Quite a January

Dear friends found out recently that they are going to have their first grandchild in the fall...I am so happy for them becuase being a grandparent is such a joy! Of course, I am hoping it is a girl since they raised 3 sons!

And then yesterday we found out the mother of a close friend died Sunday. She has been in declining health for a couple of years and it has been quite a strain on our friend, especially since she was the only girl in the family. I know her mother is finally at peace and I hope our friend and her family will find peace when all this is over with.

And yesterday I found out grandchild #5 will arrive in the fall! WOW! As my hubby said - he always wanted lots of grandkids - but the more that arrive, the older we feel!!! Everyone, except my daughter, is hoping for a girl....but we will see. The boys are joy too!

Do you believe in ghosts?

I dont know that I do...I dont DIS-believe, but I dont know that I believe...

Altho when I was growing up in Illinois there was a 'ghost' in my room. A light that would appear over my closet door and no matter what type of curtains or such that my mom would play with - we could never figure out where that light came from so that we could block it. And I would never ever nevernevernever go into the basement alone. This was on an Army post and the basement was shared by more than one family and there was some really bad vibes down there. Even adults did not want to go down there alone!

When we lived in PA we lived in a turn of the century house and never really felt any spirits there. Have been in buildings here and there that felt occupied by other buildings...

But after we moved into this house, one of the upstairs bedrooms had light issues. Meaning that the light in that room would turn on for no known reason. No reason. None at all. And after my daughter moved out, we never had that problem again. Can we say poltergeist?

But now, every once in a while, I have the feeling that someone is upstairs when I am home alone. Sounds of a person walking...and something out of the corner of the eye that looks like a human being. In fact, the other afternoon I heard walking and saw something black out of the corner of my eye in the upstairs hall - yelled at the dog for being up there before I realized that the gate on the stairs was in place...and then heard the dog getting up from his bed in the living room and coming over to me!

So, I cant say I dis-believe.

Any good stories out there?

Squirrel

So - I caught him again! This time I had the camera (but it doesnt do justice to the beautiful red brown luxurious coat he has!). And this time he took off running like **** as soon as I opened the door!

All I can say, that higher priced Walmart birdseed (with vitamins and minerals) must be a lot more tasty to him than the cheaper one I usually buy!

Dreary Friday

It is almost 3 PM and the sun is not out - even though they promised!

Came home and looked out on the patio and there is this lovely full, thicky, healthy looking piece of reddish fur draped over my bird feeder...should have run for my camera...instead I ran for the door yelling at that not-obviously-starving squirrel to get off my bird feeder! S/he had quire the attitude - jsut looked at me while I was acting like an idiot (to him/her) trying to scare it away - and yelling for my dumb ADD dog to chase it away - hey Kate, I think I need to borrow Althea back!!! LOL

Rants: I have some rants. And I am sure you have heard them here before. People either ignore me because they have heard them before or they agree but dont know what to do about it; or else they just dont care. But I am still going to put them out there.

1. Since when did it become okay to go shopping wearing your pajamas? I mean - adults - men and women - in the middle of the day - wearing pajamas and slippers....not jsut running out for medication for sick children either - in malls and regular stores!

2. Since when did it become okay for males to sit thru an entire meal in public without removing their caps or hats? You sit with me for a meal - that hat better come off!

3. Since when is it not rude to carry on private conversations via cell phone at a decibal rate so loud the entire store/restuarant/whatever can hear all those private things? I am not the least bit interested in your life if I dont know you! And since when did it become okay to do all this while at the check out of a store - thereby making the sales person have to put up with your rudeness while trying to wait on you?

4. Since when does counter service deserve a tip? I know waiters have a decreased salary because their employer seems to think (legally so) they can get away with it because the waiters can live on the tips...but waiters WAIT on you...counter service (i.e. scoop up that ice cream, put it in a cone, and hand it to me standing right there in front of you) is jsut what they say - service and not waiting upon...

5. And when did the DMV change the lawas about red lights? I have noticed in the past month that it is apaprently legal now to come up to a red light and turn right - WITHOUT EVER HAVING SLOWED DOWN - COME TO A STOP - OR EVEN CHECK TO SEE IF THERE IS TRAFFIC COMING!

Ok- that is enough for today - but there might be more coming soon! Stay tuned - you might have to call me Andy Rooney soon!! LOL

Embarrassment - maybe it will lead to destashing

These are MOST of the scarves and shawls I have knit for myself...

