Whacked

(Picture at the end of the Post ... No Peeking!)

There's a certain little boy that I can not mention his name ... because he's hanging his head in shame. So to protect his innocence and integrity, I also can not post a 'after' picture of him. (want me to sneak one?)

HE WHACKED HIS HAIR! Right off at his bangs. TWO WHACKS! Right on top of each other. Right in the front. Right where you can see it! But not to the scalp! Praise God! But almost!

... and he's cute, and he looked at me with his pitiful looking face, with his pitiful little hair-cut, and he said, (like it's the scissors fault) "We just can't have them scissors in our house no more now .... can we Mommy?" ... and I melted and told him that it would grow, and that he was beauty-full!

So this evening he wore a Red fuzzy Santa hat ... the entire evening ... and he smiled, and he forgot that he whacked his hair and that I had a camera. His name starts with the letter 'S' and in 'Pig-Latin' it goes something like this: 'Am-Say'.

So what's your hair-cut story? Who's did you whack? Or did you whack someone else's?

When I was a kid ... but way old enough to know better, I cut my sister April's hair off. She had really long hair ... way down her back. We played 'beauty-shop' under the kitchen table late at night when our parents thought we were asleep. I was in charge and made her sit there and I gave her a new style .... a 'pixie'. Kim and Robin didn't wake up Mom and tell on me ... because they were going to be next! Guess what? It didn't happen ... only because my Mom woke up because we made way too much noise and thought it was way too funny. Trust me ... it wasn't funny at all. Not at all!

Recovering Post

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Can you read that? LOL ... me neither! Yesterday I lost all my posts for a bit ... BUT I'm kicking again!

Whew!

Problem Solved (drama over)

The window problem is solved, sealed and drywalled! Mr. Contractor came in this morning to mud one more time before sanding and painting and we went over measurements one more time.

HE came to the conclusion that the window was too high related to he read the blueprint wrong and thought my bottom cabinets were special ordered at a higher height. He immediately starting correcting it ... and the outlets will work. Only ONE single outlet is truly an eye sore to me .. but I can live with it. I would have preferred it lower since it's more in the center of the room, but it's also right beside the stove .. so it will do. I didn't have the heart to make him rewire my kitchen for just one outlet. The others are more towards the outer walls and I can deal with it.

WHEW ... I would just hate to have had to kick his butt! Ha!

Now my fret is whether to paint the ceiling bright white ... and paint the dining room ceiling a light contrasting color with the walls ... and I'm thinking I'm going to have a 18" Medallion above my Kitchen ceiling light since Mr. Husband will never go for taking down the ceiling fan in the Dining Room or the Living Room. I love the look and this is my only chance!

What do you think? Medallion or NO Medallion in the Kitchen?

Kitchen Drama - Part Never-ending!

This is the view looking into my kitchen. Most of this used to be a wall, but now it's opened up and going to be awesome!

This is also the view I'll see when the cabinets are all in. That far wall used to have a a bunch of windows, but as you can see, now we only have one little bitty window THAT THE CONTRACTOR PLACED TOO HIGH AND HAS TO MOVE IT! (according to me).

I may not be a Carpenter, but after all the planning and looking at cabinets and books, even I came to the accurate conclusion that my base cabinets are only maximun thirty-six high with a thick counter top!. Mr. Contractor told me that they were forty inches tall and with my counter's back-splash they would be forty-four inches! WRONG!

All the electric receptacle's are based on his measurements and are too high. We'll be lucky if the bottom of the top cabinets don't meet up with them. I am so upset ... and pretty much angry! This has been a disaster since Monday and now he's finishing up and only has to mud and sand one more time and then paint.

The recessed lighting is now done and I love them. There are two on each end and they'll have a bronze ring around them. I still have to pick out my main light fixture, and that's how I'll be entertaining the kids this weekend ... a shopping trip to Lowe's!

So what would you do? Live with it ... or insist that he lower my window? I'm only five foot tall and I can barely see out of it. I'm opting for FIXING it ASAP.

Now for what everyone's been wanting to know .... how we are living in here during all this with three kids. It's called CHAOS! (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrone) Are we in for a bad weekend or what? This is the dining room and we have a path and standing room only!

The new cabinets are in the garage waiting for next Thursday ... so stay tuned in for more progress!

Puppies and Piggies

Kelcie, Sam, Meg and Jay

Lots of Puppies .... and lots of kids! On Tuesday evenings I always have Kelcie, and this week I knew I couldn't handle (four) 4 year olds in all this mess and chaos going on in the house right now, so I loaded them up and took them to my Sisters house for a Upper Case Living Party and a night out.

Anyone want a Boxer puppy? You have nine to choose from ... not counting the kids!

I Think I'm Fired ...

