Mitch Hedberg - turtleneck humor

So my husband discovered this comedian - Mitch Hedberg....and we've spent hours lately watching utube videos of clips of him.... his humor is so obvious - I mean - every time I hear a joke I think... dang!  Why didn't I think of that!?

My favorite -

"Wearing a turtleneck is like being strangled by a really weak guy, all day.

I can't tell you how true that is... all my life I"ve hated those things and now I know why.  You hear me mom - - that's why!!!

Time Marches On

Getting older is not all bad - I mean - the gaining

experience part is pretty good, Getting to make

 house rules, decide what to fix for dinner, what

color to paint the living room - well -there's all

kinds of things that are good about getting older - but

the one thing that really drives me nuts is the

 memory losing part.   Take today, for instance - I 

had my hair pulled up in a wierd pony tail

 kindof thing in order to work on the house

and keep it out of my face.  It always reminds

me of this cartoon character and I was trying to

remember his name in order to tell my kids who it was. 

 I've been trying to remember his name now for about

two months to no avail so I tried to get them to

help me figure out what it was - and that's

when it happened........

His name is Ned something .... I said

 "Ned - from Ned's Declassified?"

my oldest daughter offered.....

"no - no - not  Ned  - do you really think my hair

looks like Ned?  he doesn't even have a ponytail...."

"Jimmy Neutron" - my youngest daughter chimed in

Thanks a lot - I thought - so now my hair looks

 like a giant chocolate chip.......

"NO! - I said - he's this guy that acts all goofy but

 he's not a cartoon character....."

"OH - pee wee Herman"... my oldest daughter said....

"Good heavens no - my hair REALLY doesn't look like his

 oh just forget it

I'll think of his name eventually....."

(dang my forgetful brain) - and then my husband

 hollered from the other room..... "you mean Ed Grimley

Martin Short's character on Saturday Night Live...".

OMG! - YES!  That's Exactly WHO I meant!

and then he said........ 

 "They're too young to know who that is honey!"

sheesh......

I'm so old I'm not only forgetting who I'm talking

about - but talking about people nobody knows!

Good Grief!

Memories

Yesterday I went to the funeral for the husband of a
good friend.  My heart has ached for a week and every
dayI long to do something to ease the pain I know she is
feeling and yet - this is something I cannot do for her.  
It is the hardest thing - that not knowing what to do,
what to say or how to make things better.  I know in my
 heart that with time, the sadness will ease and the happy
 memories will rise to the surface more and more. 
But I also know that there will be many dark nights
where the bitterness and anger will be overwhelming. 

It's brought back the memories of my sister in law and
all the times we went through when she died.  

The hardest part was that life just kept on going. 
It seemed to me that it shouldn't have... that the world
should have stopped... that something catastrophic had
 happened and it should have changed life for
EVERYONE 
 and the fact that it didn't was so terribly 
confusing to me.   How was I supposed to
 pick up where I had left
off as if nothing had changed - when my whole world
was upside down.... and yet - I was
 expected to do just that.

Amazingly - I did - and with this exact friends' help too. 
She was there for me in a way that no-one else could be.
As someone who had been through a situation so eerily
familiar that only God could have brought us together at
that time and place and for that exact reason - to help me
 through one of the most trying times of my life... and now,
I feel so unprepared to help her through this trial in her life. 
I do not have experience to offer her - but I do have love
and friendship and support and the promise that I will be
here for her every step of the way. I know that God will
give her "Just One Day's Grace" just like He does
me... it's all we get... just enough for one day! 


Meanwhile -   I look around me at all the people going
through their every day routines and wonder just how
many of them stop to appreciate each and every minute
they have together - then wonder if I'm actually
appreciating my minutes the way I should..... I guess
we can all benefit from a little reminder to take time to be
thankful for the people in our lives and make sure we
 let them know how we feel about them!

Blast from the Past

For Christmas this year my husband got a Mr. Bill figurine..haven't seen one of those in forever and when I saw it in the store I HAD to get it .... for him of course.

