I painted the two new bedroom closet doors and a pegboard for my sweetie and the two closet doors in the basement. And I got paint on my red shorts. Yesterday, I got paint on my blue shorts. You’d think I’d be smart enough to wear already-paint-stained shorts… You’d think.
My sweetie put up drywall and mudded his closet, then we installed a new plug and cable box and a new light switch, and finished with a new TV wall support! I’m not all that crazy about the support thingie, but we really didn’t have any choice. We like having TV in the bedroom, but the new closet displaced the old chest that served as the TV stand. Anyway, I’ll deal.
I also made a pot of navy bean soup - it’s almost done - the house smells yummy!! And after we eat it, I’m going to start assembling our new ceiling fan for installation tomorrow. Other than that, we’re chilling for the night.
Taters, I think Blueberry Hill is pretty thrilling, but I live a very quiet life. gt, our blueberry season was very late this year. Not sure why, but it’s not normal to have them this late in the year. There are more little berries growing, so it’s not quite over yet, and I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts!
MagicEyes drunk chicken = beer butt chicken. We just took to callin’ it drunk chicken. Everybody is gone. Well, cept for ACBG cause I want him to hang around. The good news is, my friends with the drunk chickens showed up with the chickens already cooked. They were all wrapped up in foil and in a cooler so they stayed all warm til we were ready to eat. So I didn’t have to kill and dress chickens. Also, another friend showed up with a banana puddin’! So we had banana puddin’ and homemade strawberry ice cream. MMMMMMMM! I have leftover banana puddin’ in the fridge and homemade strawberry ice cream in the freezer. I’m a happy swampy right now.
The weather here is wunnerful! It’s warm but not humid. It felt so good in the pool cause the water was kinda cool. I just got out about 20 minutes ago cause I was starting to get a little cold. There’s this feeling of the weather about to change in the air, even though I know it’ll get way warm again before September is over. Tomorrow, ACBG and I are just gonna chill at the pool and eat leftover drunk chicken (they left it for us) and tater salad (made from the kind of taters that grow in the ground, not our Taters). All the corn on the cob got et up.
Monday I’ll be at my church all day cause we’re having a Labor Day cookout. I get to be there early cause we’re <snerk> smokin’ butts! <snerk> I’ll also be makin’ baked beans. It’s kind of a tradition that we do this. There will be all kinds of salads and desserts plus a keg of beer. Episcopalians can’t have a cookout without a keg of beer. I think it’s somewhere in The Book of Common Prayer but I’m not real sure.
The neighbor mowing guilted me into mowing my own lawn. It’s the neighbor with the house for sale, so I figured it would be neighborly to keep my lawn looking civilized. I still need to trim the edges, but it looks much better now. Also, I started pruning trees. There are some branches that are in the way when you come up the sidewalk to the front door and they just had to go.
I keep thinking I should be more inspired as other people (::looks meaningfully at FCM: are getting lots done and have pictorial cites, but it ain’t happening. I figure if I do a bit of clean-up every day this weekend the garden should look quite decent. (My ambitions are not high this year…)
Another way early morning (6:20 - stoopit cat) but it’s cool and I’ve had the windows open all night, so it smells good in here. Today will be fan day, and maybe pick-up-sticks day, with a little working-on-the-closet thrown in there. It’s supposed to be gorgeous out today - sunny and low 80s - so I want to get to the picking up sticks part right away. But we’ll likely start with sanding and second coat of mud.
A little cooler and sunny here. Perfectly beautiful. I may bake if I can get more flour. We ran out. I usually buy 20 pound bags- I prefer to bake our bread in fall and winter, and it takes a lot of flour.
Magic, the shirts were made out of a stretchy cotton that didn’t need finishing seams or anything. I just cut the pieces out (front, back, sleeves) and stretch stitched them together. Then I cut a long narrow pieces, folded it over, and edged the neckline with it (so it doesn’t stretch out of shape). Voila! It was so easy that I’m wondering if I’ll ever pay $25 for a long sleeved t-shirt ever again.
