Cookies !

Dearest Son and I were supposed to go out for a bit today, but the Fates were against us – that or vulcanized rubber. Flat tire. To make it up to him, I made his favorite lunch and together, we made chocolate chip cookies ! Even managed to save some for Beloved Hubby. We ate all the lunch, every grain. He made a holiday card for his grandparents, and we’ll take it to the PO tomorrow.

One good thing about my dietary changes – it took a lot fewer cookies than before ‘til I was ready to push away and say ‘done’. Wish I could say the same for the unbaked dough, though… I could probably have eaten a third of it all by myself, no chips. I swear, that’s better than cookies to me.

Finished reading Merchants of Deception, a muckraking book about Amway from a former near-Diamond distributor, online. Made me glad we’re too poor to invest – we need every coin we can scratch up to maintain this decadence ! I confess, it’s kind of hard to feel sympathy for folks who went bankrupt buying Cadillacs and travelling all over the world to sell soap and vitamins, but the biz really did a number on that guy, and his whole family. No money costs as much as easy money, and realizing there’s no such thing as unlimited wealth by selling things most folks buy much cheaper at Mal-Wart would have perhaps gone a long way to helping him not take it as far as he did.

Beloved and I traded car stereos last night – just in time, he had one heckuva long slog home tonight. His quit working, mine worked fine, it just wasn’t installed well, and bounced like crazy with every pebble on the road. Since I’m rarely in the car for more than ten minutes at a time, and the bounce-noise drove me nutz, I was glad to get rid of it. Plus, he’s behind the wheel for at least an hour a day, often twice that, so it made sense to swap. When I drive more than that, like to the VA, I prefer to have the trip totally quiet anyway, just in case. I’m glad he has some company on the road !

He brought us home some cherry candy canes, as the Dollar Tree he went to today required a minimum purchase for ATM cards. They look quite pretty on the tree !

Or, they could be a very noisy Advent countdown calendar...

Nearly all my oxygen supplies went bye-bye today. Too healthy to retain the prescription. Beloved Hubby’s worried, but even with this cold, I feel pretty good. Sure, I’m horking up gunk and the coughing hurts a bit, but at least it’s moving, and in between coughing series, I feel fine. Tired, but fine. I’m hoping the coffee I just made helps.

Gained about half a closet of storage space, and immediately filled it up. Of course, once I put the vacuum away, I needed it out. Just like my sewing machine, if I leave it uncovered, anticipating some activity soon, it ends up sitting around untouched for a week. Soon as I start covering it again, I’m sewing like a fiend. Never fails.

Speaking of sewing, I actually did a bit today. Beloved found some beige Velcro ® during the move and asked me to make him some extension cord / power cord straps for him out of it Basically, six inches of loop sewn reversed to six inches of hook, so it’ll work either way. Cheap-serged the raw edges so they won’t fray, too. Five finished off the length, and he’s pleased. Me, too – that stuff’s been kicking around for weeks, so I’m happy to have it somewhere else ! I also repaired a washed-twice potholder the previous tenants left behind.

Thanks to other things forgotten, and misdirected mail, I know a lot more about the people who used to live here than I want to. I had hoped the bag of kids’ shoes was just forgotten, since very little other kids’ stuff was left here, but I think the truth is a bit sadder than that. I hope that, wherever they are now, they have a great holiday and better 2015. And that we don’t get anything else from the county’s CPS department. Or any of the local casinos. I mean, how many ‘frequent player’ cards could they possibly have collected ? 

The VA drops a bomb on me in the mailbox...

Oookay. I got some startling news today. I’m scheduled for my ‘borg implant’ (my cardiac device, not sure which one I’m getting, there was some debate going on during my last appointment) on Jan. 22, provided I pass the physical the day before. After the implantation, they’ll keep me overnight, and if all goes well, the rest of my recovery will be at home – including a ban on driving for two weeks ! It’s probably fine, I may not feel up to driving anyway, but gosh, that seems like a long time to be stuck at home. Then again, my little hermit self has gone longer without going out by choice before… and think of all the sewing I’ll do…oh, wait.

