2010 Done
Yippee Skippy!!!!! The 2010 paperwork is DONE!!!!
Accounting forms printed out and everything. 11 minutes and 28 seconds before the four hour timer went off.
The last item to do is count the number of days Joe was out and I was out. Then I have to create a letter like thing for the accountant with the number of days each month that we were away from home.
Guilt free I can RUN…not walk….to my craft room and play all that I want.
Discipline, determination, and work ethic have all fled from me. They’ve just up and left. In their place now resides the “Divil” and all of the temptations that are so alluring and delightful. I’m doomed. Doomed I tell you 😦
Very last of 2010 paperwork
These file folders are all that remain of the 2010 paperwork. Seven file folders, and six trip envelopes. That is all that is left to complete 2010.
I’m so sick of this paperwork I could just scream. Two months I’ve been diligently chipping away at this task and have made such progress. Now, I’m finding it so intolerable to look at one more file folder.
The end is in sight, it is right within my grasp. I have about 10 days left to reach my deadline of March 25th and these seven file folders are going to herald my doom. Oh, woe is me.
My personal Siren Song
To be able to spend day after day in this room.
Touch paper, squeeze out glue, smell the embossing powder as it heats up and becomes a shiny delight, hear the thump of rubber stamp pressed to paper, listen to the swish of scissors cutting, hold the grip of the paper trimmer in my hand and feel it shear through.
The Siren Song of my craft room. Calling to me in dulcet tones to come and bathe in the beauty of color, feel the textures between my fingers, revel in the sparkle of jewels and glitter – yes I said glitter – scoop up handfuls of treasure and pour them like water over my head and let them pool at my feet.
As I look over my shoulder at those last seven file folders yet to do and feel the wrench in my gut to get them finished and be free of them at last, the lure of my craft room has a much stronger pull on me and I find myself stepping closer and closer to the abyss into a land of bright colors and shiny objects.
Oh my soul is tormented and the torture is immense.
I received this in an email from my daughter-in-law, Brenda – Curtis’ wife. My only hope is that this is a very small section of our current population.
The following questions were asked in last year’s GED examination.
These are genuine answers (from 16 year olds’)…………and they WILL breed.
Q. Name the four seasons.
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar
Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.
Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q. What causes the tides in the oceans?
A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight.
Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist upon?
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed.
Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections?
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.
Q. What are steroids?
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.(Shoot yourself now, there is little hope.)
Q.. What happens to your body as you age?
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental. (At least they get to travel!)
Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery (So true!)
Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A. Premature death.
Q. What is artificial insemination
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow
Q. How can you delay milk turning sour?
A. Keep it in the cow. (Simple, but brilliant.)
Q How are the main 20 parts of the body categorized? (e.g. The abdomen.)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts – the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U..(WTF!)
Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie. (This person has a career in politics awaiting!)
Q. What does ‘varicose’ mean?
A. Nearby.
Q. What is the most common form of birth control?
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium. (That would work.)
Q. Give the meaning of the term ‘Cesarean section’.
A. The Cesarean section is a district in Rome .
Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor. (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit!)
Q. What is a terminal illness?
A. When you are sick at the airport.(Irrefutable!)
Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like tiny umbrellas.
Q. Use the word ‘judicious’ in a sentence to show you understand its meaning.
A. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)
Q. What does the word ‘benign’ mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight. (Brilliant)
Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head
These people vote — They are the future generation –& they will breed. America Is Dead!!!
I’d really like to think this is just a joke, but I’ve had a few laughs while watching Jay Leno question young people about American History and the answers they give him.
My daughter, Tiffany, has requested a scrapbook album for a particular set of photos she has. Tiffany is the one with the major tattoo sessions going on with her arm.
She is an embalmer and a Funeral Director at a well established funeral home in Denver. She earned her “chops” doing the grunt work first. For quite a few years her Dad (Joe) would tease her about being a “Body Snatcher” since she had the unenviable task of going into people’s homes, arriving at nursing homes, wending the labyrinths of hospitals to pick up the departed and take them to their last worldly stopping place where they would be tended to or surrounded by family and friends.
In her travels she would drive mostly around Colorado and Kansas with her charges. Either picking them up for their final return to Colorado or taking them from Colorado and home to Kansas. She has taken photos of the various funeral homes she has been to and her photo album will eventually hold the memories of that time in her life.
Tiffany is not a “Girly Girl” and the reason for the album has its own set of problems. Her color scheme is Halloween since she loves these colors and I’m trying to stay away from the overtly “Halloween”ey type of graphics to show respect for Tiffany and her profession.
