Two Days and Counting

Until we leave for our anniversary trip! The bags are mostly packed, the cat sitter/house sitter is ready to take over, three Christmas trees are decorated, the house is as clean as it's gonna get and we are SO ready to get the heck out of here!

We will start our trip in Phoenix, AZ staying at a resort that has 8 pools, a 100 ft water slide and a lazy river; sounds delightful! Several scrapbook stores to visit and 100 degree temps. I was kind of hoping that we would be leaving behind another cold spell here in the midwest so that 100 would be a nice change but, heck, it was 93 degrees this past weekend!

Then on to Flagstaff, the Meteor Crater and two nights in Williams, AZ. We will visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (we decided that after flying OVER it for the last two years, we'd like to actually see if from the ground) and I have a surprise pitstop for Tim on the drive up to the Grand Canyon...you'll have to wait for pictures!

Wednesday we will drive Rt. 66 across the top of AZ, stopping at as many Roadside Icons that we can! I'm sure we'll find lots of neat old signs for me to take pictures of and I have some must see places to stop at/eat at! We'll drive on to Las Vegas where we'll stay for three nights and THIS time I get to see Barry Manilow in concert! YAY! He was on a hiatus two years ago when we were there. Two more scrapbook stores in Vegas to visit, a tour of the Boneyard and Neon Museum will add to the fun!

Then it's back home bright and early (thanks AA for canceling our original flight that left nice and late at 12:30pm and rebooking us on the 8:30 am one...can I say, that will be a 4-5am morning, ugh!) Sat!

Another busy trip but we like it that way! Maybe SOMEDAY we'll go sit on a beach and do nothing but I doubt it!

MSPA Annual Picnic and Meeting

Well, the weather wasn't as "fall-like" as in years past but the food was good and the company pleasant. It's always nice to get together once a year with our neighbors and catch up with the ones we don't see as often. Met some new neighbors as well! Ran into one Ninja Turtle (I think it was Houston there under the shell..) Delicious potluck dinner and we came home with full bellies, happy and satisfied!

Our SIXTH Anniversary

Six years ago at 4pm on September 22, Tim and I were married on the grounds of the Howard Steamboat Museum, a few feet away from the very spot where we met 8 years ago! It is SO hard to believe that this many years have passed! More often than not, it seems like we still just met; we've only been married a year or two....We think that is a good sign....we know each other so well now but yet we still discover things we never knew about one another. Tim still knows how to make me laugh hysterically and I can't imagine not sharing my life with this guy.

I can't say that our anniversary was as exciting as in years past but that is because A.) we were supposed to be at the Antique Advertising Show in Indy which ended up being the week before and B.) we are usually on our anniversary trip already!

So, with another week to wait for the trip to come, we just spent the day together doing necessary things and threw a few fun stops in the mix. The day started off in the attic digging out Christmas ornaments and trees if you can imagine. But with 28 (is that right now? I'm losing count!) trees to decorate I simply have to start early! So, we dug out three trees worth which ended up being a major undertaking! Who's idea was it to put the ones I needed now all the way in the very, very back of the attic? We're gonna have to plan better when we pack them away for next year!

Then on to Mall St. Matthews, Derby City Antique Mall, Big Lots for scrapbook finds, Half Price Books, Costco to get Tim's new sunglasses for the trip (Happy Birthday honey), Michael's to use TWO 50% off coupons, and dinner at one of my favorites, On the Border! We packed a lot into the day and still didn't get everywhere we had hoped.

It was nice to be together though and have a shopping buddy and chauffer!

The evening ended with us watching a "cult classic" from the DVD collection Tim picked up at Half Price Books called "Reefer Madness". I have nothing to say about that except it was indeed odd and I fell asleep before it ended!

Here's to many, many more years together....

Barbies are Evil, Evil, Evil!!!

Yes indeed! Let me warn you now readers about the dangers of Holiday Barbies Mint in Box. I innocently took one off the end of a shelf at mom's Friday night to show the painter some marks that were on the wall and needed to be touched up. Somehow, this led to the box falling out of my hand and landing on my big toe on my right foot where it then cut it open, blood spurting as I dashed out of the room screaming for my mother to bring me a towel quickly! I do vaguely remember saying a bad word and apologizing to the painter who was witness to the whole horrible tragedy.

Up to the kitchen where we did emergency first aid with first aid cream that expired in 2004 and a flexible band aid. The good thing was that while I was sitting on the kitchen floor with ice on my foot, I noticed that the baseboards of the kitchen cabinets needed a second coat and we were able to catch the painter just in the nick of time!

I decided to try driving myself home (this was of course my right foot that was injured) and got about 5 min down the road, the pain getting worse and worse and I could see some swelling under the band aid. So, with our approaching vacation I decided to detour to the Urgent Care just to make sure it wasn't broken and that I would ultimately live to see the Grand Canyon.

I hit it just right and walked straight in (well, limped....). Xrays confirmed it was not broken, I passed on the pain pills and left with instructions to take 2 Aleve 2 x a day as needed and a diagnosis of a bruised bone and contusion to the cuticle and skin. Yuk.

