Self returning to normal.....well, my normal anyway :)

DIL has been told to take it easy and drink more water. She was possibly dehydrated after having a horrible migraine over the weekend. Apparently too little fluid can cause contractions. I told son I now consider myself on alert :) I will start carrying my cell phone with me (it usually stays in my car). I will now be the calm one when things start to happen. This was like a jump start to my brain letting me know to get ready!

As predicted, I am not well rested this morning. I will try to be productive around here today before my work week crunch starts on Friday.

It's been a weird day.

The garage now holds two working vehicles - at the same time! I can't believe how much better it feels to not see the mess that was there before. Husband says he feels much better too. He has worked really hard on it, for several days. He found a few boxes of things I need to go through, like silver things that we got for wedding gifts that I had forgotten all about. Things were still boxed up from when we moved here.

I tried to accomplish some brain things, but I was having a very hard time focusing. I need more sleep. Daughter knew when I started trying and proceeded to interrupt me about 10 times in 10 minutes. It's like a radar within her.

I went to do some errands and told daughter she could park her car in the garage. She doesn't know it, but I plan on letting her park there unless I have to leave early in the morning sometime. And really, how often does that happen? :) Anyway, I got home to find out she had scratched her car pulling into the garage. The dumpster is still there in the way, and it is an awkward angle, and I don't think she's ever parked in a garage before.

Then she told me that DIL called and was going to the hospital. DIL was feeling really crappy and her back was hurting her so bad. Uh-oh. It's 6 weeks too soon. She's home now, but I was stressed all evening. I'm usually the calm one. Daughter finally told me to sit down and relax and not try to do anything! DIL had some contractions and they gave her a shot that stopped them.
She's to see her doctor tomorrow. I don't plan on catching any extra sleep tonight...

I know, technology is wonderful. I know 6 weeks early is not as dangerous as it used to be. I know if she's born now, she will probably be ok. My usual self would weigh all of that and take a wait and see stand. I'm not reacting my usual way. I now feel this baby is going to be born early....I just hope not too early.

A Christmas Story House

A man who lives in California bought the house in Cleveland that was used for the exterior shots in A Christmas Story because he loves the movie so much. He spent a couple of years and lots of money to restore it as much as possible to look like the house in the movie. Most of the interior scenes were done in Canada. This past weekend was the grand opening of the house. My daughter loves the movie, so it was a road trip to Cleveland! (which concluded my 3C city tour in 3 days. Cincy on Thursday, Columbus Friday (and pretty much every day - lol), then Cleveland on Saturday.



The rest of the pics can be seen here

I bought some Ovaltine and a leg lamp night light at the museum across the street, bought by the same man.
You can read about it here.

Here's the gang and the food :) (minus the FIL, who took the pic)

From left to right - Nephew B, Daughter S, Husband R, BIL R, SIL G, Moi, Nephew C, and MIL.

It was a nice, enjoyable evening. No drama. Tentative plans were made to have it here next year. SIL would rather drive a few hours than cook. I said if I have a living room by then, sure! Well, ok, the room actually exists, but it needs work just like the dining room needed work. You would think a year would be plenty of time....

Husband is filling dumpster with stuff from the garage. The Honda is scheduled to be removed from garage tomorrow. This is all good. My fantasy of getting rid of all of the extraneous stuff throughout the house has been destroyed though. A 20 ft dumpster - it will be filled with garage only junk. That blows my mind. I will never understand the mind of a pack rat.

I finished acrylic blanket, am still working on Irish Hiking scarf, and a hat to go with it. I haven't touched the hiking sock (no relation to scarf and hat) in quite a while. I may get back into knitting more this week.

The Not Me dining room



The More Me Dining Room

It will be the Me Dining Room after I can do the wainscoting, get a new light fixture, get a new cabinet for the dishes, and decorate the walls, but it feels a lot better already :)

My parents bought my grandmother this set of china and then my grandfather gave them to me when she died. I can't remember the last time I used them. I should use them...


This is the set of everyday dishes I don't use much either. I got the set when I worked at a store, something like 80% of and then a 10% discount. Maybe now that I know they are clean I will think to use these too.


This is a tray I can remember my aunt giving me when I was in elementary school and sick in bed for a few days. I do sometimes use this :)

It is yet another cold and dreary day. I think most days have been like this since mid-september. Ugh.

The dining room furniture is back in the dining room. I still need to wash all of the dishes before putting them back in the cabinet, but I don't think I'll get to it today. Husband and daughter both home, me not so energetic....why annoy myself trying? I'll try to get to it tomorrow, while they are working. Then pics.
The room definitely needs wainscoting to brighten it up a bit. Maybe after the garage is cleared out and there is some work space, I can start on that.

