Tuesday Thoughts

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. This is the first year she spent a birthday in her new heavenly body. I am sure she had the best of birthdays!

A shabby panel I completed yesterday.

I was going to show you a green panel but the paint color is not showing up. What you can also see in this picture is the tile. See the difference in the grout on the bottom and the grout on the back splash---not pretty.  BUT yesterday we got a bid on having someone remove all the old grout and replacing it and the three cracked tiles. $550. complete. I think this is what we will do since I love tile. I think later we will spend the money we save by not replacing the counters on updating the ovens and cook top with stainless steel to match the new refrigerator.

Also, my husband starting sanding the island butcher block today. Is looking good. Smile.

Alright, back to the cabinets. Here is what I am thinking. I think I am going to do all the upper cabinets and the island cabinets like the above sample. I am going to paint the lower cabinets under the tile green and paint the walls to match the lower green cabinets. At least that is my current thought.

Isn't showing up well because of the shine but thought I might as well post my new refrigerator which we are very grateful to have.

Later I will post a larger view of the kitchen so you can get a better feel for what I am describing. At the moment there is stuff everywhere!

I went shopping today for Chandler school clothes and just happened to find a couple of items for myself. Got a new set of 1000 count white sheets ---  YUM ---- I love J. C. Penny outlet store. 

Tomorrow I get to play with Kim, of Sweet Sage Vintage. If you would like to visit her, click here. She is the most delightful person to visit!

Chandler has an appointment with his primary care physician in about a week. This is to see about having his arm operated on which has the extra bone growth. I will be out of town but Grandy will take him and let us all know what is said. I am so very grateful Maria got the Power of Attorney for his medical. I need to ask her if she contacted Karen about emergency custody since Amber now has no vehicle ( again ) and cannot possible take care of him. Nothing new to our knowledge regarding her. Have not a clue what is happening with her. I thought about her today in J. C. Penny as I was looking in the shoe section. I passed the size 10 shoes, her size and my heart ached. I used to always buy her shoes if I saw some I thought she would like. 

Alright, will close and wish you all a happy evening. Thanks for visiting with me today.

Remember all those boxes I packed?

Remember all those boxes Randy hauled to the storage shed?

Remember we took the house off the market after over two years of having a For Sale sign in our front yard?

Well, they are back. We finished hauling all of them back on Friday. It took eleven trips with our truck named Toby -- ( Chandler named the truck years ago when we first bought it )

Not exactly the time of year in the desert of the sun to be hauling but it can be done. We must have drank gallons and gallons of water over the course of the day. The good news is, while we had some aches and pains yesterday, they were not as bad as we anticipated. Randy even won $50.00 in the golf tournament he played in. So, what that translate to is he got to play for free!

Today we just have to go sweep out the space and fill out a vacate form.

NOW

comes the decision making part over the next few months. 

 Read on----

Since we are keeping the house for a few more years-

Will it be two?

Will it be three?

Will it be four?

You get the picture---

I am not one to live for a long time someplace that is not decorated--

We are slowly, and I mean slowly updating some items and making some changes.

I have two major concerns going on in my head.

Number One- I never got on the granite bandwagon. 

Don't like the way it looks, have tried and tried to like the way it looks.

Keep reading about counter tops--

Don't like what I read about it or many of the other products-

concrete, siltstone-  finding they all have their drawbacks - which of course is natural- but why put something in because everyone else is doing it?  Well, to make it more marketable, of course-- but--- how long are we staying? Will granite be out? I mean it is a little late in the cycle to be changing now. 

I like tile. I love tile. I can put hot things down on it with absolutely no worries. Fabulous. I just wish it was white. Sooooo ---- that brings me to the next thought process. I am also now into painted wood. I am thinking seriously about painting all of my oak cabinets. I am also thinking seriously about painting all of my baseboards and interior doors. Want them all white. Thinking about matching the tile color and either painting the cabinets the cream color to match OR painting the cabinets a color. Uh Oh----here we go again--doing it for me or doing it for resale?

So, anyway, those are the LITTLE things on my mind.