Maybe I should grocery shop today. Mr. Lissar should be home soon so I can put him to bed. My poor darling is working three twelve hour shifts, plus hour and a half commute each way.
Do I want to get a ham, and crockpot it? Probably. Hmm.
I awoke early today too, but I ended up drifting back to sleep. I finally hauled my butt out of bed at a little after 8:00 am.
The plan for today is to go to the mall and endure the craziness that is school clothes shopping on Labor Day weekend. Wish me luck. The kids are still sleeping, so now I must tell them to wake up and face the day.
Last night we watched “Million Dollar Baby”. That movie made up for the two bad movies we watched the night before. The movie was very good, but awfully sad.
The weather here is so-so. Temps are in the 70s and you can definitely feel autumn’s imminent arrival. I’ve given up on my flowers and stuff for this year, already. Most of the flowers in the planter on my front porch are dead, or near dead. Lack of water can do that, I guess.
Taking a break. We’ve got a new fan in the master bedroom, and even better, we can now control the fan and light without pulling the little chains. We bought a remote control dealie that had 3 parts - the receiver unit installed at the fan, the replacement for the wall switch, and the remote. We had originally intended to run a second wire and install a second switch, but this was easier and didn’t require a trip to the attic. So yay!
Also, the new closet is painted, first coat, and all the trim is installed in the master bedroom. I’ll put one more coat of paint on it later today, and tomorrow, we’ll install the doors and shelves/rods, then put our clothes away. Yay!
Plus I’ve finished the laundry - at least up to folding it. No sense putting it away till we have the bedroom cleaned up and the chest moved. But the clothes are all clean, so there’s that.
Oh yeah, and we had leftover bean soup for lunch. Yummmmmmmmm
Arrgh! Teenagers! I am still waiting to take my kids to the mall. They finally dragged themselves upstairs to take showers, but now my daughter has decided she wants lunch and then she’ll blow dry her hair. I was hoping to be more than halfway done with the shopping by now.
donkey I’ve smoked a lot of butts in my day. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what I’m talkin’ about.
I went to church this morning. It was brunch Sunday, as is the first Sunday in every month. I took some drunk chicken, being as my friends left all that chicken at the swampcave. It was well received. We had about twenty people at church this morning who are refugees (I hate that word but can’t think of a better one) from Katrina. They all stayed for brunch cause there was plenty, as always. It breaks my heart to think how long some of them may have to stay cause several are from Nawlins proper and it could be months before they can return and who knows what they’ll return to! There are children being enrolled in the local school systems because of that. Also, there will be people who will be looking for work and places to live and all that stuff. Ok, enough of being a downer. Anyways, those folks were told to come back tomorrow for our Labor Day cookout. We are asking for five dollar donations from parishoners but those folks will eat free. I went back to the store today to get extra stuff to make baked beans so there will be enough. Just breaks my heart. Ok, enough downer stuff.
Happy Labor Day to all the American MMPers! To everybody else, well, have a happy day too!
swampy, I’m pretty sure everyone’s thinking about all the people who are displaced and what that would feel like. Glad you get to help directly.
Did a little garden planning after church today and then went off to brunch with some friends. Ate way too much, but it’s pretty much covering all meals today.
Went to look for a new storm door and also for a new entry door and decided to try again to unsqueak the current storm door. Good doors are EXPENSIVE. Found the storm door I want, but it would be about $400 installed. I’ve applied bunches of spray silicone to the hinges and it seems to have helped for the moment.
Made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s while I was in the neighborhood. Other than that, I’ve been a lazy bum again. Did notice that the price of gas is now down to $2.99/gallon at most stations…
I’m going to an arts festival in the morning. We’ll see what else I accomplish.
