Where I work

I thought I might share this with you.

This is a picture of the church where I now work:

This is a picture of the church where I used to work:

New England churches look a lot alike!

(FYI: I was not the one who laid on her belly to take the first picture)

Another Book Meme

I liked the book meme over at Queen Goob's so I thought I'd play along.
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Pick up the nearest book(s).
Turn to page 123.
Find the 5th sentence.
Copy down the next three sentences..
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"Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict," by Laurie Viera Rigler

She reminds me of Frank's mother, who, at our engagement dinner, talked to me incessantly about what a catch Wes was. Not her son, whom I was going to marry, but Wes, his best friend. Did I understand why such an extraordindarily good-looking young man such as Wes was still unatached?


"The Gravedigger's Daughter," by Joyce Carol Oates

Gus said it was good news, wasn't it?
Pa said, sputtering, "Bring the damn 'prize' out, I want to see this damn 'prize' for myself. Fast!"


"Fast" counts as a sentence there, right?

Actually I have finished the first book and am about to start the second. I just bought two new books but left them in another room so they don't count on this meme!

By the way, I have just read about MEME at Wikipedia (thanks for the idea, Goob!) and now I know it is pronounced in one syllable, to sound like GENE. Not MiMi, the heavily made-up secretary on "The Drew Carey Show." (blushing at my ignorance...)

100th Post: 100 things about me, 76-100

76. I love my new car (PT Cruiser). It’s a blast to drive.
77. I haven’t been this tickled about a car since my very first car – a 1973 Super Beetle.
78. I love games. Board games, card games, video games, PC games.
79. No one in my family likes to play games.
80. My best friend is British.
81. I developed a peanut allergy at the age of 46.
82. After spending a full day in the emergency room for the peanut reaction, I was tested for other allergens.
83. I am also allergic to dairy, pollen, but the number one thing is CORN.
84. I really miss not being able to eat corn on the cob in the summer
85. Corn syrup, dextrose, or maltodextrine is in almost every packaged food item; it’s a very limited range of foods I can eat. (Yet I'm still very over weight-go figure.)
86. I love movies.
87. I am currently reading “Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict”. It’s amusing, but not deep.
88. I hate snow. This hatred came forth after many winters of shoveling snow.
89. I like dogs, but I love cats.
90. When Mt. Saint Helen’s blew her top, I was living 150 miles south, yet it still knocked pictures off my walls.
91. I was living in the SF Bay area when the Loma Prieta “World Series” earthquake hit in 1989.
92. That’s enough natural disaster for me, thank you very much.
93. I love the British comedies on PBS.
94. I love the smell of fresh laundry.
95. After wearing jeans to work for the past four years, I’m finding it a challenge to dress “up” five days a week for my new job.
96. I love teaching Sunday School.
97. I am the “Craft Queen” when it comes to kid crafts, and I usually lead all the crafts for our Vacation Bible School. But this year I will be working and can’t participate.
98. I have come to despise flying.
99. I like bright colors, and rarely wear black.
100. PINK is my favorite color! (Big shocker!)

Boy, this was hard. I’m glad I’ve reached the end, and I’m grateful the tradition doesn’t include 200 things on your 200th post!

