I tried to burn down the house Part 3

In my seemingly endless quest to determine the most tale-worthy way to nearly burn down my house, I discovered that cramming two lengths of rope light into a cheap and large glass vase, then leaving those on for more than 10 minutes will cause the rope light to melt and the glass to heat past the point of common sense. Thankfully, Corky went into the bedroom prior to it bursting into flames, but not before meltdown. Now I have a lump of brown plastic in a vase, with no foreseeable way to remove this solid mass. I am thinking that a boat motor blender might cut through the mass enough to dump or shake it out, but it could also break the glass. Damn that $5 vase, and old but still working rope light... Oh, I also have a room that smells of deadly plastic fumes, a wide open window and a fan on high. Maybe a hair dryer blowing on the lump will get it reeled enough to pull it out. Maybe I can go and find another vase, and scrap the whole thing... Here I was so proud of my frugal attempt at a bedside lamp. I decided that I should probably switch to led lights since they are cooler.

Monday Morning Weekend Wrap Up

Now that Corky is back to work on desk duty only, she actually has weekends off, so this makes the third weekend we could spend together.

Friday
Corky spent the night and we just chilled out and relaxed. I took apart and moved part of The Oldest's old twin bed and a part of the bunk bed set The boys have had for a REALLY long time. Am looking to sell it and see what I can recoup.

Saturday
Woke up and finished moving The Oldest's bed, vacuuming his room and moving the futon into a better spot, which meant moving the bookshelf and the cat box. Went with Corky and her roommate to Urban Ore looking for ideas. Saw some stuff we want to try, as well as buying a drop leaf table, now making 2 projects I need to do... Had lunch and rushed home so that I could drive My Sister's Youngest to Homecoming at his high school (my alma mater). While there, Sister gave me her old kitchen chairs (AWESOME!). We picked up his girlfriend, took pictures, and I waited while they ate at a friends. Then I dropped them at the school, picked up Corky and met another couple for dinner and dessert. Back home and exhausted!

Sunday
Up and out rather early with Corky and her roommate to the downtown antiques fair. Wandered for about 5 hours, and bought one non antique (of course). Will be making it into a bedside lamp because I need yet another home project, though this does not involve sand paper, screwdrivers or stain. We'll see how it looks soon. Dinner at home, shower and a nap after crying from pain and exhaustion. The Boys arrived at around bed time, with some additional work needing to be done on an essay for The Youngest that is due tomorrow.

In bed by 10:00 and really looking forward to sleep.

Monday Afternoon Weekend Wrap Up

Another busy weekend!
Thursday was spent cleaning bathrooms, and taking apart The Boys bedroom in search of the DS that has been missing for 5 weeks. No dice, so my next adventure will take on another room in the house. The Dude had to work, so I stayed home with The Boys instead of going out with friends. I could have taken the boys with me, but it's at a decent restaurant (read not McDonald's or Red Robin), and I would have spent my time making sure The Boys were taken care of, and watching to ensure a food fight didn't break out, instead of visiting. Add to that the fact that we're not particularly flush with cash at the moment, so it's just as well.

Friday was The Boys last day of school, so I spent some time there watching as the 3rd graders received their certificates to progress out of Pathways and onto 4th grade. I was teary eyed because I'll miss those kids, and next year I'll be bawling when The Oldest ends 3rd grade. After working, I pulled all of the boxes out of the garage, while The Dude cleaned out the shed in our backyard. Unpacked and repacked all of the boxes to figure out what to sell at Saturday's garage sale. It took about 3 hours, which included moving all the things I'm keeping to the shed out back. There are only two things I couldn't move by myself, the Christmas Tree and my Great Grandmother's Persian rug. The Dude worked Friday night too, so I didn't go to the school moms happy hour to celebrate the end of school. I did get to watch Bedtime Stories with The Boys, and it was a surprisingly cute movie. I liked it, and may be starting to come out of my movie boycott.

