I May Need an Intervention

As y’all know, I’m still working on Eldest’s room. Furniture has been repositioned, shelves readied, and knick-knacks are done and ready to be displayed in the manner I know should be done. But there are some things still being worked on, and she has been slow to purge her childish things, so we are still moving at the speed of galoshes in quicksand.

Nevertheless, I have been busy being creative, as well. Boy, have I been having fun making new things out of random crap old stuff I find. I had this cheese dome, bought foolishly at a home party, just collecting dust in a kitchen cabinet and taking up precious space better served by my Lolita™ glasses. I’m making it into a bell jar for her room, complete with a skull.

Like this, just not as cute.

No one can say I am NOT a cool mom.

In the course of making last minute adjustments to her stuff, I have had to go in periodically to the local home improvement store. I was there last weekend, asking about a light kit. The young man who was helping me was interrupted by an older gentleman:

Gent: Can you tell me where to find a filter for a pitcher?

Salesguy: Hm…not sure, but I think you can find them in the kitchen supplies section, right next to the paint section.

Me: No, they are in the plumbing section, far back wall, right past the kitchen appliances and before the salt for water softeners.

Gent: (looking strangely at me)

Salesguy: (looking strangely at me)

Me: I’ve been in that section recently…

Salesguy #2 walking by: Hey, Ms. Aggie*. Haven’t seen you in a couple of days!

Me: (sighing)

Salesguy #1: You should work here.

I’m seriously thinking about it. But I get the feeling my paycheck would just revert to the store anyway 😉

Another One of Those Days

….when I don’t have much to say.

This too, shall pass.

Lush-ious

There was a good reason as to why I didn’t write a post yesterday. A very good reason.

This was my first trip to attend, and it was awesome! The Gruene Music and Wine Fest is considered a stepping stone for performers, and attracts people from all over the USA. Several well-known country music stars got the start at the Fest, including Garth Brooks. Gruene Hall is still a popular venue as well as a tourist attraction. But I wasn’t there for the music, as good as it sounded coming from the Hall. Nope, I had missed out on Clint Black, so I set my eyes on the prize.

WHOOP!! Your very own tasting glass. For a fee of $20 (which in retrospect, is pretty steep) you get a cheap tasting glass and five tickets for five tastings. Now, there were dozens of wineries featured. DOZENS!!!! Five tickets were just not going to cut it, right? Luckily for the gals, Hubby had volunteered to be our designated driver in exchange for videotaping our drunken conversations, and he divvied up his tickets between the rest of us. And by a strange quirk of fate, we got extra tickets, so we didn’t have to buy any more! I ♥ Fate. Anyway, we managed to sample some wines from several small wineries, finding some to be hidden gems in the rough, so to speak. Others….not so much. I do have to give a shout out to the best winery name we saw: Three Dudes Winery. I ask you: how can you go wrong with that?? And yes, their wine was very good. All in all, a great time was had by all, and I’m sure I will be making a return trip next year.

Next up on the fest roster: WURSTFEST!!

Because you can’t go wrong with German food and beer 😉

Whoops…. I Forgot…

Hubby is home today, since he gets to enjoy a four-day weekend, and I completely forgot that my job here is to entertain y’all.

FORGIVE ME!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, short story: I have to go figure out how to get paint off his car right now, so here’s the funniest thing I have seen in the last twenty minutes.

FYI, the only thing I don’t have is a cat suit, because I don’t want to look like chorizo.

Have a great Friday!! 😉

Industriality

Well, since Eldest still hasn’t finished purging her room of the unwanted, I thought I would share an idea I got from the Lowe’s Creative Ideas site. It came out so cool, I will make another for Son’s room.

You’ll need:

• Amerimax Flex-a-Spout in white
• Utilitech 6′ Incandescent Rope Light
• Strong scissors to cut through plastic

The original link said to use a 12″ LED rope light, but guess what? Lowe’s no longer carries it. Also, in my opinion the 12″ would have been too short (shut it, people), as you will see.

