Musings of a Blonde Muse
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
blondemuse's LiveJournal:
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| Saturday, February 6th, 2010 | | 12:55 pm |
Snowy afternoon
We've had a lot of snowy afternoons this winter. First we had the snow before Christmas, which is unheard of on its own for around here. Then it turned out to be of such depth and followed by such cold that it literally did not melt out of the yard until 1 month later. Again, another oddity for here: the snow is usually only a dusting, maybe a couple of inches, and usually we have a 60 degree day within a week to melt it all away. But not this winter. Oh, no. We're in for it, and good. ( details on how much snow and how often and what we're (not) doing )We haven't had any gaming since New Year's. I'm starting to feel the stress. I think I've had just about enough of these snowy afternoons. | | Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | | 10:45 pm |
Typical Holiday Rush
Like most of us, I've been running hither and yon for the past three days trying to get everything ready for tomorrow. But tomorrow is only Christmas Eve, you say? Well, for various reasons, we're doing most of our Christmas on the Eve, so by the time I wake up in the am I want to have everything lined up and nothing.... NOTHING.... else to worry about. Of course I'll still have stuff on my mind, but that's just how I roll. :) Most of the work has been pulling the house together and getting ready for the New Year's Eve party. We have two families coming into town to stay with us: 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 golden retrievers. And it's no secret that I hate housework, the inevitable result of which is I delay it until I can't deny it any longer. Yep, I'm of the procrastinator persuasion. Other than that, we did run around for 6 hours straight today so Trinity could do her holiday shopping and so I could do a few things. We went to the car place to pick up Clint, delivered him to work, then went to my warehouse to get a padded envelope. After addressing and stuffing the envelope we went to the post office and mailed it to Florida. Hmmm next day mail is not guaranteed and $26, but slow mail is $4. We took the $4. Then we went to Barnes and Noble, where I bought the grandchildren gift cards from their nursing home-bound Nana, and Trinity bought me a Jane Austen book, probably Pride and Prejudice. Then we went to Toys'R'Us and Trinity bought her sister a Polly Pocket set and I just HAD to pick up Clint something deliciously geeky. Yes, I had already spent the agreed-upon budgeted amount on him, but this came from my allowance! Then we stopped at Office Depot where we had copies of the Christmas newsletter made to mail out to the 80 or so people that I don't have an email address for. And Trinity bought her Daddy a present that I know he'll really appreciate. Then we stopped at Petco so I could buy an aquarium filter and the girls both bought dog treats for the dogs to "open" tomorrow. After that we went to Clint's work and picked up his check, deposited it, then went to The Artist's Cafe for lunch for the second day in a row. What? We love Louie! While eating we saw one of my new friends, Ana-Cristina Godoy, and so we had to stop by her jewelry store right after and visit for a while. Her baby is 8 months old now! Wow. By this point the girls were complaining that their feet were hurting and we were all ready for a nap, but more errands were on the list! Next stop was to the other bank to deposit Nana's check, then to the CVS to try and buy Trinity a pair of pantyhose for the Christmas Eve service. Nope, nothing for kids, and she's just not quite tall or heavy enough for the smallest adult hose size. Bother. So then we had to "duck into" Kmart for hose, only to end up with white, red, and black tights since they were OUT of hose. Of all the things... Finally, our treat: the library. The Conover one was closed, which was upsetting since I just got the call something we had on hold came in. So we tried the Springs Road branch - no, and then the main in Newton - no. Balls. No books means bored cranky children for the holidays! I'm not worried about Bethany, since I got her 4 books that will satisfy her for a while, two of which are huge compilations of animal stories. But I hope T reads her books then reads Bethany's or it'll be cranky time. We came home. And cleaned some more. All we have left to do is the Den, which is only a messy table. And make sure there's a path to the door and the refrigerator in the garage. And tidy my bedroom and the girl's bedrooms, and scrub my bathroom. And uncover the chair in the kitchen that has a year's worth of important documents from highlights of my eldest daughter's last school year that should be scrapbooked or at least shoved into a folder and put somewhere to be dealt with later. And speaking of "later" I should try to make my desk tidy since it has a lot of "later" projects on it. And so does Clint's. Bah, humbug. Maybe I'll feel Christmas-y tomorrow.