Well .... it's day two of the kitchen remodel, contractor people, mess, chaos (can't have anyone over syndrone) and I'm not faring as well as I was yesterday.

Yes, it's still early in the day and things aren't going so well for me.  My expertise is not carpentry as I had thought it was earlier this morning.  I've only chimed in twice so far and gave my opinion ... and I really don't think it was well received.  So I'll just stay out of the kitchen space with my camera until THEY leave.

I don't think they wanted me in there anyway.  I went to pee and when I came back there was a big gray canvas curtain covering the entire eight foot opening!  I got their drift .... loud and clear!  So now I'll just be going to work and be right on my merry way .. right after I finish this!

MM bailed out on me and hit the road right when they got here, and left me to fend for myself.  My first question to the guys went something like this, "Ummmm, the new window doesn't have a screen????"

I noticed that all three guys looked at each other, then at me, then back to the Boss!  He nonchalantly said, "Oh we can order one for you."

Then I had to point out that I didn't see a spot for a screen, and that I HAVE to have a screen because we have a barn with cows right on the other side of the driveway and all the flies in Gibson County hang out here in the Summer.  If I don't have a screen, then I can never open the window!  Then in the nicest voice I could muster up ... I ask him, "you won't have to exchange that window will you?"  Point.

A little history:  Two different times I had ask if I needed to go pick out my own window.  It's a woman thing you know!

Then about 10 minutes later I heard the buzzing of saws and I just had to check out what they were doing.  I'm curious you know.  We had already discussed the layout of the recessed lighting and where I wanted them to be.  There were four perfect little circles in just the perfect places ... except I noticed that they were a little close to the wall, and it hit me .... Are they a tad bit too close to where the crown molding will be?  So I ask the question, after I secretly snuck off to the bathroom to call Lowes and ask how far out the crown will come.

I swear I wasn't smug when I announced that 14.5 inches away from the wall would probably butt up against or lap over the canned rings wouldn't it?  That wouldn't look very pretty now would it.  I did tell him that I really wasn't very picky, but I sure would hate for him to have to redo the entire lighting ... it's easier to fix that now than have to redo the entire thing ... after all, at this point there is only four circles cut in the ceiling!  Yikes!

(Whew ... good thing I noticed that!)

So the decision was made to just go ahead and replace the entire ceiling with new drywall since those holes won't work.

(I sure am glad we have a proposal instead of paying Mr. Contractor by the hour.)

I'm going on to work now since I can tell that they don't want to talk to me anymore and they can't cuss in front of me because I can tell they're very nice men.

So, tonight when I get home, I've got to figure out exactly where I want the electrical outlets to be and how I'm going to decorate.  I certainly can't have a plug-in interferring with my decor!

However, I do have a plan.  In all this mess, I found a black permanent marker and I'm just going to draw my plan on the walls in there with a picture of a outlet with a line through it.

Think they'll get my drift or just ask me to come back next Monday?

Kitchen "Day One" (plus some cute kids)

Bright and early this morning the kids were on watch .... and when the Contractors pulled in with their trucks and trailers and all their supplies, my kids were absolutely ecstatic. This was a first for them! Now I'm wondering how in the world I am going to survive this week!

Jay had his Binocular's out and was watching them as they started carrying tools and dry wall, boards, drills and hammers into our house.

Our appliances, new and old are in the dining room. The table is shoved up against a wall and the walls are stacked with a lifetime full of kitchen stuff. Where in the world did I get all this stuff!

Our living room is walking room only for all the totes of pots and pans, dishes and utensils that are stacked every where. Why do I need two Wok's and three electric skillets and a couple of crock pots? I have dishes from my Mother, Von's Mother, my Grandmother, his Grandmother and my own collection of oddballs. I have every day dishes, good dishes, and my Fiestaware dishes that are totally off limits.

Don't even get me started on Tupperware, Rubbermaid and Butter bowls ... and all the lids that couldn't possibly have had a matching bowl for the past two decades .... and I've only lived in this house for eight years!

In my opinion, we couldn't have picked a better contractor. He's as nice as can be ... and works fast and counts for every minute. In less than an hour, my old cabinets were gone!

These two guys are his helpers. They told me to tell you that they're both single and "looking." Ha! The young dude on the left is a whiz bang at texting and hammering at the same time! Anyone want his number??

This is the only part that makes me kind of sad to see go. For some silly reason, I loved this old corner cabinet. Even though I never knew the Grandmothers that lived here before me ... I kind of pictured in my mind that this was their spice cabinet. I like the old beadboard that it was made of, and I like the shine of the old varnish on it. So I had them to save it ... and I have it all in one piece with all the little shelves that were in it ... and maybe, just maybe ... I can talk MM into putting it back up on our closed back porch! So give him some blog love and tell him to get with it!