I have been asking her all the questions I would ask my own self…size of album pages, style, colors, and how many photos to be placed on a page. Since she is not familiar with this craft it has been a long process but we are getting to the point where I have a pretty good idea of what to do. I’ve put together two pages for her approval and here they are.
The paper is Die Cuts With A View (DCWV) and the Street Lace pack. These papers, according to the blurb on their site, is “a little bit Goth inspired”. The papers have large images, and most of them are what I would term “heat embossed” with the glossy raised patterns. The colors are strong but not over powering. I found this set at Whole Lotta Scrap near where I live with the aid of Leslie, the store’s owner.
Well, this weekend I am going to be closeted away in my room with a huge order I’ve placed with Stampin’ Up! and I’m going to figure out a way that I can have “my cake and eat it too”. I so love the bright colors and the graphics of Tim Holtz, Graphic 45, DCWV, to name a few. I’m putting the “Pity Party” decorations away that have been up way too long.
I had such a good time creating Tiffany’s two pages and playing with the paper, it is time to get a grip and “Get over myself”. Get my “mojo” back and my mind back into really loving what I do. The paperwork is nearly done, another couple days and that monster will be put to sleep – FINALLY.
After this, my posts will be on my other blog which features Stampin’ Up! products and YouTube videos will be posted once again. Woo Hoo!!!
Joe and I drove to Salina, Kansas yesterday to deliver Curtis’ birthday present.
I called Brenda, Curtis’ wife, on Thursday to find out where they would be on Friday. She and Curtis were going to be in Wichita looking for a recliner at a furniture store. Joe wanted to go to Wichita anyway to the “Yard Store” so that was going to work out well.
Some time after these arrangements were made Curtis called to say they were not going to Wichita. Joe listened to the message on Friday morning then called Curtis to find out why the plans had changed. Curtis had to work all day and was totally bummed. Joe heaped on the “bummer” by telling Curtis we would see him some other time.
They live just a little over 260 miles from us, we were going to Wichita anyway (156 miles from home) so a few more to actually get Curtis’ gift to him was not going to be much further. Compared to the driving we do in our “Day Job”.
So, the outcome was that Curtis’ bad day had been turned around and he was now happy because he was going to be spending time with his Dad. We spent a couple hours with them, had dinner, then had to leave to head back home.
The cutest thing that happened was when Curtis realized the tear drop pendent suspended from the top of his “C” was to be a water drop. That moment was totally precious.
It is times like these that I’m so glad that my crazy ideas work out, with help from my “Scrubby”, and make someone feel good. Better than a drug 🙂 Good thing that the addiction I have, although it can be quite costly, brings joy to others.
Last Wednesday – February 23rd – Joe called me from Texarkana, Arkansas on his way to Houston, Texas to deliver. He was in a lot of pain and had trouble breathing. He could not take a full deep breath because it hurt so bad. I tried to persuade him to get medical attention immediately but n-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, he was not about to stop since he was so close to delivering and he was on his way home.
Last Thursday the pain was getting worse and he still would not stop to get checked out. He was not sleeping well at night because it hurt so bad to breathe. He delivered, finally, just after noon and was on his way home. He had plans of stopping at a rest area to take a nap at some point before he got all the way home, even through my protests. He made it as far as Ennis, Texas – just south of Dallas – and stopped for the night at a hotel.
Last Friday morning he called to let me know he was on the way about 8:30 in the morning. I called our doctor to see if we could get him in that afternoon and they scheduled it for 2 p.m. Later Joe called to let me know the appointment had been put back to 3 p.m. Someone he had talked with in the previous few days had told him it sounded like he had Pleurisy, which is a swelling of the lining of the lungs due to either pneumonia or tuberculosis. He had been up in Michigan in 12 degree weather with snow. He had spent quite a bit of time fighting with the trailer to get it hooked up in the ice and snow so I figured he had a bout of walking pneumonia or something like that but not tuberculosis.
Our doctor took a blood and urine test to see if he had infection indicators with a rising of his white blood cell counts in the blood and whatever shows up in urine. Nothing. He was not ill and did not have an infection. Our doctor then had Joe stand up and turn his back to the doctor. Pushing, poking, prodding all the while asking “Does this hurt?” with Joe’s responses being “No” to most of the goings on. That is until the doctor found the spot that did, in fact, hurt.
Our doctor is not only in Family Medicine he is also a Doctor of Osteopathy. He lead Joe into a different room and had him lie down on a flat table. Also in the room were diagnostic machines for monitoring heart rates and other such things. Joe thought he had been having a heart attack and expressed his anxiety to the doctor about this. No, he had not.