| | Saturday, December 19th, 2009 | | 9:15 pm |
Sandbakkel recipe and history as I know it
1 lb. butter 1 egg 2 tsp almond flavoring 2 cups sugar 6 or so cups flour (until the dough is filled out crumbly) press dough evenly into sandbakkel tins - too thick and they don't cook well, too thin and they break when you try to get them out of the tins 350 degrees at 15-20 minutes This is more or less what I had written down, but what it doesn't tell you is where I hide the Sandbakkel tins from Christmas to Christmas, or that there's always too much dough and not enough enthusiasm for the entire batch, or that by the end of it your hands ache and your thumbs are raw from trying to gently press on the razor-sharp edges of the sandbakkel tins. But when you sit down and eat all the broken bits of cookies that didn't make it out of the tin whole, with a steaming cup of coffee, and especially on a wintry day, well, it was all worth it. And what's better is you can sing carols and share stories while you work. Clint needed to work on the game for tomorrow (God I hope we get to game and no more snow falls!) so he basically made the dough for me and then the girls and I made the cookies. First I had the girls sing along to the CD soundtrack for "Hotel Bethlehem" which is the church musical the youth are putting on Monday night. I have to admit, it's a cute soundtrack, but the title makes me try to fit it into "Hotel California" in my head, which never works. B is one of 3 maids who don't have solos, but get to sing backup, Diana Ross-style. T has the part of the stable boy, a Boy Soprano, and she has two solos. I've worked with her on proper breathing and raising her eyebrows to make sure those low notes don't go flat. I've picked up a few tricks over the years, but I'm hardly the best voice coach. (Especially now, as I continue to recover from my own voice problems. Today I sang ok, but it's hit or miss and I can't figure out why I have good days and why I have bad days, voice-wise. To say it's simply frustrating is just..!) Then we listened to a CD of choral songs and tried to sing along. The balance is all wrong on that CD - I should just chuck it. In between I told them that I got the recipe from my mom, who got it from my Dad's mom, and who knows how far back it goes on that family tree to Sweden (edit: NORWAY!)? I can pull out my copy of Matilda's Journey and look it up later. All I know is the tins have been passed down, and some new ones acquired at times, so some are old and spotted and some are shiny and new (and extra sharp). One of them - I think T - asked "So that means we're part Swedish?" "Well," I replied, "Not really. You're so American that the Swedish part is less than a tenth, I think. But we can enjoy the cookies." (Again, edit to soothe my sense of history: We're Norwegian! The sandbakkel tins came from Sweden, so I mistakenly thought that meant we were Swedish... nah) It was 6 inches of slushy, melting snow outside, and sweet cookie memories inside. And I really need to make sure we do this at least once a year, if for no other reason than so the girls learn the proper depth to make the sandbakkels! | | Saturday, October 17th, 2009 | | 3:58 pm |
| | Thursday, October 8th, 2009 | | 4:52 pm |
Update on the Biz - Kauffman Graduate, now!
Today I graduated from the Fasttrac New Venture program, which was depressingly over by 2 pm. I was then interviewed by the Hickory Daily Record on my experience with the program - I can give a resounding two thumbs up! Not sure when that will run. At this point I have most of the elements of the storefront business plan, but I still need Market Research results and I need to crunch the numbers on my startup and ongoing expenses again. Things, they keep achanging. I ( what next... ) | | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | 12:11 pm |
Sick, sad, and a little mad
Our local Domino's closed this week. They just couldn't recover after those idiots posted the video on YouTube. But it was probably the economy, too - we ordered a pizza last week for the first time in months. Clint went with Papa John's because they had great deals and online ordering, but I did ask why he didn't go with the Domino's when it was delivered. Oh well. I hope the Domino's owners will be able to sue those idiots for enough money to retire on. They didn't deserve this. Owning the Domino's was all they had. And I hope the message gets out that this kind of stunt is not acceptable. I mean, I'm thinking about opening a business. What if someone posted a YouTube video showing horrible things at my store? (Note to self: add prohibition of cameras by employees in store or something. Need an IP consultant now. Maybe I'll call Doug.) Jeez. | | Monday, September 21st, 2009 | | 8:18 am |
Hall Bath Renovations
