Home Decor

I watch these TV shows about designing remodeled houses and cringe sometimes.

I would never put a white sofa in my living room, yet these designers seem to do it consistently. What makes them think that everyone wants white. Yeah, I would not make it as a designer.

At Steve's house last week, my solo job was to wallpaper his guest bathroom.
The paper he bought was shiny tiny patterned squares. I'm thinking way to go Steve! that's gonna look awesome. Then I opened the package and it was beige. His bathroom is light, white and silver, with gray accents.
"Steve, You cannot put this in that beautiful bathroom - I won't allow it!"
Good thing he agreed and went and bought white wallpaper. It looks like bead board.
So While we took a time out from the fireplace overhaul, Steve went into work.

Mike tackled his solo project - the kitchen light.

I got to work on his bathroom. I started to hang the first piece and stopped. "This looks just like bead board." Funny how that works! It just didn't work in this bathroom.
I made a "designer" decision and hung it horizontal. I LIKE it!
It was my first attempt at horizontal wallpapering and my last. Good thing this bathroom is small. Not easy folks!

Steve approved...Whew!

Turns out Steve know my taste in décor too.
I mentioned to him how much I loved his Tiffany lamps. The one in his blue spare bedroom has dragon flies on it and I love it!
I told Steve that if it was green it would turn up missing when we leave.
Yesterday the UPS truck backups into our driveway and drops off a package.
That wonderful, generous, loveable, kind, sweet man sent me this!!!

Is that not the most beautiful thing ever. He did good!
Really, who needs white when there is so much color out there?

"Thank You, Mood"

My visit to Mood for material was a success.

My first day back - we need groceries in the house and it could use a little dusting. The lawn needs mowing and with the windy weather a few flower beds need to be reraked. (spell check tells me that reraked is not a word, but that's what I have to do).

First things first, DRAPES with my Mood material

That bed is screaming for a blue and gray quilt!

New York - Beautiful

We come to NY to visit our friend Steve. Most of the time he has something for Mike to fix or build. Mike loves doing it and we get to stay and visit with him.

I always ask to see a Broadway musical and he has always gotten us tickets.

I grew up in the 60's so I really wanted to see "Beautiful" the Carole King story. I love her music.
Steve came through for us again.
He works in the industry and turns out he know the lady who plays Carole's Mother in the play.

Steve is manager here

We sat in the 6th row center stage. I know spoiled is what I am. When we got to our seats I turned to Mike and said. "Looks where we are right now. Can you believe it? How did we get so lucky?" His name is Steve.

The show was wonderful. I laughed and cried and sang and hummed a little. Amazing!

No cameras in the Theater, so you are going to have to believe me that this show was extraordinary!

We had to walk through Time Square to get back to the parking garage where Steve's car was parked so of course we has to stop for a picture.

Windy day

A big Thank You to Steve for a wonderful time in a crowded, smelly and loud city.

New York - Mood

I am a huge fan of Project Runway. HUGE!

They always shop for fabric at "Mood".
I wanted to get material for drapes for the second bedroom, so what better place.
It turns out it's right around the corner from Steve's studios. To brighten my "Mood" (get it) after visiting the 911 memorial Mike and I visit the famous "Mood".

It always looks so big on TV - and it is.
3 floors of every kind of fabric you would ever need. I loved it.

I'm thinking what could make this anymore exciting and then I saw him. I am pretty sure he thought I was stalking him - I just wanted a picture. It's Ben from Runway Allstars.

He was working there. I caught a picture of the back of his head, so I'm not posting it. It was pretty funny though.

I found some material and then I signed up for the Mood customer club. I got a member card and everything.
The checkout lady could see that I was excited to be there and gave me a "Mood" shopping bag for free.

New York - 911 Memorial

Mike and I both wanted to check out the 911 memorial during our visit to NY.
I got us some tickets online for the 9:00 opening (ok, that was the only hour available on such short notice),  which means we had to get up at 5 to hitch a ride with Steve on his way into work.
Steve insisted that we had to take the "C" train. Opps, he meant the "E" train. No big deal we got there.
It's no secret that I love to wash windows - that little dot half way up the side of the trade center are window washers. Not in a million years.

 There were only about 15 people waiting for the 9:00 time slot, so instead of getting in line Mike and I walked around the 2 pools. Guards on every corner. It was quiet and peaceful.

 The museum entrance was all glass and shiny. Then you entered and head down into the museum. And I mean down below ground. It was quiet and dark. The only lights on were above displays. It was solemn and people talked in whispers.

