PROGRESS

They started working on the house yesterday! Two guys worked all day to get the old sheet rock down from the drive-thru.

This is under J's room. I like these guys. Not only are they putting the house back together, but I can actually understand them. There's usually a language barrier between me and whatever person is working on the house. My Spanish is not a lot better than their English.

OUT WITH THE OLD!!

IN WITH THE NEW!!

THE TRASH SO FAR

MINNIE'S HIDING FROM THEM

We bought a new ceiling fan last night. It's black and sorta contemporary looking. I think J will like it. He wanted to paint his room red. Our kitchen is red, but D. said no to the complete red bedroom. I don't know what color to choose now...maybe a dark gray?? He'll probably veto that too. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow is my birfday. I'll be 44. Lately I've been feeling every day of it too.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

MY SISTER CALLED ME "GRACE" AS A CHILD

Not Grace as in "she's so graceful, like a swan" but "she's so clutzy, how does she walk daily". Friday I got a wild hair I would use my hand held portable vacuum to clean up around the computer. It's gross around here...crumbs, bits of paper, dust, etc. So I put the vacuum on the desk and bent down to plug it in. Instead, I pulled the thing down onto the top of my foot! Did you hear a scream Friday morning? It was me! I immediately hopped to the kitchen to get the ice/alcohol bag we keep in the freezer (not a good sign). I hopped back in here and THEN took a peek at my foot. All I can say is UGGH! The bruise was already about two inches tall and a good three inches wide. It looked like an egg under my skin. The thought crossed my mind about possible fracture but I removed it quickly. I kept the ice on it 15 min, propped it up, took advil. Did RICE without the C. Today, it's better and a lovely shade of purple. I actually took a picture of it, but couldn't bring myself to gross you all out. So I deleted it. You'll just have to take my work for it...it's ugly. And it hurts.

Then on Sunday, I reached down to pat Bailey on the head. She zigged when I zagged and her tooth hit the top of my hand. Now there's an ugly bruise on the top of my knuckle.

Why am I so clumsy? This happens to me all the time. Jordan and I were shopping last week and he dropped a hanger on the floor. I immediately stepped on it and it slid. I almost did the splits! If there's a hole to step in, I do it. A wrinkle in the carpet? yep, I find it. I fell off my shoe in the parking lot at church last Dec. the day of our Christmas program. I stood an hour praying just to get through it. We sang the song last week practicing for this year's program and it was the first thing that popped into my head...I was singing this song with a hurt foot last year.

Geez. Think I should just stay in bed.

PAPERWORK...I HATE PAPERWORK!

Back when I had a job, the most frustrating part of it was the paperwork. Well, actually it was dealing with psycho women (none of whom read this blog). Want me to build a display? Watch me throw away the directions and build it without it. I mentioned earlier that we received one of the insurance checks for the house repairs and that it's made out to us and the mortgage company. Something about them having to do it that way so peeps won't cash the check and fly off to the Caribbean. I would never do that but I guess some folks would. Sooooo, anyway, I have to send my paperwork to the mortgage company with the endorsed check and they will send us 1/3 of the $$$ back to start paying the contractors. Never mind the fact that I already paid the roofer before receiving the insurance money. 28 pages. That's how many pages is going into the Fed Ex envelope. What are the odds that it's all correct? Will they send it back and make me redo it? It's been 6 weeks tomorrow that Ike messed up my house. I wonder how long it will take to get it back to normal?

Whine, whine, whine....

IT'S A SLOW NEWS DAY

Not much going on around here this week. Hubby is out of town; C. is having tests this week; J. is busy with his girl; Bailey is chasing the squirrels and Minnie is sleeping (like usual).


I stumbled upon a blog that you might find interesting. On my bloglist it's Rockette 388. This is a blog from a beautiful young lady I've known since she was 5 years old. They were our neighbors in Owasso then they moved to Albuquerque. Actually they moved up to the mountains in Sandia. It's with them we used to go snow skiing. They moved back to Owasso last year. Rockette's dream has always been to be a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. She auditioned as soon as she turned 18 and almost made it. She auditioned again last summer and DID make it!! Her parents took her to New York in Sept. and she's busy learning the dance numbers for the Christmas show. Can you imagine being 19 and living your dream? She lives a few blocks away from RCMH and rehearses there everyday for hours at a time. To say I'm proud of her is an understatement.

Just thought I'd share.

Still waiting for the contractor to call me to let me know when they can start work. Here's what the room looks like today

I like how the fan is holding up the ceiling. Everyday I go in and more insulation has fallen down. I've stopped sweeping it. What's the point?




We received the insurance check Saturday. Yep, that's good news except it was written to us and the mortgage company. Now we have to send it in to them with about a zillion papers for them to process before they will release it back to us 1/3 at a time. I don't get paid enough for the work
I'm doing with this claim!

Happy Tuesday!

I GUESS I SHOULD'VE KNOWN IT WAS COMING

Look what J. brought home from school today


GULP!

I wasn't ready for that.


Wasn't it just yesterday I ordered annoucements for son #1? Geez, time is really flying by me.



And I don't like it one bit.

LOOK AT MY LOVELY NEW ROOF!

When I last left you, the roofers were working away. I'm so amazed how fast they fixed it. They had the old shingles torn off in about 15 minutes. Of course, they were obviously not on the roof very firmly or they wouldn't have blown off.


OFF WITH THE OLD!!