As of right now, Dad is safe and sound at his own home, and my hall bath has a new toilet, new floor, new paint, new fixtures, new hardware, and has been a royal pain in the ass. Now I remember why I hate home improvement so much! But it really did need the work. Of course my plea is to give me time for my business... which I can't do when home improvement projects need my attention. So instead of working on the biz I spend a day laying and cutting vinyl tile, and a day painting, and a day grouting and laying quarter-round, and send Clint back to the store and call him three times for three new items... geez. We even skipped church on Sunday to get it finished, expecting to spend maybe an hour on it, then enjoy a leisurely morning before gaming, but no, it just never goes easy. Poor Clint killed five nails trying to get the quarter-round to stay put behind the toilet. You know, you just can't swing a hammer behind a toilet in the corner next to the floor. Not effectively. But I am so thankful my Dad is there to help me with projects like this. I really do. I think my grand total for this project was $500 ish, whereas it would easily be twice or three times that much if I had hired someone. Love the Dad. Hate the work. Not my cuppa tea. Now, to get the flooring replaced in the guest room, which was what we were going to work on for this visit... sigh. I'm SO hiring someone to do that. | | Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | | 3:43 pm |
Market Research
I met with my Market Research team at my alum university, and gave an hour-long presentation on my business and demographics (as I know it) for the potential store. I stressed to them that either answer from them, yay or nay, will be a blessing, since then I'll be more confident about the decision to do, or not to do, the storefront. I started by asking what they thought of when they heard the word "gamer." And then I pretty much didn't shut up for an hour. Half the class stayed late to keep talking, and pretty much all of them, even the two football players, agreed it sounded like a fun place for a date. I'm psyched about working with them, and left some resource material with the professor. The thing they were the most impressed by was the potential for being successful. They were stunned to hear that all of the professor's high school gaming buddies now have their doctorates. It was pretty heavy on the gamer side, but then again, who doesn't grasp the concept of a used books store? So, I'm excited. I'm pumped. And I gotta get my family looking after themselves more so I can work on this business more! (Now, to go cut up B's apple for her...) :) | | Monday, August 17th, 2009 | | 5:25 pm |
| | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 3:31 pm |
Items Banned from Cat. Co. Landfills
Did you know there are items banned from the landfill? I've always been a big recycling fanatic, but I didn't know anything was banned. Sure it's a good idea to recycle aluminum cans, and not to dump appliances or antifreeze and stuff - but banned? Hooray! I'm truly glad there is such a thing, and that Cat. Co. announced today that more items will be added to the list soon, including plastic bottles. Good for them! Thought I'd let my local peeps know. Join my eco-warrior stance! Also, I checked into what kind of enforcement exists for the landfill ban. Well, to be sure, they won't write you up for an accidental botttle or can here and there. But they said it "may result in administrative penalties" when I asked, so at least that's something. So the next time I ask the business I'm in if they have recycling for my plastic water bottle, they better say, "Of course, m'am, right here" and not hand me the regular trash can. 'Cause now instead of saying "well, you know, it's just a good idea to recycle" I can say "you might want to consider starting a recycling program here. Did you know these items are banned from the landfill, and your business could face charges if found in your trashcan?" I'm not saying right out that I'll report them. But I might consider it. And then put that water bottle in my purse until I can recycle at home, like I always do. Here's the whole list, and the letter stating the penalty : http://p2pays.org/BannedMaterials/Documents/WasteMgtLetter.pdf | | Monday, August 10th, 2009 | | 10:40 am |
Bethany's audition
went well, of course! We finally figured out it's for a UNCW student film, but they're raising the bar on what can be called "student film." Red 1 camera and all that. The director said "She nailed it." B matches one of the actresses who is being considered for the lead role, so I think it's pretty good odds that if they go with that lady, then she'll be cast as well, playing her role as a child. The movie overall is pretty sad, but the children's parts are all lighthearted and fun, which is good. If they choose her, they said they might want her back to read with the boy who is chosen for her friend. Then filming happens over Labor Day weekend. ugh. While I appreciate that they are scheduling the filming during a time when most people won't conflict with their work, I don't think we'll find a place to stay at this late notice in the Wilmington area! As it was, our camping spot at the KOA was a miracle for the past weekend - and the most expensive campground we've ever stayed at, $50 a night! Granted, that KOA totally rocks with tons to do right there on the site, but we really only needed the hookups. I figure our next trip down there - if we're lucky - we'll be camping in the parking lot. Good thing we can! Motorhome is self-sufficient. We had a good time other than the audition, too. We visited the Fort Fisher Aquarium, dunked the kids in the Ocean for