She told me that she is at the end of her rope!  I told her that what has worked for me in the past was to tell my hubby that if it was not done in a certain period of time (usually 30 days) that I would call in a professional to have it done and tell them to send him the bill. Works like a charm! Admittedly there were a couple of times when I DID call a professional and my hubby wasn’t too happy about it, but the job got done, and now hubby pays a little bit closer attention to my repair requests.

The fan we use right now is one that takes up space on the floor, and although it does what it is supposed to do, I really would prefer a pretty ceiling fan in there; I think it would make the room look more like a luxurious retreat. Whenever I find any great deals from lowes stores I am more than happy to accompany my hubby there so he can buy whatever lumber or pipe or cable he needs while I go and fantasize about my dream bedroom.

When my hubby and I split up and I moved out i brought that spice rack with me, intended to mount it on the wall of my new kitchen. Wouldn’t you know it, all of the kitchen walls were completely filled up with cupboards so there was no space to put that rack on the wall! I did find space for it on the counter, though, beside the stove and there is where it stayed for a good number of years.

Eventually all of the original bottles from the spice rack broke and I could not find replacement bottles that fit, so the little rack got “freecycled” away when I moved again. Now I store my spices in my pantry, and have tried various methods of storing them, but I really have not found a suitable system for the spices. I miss that rack!

So, we talked about some different strategies on surviving the break up.  We talked about how he needed to take some time to heal emotionally, and avoid any kind of rebound romance.

For the past couple of years I’ve been wanting to design a pattern for an address plaque that would complement the painted mailbox that we have. My hubby brought a plain plaque home last fall and told me that he wanted to use it but I’m not quite sure exactly where he was planning on putting it. At first he said he was going to put in on the mailbox but I really don’t see the need for that since the mailbox is already hand painted and numbered quite well. It will be interesting to see what exactly it is that he does with it!

When my hubby and I moved into our first house, we were so excited to share our joy with our friends. So we had a big Independence Day party; complete with a pot-luck barbecue and pool party. The guests were completely enamored of our litter of five week old keeshond puppies, which were confined inside their six foot tall chain link kennel run.

One of our guests (which I did not want invited but hubby insisted) decided that he would light a string of black cat firecrackers and throw them into the kennel run. The quick bang-bang-bang and yelp-yelp-yelp brought my hubby and me running quickly to see what in the world was going on. When we saw the inebriated guest laughing at the upset puppies, we asked him to leave the party. Needless to say, feelings were hurt.

The next morning when we went out to feed the puppies, we discovered that someone had removed them from their kennel and put them inside the fenced in pool area. The puppies had all drowned in the pool. My heart was completely broken. Later that day we went to the pool supply store and bought a pool cover for our swimming pool in the hopes that this kind of tragedy never happens again. And I never spoke to that guy that had thrown firecrackers into the puppy pen, as we suspect that he was the one responsible for relocating the puppies. It would have been impossible for the puppies to escape their pen and enter the fenced in pool area on their own.

I’ve gained a few pounds since last year, so none of my bathing suits fit!  I’m going to have to buy a new one!

Apparently the company told her that even if she moved out of her house that she would still be responsible to pay the remainder of the contract. Her house is currently for sale because she cannot afford the mortgage payments anymore and she is trying to get out from under it. So when we found out that our own mother went out and bought herself a security system instead of taking over my sisters, we were really upset. This crazy family needs to learn to communicate better – my mother could have taken over the contract and had a perfectly wonderful system!

Sometimes life gets hectic, and an unexpected gift giving occasion arrives and time doesn’t allow the luxury of making the gifts. That’s when buying a gourmet gift basket comes to the rescue. There are so many gourmet gift baskets on the market, it is pretty easy to find one that will suit almost any occasion and please any recipient.

Whenever I go into that bathroom, when I wash my hands I always look at the sink and think about how much I would enjoy doing some reverse painting patterns on
vessel sinks and I wonder if I bought some and painted them whether or not I would try to sell them or keep them. I have found that when I do some decorative painting on objects that I sometimes have a hard time “letting go” of the object when I’m finished with the job. Do you think that is normal or do you think that is odd?

One thing worries me, though. If I recall correctly I saw a special about the Tom Kincaid dynasty and I worry that my sister is over-valuing her collection. Sure, they are limited editions, but there are thousands of them out there. Not quite as valuable as if the limited edition only had less than a dozen. I guess only time will tell, and for now she is just as happy as a pig in mud with her collection, so who am I to rain on her parade? As a famous advice columnist advises from time to time “MYOB.”

Surf Camp offers surfing programs for kids, teenagers, adults, and families.  They offer day camps and overnight camps.  My sons are too old for the teenager’s camps, so they want to sign up for the overnight adult camp.  The overnight adult camp would be for one week, off the coast of North Carolina.  The camp takes them to several different islands for them to learn how to surf, and includes side trips that includes a boat trip to an undeveloped barrier island and a trip to the new 84,000 square-foot Fort Fisher Aquarium.