Death in the Family

Tim's nephew, mine by marriage, died unexpectedly this week. So sad.

McCANDLESS, CHRISTOPHER, S. "CARDINAL SCOOBY, 44, of Louisville, died suddenly, Thursday, November 12, 2009 at his residence.

Born in Orrville, OH, he was a graduate of Male High School and University of Louisville Speed School. He was the owner of Red-Sky Software, where he was a computer programmer, an avid stalker of Tift Merrit and member of Louisville Ale Club.

He was preceded in death by his father, Larry L. McCandless; grandparents; and beloved nephew, Cpl. Michael Christopher Kaufer.

He is survived by his mother, Cora Mae McCandless; twin sisters, Leslie Anne Wolfe (Robert) and Leigh Anne Kaufer (Mark); nieces and nephews, Kristen Anderson, Leslie Kaufer, Nicholas Anderson, Kayla Kaufer, Kirstan Wolfe, Jack Kaufer and many loving aunts, uncles and cousins.

A memorial visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Sunday, November 15, 2009 at Highlands Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road. Cremation was chosen.

Expressions of sympathy may be made to the KY Humane Society.

I Got Rear Ended Last Week

Yep, got rear ended. After spending 5 hours fighting with picture developing at Walgreens last Wednesday, I headed to Wal Mart and cut up Daisy Ln. I never drive Daisy Ln. and am just not familiar with the road. About half way up, I approached a 3 way intersection that I found very confusing and when I saw the word STOP painted on the road in front of me I was unsure as to whether or not that was meant for me or the slight lane next to me. Everyone was stopped at the two other intersections, so I thought I'd better slow down, stop and check things out before heading onward. That's when I got rear ended.

Fortunately, the driver of the pick up truck that hit me was a nice guy (even if he was apparently following too closely) and very cooperative. No one was hurt (I did have a little whiplash for a couple of days but that went away thankfully!) and the policeman didn't issue him a citation. I got an estimate last Friday for the damage and had a certified check in hand Sunday afternoon.

Took my SUV to the dealership last night and they will be replacing and painting my new bumper today.

This is a Good List

I just got home tonight from my last MSPA meeting as official Secretary. I held that position for over 5 1/2 years. It was time to retire and use the much needed time for other endeavors. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience though and learned a great deal from it.

Anyway, in an attempt to wind down the evening, I decided to catch up on my blog reading and I stumbled across a link to this list on etsy by numbers tonight while reading Salvage Nation's blog.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that I am No. 19 on their list of top Etsy vintage sellers! WOW! That was a super feel good moment!

Halloween at Our House

Once again, Tim went all out for Halloween. He spent all of Saturday setting up his mad lab on the front porch and a graveyard in the front yard complete with fog, a cauldron emitting blue smoke, spooky music and eerie lights all around. He donned a white lab coat, some extra memory on his head and played the part of mad scientist.

The day turned out to be sunny if just a little chilly and the evening brought lots of trick or treaters our way.

Surprise in the Basement

I went downstairs to the basement this morning to get some cardboard for an etsy sale and to turn on lights for my friend who was coming over to look at some merchandise in the basement. I was about to head over to one section to turn on a light when I saw something long on the floor. The first thought I had was to go over and kick it out of the way, thinking it was a piece of paper or straw from a broom or something.

Well, it was neither. It was a snake. And it was looking at me with its beady little eyes and raising its head like it was hunting for prey. YUK! I immediately called Tim from my cell phone and informed him that we had a slight problem in the basement and he'd better get down here immediately and remove it. Unfortunately, I had to stick around to keep an eye on the snake in case it decided to slither away and hide. I did run upstairs quickly and get the camera so my unexpected discovery could at least be documented.

I made sure that Tim realized he had one chance to get this thing and he'd better not miss! He put on heavy duty gloves, got a trash bag and grabbed it. He gave me all the grisly details about it slithering around in the bag on the way upstairs and outside, yuck!

He released it out by the ex-ice cream parlor and we can now only hope that it doesn't come back in and that it didn't have friends or siblings down there.

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with my reaction to this one. The mouse in the laundry room incident last year had me screaming bloody murder and seeking fast refuge on top of the countertop. I almost had to be commited. The "waterbug" that jumped out when I opened the dishwasher had me so traumatized that I haven't opened the dishwasher but once in the last month and that was with the aid of a big towel! (Thank God for quarterly pest control...) I haven't had to see the birds Tim keeps finding in the attic so that's been okay. I guess since this guy didn't move I didn't feel as threatened.

I've apparently come a long way since I discovered a garter snake in my outdoor tent I got as a present when I was almost 6. I called my dad at work, begged him to come home and get it and I never stepped foot back in that tent again.

But please, can the wildlife and insect population please stay out of my house? If not, I'm moving to a penthouse suite on the 100th floor of some high rise building!

All Set For Gym Class

Some days just do not turn out as planned! I slept in a bit this morning and made it downstairs a little before 9 am. Checked emails, talked to Tim and started to watch Regis and Kelly's Halloween show. I was planning on a day of marathon etsy listing. The phone rang and on the other end was a local ebayer whose husband had stopped at local moving sale on his way to work. She said they had some buttons and thought of me.

I pulled up my hair, threw on some clothes and didn't even take the time to apply the normally required makeup. I zoomed down the road and was there within 15 minutes.

Two hours later I had a car full of almost 100 old gym locker baskets from New Albany High School as well as old metal milk crates. A few other goodies including one big shoe box of buttons were amongst the galvanized treasures.

They were a great deal and I worked hard for this find let me tell you! I pulled, tugged, sorted, dug, lifted, lugged, carried and couldn't see out of my back window at all! When I got home, I lugged 80 some baskets plus 12 milk crates to the basement. A few remained in my car for a friend who placed an order.

I was tired, dirty, sore, I broke one fingernail and squished each of my pinky fingers in the process! One pinky even has a nice little bruise on it.

Fortunately, it was unseasonable warm today....in the 70s. So, I had great weather for this unexpected expedition and the loading and unloading that followed!

I may keep a few of these but over time I plan to put them in my etsy shop!

The Case of the Missing Chocolate Chip Cookies

I stopped at McDonalds Friday on the way to my mom's house. I purchased three chocolate chip cookies for the energy I would need to help her dust for unexpected company! I ended up only eating one cookie while there and thought for sure I'd packed up the other two in my tote bag and brought them home with me.

Well, that night I couldn't find them anywhere. I looked in the kitchen, I looked in the microwave (where we sometimes toss cookies and such), I looked in the front hall, the car; you name it I looked. The cookies were nowhere to be found and I finally decided they must have accidentally been thrown away at mom's house.

Until I walked into the front parlor late Friday night. There on the floor were my missing cookies. Someone or something had chewed a hole in the top of the bag, removed one cookie and taken a bite out of each side. The other cookie remained intact inside the bag. Apparently, whatever tried my cookie didn't like it and left it be on the floor.

I'm pretty convinced that what did all this was feline, buff colored and named Junior.

So, the mystery was finally solved and the cookies went in the trashcan after all.