about an hour, and ate fried seafood at Jones Fish Camp. We even found a comic book store and Clint investigated "game store" potential - not really. We made sure the kids didn't see or hear us complain about how durn hot it was, but truthfully Clint and I were reminded again how much we dislike the beach. But I'm glad the girls got the chance to see the beach once this year, so if we don't get called back at least it happened. While we were on the beach at Fort Fisher, some 10 year old kid drowned. I think he and his parents were caught in a rip tide. Coast guard helicoptered in, divers were able to rescue the parents fairly quickly, but it took another 2-3 hours of searching by divers to find the body of the boy. So sad. I was caught in a rip current before, and it was scary, but we stayed together as a group, swam angled towards shore but not fighting the current, and came out about 2 miles down the beach. I have to wonder how many beachgoers really know how to deal with a rip tide. And then again, sometimes it doesn't matter. You just get so exhausted trying to fight your way back to shore that you sink. We didn't tell the girls, but they saw that something was going on - you can't miss the helicopter and red flashing lights of the fire and rescue people. I even filmed the Coast guard pulling up the diver and then flying off - I guess that was when they found the boy. God be with his parents - I don't know how I could forgive myself if I survived something that my child did not. Even if there was nothing to be done. In other news, I got another email from our agent today, letting me know T is being considered for a commercial in Charlotte - but only if she can ride a bike. I had to email her quickly and say, no, she can't ride a bike! Now I get to go upstairs and tell T, who will in all likelihood want to go out there and figure it out TODAY. She hasn't really tried seriously, and honestly it's such a chore to get the bikes out that they rarely even get the chance. But maybe now that she's missing out on an audition because she hasn't learned yet... well, that might just make bike riding a priority for that girl. We'll see. I'll try to remember to report back. | | Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | | 5:09 pm |
Certified Bookseller With abebooks.com!
Hooray! I finally got the call this afternoon at 4:30 pm while in the Conover branch library (yes, I'm planning to sell books but the library is such a useful resource, especially in these trying economic times, that I'm a big fan and always will be). My application has been approved to sell books through abebooks.com. If I don't get a steady and satisfactory flow of books through that website, I'll use their counterpart Fillz.com to relist my books on amazon and ebay. One thing at a time. Tomorrow, maybe, I'll be able to start inputting my inventory and getting them out there to sell. But I've been feeling adrift in a fog waiting for slightly more than a week for this call. Hooray! I'm making progress! I'm excited! | | Monday, July 27th, 2009 | | 9:09 am |
Update on the Biz
Draft Business Plan? Well, it's a rough first draft but at least it's something. Check Brought my alma mater in to handle Market Research for expansion? Check. All legal filings, permits, ID #s, and whatnot? Check. (But I see why people pay business brokers to set things up for them now - that was confusing as hell. Good thing I'm good at online research.) Some inventory to start with? Check. Website to sell from? Check. Paid for my biz's website hosting and registered domain name? Check. Cleaned out 400 sq. ft. of (somewhat climate-controlled) secure storage? Check. Opened biz checking account? Check. Ah, but here's the to-do list! * Actually get said biz's website up so people can see it? Working on it.... (and when I do, I'll "go live") * Uploading inventory to selling website? Ah... today I hope to accomplish this... * Purchasing mailing supplies? Been analyzing prices of stuff every now and then... where are my notes? * Installing QuickBooks Simple Start and figuring out how to use it, plus putting in all that I've spent so far? (I figure less than $300, all told so far - it's mostly been grunt work to this point and I'm determined not to pay someone else to do what I can figure out... eventually) At least I bought the program when it was on sale for $10. * Finalizing Business Plan for the alma mater to work with in that Market Research class? No, not at all. Gotta get on that... * Figuring out if I should/can afford a new computer to handle everything? On the back burner for now. * Actually making any money from this business? Well, that is the goal! And that doesn't expand the list to include other aspects of the business that I want to implement, such as selling directly off my own website, but one thing at a time! Big props go to my parents for slaving away with me last week on cleaning out the "warehouse" - they replaced broken window panes, trimmed back bushes and raked leaves away from the foundation to discourage the snakes' nest from returning, and even got the old AC/heat pump to run the fan so some air is stirring in there. Seeing as how this building literally hadn't had the door opened in almost 10 years, that is huge! Not