Renovating the house and doing the work yourself/selves is a rewarding BOTHER! For years renovation has been a way of life. It has become a weigh on life. I am so tired of always having more to do. I do not feel comfortable having to work around a mattress, boxspring and dresser in my DINING ROOM! Even more than that, I am tired of fixing one thing just to have another start dripping or stop working all-together. I have just finished my second coat of paint on a particular wall that has needed to be re-done since last fall. I had this great idea of painting a 16' high wall and the adjoining partial 4' high wall a contrasting color from the rest of the dining room. This would would make a lounge/reading area seem more complete and set apart. I primed the area twice. I then gave it two coats of the paint I chose named Chianti. It looked fine but I decided that I liked the CandleLight topcoat I applied in the back bathroom so well that I would also apply it here. BIG mistake. The partial wall looked wonderful. Almost like satin. The 16' wall looked like wet paint. At first I thought it was because it was too thick. I called the company that makes CandleLight and found that the wall would have to be repainted with Chianti before I could apply another topcoat. I repainted, let it dry and applied another topcoat. It looked wet. I repainted, let it dry and applied a third topcoat. It still looked wet. I assessed the reason to be the way the light from the ceiling is angled. To which nothing can be done. I decided to give up and repaint the 16' wall with another coat of Chianti. The weather turned too cold before I could repaint the partial 4' wall with Chianti. Today, I finished the job. Now I must decided where to hang the new painting I got on a fabulous sale (for about 1/20th the original price - no kidding). I will lay the $200 rug I got for $30. I will trade places with the bakers rack and bookcase. Re-arrange the over stuffed recliners and side tables (still another great sale) and the dining room/lounge area will be completed. EXCEPT for the fact that the floor should be sanded, stained, and sealed. Oh yea, don't let me forget the strip of wood that needs to be made and put up along the wall from the top of the partial 4' wall to the top of the redwood ceiling. Ohhh please just let me get this house finished and make it all stop! Right now, the computer/spare bedroom has sheet-rock that needs to be mudded, sanded, primed and painted. The carpet needs to be laid. After that I still have the master bedroom to completely remake into a suite complete with a new bathroom and walk in closets. A bathroom for the spare bedroom from scratch. Then there is the residing the house and all the landscaping. I seriously hope that cancer does not come back and I get to live long enough to get this finished and then enjoy it.
You just need to redefine "finished"! You have some wonderful rug-buying skillz... we've been looking for an 8x12 rug for the living room, but can't really find one we like, and besides, they're insanely expensive.
The price of heating oil isn't coming down? Crude oil is dropping, and so is gasoline. Natural gas is half of what it was in July on the market, but I don't know about the consumer price.
The following brings a whole new meaning to the statement, "It's feeding time at the zoo." At the Alice Springs Reptile Center in Canberra, Australia a 7-year-old boy broke into the zoo and fed 1 turtle, 4 western blue tongue lizards, 2 bearded dragons, 2 thorny devil lizards, and 1 5'9" goanna to a 9', 440 pound saltwater crocodile named Terry. Security cameras filmed the smiling younster as he bludgeoned to death 1 blue tongue lizard and 2 more thorny devil lizards in a matter of 30 minutes. Many of the animals fed to the croc were mature so they will be hard to replace. The Center Director, Rex Neindorf was quoted as saying, "The fact a 7-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable. In my day he'd get a big boot up the arse." Local police say by law in the Northen Territory the boy cannot be held accountable because he is under 10 years of age. The Reptile Center is considering suing the parents who were supposedly in control of him at the time. Reminds me of the words so well recorded by Don Henley ~ "I'd like to find your inner child and kick his little @ss."
All my life I have heard the saying, "Money well spent." I was not taught by my parents to invest money. Matter of fact as long as my parents were married, they never owned their own house. There was no savings account. No good business sense at all. As an adult I have invested and diversified with stocks, money markets, etc. It is supposed to be 'rewarding' in more ways than one. I must admit to the saddness and dismay I have felt for the past year every time my portfolio report comes in the mail. I no longer have the excited attitude of wonder about how my investments are coming along. Is there such a thing as money well lost? It is exactly the feeling of, "Oh no. How much have I lost this time?" I have stock in two of the giants that have recently fallen. Alas, I still have shares in JP Morgan who bought one of them up! I was recently listening to an expert in the investment field. She said it takes twelve, yes count them - 12 years to make back what one has lost! I do not like the mess that the country is in. I did not get us there but I am sure enough paying the price for other people's mistakes and bad judgement! I find myself torn between the lesser of two evils. I do not like the bailing out of 'high mucky mucks' who's bonus is more than the average joe makes in a life time. But if there is no bail out, will I lose all my portfolio? I find my innermost self saying, "Let the chips fall where they may. Put people who knowingly mis-used investor's monies in jail. Do NOT bail them out! God will take care of me no matter what." Still all of this cannot be blamed on just the 'high mucky mucks'. We must all take responsiblility for our financial choices. How many American's bought and charged well beyound their means, then did not repay the banks? That is what I am talking about. It is nice to have a scapegoat (namely government)but we all must take responsibility for our actions. As Christians we are commanded to be good stewards with our money.
