Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

Hey All,
Thought I would take a minute to post. Heading back to St. Louis on Saturday for a bit of family business. All this running around definitely interferes with my blogging!!!

1.

 I saw this big crow in the grocery store parking lot. Instead of "caw, caw" it sounded like he was saying "cart, cart!" I guess he was telling shoppers where to put their carts!

 2. I just couldn't resist this picture of darling Nathan with his darling Lizzie---the lizard he got from santa. Notice the bed in the background? I love seeing our childhood bed (we had two sets of bunk beds---this is the only one left). Still being used after 65 years!!

 3. I've shared Mindy's nails before. She goes to a true artist. This was her beauty set before her recent trip with Steph and Nicky to Jamaica.

 4. I LOVE this idea---having a blind date with a book! All the books are covered in brown paper with just a brief note about the book.

5. I've decided that this is the way I want to live my life! Amen!

A Few Things

1. I'm looking forward to my Valentine returning from Cuba today. I can't wait to hear all about his trip with his brother. I know they had a great time! But I'm not looking forward to more of this!

He swears it's not him---smudgy newsprint fingerprints. But now that Mitchell's gone it can only be him. I don't read the paper! Honestly, I don't know how you get fingerprints on a door anyway! Here, in two places. Who closes the door high up in the middle? No more blaming Mitchell for anything!

2. I was not happy to get this! Dr. McDaniel has broken up with me via a form letter! I think I deserved a face-to-face break-up!! After all, we've been together 20 years!! Hmph! Retirement he says! He used me to put his kids through college!!

3. Speaking of Valentine's Day, I came across this:

 Four dinners!!! I'm going to collect. I don't see an expiration date!!

4. It's been years since I made and shared this. I still love it!

 5. On my recent scrapbook retreat, I worked solely on Christmas. Wow, it was so easy to get out all the Christmas stuff and plan. I brought 18 layouts and finished 14. When I get the other 4 done, that will be ALL my Christmas pictures from---like---forever!!! I have to say, it got to be pretty difficult to come up with clever titles. I mean, how clever is Merry Christmas, Joy, Opening Gifts, Ho Ho Ho, 'Tis the Season, etc. Still the layouts turned out darn cute. I'll have to share those later.

 6. You might know it. I left on my retreat on a Thursday. Butch woke up to this on Friday.

Of course the ground was much too warm to stick. Still, our big snow and I missed it!

I hate ending on 6, but if I wait, then much of this wouldn't be timely later! Still this really bothers me. I don't have a 7, 8, 9 or 10 to round it off! Oh well.

Valentines Day

It's been a crazy, busy week!

I went to the Memory Make Inn a week ago Thursday with my sisters and friends. The place is fabulous and the food is great. We've already set our fall dates---October 8-11. If you'd like to join us to do anything crafty, check it out here. Or email me for more info.

While I was gone, Butch left for Cuba with his brother. After my weekend, I went to St. Louis to spend a few days with my sister-in-law, Chris. We watched 7 movies (mostly old ones) and stitched. I loved that since I don't do that at home. Just stitching all day and watching movies---so much fun.

I left early on Wednesday (4:15 a.m.) because I wanted to have a few days at home with the house to myself and no cooking obligations. I got home around 10:30 with a single stop at the grocery store. I was showered and in my pajamas around 11:30---after unpacking, of course. I love lounging around in my pajamas. I can't do it when Butch is home because it makes me feel too lazy!

I was ready to settle in, pay bills and take care of business. Then, I discovered that my internet was acting up. I couldn't get most web pages to load. I did everything I could think:  restarting, shutting down the wifi and then shutting off my computer. None of it worked. There was only one thing left---take a nap. It wasn't until the next day that I decided I was going to have to call Comcast. As a last resort, I decided to unplug the box. Turns out, that did the trick. I'll try that first the next time!

Anyway, I had a great rest of the week which included playing bridge and seeing a movie---Downhill (don't bother---it was a downer---even though all the previews made it seem like it was a comedy---which you would expect from Will Smith and Julia Louis-Drefus, but it wasn't---AT ALL).

Butch won't get home until Sunday. I'm making a big pot of vegetable soup. He'll have had his fill of chicken (which he's decided he doesn't really like after all these years), lots of rice and beans!

On Monday, I've planned a little belated Valentine's dinner for us.

Actually, I came up with it on the fly when I went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for the soup. I couldn't pass up this cute, heart shaped filet. It's actually two little filets smushed together to make the heart! And then, the flowers--if Butch had been here, he would have brought me flowers. For sure!

Can't wait for him to get home. We'll have happy hour while he tells me all about his trip. I'll put his photos on our tv and then he can give me the 3 hour rundown! Actually, I love it! He's always so excited to tell me everything!

What I Buy Wednesday

I didn't buy these, but Butch did.

Mindy gives him a hard time for buying off brands. But, I have to admit, these are really good. I like them better than Oreos. Still not has good as the original Hydrox!