to mention they helped me hammer and screw together some shelving units, and all the scrubbing and vacuuming and all. They left to return to FL yesterday, but they were certainly industrious while they were here! Thanks Mom and Dad! I also have to give big props to my husband's family and their employees for their help, too. They gave me the "warehouse," cleaned out the snakes living beside the door in a brush pile, moved out the old things they had put into the building 10 years ago (maybe 5, who knows), and are even cleaning up and repairing some other storage things for me to use, mainly a nice desk that is missing a foot. I keep repeating, "No rush on that - I don't need it immediately - sometime in the next month or so will be fine" because they are all eager to drop everything and work for me, which is NOT part of the job description, but I think they feel obliged since I'm married to the mob that runs that joint. As I learned a long time ago, being married to the mob doesn't mean you have any say in what happens (and I like it that way!). All told, things are moving forward, which is a good way to move. Now, back to work. | | Monday, July 13th, 2009 | | 11:34 am |
Back to Civilization, It Seems
I wonder how many of my loyal readers (both of you) have wondered where I am or what I've been doing. Simply put, my parents have been with me - and I with them - for a whole month now, and there's been hardly any time to check email let alone keep up my normal chatter online. I miss you guys! They first arrived June 14th, and have left to take my RV to the mountains for a few days, but that was when I was busy with 2 VBS'es. Then we packed up and went to FL, where the internet access was prevalent but the time to use it limited. Then after 2 solid weeks there we returned home, cleaned the dog smell out and packed up T. We dropped off T at her first stay-away camp yesterday. Click here for the link - I know she's having a blast and making lots of friends who think like her, and like reading and math like her, and maybe a gamer kid or two! Poor B last night, however, spent about an hour crying her heart out because she missed her sister. It was her first night away from T EVAR. And after Dad and I convinced her that she was the reigning Princess of the house, and that she could sleep in the guest bed (my parents decided yesterday they prefer the quiet and luxury of the RV as a guest cottage), she slept just fine. So today the parental units have taken a day trip to Anson County to handle a few things and visit folks, and I've been running errands and trying to resume my life. Mom and Dad might take the RV to the mountains again later this week, which is fine. I can't say that the past month with my folks around has been too hard. Trying, at times, simply because we haven't lived this long together since high school, but what can I say? They're good folks, we have in jokes now, and they like calling themselves my migrant workers because they keep finding projects to do around my house. But all this fun has held back my business plans quite a lot. So this week I plan to dig deep and get as much done as possible. Guess I'll catch up on Facebook later! | | Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | | 2:40 pm |
Crazy Like Always
Go ahead and put that down for my grave marker. That and "I'm waiting for you!" since I feel half my life is spent waiting at the front door while my girls run around grabbing last minute items, despite repeated warnings that we are leaving. The past couple of weeks have been busier than ever. With the kids out of school I barely have time to breathe, let alone do me-type stuff like type insanely long posts into my LJ. (The editor in me is screaming I used type twice. Oh well.) The kids got out of school on June 10th. On the 11th they installed the new appliances in the kitchen (range and dishwasher) and removed the old appliances and the range hood. We're still working on getting the microhood installed. I won't go there. We spent all day on the 12th doing laundry and letting the kids (and myself) relax from the last few hectic days of school, plus I did the first pass on an editing job. Saturday the 13th I had a 2 hour rehearsal for the Vivaldi Gloria with horrible allergies - I couldn't even hit an F, let alone G or A. I pretty much slept and rested the rest of the day tryng to shrug it off. Sunday the 14th we finally got to game with the locals - first time in 2 months! None of us could remember what had happened in the last few sessions and my notes were out of order so it took about an hour of game time just to bring ourselves up to speed! Still, it was fun. My character got to unload some emotional baggage. :) Oh, and my parents called on that Sunday morning to say that they would be driving up that day and would be at my house that evening. Ack! So we flurried around getting the guest bedroom uncovered instead of going to church. Oh, and I thought Sunday the 14th was Father's Day, so we surprised Clint with french toast, coffee, cards, a song, and whatnot, only to learn from my own father that it is, indeed, the 21st. Doh! Sunday night mom and dad showed up with Ying, the Foreign Exchange student they have staying with them until the 4th of July - double doh! They gave Ying the guest bedroom and then we spent about an hour setting up my RV for mom and dad to use as a guest cottage. It was midnight before I got to bed. Oh, and I had promised the editing to be finished by Sunday night... I begged off and planned to complete it Monday. Monday the 15th was the first day of Vacation Bible School for our old church, HTLC. I wanted the kids to have the chance to see their old friends so I volunteered to run the daily Newsletter for the 3rd year in a row. No big. 