HE'S THANKFUL HE DOESN'T HAVE TO GET UP THERE!




THEY ARE DISTURBING HER NAP

AND MAKING BAILEY HOWL!!



They were finished about 6:30. We went to dinner with friends and when we got home they were gone, their mess was cleaned up and the roof was fixed! Thank you, Jesus!


Saturday I went to the Scarecrow Festival in Chappell Hill, Texas. Think "Affair of the Heart" outside in the heat with a bazillion people. I bought a new fall thing for the door then came home and properly decorated the entry.


D's mom & dad and sister & bil are coming Thursday. Tomorrow is Senior picnic day (didn't I just do that with Clint?). I probably won't be blogging much but I'll still be reading yours. That's so much easier. I can't wait for my family to come. They were supposed to have came B.I. Oh, and that reminds me....I found J's favorite jacket today! I was afraid it was a hurricane casualty.


Ta-Ta

THE BEST I CAN DO FOR NOW

This post is in response to Bev's beautiful autumn salute. Here is my decor.....

Do you like it?

Just a little Friday humor (very little). They are fixing my roof now. The red thing is the air compressor and the blue cord is connected to it. The green wheel barrel and trash all over the place are their's also. I'm not complainin....no sir...I'm very thankful. It rained Tuesday and I was in Jordan's room in the dark at 6:30 AM setting the buckets in the right spot to catch the water dripping in. Kinda makes me want to get my money back from that kid that put the tarp on!

Happy Friday Everyone!!

MY NEW BFF

Is the man shown here delivering my new shingles!!




Aren't they pretty? Pray they don't get stolen before they are put on my roof! Seriously, the roofer told Dewayne to have them unloaded near the garage door because people will steal them from construction sights. When my new bff came this morning I pointed to the back of the drive-way but his lifter wouldn't under the house. (I would insert a link to the picture of the damage, but can't figure out how to do it....Linda????) So now when hubby gets home, looks like he and J will be moving those packages one at a time. I imagine they weigh 75 pounds a piece.

THE BARGAIN BOWL

I went on a day trip with some girlfriends Saturday. I'm so thankful I can say that! Anyway, we went to the town of Round Top, Texas where they have a massive antique/craft show. Think Canton on a little smaller scale. None of us were really looking for anything in particular but we all managed to find a "treasure". Mine is this bowl

It's a Fireking bowl like my Granny had. I remember these bowls vividly. She had a mixing bowl that always had potato salad in it at Thanksgiving. She would take a boiled egg, cut the yolk in half and place it in the center. Then slice the white part of the egg and put it around the yolk to look like a flower. When my Granny couldn't live alone any more, my uncles decided they would sell my Grandparents things in auction to pay for her living expenses. I had to bid on the things that meant the most to me. The first thing I HAD to have was a manger set that I proudly display every Christmas. The only other things I HAD to have were some of her dishes and as many of the bowls as I could afford. Well, I wasn't the only one bidding on the bowls and I only managed to get one of them. It's been my passion ever since to buy the pattern when I see it. I bought this bowl Saturday for ONE DOLLAR!!! I could not believe my eyes. It was in a box outside a booth marked "everything's a dollar". I looked around thinking surely this bowl doesn't belong here. It's beautiful!! I don't have one exactly like it and I felt like I was stealing it! I would've gladly paid more for it. I brought it home and proudly showed my family. They understand what a big deal it is. I ran it through the dishwasher and it came out so shiny and just too pretty to use.

That got me wondering about the origin of the bowl that ended up in the dollar box. You know it belonged to a Granny at one time. These bowls are from the 1950s. Why would anyone discard it? Did someone need money so badly they put it in a garage sale and it eventually ended up in Round Top, Texas? Did they have extras and didn't need this one anymore? Was it a mistake and now some granddaughter is looking for her Granny's bowl? I don't know why I stumbled upon it, but think God must have thought I needed a little pick me up after the storm fiasco.

I'm grateful for my dollar bowl!

FIVE THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM BLOGGING

This is tough for me. I began blogging not for some theraputic help, but as a way to keep up with friends. Anyhoo, here's what I've learned so far.....

1. Complete strangers will pray for me.
2. I will pray for complete strangers.
3. I've discovered I blog the same way I talk...fast and don't make a lot of sense sometimes. I also switch back and forth between present tense and past tense.
4. I've learned I don't know all the blogging rules. And some I know, I choose to ignore.
5. I SPEND WAY TOO MUCH TIME HERE!!!

And now a few things I wish I knew:

1. I wish I knew how to make my blog pretty. I can tinker with a myspace page and make it look outstanding but this is much harder to figure out.
2. I wish I could think of something entertaining everyday.
3. I wish Bailey and Minnie could write their owns blogs. Wouldn't you like to know what they say?
4. I wish I could stay awake later and read blogs at night. (however, Jordan is usually on at night)
5. I wish more of my Okie friends had blogs to read.

And now something totally unrelated.....
Several months ago I stumbled (actually God led me to it) upon a blog of a friend I went to church with in Owasso, OK in the '90s. While I counted her as a good friend, we lost touch after they moved to Arkansas. This gal was diagnosed with lung cancer and is keep a daily blog on living with it. It's http://vickidees.blogspot.com in case you would like to take a peek. I know, just what you need....another blog to read. Oh, and have you heard this song? Those Australian Hillsong peeps just keep writing amazing music!

Happy Friday everyone!