First, take the Flex-a-Spout and cut off the square part. I chose to cut it off right where the flexing of the tube begins.

The directions at the link tell you to fold the light in half and place inside the tube, then bend the tube into the shape you wish. But I found it easier to bend the tube first, and then push the folded rope light through. Once done, you have this:

BEHOLD THE AWESOMENESS!!!!

The total cost for the light was less than $20. And Lowe’s gives the military a 10% discount, so it came out to less than $17.50 with tax. I think it goes well with the whole Steampunk vibe in her room, plus it gives her another source of lighting without breaking the bank, since the lamp I originally wanted was a whopping $90.

I love my kid, but there are limits.

Hopefully she will be done this evening, and the furniture moved and situated the way I want it where it needs to go. If not, I will treat y’all to a food hater’s recipe. Or bad Youtube videos. Whichever strikes my fancy and drowns out the gnashing of my teeth 😉

Feeling Stabby

I am not a happy camper today. Aside the fact that Eldest is STILL not finished reorganizing her room, I now have been dealing with a rather ornery thorn in my side: my phone bill. It’s not what I pay. It’s the fact that I’m not getting paper billing when I have requested it five times already.

I understand that I may get someone in a foreign country to help me. I have no problems with foreign accents. But I do have a problem when I keep requesting paper billing, and I don’t get it. It is still an option with my carrier, after all. And the worst part? I can’t see my bill online, because apparently the sign-up feature doesn’t recognize me as being a customer!!!

But hey, let me skip one payment and they sure as heck find my address to send me my overdue bill.

So, if they can send me an overdue notice, why can’t they send me the freakin’ bill in the first place???

Yes, they are now on my Voodoo List™. Here’s hoping that after a stabby session with their representative doll, they get their act together. If next month comes around and there’s no bill, I will make origami machetes out of $1 bills and deliver them personally 😉

In My Next Life

Y’all have read that cute little email or post about how women want to be a bear in their next life, right?

I don’t.

Sure, you get to sleep through your pregnancy and eat whatever you want, and never have to shave, and kill whatever threatens your cubs, and hey, even fish all day.

Before caffeination.

I’m a “glass empty” kind of gal. I don’t want to come back as a mama bear. That just means I will end up as someone else’s fur rug or trophy. The only upside to being a bear is being able to terrorize campers in Yellowstone. And even then you run the risk of being shot with thorazine, or worse, shot with bullets. No thanks. I’ll pass on being a bear.

No, in my next life I want to be an American Bald Eagle. Awesome eyesight, sharp talons, great nesting, and totally protected. Even my feathers are protected.

I just hope I come back in the US side, and not Canada 😀

It Feels Mondayney

Because it is.

It all began with setting the wrong time on my alarm: PM for AM. I overslept, and the dogs barking at the door roused me from a rather interesting dream where I was selling mangoes by the side of the road and Richard Burton buying a peck for his crush, Lindsay Lohan. I asked him if he knew he was dead, and he said he did, but he “came back” for Lindsay. I asked him if he was interested in dating her, and he said she thinks it’s just for dating, but that he needs to fill a roster for the Grim Reaper.

If I were Ms. Lohan, I would take rehab seriously.

Anyway, I took the kids to school, dropped off my neighbor’s little girl, and came back to the smell of colitas spray paint, rising up through the air. Turns out Hubby drove over a can of spray paint in the garage. So, not only is one of Eldest’s things for her room ruined, he got spray paint on his car, too. Luckily, I know how to take that off. Then it was off to take my BIL back to his barracks, and then finally to take Little One’s PE clothes to school, because since everyone overslept, she forgot.

I ask you: why do I have to be the one to wake everyone, when they ALL have their own alarm clocks??

Anyway, this week can’t get any worse, right? RIGHT?? Here’s hoping y’all’s doesn’t, either 😉