Christmas Post

Posted over in the other blog Yule thoughts about Mom

check it out

http://kathymom27.blogspot.com/

Giftings!

I gave Jackie a beadwork panel with a dragon pendant, a corset necklace and a new bear

Jackie gave me (for Hanukkah) - a BTVS Dark Horse mint condition comic, Dragon voice recognition software and a Magen David

Hanukkah 2013 (a little late)

I'm a little late posting photos - sorry.

Night 1 and Night 8

Lights! Action! Walking!

Jackie and I went over to Atlanta to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for their holiday light show. It was fantastic. A lot of walking but worth it. We don't know the story behind the huge sculpture of a woman leaning over a pool of water with water flowing out of her hand as if she put her hand in the water and raised her hand, the water escaping. Not sure about the story behind the huge cobras overlooking the path to the children's area. Those were done up fantastically with lights as well.

Bravo to the Gardens

One Year

One year.

We miss Mama terribly. 

Pictures! Pictures!

Okay, here are pictures of the window insulation and the work in the garage (still in progress)

You can see the long strips we used for the large window and the rectangles we used for the multiple pane windows/doors.

We have noticed a difference and are fans.  We can see through the bubble wrap enough to know if its a cat on the porch or a possum.

Jackie working at painted the garage wall with sealant paint (sitting down on the job!).  We do the grout/mortar lines with cement repair grout and then paint that and the masonry blocks.  The paint is thick and hard to get on but it'll help stop the mildew in the garage and basement.  Not easy work for these disabled bodies, however!

JFK Rememberance

50 years ago today my father was stationed at Ft Worth, Texas - right next to Dallas.

Mom's story: Bob, Mom and I were taking a nap (I was 3-4 years old) and they had the radio on.  The news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.  Both pairs of feet hit the floor at the same time.

Bob quickly got dressed, pulled what money he had out of his pockets and put it on the dresser, kissed me and then kissed Mom and said he didn't know when he'd be home.  My father was in the Army and was a fine soldier - a drill sergeant, soldier of the month many times, and more. 

No one knew what was happening - chaos and disbelief swamped the entire nation but especially in Texas.  Everyone waited by phones, televisions and radios, many people hovering around appliance stores or beauty parlors, anywhere there was a tv or a radio.

Then came the word hours later that President Kennedy was dead and the nation went numb and then into a depression.

Fifty years later we're still asking why and who.  Was the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, the only shooter?  Was he part of a conspiracy, knowingly or unknowingly?  Was he a fall guy?  Will we ever really know?

Tom Sawyer? Bubblewrap, paint, candles, flower pots

Well, I didn't have to pull a Tom Sawyer to get my sister to help paint the garage wall with sealing paint.  We moved things around so we can get the car in and out easier.  We got the trunks up on bricks to prevent any risk of water damage (unless the house washes away).  It's supposed to rain and be colder this week so we jumped in and started painted the worst area for the dampness and seepage through the masonry blocks. 

I painted the one wall before but hadn't gotten very far on the garage wall.  We got about a third done and part of that was a second coat on what I had already done.  The colder weather snuck up on us so we're trying to work to get the most of this one wall done to cut down on the mildew and mold.  Between caulking, sealing paint, bleach and concrete caulking, we're gaining on the mildew.

We also got draft dodgers up on the doors, got painter's canvas up in the living room to cut down the area we heat with small heaters and we put up bubble wrap on the windows (bubble side out - measure, cut and attach with plain water).  The bubble wrap acts like insulation at a fraction of the cost of window film and works better than just plastic.

We've noticed a difference.

I'm also heating my room at night while I'm on my laptop or reading with tea light candles in a bread cooking tin - over 3-5 tea lights I place a small terracotta pot with the bottom (now the top) hold covered.  Over that is another terracotta pot with the drain hole left open.  The small pot heats up from the candles and the heat is caught between the two pots and warm air is forced through the drain hole - a convection heater at work.  It takes the chill out of the air and keeps my hands from freezing while trying to type.  I can tell when the candles are burning down, there is a difference in the air.

Pictures to follow





 

Once a Marine, Always a Marine

from dry, grass and mud covered thrashed Doc Martens to SHINY Doc Martens - saddle soap, scrub brush, polish, a little water, a little heat, more polish and lots and lots of rubbing!

Dream Fulfilled Mom

Hey,

We've got the wall and more of bookcases like we planned when we saw how large the family room is.  We spaced out the books and it looks a lot better.  I've a bit of work yet to do on the lowest shelves on the craft books (crochet, quilting, etc) and I left room for more Jewish, history, and fiction books

Inbetween shots - This is after I organized the fiction paperbacks.

This is my desk area with stacks of books that need to be included in the list and cataloged.  Yes, I'm that meticulous with my books.

Wall and a half of bookcases and a lot of books

My Stephen King collection

Projects delayed

Jackie and I got hit with the flu and cold weather is hitting our bones and sinus problems.  The almanac says its going to be a cold winter - terrific.  We finished with the wall and more of bookcases - now I just have to rearrange the books better and we hung painter's canvas drop cloths across the living room to reduce the space that we're gong to try and heat. That should save on the heating bills and so should a balanced payment plan with the power company. We've gone more than a year with no late payments and all payments in full.  I'm really proud of us - it was a long, tough year but we made it through with just my SSI.  We didn't go anywhere or buy anything other than necessities but we made it through.

We're considering a trip to Savannah at the end of the month - start seeing some of the state.

Pictures will be up soon

Elizabeth P.

Hey Mama;

Been an up and down couple of weeks, eh?  It's been easier with reliable transportation and not going into an absolute panic over money.  We know things will be tight eventually but for now being able to have a full freezer of food and being able to take Grady to the vet is good.