100th Post -100 Things About Me: 51-75

51. I have lived in New England for 15 years.
52. Before moving here at the age of 34, I had moved 17 times after moving out of my parent’s house.
53. When you move that often, you travel lighter than most.
54. Living in one house for 15 years killed that!
55. I am not the least creative or artistic. Except with a computer.
56. I love office supply stores the way some women love shoe stores.
57. I love playing tourist in New York City but I’m happy to come home to Tiny Town.
58. We are such small town country bumpkins, when we go visit family in a city, Darling Daughter and I are amazed at the garbage trucks. The truck itself picks up each can and dumps it! No guys riding at the back or anything!
59. When I was a teenager I belonged to an organization called “Rainbow Girls.” It was a youth group connected to the Masonic Lodge. I loved it.
60. It taught me responsibility, and respect, and, archaic as it sounds, lady-like behavior.
61. I got married in 1978 at the age of 19.
62. The marriage lasted 9 years.
63. While cleaning out my attic last April, I found a box inside of a box, which turned out to hold husband # 1’s Boy Scout patches, badges, and handbook.
64. I looked up his address on the internet and shipped it to him.
65. I think that’s proof that I’m a nice person!
66. Having said that – I am immensely entertained by South Park, Family Guy and Miami: 911.
67. I’ve come to the conclusion that I have the sense of humor of an adolescent boy.
68. Pull my finger….JUST KIDDING!
69. When I was in high school, I tp’d a house with my friends, ONE TIME.
70. It was a beloved teacher who had a good sense of humor.
71. As we were leaving the scene of the crime we passed he and his wife in their car, coming home. I felt incredibly guilty.
72. I was extremely shy as a kid. Hard to believe now.
73. My first job at the age of 16 was as a cashier, and I was so shy I couldn’t look customers in the eye, or say “thank you.” But the job helped me come out of my shell.
74. I still think it would be fun to be a Target cashier. Nowadays you don’t even have to count the change back, and they have that cool scanner thingie!
75. But I’m pretty sure I’d spend my entire paycheck before I left the store.

100th Post/Things About Me, 26-50

26. I love being a church secretary.
27. I can type 110 words a minute.
28. I just started a new job at a new church.
29. It’s a much bigger church in a much bigger town.
30. My old job was at a church that was first gathered in 1789.
31. My new job is at a church that was first gathered in 1721.
32. I’ve met members at the new church who can trace their ancestry in town back to eight generations.
33. Some of them can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower.
34. My family came to America on a much later boat!
35. I seem to have surgery once each decade: knee surgery at 15, appendix out at 25, c-section at 36, and deviated septum at 48.
36. The surgery for the deviated septum did, in fact, help my snoring.
37. My family is grateful my snoring is better.
38. Note that I did not say my snoring was nonexistent!
39. I had six years of French class in school.
40. My junior high French teacher was my favorite teacher of all time.
41. I had years of piano lessons as a kid.
42. I loved playing the piano.
43 . Although I can still read music, I can’t play the piano anymore.
44. I wish I had studied the flute instead of the piano, because you can carry a flute with you throughout your life.
45. Both sets of grandparents had pianos as did my parents.
46. Somehow I ended up without ANY of the pianos. What’s up with that?
47. I loved all my grandparents dearly, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of them.
48. A life regret of mine is that Darling Daughter does not live closer to grandparents and cousins.
49. I never planned to have children; in fact I planned NOT to have any.
50. I can’t imagine life without Darling Daughter.

100th Post

This sort of snuck up on me. 100 posts! In keeping with what appears to be a blogging tradition, I will present 100 (boring and useless) facts about myself, 25 at a time.

100 (Boring) Things about me

1. I have lived in three states: Oregon, California, and Massachusetts.

2. I acquired my old kitty, who died last year at the age of 19, when I lived in California in the late 80’s.

3. When I moved back to Oregon I drove a U-haul truck with old kitty next to me on the seat.

4. When I moved to Massachusetts, old kitty was next to me on the seat of a U-haul.

5. Old kitty was better traveled than a lot of people in my family!

6. I always wanted to see New England – just never dreamed I’d end up living here.

7. My love of New England started when I saw the movie “Jaws” the summer of 1975.

8. I fell in love with the beaches and dunes and storm fencing and beach roses.

9. Since moving here, we spend 2-4 weeks at Cape Cod every summer and I absolutely love it.

10. I went to see “Jaws” with my sister and our two cousins (a shout out to Kelly, Linda and Susan!)

11. The movie theater was so packed we had to sit nearly in the front row.

12. When that eyeless head fell through the boat window while Richard Dreyfus was underwater we SCREAMED, baby.

13. “Jaws” has continued to be one of my favorite movies of all time.

