Merry Monday

I was awake at 4:30 thinking of all the opportunities I have today. I made a couple of lists last night. Over the weekend, I was able to get the upperloft totally cleaned out and organised. I am hoping to keep up with the areas that I cleaned before and make a bit of progress every day. I seriously need to get my photo database worked on.

It is too early to write much of anything. I feel like crawling back into bed, but I already made the bed. The couch is an option.

Piano, desk, and Christmas Lights

This week in review! Sounds like some news show title. Anyway, I didn't realise it has been a whole week since I posted. The best way to do this is by day. Here it goes!





Monday, I worked on . . . I don't remember.





Tuesday, my son, husband and I went to The big thriving metro area of Gadsden, Alabama to pick up an executive style desk. We found it in the Craigslist. It is a $4,000 desk new. We had gone over on Saturday to look at it. The lady said she would come off of her $1250 price to $800.


It looks new. She took very good care of it.
We picked the desk up in our CRV. I should have taken pictures. We had the hutch on the roof, the L shape desk on the right in the back of the vehicle, and the base desk on a smaller trailer being pulled behind.

On Wednesday, I mentioned something about moving the piano which inspired my son to start disassembly of the prized love. I could not see parts all over the house with the mess that was already there. Spur of the moment we borrowed a neighbor's truck and ask some different neighbors to come help us. They did. We did. They came at 1:30 and we had it moved to its new location by 3:30. We came back to the house and I fed the helpers and the fam dinner of a crockpot porkchops, onion, and potatoes. Oh so good! Think I will keep the crock pot handy.

That night, I looked around and mess was all I saw. We invited my brother-in-law and his family for Thanksgiving dinner. I felt very very very very overwhelmed. I had gained all this room by having the piano moved but the new area needed to be cleaned. The old area needed cleaned. The house was a mess and I had not even started the cooking of pies. So with pen in hand, I made my list. I then prioritized it and went to bed. If it did not get cleaned or cooked or put away or cleared so people could walk, I did not care. I was sticking to the list and staying focused.

Thursday morning greeted me with a list of its own. First thing, I spilled juice in bed and had to change the sheets. Not to be deterred, I put the load in the laundry and went to my list. First on the list bake pies. While pies were baking, I cleaned the kitchen and did a few small things on my list. Second, I took a bath. A bath just has those restorative properties that generates energy beyond belief. Fresh hair, fresh face, fresh life, BRING IT ON!!! Where's that list? I cleaned out my food pantry, my dish pantry, my frig, and freezer. At 1, the cooking started. We had a wonderful dinner with family.

After the dinner, there were dishes, pots, bowls, plates, and pans. You name it and it needed washed. I set the dishes to the side to enjoy time with family. We piled into cars and rode to my son's new-used house to show it to the family. Steve opted to stay home. I thought he was taking the opportunity to rest and be lazy. When I came through the doors, every last dish, pot, pan . . . you name it IT WAS CLEAN. I thought I would be three days soaking and doing those dishes. I just broke down and cried in my husband's arms. Such wonderful love for him to do that for me.

Friday, we went to Lowe's to get some repair items. We came home in time to watch the IRON BOWL. If you live in Alabama, you know what it is. If you do not live here it is the annual battle between Good and Evil. Yes, you heard me. Two football teams get together to have a game of good old fashioned head-to-head combat while the fans argue old scores, start new jokes, and hold high the flag of winning or is that whining. All year long, people run their mouths, hype their teams, and belittle the competition. Then on game day, they hope their team's flag is the one flying the big W. If your team loses, no matter; it's just a game! The minute after the game is over, the banter of year long chanting begins with, "We will get you next year," which quickly ramps up into the war between good and evil all over again.

Saturday, Steve got up real early in the freezing cold and went to hike through the woods to look for caves. My son and I went shopping for a tv and ended the day putting Christmas lights on his house.

This morning, we have a fire in the woodstove, coffe in the pot, breakfast on a plate, and the keyboard within reach. How much better can it get?

Sunday Sitting

This weekend I have worked on trying to layout what I want my Christmas letter/card/greeting/bragblog/book to look like. I tend to make my letters to long and wordy.

Friday, my son and I went to his house and worked on a couple of projects. I hauled a bit of stuff to his house to put in an upcoming yard sale. He lives right off the main road, so there is a great deal of traffic.

Yesterday was somewhat laid back and boring because football seemed to have taken a week off.

Steve worked on his class project, while Jon helped him. About 11, the three of us loaded up and went to Gadsden to look at an executive desk for Jon's house. I took a chance that they would accept a check which they did not. Jon left a deposit and we plan to go back on Tuesday to pay and haul the desk to Jon's house.

