Are You Kidding Me?

I bought a new chair.

Just like 'the big red chair'.........but bigger.

It’s a sleeper chair (folds out to be a twin bed.)

I’ve been feeling guilty when the boys come home for a visit because only one of them has a bed to sleep in. So I bought the sleeper chair to put in the studio.

The store where I purchased it said they would call the day before to confirm the delivery.

They said they would let us know if it would be delivered in the morning or afternoon.

They said they’d also call half an hour before they arrived to verify.

They never called.

So we went to bed and set our alarm clocks for seven AM.

Time enough to wake up, shower, dress, have coffee.

Because WHO THE HELL DELIVERS FURNITURE BEFORE 8 AM?

At 6:50 AM the doorbell woke me up.

At least I think it was the doorbell…….

I stumbled to the front door and sure enough there stood a man wearing a headlamp strapped to his forehead and smiling!

“GOOD MORNING!” he boomed. “We have your furniture!”

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?????

It’s 6:50 AM! It’s still dark out!  Who starts their deliveries at this ungodly hour????

“Just let me slip into some clothes and turn on the lights” I mumbled.

They were in and out and I was back in bed before the alarm clocks ever made a sound!

I thought maybe I dreamed it except when I finally did get up the chair was there in all its beautiful red glory.

But seriously, 6:50 AM?????

Throwback Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

It Was a Charlie Brown Christmas

Literally!

Sometimes, I’m sorry to say, I have a less than wholehearted approach to Christmas.

I didn’t even put up the tree this year.

Amid all the disorder of remodeling I just couldn’t be bothered (insert a ‘Bah Humbug’ anywhere you feel appropriate…..)

I felt kind of bad for the boys, but not bad enough to do anything about it.

Enter Son2.

He bought us THIS!

I LOVE IT!

It’s PERFECT!

 SO……..it was our tree for this year (and don’t tell anybody but I’ve decided it’s going to be our official tree from now on!)

Of course I had to document it!

Punny Monday

Sleeping comes so naturally to me, I could do it with my eyes closed.

I’m Afraid of Fire

Well, maybe not a full blown phobia but I’m very wary of fire. Not a regular fireplace or a fire pit.

No, I’m afraid the house is going to burn down. I am VERY aware if I smell ANYTHING burning. And I’ve been known to go around the house feeling the walls to see if they’re warm.

I think I must have been burned at the stake in a previous life……

The point is I’m afraid of setting the house ablaze.

Like the time I thought I was being helpful with the Christmas decorations.

I must have been about nineteen or twenty. I think it was the year BigBrother had married and moved out of the house and my parents were losing their enthusiasm for the whole ‘Let’s go all out and decorate EVERYTHING!’  

I was still holding on to my inner child and wanted to at least have a fully ‘loaded’ Christmas tree.

So I offered to put it up.

For several years I had been the one to brave the cold to buy the tree.

I enjoyed the process of finding just the right one, sawing off the trunk to make it the right size, putting it in the stand and bringing it inside.

Next came the ritual of the lights.

Untangle them and stretch them out across the room before plugging them in to check for dead bulbs.

This is where it all goes terribly wrong.

My mother had gone to the train station to pick up my father so I was alone in the house.

I was having a merry old time opening boxes and humming Christmas carols. I took out the first string of lights and stretched them out across the rug. As I plugged them in there was a loud POP and a spark! I jumped back and watched in horror as a large flame traveled the length of the cord wending its way, with great speed I might add, towards the Christmas tree!

For a moment I was frozen in place. Then it occurred to me I was alone and no one was going to come to my rescue.

So, I did the only thing I could under the circumstances.

I grabbed my mother’s handmade throw pillows from the couch and beat the living daylights out of the offending string of lights!

It only took seconds but it seemed like an eternity. When it was all over there was a long, deep burn mark across the rug and the throw pillows were a smoldering mass of black. I took one look at what I had done and backed into the corner of the room clutching the pillows to me.

That’s where my parents found me when they arrived home.

Cowering in the corner, crying and terrified. Not so much for how much trouble I was going to be in for burning the rug and ruining the pillows but for what MIGHT have happened.

I didn’t get into any trouble. My parents were glad I was okay and said I did exactly the right thing smothering the fire with the pillows. They didn’t care about the ‘things’ as long as I was okay.

I was physically…… but to this day I don’t plug in the Christmas lights. And I don’t decorate ANYTHING unless there is someone else in the house! 