14. People think I’m nuts because “Jaws” is one of my favorite movies.

15. My husband rather resembles the Richard Dreyfus character (beard, glasses, flannel shirts).

16. I’m guessing you’re pretty sick of hearing about “Jaws” by now.

17. I do love New England but I’m constantly homesick for Oregon.

18. I’m secretly hoping Darling Daughter goes to the University of Oregon. (Go Ducks!)

19. Currently my cell phone ring tone is the U of O fight song.

20. Although UMass wouldn’t be bad either.

21. I’m married to a man with an I.Q. at genius level, and the people skills of toast.

22. This has created more than a few problems in our marriage.

23. I’ve been a church secretary for seven years.

24. Prior to being a church secretary, I worked in the corporate world for many years.

25. After working in the corporate world for so long I felt very jaded. (Golden parachute clauses; $50,000 company cars every three years; expensive golf club memberships paid for by the company; meanwhile people at lower levels were getting laid off).

Next post: 26-50

Wordless Wednesday: Dead End

Where have I been?

You may have noticed I haven't really done a lot of posting lately. There's just so much going on that I haven't really had much time to focus on it.

I left my last job on May 31st, and began my new job on June 16th. In the two weeks in between, I worked my butt off trying to get ready for the construction that would soon began (and has since begun). I've had several evening meetings for my various committees; traded in my car (and the research that went in to getting a new one); had to put two cats down; and I've gone with The Hubs to the dialysis center so that I could be well-versed in that process.

Feels like an awful lot of drama/trauma in a short period of time!

Unfortunately I don't seen a quick end to it, although things may calm down some. We've had construction going on six days a week for two weeks (this begins the third week); he's racing to get the room ready for The Hubs dialysis. The room looks fabulous, by the way. That project will be finished the end of this week.

Then I have him coming back to start work on the bathroom and master bedroom; The Hubs never finished the renovations and we've lived in a half-assed done mess ever since. Hopefully by the end of summer much of that will be done. But of course, I have to completely empty out the rooms first.

So that's the scoop -I hope you don't bail out on me before I can begin concentrating again!!!

In the mean time, remember...

What do you think...

Is this guy from New England or WHAT???

File this under...

"This Could Only Happen to Me."

I think I broke my little toe.

On a cat.

Before you go thinking I somehow drop-kicked a cat, let me just say, no cats were hurt in the breaking of my toe.

Yesterday morning I was walking down the hall towards my bedroom. Stepped into the bedroom - suddenly little Hazel came zooming by me and did that cat-thing where they crouch and then leap. She did this just as I was moving my left foot forward.

I still don't understand how this is at all possible, but apparently just as she did her crouch thing, my little toe connected with the bone in her backwards-knee position...is any of this making sense?

Anyway - she didn't seem to feel anything, and has acted perfectly normal ever since. In that 8-month old kitten perfectly normal way...leaping, flying around corners, nosing into things she shouldn't.

Meanwhile my little toe has been a deep dark purplish-red for over 24 hours and is sore to the touch. I'm just guessing but I think it's broken.

This could only happen to me.

Should Have Seen This Coming

In a previous post I did a little rant about THONGS and VICTORIA'S SECRET.

Have you seen the recent news about a woman suing Victoria's Secret over a THONG INJURY? It's priceless - check it out here...Victoria's Secret Thong Injures Woman.

Thank you, and my new toy

Thank you all for your kind words. It was very hard to lose two pets at once like that. But so many told me I would know when it was time, and it was finally time.



On the brighter side, look at my new toy:




I did it - I traded in the People Mover and got myself a cute little PT Cruiser! I absolutely love it! It still sits relatively high so getting in and out is as easy as the van was. There's a lot of leg room for everyone. And it's so CUTE!


I researched it heavily beforehand. I was a little surprised to find out the primary demographic was 51 year olds! And here I was feeling younger for driving it.