Today, Steve continues to work on his project, Jon is reading and preparing to head back to his house, and I am working in the office. I need to work on the database of my photos, but I quickly get overwhelmed. If I do not get overwhelmed, I get distracted. Below is one of the photos I worked on for my daily photo post on Facebook.

de-dusting

Today, I finished de-dusting my bedroom. It took 10 days, but now it is done. I moved into the bathroom. It is complete now. It is much smaller, the ceilings are not vaulted and I don't think it has been too long since I deep cleaned the bathroom. It was so much easier. Tomorrow, I start tackling the photo closet. It is full of gowns, suits, and props for photography. I am decluttering it and moving out the dresses that I do not think I will ever use.

My new boots

Last Saturday, I came across this cute pair of boots. They fit me, and the comfort was awesome. The heel cushion was great and I new Ihad to have them. And when I heard the price, I had a hard time keeping myself on the ground.

I plan to wear them as well as use them for a photo prop.

I wore them to town yesterday . I noticed a little rubbing on the top of my foot, and to help while I break the boots in, I will wear a bandaid.

I just love them and think they need to be sitting in some kind of china cabinet on display.

I still have to wear them with jeans to see if I like them better with the skirt or with the jeans.

dusting

I am going to try to tell a long story in the short form. OOOOps too late. Anyway, I was keeping three boys for a friend a long time ago. She dropped them off and they filed into my house. What I am about to tell you is not a made up fictious story dreamed up to enhance the effect of my inadequacies. One boy came into the house. Our vaulted ceiling must have pulled his attention upwards. He looked up at my ceiling fan and the very first words he said to me were, "Boy, that fan needs to be cleaned!" The second boy came in about 20 seconds after him unaware of any conversations, looked up and said the eact same thing, "Boy, that fan needs to be cleaned." The third boy unaware of what his two older brothers said, looks up and says, "Boy, that fan needs to be cleaned." That hour the fan was cleaned. I said that to say this. My husband just went through allergy testing and we must DE_DUST the house. The doctor says to start with the bedroom. So, now I have started the process of de-cluttering and de-dusting the bedroom. It also has vaulted ceiling. I have evaluated the bedroom and discovered the very first thing we need to do is go shopping. Pillows and pillow covers must be bought. I also need to replace all the storage baskets with lidded boxes that will be easy to dust. This gives me a good excuse to get rid of all the extra junk in my life. But how can it be extra if I use it????? Arg. Well guess I need to get back up to the PROJECT!

Paint

Here are the pictures that you wanted to see.

November Thanksgivings part 2

I shall continue my nine things that I am thankful for in photos.

I am thankful for . . .

the light at the end of the tunnel.

bike trails.

curves and lines in Chattanooga, TN.

cave friends.

I do not know why the post turns out all wrong. I am still thankful.

November thanksgivings

PART ONE

During the month of November, each day, I am being thankful for the number of things in the day. November 3rd, I was thankful for three things. Today is the 9th, so I am thankful for nine things. I have been posting to facebook and should be posting to here as well. Yesterday, I decided that for today and tomorrow, my thanksgivings would be a photo thanksgiving.

Today, I am thankful for . . .

highways that make it easier to get through Atlanta.

trashcans that most of us use.

cool lights for special nights.

northwestern sunsets.

hearts that are filled with dancing.

I did not realise that blogger limits me to five pictures per post.

painting

I completed the first coat of Nautical Blue color on one of my son's room in his new house. I started around 10:30 and finished up around 5. My body has a few sore spots in the shoulder blades from reaching.

distracted

All last week, I finished up pictures that I was working on from a wedding in Florida. I also got started and finished the edit process of a wedding that took place in Ohatchee, Alabama at Janney Furnace. In the 30 years that I have lived here, I have never been. It is a very pretty place. The wedding was complete with a bride, groom, preacher, field, huge oak tree, horse, carriage, witnesses, dresses, suits, relatives, and photographers to capture it all "on film."

This week has been more laid back and relaxed. Monday, I went to the hospital and took pictures of a 12 hr old baby girl of some friends. When I was done at the hospital, I drove over to another friend's and took pictures of a baby boy. Tuesday, I painted the second layer of Kilz on a room in my son's house. It is now ready for the color. Today, I was going to put on the color, but I stayed home and just took it easy. I worked on narrowing down 1000 pictures that I took on our trip to Idaho in August, rode my bike for about 2 miles, cleaned my office, and relaxed.

Tomorrow, I think I will go on over to my son's and put that color on the walls.
Pictures? You say you want to see pictures. okay let me see if I can load a few.

This is the shore next to our campsite at Glacier National Park.

These pictures are from a wedding in Cottondale, Florida. There was a gorgeous lighted open pole barn for the reception complete with a dresser and mirror for the guest sign in table, along with a clothesline to post your wishes onto a quilt square to be turned into a wedding quilt for warmth and love in their home for many years to come.

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Dress in her mother's room for safe keeping.

Dress in the parlor on the pink couch which was used for their engagement pictures.

These are pictures from the wedding at Janney furnace.

Baby girl with mom and dad hands!

Baby Boy with hand!