Yesterday I went to the mall and started to get into the xmas spirit. I went during The Game of The Century, figuring it was a last chance to go before the big crowds. I was surprised how many people were there - Bath and Body Works was very crowded. Gee, someone else had the same idea as me??

The end is in sight for the acrylic blanket for Baby B. My next project needs to be a yarn that feels good with natural needles. It's funny how my tastes have changed. I feel I should use some of my stash, but it's a lot of stuff I won't enjoy using much.

One of the most inadvertently humorous moments of my job this month - I was talking to a new household, asking names. Lady gave her name, a friend's name, and when it got to the third name, she said "Oh! We don't know his name! We call him "Dan". :) They have all lived there for 6 months. (fake name changed to CMA, with the confidentiality thing and all).

I didn't get dressed until 5pm today. It is a rainy, cold, and dreary day. This is to remind myself when I don't like my job, that the one perk I get can be quite a nice one. That being, I decide when I work (within their deadlines). So I snuggled on the couch with my dogs most of the day!

Husband told me this morning that he has ordered a dumpster to be brought here next week! He's been planning to clean out the garage for a couple of years now. It's full of trash. I'd post a pic, but it would be WAY too embarrassing. I just watched part of Dr. Phil today where the subject was pack rats. I should be happier about this, but I KNOW that once it is all cleared out, he will then very soon start filling it back up. Clutter causes me anxiety, clear space causes him anxiety.

When does a couple balancing each other out become non-stop compromising?? sigh I just don't have to energy to keep on top of it all like I did in the earlier years.

My son has asked me to bake some cookies for him and his wife. I said sure, then he added that he'd really like to be able to eat them the same day they are baked, saying he hasn't had cookies like mine for a long time. So of course, I'm going to make some - LOL. I think I'll take the dough to their house and bake them there. Maybe next week. Oh, they have also asked me to come and stay with them for a few days after Baby B is born! That will be so much fun!

Inlaws gave us their frequent flyer miles to use for getting to Fort Lauderdale for the cruise! Yay!

I like reading Carolyn Hax's advice column. She gets right to the bottom line and asks the questions people do their best to avoid asking themselves. Although variables are always different, the bottom line can apply to some of my own situations.

When looking through the LL Bean catalogue, I found myself wanting several coats. Not sure what's up with that :) Maybe so I could knit a bunch of scarves to go with them?

Oh yes, and how could I forget, even though it's old news - Yay Ohio!! :)

I'm not very consistent with my posting, am I?

At the beginning of the week, daughter had her wisdom teeth removed. Man, they let them leave to go home fast. She was still so out of it when I was taking her home. She started to get up a move around the house after a few days, but she still didn't want to eat much. She has very little reserve on her, so it looked like she was more weak than anything. Dinner from Taco Bell and bam! She's back to her normal self. Yay Taco Bell! :)

After the first day or so, while she was still staying in bed and unable to talk much, I did a spring cleaning of my office. It felt so good to get that done! Especially with the rest of the house such a mess. The dining room stuff is still all crammed into the living room, but husband has been working on it and is now just waiting for me to go get some more tiles from Home Depot so he can finish the floor. The color is perfect when the sun is shining, but when it's oppressively cloudy, like today, it's a shade too dark and dreary. Eventually I will put white wainscoting around the room, but that will wait a while. That should brighten it up just fine.

Friday, with daughter recovered and husband home extra early, I thought that would be a good time for me to take care of a bunch of piddly work stuff I needed to do, after getting it all organized in the office clear out. Sheesh. It was like grand central station in here. I saw that I was only able to be so productive earlier in the week because daughter was out of commission and husband was busier than usual. I may never learn to deal with being productive while they are around.

Anyway, my head has been very busy thinking of stuff, but it's not of much interest to anyone but me.
That explains the lack of posts lately :)

I'm sitting here waiting for a call for me to pick up my report from the permit office so it's procrastination time.

On a more positive note than my recent postings - last week, the day after I got back from the cabin, I picked up my new glasses and then got my hair done. That gave me a boost and I plan on
starting up swim lessons again tonight. I made a huge change in the glasses frames. My old ones are rimless with nifty titanium sides. The Most Comfortable Glasses Ever. I could even fall asleep in them without a problem. But I was starting to feel really blah about wearing them. I would need to wear eye makeup all of the time, which I seldom do, hence the blah feeling. My new frames are black plastic (well, around the lenses is metal, but it's made to look like plastic) and they only come in one size, so comfortable is not an adjective I'd use. But I love the way they look. In this instance, I'm willing to forego comfort for vanity :)

So I went from these:


To these:


I've noticed that people now look at my eyes. I don't know where they were looking before.....

