Sigh

Some office painting was going on last week...beginning on Tuesday and ending Friday. Da Judge's office, mine, and the both sides of the doors going into the commissioners' courtroom (that wall has wood looking stuff in there that was not painted).

I did real good staying out of the painters' way. With four telephones to choose from...I just moved from one to the other to the other...as they prepped, trimmed, painted, etc. I even sat out in the hall a couple of times because so much was going on in the offices.

I managed to stay out of the paint until Friday. Thank goodness I was wearing a pair of black 'khaki'-style slacks that weren't too new...and not any of my "bought for the new job" clothes. I did not know that I had brushed a door facing until I was walking back across the hall to my office and felt someone brush my butt. Turned and saw the treasurer with a grin on her face. She pointed, I looked. Paint. eyeroll

After supper Friday I decided I wanted a scoop of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla flavor ice cream with a squirt of chocolate syrup and a sprinkle of black walnuts. Sometime later while reading, I looked down and saw a drip of chocolate syrup on my WHITE blouse. I washed clothes this morning. The paint had dried and was set...I pretreated the blouse but it came out of the washer with a brown spot on it. So I hung it over the drying rack and will tackle it again later.

Sigh...

Son did not report to me...but I did find out on Facebook that they were paid...

Continuing

Well. This morning the fire chief came and visited with me. During his visit I found out that when someone pushes the alarm hidden under her desk...aka PANIC BUTTON...that it broadcasts OVER THE LAW ENFORCEMENT RADIOS! Arrggghhhh! EVERYONE knows that I pushed "the" button.

In my defense:
1. I did not know that the office had an alarm.
2. I did not know what the white box under my desk was.
3. I did not know that when I "felt it up" that I actually pushed the button

eyeroll....

On to other things...
Dee commented on my last post and asked if we purchased plans for the cutting table. No. I saw one online. It was rather costly and too large for my space. Sam drew the plans himself.

Cutting Table

Yippee!!!! HE's WORKING ON IT!!

Sam cut this out about a year ago...give or take. He built the top and the drop leaves...then nothing. I didn't think he'd ever get it built. He's in the background working on the top drawer that can be accessed from either side. The three other horizontal slots...one side will be drawers while the other side will have shelves and a closing door.

The tall skinny vertical slot is for large cutting mats. I have three...one goes on top and when the leaves are open, the other two will top those. It's red oak and is going to be GORGEOUS as well as functional. Me? I haven't been doing much of anything except work and a bit of house cleaning. Last weekend we went to Bay City Texas to a family reunion - Sam's side. My son made it - he lives about an hour away. Sam's two didn't which means the two grandbabies didn't make it either. Sigh. I truly enjoyed seeing Jonathan, but was very glad to get home Sunday.

BTW, be praying for him. The nursing home where he works changed hands. Many quit...he has stuck it out. Today was payday. They did not get paid and may not get paid tomorrow. He's ready to walk out. I told him to hang in there a few more days...but in the meantime be plastering the area with applications and try to find something else.

I found something at work that we did not know that we had. Da Judge said that someone had mentioned the Panic Button...but I had only heard that we should have one...not that we did. That there was one in the big courtroom and one in the county clerk's office. I'm kind of sitting in the "fish bowl" with two doors and a big area the width of two or three doors. If someone got stupid and stood at the intersection of the X hallway...guess who he/she would be staring at? Yep...me.

We are in the process of getting our offices painted. My desk, which was sitting at an angle in the office, has been pulled out to the center of my office, then pushed back square with the wall. The light picked up something at the edge of the "typewriter" return. Hmmm...it's stuck on...lemme feel it. Hmmm....what's this? A depression or a button of some sort. Hmmm.... Oh well.

A few seconds later Brrriiiinnnnnnnnggggggggg...my phone rings and the sheriff's name shows up on the display. "Yes sir?"
He asks, "Is everything okay there?"
"Well...yes."
"The display over here is showing an emergency in the judge's office."
"OH! That's what that little box is?! Sorry."
We had no sooner got off the phone than Brrriiiiiingggggggggg...Yep...dispatcher is on the line. "Is everything okay there?"

I found the PANIC BUTTON!!!

