought of but haven't made it to the do list yet. I'm hoping that by blogging 5 days a week I will feel the motivation to complete some things. Or that I can start to develop the Type A personality it's going to take for me to complete at least half the things on the list. But for now I think I'll go read a book. Right after I take a picture of the sun coming up, and feed the dogs, and put some clothes on, and make breakfast for Bubba, and start some laundry. Talk to ya soon.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Time is not on my side.
When I left my restaurant job (insert shudder) I planned to stick to a rigorous schedule. In my minds eye, I saw Bubba entertaining himself for hours at a time while I worked on my shed full of furniture or other crafty projects. I imagined time spent how I wanted to spend it with few worries more than how much flour got spilled on the floor when Bubba and I made our own bread. I imagined peaceful mornings that Bubba would sleep in and where I could sit on the porch and write this blog without interruption. I know, you have a bridge to sell me. The reality is that my life is filled with Constant Interruptions. My list of things to do is so long right now that I may not finish it before I'm 80.
Here's what yesterday looked like.
6:45am - Out of bed
6:47am - Coffee
6:48am - Blogging
6:48am - Feed 4 legged interruptions
6:49am - Bubba awake
6:50am - Catching butterflies in the yard
7:30am - Try to blog
7:31am - Looking at Butterflies in cage
7:45am - Breakfast
7:48am - Poop break (Bubba, not me)
7:58am - "You pay me!" ("you play with me")
8:20am - Get ready to take Bubba to Gran's
8:40am - Put Bubba in the car
8:43am - Still putting Bubba in the car
8:45am - Leave for Gran's
9:00am - Arrive at Gran's
9:12am - Leave Bubba at Gran's until 3pm
9:27am - Return home
9:40am - I don't know where 13 minutes went.
9:41am - Set up on the porch to work on a project I want to enter in Garden and Gun Magazines "Made in the South contest"
9:42am - Swat fly
9:43am - Swat fly
9:44am - Swat fly
9:45am - Scream string of obscenities at flies
9:46am - Thankful that we live in the middle of 100 acres and hopeful that neighbors didn't hear me screaming across the field
9:47am - Swat fly
9:48am - Realize I need a better arsenal
9:50am - Get in car and drive 9 minutes to store and buy toxic poisons with which to wage war on flies
10:21am - Return from store and trip getting out of car spilling large bag of toxic poisons
10:22am - Thankful that we live in the middle of 100 acres and hopeful the neighbors didn't see me fall down
10:25am - Wage war on flies
10:31am - Sit down to work with a sigh of relief and a big cough because of the cloud of toxic poisons
10:35am - Realize that I missed a step on my project
10:36am - Start project over
11:23am - Realize that I still don't have it right, go in search of ingenious ideas to make it work
11:38am - Try 3 different ideas
11:45am - Realize that I'm not a genius
11:47am - Try again
11:59am - Try again
12:12pm - Try again
12:30pm - Give up out of frustration and hunger
12:31pm - Feed 4 legged interruptions
12:32pm - Make lunch
1:04pm - Oops, too long on lunch, only 1 hour and 45 minutes left
1:05pm - Decide to work on a rattan table
1:09pm - Hear 4 legged interruptions scratching to be let in
1:09pm - Realize that I hadn't let them on the porch
1:10pm - Discover that they had walked through the screen, again
1:11pm - Try to find screen fixy thingamajiggy (or screen spline tool if you're technical)
1:15pm - Get frustrated with screen fixy thingamajiggy
1:16pm - Decide we need to invest in a doggy door
1:17pm - Spend 10 minutes planning how to build a doggy door with items on hand
1:27pm - Give up
1:28pm - Back to work on rattan table
2:00pm - Check time and stress about only having 45 Bubba Free minutes left
2:01pm - Ry comes home early
2:02pm - Discuss doggy door invention with Ry while working on rattan table (yay me)
2:30pm - Realize only 15 minutes left. Clean up work area because it's our dining room table
2:44pm - Leave to get Bubba from Gran's
2:50pm - Beat myself up because I didn't get anything done while he was at Gran's
3:00pm - Bubba is not ready to leave Gran's so we hang out for an hour
4:00pm - Leave Gran's
4:02pm - Bubba falls asleep in the car
4:10pm - Bubba on the couch still asleep
4:11pm - Set up work area on dining table again
4:15pm - Think of something I want to check on the internet
5:00pm - Realize I've used 45 minutes surfing the internet that could have been better spent working on rattan table
5:20pm - Start thinking about what to make for dinner while still working on rattan table
5:40pm - Bubba wakes up. Grumpy
5:55pm - Hand Bubba off to Ry for more butterfly catching
5:56pm - Clean up work area. Again
6:00pm - Start making dinner
6:30pm - Dinner's ready. Pour BIG glass of wine
6:32pm - Consider a second glass of wine
6:33pm - Look at Bubba and Ry smiling and talking over dinner and decide the second glass of wine not necessary
7:00pm - Clean up dinner
7:10pm - "You pay me!"
7:15pm - Settle on "paying" with legos mixed with k'nex. A recipe for disaster
7:45pm - Bubba has 14th fit of frustration. Consider that second glass of wine again
7:55pm - Put away legos and k'nex
8:00pm - Bathtime
8:01pm - Hmmm. maybe no bath tonight. Bubba's still grumpy
8:20pm - Bedtime for Bubba
8:30pm - Bubba gets up and I put him back to bed
8:35pm - Ry and I settle on couch to watch a recorded episode of Burn Notice
8:37pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
8:40pm - Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed
8:45pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
8:52pm - Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed
8:53pm - Thankful for DVR
9:00pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
9:19pm - Burn Notice over. Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed and get ready for bed myself
9:35pm - Get in bed. Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back in bed
9:48pm - Ry gets in bed. Bubba gets up. I put him back in bed
10:02pm - Bubba gets up. I assume Ry puts him back in bed since I fell asleep
Lessons learned:
1. If I had a Type A personality I would have gotten more done
2. Bubba should not take naps
Goals moving forward:
1. Develop Type A personality
2. Never let Bubba take a nap unless we have a sitter for the night
Here's what yesterday looked like.