But once we got it home - the fun began...

Mr. Bill in the kitchen....next to the hot hot stove.....he's just so accident prone....

OH NO MR. BILL....watch out!!

will the fun never end?

A House In Repair - Kitchen Cabinets Phase II

The demolition continues - our poor kitchen - no fridge, no stove, no dishwasher... (like Robinson Crusoe - not a single luxury -for some reason that song keeps going round and round in my head) well - at least I don't have to live there!  I've become hooked on my cold beverages and NOT having to wash all the silverware!!

You can see the next step in our project - my husband has ripped up the floor (I'll cover that in another blog) and has a few tiles down for me to see - I'm just showing you the before pictures of the cabinets before I remove them from their homes.

A House In Repair - Kitchen Cabinets Phase I

So the main thing we have to do this year - and quick - is get our other house ready to put back on the market.  It's been on the market now since 2007 - and earlier this summer we realized that there was some major water damage  going on in the basement, so my husband has spent every spare minute all summer, fall and into the winter removing damaged wood, sheetrock and carpet and replacing everything with new.  It has been an enormous job - way more than we ever thought it was going to be - and we are not even half of the way to completion.  (or so it seems some days) But when I look back at the progress he has made so far (with just a little help from me and a lot of help from other family members) - I guess we really are closer to being done than I think we are.  My job right now is to take the plain Jane kitchen cabinets and spruce them up.  We're replacing the linoleum floors with tiling in the kitchen and dining room - so new cabinets will be the final piece to make the kitchen pretty and sellable.  

I actually found these pictures (above) of the kitchen before we ever started doing anything to it - excuse the mess  - I should have washed the dishes before I took these pictures  : )

Frick and Frack

 Jack and Skeeter have new cousins and they are the

cutest cousins in the the whole world!

Skeeter Pie

My other fur child is Skeeter, and NO - I did not name him ... he came with that name pre-installed! 

You can call him "His Highness" for short

He's a fluffy mix of who knows what and your guess is as good as mine with a little bit of "perhaps" and "possibly" thrown in for good measure.  Skeeter was my nephews dog until they downsized houses and then, bless his plumpy butt, His flufferness was just too big for the new digs and had to find a new home.  Ours was to be a temporary residence until a permenant home could be found - and, well - the rest is history.  I was standing in the vets office writing a check with several digits before the decimal and decided that if THAT wasn't the first sign of pet ownership - I wasn't sure what was.  And so, after weeks of begging, our fur child Jack
 finally got a pet of his own.

An Unexpected Snowfall

Somebody in my house has been doing the "I don't want to go to school" - snow dance... because  - yesterday - even though the weather man didn't say it was going to snow.... I looked outside the window and saw a few big flakes lazily making

 their way to the ground.

Napoleon was shivering on his branch, but the ground was clear - so my husband and I prepared to go to the other house to get some major construction done... it was going to be a very

productive afternoon!

GrandKitties

I've told you about my fur CHILDREN - but I don't think I've mentioned my Grand kitties yet.  I have two lovely 

grand kitty boys

 


KBob and Knob

Of course they aren't this size anymore - does anything stay small long enough? - but they are still beautiful and sweet (ha ha) - and love to cuddle.... and eat the strangest things... like anything wool - -wood and socks..... among other things..... 

New Years Resolve

And bam - the new year is here - I made my new year's resolutions and pinned them in an envelope on my bulletin board in my kitchen.  It took some thinking to keep from crossing that line between challenging myself and still keeping them within reach.... but I think I haven't put any of them too far up there.... I don't think, anyway.  Except for maybe that first one....and then there's the one at the bottom of the list.... well - there's gonna be a LOT of reaching going on in the year 2011.. but with some dilligence and some list making I should at least make some forward progress.