Here are my shoes (minus the ones I am giving away cause I have to admit they just dont fit or are not comfortable any more) except for the 3 pair and my slippers that I am keeping downstairs cause I will be wearing them...

And here, hanging my head in shame, is the crib full of purses. Again, these are just the ones that were in my closet. And a lot of the bags have other purses and bags in them...I thought I was going to be able to part with more. But not yet. Maybe I will get rid of a few more when I have to find a permanent place to keep them.

PA

Hello, my name is Danielle, and I am a purseholic...

I have more purses than I have shoes and I was once a shoe-aholic. Very very choosy about my purses. One new one every year and it HAD to be leather...

I just filled the crib upstairs with my purses...and some of those have purses inside of them. And it is only the purses that were in my closet. Not the ones laying around the room. I chose some to give away...okay, I took one back out of the giveaway bag. And I still have too many and I can't part with the ones I saved!

Oh dear, how does that 12 step program start?

Happy New Year!

These pictures prove that our Grandson #1 is not going to be the NBA star who will support his grandparents in the future! He just has no interest it seems - although we did find out he is the youngest on the team. My DD is making him finish out the season -and although I can understand why and support her - oh my, this was a most interesting day! Thank goodness it consisted of only 6 periods, each consisting on 5 minutes each, no clock stopping, no fouls etc!!

I finished the GI Joe blanket and gave it to Grandson #3 last Sunday. Along with a quick and simple cap I made out of the left over yarn. The colors really washed out in this photo. I now have one on the needles for Grandson #2 - his will be blue and red.

We have survived the Storm of the Decade with only leaves and all blown around. The perks of living in a valley is that you do not get the destruction that those on the coast received. There are some fences down around here - and some branches and trees but that is it. We were not hit with the power outages that so many other locations received.

This weekend, once the storm finished and it was daylight out - I could see the snow on the hills around us (those of you who live back east would think of them as mountains!). Lovely but not quite as much as I expected - maybe there was more there before I had a chance to see it!

We spent Sunday putting together hubby's closet. We had been looking at closet organizers for awhile and last November found the Elfa closet organizer that The Container Store sells. We spent time there designing stuff for his closet and mine (both of which are very small). At the end of it, the person who helped us kindly told us that they were going on sale after Christmas - 30% off. So they saved the designs and we called to pick up the pieces on Saturday. The only bad thing I have to say about The Container Store is that the closest one is in Walnut Creek.

So we drove there Saturday morning and there was actually sun out! After going to the Farmer's Market (not too many farmers braved the iffy weather that week!) we headed there and got there early. Even time to do some shopping there - and got our stuff loaded in the truck before our 'appointment' time of 1100. I was surprised at the small amount for 2 (although small) closets.

Now meanwhile my husband had cleaned out his closet - mudded areas that needed it - and repainted it. So it was all ready to put together - and we were assured that it would take us 1 - 2 hours to do. Uh huh. IF the pieces fit! For some reason - the measurements were all off and several things didn't fit. So we called The Container Store and they were quite nice about it and decided which pieces had to be re-done. Now we were supposed to go to the basketball game Sunday but no, hubby wanted to go right back there cause he wanted to get his closet done (plus - when he explained, it made sense - if there were still problems we would still have Sunday to make yet another trip).

So off we went - and this time the 2d part of the storm had started. More rain and wind and lack of visibility. Got to the store which was now very very crowded - but they were expecting us and took away the items to be re-cut or replaced. We wandered the store and got more ideas....we weren't there very long as I think we took priority. And after they showed us what they did and all - and asked what could they do better (build a store closer to us???!!! LOL) they handed us a $50 gift card for our inconvenience!!!!!

Totally unexpected - we just wanted things made right -which they did! I know this was a sizeable sale - but maybe it was also because we weren't nasty about it? Anyway, I always have fun looking around this store, they have great ideas - especially at Christmas time. But now I really appreciate their service ethics - go visit www.ContainerStore.com!!!!

Today I am working at pulling things together for my nurslings - semester starts in 2 weeks. But also it is my chore to now clean out MY closet - yuck! But I will be weeding thru things too. Thrift stores - expect a big donation soon!!! I just took a before picture - well, partial photo not sure if I can show you all the floor of the closet! And I will post it side by side with after photos. Hubby will take shelf out - mud - and paint this coming weekend I am sure. And then we will put it all back together the weekend after that!