We're having a heat wave. It's too hot to even go outside.The pool is like bath water. By noon the inside of my truck is like a furnace.
It's that time of year again. Time for my annual yard sale. I've been working like a dog trying to dig out yard sale stuff. If it ain't nailed down it's out a here!
I'm sick of clutter.And..... when I go back to my other home this time, we may rent out our condo unfurnished.
Meaning I 'll have the joyous task of packing up every thing we own and moving it to storage.
(book,anyone?)
Frankly, just the thought of it overwhelms me. I plan to own way less stuff by then.
Yesterday I managed to tackle the living room. I took everything out of there (yes, that's all of the stuff piled up in the dining room,covered in a years worth of dust) I washed the windows, dusted everything,moved the furniture around ,which was like throwing myself at the couches like a human battering ram,those bitches are HEAVY.Then once all was clean ,I put most of it back.
Some went into the yard sale pile.
One room down. I think if I do it one room at a time ,maybe it won't seem so overwhelming.
Wish I had an assistant :)
I know this makes for thrilling blog fodder. he he . So I'll shut up now.
My Dad has been gone for quite some time , after a lengthy battle with colon cancer.
There is not a day that goes by when I don't wish he was still here , not just for my sake but for my kids too.
I wish he had been able to see them grow up. He would have been so proud of them.I wish he had been able to meet my (finally, a normal one! ) husband. He would have been proud of him too :)
I wish he had been around longer because he was such a good influence for my kids.
Even though none of us had enough time with him ,I see him in the mirror and I see him in our sarcastic sense of humor. I see his self discipline , ambition and intelligence in my children.
Like me, my Dad was always the one with the camera in his hand.
When I was a little kid I always thought of him as being real old. I guess he was kind of old. When him and my mom got married she was 19 ,he was 32.
My Dad grew up in the slums of Boston. I think there were 7 kids in his family.When he was a little boy he used to wear a cut off stocking on his head to make his hair go straight back.
That was a small goal,but it worked. My Dad always did whatever it took to make his goals and dreams a reality.
Before he even had a high school diploma he managed to get himself into the Border Patrol. One of the prerequisites was that he would have like 2 or 3 months to become fluent in Spanish,which he did.
As he grew older ,his dreams grew bigger. All through my childhood he dreamed of owning a boat. A BIG boat. Whenever I got to go see him we would go to boat shows and look at boats.I remember being about 5 ,going to boat shows in his green government car. The back doors wouldn't open from the inside ,just like a cop car.
My dad achieved that goal as well. I don't remember how old he was, but he got his Crealock 37 Sailboat. And learned to sail it.
His next goal was to be a District Director of Immigration by the time he retired.
Of course ,he DID achieve this as well.
Even when my Dad was so sick he was a little skeleton on a morphine heart catheter ,he made himself get dressed and be up all day.He amazed me. If there is anyone in this world that I aspire to be like it is my Dad.
Out of all his children ,I'm sure I worried him the most. In spite of that, I'd still like to think I was his favorite.
Having a great time . Just got back from Memphis . I've been busy as hell ,too busy to do a real post so here are a couple videos until I get caught up.
Hope you all are behaving and all's good in your worlds.
Day before yesterday, the boat people sent two guys over here .They pulled the boat forward a few inches with a come-a-long, lowered the lift and wa la! The boat was freed from it's hideous predicament. No damage seems to have been done .It took them all of 20 minutes. Whew! What a relief. Of course relief came with a price. $ 127 dolla's . It could have been much worse though. Let's hope I never do THAT again shall we.
Yesterday was the day Vicki (aka Poodles) arrived .Usually when I have to go to the airport I leave early and shop (thrift store) my way there. I left here about 10 and picked up my aunt Lu Lu on the way. Her and I shopped our way to the airport and here's what I found.....
Insulated lunch/boat bag.......2 bucks.
This brand new shelf thing. Lu lu got one too. 12 bucks. Score!
Plaque with revolting paint job.
It will be fabulous when I'm done with it.
2 bucks.
We left the last store in a rush because we had a half hour until vicks flight.
We watch all the people exit .
Hmmm.. No Vicki.
We went outside for a ciggie and my sister calls me "Have you heard from Vicki? "
"No, why? "
"She just facebooked that she missed her flight in Dallas."
Oh lovely.
She usually misses a flight. Dang it!
Well the next flight is only an hour away . So we wait and wait.
Ah ha! There she is...at last. Of course her bag is no where to be found .
We finally get it from the locked little room. Vicki was exhausted having been up since 3. And hungry ...no food on those flights. (cheap asses)
We got home and Eva stopped by to see us.
Vicki refused to be in any pictures because as soon as she stepped out into the Arkansas humidity her hair turned into an afro.
(not her actual fro)
(that cracks me up)
We're off today to meet my sister and Soul kid. We're going to the middle of nowhere and then the crystal mine. I'll be back tomorrow with oodles of pictures. I'm so excited! Our adventure begins :)
Well yesterday when the lift guy called me back he was talking about having 7 guys coming over here and doing something to get the boat off the lift. You KNOW that would have cost a fortune! He also sent me a work order to sign. I thought "No way can I sign this without letting my spouse know what's going on."