Will let you in on this thought---today I am taking a tile, getting it paint color matched and painting the removable oak panel on the garbage compactor. This will allow me to see how it looks while being able to remove the panel so my playing will not show. Going to paint half the panel the matching tile color and half a color which I think will be a green. Hopefully pictures will come later for you to take a look.

My island is butcher block. Plan to sand it down to refurbish it's looks. 

Love the look of butcher block. I am just an old fashioned girl at heart. 

Proof of our labor !

This has become our nightly routine, thank goodness for the pool in the desert heat.

Each night we watch to see how many birds we have visiting in the branches which need to be trimmed. The most we have counted so far is ten. 

Later on there were none. They come and they go. Sometimes I wonder if there are any of the same ones visiting or if it is a new visitor each time. I am guessing it is a few of both ---  sort of like life's challenges --- they come and they go.

Extreme

Now You See It

Now You Don't

Like our new patio furniture?

These are old, and I mean old, auditorium seats. I got them in Tyler Texas on my last antiquing trip. I bought several sets and was going to sell them in my booth at Merchant Square. I still plan to sell some someday. I also want to paint some and girly them up. Chandler has these in his room at our house and at his house. The kids sit in them to play video games. As he says, these are REALLY comfortable to be wooden seats.

We are spreading things out around the house and filling up the garage. 

Am about to get my stinky work clothes on and off to the storage shed we will go.

Instead of going with me, I suggest you click and visit here today. You will find the most wonderful party going on and I know you will enjoy seeing the spaces of many super bloggers! It will take me hours to visit them all. I will be having an extremely good time! Can't wait!

Oh Yes---This JUST in--

Amber was arrested for DUI--Extreme DUI---That is Amber---everything she does is to the extreme.

Truthful Thursday

Why do people double deal?

  What is the purpose?

Randy talked to Bud, the Pinetop detective , yesterday. Randy asked him to check on the arrest reports to see if it showed Amber had been arrested. Bud called him back to let Randy know he had checked the Pinetop, Showlow, and County reports. There was no record of Amber being arrested for a DUI.  

When Randy told Maria this, Maria suggested to Randy the justice department is so slow maybe it had not been posted yet. Huuuuummmmm----well, maybe but Randy thinks this is unlikely.

I repeat ----  Why do people double deal?  More specifically, why would Amber say she had been arrested for a DUI, her car impounded, etc. if it had not happened? I just do not understand the duplicity of her actions.

Maria called Randy to ask him to check with Gordon, our counselor, for a referral for a counselor that works with children. I guess Chandler had exhibited more behavior which was indicative of not taking responsibility for his actions. We all greatly worry about Chandler following in his birth mother's foot steps. I am sure this is a normal worry. Now that Maria got power of attorney for medical and school we should be able to get him some counseling. Gordon suggested we find someone in Pinetop so I guess it will be on the list of things to accomplish after vacation is over.

Yesterday, for most of the day, I worked on reorganizing the garage. I moved much of my business stuff into the emptied garage storage cabinets.  We made a trip to the storage shed to start moving things back to the house. I took three showers yesterday due to the sweat dripping off my body.  My lower back is hurting today. We laughed in the pool last night --- we had always said after fifty we would not move ourselves again. We moved ourselves to Pinetop and here we are moving ourselves in and out of the same house in the valley!!!! Smile. We also joked about the lovely home we had purchased and the great deal we got, etc.  Randy called our real estate lady and told her we were taking the house off the market.

We have Emil, Maria's cousin, coming today to look at all our plumbing needs. Changing out sinks, hardware, etc. He is going to move our sink buffet out of the powder room so we can paint in there. Getting rid of the last wall papered rooms is on list of things to do. Trying to figure out what color to paint it since I don't want to make a mistake due to it being such a pain in the b_ _ _ to prep for painting. One of my major problems is when we built this home I favored cream over white. All my tile is cream. Now I favor white. Ahhhhh ---  what's a girl to do? I'll figure it out.

I need to remember there is time. The major thing right now is to get out of that storage shed by the end of the month. A girl can buy a lot of buttons and treasures for $250.  Oh yes, the goal is to save money, not spend it. My mind was full of duplicity there for a second.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Thoughts

Lunch with friends is a good thing.

Genes or Socialization ---  what percentage of each makes one who they are?