Darling Daughter actually WANTS to go places with me. At least for now!


And isn't it just so darn CUTE!

Farewell to Two Beloved Pets

Cheerios (9 yrs 11 mos) & Lucky (14 yrs, 3 mos)

today left this mortal realm.

Photo taken in happier, healthier times

Beloved pets,

best buddies to the end,

who will be sorely missed.

We love you, sweet kitties.

We're having a heat wave...

Oh my gosh. Only in New England could you have 53* one day and 92* the next. Yesterday I saw the thermometer hit 101*. It's not even the middle of June! I hate to see Mother Nature put so much effort into summer so early - she is gonna wear herself OUT by August.

She's gonna wear ME out too ... heat wave + menopausal hot flashes = one crazed woman.

And to add to the fun? One of the cats walked across my chest as I was reading in bed a couple nights ago, and I now have poison ivy on both ta-ta's. I'm red-faced and heat crazed and now I'm itching like mad.

This is no way to start summer.

Wordless Wednesday: Grrr

Ahhh....Compromise

The dictionary's definition....

Compromise: A settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.

My definition...

Compromise: The glue that holds a marriage together...or at least stops you from doing 25 to life.

Thus, the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of me trying to get The Hubs to shake loose of his old musty pre-marriage crap valuables.
He has tossed SOME into the dumpster (a minimal amount in my opinion).

What we have ended up with is him erecting a wooden garden-shed type thing in the driveway and he is very methodically packing all his $h!t into that.

I'm not particularly thrilled about it, in fact I fumed for a good 48 hours. Now I'm choosing to look at it this way:

1. At least it's out of the house;
   
   
2. It's more likely to be damaged sitting out there, hopefully to the extent that even he agrees it must GO;
   
   
3. When if he finally concedes to let me throw it all away, it's that much closer to the curb. Not that we have curbs in this very tiny farm town. But you get the drift.

Our carpenter is here and in day two of the demolition stage, knocking out all the old horsehair plaster. What a mess! And it's been in the 90's for three days. The gentleman is a close friend and I so appreciate his help! Thank God for good friends!

My mom sent me the coolest link and suggested I post it here. I agree with her - it's pretty great! I'm including the link, and I tried to show a screen shot, although it doesn't show everything. Check it out!

Link to website..

ALL MY FAVES



(If you click on the picture you will see a larger version)

Thanks, Mom!

I AM married to Howard Hughes!!!

Howard Hughes in the creepy "save everything" years, that is.

I arrived home at 2pm after working at a church event since 8am. The Hubs was supposed to be working on clearing out his junk room office.

This is what I found...

Do you see what I see? Let me make it easier...

Now, I've heard of Dumpster Diving....but Dumpster SORTING????

That's right...while I was gone, instead of working on throwing stuff away and clearing out the room so we can have the room ready for his dialysis (we have a carpenter coming Monday morning!), The Hubs chose to sort through the dumpster, pulling out junk junk JUNK VALUABLE STUFF.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Today....I Shred

No, I'm not pulling fancy tricks on my skate board.

I mean the other kind of shredding. That you run papers through and they get turned into confetti. Let me explain...

I'm continuing my efforts in trying to get rid of 30+ years of junk that has accumulated in this house. I've already attacked the attic and immortalized it here and here.

My current excavation is the room that The Hubs refers to as "The Office" and Darling Daughter and I refer to as "Dad's Junk Room." There's a real sense of urgency to this project. Let me explain...

The Hubs is due to start dialysis immediately. He has chosen Peritoneal Dialysis, which is done at home. This is creating several problems. Let me explain...

Monday of this week he informed me that there will be 60 - yes 60 - boxes being delivered any day now, PLUS equipment, for his home dialysis. We have a VERY small, old farm house. The Hubs is King Pack Rat of All the World. We don't have room for 60 of ANYTHING in this tiny house! Plus, his dialysis should be in a sterile environment.