As soon as Joe laid down he complained of severe pain. Our doctor said Joe was having “Mechanical” issues and not anything else. What ensued had me laughing I thought I would have to excuse myself and find a bathroom lest I pee myself.
Joe is a huge man. Stands over 6′ 2″ tall and weighs a little over 300 pounds. Our doctor stands about 5′ 8″ and might weigh 180 pounds. Both men are of the same age range. The comical part was after he had Joe lie on his right side, bend his knees and put his right hand on his left shoulder while his left hand was on his right shoulder.
Our doctor worked his left arm beneath Joe’s shoulders and wrapped his right arm around Joe’s chest and linked his fingers behind Joe’s back. There was a lot of grunting and groaning going on by the both of them as our Doctor tried to twist Joe a bit. Joe cried out once in pain then said he heard his back pop. Then Joe was told to lie on his back while our doctor went to the head of the bed. Joe was instructed to lace his fingers together behind his head and hang on tightly. Our doctor then wrapped his arms around Joe’s chest once again and began lifting. More grunting and moaning ensued from both of these guys along with some yelps from Joe and exclamations of his back popping. Then Joe’s head was twisted around until more popping was heard.
After all of this twisting and popping Joe found immediate relief from his pain and he was finally able to breathe. Joe had dislocated a rib while he was up in Michigan trying to get hooked up in the ice and snow. Our doctor told Joe that he was not to go back out to work for five days. It is a good thing because Joe has needed the rest, but it is going to mean a kind of bad thing for me. I’ll have to be pretty creative in keeping Joe focused on something other than traipsing all across Oklahoma for the next few days on errands.
Affixing the pendent
For Curtis’ birthday present I had purchased a tear drop shaped pendent to make it look like a drop of water coming out of the copper pipe. Getting Joe focused in helping me complete this project was my main goal.
While I held the pendent, as Joe instructed, he taped on four pieces of string on the tear drop to aid in suspension of it. Once the strings were attached then I had to hold the copper piece as still as I could with not a lot of wriggling so he could tape the strings to the piece and get the pendent lined up properly.
Suspended pendent
Once all the strings were taped on the copper piece and Joe felt that the pendent was in the right place then we could move on to the part getting the tear drop actually attached.
Some 5 Minute Epoxy was what was going to to be used in this process.
5 Minute Expoxy
The epoxy is going to take a while to set and Joe has one of his fancy clamps to hold the copper piece in place so I’m not stuck there holding it as it dries.
Water drop
I’m so thrilled with the way this has turned out. Even better than what I had imagined it to be.
Our son, Curtis, as I’ve said is a Mechanical Engineer. He has helped to get many school and civic buildings built in the Salina, Kansas area. His job is to route all the plumbing in a building. In schools it is to get all the bathroom plumbing worked out for fresh water to come in and have the waste water taken out. Kitchens to have plumbing for fresh water for cooking and the dishwasher, then have the waste water piped out. His job is also for planning the gutter systems around the outside of the building and having the run off taken away from the foundation and directed into the city systems of rain and snow melt while the inside plumbing waste is directed to the sewage lines of the city. Another of his jobs is to create the heating and cooling of these buildings and the placement of the furnace and subsequent air ducts.
Wayward water
The next challenge on this creation is to get a stream of “water” coming from the outside piece. We had purchased some clear plastic tubing for this but the tubing has quite a curve in it. Makes it look like there is a stiff wind blowing the water at an angle. We are working on that today. This project will be completed some time, soon hopefully.
Making water
Yesterday we went across town and purchased a 9′ piece of 3/4″ acrylic tubing of which we only needed about 7″ for the “water” effect. Joe cut a piece of it off yesterday and it was not long enough. This morning he cut another piece and now I’ve got him using Glossy Accents to create the water effect.
I’ve had to get a bit cross with Joe a time or two recently so I can get my paperwork done on the scheduled days. His being in “lock down” with his rib healing and not being able to traipse all around the world while he’s home. Trying to keep him home and not allowing him to do much strenuous work is about to make me go bonkers. We have an understanding right now and he has been pretty good on his word to let me do my paperwork. I’m nearly finished with November. Bank statements to reconcile remains to be done before I can begin to tackle December and have this mess done.
So, I have been juggling getting my birthday present stuff created, keep Joe from harming himself further by restraining his penchant for activity, corralling the outside errands to keep the running around to a minimum, spending time doing the paperwork, getting Joe fed, and watching the recorded television shows to get them deleted. Seems as though I’ve been doing a lot of stuff recently but I think it is more a dog chasing its tail…..lots of movement going on but nothing else is happening.
Drive-Away Transport
Drive-Away Transport
Foolishness and Mayhem 