Saturday started at 6, and I was out moving all the stuff around by 7. The Dude set out all the signs, and I got it all set up by 8. Our neighbor across the street brought over a table of stuff, and kept me company all day. I ended up selling about half of what was out there, she sold almost all of what she had, and had the rest packed up and put away at 1:30 or so. Because I was outside all that time, my house was a disaster when I came back in. I cleaned and ran to grab The Boys some take out. A friend stopped by to visit, which was cool because we hadn't had a chance to do that in a while. The neighbor kids hung out the rest of the afternoon while The Dude slept, and when he got up, I attempted a nap, but he is far less successful in getting them either outside, or quiet. The Dude took care of dinner for The Boys, and I made myself eggs, fake sausage and toast. Relaxed in the evening by playing WHATZIT games across the country. Reflected on how someone can think that offering $20 for a working treadmill is a good idea. Finally got it together enough to start taking Immunitea for this chest cold that I now have from doing too much with too little sleep.

Sunday was up at 6 again because The Cat wanted out. Decided to just stay up instead of climbing back into bed. Got dishes done, breakfast made, and laundry started. More Immunitea, coffee and folding clothes while listening to Squeeze:



The boys were going stir crazy so I took them on a four hour hike at Sunol Regional Wilderness - the hike to Little Yosemite isn't difficult, my kids just had to stop all the time, and whine about being hot, and when are we getting there, and all the things that make them who they are. Once they were able to get creek side and practice skipping stones, all was good again. I'll have the photos tomorrow in Tableau Tuesday. Got home to find that The Dude had grocery shopped, and I did more laundry, took a stab at another WHATZIT, and read a book.

Rainy Day Reflections

This is what got me out of the house for a walk in the rain:



I actually love walking in the rain. I really love it much more when it is a warm spring rain. This week has been bitter cold and grey. But still worthwhile for walking and shooting photos.

Frugality update: Roasted a Turkey breast yesterday and sliced it up for hot turkey sandwiches tonight. Added left over mashed potatoes from earlier in the week and instant turkey gravy - dinner ran about $6.50. Still have half the turkey left for later in the week. Oh, and walking is free :-)

Cold Medicines make you loopy

As evidenced by my last post. I am no less loopy today, it is still beyond frigid here, and there are clouds with no moon in sight. At least if it rains, the weather should warm up. One can hope it won't snow. I've been sounding like I'm hacking up a lung for a few days now, and it's turned into this croupy sounding mess. Add to that the stress incontinence of having had a 13 pound baby - the natural way, and my period, and you'd know why I'm not right about the head at all this week.

Then there is the Sunday Stills Challenge - the moon. An ominous sign for sure. First off, full moons are crap to shoot because there is so much reflective surface. I might have to get REALLY creative with this week, especially if I can't capture the moon at all. We'll see what I can come up with before Sunday.

I'm tired of looking for a job. It gets more depressing each day that I am not phoned in abject wonder of why, oh WHY would any sane company let me walk out the door. I know, a bit much to hope for, but really why would they?

Frugality update - Eaten every meal at home this week, and have cooked a ton of meat because Ron is on a carnivore diet again. Cross Roast, Turkey, Italian Sausage. Blech. Tomorrow I'm making Corn Chowder again. I also went to the storage shed and dug up my old tea pot. See, I'd packed it away a few years ago in an effort to declutter the house. Now I've started drinking tea again, I wanted it back. Ron said to just go buy a new one, but I'm SO not going to do that when I have SEVERAL tea pots just sitting in storage. It was in the first box I opened - HA! I also found that if I make tea in the evening after the kids go to sleep, it helps me not eat my weight in popcorn or other snack crap, it warms me up, and helps me sleep better. Also, it makes my throat and chest feel better in this cough/cold thing. That reminds me, I need to order tea.

Ordering done, my Imunitea should be here shortly.