So this week I am attacking "Dad's Junk Room." The plan is to empty it out completely, then have a very talented carpenter friend of ours tear out the old horsehair plaster, replaster, new floor, new lighting. Create a better environment for his dialysis.

The reason I want EVERYTHING cleared out is because he has not touched any of the stuff in this room for years. It's not even a Man Cave as he never goes in there. It's just a room full of old pre-marriage stuff sitting there taking up space.

I knew this clearing out was going to be extremely painful for The Hubs. He does not willingly part with ANYTHING, and he has a skewed vision of what needs to be saved and what can be tossed. Basically he wants to save everything and toss nothing. Change does not come easy for him. Which is kind of weird since he is an engineer and designs newer and faster computer chips for a living.

I had a friend help me and we hauled out a lot of big stuff. (Two old computers - and I mean OLD - mid 1980's - that were just sitting in a corner.) Notebooks and binders from COLLEGE - the man is 56 years old!!! I left the ham radio he built when he was 12. I intend for it to go eventually but I thought he might like to tell Darling Daughter a bit about it before it does.

I was beginning to think I was married to Howard Hughes in the creepy years. Thank God I didn't come across any jars of his fingernail clippings....or worse. (Remember all that weird $h!t they found after Hughes died? He had saved EVERYTHING.)

Now I'm down to his old files. Which he thinks are all important and need to be saved. PUH-LEEZE! He has every tax return since 1971! (I myself was a mere CHILD at that time but he was working his way through college).

Tonight we had a fight chat. Unbeknownst to me, he actually WENT THROUGH THE DUMPSTER yesterday morning to see what valuable things of his I've thrown away, and he hauled some stuff out. Did I mention it rained all day? The man sorted through junk in a dumpster IN THE RAIN. He has serious problems, this guy.

My plan for today? I'm taking my heavy-duty shredder in and start going through his ancient file cabinet. He'll cringe when he hears about it. But at least he won't be able to pull it all out and piece it back together.

Wordless Wednesday: In Case of Emergency

Cat update

Back in March I wrote about sad news we received about our cats. Middle cat has an uncurable, highly contagious and always fatal disease. The outlook was that one by one all three cats would get it and they would all slowly die. I thought I'd write an update and perhaps ask for some opinions.

Middle cat (Cheerios, 10 years old) has been ill four to five months. She is frightenly thin, and light as a feather. She still eats (lightly) and drinks, follows me like a lamb, and purrs up a storm on a regular basis. The vet said she didn't believe she was in pain, just uncomfortable.

Oldest cat (Lucky, 14 years old) has always had a chronic respiratory thing going on, from living on the streets before we adopted him. Now I believe he has this disease. He is still active and loving, but his eyes don't look as sharp, and his sneezing and coughing is worse. On the other hand - he's 14, perhaps this is just old age.

Baby cat (Hazel, 8 months old) is still frisky and energetic and shows no signs of disease. We are praying very hard that her youth and baby shots will keep her disease free. We don't know if that's possible, but we have hope.

Maybe it's my own uncomfortableness that is getting to me. My heart breaks a bit every time I cuddle with them. Especially Cheerios - you can see the outline of hip bones and shoulder blades. Her tummy is round because of enlarged/swollen organs.

I'm really torn. I'm not sure whether to have them put down or keep going.

I welcome opinions on the situation.

Mom-1, Darling Daughter-0 ??

I think I might have impressed Darling Daughter, a feat not easily accomplished.

While driving along with the radio tuned to my favorite Oldies station - like music from the 70's is considered OLD - (DON'T SAY IT!!!!) - what should come on but "American Pie". The long version. Which I sang along to and KNEW ALL THE WORDS.

I really think I impressed Daughter. I mean, she kept looking at me out of the corner of her eye. And she didn't make any snarky 13-year-old comments.

To all you fellow middle-aged moms out there: Rock on with your bad selves.