'Cept Monday was chock-full of technical glitches! It was delivered on time by the skin of my teeth and the sharp minds of my helpers. Then after a nice hot lunch provided by my mom I took a powernap and jumped into the editing. That evening we took the kids to Day 2 of VBS for our new church, Beth Eden. (They started VBS on Sunday night but we were gaming. Hey, first game in 2 months, we have priorities here!) After dropping off the kids I got back into the editing, and finished up around midnight. I think. Tuesday through Thursday was pretty much the same routine, except we added in a daily nap. Two VBS's was a lot of fun, but tiring, even if after Monday I had the glitches worked out. But we have decided not to do that next year - if we have to choose we'll go with our new church, of course. Oh, and mom, dad, and Ying left in the RV to go visit the mountains on Wednesday. They got a flat tire on Thursday but other than that I think things went smoothly. I keep hearing how they didn't stay at a place with hookups, though, and that they have "only run the generator for a few minutes," so I'm worried that it'll stink to high heaven and the batteries will be dead (PLEASE use the generator - that's what it's for!!!) but we'll see - they return tonight. Saturday Clint worked on the game for Sunday while the girls and I did 2 hours of yard work and rested. Damn it was hot! Sunday we celebrated Father's Day (again) with a present of a watch and a song. Unfortunately, the watch didn't fit or work. So Clint took it in today - probably to get a different one! Willard took the girls again and Clint kicked off our new game, Mutants and Masterminds system, Exiles game. It went very well - two major combats, plus the roleplay involved in bringing us all together. My character is cold, paranoid, and stiff - it'll be fun seeing her relax and unwind a little. Maybe I'll post a character list later. Finally, to today, I've been taking privileges away one by one while trying to get the girls focused on cleaning up their room. sigh. constant battle and all that. They don't even have toys, for crying out loud. Meanwhile I've spent three hours cleaning the kitchen from the mess that was Saturday's cooking, cleaned the fish tank, and scrubbed toilets. So, you know, crazy like always. Crazy Like Frickin' Always. | | Monday, June 8th, 2009 | | 10:16 am |
Chimney Rock, Camping, and My Baby Runs Her First Game
As sad as it is, this past weekend was the first we'd had all year to go camping. I even put camping on the calendar, although we didn't decide where to go until 2 weeks ago. I think I'll try to do that again, maybe once a month or every other month or so. My parents are trying to come up sometime in the next few weeks to visit and use my RV, so that's the next trip if it works out! ( all about the RV, campground, and hiking Chimney Rock, and how out of shape I am )T was in a bad mood all morning because she had a story idea she wanted to run for us in Faery's Tale. And she wanted us to play the game before we left for home. We weren't sure we could get out by the noon check-out time (and we were right) so after we got home, showered and took another powernap, she ran it for us here in the Den. B's character is Saferia, an animal-loving Sprite who is fierce! She was all about using her little bow and arrows to shoot things. T's character of Lavender, a flying Pixie, sat out her own game (I didn't even suggest the concept of the GNPC for her first time GMing). I had chosen a Brownie who named herself Helgina after her mistress Helga, and made sure she was the scaredy-cat. Clint's Pooka Wimblidug (and he used a cute voice, which T loved, and if he dropped it she reminded him to use it!) loved to play with Saferia's animals and changed himself into a mole, a butterfly, a bumblebee, and a Peregrine Falcon during the game. T told us that the animals had been taken by goblins, and we hid ourselves among the animals until we reached the Troll's castle. Since there were 6 goblin guards and the Troll leader, we decided Saferia would need to convince the Troll to let the animals go. She rode Wimblidug's bumblebee to the Troll's face and rolled a total of 7 successes (with his help) to intimidate the Troll into letting the animals go! It was so cute to see B take a warrior stance, fist uplifted, and say in her little-girl voice, "If you don't let all the animals go, I'll bring the whole Pixie army on you!" The Troll ran over to his guards and said, "Get them!" I looked for a rock to throw, and got 5 successes, so T (our Narrator) said I found the keystone to the entire castle! I pulled it out, called Wimblidug, and we flew out in the nick of time as the castle came down - but it wasn't enough