Did I mention I didn't seal my envelope? I was going to seal the envelope so that next year I could open it and then check my progress against my list... you know - so that I couldn't cheat  - It then occured to me that with my .... advanced age.... I might actually forget what my resolutions were and thus drastically reduce my chances of success.... and so - my decision to leave the envelope unsealed.... (that - and - the opportunity to amend them JUST A LITTLE - throughout the year - might be necessary - you know - to make them a little  um - higher... ya  - that's it)     

Hip to be Square Headboard

My youngest daughter is anything but square - so when we bought her a new bed and changed her from a twin to a more grown up queen size bed - I wanted to upgrade her to a headboard more in keeping with her fun, "random" personality. 

After much head scratching, a lot false starts and many ideas that never left my sketch pad - here's what I came up with.....

Each panel is hung on the wall separately so she can move it around if she wants and keep the pattern interesting. (of course - her bed is never made - so this is the best picture I can give you).....

Winters Chill

Winter ice clothes the branches outside my window in delicate lacy webs of white.  I peek outside and watch the little birds hop from foot to foot and wish I could gather them together inside my nice warm home.   They look at me from their perches in the crisp fresh air and wonder why I'm locked away behind the glass.

Shutter Re-do

I found these shutters at a yard sale and immediately saw their shabby chic potential as a room divider.  Much to my family's dismay - I took the wonderful and lovely golden oak wood and "shabbied it up" and in no time had it looking ancient and worn.... my favorite kind of look.... quite an improvement don't you think?

Before

After

After Closeup

Footstool Makover

 I'm living proof that you don't have to be a pro at sewing (or love to measure) in order to make a footstool cover. 

Here's a picture of my shabby chic footstool makeover.  

Lucy Loo

Say hello to our newest addition - little Lucy loo - she's a little hairless ratty that's sweet as can be... (course the picture reveals that she's oh so hairy in all the wrong places) - but then -

what's a little ratty girl to do?

My little diva dog is absolutely disgusted... if you have to know - he thinks our ratty family additions are icky.... well - he want's to like them, for breakfast or lunch perhaps, but as pets go - he thinks they should be kept off the furniture... so this last one ("if it can even be called a rat" - I heard him tell one of his friends) - is the absolute last straw!  This is this face I get from him every time she is out of her cage and on "his" couch!

Tell me what you want - but all I see is  the pursed lips of my grade school English teacher... TOTAL AND UTTER DISAPPROVAL - I'm sure he'd tell me "get that thing off the couch!" if he only had the words!

After Christmas Blues.....

This morning when I woke up....  the tree still sparkled the way it did yesterday.....

The snow was still gently falling on the ground outside my living room window.....

The birds were singing and the sun was shining (although weakly) through the clouds......

But something had changed.  The magic, the anticipation of Christmas was gone from the air.... and in it's place a mixture of relief tinged with sadness.  The pressure was gone but so was the excitement.  Another year is almost over and with that knowledge I have  a few regrets.  Up ahead, however, comes another new year.  A fresh beginning, a clean slate.  It's an overwhelming anticipation - a challenge, an excitement of the changes to come.  What new things will 2011 bring into my life?  But today.... I rest and store up my strength for the year to come!

Saw my Napoleon Look alike....

So  - I saw my Napoleon Reincarnate today - he's still a bit shy  but can't you see the resemblance?  To further add to his reputation - we've had a complete changeover to our squirreldom lately.   Now, this squirrel actually may be a direct descendant of our previous tree inhabitants - but the new ones are so timid, and our last visitors were so bold.... it's really hard to imagine that children  of  our former squirrel guests wouldn't have picked up at least some of the same airs of entitlement their parents had.  

It hasn't taken me long, however, to take scrawny underfed little furballs and turn them into Fatty-mc-fat-fats!  I have a true gift for that (?) .... you know - for plumping up anything within my reach.... in which case.. my feet should be the smallest things ever.  : )

Some days I feel like the last little leaf clinging to the uppermost branch of a very tall tree. Stress whips around me like a frigid wind and it's all I can do not to let go and fly away into the whirling gusts. But just when I think I've had all I can take, God Gives me the grace for just one day.

Sorry Did you Want this?