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Friday, January 31, 2014

Haircut day...

After having a lot of hair loss and scalp sensitivity, my friend felt ready to make a clean cut of it.  She asked her sweet friend (who shaves his own head regularly) if he would come to her home and do the honors.

A little Dutch courage never hurts.  We actually had a little party.


He did a great job...with compassion and love...humor and skill.


And he brought her a beautiful scarf and taught us how to tie it.  I love this photo of them in matching head gear.  

Friends don't let friends go through scary stuff alone.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Five things that make me happy, and one thing that's pissing me off...

image credit: pbs.org

Five things that make me happy?

1. Downton Abbey

2.  DVR so that I can watch episodes of Downton Abbey on Monday when I miss it on Sunday.

3.  My husband's Popeye the Sailor Man ringtone on my phone.  :)

4.  My Ninja Slow Cooker.

5.  Wool socks to sleep in.

...and then there is...

Fresh laundry...when I forget to take it out of the dryer and the wrinkles are good and set in.  Now I have to run it through a rinse cycle and dry cycle again.  I'm not really an ironing kind of girl.  My 38-year-old iron is practically brand new.  HA!
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today's post title/topic is a blatant ripoff of The Non-Consumer Advocate

Thursday, January 23, 2014

The ultimate multitasker...


I always give the other Kathleen a hard time about multitasking...mostly because I am such a MONOtasker that it makes me nervous.  She has a habit of squeezing extra lines into a day planner with all her activities.  


Today took the cake.  It was her second chemo treatment.  Due to a miscommunication, she underestimated how long the chemo administration would take, and had scheduled a job interview by Skype from her home this afternoon.  She ended up having the interview by cell phone while the IV was pumping!

She never ceases to amaze me.
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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath

Another way to look at making healthier choices.


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories by Lewis Carroll

One of my goals for this year was to read 14 books that I've never gotten around to reading.  This was the first.  I skipped the 'Other Stories' as I could barely get through the poor girl's adventures in wonderland.  Now I know why I've never read it...75 small-print pages of acid-trip imagery nonsense...which is delightful to some people, but even as a child I was too practical for.


The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

I haven't started this one yet, but it is on tap for this afternoon.
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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Baby it's COLD outside...

image credit: http://kids.britannica.com/

I love winter.  I like cold weather better than the heat.  So I am not complaining...exactly.  But the daytime HIGHS for most of this week are supposed to be in the mid twenties (Fahrenheit).  Quite the change for this south Texas girl.

I have bought new shoes and socks.  I'm thinking about long underwear.  
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Friday, January 17, 2014

It's a winter wonderland...


We don't see much of this down home.
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Thursday, January 16, 2014

A trip of a thousand miles begins with a single phone call...


I arrived in Kentucky on Tuesday, and was welcomed by my sweet friend, the other Kathleen (she's the one in gingham).

We are using this visit to focus on getting healthy.  She is taking on chemo, and I am taking on my weight (too much of it) and my fitness (too little of it).  Today we both exercised and bought healthy things at the grocery store.

I will stay as long as she can stand me...we're playing it by ear.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Another road trip...


Today I'm packing.  Tomorrow I am driving.  Tuesday I should be in Kentucky.

Laundry is in the washer and dryer.  I meant to be very organized about this pack, as I will be gone awhile.  Alas, I have not been, and I may end up throwing things loose in the car.

Note to self...don't forget: computer AND its cord, cell phone AND its cord, both Kindles AND the cords, sewing machine AND its cord.  See a pattern here?  

I'll be blogging while I am there hopefully...if I remember the cords.
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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Racing to the finish line...


Tomorrow is my last day at work.  Think I can wrap all this up?  Not if the scanner keeps jamming!!! 
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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Jumping in...

I had New Year's Day off, but Carey didn't.  After he left for work, a narrow bit of wall between two doorways caught my eye for the umpteenth time, and screamed out, 'Chalkboard!'  This has always been kind of an awkward spot to decorate, since it has a thermostat dead center.

After I started having fun chalking (example 1 and example 2) at Kasey's previous house before it was sold, I started thinking that this wall might be a good spot for a chalkboard of my own.  I purchased the paint months ago, but never went any further.

What with this being the year of Done is Better Than Perfect, I decided there would never be a better day to jump in.  I taped, and painted the edges, and attempted to continue with a sponge brush.  That wasn't working out so well, so I asked Beau to go out to the workshop and find a roller for me.



 Then I called Jared and asked for a favor.  He finished the first coat.

After that dried, Beau added a second coat while I dozed.

Then I came back and added a third coat from the thermostat down, and Kasey took over and finished the third coat from the thermostat up. 

Then before bed I added a fourth coat over the whole thing.  I took off the tape, cleaned up the roller, and put away the ladder.

It was still wet when I took this photo.  I'll let it cure for a couple of days before I take the chalk to it. 

It turned into a family project.  

And done really IS better than perfect!  :)
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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Year, new plan...

image credit: www.dazzlingwallpaper.com 

 ...aka: the year when 'Done is better than perfect'

The plan:
  • Take small but regular steps toward improving health
  • Investigate methods for alternative earnings
  • Write down monthly/weekly goals and to-do's
  • Hand quilt Rita May's quilt
  • Divest myself of 14 pieces of furniture
  • Make 14 Pinterest projects
  • Master knitting on double-pointed needles
  • Mail 52 letters in 52 weeks (snail mail)
  • Read 14 books I've never gotten around to reading:
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
    To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
    The Call of the Wild by Jack London
    Lord of the Flies by William Golding
    Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
    Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
    Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
    Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute


And here's wishing all of my blog friends a happy and healthy new year!
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