Hacked!

I'm so sorry if you received a strange message from me.
I was hacked!
I have no idea what to do about it.

Writing into the Sunset

I'm writing my final post. I've enjoyed meeting so many friendly bloggers, but this adventure has to end. I'm in awe of those of you who have found how to balance family, jobs, and blogging. I've tried, but I can't find it.

 

My house is always dirty. When Cate and William came over yesterday, I realized I hadn't cleaned the floors in over a week. My window sills have those little cobwebby things in all the corners. I haven't worked in the yard or even sat on the deck all summer.

This is my wonderful scrapbook room. I've spent no time working in it.

I have 34 comments that I haven't answered. I could go on and on about the things I haven't done, but I'll just say that I'm writing into the sunset. (You know, instead of "riding into the sunset".)

Wordless Wednesday

Goodwill and Sale #1

 

I want to be more regular with my posting. 

My friend Priscilla at Thrifty Crafty Girl

http://www.thriftycraftygirl.com/ 

 told me she has a schedule for her posts.

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, 

I've decided to copy her intent.

 Goodwill finds

Yard sale finds - obviously seasonal

Cate and William

Mom and Dad

Events

I'm still trying to decide what days for each.

For today, I'm going to show my latest Goodwill finds.

Two fall dish towels from Walmart 

brand new and

less than half price ~

 I enjoy using seasonal dish towels.
 Since they fade pretty quickly,

 I can always use new ones.

 I liked the design on these two plates and

will probably use them in my craft room.

Aren't these embroidered pillowcases beautiful?

I could tell from the feel of them that they've never been used/washed.

This is a Bama jelly jar/glass with Natasha and Rocky

from the cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle.

I'm toying with the idea of selling some of my finds on my blog.

(I'm not ready to commit to an Etsy shop.)

The pillowcases and glass are items I would sell.

Any suggestions from you?

Wash Day Blues or Reds

 What do you think when you see my washing machine filled with red?

 Am I using it to hold punch?

Am I going to dye something?

Or did I have a major accident?

As Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. I started a load of clothes Friday night because I knew we were going to yard sales early Saturday morning. I wanted the laundry out of the way. At some point, I realized I hadn't heard the washer go through the spin cycle. I walked into the laundry room and found my clothes in that tub full of red water. Sitting. Just sitting. No spinning at all.

I quickly started pulling out the clothes and throwing them on top of the dirty towels. (Remember - they hadn't gone through the spin cycle and were full of water.)

Then I realized how red that water was in the washing machine. I ran water in the laundry sink and transferred the clothes. I let them soak overnight. Saturday ~ after the yard sales ~ I rinsed them, wrung them out, and hung them outside to dry.

Next up was a trip to Lowes to buy a new washing machine. This one was repaired once since we moved here 6 years ago. We figured it was about 12-15 years old.  The sales person at Lowes told us the average "life" is now 5-8 years for an appliance. Isn't that awful?
The good news is my new washer will be delivered tomorrow (Monday). They will hook it up and take away the old one ~ at no charge.

Last, I had to dip out the water in the machine. I started with this small pot before switching to a large McDonalds cup and then a smaller cup. Finally, I put a towel in the bottom to soak up the water that was left.

Why was the water red?

Well, at Goodwill, I bought a sweatshirt and a dress that were maroon.

I assumed they had been washed before.

WRONG.

What's the worst laundry mistake you've ever made?

***** The Lowes delivery truck was here at 8:00 and I now have a new washing machine. What great service. *****

My Deer Neighbors

The Fleeting Deer

by Swapna Dutta

The deer runs fast
With nimble feet
By lucky chance
You may just meet! 

Sweet deer, do pause
Beneath the tree-
Won't you please
Make friends with me?

Auction Fail

When we lived in Frederick County, hubby and I loved going to auctions. Our favorites were the ones held in the yard of the homeowners. There was always a church with a trailer set up to sell food.

 

The menu always included country ham biscuits, hot dogs, and homemade desserts.

 

(I know that's not a picture of ham biscuits, but when I searched for a picture I found this one of a country ham. What makes it funny was I found it on a Christian website. I told you these were sold on church food trailers, right?)


There were old timers who could tell me what the truly vintage items were and how they had some just like them at home. (I love talking to people.) There were young people, just starting out, looking for bargains. Then there were people like us, just out to have a good time - and eat a country ham biscuit!

Since we've moved to Roanoke, we haven't found any auctions like that. Imagine our excitement when we saw a sign for an auction as we were out yard saling a few months ago. We eagerly parked the car and walked several blocks to the house where the auction was being held.

Yes, I read the sign, but only the large bold print. Then we walked all around the house, looking for items of interest. The old timers were definitely there. But, where were the boxes of dishes and linens to pay through look through? Where was the furniture?  Most important of all, where was the  food trailer?

Here are pictures of what we did see.

