Things In My House Thursday

The first thing I'll share is the little bulletin board in the kitchen.

This is where I've tacked notes, cartoons, pictures, etc. It is mostly the display of some of my favorite notes from the kids, that they wrote me because I was on the phone.


And yes, those are Gumby and Pokey figures standing on top, and a ceramic plaque hanging above it: "Plenty and Grace be to this Place".








Back to the bulletin board itself:

The picture in the upper right corner is Aunt Nancy with the cat from the grist-mill, Second-hand Rose. The cartoon below it, well, I can just relate on several levels:

The "pancakes / waffles" note is pretty self-explanatory:

The 'taquito' note was an incident with Mary: I ate one of hers that was already ready and promised her one back when mine were done. She did not forget.

We were cooking something in the crock pot but we were leaving and MattBabb was coming over; Mary felt the need to warn him to leave it alone. Feeding Frenzy is a kids' computer game that I tried to play but could not eat the bugs. . . she was boasting about her insect-eating skills.




Other randomness is a tattletale note that "Bubba didn't load the dishwasher" and some copied bar codes from Cokes and / or Diet Cokes. That one is ironic (in addition to being odd) because we don't drink either one. . .


There is also an alert that "there are no more pink beads", and a classic message from Christopher letting me know that "the eggs are ready", signed and dated. (They were being boiled to color for Easter).

Well, that's all for this bulletin board and post.

PLEASE join me in this meme and use Mr. Linky - and link back to this post. I'll try to come up with a button and whatever else we need to make this easy to participate.

I'm looking forward to seeing inside your homes and learning about your "stuff"!! Thanks for sharing!

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H E L L O

It's been two weeks since my last post, and I have nothing fantastic to show for the gap.

I have been in an organizing war with Jessica, who claims to be the winner, but HAH! I do have many reasons and excuses why she might be ahead of me, but they don't even matter, because the contest is far from over.

I'll give you some reasons why she thinks she is in the lead and could be:

The least of it: I have Charlotte so she can organize. Therefore, there is no organizing or cleaning going on here during her visits - except for the part of cleaning up behind her.

The most of it: an alien being has inhabited Jessica. A clean, well-organized room / home is not her nature. (I have photographic proof if I am challenged.) But now, she is Ms. Martha Hazel Doris Cleaver. If she starts putting on an apron every morning, just because, well, I'm calling somebody. . .

I am having to operate under the same conditions as ever, and I have more people to organize for. My house is operating with new efficiency, already, but I still have whole rooms to go.

Now, I interrupt this post for an important announcement. The laziest blogging ever is over - for awhile, for sure. I have posts planned; a draft.

As I clean up and allow more strangers than ever into my home, I am made aware of the large number of decorating oddities I seem to possess.

I'm inviting you all to see for yourselves: on Thursdays, I will post "Things in my house". My intent is to utilize Mr. Linky so that whoever wishes may join me. Surely you have an interesting pillow, figurine, mother's day gift, heirloom, anything that you'd like to share. Something that is a favorite - and it certainly doesn't have to be unusual like most of my things; it can be anything treasured, expensive, etc.

Join me this Thursday, and let's look at each other's stuff!

There will be coffee!!

Yay!!

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SUPERPOWER

I don't mind taking the occasional marketing / product survey if I believe it will help create a better version of something or such.

So, when I got a postcard in the mail last week that said "Help Design Your Ideal Small Crossover Utility Vehicle!" - and be in the running to win $5,000, well, I logged on this morning and got started.

It was a long survey, but was mostly relevant and interesting. I would love to end up with my ideal vehicle: affordable, small but seats eight..., gets unheard-of-great gas mileage, makes me younger and more of a traveler, 'labels' me as responsible and practical, but the interior pampers me at the same time, stylish, etc. and so forth. Some of the choices were surprising, but some where along the way they must have been preferences stated for a group of people.

HERE is the very most interesting and unusual part of the survey: Let your imagine RUN WILD with how this question factors in:

If your friends had to describe you as having one special ability or superpower, what would it be:

• X-ray vision
• teleportation
• ability to read minds
• telekinesis
• super strength
• invisibility
• ability to fly
• ability to heal

JUST

WHAT

KIND

OF

CARS

ARE

THEY

DESIGNING

OUT

THERE??

And why didn't they let me choose which superpower I'd like to have, versus what my friends think I have?

In the meantime, PLEASE comment (or have your friends comment), and tell me your superpower. I just REALLY want to know. And I won't even pretend that it's "for research"...

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Backyard Resort

The "dumpster diving" pool was a smart move.

Charlotte and the baby love it!

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$357.78

We've enjoyed unusually tolerable, even pleasant weather here until about a week ago. It has started getting hot, like we are used to and hate. (Let the whining begin).

Even when it is super hot outside, I never let the air conditioner get set lower than about 74 degrees, and if it is just me at home, it's likely to be closer to or at 80 degrees. I drink a lot of ice water or ice tea during the day, and am generally doing something non-strenuous (physically), like paying bills or such. Visitors don't much care for the tepid temperature indoors, but it doesn't bother me or the kids. Hubs is willing to deal with it - for the most part.