I’ll have to avoid electromagnetic fields. Do sewing machines put out those ? Yes. Aw, cruddles … well, I guess I can keep it six inches from the motor, especially if it’s put in on the left side. I’ll have to ask about that.

Meanwhile, I’m slightly sick. I don’t know if I’m just having allergic reactions, or I’ve caught cold, ‘cause the symptoms are the same. Took some antihistamines and darn near fell asleep standing, and when I woke up, my throat was Sahara-dry. Ten minutes later, I’m wondering how to Velcro ® a box of tissues to my leg and enjoying the fine taste, if not any medicinal properties, of Luden’s Wild Cherry Throat Drops. Not cough drops, throat drops. There’s an important distinction there.

My new checks arrived – SuperValueChecks.com said they wouldn’t arrive ‘til the 23^rd. It’s amazing how good it feels to actually have checks with the same address we live in. Checks from the shared account are from at least six years ago, we still have a box and a half. I just got one box this time, and it’ll probably outlast our stay here, too, mostly because we just don’t write checks for anything other than rent these days. I got At The Beach simply because I thought they were pretty. As with most checks, they’re not that vivid in the harsh light of the front porch. It’s odd how they shipped. Each of five packets were attached to a cardstock folder, with the register and cheapie checkbook holder making up the sixth slot. Guess shipping them flat like that saves on costs. Too bad they charged me as much as they could for it !

Nightmare stands guard until the students, faculty, and parents of Monster High return...

Was planning on not unpacking my dolls for a bit longer yet – even though I miss them like crazy and almost can’t create anything without them, there were so many other ‘house’ tasks I needed to complete, it seemed almost selfish of me to take care of my things first. But then I watched Beloved Hubby enjoy his stuff and internet hobbies with quite a lot on his ‘to do’ list, too, and decided they’d been penned up too long. So, while he napped, I cleared and swept the space, then Dearest Son and I moved one of the bookcases into our ‘parlor’ (i.e., where the Arena is, I’ve started to call it The Salon) and took a break for lunch. Another dismal, no-sun day, so we had soup and I tried to perk m’self up with some coffee.

I could hardly wait to get my dolls back, but I knew if I rushed, I’d probably end up with another tummy-ache, as I’m starting to think at least some of these too-frequent roils are stress or just plain psychosomatic. The pain is real, but I’ve come to wonder if it isn’t a bit convenient at times. Not to mention I had to clean the shelves and bookcase first.

So I dawdled a bit, strung out my coffee, and plotted where the MH shelf would go. I almost hate to mess with the doll bleachers again – removing one (or attempting to) wrecks the whole thing – but I doubt the shelf could hold 60+ dolls on stands. Plus I’d most likely run into the whole ‘touch one and spend the next ten minutes picking the rest up off the floor’ thing just the same. So I’ve come up with two amendments to the bleachers, and until I’ve attempted the ‘fixes’, the MH crew has to stay boxed a bit longer. Beloved woke up and installed the shelf, a bit lower this time, so I can reach everybody. Much as I loved where it was at ThatPit, between the shelf’s height and the width of the Arena table, I could barely reach anybody anyway. I want all my dolls accessible this time !

So as night – and a hail-loaded thunderstorm – approach, nearly all my dolls are out, but none sixth-scale are posed or arranged. But that’s OK, I have the rest of the week to get that done. At least now, I can see everyone, and I have plans. Yaaay ! 

Odd Sequence Day

It’s 12/13/14 ! I didn’t realize it until I ran to the bank for a deposit for Beloved Hubby. When I told Dearest Son, the bank manager laughed.

Since Beloved actually has the weekend off, we decided to make one more run to ThatPit for our stuff. Which M&FIL had thoughtfully moved into piles on top of piles, on top of piles. Gee, thanks. It wouldn’t have been such a pain, but half the stuff in the piles wasn’t ours. Don’t know whose it is, maybe they’re trying to give us stuff, but we don’t have space for much beyond our own junk at this point.