C .O.W.

I must be in SEVERE estrogen deprived mode.

I am so ticked off I can't even find my regular C.O.W. (Cranky Old Woman) photo...but I found this one of a Highland cow.

When "this" happened I got so mad my eyes crossed, and I couldn't see straight.

We are nearing the end of a hot and heavy school bond election. Having subbed for our school district for five years and knowing first-hand the condition of our schools...I am voting Yes.

Someone on a forum put together a slide showing how much our school district is spending per student compared to what other school districts are spending per student. (I know...that's kind of like comparing what I spend at the grocery store to what YOU spend at the grocery store...but we won't go there.) Our maintenance is higher than those same school districts he is using for comparison...so I ask...Do you think that the higher maintenance cost has anything to do with the higher cost per student?

He replied back... "When you imagine maintenance costs what do you think is included?"

Imagine?

IMAGINE?

Like I am JUST a woman and JUST a housewife and simply cannot understand something as complicated as maintenance?

I * M * A * G * I * N * E ????!!!!!

To say I am a bit ticked off is putting it extremely mild.

I replied back that after five years of subbing for our school district that I did not IMAGINE the gas leaks in the chemistry lab. I did not IMAGINE the electric short that vacated the class I was subbing in until they could trace the problem. I did not IMAGINE plumbing failures. I did not IMAGINE...etc.

Grrrr....

A Squishy Was in the Mail Today

I know some very special people. Here's proof.

Bea (aka Holee who has a blog in my list to the right) used my French Braid Quilt tutorial and made a big quilt. With the scraps, she made a little quilt and posted about it on her blog.

When I got home, I had a squishy envelope waiting on me. Bea's name was in the return address area. I had no idea what she was up to.

I have a rotten stopped up head due to sinus problems and was ready to change clothes, plop on the bed, and go to sleep. But I had to open this first!

Thank you my special friend!!

Stuff

I had to check out my latest photo uploads before I could figure out what to blog about today. A LOT is going on around here. I'll just comment in the order the photos loaded.

This was my daddy's "toy." An old B Model Mack. When Daddy had it, it was red. It was sold to a man my youngest brother worked for (aka...oh, never mind...I promised not to call him "the Brat" any more...but he's the brother who put rocks in my gas tank) when he lived in Arkansas. The truck has been completely gone through! And my understanding is that if baby brother ever gets the information to him...Mr Chrisman will have a plaqued engraved and the truck dedicated to my dad.

Some high school classmates and I went to a bar. :-) Yes...many of you didn't think I had it in me did you? LOL We have another classmate who after retiring from the Navy formed a band with his wife. They were playing about 25 miles from us, so we piled into a couple of vehicles and went to hear them. We always stay until the last song is sung...and have a blast. I had my one margarita...only part of it 'cause one of the girlfriends accidentally knocked it over. She tried to buy me another, but since it was well over half gone, I wouldn't let her. I told her, "Next time." Think we had a total of six of us there.

Judy, Earlene, Kathy Melanie, Me
PS Earlene and I have been friends since 5th grade. Melanie was my first BFF when I moved here in the 3rd grade.

OUCH! Notice a difference in the feet? See the red splotch on the left foot? Can you spell W*A*S*P...as in red wasp? I had on a pair of dress sandals last Sunday. Saw a red wasp on the step and - vicious woman that I am - stepped on him. It was like slow motion. My eyes widened and my eyebrows touched my hairline as I realized that I'd only stepped on half of him...and the half I stepped on was not the "business" half. (Yep...this was a day or two later, and I really do need a fresh pedicure.)Horrified, I stood there like a dummy as he twisted his ugly abdomen and popped me at the side of the base of my big toe...on that knobby, boney part...see the white circle? I did pretty good until Tuesday. Itcharama city. I kept it sprayed with a topical anti-itch stuff. On Monday, I took the ice pack out of my lunch bag, wrapped it in layers of paper towels and plopped my foot on top of it. But Tuesday...NOTHING helped! At lunch I went to the store for some benadryl. Took one or two! Ahhhhhhh....within 30 minutes...RELIEF!