So, since I already conserve in every way except for my l o n g hot showers, when I read this morning's headline: "Utility bills to increase 30%", I was distressed. They are high enough, and I only have the once last extravagence to 'give up' to save money on utilities.

Then, the mail runs.

What luck, there's our MLGW bill. . .

It was exactly (well, within 38 cents) ONE HUNDRED dollars more than last month. It wasn't cheap last month, and it was ONE HUNDRED dollars higher. There was no more consumption. It wasn't even hot yet!!

This is the kind of distress that induces napping, but after I woke up I started thinking.

I tried to tap into some pioneer mentality (or, more accurately, if you climb back up my family tree, some Native American Indian mentality) and figure out how to cope now that it was too expensive to leave home (gas) AND too expensive to stay at home.

The only big source of electricity besides our air conditioner could only be the dryer. What to do, what to do? Hang the clothes up to dry? WHERE? How? Hmm.

Eureka! THE solution to our energy problem: we wear wet clothes. Are you kidding me with how perfect this is: wet clothes, we stay cooler, less air conditioning, no dryer. Brilliant.

You're welcome and you're welcome. Follow my lead, lucky readers; we can name this trend after ourselves.

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Worthless Wordless Wednesday

They can go at it like this all day long.

(Join Wordless Wednesday here!)

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Organize Organize Organize

Busy, busy, busy. REALLY.

Many, many years ago, two households came together...... there were babies and jobs and life.

In spite of garage sales and ebay, the house got more and more cluttered and disorganized.

The kids are older, 'things' have slowed down, and the house has truly been 'getting to me'. But I was overwhelmed. It was too much to tackle, and I'm not a natural organizer. When I do organize, I can't 'relax' about it, so I'd get even more stressed. Example: if I organize photos, I want all the photos / albums to fit in one cabinet. If I clean out the pantry, I want all the soup to fit on the same shelf. I want measuring cups on one side, and mixing bowls all together on the other side . . . . things need to fit, and be easy to get too. Thankfully, I don't care about color-coding or alphabetizing!

I am tired of messy and difficult. And I was tired of not being able to handle the situation. Not knowing where to start, how to tackle it. Not having the energy.

It got to me badly enough that I remembered to do what I should have done first: I prayed about it.

And since then, I have had "supernatural" energy, determination, and problem-solving skills.

I've cleaned out cabinets, closets, moved furniture, organized things in the house AND on my computer, culled and re-filed papers, etc.

I'm not close to being finished with the things I need to accomplish, but I'm not tired or overwhelmed by it either. Everyday I look forward to getting more done.

Today: the kids and I took all the DVDs out of their plastic cases and we put them in CD albums. UNBELIEVABLE space saver!! Two large albums, in the cabinet under the TV, versus taking up two small bookcases, and two different cabinets.

Then I started culling old scrapbooking materials and gathered a goodly amount of decorative paper and templates and such to give away.

Ongoing - my computer area - I get a little done everyday. Putting operating CDs into containers, etc. ON the computer, I've been sorting and relabeling my picture folders, and uploading them for backup and sharing.

What I haven't been doing, obviously, is blogging much, but, the results are worth the sacrifice. And I am certain that having a clean house is going to make me a better blogger : )

Anyway, I'm finished for today; I'm going to go read.

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This Makes Me Sick

"American is top dog in eating contest"

The headline doesn't surprise me, but just hearing or reading this news story makes me a little quesy.

The winner, Joey Chestnut, ate 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, before gobbling another five dogs in a tie breaker.

I'll let you take a moment to digest that (pun intended!).

I like hot dogs, but I probably won't be able to eat one for at least a month. . .

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Bellevue's Starlight Spectacular 2008

Last night, our church hosted our annual Independence Day celebration - Starlight Spectacular. (We know it wasn't held on the 4th - sometimes we're exact with the date, sometimes not. . .)


The weather was fantastic - particularly and exceptionally so for the end of June in Memphis.


Volunteers passed out free water, flags, glo-sticks, etc. The music was great: our choir and orchestra, as well as 33Miles and the Isaacs.



"What Could be Better" by 33miles is one of my favorite songs, so it was especially enjoyable for me!

FIRST things FIRST:

Danny headed straight for the corndogs,

and was looking for the watermelon

Thousands of people, but we didn't feel crowded!

Red, white, and blue toenails and flipflops!

It was the kind of event and venue that Charlotte dreams about,

Wide open spaces to run away in...

Stuffing her face with snacks. . .




Catching up with her BFF Isabella

And believing that all the glorious sights and sounds were there just for her!

I don't claim to be able or to even try anything special to take fireworks photos. Even if I could, they couldn't compare to how incredible the show was. They were bigger, better, louder, longer, and more awesome than in any years past. The fireworks were synced to live music from our orchestra. You might get an idea from these:

It was a fun family event. It took a long time to get out of the parking lot when it was over. . . but it was certainly still worth it to have been there.

Happy Early Fourth of July!!!

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Sweeeeeet

Visit my daughter's bloggy friend,

Caroline,

and read about

The Wedding.

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