6:45am - Out of bed
6:47am - Coffee
6:48am - Blogging
6:48am - Feed 4 legged interruptions
6:49am - Bubba awake
6:50am - Catching butterflies in the yard
7:30am - Try to blog
7:31am - Looking at Butterflies in cage
7:48am - Poop break (Bubba, not me)
7:58am - "You pay me!" ("you play with me")
8:20am - Get ready to take Bubba to Gran's
8:40am - Put Bubba in the car
8:43am - Still putting Bubba in the car
8:45am - Leave for Gran's
9:00am - Arrive at Gran's
9:12am - Leave Bubba at Gran's until 3pm
9:27am - Return home
9:40am - I don't know where 13 minutes went.
9:41am - Set up on the porch to work on a project I want to enter in Garden and Gun Magazines "Made in the South contest"
9:42am - Swat fly
9:43am - Swat fly
9:44am - Swat fly
9:45am - Scream string of obscenities at flies
9:46am - Thankful that we live in the middle of 100 acres and hopeful that neighbors didn't hear me screaming across the field
9:47am - Swat fly
9:48am - Realize I need a better arsenal
9:50am - Get in car and drive 9 minutes to store and buy toxic poisons with which to wage war on flies
10:21am - Return from store and trip getting out of car spilling large bag of toxic poisons
10:22am - Thankful that we live in the middle of 100 acres and hopeful the neighbors didn't see me fall down
10:25am - Wage war on flies
10:31am - Sit down to work with a sigh of relief and a big cough because of the cloud of toxic poisons
10:35am - Realize that I missed a step on my project
10:36am - Start project over
11:23am - Realize that I still don't have it right, go in search of ingenious ideas to make it work
11:38am - Try 3 different ideas
11:45am - Realize that I'm not a genius
11:47am - Try again
11:59am - Try again
12:12pm - Try again
12:30pm - Give up out of frustration and hunger
12:31pm - Feed 4 legged interruptions
12:32pm - Make lunch
1:04pm - Oops, too long on lunch, only 1 hour and 45 minutes left
1:05pm - Decide to work on a rattan table
1:09pm - Hear 4 legged interruptions scratching to be let in
1:09pm - Realize that I hadn't let them on the porch
1:10pm - Discover that they had walked through the screen, again
1:11pm - Try to find screen fixy thingamajiggy (or screen spline tool if you're technical)
1:15pm - Get frustrated with screen fixy thingamajiggy
1:16pm - Decide we need to invest in a doggy door
1:17pm - Spend 10 minutes planning how to build a doggy door with items on hand
1:27pm - Give up
1:28pm - Back to work on rattan table
2:00pm - Check time and stress about only having 45 Bubba Free minutes left
2:01pm - Ry comes home early
2:02pm - Discuss doggy door invention with Ry while working on rattan table (yay me)
2:30pm - Realize only 15 minutes left. Clean up work area because it's our dining room table
2:44pm - Leave to get Bubba from Gran's
2:50pm - Beat myself up because I didn't get anything done while he was at Gran's
3:00pm - Bubba is not ready to leave Gran's so we hang out for an hour
4:00pm - Leave Gran's
4:02pm - Bubba falls asleep in the car
4:10pm - Bubba on the couch still asleep
4:11pm - Set up work area on dining table again
4:15pm - Think of something I want to check on the internet
5:00pm - Realize I've used 45 minutes surfing the internet that could have been better spent working on rattan table
5:20pm - Start thinking about what to make for dinner while still working on rattan table
5:40pm - Bubba wakes up. Grumpy
5:55pm - Hand Bubba off to Ry for more butterfly catching
5:56pm - Clean up work area. Again
6:00pm - Start making dinner
6:30pm - Dinner's ready. Pour BIG glass of wine
6:32pm - Consider a second glass of wine
6:33pm - Look at Bubba and Ry smiling and talking over dinner and decide the second glass of wine not necessary
7:00pm - Clean up dinner
7:10pm - "You pay me!"
7:15pm - Settle on "paying" with legos mixed with k'nex. A recipe for disaster
7:45pm - Bubba has 14th fit of frustration. Consider that second glass of wine again
7:55pm - Put away legos and k'nex
8:00pm - Bathtime
8:01pm - Hmmm. maybe no bath tonight. Bubba's still grumpy
8:20pm - Bedtime for Bubba
8:30pm - Bubba gets up and I put him back to bed
8:35pm - Ry and I settle on couch to watch a recorded episode of Burn Notice
8:37pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
8:40pm - Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed
8:45pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
8:52pm - Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed
8:53pm - Thankful for DVR
9:00pm - Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back to bed
9:19pm - Burn Notice over. Bubba gets up. I put him back to bed and get ready for bed myself
9:35pm - Get in bed. Bubba gets up. Ry puts him back in bed
9:48pm - Ry gets in bed. Bubba gets up. I put him back in bed
10:02pm - Bubba gets up. I assume Ry puts him back in bed since I fell asleep
Lessons learned:
1. If I had a Type A personality I would have gotten more done
2. Bubba should not take naps
Goals moving forward:
1. Develop Type A personality
2. Never let Bubba take a nap unless we have a sitter for the night
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