Camera weren't allowed in most of the rooms, but I did take a few. Then I didn't want to take any. I kept thinking I saw most of this on TV, I don't need anymore pictures of that day.

The famous stairway where the few survivors were.

And a fire truck that was parked 2 blocks away when the towers collapsed.

Mike and  I just kinda wandered around the place, walking around trying to make some sense. There was none.
After going through the hall where they were playing the phone calls that people trapped were making to their love ones, which was only on the second level, I wanted it to end. We kept on heading down.
The recovery hall had the most disturbing picture. It had a dot for all the places where DNA was found. The furthest away was 10 block away. They call it DNA, but we all know it had to be a body part.
I was holding it together pretty good - didn't have to take advantage of a Kleenex station - until the Reflecting On 911 hall.
They had a picture of all the victims. Inside there was a room to sit and listen to recordings of family members talking about their love ones.

We met on a softball field...
I finally found someone who likes to fish...
She called me at the exact time of my birth on my birthday...

I told Mike that I wanted to leave. It was hitting way too close to home. He was ready too.

Cooperstown

We started out Thursday morning at 6 am.
A very crazy and stupid thing to do. It was foggy and raining and we, being very stupid, thought that we could out run the rain and thunder storms.

We spent 11 and 1/2 hours in the car traveling to NY in that crazy storm that covered the US.  And not just light rain there were downpours at times. White knuckle driving (ok I was scared just riding too) Mike drove most of the way. It was loud, very loud, and scary and dark and very stupid. Worst travel day ever!
Only one bright spot - I found "The Masters" on Sirius radio.
Then we spent the day on Friday visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame. Almost forgot about the stupid move on Thursday., almost.
Upstate NY still has some snow, especially in the mountains, but the weather was nice and there was very few people at the museum.
I thought it was my imagination, but Mike agreed, there was so much Chicago stuff, especially White Sox.

piece of Comiskey Park scoreboard

 They had a cool room where they had photos and art work displayed. This one caught my eye  - from 1964 - for 2 reasons. No women in this picture and can you imagine this happening today. Fights would break out and people would be killed.

 The Man!!!! The greatest White Sox player of all time.

 I know it's hard to see, but underneath all the players that served in the military had plaques from their branch of service. Most of them served in WWII. Bill Veeck was a Marine.

 Another Chicago connection in the broadcast section.

 They had a real cool room where they displayed music and movies about baseball.
I had to take this picture for Dup. How many movies were made about baseball, including made for TV?

Answer: 186
Cooperstown is in a small town and not too easy to get to, but so worth the trip. It was my favorite "Hall of Fame" of all we have visited, so far.

Easter & Logan's celebrates 13

Big celebrations last weekend.
Our Logan's 13th birthday and Easter.
Logan's birthday party was on Saturday so I invited the Flory family out for a Easter brunch, before his party in the afternoon.
You can hunt for Easter eggs any place, at our house, you had to follow a treasure map for clues around the house and yard to find your Easter basket/chest.

The boys dressed into their pirate costume and I handed them their first clue.

 The first 2 clues were in the house and then they had to find "Where the mailman puts our mail?" They weren't too sure (theirs comes into the house through a mail slot in their front door). Roger recognized the mailbox from the picture I drew on the map.

 Luke found the clue nailed to the "I have leaves and I grow real tall." tree.

 I put the treasure chests in the shed, with "I am red and Papa drives me around the yard" clue. I made them outa paper bags, but the boys thought they were real chests and that's all that matters.

 Treasure chest ripped open and dumped on the floor.

 Now lest go back outside and PLAY....
They were having a really good time standing on the hot tub throwing the balls on the roof and catching them.

Logan's birthday party started at 2.
Kaylyn giving her cousin Owen some love. She complained that they live too far away from each other and she doesn't get to see them enough. I agreed!

  The neighbors have a little boy who let Roger and Luke play with his toys. They had a good time tooling around the yard in this thing.

The neighbors on the other side have horses. 2 big ones and a miniature. This one was so friendly and let Roger pet him. Luke wasn't having any of it.

Logan opening his birthday present from Mike. Some baseball thing that is supposed to help with his swing. He liked it, so who was I to argue.