    I am leaning towards 2/3 Genes and 1/3 Socialization----up from my previous thoughts of 1/2 and 1/2

   

Understanding given our OWN circumstances, we are all doing the best we can do. Is this true? Do you think we are ALL doing the best we can do?

Flexible --- Are you flexible? Is it important to be flexible?

Rigid --- Are you rigid? Is this a bad thing?

Update as I am told --- not because I know for sure -- Well, some of it I know for sure but what Amber says I am not so sure about----

  Michael Brandt, old friend of Amber's , called Randy to let him know Amber had texted him a couple of days ago her cancer was in remission--

  Must be nice ---- treat your body with no respect --- treatment???? ---- and you are magically in remission. 

  Amber arrested for DUI last night. Bartender called the police after Amber left the prememis . ( Don't know what the situation was that caused bartender to call police ) Police stopped her. She started to refuse to breathe but was told her license would be automatically suspended for a year. She then did breathe. Arrested, car impounded, night in jail, released.

  Message on Randy's cell from detective in Pinetop ---  County Prosecutor is choosing to prosecute the house destruction case.

  Amber is now not willing to give Maria temporary custody --- Imagine that---

Who knows what will happen or the best thing to happen or what anyone would want to happen ----  besides making this all be not what it is ---

We each approach it all in such different directions: 

Randy and I

 from a Mars and Venus outlook --

from a Grandfather and Grandmother outlook---

from broken hearted outlooks ---

from a father and mother outlook ---

from a husband and wife outlook ---

 from an individual outlook---

and knowing, through it all, the most important of the couple outlooks above is our marriage outlook ---  because we are the union --- because we fell in love with each other's individual outlooks.

  

Monday Vocabulary

It is Monday morning so I thought I would use a vocabulary word this morning to start off the week.

The trouble for my family is---

 when the kidnapper is mental illness there is no ransom to be successfully payed .

I placed an order with Alice of Painted White. You can visit her blog here. I also placed an order with her husband and you can visit him, here. Anyway, the order has not come yet. Alice contacted me letting me know my tracking number and that she had used automated postage at the postal station and she had inadvertently used the wrong box for the kind of postage she paid. She was concerned about my order not reaching me. Well, forget Alice making a mistake. One of the perils of living in two places is where to have your mail sent. We now have our mail in the valley being forwarded to Pinetop. I had her mail my items to the valley---why didn't I just give her my Pinetop address, as it takes twice as long to get something. Ahhhh-- Anyway, upon tracking the item, it had indeed been marked undeliverable, as addressed. Carol Wingert also had this problem with a kit being delivered to me. I don't know if the post office will not forward packages or what the deal is. I need to look into this. For the purpose of this post, however, my thoughts lie elsewhere, in regards to this transaction with Alice. I responded to her concern by letting her know I was fine with whenever I received the package, that no one was in danger, so it was not a big deal and all would be just fine. Alice was ever so grateful for my understanding of her mistake. This back and forth communication over this issue got me thinking---- I try ( I certainly don't always do such but I do indeed try --- this is another post in and of itself! )  each and every day to live by the Golden Rule---It is my mantra in life. If this is the case, shouldn't it be my mantra for myself, as well? I have a feeling there are many others out there with this same structure. I tend to be kinder to strangers than I am to myself. Why is it alright for someone else to make a mistake and not be perfect but when I make a mistake it becomes magnified tenfold? Yes, I need to work on this. Do You?

Now, another thought. Why does the word should exist? I should do this, she should do that, He should, they should, we should----everybody and anybody should. Actually there are no shoulds. We either do it or we don't and we all make those decisions. Think about it--- No, I mean REALLY think about it. If we want to do something, somehow, someway, we find a way to do it. If we really don't want to do something, somehow, someway, we either find a way not to do it or we do it anyway. I am going to see if I can catch myself when I use the word should. This came to my mind today when I was emailing my friend Bonnie. She had written me, in regards to some possible plans for a trip, nothing comes easy. I wrote back that it seemed to me at our age things should come easier. Started me thinking about that little word should. How many shoulds do you have in your life vocabulary each day? Yep, I am going to be on the look out for that word "should" and try to banish it for awhile.