I've been horrible with my money. I do have a fair amount of equity in the house, but other than that, no investments, no savings, lots of debt. But I don't miss payments! Regarding the investments, some years have been up a lot. A friend says he's lost over 18% this year (as of yesterday, but yesterday's losses are half-mitigated today), but he gained 19% last year. In 2003 he gained 43%! If you've been investing for long enough, you should still have quite a good percentage of profit.
I agree, God will definitely take care of us all. I believe this thing has been a long time in coming. It's sad, but even sadder that the CEO's and such get out smelling like roses. Maybe the people will demand justice and a return to principles. But it looks like we're going further into socialism. But still, if God is with us, who can stand against us?
Lastnight I watched the New York Yankee pre-game show on ESPN2 and then had to change to ESPN to watch the baseball game itself. It was the very last game to be played at Yankee Stadium, The House That (Babe) Ruth Built. I thought it was so appropriate that Babe Ruth's daughter, Julia threw out the first ball of the game. I felt silly when I could no longer internalize my tears as they rolled down my face but it felt like someone had died. As if I had lost a friend. I love history and I love baseball. Put them together and what do you have? Yankee Stadium. I realize it was remodeled in 1976 but every time I attended a game I would find myself sitting in wonder about all the players that played and all the records made at this ballpark. The Babe, The Mick, Joltin' Joe, Yogi just to name a few. It was where I watched my first Major League Game, my first Old Timer's Game, my first All Star Game. The Yankees leave the original Yankee Stadium having won their last game there. I don't care about a new stadium. I liked the old one just fine. Goodbye old friend. Like all the greats you are gone but not forgotten.
Indeed I did watch...after we got home from services. I am so glad that my family and I were able to make those couple games earlier this year. I knew I had to see it before it was gone.
It's on me. I rarely go anywhere in gowns anyway, but I figure if it's just out to eat or something, I don't mind people seeing it. Otherwise I would've gotten it where people can't see, ya know? :D
I haven't made bread in a while. The only times I'm home to do that are the weekends, but maybe I'll make some this weekend. I think that's a good idea, especially since I'm supposed to have a study group at my house...at least a person to study. We'll see who wants to show up.
Well gather 'round folks, it is officially fall in Vermont. I have been noticing the past couple weeks how the leaves have been changing. Not changing in color. Changing in shape, texture, size and moisture content. I suppose most people do not notice this change, but I always do. It is a sure sign that we will have at the very least, a killing frost. This is one step down from a freeze. A killing frost means that people with gardens and farmers with crops should harvest what they can and cover the rest. This is in hopes that the frost will not kill what is left. A freeze means do not bother to cover anything. Harvest what you can and just kiss the rest goodbye. Gardeners can start to relax (unless they are growing pumkins). Farmers still have much work trying to get as much hay and other crops as they possibly can stored for winter. There is a frost and freeze warning for the entire state tonight. The temperature low is supposed to get down to 23 degrees. Now for the sake of the state's tourist economy we must pray for not much cold weather, freezing rain or heavy snow. The first of these elements does not give the foliage enough time to show it's beautiful colors because the leaves die too soon. The second and third of these elements make the leaves too heavy and they are more likely to fall or blow off the tree. Today's high will be in the 50's. I will not be able to have the air conditioner on tonight as the outside air will make the air conditioner freeze up. The heat from the basement rises overnight so the bedroom temperature can get to 74 degrees. That is just too warm for me to sleep. We will see how the sleeping weather is tonight. Happy Fall!
Can you sleep with the window open a bit? I wish we had fall around here. In Lubbock, they're expecting upper 40s / lower 50s this week: Those are December temperatures for Houston! We've had some lower 60s this week, though, which is unseasonably cool (about a month early), and very welcome, especially for all of the people with no electricity!