I know it’s petty, and they’re helping in their own minds, but…  I left the MH bleachers on the shelf where they were displayed. Shelf is still anchored into the wall, located behind one of the bookcases. Why they felt they had to move two of the bleachers to the bookcases and the third on the floor is beyond me. The shelf was still there, anchored to the wall. They relocated a bunch of our stuff – fragile stuff at the bottom of piles of not-our junk – for no apparent reason. I understand they wanted to move back into the main house for as long as they could, but all that stuff was already in the still-abandoned living room, why did they waste their time messing with it at all ?

I ended up repacking everything I could and shoving boxes into the car while MIL told me everything but what I wanted to know – by now my allergies were at FULL TILT !! – and taking out most of my blistering verbal aggression into the innocent air of Emmy-car’s front seat on the way home. I was so glad to be alone, as it was my only option. That, and the simple knowledge that the few things left are too big for me to get, so while there may be one more trip left, that’ll be it, and if there’s a Christmas present for me, it’ll be that I never have to go to ThatPit ever again.

But my jewelry armoire, my bike, the bookcases, my sewing fluorescent light bar, the MH bleachers, and some random everybody’s crap boxes are home now, staged in the garage, waiting for eventual placement. The few things that remain at ThatPit I really don’t care about, but a couple we may be able to sell, so… During the upcoming week, I hope to get most of our things moved out of there, as both Beloved and I like that he can park in the garage at night – better security for all those pricey tools.

We also put the camper shell back on – it’s been off since the last ThatPit run last weekend – so at least his tools will have shelter on the way to and from work again. Emptied three small boxes that have been in the way for the last couple weeks while watching Dateline episodes - Beloved and Dearest napped – and dumped the boxes in the recycling cart. May have it filled by next pick-up if I keep to my schedule !

Total Flea Market Disappointment

The Flea Market was a complete wash-out. Last time I saw that much valueless junk in one place, I was trying to move it to our new house ! I mean, do you know anyone that wants a large still-in-box John Goodman ‘Fred Flinstone’ doll from the live-action 1994 movie The Flintstones ? Maybe if your American Girl doll wants a father figure…

We walked around twice, and about the only interesting thing, besides the sheer volume of crap nobody wanted, was the birds who flew around inside, dining on spilled popcorn and perching on booth walls. Mostly sparrows.

My stomach started up again towards the end of the second circuit, and we left for home without visiting the nearby thrift I’d planned to. Didn’t buy a thing. I’d promised Dearest Son a slushie if we didn’t, and I want him to see that Beloved Hubby and I will do all we can to keep our promises, so off we went. He had to go in by himself, though, I was really in some pain. I kept an eye on him, and he did fine.

A nap at home, and I felt better. Made lunch, but couldn’t eat much before my tummy was ticked again. I think I’m gonna give up eating, it only ends in pain for me ! 

Halfway between 'Ever After High' and 'Frozen', there is... Snow Princess.

I love it when bootlegs come to me,
I don't have to send to China for 'em on eBay !
BTW, there was no 'Elsa' version, just a
very generic blonde Cinderella. 

Massive tummy-ache today, so I didn’t get a lot done. Put switchplates on a bunch of naked power outlets, dragged the last of the torn-up carpet down from our bedroom and into the trash and wheeled all the cans around – tomorrow’s trash day, after all. Broke down a collection of used liquor-store boxes and added them to the recycling bin, and cleaned and swept the porch. Was supposed to finish cleaning and lining the cabinets, but that just didn’t happen.

I really should start doing the work I have planned for the day first thing. After all, I did get to the grocery, the pawn shop, Dollar General, and the thrift down the street, but all I bought were some of the most beautiful apples I’ve ever seen. On sale, too – huge Red Delicious, eight pounds for $3.33. Every one of them looks like it just got bagged up after finishing its work as set dressing on a Disney movie. Nearly bought Top Secret!, but it’s just not the classic that Airplane ! is. I can see most of the funny bits on YouTube anytime.

Beloved Hubby says he’ll help me with the cabinets this weekend, but I really hope to knock them out tomorrow. First, though, Flea Market ! Wish us luck !