Valentine's day is right around the corner and the boys are nearly done with the valentine's for their class. Tomorrow is the 100th day of school for this year and their class is making trail mix. Each kid has to bring 100 of something that would go in trail mix. My oldest is bringing 100 pieces of Honey Combs cereal. The youngest is bringing 100 craisins. Last year had a weird combo of Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips and Reese's Pieces, but the kids all like it.

No more bees, but today I was surprised to see about 40 crows in the field behind my house. I usually don't see that many at once.

Just stuff

So the past two days have been difficult at work. Yesterday, I met with 4 of my team to tell them that they no longer have jobs. I also met with my boss so that he could tell me the same thing. We all knew it was coming, but it was still emotionally draining. I feel horrible for my people, and have no clue what I am going to do either.

I found the cartoon here. there are a couple I laughed at as well, worth checking out. Oh, and my company only recently came out with a social networking/blog code of conduct that all employees have to follow, and all of our stuff has to be compliant by 3/31. If I don't find an internal job, my last day will be 4/3. Somehow, not terribly motivated at this point in time.

On a better note, I had an interview this morning and it went pretty well. I'll know tomorrow if I got it or not.

Frugality update: Sis sent me some cool and cheap recipes, which I will try, and share here as I go along. We all had left overs for dinner tonight, and I packed my lunch today. Didn't spend any money at all except on paying bills (which was plenty).

I've been sucked into facebook, and understand why people call it crackbook, it can be addicting! I'm trying to join more photography groups and competitions, and see if I can get my name out there more, and maybe sell some stuff.

Monday Morning, Weekend Wrap Up 3

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity! Saturday morning the boys got to meet the kids who just moved in across the street. The two youngest are the same ages and grades in school as the boys and they all had a ton of fun riding scooters and bikes, and playing in the backyard. After lunch we went to Adventure playground and they had a blast! I love this place! It's everything you wished you could do as a kid! They painted, built things, played hide & seek, played pirate, and just were being kids. I got tons of photos, some of which ended up in the Sunday Stills challenge.

We didn't get home until around 6, and I got a call at 6:15 from a friend who was on her way to Wicked, and had an extra ticket. Did I want to go, and could I meet her in 90 minutes in front of the theater? Yes and Yes! And I have to say, it was AMAZING and WONDERFUL!

I am struck by how clever and smart the storyline is and it made me want to haul out all of the Oz books from storage and give them another go! Of course, I got home after midnight, and couldn't sleep until after 1, but well worth it!

Sunday was laundry day, and shopping, and Superbowl. I didn't really care about the game, so I saw some of the commercials, some of the game, and got to visit with friends, and meet some new people. The boys got to each whatever they wanted, so they were happy and hyper!

Frugality update: I did not purchase the original cast recording of Wicked for $28 at the theater. I went home and downloaded it from iTunes for $9.99, and my friend with the extra ticket would not let me pay for it. I have some truly generous friends. I know this, and it makes me cry in gratitude. I would never have been able to justify the expense of Wicked, and hadn't even thought about it, even though I love the theater. Adventure Playground is free, and the Superbowl party was potluck, so it was a pretty inexpensive weekend, given everything that we did!

Monday Morning, Weekend Wrap Up again

Yesterday I took Ron on a date. We went to Lunch, and then a Play. The food was good, and the play was really funny. It was good because we needed some time for just the two of us. We don't get to spend a lot of time alone together, unless you count facebooking from two different rooms in the same house. We are techno geeks, to that I will admit. We were able to talk about what is going on for work and job searches, and discussed the possibilities of moving out of state. The only problem with that is I want to live in Key West where it is damned expensive with few jobs. I don't want to follow the hordes to Arizona because it isn't close enough to an ocean. For now we're staying put. We don't have the money to move at all. Ron is applying like crazy all over the place, now that he has his county EMT registration. I am also applying like crazy with nary a bite on my resume. This weekend, I did get the e-mail of someone who could help me polish up some things, so we'll see what comes of that. I've been told that my resume is golden, but why no noise? I am putting it out there to the universe to find me an ideal job, in a field I am both good at, and love.