for T just to collapse a castle on top of the Troll. Oh, no, she described how he fell into the moat, where the electric crocodiles zapped him - zzzztt!! - and then he disintegrated in the water. Then the goblins fell in and disintegrated, too. Then Saferia had to tell the animals to go home, and there was such a stampede that we were all spun around. In all, it was another 45-minute game, and when T brought out the electric crocodiles Clint and I looked at each other in surprise - we weren't expecting that! - and died laughing! I get all misty-eyed thinking about it. My baby ran her first game. It's only a small step from Faery's Tale to Hollow Earth! Or Savage Worlds! After that we went upstairs, had soup, put kids to bed, then Clint and I drank a bottle of wine and resolved to eat better and get more exercise starting, um, today. I'm happy to report that yes, he walked a half hour on the treadmill today, and I'm about to as well, now that my little girls' moment has been forever enshrined in blogdom. I'll need to put it in the baby book later on today. I'm so proud of my little gamer! | | 10:05 am |
Amusing Road Signs from our Camping Trip
When we go off the beaten path we seem to encounter many quaint signs and places that just beg to be put into a Pinebox adventure! This past weekend we drove to Lake Lure/Rutherfordton and hiked Chimney Rock all day Saturday. Here are the signs I just had to write down for sharing - more on the trip next post. Welcome Home Baptist Church Rhoads Road Mast Enterprises Logging Equipment Mountain Creek Baptist Church Roper Loop Rd. (there were 3 of these, I guess crossing the main highway twice) Gold Hill Missionary Baptist Church Scoggins Seafood and Steakhouse, Inc. (across the street from Rutherfordton Veterinary Hospital and doing brisk business, too!) Revelations Motorcycle Repair Tent Revival! Crawford Hollow Lane Full Gospel Revival Church (I guess the rest of us are using only half of the gospels) Temple of Jesus Church Point of View Restaurant Redemption Blood Secured (written on a cross so the Redemption was on the arms and Blood was above and Secured below, kind of scary really) We passed a fruit stand offering Mountain Oranges - is that a euphemism? Kritter's Restaurant Church of the Brethen (on a subdivision sign) Thermal Valley (As in they wear a lot of thermal underwear, or the hawks coast on the thermals, or what?) How we love rural NC! | | Friday, June 5th, 2009 | | 12:25 pm |
| | Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | | 11:09 am |
Concarolinas and Dance Recital Mayhem!
Yes, this was the craziest of the crazy weekends, and when I confessed to Clint Sunday night that perhaps we should have chosen one or the other, rather than do both half-assed, his sage reply was "We did the best we could with a difficult situation." First of all, we had booked the hotel room and planned to attend Concarolinas, so please don't think we just didn't check the calendar until too late! As far as we knew, we were going to enjoy the con as much as last year, perhaps even more so for staying in a real hotel room and not the RV. (Now that I've crunched the numbers, we spent $300 more on food and hotel than it would have cost for us to stay in the RV and eat out once a day. Ouch. Perhaps we'll revisit the RV idea again. More on that later.) Then B's dance teacher posted the dance recital date for the exact same weekend. Yikes! How on earth do you tell your baby she can't perform her first dance solo because you wanna game? So then we had to figure out that situation. The last straw, the one we really HAD to say no to, was the film premiere. The film Milites Christi, where my girls were pagan slave children and actually got some real screen time and real credits, was premiered that Friday afternoon at the NC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem (1 hour east of home). Red carpet, guest list, all that. And we just could not go. Whine! I really, really wanted to see my babies on the big screen! So here's what we ended up doing. ( read all about it here )The worst thing about this con was the parking, which seems ridiculous to me. It also says this was a great con if parking is the worst thing I can talk about! When we arrived Friday night Clint joined the throngs of cars circling the parking lot like sharks looking for an opening. Well, at least now I know why they wouldn't let us park the RV there - it would've taken up 4 spaces! The thing that gets me is that a lot of the shoppes around the lake were closed all weekend long. So all these cars were just for the con? I guess so. Imagine next year, when hopefully the economy improves, and those shoppes are thriving? It will be murder AND mayhem. So I have to say I'm just not that big a fan of the location for the layout of the meeting rooms and the parking, but the programming was excellent. I just wish we could've enjoyed it more. As it is, Clint won't soon be living down the fact that he went and had dinner (and left MY books at the restaurant for over 24 hours) when he was supposed to be bidding on the tickets to Evil Dead: The Musical. But we just couldn't do everything. | | Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 8:03 am |
Leaving Mustard Yellow Behind!