The double windows on both ends are now gone as I type this and they're starting to box it in .... by tomorrow it will be a whole new room!

Oh yeah, look at this guy below. His last years suit fell out of the ceiling when they took out the old soffet over the cabinets .... he sure was a big ole guy ... and I'm hoping he's moved on down to the neighbor's house by now!

I'm sure he thought it was morally and ethically wrong, and I'm sure it was totally against my husbands will, but I had to insist that he give me a bit of help this morning before the crew got here. For forty-five minutes straight ... we cleared my kichen and I was under my estimated time of one hour! I am good B.A.B.Y!

I call it skill .... he calls it procrastination!

D - Day

Tomorrow is the day ... for destruction and demolition of our kitchen. 

I am NOT ready for this.  I've waited a long time and now the day is here and I need another day to "get with it" and be ready.

My Job:  clean out the cabinets, put everything in totes, take down the blinds, curtains, shelves, "pretties" ... and pretty much clear out EVERYTHING!  I also have to sort what I will need over the next three to four weeks, and what I won't need until everything is completed.

Here is it almost midnight and the only thing I've got done is to divide the silverware and utensils and put them into three small totes.  I have six extra large totes lined up in the dining room to start loading ... BUT

I've eyeballed it ... and I think I can do it in ONE HOUR!  So I'm going to bed and I'll get up really early in the morning and get with it!  What can I say .... I work well under pressure!  Ha! 

Now that we're down to the last few hours before the crew arrives to makeover my kitchen ... I've decided that I want to flip flop the long wall and change things up again!  It ain't happening says MM!

(I'll make sure I get some good pictures of the demolition, and some before pics of the kitchen). 

Play Date with Mom

We had a play date this afternoon ... just me, the kids and two camera's! They were so in love with being outside that they actually sat there and smiled at me! I lie. I lie.

Really, I told them that President Obama wanted a picture of them and they cheesed all over themselves. So I tried it again and again ... and nothing doing, but I did snap a bunch of great pictures of these kiddo's as we explored all around an old barn.

No smiles here ... but it was at the end of our walk and they're looking tired! (I like tired .... it means they snooze for a bit)

We found this swing on the other side of the barn ... the one that I've never been to before.

... and here's the look! It's time to quit!

Reporting Live .... Trouble on the Farm

I'm here on the spot .... watching out the window as "three" police cars pulled in and arrested the stranger man that rang my doorbell almost an hour ago.

It's very scary to have a man at three o'clock in morning knock on your doors and circle your house in the wee hours on a very cold night.

So I did what any crazy woman in my shoes would do ... I talked to him through the window and told him that I was not going to let him in, but I would call someone for him and did he want me to throw a blanket out the back door while he waited on help to arrive. (Oh sure Tanya ... open the back door instead ... you idiot)

I pretended to call the number that he gave me and instead called 911. They had me talking to him through the window asking him questions. He ran off the road ... in a ditch ... lost his phone ... doesn't know where he is ... no, he's not hurt ... yes, he's oriented ...don't let him know you're talking to the police .... then, am I okay? Am I scared? (No, because Marlboro Man is leaning on the kitchen counter all smugged up drinking hot tea waiting to protect me while my heart is palpitating like crazy.)

I talked the guy into sitting on my porch to wait for "his friend" ... then I paced and fretted, then I got to thinking ... I live out here in the middle of nowhere and it has already been 40 minutes since that 911 call was made and NO ONE has arrived to get the man off my porch. Then the police call me back, and tell me that the road is closed to get to me and they have to go around. (Duh ... the road is closed. The road isn't even there anymore because the county sold us out to the coal mine. The road is now a football field deep coal mine with cranes and big trucks driving in it)

Dispatch wanted to be on the phone with me when the police arrived and wanted me to know that he would be arrested and to make sure that my doors were locked. They couldn't tell me why ... only that it involved an incident from a couple of hours ago. (Sure ... go right ahead and scare me to death now .. okay?!)

So the moment arrived and three police cars pull into my driveway, and the man jumps up and heads towards the gate. My heart is melting and I'm waiting for gunfire or something ... and the higher order of the farm is nonchalantly holding his tea in his hand while he watches out the window. Then when the man in the red jacket and torn up jeans is securely surrounded by police officers ... Marlboro Man ventures out. (in his jogging pants, cow boots and a old jacket that has a "Semen" logo on it from a "Sperm Rep" that leaves the good Bull "Stuff" here for when MM impregnates his cows the hard way). Real Cute. (bet you never even thought of a man driving around selling cow sperm now did you?)