Every time I walk through my building at work, this song runs through my head:

I was actually in the office yesterday to print out things that cannot be e-mailed, and it wasn't really that different from the weekdays. Lights were off, and there were a few people in. While I've certainly bitched about the place and it's politics and policies, I will miss it, and not just for the pay and benefits. I'll miss seeing the familiar faces that go with names I do not know, as well as all those I do know and have worked with over 12 years.

The kids are off from school today, and we're still trying to plan a snow trip. They went a bit stir crazy over the weekend because I needed some time to just stay home after the previous week's myriad of play dates. I'm looking forward to Mardi Gras, and hope to get a few good photos, and that the parade isn't cancelled like last year.

I did get rid of some more things via freecycle this weekend, and kept the spending to a minimum.

Crappy Day

Today was stressful and crappy. It's just hitting me that I'm being laid off soon. I have been looking for work with no bites at all, and if I don't work, my family will not have food, housing, or health care.

It could be worse, I am getting a severance package, but that will only last so long. Time to buckle down again and be uber frugal! Today I put hamburgers and veggie burgers on English muffins because that's what I had on hand. Why waste money on hamburger buns when I have something else that works? I also use these little gems for mini pizzas for the boys.

The oldest is going to drive me insane. He desperately wants to be in the school talent show with his best friend. However, the best friend will not be in town for either the dress rehearsal, nor the talent show itself. I have been trying to get my son to realize this and come up with a back up plan. I think tonight I finally got through, as he has now decided to do a puppet show of the 3 little pigs. The only obstacle to overcome now is the puppets we have are finger puppets, and those don't really translate well in a school auditorium. Oh, and the dress rehearsal is in 2 days.

I think he may not be in the talent show after all and it will break his heart because in his mind, he was born to be on stage. Last year, he did Tae Kwon Do, including a board breaking. His dad wants him to break several boards this year and he just wants to sing and dance. Of course dad is at a class tonight and not having to deal with all of this. The brain storming alone is making me want a drink.

The youngest just wants to play video games, and I need to decompress, but I'll go read to him. I haven't had enough sleep all week because Ron is working and leaves the house before the boys get up. Today he came home as I was on my way to Tae Kwon Do, and left for Bio31 as I pulled into the driveway. Luckily tonight is not the lab, so he'll be home early (hopefully). I volunteered for a chocolate tasting that will earn money for the boys' school. I know - boo hoo for me...

Good news is one of my employees got an internal job offer today, and I am very happy for her. Her new boss was very nice and is encouraging me to move to Dallas, because that's where the company is focusing IT. I've been to Dallas. It's too far away from the water. So I applied for an internal job in Miami to make myself feel better. I don't want to move. My family is here, the kids school is here, and I LOVE the program they are in.

Monday Morning, weekend wrap up

This weekend FLEW by! I read 2 books that I got for Christmas; Plum Spooky and Tales of Beedle the Bard. I highly recommend both! The boys spent the weekend playing on the tire swing and riding scooters. We all went to visit my folks, because I had to see my dad and he looks great! I guess this was the artery that was making him so tired for so long. He said he feels better than he has in a very long time, and this angiogram was healing much faster than the previous four. Took the boys to Cafe Art and decided that it is too expensive to go on any regular basis. I will post photos of our projects when we get them later this week.

Frugality update: Got alot of laundry done, and switched to cold water - for the frugality of it. Freecycle brought my youngest a pair of baseball cleats for the upcoming season. Grocery shopping found me searching for bargains, but no meat to buy because I am using what I already have on hand.

Went on two photo walks and wasn't particularly inspired, but the walks were good anyway.
Started entering Sunday Stills competition, and we'll see what comes of it.

I have two more nights of training today and tomorrow, and I'm bringing my camera - it's pole climbing class!