Do you remember Topo Gigo on the Ed Sullivan Show? I can still hear, "Edddieeeeee." LOL

I do have some C.O.W. issues, but will not burden any of you with them. But I've done the "eyeroll" so many times that I have a headache and in all probability am afraid they are going to "stick like that." eyeroll...did it again!

The Wedding

Groan and moan. That's all anyone is talking about! I did not watch it at 4 a.m. and was extremely disappointed that I could not get "real" news that morning while getting ready to go to work. When I turned the television on at about 7:15 I was so excited to watch thousands upon thousands of people milling around waiting for the newlyweds to appear on the balcony...Yaaaawwwwwnnnnn.

Now that the hoopla is over I was able to see what I wanted to see.

Kate is a beautiful self-possessed young woman. Her gowns were in extremely good taste. You can see the love shared between her and William. I pray that they stay in love the rest of their lives!

What a difference in the flash-back photos of Diana and Charles. That young woman was tragically manipulated by the royal family in order to produce an heir to the throne. The over-done froo-froo gown just swamped her delicate frame. She seemed to be so intimated by everything that she very seldom lifted her eyes. Charles swamped her emotions and self-respect with his philandering with Camilla...lovely woman that she is.

Queen Elizabeth should be ashamed of herself for the part she played in setting Diana up with Charles.

C.O.W. Alert! C.O.W. Alert!

Cranky Old Woman Alert!

C.O.W. #3 Poor, poor Sam. He started worrying about our Saturday Easter dinner leftovers Saturday evening!

C.O.W. #2 Has anyone ever asked you to show them how to do something...for instance...on Facebook. And you tell them, "There may be more than one way to do this, but this is how I do it." Then griped because of the wording when the task was complete. Even after being told...I didn't design this, call that guy...the person was still pissed because it should've been "this way."

I saved the BEST for last!

C.O.W. #1 Some idiot walked into our little one-person public library and pulled a gun on the librarian - Earlene - my best friend! He stole the DONATION jar! From the LIBRARY!! With a GUN! NO MASK!!! What an idiot! He even threatened to kill her if she called the police. Well...DUH! Did he really think she wouldn't?!

I talked her this morning after I found out about the robbery. She had a pretty good description of him. Since he was a young man...I suggested looking at the last few high school annuals. Report here already: http://www.kltv.com/

Update: They caught him the same day! He was at WalMart 25 miles away trying to pay for a purchase with all change!

Family Today!

We had a great time! Friday afternoon Isabel arrived with her chauffeur. Grandpa on a walk with Brook and Isabel...Isabel fell asleep about 2 seconds later.

For supper we had shrimp pasta salad and Irish soda Bread.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Traditional%20Irish%20Soda%20Bread

Before...


...after...

After Isabel's night bedtime Friday, Colt showed up with his entourage. After some visiting, Colt got fussy. Granny (that would be ME) took him out to the screen porch and we sat in one of the rocking patio chairs. He fell asleep in about 2 seconds.

Saturday morning...HELLO COUSIN. Unfortunately, Colt had a bit of a stuffy nose and they weren't permitted to get too close to each other.

We visited and played and I held babies ...although from the photos you would never guess it!

I baked a ham and cooked pinto beans, roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of grated nutmeg and a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper, roasted asparagus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt, mixed green salad with homemade honey mustard salad dressing... http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/honey%20mustard%20salad%20dressing ..., homemade peppercorn salad dressing, and a bottled jar of raspberry vinaigrette. And a loaf of bread machine white bread...with butter!

For dessert...a strawberry pie. http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Strawberry%20Pie

Before... ...after.

I'm going to have to do something different with the strawberry pie. The juice is too juicy. I don't want it set up like pudding...but I don't want it like water. I've always used flour for thickening in my fruit pies. Next time I bake a strawberry pie I am going to use cornstarch. If that doesn't work, I'll try tapioca.

We also had a chocolate pudding cake.

http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/Chocolate%20Pudding%20Cake

I did not get a photo of it. And now...there's only one slice left. Hmmm...See you later!

French Braid Quilt Revisited

My friend Bea/Holee used my tutorial and made this quilt top.

http://beashive-bea.blogspot.com/2011/04/french-braid-quilt-top-finished.html

Didn't she do a great job?!