I had to email him and send him the pictures. Luckily ,he didn't kill me:) He was actually pretty sweet about the whole fiasco.
After I talked to him ,I went down to the boat place . They are supposed to come in a couple days ,take the prop off and pull the boat forward a few inches , then it should float off the lift. (Fingers crossed)
I have a hair in my eye and I'm too blind to find it. It's driving me mad!
Puffin, the traveling pig arrived yesterday. Cavuto greeted her with a warm welcome.
Vicki arrives tomorrow and then girl week is officially under way. (boat or no boat) Soul arrives the next day. Yee haw!
I have lots of chores to do before the day is over andddd it's half of a half day. I 'm out of heah'
Have a great days peeps!
Oh, P.S.
Don't O'Reilly and Cavuto look like bad ass mean cats in that new pic?
I wanted to take the boat out and my friend Cougerella wanted to join me. However, she didn’t have a babysitter for her 6 and 8 year olds. After much thought, we figured that my neighbor, Nosey may have some little kid life jackets we could borrow and we’d just take the kids with us.
She did have some and we did borrow them. As soon as I backed out of the lift, the lift popped back up. It wasn’t down all the way. Damn it!
I have to call Nosey and say “It’s me again; you’re needy, needy friend. Can you please go lower my boat lift?”
We head out to the open water (due to the shitty anchor situation) and find a spot to park. No sooner is the boat turned off when kid B says “I have to go poo.” We actually have a bathroom on the boat but no one is allowed to use it. We have to go have that thing pumped out if it gets used. Mom tells her “try and hold it for a while honey. “
We get 4 rafts all tied to the back of the boat, get all of us into the water and holy crap, it’s like the ocean out there, the water is so rough. Not only are we all being sloshed around like corks, so is the boat. Just a few minutes of that, the boat is heading too close to the shoreline. All 4 of us have to climb back out, drag all the rafts back in, while trying to balance, as the boat is sloshing violently up and down. I move the boat back out to open water. Shake, rinse and repeat entire process.
Kid B says she “can’t hold it any more.” Hmmm…what to do? “Oh I know, you could put bags in the toilet and let her go in a bag. “
Turns out, the poor kid had been holding diarrhea all this time. We now have a nice smelly bag of diarrhea on board.
The boat keeps drifting where it shouldn’t. Water is sloshing right in our faces. Out of desperation, I finally move closer to a cove, throw out both of our shitty anchors and pray that one gets caught on something. We get all 4 of us and all 4 rafts back in the water, and watch as the boat gets closer and closer to the shore line (again). Ack!
Just when I think I’m gonna go apeshit if I have to move the boat ONE more time, the anchors start holding. Whoa! It’s a miracle. It actually holds for the next few hours.
We have a good ole time .Once we get ready to head back; we try to pull the anchors up.
No such luck. One of them is good and snagged. (The first time that ever happened, I actually cut the rope and left the anchor behind) My spouse said “Why didn’t you try moving the boat?” Duh.
Remembering his words of wisdom, that’s what I did. I tried moving the boat to free the anchor. Well, we knew this had failed when Cougerella was left pulling up an empty rope. The anchor stayed right where it was, as the rope snapped right off of it.
Goodbye, lame anchor. Well, that was nothing compared to what was coming next.
We get back to my dock and I see that my awesome neighbors have in fact, lowered the lift for me. (Thanks, G5 and Nosey!)
I pull up onto the lift and realize that I’m not quite far enough forward. I give the boat a little gas and wham! It goes TOO far forward. The prop has hit some part of the lift and the motor dies. The boat won’t start if the prop is touching anything. Cougerella and I get out and try to pull the boat backwards with ropes. Nope it will not budge.
I have her get in the water behind the boat to watch, while I try moving the trim. That doesn’t help. She gets on the swim platform and I see that she is bleeding like a stuck pig. Blood is running in streams down her legs. No she wasn’t caught in the prop, she got her damn period.
I get out and raise the lift while she rinses blood off the back of the boat. With the lift raised, we can see that the prop and the motor are straddling a steel beam (part of the frame of the lift)
Oh F&*^.
Naturally, it’s time to beg my neighbors for help (once again)
Cougerella, cleans her bloody self up and goes to fetch G5. Pretty soon, we have the 2 of us, G5, Nosey, LakeFarmer and Floozie2 out there. We all try everything we can think of, to no avail. The boat is stuck there.
(Thanks all of you for trying to help!)
(Insert huge bawling, mental panic attack, which I held inside, thank you)
This morning I have contacted the lift people AND the boat people. I have not heard back from any one .Nor have I informed my spouse of this little dilemma (yet).
My panic continues to grow by the minute. The boat is sitting there stuck, God only knows what this is going to cost to fix and the bag of diarrhea was no where to be found.
I am waiting for my husband to get the news right now. If no one ever hears from me again, he probably killed me.