Downside: Jackie lost her birth Mom yesterday.  We've known it's been coming but it's still hard.  In some ways having you go so quickly was good but it left us reeling and still does.  I can't believe it was less than 2 weeks, Mom.

Downside: Grady has bounced back a little but he won't recover, not with feline HIV. We'll do what we can for him.  My stubby tail stubborn boy - still has some fire in him.

downside: with the recent project with the bookcases, cleaning and moving things racked out my back for a week and it's still not recovered, damnit.

neutral: I start some intense counseling this week and Jackie has treatment for her back on Thurs, day after my appt in Atlanta.  We'll see how this works - two days in a row is a bit rough on us at this point but a lot easier with a decent car.

neutral: going to see how much it'll cost to get the Bronco fixed, really fixed. Get the panel fixed, a decent radio installed and then maybe do a cammo paint job on it.  A good paint job is several hundred dollars, close to $1,000.  I can do cammo a little at a time.

positive: the other cats seem in decent health - Fuzz Bot makes me laugh almost daily and that's a good thing this last year, Mom.

coming up on the year anniversary - it hurts like hell, Mom.  We miss you.

Books! Bookcases! What were we thinking?

We were able to buy a couple more 5 shelf bookcases (which are still in Jackie's car).  We figured out a new layout for the library/books and started moving bookcases around.  The DVD cabinets are now under the windows and we will have a wall of 5 shelf bookcases in a U shape on the far wall.  Because pressboard bookcases aren't REALLY meant to hold books like ours, we are reinforcing the shelves.  This requires 2x1 boards cut, pilot holes drilled in boards and shelves, screwing the boards to warped bookcase boards.  This can take some effort!  Paint the reinforcement boards to match the bookcases.

Move bookcases (after moving all books off, of course.  Shim up the bookcases (nothing is straight or level in the house). Replace books - screw the order of the books, we'll figure that out later!

Hands hurt, ab muscles and hernia hurt, back hurts = argh

and for the hell of it, I changed my hair recently - it was blue but it didn't turn out well so..........

You may notice I've lost a little bit of weight this year - 20-25 lbs.  I wouldn't recommend my diet, however. Grief, stress, inflamed hernia and more stress = not a healthy way to lose weight.

and then to help comfort me and make me smile and sometimes laugh..........

Bats!!!

Here's the scene last night - about 1 a.m. (this morning technically) I'm on my computer chatting with a friend and suddenly there is this bat flying around my room. WTH?

Said bat then lands on my DRACULA action figure (I'm not lying!). Then takes off again. He knocked the mummy into the wolfman and knocked Alice Cooper's sword down. I ducked low and vacated the room. I woke my sister up and we were set to get the little guy out. Okay, where did he go? He must be in the closet (no jokes, we've heard all of the ones about Batman and Robin and closets!)

Fine - we'll find him tomorrow when he's groggy and not hiding. I move out onto the futon in the living room and try to get to sleep and manage a few hours. I wake up this morning with the little beggar hanging from the ceiling nearly above my head!

I open the doors wide - prop open the screen door, get a broom and lightly touch him. "Yo, bro! Door is open, go home to your colony."

<swing, swing, swing>

"Yo! Go home!"

<swing, swing, swing>

Okay, this is definitely a unique experience. I decided not to subject Jackie to any more lack of sleep and got a step stool, an empty cat litter bucket with lid and carefully placed the container around him and gently slid the lid over, encouraging him into the container. Dude is pissed! Skitter noises! I take the container out, set it on the steps and pulled the lid away (facing away from me). Nothing. Tap the container. HISS SKITTER NOISES. Tap the container. HISS HISS HISS

Dude, you can't stay there the cats will find you! Place the container on the A/C unit and go inside to do the dishes while watching the container. FINALLY, little dude takes off.
  

I love bats too (have one tattooed on my head!) but not in the house with a bunch of cats!

The Purple Dragon - car

Cross posting to the different blogs

Jackie bought a 2013 Honda Fit, new.  We now have a dependable car and when her monthly checks begin she'll really feel like she's contributing to the house.  It is such a relief to drive to the VA and back and know the car is going to make it.

Now if we do any bike riding it'll be because we want to, not because we have to.

in the first picture the car looks black but it's actually "Midnight Plum Purple"

2nd picture is inside the car with a radio that doesn't require being smacked on to work

3rd picture - really take a look at that one.  We didn't remove part of the back seat.  It's folded UP against the back.  The seats will fold flat and they also fold up.  We can get a bicycle sitting upright into the car. There is more square footage in the Honda Fit than there is in any other subcompact or compact car and in many larger cars.  It has more square footage than the Honda CR-V.

4th picture is the hatchback part.  It looks small but when the seats are folded down, there's a lot of room back there and there's a plastic tray-like thing that will protect the carpet.

5th picture - the requisite USMC sticker and a warning sticker.  It is a manual transmission - WARNING people! It's been 30 years since Jackie drove a standard! LOL

Nightstand innovations

Because I do some crafting in bed and that bed is one that my grandfather had (it sits higher than most beds), I need a light higher than most nightstands.

I was using a sewing table (the kind where the machine folds down into the table) as a nightstand (without the sewing machine).  It worked well except no drawers and limited top space.

Solution - I was collecting plastic crates. I was going to stack and tie them together. Make something of a wall with places for books, meds, etc.

We found stacking plastic crates that also nestle together side by side and stacked on top of each other for $3.59 apiece.  Fantastic price!  Got five, stacked them, tied them - works.

End of the drought = mildew

Fighting mildew - with all the rain recently it's a problem.  Discovered some of my art work, maps and the porch are covered.  So, we're tackling that with peroxide and bleach cleaner.  It's working, thankfully.