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.

Gardening in July

The drought is over and the grass got up past the knees - every time we'd try to cut the grass it'd rain.  Chris, wonderman that he is, got most of it down yesterday.