I decided to put together a book on Shutterfly of all the pictures I had of him from day 1.
I know I take a lot of pictures and I know there are times that I think I am missing out on something because I am off taking pictures of something else, but wow did I have a lot of pictures to choose from.  Now, I know why I always have my camera and I am so glad that I took them. 258 pictures with Logan in them.
There are some of just Logan, some of us and Logan, and more misc. ones, like turkey bowls, football, basketball and baseball teams.
I chose 196 pictures to use and gave him a 36 page book of his first 12 years.
Now he has a memory book of his Papa Down and Grandma Karen.

Banana Relay

For 20 years, Genoa/Kingston High School has had a tradition to end each track meet with a banana relay race.

 It is the last race of the day and it's only for the boys who throw shot or disc.

Those events are the first things on the schedule and then these boys (if they are not runners too) sit around and watch the rest of their teams compete in all the running events until the meet is over and time to go home. Sometimes that is 3 hours of sitting.

It doesn't count in the standings and teams do not have to participate, but they all do.
It's a favorite among the boys and the fans.

It's 4 boys, each running 100 yards around the track passing off a banana instead of a baton. The last runner must peel the banana as he is running down the stretch and eat it after he cross the finish line.
First team to show an empty mouth to the coach is the winner.

Well Genoa/Kingston has a secret weapon this year. My Grandson, Dylan, throw the shot and disc, but he also is a damn good runner.

He didn't want to be the last runner and have to eat the banana, because he had just finish his 200 yard dash, so they put him in the #1 spot.

Dylan holding the "baton"

On Your mark - Get Set - Go.

The starting gate

Dylan's team was not the first to cross the finish line, but Jeremy can eat a banana in 2 bites and Genoa/Kingston WINS the banana relay.

Thank You Mother Nature

I got this beautiful dresser with a marble top as a gift from Bryan's great aunt on his father's side around 1972. Long before we were married.

Aunt Bea gave it to me. She was a round, short (5 ft) lady that made the best pork roast with sauer kraut. We just got each other. We spent time together in her kitchen, laughing. She loved me and I loved her.
It moved with me 5 times and it weighs a ton (marble top and all). Lately it has been in our spare bedroom holding everything that I can't throw out.
We got new furniture for that room so, I offered it to Bryan, seeing that it came from the Flory family originally and they now have room for it.
I was secretly happy he said no, because I love it and it reminds me of her.
I wanted to move it into our living room. It just needed a little clean up, both on the inside and outside.

I started with Murphy soap. With a lot of scrubbing and wiping and scrubbing and wiping I got the first drawer clean.
Before putting the drawer back together again, Mike caught me waxing the old wooden tracks on the bottom of the dresser with a old candle and asked me where I learned that. Internet? Nope, my Mother taught me that little trick.

I decided that using Murphy soap was too much work and got on the internet to find a better solution.
Mineral Spirits! Only problem there is, it STINKS. I didn't want to move this bad boy out into the garage so I just open up my windows and got started on the clean up job right here in my living room, in the sunshine, with the windows wide open.

SO Thank You, Mother Nature for this beautiful warm spring day!

That'll Be a $100

That's what the "helpful" lady told me at AT&T when I called because our internet was down.
Looks like we have a bad modem and it will cost $100 for a new one.
The conversation took 50 minutes and I was transferred 3 times, because the "helpful" lady thought I was in Alaska.
Sorry, You are pissing me off and I am not paying $100. Goodbye!

I called 3 other places, 2 weren't available in our area and the other 1 was $69.99 in our area (don't believe their $19.99 commercial on TV, just saying).
After I calmed down I called AT&T back ready to pay the $100 and be done with it.
I got Matthew. I told him to just send me out the damn modem. He explained, in old people speak - that means he had to repeat it more than once to get through my thick skull -  that we have DSL. They are discontinuing DSL and we had to upgrade to u-verse. Why didn't the "Helpful" lady just tell me that. Why all the run around and aggravation?
Ugh - And how much is that going to cost us?
Nothing... This is where he had to repeat himself.

The installer will come out and GIVE us a new modem with faster speed and for a cheaper cost. Like 1/2 price cheaper.
I asked him if he was allowed to do an early April Fool's joke on customers, because after talking with the "Helpful" lady I was in no mood?
He laughed, apologized to me for her, and told me all he was saying was true and scheduled an appointment.
Derrick came out to the house and set us up. It took a couple hours he had to rewire the house for the faster and cheaper service, but as you can see, we are up and running.

I want to call Matthew's boss and tell him what a great employee they have and then I want to hunt that "helpful" lady down and hurt her.

Now that we are back among the cyber world I think I will just email AT&T and tell them.