Knitting has slowed down lately. Still working on blanket for Baby B (wishing I had invested in a better quality yarn for it), my hiking socks, and the Irish Hiking scarf. When I picked up the scarf again, I liked it. I think how much I like it is directly related to how dry my fingertips are. Around the same time I was disenchanted with the scarf, I wandered through The Merc and all of the wool felt too rough for me. Even wool that I previously thought soft.

I started a baby hat with the fixation yarn, and I didn't mind working with the yarn as I started it, but the more I get done, the less I like working with it. I've got to try it with bigger needles. I'm trying to finish things up before starting on something new. I've done some of the piecing together of the baby hoodie - man, do I dislike seams. More motivation to make alterations for working as much as possible in the round in the future.

I'm getting the urge to try my hand at dyeing yarn. I see that in my future :)

And in the spirit of finishing things up....

iTunes -P, Q, R, S

Paul McCartney
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Phil Collins
Prince
Procol Harum
Puff Daddy

Queen

R. Kelly
R.E.M
Rage Against the Machine
Robert Palmer
Rick James
The Righeous Brothers
Rockwell

Santana
Savage Garden
Seal
Shania Twain
Shanice
Sly and the Family Stone
Smokey Robinson
Spinners (It's a Shame near the top of my most played)
Squeeze
Stevie Wonder
Stone Temple Pilots

Today I was stretched out on the couch with 40 lbs of dogs sleeping on me and Oprah came on so I watched. It was one of her fluff shows. She had on her guy that does room makeovers....Nick? Nate?
Anyway, he was talking about how your house has to reflect who you are and how you have to be happy in your house. Man, that pinpointed my frustration around here. My house does not, and has not for years represented who I am at all. The frustration is from the slow speed that progress is made. I thought I had been spending so much time in my office here at home to avoid people. Now I think it's just because it's the only room that feels anything like me.

Looking at the calendar, I see that it's highly unlikely much will be done before next spring. Husband just doesn't do much during the winter and we have to deal with the outside stuff (siding replaced on two sides, half the roof replaced, and odds and ends). I've been upset because yet another year has gone by and I still don't feel like my house is my home. Ok, so now I've figured it out, time to try to let it go and move on.

I was a big hit with the Trick or Treat-ers last night. I did what I always do, which is have a big bowl of different candies and let them choose what they want. For some reason, this year, that got strong reactions from the kids. One toddler cried and screamed because she didn't want to leave. That was not my goal, btw :) Others would wildly declare what they got here to their parents. A few even told me this was the best house. I don't know what it was, maybe it was because it rained until a short time before it started so kids were extra excitable. The last ones were a couple of girls who were probably around age 12. I told them to take a couple of handfuls each to get rid of it. That went over real well :)

I find myself in hyper Square Peg mode. I don't feel comfortable with feeling like a square peg in a round hole these days.
Feeling like a square peg is my default state, but I'm usually ok with it. But I don't feel comfortable in my house even.
This shall pass...

I have started painting the dining room. I had to stop before the first coat was done and I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish it up. The scenario of getting ready to paint is a good example of what frustrates me around here. I said I was going to paint. Husband suggests pushing the table into the living room. Good idea! Then he says we can get everything out of there except the cabinet holding dishes, that can't be moved. I was like "Huh?? I'm going to paint! It HAS to be moved." His high anxiety level skyrocketed. He said having to move that made everything 10 times worse.

I'm dealing with my own energy issues, and it can drive me nuts that I have to deal with his anxiety issues as well.

I suggested that we just empty the cabinet and move it. "But there's SO much stuff in there! And where would be put it all??" There is a set of china and a set of regular dishes. I said we could put it on my puzzle table. "But your puzzle is on there!!". Then I said the dining room table. "But things could get broken!".

By this time, I wanted to scream. My voice was probably loud as I said I'd take care of the dishes. Which took me less than 5 minutes and they are all on my puzzle table. I get so tired of having to push him through his damn walls. I don't have the energy for it.

So the next day, as I'm painting, I noticed there is still a different cabinet in the room. We have the cable modem and the router in there. Husband could not deal with, or come up with, the idea to just unplug the stuff, move the cabinet, and plug the stuff back in. This is what stops him from getting anything done. He said in his mind, he's doing stuff all of the time.

He's a good guy with high anxiety levels. He certainly didn't ask to have his leg amputated - and that drastically elevated his anxiety and other things too. But man, it can drive me nuts. It's just SO frustrating. This is one reason I don't tell any local people about my blog. So I can occasionally vent like this.