Area Rugs - Comfort and Design

I have a fairly large family room in my house. Every room in my house, except for the bedrooms and kitchen, is tile. During the winter months, even here in the scorching desert, it gets a little chilly on the feet in the main area. Even the dogs won’t lay on the floor. I have dog beds and a couple dog blankets so they all have a warm place to lie down. I have been looking at area rugs for the space. I think the right rug will give the room a finished look, warm up the floors just a bit and if it is too warm in the summer, we can always pull it up for a couple months. Now I just need to decide on a pattern. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

DUI - SOUTHERN STYLE

Recently a routine police patrol was parked outside a bar.  After last call, the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so apparently intoxicated that he could barely walk. 
  
The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity, in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. 
  
Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off - it was a fine, dry summer night - flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little, and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left. 
  
At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road. 
  
The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, and promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. 

To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all!  Dumbfounded, the officer said, 'I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken.' 
  
'I doubt it,' said the truly proud Redneck. 'Tonight I'm the designated decoy.' 

 

(I don’t know if this is true or who wrote it. I received it in an email. It made me laugh.  Had to share!)

 

 

NCIS

I'm in love. I've always had a think for Mark Harmon but only recently did I discovery NCIS. The men on this television show, mm mm good. Yummy. If I could somehow combine the three men, Jethro, Tim and DiNozzo, I'd have a perfect date.

In fact, if I kept the three separate and had various dates with each, gleaning what I want from them, and when that was over, combine them into the man of my fantasy dreams, I could use up every single resource there.

Oh, the dreams I'll have tonight.

Doll House Miniatures

I have always been fascinated with miniatures. I used to collect miniature forks, spoons and knives, bags of groceries, any kitchen item really and make refrigerator magnets out of them. What I always wanted was a doll house that I could decorate. Well, not just one doll house, I wanted a couple. I wanted a house I could decorate in all Victorian miniatures and then I wanted another house I could decorate in a more wood cabin style. Now that I’m older, I have the money to invest in this hobby. What I don’t have is the time.

Cooking

My 11 year old daughter got a cook book for christmas. Tonight she wanted to make dinner. She made citrus french toast and it was damn good! She did everything from grating the orange and lemon peel to the mixing and dunking and frying of the bread. The only deviation we made from the original recipe was instead of frying the bread in butter we cooked it on the griddle, absent the butter. I think the only thing the butter does is make the bread a little more crispy.

Surprisingly, this recipe did not call for any eggs. It did call for a cup of pancake mix, water, lemon and orange peel and sugar. Mix, dunk bread and fry.

Mighty tasty if I do say so myself.

Why does this happen to me?

I have a paper due tomorrow. I have no desire to write it. I don't want to research it and I don't want to think about it.

I've given myself a headache.

I know once I get started, the words will flow, but until that point, I stare at a blank page. Then I stare at a page with an outline.

It's the opening line that eludes me.

Diet?

Speaking of weight loss, after I find out about the detox I am going to do something about losing the 40 lbs I gained in 2008. I considered doing a workout boot camp, but who has time for that? I have a treadmill at home to use when the weather is bad and now, all I need to do is figure out if I can get up 45 minutes earlier in the morning to get in a good workout. If that doesn’t work, I’ll seriously consider different weight loss products and see where that gets me. Probably though, what I really need to do is make a plan and actually stick to it. Easier said than done.

Detoxifying

After going to the doctor last year and having my hormone levels tested to find out why I’m gaining weight when I don’t eat more than I did before, I cut out soda and other sugars and started exercising and finding out that I’m allegedly “fine,” I decided to start checking into some detoxifying programs and diets. I wondered if all my years of eating crap and drinking a coke whenever I wanted a drink had something to do with it. I have read up on a couple different products, including the Orovo detox which looks promising. Now I’m waiting to ask my doc if there are any issues I need to know before trying it out.

Homework

Honestly, the hardest part of these graduate classes isn't the time it takes to read the material or the class work. It is the fact that I haven't worked out all the kinks in my schedule so I'm tired, still feeling slightly overwhelmed and mostly, my dog won't stop bugging me to play with her. The hour between 10 and 11 when my husband gets home was "our time." Now, it is homework time and the dog continues to bring me her toys, drop them at my feet and then whine. Play with me Mom! Pleaseeeeeee in her little doggie voice. It's pathetic really. And a distraction too.

I wanna watch a movie in style

I have my eye on a bigger house. Not this year, maybe next year. I love my house now but my kids are getting older and need more space. I have all daughters and one thing for sure is they need a bigger bathroom. They’ll be teenagers soon and when that happens, the only cure is space. And lots of it.

The new house I’m eyeballing has larger bedrooms, a jack and jill bathroom with double sinks and best of all, a home theater room. I’ve always wanted a place where we could go to watch movies and sit in home theater seating while surrounded by sound from various speakers. Nothing like the feel of a theater, right in the comfort of my own home. The best thing about it? Popcorn and cokes for five won’t cost me $59.

I think I ran out of memory

My home computer is ancient. So ancient in fact that I tried to upgrade it once and the first person I talked to said not to waste my time. Instead, I did what I wanted too and purchased some additional computer memory while adding an addition 20gb hard drive to the existing drive. Now, the computer is quicker and runs better. I finally upgraded from Windows 98 and for the first time, my kids can play many of the new games out for PCs. All in all, it was cheap and the difference just adding the additional memory was recognizable immediately.

Basketball Trophies

It is football season at my house. The Arizona Cardinals are in the playoffs for the first time in something like 60+ years. I prefer Green Bay myself, but I will do my part and root root root for the home team. However, there is also a basketball fan in my house and he loved the way the two sports overlap. Once, he was in a basketball league and his team made the playoffs and the basketball trophies that were passed out to the teams were amazing to say the least. They were not those cheesy plastic and dunked in gold pain trophies that some places sell. These resembled an Olympic medal and they were really nice looking. I was glad that my boy was able to get a decent trophy for his time on the team. I think it means as much to the parents as it does the players sometimes.

My friend

I was happy to read today that my friend Lisa, from Clusterfook, she is doing her hospice care at her home and it looks like her fade to the white light will not be for at least a couple more months. That makes me very happy. Losing a blog friend is very much like losing a real life friend, if you feel close and connected to that blogger. I do with Lisa. Our kids are both girls, same ages, same personalities and we have both become fond of Hanna Montana thanks to our youngest daughters. I admire Lisa for what she has accomplished and how hard she has fought. I would be proud to call Lisa my friend.

Please continue to send your warm wishes and prayers to Lisa and her family. She will need them while she can get them. Thanks!

Please take a moment

and send all the good thoughts and prayers you can muster to Lisa and her family.

http://clusterfook.com/2009/01/13/hospice/

Thank you.

Retirement thoughts

I've been considering my options for retirement. While I will never retire completely, unless I win some unholy amount of money in the lottery and can do whatever I want without ever worrying again, then I might consider not working at all. In reality though, I will always want an office I can go to or a project that I can own to keep me sane. I had thought about opening a home for people who have families at the hospital, then I wondered if that would be too emotionally draining upon my psyche. I then considered a fast food restaurant but I don’t want the hassle of making people sick and food permits and health inspectors, etc. Instead, I want something I can monitor from a distance, hire my kids to work in and that might make me a buck or two, which is why dollar store franchise seems to make the most amount of sense. At least for now.