It's feeling better although a little achy if I'm on it too long.

It was just last year at this very same time that I was at the very same Urgent Care with the puncture wound to the same toe courtesy of Oscar Cat.

What is it with my feet and trips?

Windshield Woes

Tim went to drive his Miata up to Walgreens tonight and discovered his cracked windshield! He hasn't driven it in a couple of weeks and he does remember a rock hitting it the last time he did drive it...

Sigh.....now he has to get a whole new windshield! And, they just never are the same again, you know?

More great timing!

Waterbed Woes

So, when Tim woke up at 2:30 am Monday morning, the first thing he said was, "Why is the bed wet?" After a quick inspection, he discovered a small crack in the upper left hand corner/seam of the waterbed mattress. He dug around and found the trusty waterbed repair kit only to find that the glue had dried up (of course)...and could we REALLY trust that?

So, that began the saga of the mattress.

He had to go outside and run the water hose up to our second (really, third with the basement...) story bedroom window in the wee hours and start draining the bed. I bailed out after about 30 minutes and went to sleep in the guest room. He spent the next couple of hours draining the bed.

I found him at 7 am when I got up laying on the almost drained bed, on the three sofa cushions he had brought in and put on the flat mattress...poor guy...he didn't want to wake me...

The rest of the day consisted of lugging a still somewhat water-filled mattress down the stairs and outside, a trip to the waterbed store (how lucky are we that there is one literally five minutes away?), washing linens, cleaning, and filling the new $350 mattress with water for two hours. (You have to wonder how an empty piece of vinyl could cost that much...).

He had to miss a day of work to deal with the whole thing and it was untimely of course but we do indeed like our new mattress!

Indianapolis Antique Advertising Show

Or, how we spent Sunday! Our calender was marked and we were planning to spend Saturday, Sept. 22, our 6th anniversary, at our favorite antique show. Our anniversary trip to Phoenix, AZ and Las Vegas was literally planned around this and we scheduled it for a week later than usual so as not to miss any advertising items that we couldn't live without.

Well, I happened to pop into an antique mall last Thursday at lunch and I just happened to glance at the brochure rack and I noticed the flyer for the show and it said Sept 15 and 16! Whoa! I quickly made a call and it was confirmed that due to a change at the Indy Fairgrounds they got bumped back a week!

What a surprise we would have had (after the two hour drive up there) next Sat when we would have discovered it had already come and gone!

So, since we already had plans for this past Sat, we set our alarms for bright (no, dark actually...) and way too early for 6am on Sunday and headed up there. It was so worth it though! We ran into several people from the AAAA Convention mom and I had attended in July in L'ville, saw many beautiful pieces, got to go to the Toy/Holiday show that was set up in conjunction on Sunday only, found some Christmas presents for each other (no peeking!) and managed to bring home a few goodies for our collections!

A super yummy late lunch/early dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then a quick stop at the Exit 76 Antique Mall completed the whirlwind day!

You can be sure that come closer to their March show, I'll be checking their website for any last minute date changes!

And Now, Comments from the Product Gallery...

Well, at least they are back in their proper place...

I Like Space Stuff

The picture speaks for itself here....

Johnny Cabinet Rebellion

We saw something on the news the other night, or maybe it was actually one of those late night talk shows, about women being attracted to men who are funny and charismatic....well, here is yet another example of how this perfectly describes my husband Tim.

I guess I should explain that I do have a bit of a thing about items being "lined up" on shelves, in cabinets, drawers, etc. Tim, who has the exact opposite problem, thinks this is weird and can't relate. He just calls my stuff soldiers and moves on.

Jump to the Johnny Cabinet in our bathroom. For those of you who don't know (like I didn't originally but it does make sense) a Johnny Cabinet is the cabinet that is made to hang over your toilet or "John". I get most of this cabinet for my makeup, skin care and hair products as well as some stray medicine that lives in there. Tim gets three spots. One for deodorant, one for the generic rogaine and one for his grecian keep-the-gray-away bottle. Three spots. Now, you wouldn't think that it would be that hard to keep these three little things in their designated spots among my products, would you?

Well, for the millionth time last night I noticed that his bottles had gotten all out of place and were mixed up among MY products, which I find annoying. I happened to casually mention that his guys had gotten out of alignment again (literally, this is what we call it) and he glanced over at me from the bed where he was reading and had that look on his face again, like "What the heck is she talking about?" and mumbles, "My wife, gotta love her...."

As usual, I put his guys back in place and sighed.

Fast forward to this morning when I open the cabinet for facial cleanser and much to my surprise, shock and astonishment, I found quite the rebellion going on in there!!!!!!!! Guys were everywhere, stuff was knocked over and word balloons were taped to products verbalizing the issues at hand....

I laughed out loud quite a few times this morning and realized that this is EXACTLY why I married this guy.....he makes me laugh....he pulls me out of my OCD world.....he makes me stop and smell the roses (or at least laugh at them)....

So, all day I've told Tim that he was trying to be funny and charismatic again....

And he just smiles.

Now, rebellion over. I'm off to get things back in order up there.