Long story short ... the guy and a few of his buddies attempted stealing Anhydrous from the Co-Op a few hours ago, was on foot and got lost out here in God's country. He stumbled his way here to Green Acres, and was so cold he willingly he sat it out on my porch until the police arrived! Nice. What was he thinking ... "oh yeah .. let's go steal some drug makings in the aftermath of the nations worst ice storm ... in the middle of the night." We've got some real smart people here in my neck of the woods!

Yeah ... it was a drug bust gone bad ... just another Meth Lab in the making that didn't make it, and the poor man had to sit out in the cold without a blanket ... and I didn't even get to offer him any hot chocolate (nor did MM share his hot tea). Now I'm going back to bed to catch a few hours sleep before my brood wakes up for the day. It's going to be a long long day. I'm sleepy, my trust has been violated and I'm uneasy now.

BUT ... Houston we still have a problem! That 911 call was made a tad bit over 50 minutes ago, and what IF the guy had been armed and breaking my windows?! Yes, I live out in BFE ... but can my tax dollars go the closest jurisdiction? Like the one that is only five minutes away?!

I think my tax dollars went for gasoline tonight when all three officers got lost trying to find me ... and by the way, didn't we just install a million dollar 911 system in our county just a year ago .. one that would enable you to find me in an emergency? The one that changed my nice simple address to a string of numbers that resemble a road sign. That one. It might have worked if you hadn't sold us out to the coal mine and the roads were still there.

Over and out ...

102.8 = Hot

Hot?  Very.  But not Hot as in Haaught, Cool, Chic or RockStar Hot.  Just Hot as in ... sick.  Well, she is a RockStar most of the time .. but not today she says!

Today she was running a 102.8 temp and was a bit lethargic, and being Friday and right before a weekend, and no doctor availability except the ER or a MEC, we opted to take her in.

My girl has a very bad severe case of Strep and a full body Scarlet Fever Rash ... even on her toes.  She's as speckled as a dalmation pup with a sandpaper like rash all over.  She's not eating ... not drinking and not peeing much, and just not as peppy as normal.

But when the Doctor stepped out, we pulled out my little "point and shoot" camera that I always have in my purse and she pepped it up, boogied and posed a bit!

You know what they say ....  "Once a RockStar ... always a ROCKSTAR!"

Please send a few prayers her way everyone ... she's pretty under the weather tonight!

A Man Thing

 

You only get one guess .... and I'm sure you got it the moment you saw the "yellow".

It was almost zero degrees outside and Sam steps out the back door like he's a big guy on a mission!

I don't get it ... what is it about a guy teaching his boys to pee outside ... and in the snow at 7:00am on a freezing cold day!  Seriously ... is it a man thing?

Dear Meg - "Can I Smell your Butt?"

Dear Meg,

Today you're four and all wrapped up in meanness as you grow into this world. This letter to you is for when you're forty-four, have children or possibly grandchildren ... and when you think there is no way that they can embarrass you ... I want them to have read this and give it their best shot!

Today, we were at Best Buy. We had to pay for appliances ... and you can't just do that in the Refrigerator, Stove and Freezer department. No, we had to get the prices, the paperwork ... and go to customer service.

For thirty minutes, we had to go to customer service. In the line that everyone else in the store was in ... the one where at least sixty-seven people stood with their paperwork in hand and not happy to be there.

Did we know that it would take that long? No. Did we know that you three would get bored and show your butt? Yes. But we were in the middle of the line with half the people in front of us ... and the disgruntled half behind us.

For entertainment, the three of you climbed up and laid down side by side on a stack of "guitar heroes" ... and you pretended to go to sleep and you pretended snoring ... and yes, it was kind of cute in a kid sort of way. Then suddenly you began to fight ... and Jay rolled you off onto the floor and you got up and shoved him and we had to separate you. THEN, you did it.

When you had everyone's attention that stood in that line, you said, "Ewwww Mom ... did you fart? Can I smell your butt?" ...... and I wanted to choke you and rip your tongue out of your mouth and put it in my pocket until we left the store. ... and not only did you say it, you did it. You sniffed and snorted and gagged and choked and danced circles around me while I was trying to get your attention to shut you up.

... and yes sister, you got your brothers attention as well ... and yes, you got them to join in, and I wanted to drag the three of you across the floor and out the door through the snowy parking lot and throw you in the van. Did I? No ... and only because we were going to be next in line.

So Meg ... down the road when I'm long gone from this earth, I'll be watching over you from Heaven and I'll be sending vibes to your children or grandchildren, and I hope they do the same thing to you. Even though you'll not remember doing this as a kid ... you will someday read these words, and I'm sure you'll laugh and get the biggest kick out of it ... probably as much as you did today!


Afterall, this is why I blog ... kind of like a time capsule ... only it's not buried, it's here, and it's real ... your real life!

Love,

Mom