(file under: scarred for life....lol)

Throwback Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

Floor Faces

As we wait for the new carpeting to be installed we’ve been living with bare concrete in the bedroom. I rather like concrete floors but not for the bedroom.

Anyway….as I walk around the room I’ve noticed interesting patterns in the concrete. 

And of course, being me, I see faces.

What else is new????? 

 I am never alone.....lol

Punny Monday

Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve?
Because it soots him!

It’s the Finishing Touches….

….that makes the room. IMHO

I smile every time I look at these!

I’m not sure anyone else will think its funny, but I do! 

Throwback Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

Now THIS is Dedication to a HOBBY

Punny Monday

What do you get when you eat too many Christmas ornaments? 

Tinsellitis!
 

Busy Busy Busy

But not with artwork.

Confession:  I have dropped the ball with my online course ‘Y is for Yellow’. As a matter of fact I haven’t done a lesson in weeks. (Insert head hanging look of shame here.)

Nor have I worked on my series. I’ve kind of lost my enthusiasm for my face series and have been toying with a couple of different ideas…..not getting anything DONE with them, just thinking…..

My energy has all been going to the house remodel. Not that I’m getting much done there either…….

But, I did manage to do this little piece the other day.

It started out as a scrap piece of paper to test out the goodies in the monthly Art Snacks boxes. You know how it is. A new pen, marker, brush….you just have to grab a piece of paper and start making marks!

So there it sat on my easel.

Then suddenly I saw IT! 

‘A Yak and a half’

Throwback Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

Pride Goeth Before a Fall

Husband is very handy around the house. There isn’t anything he can’t fix. He is very good at trouble shooting and figuring things out.

So when the kitchen sprang a leak I figured it would be fairly straight forward for him to find it.

I first noticed the water droplets dripping from the underside of the microwave and puddling in the salad bowl next to the stove.

The main bathroom is on the other side of that wall but there was no sign of water coming from any pipes in the wall.

Husband thought it must be coming from a leak in the roof and running down the soffit. But again there was no evidence of wet sheetrock.

Then I noticed the refrigerator was making an odd noise and I saw the stream of water shooting out from behind the fridge onto the side of the microwave and dripping into the salad bowl! The water line that supplies the icemaker/water dispenser had a pinhole leak!

Taa Daa! I had found it!

For all of his looking around, pulling out appliances, checking the walls for dampness and surmising it was coming from the roof…..I, little ‘ole ME had figured it out!

I was feeling quite smug about it!

I only mentioned my super human detecting abilities about a dozen times throughout that day (I was being modest you understand…or I would have brought it up much more! Lol)

But, as in every story of this sort…..’Pride goeth before a fall’.

The next day….the VERY next day mind you……as I was in the midst of my morning toilette…my hair dryer stopped working. At the time we were using the boy’s bathroom while remodeling the master bath. And because the electrical layout in this house is convoluted and inexplicable.....when you turn the power off in the master bathroom it also shuts it off in the other bathroom!  So I had to use two extension cords to plug it in around the corner.

I checked that it was still plugged into the extension cord. I checked that the dryer hadn’t popped its ground fault button on its plug. I even went out to the garage to check that I hadn’t popped the circuit breaker. 

All okay.

I sighed as I realized I was going to have to face the world looking like a grey haired version of Bozo the clown when I looked up and saw Husband, holding the end of the second extension cord,  grinning from ear to ear as he said, ‘First step in trouble shooting a problem is to look and see if the appliance is PLUGGED IN’!

Like I said, 'Pride goeth before a fall'……..

Punny Monday

What do you call the fear of getting stuck while sliding down a chimney?

Santa Claus-trophbia

Say ‘Cheese’

I typically use my phone to take pictures. No more carrying around a clumsy SLR. It’s easy and I always have it with me. PLUS my phone’s camera is voice activated, which I find very handy, not to mention entertaining.

And apparently so do others.

Case in point:

We were at the Edison/Ford Winter Estates for the annual Holiday Nights.

They go all out decorating the houses with period decorations including Christmas lights and I LOVE taking pictures.

With my phone it’s easy peasy….I just hold it up, say ‘cheese’ and it triggers the shutter.

Some of the other visitors were impressed. Some watched with interest….most didn’t even notice.

Or so I thought.

The boys found it amusing as I walked around the grounds repeatedly saying ‘cheese’.

I took it good naturedly as they teased me.

But the final indignity came as I held up my phone to snap a picture, and from behind me I heard a chorus of people shout ‘CHEESE!’

Actually it was hilarious! 

Throwback Thursday