We sadly walked back to our car and continued on our yard sale search

My Little Princess

I finally downloaded pictures from my old camera that I've been forced to use since my nicer camera is out of commission.
I love this picture of Cate because it shows how much she loves to dress up as well as her creativity.
Not too many princesses would add the green head bopper!

Here you can see that she is checking out her magic wand.
I would love to know what thoughts are running through her head.

She loves anything connected with the Disney princesses.
She doesn't realize that she's been our princess from the moment she was born.

Cathy = Comcast Customer Service

 If you read this post about Comcast,

  http://grammygoodwill.blogspot.com/2012/07/it-was-rough-day.html,

then you know I was not happy with their customer service.

Today I talked with Cathy.

She embodied a true customer service representative.

After I explained my parents' situation, 

she looked at the history of their account.

It showed that every year they put their service on hold ~ snowbird status ~

when they come home to Virginia.

 

She then contacted another representative and explained our plight.

He agreed to call me.

(Did I mention this was Friday about 12:30 pm?)

He promptly called me back and set up an appointment 

to restore service at my parents' place in Florida.

Oh, did you want to know when they will do this?

Tomorrow ~ Saturday.

Now that's what I call customer service.

For Cathy,

who works for Comcast in Ft. Myers,

and lives in Port Charlotte ~

Thank you very much.

 

Wordless Wednesday

http://tinaswordlesswednesday.blogspot.com/

I must be French.

 

I must be French.

I must be French because I love FRENCH fries. Not a good enough reason for you?

How about because I still remember lots of high school FRENCH? That is, as long as it's written or you talk reaaaaaaaaaallllll slow. (Wait, that might be a Southern trait.)

But seriously, the real reason I must be French is because lately I've been having this feeling of malaise. That's the only way I know how to express how I feel. I looked up the definition, and this is what Wikipedia says:

Malaise (/məˈleɪz/MAL-aze) is a feeling of general discomfort or uneasiness, of being "out of sorts", often the first indication of an infection or other disease. Malaise is often defined in medical literature as a "general feeling of being unwell". The word has existed in the French language since at least the 12th century.

Did you notice that it's a FRENCH word? If I am thinking and feeling in FRENCH, then I must be

FRENCH.

Did I convince you?

 

It was a rough day.

It was a rough day.

I spent an hour on the phone with customer service for Comcast.

Mom and Dad live in Florida for the winter.

They suspend their tv/internet/phone services when they come home.

Somehow Daddy ended up with a bill for $563. 

I talked to a nice man last Friday for an hour, 

but he was unable to help me.

He told me I needed to request snowbird service.

After an hour and three customer service representatives,

I was told that their service had been disconnected in June.

They will need to return the Comcast equipment ~

remember they live in VA, right? ~

and their bill will be resolved.

Then they will need to start a new service plan 

with a new phone number.

I think Comcast was so unfeeling.

 

After that frustrating morning, I drove to Blacksburg to stay with Mom.

She and I met Daddy at Wendy's for lunch.

It was funny because Daddy said he was worried that Mom wasn't eating.

Mom then ate a baked potato, a hamburger, and drank her entire glass of tea!

Daddy left to play bridge and Mom and I hung out at Wendy's for awhile.

 When it was time to leave, Mom had trouble walking.

One lady offered to help, so I asked her if she would open the doors for us.

Then a man said he would walk along with us.

He walked on the other side of Mom while I supported her to the car.

People can be so kind.

 

Then I took Mom to Walmart. 

When we walked in the store (well, Mom rolled in her wheelchair), it was pretty dark.

They were having an electrical problem, and most of the lights were out.

But, it was so hard to get Mom in and out of the car and in the wheelchair that we were staying!

We looked at VaTech stuff, craft supplies, and clothes for Cate and William.

Best of all, a woman came up to  Mom and said, 

"You taught me in fifth grade!"

Mom has been retired for 24 years.

Wasn't it amazing that she remembered Mom?

 We came home and rested until Mom's doctor's appointment.

She needed to have her stitches removed.

http://grammygoodwill.blogspot.com/2012/07/prayers-please.html

It was quite an ordeal to get Mom in the wheelchair to my car, then in the car, then reverse

it all to get her into the office.

(Mom hasn't needed the wheelchair before this week.)

She seemed apprehensive about having the stitches come out 

and started crying. 

The doctor said they were the tiniest stitches he had ever seen.

He had a difficult time with them and 

Mom continued to cry and hyper-ventilate.

Her doctor, nurse, and I felt so bad for her.

 When we got home, Daddy was waiting and worried.

I made the mistake of telling him that Mom was scared.

Then he cried and Mom ~ who can't talk ~ tried to comfort him.

Then I cried.

It was a rough day.

*Surely you all know that I didn't take these pictures, except the one of my Dad. I took them from a Google page. I hope that is okay.