Ron is pissed that I don't ever want to watch movies with him, so I'm going to take him to see a play.

Photo Fridays start today

I am starting a new Friday feature here - Photo Fridays. Like you couldn't have guessed from the title...

These will all be photos I have taken during the week. The goal is to take more pictures.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Update on life and family - My dad had a heart incident Wednesday, that got him a ride in an ambulance, and a stint placed in an artery that was 90% blocked. He is feeling WAY better and at home today. This is a man who smoked for probably 45 years, didn't drink, but thinks steak and eggs is an appropriate daily breakfast, and fried pork chops and scalloped potatoes is a good healthy dinner. I am really glad that he will be around a while longer and I hope he will take care of himself to ensure that is the case. I've spent the week in training, which meant 14 hour days because I was also still working my regular job. Some of the photos this week are from the place I was at. It had some pretty cool industrial stuff to look at.

Frugality update - Found the tire in the tire swing photos above while walking the boys home from school. Already had the rope - total cost $0, and as you can tell, it is being thoroughly enjoyed. Ate leftovers for dinner, polishing off the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Last night was leftovers too, as I'd been 2 days of free time in the hospital. Mended a pair of pants and 2 stuffed animals - the pants by machine, and the animals by hand.

And I will leave you with one of my dad's jokes, which he told to his nurse in emergency on Wednesday:
Three guys die on Christmas day and arrive at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter greets them and says, "In the spirit of this holy day, I will let you in, no questions asked, but only if you can show me something related to Christmas."
The first guy pulls a lighter out of his pocket, lights it, and says, "Candles!" St. Peter looks doubtful, but lets him in.
The second guys pulls out a set of keys, jangles them and says, "Bells!" St. Peter shakes his head, sighs and lets him in.
The third guy rummages around for quite a while before pulling out a pair of lace panties. St. Peter raises his eyebrows, and the guy says, "Well, these are Carol's!"

Good weekend to you!

Something to make you smile, and more rambling

First a video that always makes me smile:


I love this song, and often find it running through my head. This is preferable to the usual song that gets stuck in my head:

Yes, the Ethel Merman version. Though, I do LOVE Ethel, if she's in my head for more than an hour I get a headache!

Last night at training, we witnessed a guy in pole climbing class lose all of his strength, and fall over backwards on the pole. Luckily, he was safety strapped in. He was up there for over an hour, and there was Fire & Rescue and ambulance on the scene. He was okay once he got to the ground, but all of the instructors were working to get him down, as were all of the emergency folks. After that, everyone was exhausted, and not much got done the rest of the evening, and I couldn't type or sleep when I first got home. My pole climbing is next week, and there is NO WAY I am going up that high - he had to have been 20-25 feet up. I'll go 2 steps, maybe 3.

Had coffee this morning with a dear friend, and it was so nice to get caught up. I was telling her of all the serendipitous events lately, and she agrees that it is wonderful when it all comes together. She's going to do a Tarot reading on me the next time we see each other. I had been thinking of her all weekend, and she contacted me yesterday. Pretty cool how that works!

Found more frugal sites in a web surfing frenzy last night:

Some of these are dubious:
http://planetary-gears.blogspot.com/2008/12/some-tightwad-things-ive-been-doing.html

This is pretty cool:
http://www.vinegartips.com/

And I've decided to take all of the crappy t-shirts that are totally unusable as shirts, and if I actually like the designs, I'm going to make a quilt out of them. I have no clue how to quilt, but I bet I can find info on line, or a quilting class nearby. Because I don't have enough to do...

A big shout out to MoJo. An angel in my time of need. She is fabulous! And more serendipity in my life!