Well, we finally did it. We upgraded the kitchen. When we moved in, the kitchen was dark wood cabinetry, with yellow faded and scratched countertops, yucky yellow linoleum, and the coup de resistance, the mustard yellow dishwasher, range, hood, and refrigerator. Oh, baby! I've hated yellow all my life. It just doesn't look good on me. It doesn't look good in my kitchen either. First things first - we painted the cabinets white before we even moved our crap into the kitchen. That took about 6 months if I recall correctly. (That's when I learned my husband needs to be nagged occasionally) We lived by eating out and using the bar sink and microwave in the basement Den. We also had that refrigerator moved to the garage and took my FIL's old garage fridge (white 80s-look) and put it in the kitchen. Yup, that was 12 years ago. About 4 years after that, while T was still a baby, we decided to pull up the linoleum and the carpet in the dining area and tiled the whole thing to make it into one big kitchen. Who has carpet in the dining room? Oh, wait, I had carpet in the dining room growing up. Well, I'm just not a fan of carpets in general. It has taken us 12 years, but the rest of the appliances are being upgraded after our purchase last night! We bought a brand-new Whirlpool dishwasher and microhood (Made in the USA!) and a Maytag double-oven range (which might have been assembled, at least, in the USA, but the real reason is that Whirlpool isn't making double ovens for ranges yet). All are in white, instead of that stainless look that is so popular today, simply because it was cheaper. I also think putting appliances that nice in my dated-looking kitchen would be tacky. At some point, if I leave my kitchen alone, it'll be retro, right? The only reason we are doing it now is because the dishwasher is making these horrible grinding noises at startup and winddown. I'm visualizing a dramatic end to the probably 39-year old appliance, complete with suds across the floor and down the stairs, and water damage to the ceiling in the den below, and maybe something will catch on fire. And if you replace one mustard-yellow appliance and not the rest of them, well, it just looks stupid. Besides, the range has only had 2 out of the 4 burners to work properly in all that time, and the oven light died and could not be revived, and it bakes unevenly. But we're used to that. They should be delivered and installed on June 11th. The total cost of the appliances is $1400 - what a great deal! Thank you, Sunrise Appliance of Hickory! I compared their prices to Best Buy, Sears, Home Depot, Lowe's, and hhgregg, and that would not have even paid for the double-oven range! We still need to pay for the install, which will be about 2 hours they figure, and they pro-rated the labor at $50 per half hour just in case the install takes less than 2 hours. Even if it takes 5 hours that's less expensive than the other big box stores too. Call me satisfied. After the install, I will finally be able to ditch the ancient microwave I took with me to college 16 years ago, which is remarkably still working (things do take longer to cook than the packages say it will). Someday, maybe, we can get new countertops and do some cabinetry work, not to mention a new refrigerator. I looked at the refrigerators, but our space is so small (those behemoths they make nowadays would not let me into the pantry) that the options are very limited. And we aren't so financially secure that a $10,000 complete remodel was in line. We set aside 40% of the tax refund money for projects like this, and we don't want to blow our wad. We might get the house painted, too. I know some people will read this and wonder why on earth did it take so long? Well, to put it mildly, I hate to cook. Clint loves to cook, but he really only gets to do so on the weekends (sometimes). I spend as little time as humanly possible in the kitchen - I do the dishes from the previous 24 hours while I cook dinner each night, to limit my time to the bare minimum of half an hour on a good day! Worst. Homeowners. Evar. |
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