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March 24, 2008
New couches
...and the other one looks like this one - except I took a swipe at some lint on the other one and all the photos look like someone took a swipe across the seat. The fabric isn't really fuzzy but it does show if someone takes a swipe across it....hhhmmm
o/'o/'o/' never mind o/'o/'o/'
Not only are they bigger in the living room than the showroom but they aren't broken in yet either...kind of like the SUV of couches - Hummer even.
ah - ha! The government KNOWS something about the after-life! There IS shopping in the after-life! Yea! Yippee! Oh? How is it I can say this? Well my mother-in-law got a notice about the stimulus package check she'll be getting...with the designation of deceased after her name...with her son's name as the executor of her estate...sure hope she spends it wisely. BTW - WE didn't get a notice yet.
Have a fine week all
Posted by frani at 12:28 PM | Comments (2)
March 19, 2008
We're a little bit country.........
I went out to run a few errands this afternoon - nothing too far away - when all of a sudden I smelled something smoky like maybe tobacco or a pipe, yeah that was it - it smelled like someone smoking a pipe. Weird. I saw nothing unusual until I was stopped at the light coincidentally where we bought the car...all of a sudden I could see smoke poring out from under the hood of the car and the inside started filling up with smoke ! I opened the windows and pulled into the car lot and ran into the showroom to find someone to help. The mechanic came out with me, there was still a little smoke coming out so I popped the hood. He was looking straight on but from my vantage point I could see the problem behind a metal plate near the engine....
This is what happens when you park your car near the woods...
Damn squirrels...........guess he'll have a little trouble remembering where he squirreled away his dinner for tonight, now won't he. Snort.
p.s. I told you it smelled like pipe smoke - right - a corn cob pipe.
Posted by frani at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2008
Broken and forgotten...
Seems I had an entry written in draft form before now...oh well. Re-reading it now reaffirms the fact it should have stayed in draft form anyway. Nothing too exciting....well except for how I discovered our mailbox had been a victim of assault and battery.
The poor thing was broken right off at the knees...well, maybe ankle is more appropriate since it only had the one leg. At any rate the post which is/was a 3x3 was separated right at the frost line; our mailbox was in the road spewing guts( mail) onto the road and Jessica's was on the sidewalk. I called the city public works dept and left a message about the problem since I suspected my mailbox met with a snowplow of either the street or sidewalk variety. I had no proof that was the case but a crew was out there the next morning at 7:50 affixing a brace to the post. I hope it lasts until a good thaw when it can be replaced. It's not overly attractive judging by the cat calls of the neighbors (nice fix on that mailbox Fran...you pay for that?) but it's upright and able to receive mail which is all I can hope for right now.
So then I was cleaning my cook top - I should know better - nothing really good comes from cleaning. I not only popped the fan knob off the surface, I broke the stem that controls the fan - on, off, speed. Forty-Two dollars later, the manual and some nerves, my hero popped a new fan module in place. It seems to have only one speed though - tough, I hate the fan anyway.
I was cleaning Roomba's brushes - per his persistent requests (" Please remove and clean Roomba's brushes") Somewhere along the way I must have thrown out one of the end cap/bearings or whatever it's called on the end of one of the brushes. Cat hair get tightly wound under it. Of course you can't just buy a package of these things for like a pack of five for a buck. Nope, complete maintenance kit plus two brushes for the new Old model Roomba makes up a free shipping order to get one.
The UPS man likes us......he was surprised and pleased to actually see me the other day since I had to sign for my package from Expedia. I rarely book through any travel site but this last time it made a huge difference in price for the booking but a pain in the rear to change them. So no, the package wasn't airline tickets - we still could get e-tickets. Nope, they have to give us voucher coupons for our $60 refund on our last batch of ticket changes. Makes a little difference not traveling on Good Friday. Vultures.
This morning I knocked the cat into the toilet - it was cause for much glee on my part because I like "accidents" like that. I was washing my hands at the sink...I should have realized at least one cat was close by because, well, there is always at lest one cat close by. Anyway, Knoel took a flying leap up onto the counter just as I swiftly turned to grab a towel to dry my hands...we met mid leap resulting in his being knocked into the toilet. Snort.... Poor Knoel. (What do you mean civilized people shut the lid?)
Let's see...what other fascinating things have been going on..... Hmmmm, my birthday couches will arrive on Friday. At least that is according to a phone call that came in this morning. I suppose I ought to think about placement of said couches and old ones...and things in the way of people delivering the couches. Ice, Snow on the porch comes to mind as well as snowy wet boots on the carpet. Whew, sounds like work...maybe later.
I bought a Wii one day at Costco recently because it was a good deal and I thought someone would want it. No one did. So I thought gee, I'll put it on Craig's list and maybe even make a whole $25 profit for my "trouble" Hey, I'm not greedy, people do this all the time. Well, I got a couple of responses but no follow-ups so I returned it to Costco and got my credit. No big deal, I was going there anyway. Checking my junk email before deleting it, I see a note from someone asking about the Wii ..oppps. Upon opening it...it was a scathing denouncement of me as probably jobless welfare fraud mom with 4 kids and addicted to crack. It is people like me who are the cause for the oil shortage and war Iraq because of my greed. If I got a job and got out more, I'd know Wiis can be bought any Sun morning at Toys R Us and Circuit City etc. So I guess he told me. Teach me to try to make a buck or two. Geesh, the nerve.