Monday and too much working

Today I did my usual work, starting at 8 AM. I added in some on-line training (5 hours worth) in between the other work things, and then went to live training for Phone Repair. That's right, this desk jockey is possibly going to be doing a stint as a repair tech for the phone company. I have my boots and everything! The training was fine, but it was 8 hours on top of what I'd already done. That puts me at a 14 hour day today. Plus I didn't get to see my boys after they'd gone to school. I already miss them. Tomorrow, I think I may have to sleep in.

Oh, and I snapped the cable on my parking brake, while it was engaged. While on dinner break from class. With the 3 other students sitting in my car. I was able to pull out the shredded remains, and feel around for the release clip. In the dark. With no flashlight and no offer of help from said passengers. Although the one guy offered to call AAA for me. I said never mind. So I knelt in a parking lot, with my head under my steering column, and one hand on the clip, and the other holding down the pedal. I managed it all in under 5 minutes - you read that right, FIVE MINUTES! We were on our way back when one of the passengers spilled an entire large coke in the back seat. So tomorrow I will be off to the shop for a cable, which I will install myself, and I will be washing both the inside and outside of the car.

Frugal parts of today?
Spent only $ on my sandwich from Togo's (less than $5). Brought my own drinks.

I did make the slow cooker roasted corn chowder for the family. It was bland and not very thick. Next time, less broth, more potatoes and maybe some cream. No one liked it, so I will try to revamp it tomorrow with seasonings, drain off some of the liquid, and add potatoes and cream. I am not going to throw it out though, because that would be a horrible waste! If all else fails, I throw in some lentils, as that's a bit what it tastes like already.

Sunday free crap Sunday

Today was OK.

Went shopping for flannel sheets for the boys. They like mine and have been asking for some. Found them at Target for $15 a set. Also found Bamboo sheets for me, for the summer on sale for $45.

On the forefront of Yankee Frugality, I made a 2 lb. meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. This is one of the boy's favorites, and will be another dinner later in the week. I used to buy the meatloaf and potatoes ready-made in the deli section of the supermarket. That would have cost me $14.07 before, and only last one meal. I made it all by hand, and it cost me approximately $10. A savings of $4, but really a savings of $9 if you figure that it only cost $5 for the one meal. Not bad, but I think I can do better by buying larger quantities of ground meat and freezing what I don't use immediately. I also started buying frozen chicken breasts, as that is the only part of the chicken they eat.

Also filing this under frugal, I found the oldest's old Tae Kwon Do uniforms, that now fit the youngest. His name is on the lapels (if you can call them that) in Sharpie. I seriously think that is on purpose, so that they cannot be handed down. Well, I'm not into buying new uniforms when I already have the size I need. I got out my Bleach pen, and after 3 treatments with an old toothbrush the blue sharpie came out. the black sharpie is being a bit more stubborn, so it's on treatment #5, which should just about take care of it. I also bleached out the youngest's, so I can hand that down to a family who might need one.

I'm now a firm believer in freecycle. I cleaned closets and the toy room, and found new owners for a Duplo set, a couple boxes of toys, toddler towels, and boys clothes and jammies. Now they are being used by people locally, and I don't worry about some corporation making money off of something that was previously purchased, or about them sitting in some landfill. I've gotten some clothes for the boys that way too! I think of it as the modern day equivalent of a seriously large and local family. I have no nephews handing down clothes anymore, as my 8 year old is the same or larger clothing size as them.

Of course, not a day goes by that I don't wonder what kind of supervision the boys are under while I'm away. Tonight I found that the oldest cut a giant hole from the middle of a blanket that was folded in his closet. I think their father was playing too much WoW, and not listening to what was actually happening in the house. I'm no super mom by any stretch, but I can figure out when they are getting into mischief, and I know when to take them outside to burn off energy. I asked that they go out and ride scooters while I was gone, and since their father is studying, he could sit in a chair outside and study while they rode up and down the side walk. As soon as I got home they begged me to go riding. I guess their father could only take it for about 10 minutes before taking them back inside. I was out for 45 minutes with them. I guarantee there would be not a hole in a single blanket if they'd stayed outside.