Well, we’ve returned from the hell that is school clothes shopping. We’re done, or at least, I’m done. Teenage girls and raging hormones make for very cranky shoppers. We trekked to and from every end of the mall and went in every store. It was very frustrating. My son did his best to keep up a good attitude and not complain. My daughter, on the other hand, was not very pleasant to me. It took all I had to not throw my hands up in the air and leave.
Swampy, it’s nice that you get to help directly. You’re not being a downer, I think we’re all thinking of what those folks down there have lost and what a long road to recovery they have.
We’re going to some friends for dinner tonight. We had them over last night, so we’re going over there today. It’s nice that I don’t have to cook because I am TIRED. I don’t know what we’re having for dinner, but I do know I’m bringing a bottle of wine, Mr. Taters is bringing beer, and we’re also bringing Moose Tracks ice cream for dessert.
Went grocery shopping and then to a Taize service at my parents’ church. Nice and quiet. I’ve just put the groceries away, and I’m wondering if I should eat something. I had dinner at my parents’ place, but I didn’t have lunch. Maybe I should have lunch now. The rest of the butter chicken. That would be good.
I didn’t buy a ham. Maybe I will later this week. I did get a five pounds of beef (ground and… sirloin? bottom round? Don’t remember) at the Asian grocery store. Their regular prices are better than the sale prices at the stores near me.
Tomorrow I’ll make pot roast and maybe cinnamon buns. Maple cinnamon buns. With walnuts.
THANKS EVERYBODY!!! Those were some lovely birthday wishes! And they worked just swell, too. The Princess[sup]TM[/sup] made a lovely dinner centered around some Margarita Chicken and it was all nummy. Mr. Anachi gave me a lovely new watch and I also got a gift certificate which I used to buy a couple new outfits and a new pocketbook. It was a real nice birfday.
Patience Donkey. It is a holiday. Which means you’ll be tapping until tomorrow, most likely.
Glad you had a great birthday, Puggy. I’m off to a local arts festival (as is my Labor Day tradition). It used to contain a few somewhat cheesy vendors in addition to some really good ones. My first Labor Day here in Columbus [wavering old lady voice]back in 1983[/wolv], they had a vendor who sold OSU mementos, including little statues of Woody Hayes, the former (some would say legendary) OSU football coach. This was shocking to my little Michigan State-born and -bred self. Can’t imagine what my reaction would have been if I’d been a loyal University of Michigan type person. Don’t really give a hoot about sports, but I’m awake enough to know that this is one of the few places where coaches are iconized…
Anyhoo, after the festival, I’ll stop by at church and trim bushes and water some plants that we just put in. And then maybe I’ll make it back to my own garden…
We stopped at the roadside produce stand on the way back from our (in the middle of the boonies and WAY to damned early in the morning) soccer tournament game, and bought us a big ol’ bag full of boiled peanuts.
For the unintiated, boiled peanuts should only be bought from roadside stands (extra points if they also have “Lopes”) and only then if they’re advertised with a handlettered sign, preferrably on a salvaged piece of cardboard. Or, if you’re a true southerner, then you can boil them yourself.
We’re finally done. Peruse the last five photos, starting here. Not only do we have nice, organized closets, but we purged 5 bags of stuff we never wear any more. I need to run the vacuum and empty the dishwasher, but for now I’m taking a break.
It was a good weekend. Tiring, but good. Now I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.
It’s nice to have a day off. I really needed it today, and it’s a gorgeous day, so I feel all relaxed and happy now. I spent most of the day tearing up a vintage dress so I can make it into a skirt. My friends are having a cookout, so I made a blueberry cake. Not what I was planning, but I didn’t have everything I needed to make the cake I wanted to make. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening stuffing myself with charred meat and icy cold drinks.
are getting lots done and have pictorial cites, but it ain’t happening. I figure if I do a bit of clean-up every day this weekend the garden should look quite decent. (My ambitions are not high this year…)