Today is my Big Brother's 68th Birthday - somehow or another he doesn't sound as old as he used to. Wait until he hits 70 though.. eeewww. Happy Birthday, Lon.
Moving right along....I guess I should....have a fine day all.
Posted by frani at 01:25 PM | Comments (1)
March 08, 2008
Spring...and other things
So spring arrives this month, huh? It doesn't look like anything resembling Spring will be arriving around here anytime soon. We have some snow/sleet/freezing rain going on out there today and the only good thing about the approaching Daylight Savings Time is we get to look at the snow/sleet/freezing rain an hour longer....whooppee
Some people, with the mere mention of their name, make me smile. One such man has died this week but he will still be able to make me smile. Rest, Mason, you were one of the good ones.
Later:
Oh My...we have us an ice storm....photos to follow tomorrow.
So I went to the store for "supplies" - driving was nasty and I felt stupid for being out there.
I made apple sauce and baked beans when I got home...
Surfed the net some:
Played Kingdom of Loathing...
Read some blogs....
I got this from a Seattle blogger buddy - I like it!
Click here to create your own painting.
Played some Endless Ocean....
Read some book: The Girl who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
Watched some Discovery Channel....(snort I like Dirty Jobs)
hhhmmm...the lights flickered and dimmed...not sure how much longer we'll have electricity...one of our cedar bushes is definitely damaged from the weight of ice. hehehe it's a good like I like things that flame. I'm all set with candles and oil lamps.
Have a good evening all
Posted by frani at 08:42 AM | Comments (1)
March 05, 2008
My precioussssss.......
Remember when I mentioned I saw a beautiful Breville Citrus Press at Williams-Sonoma? ...and of course it was rather pricey so I started checking online, especially on eBay, for a cheaper one. I found one can have a refurbished one from Amazon which I came close to buying but then I saw a red one on the Breville site - only available in Canada...swoon.
Ahem...also available on eBay (AND refurbished!)and visible in MY kitchen. Of course I used it immediately after it arrived this morning and it's sooooo much quieter than my Waring Pro and *I* don't have to hold the orange and mold it around the reamer....Most of you know I squeeze fresh orange juice every morning - I can see maybe moving on from 2 oranges to three now.
I think I like this Refurbished notion of buying......Happy Happy Joy Joy
Posted by frani at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)
March 01, 2008
Snow,Sun ,Snow, Sun...
COLD!
Happy March to all. March is not generally not the most beautiful month in Vermont but at the moment we still have lots of snow and it's white. March is generally brown - dirty brown piles of snow, dirty muddy dirt roads, dirty brown piles of driveway (if you have dirt drives as we do)plowed up onto the lawn or edges of drive; if lawn is visible, there are dirty brown leftover leaves and muddy patches - in other words - the Green Mountains have a slight brown tinge to them. Blech. I think the only thing to look forward to in March is the flower show if you can't manage to leave for a week or three. March needs flowers.
So I had a fine birthday this past week - I got beautiful flowers (sorry I didn't take pictures while they were fresh)- they certainly brighten a room! We'll be moving the furniture around again since we bought two new semi-disposable couches for the living room. Why buy a love seat or chairs when the room can handle a second couch? These leather boys can go back into the den where they belong and one den couch will finally head off to the dump. the poor thing has seen at least 20 years around here - cats and dogs and rabbits and pigs (guinea as well as pot-bellied) and probably if full of stuff we can be thankful we can't see with the naked eye. Besides, who the hell would be stupid enough to look at it any closer - Go Away Dateline, I'm just not interested. (you know I can't even think about using the glasses in the hotel rooms anymore without seeing them get a personal washing from me)
So 59 years old....I have entered my 60th year, as someone who is still in his 59th year keeps pointing out to me. I don't mind one bit. Nope not me. It's better than the alternative, ya know. Yeah, my hair is grayer than it was but I found some shampoo that makes the gray hairs softer - I'm rounder than I was but I figure who wants to sit on a bony Grandmother, my knees and ankles creak sometimes but they still get me where I need to go so I guess I have very little to complain about physically. Mentally? Ha...I can't believe I'm 59 so I must be delusional along with being somewhat easily detracted (see earlier post) Go ahead, tell me a joke, yeah, I've probably heard it before but I won't remember the punchline until you get to it again and I'll laugh just as hard the second third and fourth time...probably the 59th as well - ;-D
So what else is new...hhhmmmm...Knoel barfed up a hairball yesterday. Yeah well, it's not something HE does very often or else at least not in the house - That's ~Elmo's trick. The bad news is there was a gross round worm in it - the good news is I was able to get topical medication to put on the back of his neck instead of trying to squirt liquid into his mouth. Knoel is a very loving cat emphasis on cat; loving is on his terms. He can and will turn into the Tasmanian devil if one tries to pick up hold him against his wishes topical meds works for me. ~Elmo get the pleasure of receiving the medication too...eeeww, worms. No, I did not take a photo - it's gross enough I am telling you all about it.
Moving right along....my Costco had Wii bundles for sale yesterday and Easter Candy.
Have a good weekend all........
Posted by frani at 12:35 PM | Comments (2)