New Albany Historic Homes Tour

Tim and I spent several hours today going through a few of the historic homes and properties in downtown New Albany. The tour started at the Farmer's Market at the corner of Market and Bank St. The beautiful produce almost made me inclined to want to eat some veggies....I guess I'll stick with (candy) corn though for now.

Anyway, on to several downtown businesses that have been restored, including one where the upper two floors serve as the owner's home and the first floor is leased to Treets (restaurant). We got a quick bite to eat at the Little Chef diner (c. 1956). Every seat at the old, greasy counter was full but with the cigarette smoke we were happy to eat outside anyway! It's our new favorite place for a grilled ham and cheese, cheeseburger and THE BEST CRINKLE CUT FRIES around! Then on to the homes on the tour.

Thoroughly enjoyed all the ones we made it to, especially Ann and Steve's. Loved all their family pictures adorning the walls, especially the recent additions. They've inspired me to enlarge some of our favorites and put them out on the walls....well, if we can find any available wall space but that's another story and, really, some does still exist!

A couple of businesses/homes offered refreshments which was very much appreciated, especially the cold water on such a muggy day!

Thanks to all who made today so enjoyable for us and many others!

Yesterday...

Every once in awhile around 11:30pm when I'm trying to fall asleep, inspiration comes to write a poem and I can't get it out of my head. I try to and think, oh, I'll remember it in the morning and can just add to it then. Never works. Trots through my head and won't leave till I drag out of bed and go write it on paper.

So, here's the last one. A bit melancholy but they usually are.


Yesterday

It seems like just yesterday
that I walked the halls
of an old forgotten school.

It seems like just yesterday
that I walked the campus green
and tried to find my path in life.

It seems like just yesterday
I embarked upon my future
and lived a different life.

It seems like just yesterday
I left the bad for better
and made my dreams come true.

It seems like just yesterday
I met my one true love
and took his hand for life.

It seems like just yesterday
until I count the years
and sadly realize just how many
have really passed on by.

So I Googled Myself and Took a Little Walk Down Memory Lane

Back to my days as a contributing writer for Round About Madison....

If you are REALLY bored, here are some links!

http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/Inside%20Pages/Archived%20Articles/2000/2_00%20Abner%20McCollum.html

http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/Inside%20Pages/Archived%20Articles/2000/3_00%20Sid%20Davis.html

http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/Inside%20Pages/Archived%20Articles/2000/4_00%20Folk%20Art%20by%20May.html

That's all that I could find archived so that's all folks!

Look What the Husband Dragged In

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what it is either.

Or why it was living on a shelf in my basement.

But here's how the conversation went:

Me: "What the heck is this thing?"

Tim: "Oh, I found it in the yard a few months ago."

Me: "And, you brought it in the house because why?"

Tim: "Well, I thought it might be worth something."

Me: "Well, what is it exactly?"

Tim: "It's an insulator, and I found it around the time you were trying to sell all those

insulators that turned out not to be the valuable ones."

Me: "Oh. Well, can I throw it away now?"

Tim: "Okay."

So, that was just one of the icky cobweb covered things I pulled out of my little storage closet in the basement over the holiday weekend. A couple of months ago we started the project together by throwing out tons and tons of boxes that had accumulated in there from our eBay days. Then a few weeks ago I started using it for the stockpile of free toothbrushes and deodorant and cheap but good laundry soap. So, I decided it was time to finish off the job and make it respectable. Didn't take too long and among the other icky items were several pieces of filthy glass and some wood bound by a metal strap that all had been living in the closet since Tim bought the house over 10 ys ago. I cleaned up a ton of dirt and crud with a dying Shop Vac (we only have like 4 and I got the one that sounded like one of those cows from the State Fair was dying every time I turned it off), reorganized all of Tim's old metal fans he won't let me get rid of yet and lined up all the toothpaste and deodorant and laundry soap.

Just makes ya feel good to have another room cleaned and organized.

My New Seashell

So after suffering through Cingular (now AT&T) wireless for the past several years, my mom, Tim and I finally made the switch to Verizon. We got an awesome deal through Costco (you just have to love a company that reimburses you $85 that you never even spent!) and have been playing with our new razor phones for a week now.

Well, enter the hands free earpiece. It was FREE, along with two other accessories. I didn't have to spend $19.99 this go 'round. I'm on the phone A LOT and especially when driving so this is a good thing for me. Last week I needed my hands for scrapbooking when my dad called. I just plugged my little earpiece in and started chatting. Everything sounded good on my end and it was really nice to actually HAVE service in my house for a change.

Until my dad said I sounded like I was talking in a seashell! Huh? The beach is hundreds of miles away... I told him it sounded just fine on my end and I needed my hands. Well, he couldn't understand me and wasn't going to continue talking to his daughter on her seashell so I unplugged the stupid thing and stopped scrapbooking.

I ambled into a Verizon store at the mall the other day and discussed this situation. They basically told me that even a blue tooth wouldn't sound much better and unless I wanted to pay over $100 for hands free convenience, I was gonna have to just live with the feedback as they continued to call it.

So, if you call me and I sound like I'm at the beach, unfortunately I'm not. I'm just talking on my seashell.