Mitchell on Monday

Well, this could very well by my last "Mitchell on Monday" post! He moved out this past Saturday. And it was none too soon! Now don't think this post is too harsh. It's a little more "tongue in cheek"! Don't take it too seriously.

You know that saying about houseguests and fish---they start to "smell" after three days? Well, it's definitely true after 6 months! We were ready for him to go and he was ready to go.

Here's just one reason:
I came home from book club last Monday night. Now, mind you, Margarita comes on Mondays. It's my favorite day of the week. The house is all clean and shiny and smells good.

There's nothing that ticks me off more than leaving the kitchen perfect and coming home to a mess. This is nothing new. The girls grew up knowing my mood would change immediately when I got home if there was a mess!

I'm sure you can see where this story is going. Since I wasn't going to cook on Monday night, Mitchell decided to cook for himself. I came home to a sink full of dirty dishes and a half-***ed attempt to wipe up. In all fairness, the dishwasher did need unloading, but still. There was no way I wanted to tackle that at 8:30 p.m. (Later, Mitchell admitted to me that he dropped something and had a huge mess. Luckily he didn't leave that mess! So what I encountered was the cleaned up version!)

I got up on Tuesday and headed for the treadmill. I noticed that Butch had the entire kitchen all cleaned up. I thanked him for doing it and he said, "yeah, well, I have to clean out the trash compactor because Mitchell threw something gooey in there that got all over!" I said, "just 4 more days!"

Now, to be clear, our girls and ALL the grands have grown up hearing: "it's a trash compactor, NOT a garbage disposal!" Obviously, if you throw garbage in there, it's going to smell and get all gunky!

Let me back up a minute. We got our first trash compactor around 1987 in our last house. When Connie told me that she would give up her dishwasher for the trash compactor, I was sold. All I had to give up was a cabinet. She was so right. I know that compactors aren't all that popular now, but I don't know why. It's a must for us! In fact, I would be willing to give up more cabinets to install about  3 more---one for plastic, cardboard and cans. What an easy way to handle the re-cycling! Paper is flat, so that would just be a waste!

 Anyway, Butch had to completely take it apart to clean it properly.

I offered to help, but when I saw him laying on the floor to get in there to really clean it and get the goop off the presser part, I was glad to be watching!

I think Butch hit the nail on the head. You have to have someone live with you to realize you really don't want anyone living with you! We love that boy, but I have to say, we're glad to see him go!

AND I can finally put the "big"coffeemaker away. We only use it when we have company. I've had to have it out for 6 months taking up counter space. Several friends have commented on why we have so many coffee makers on our counter. The one on the right is my tea---ONLY tea---no coffee allowed. The one on the left is our Kuerig---which we thought Mitchell would be glad we had. Instead, he said he didn't really like the Kuerig. I'm pretty sure if we didn't have one, he'd say, "I can't believe you don't have a Kuerig!"

Bye bye Mitchell! You can come over for dinner any time---and have shopping privileges from our refrigerator and panty! We're happy to have you visit now and then!!

Well, that didn't last long! I spoke too soon. As it turns out, he came back on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl game with us. Honestly, I have no illusions about this. It wasn't like he missed us already. If he had his cable and internet connected, he would have preferred to stay home. On the other hand he got dinner out of it with leftovers to take home. Is was actually quite nice! Yep, I do love that boy!

At least that fish smell is gone!

Oh, and we were able to put that coffeemaker away.

Now I can have my new "mini" Kitchen Aid mixer out that I just got for Christmas!

All is good!

The Results are In!

Well, I was so happy to see how many of you took my "shoe" challenge.

I thought I had about 40 pairs. After the count, it was 47.

Connie thought she had 25 pairs. In reality, she had 50.

My daughters:
Sandy guessed 70 but only had 55. She just did clean out prior to a move last summer. She said purses and bags are another story. Hmmm, that might be a good challenge the next time!

Stephanie guessed 50 and counted 52.

Mindy thought she had around 40 pairs and had 63 including these sweet water shoes!

I'm sure she'll be using them this week as she's going to Jamaica. She said she's packed 8 pairs of shoes for a 7 day trip! She was feeling all proud of herself because she thought she packed "light"! (Reminds me of a trip to St. Louis about 25 years ago for a long weekend. Butch was packing the car and we realized that between all four of us girls, we had 22 pairs of shoes! He just shook his head)

My friend, Nancy has only 16 pairs. I think that's pretty amazing. But, there could be two things at play here. 1. She has downsized twice recently and 2. Could be she's at an age where she only has comfy shoes now.

I'm going to guess for another friend, Linda. She hasn't repsonded, but I'm pretty sure she has about 200 pairs. I was tempted to drive over to her house and count them myself! She definitely has the most of anyone I know.

Blog friends:
Susanne guessed 45---reality was 50 (pretty darn good guess)!
Cherie guessed 15 for herself. The actual count was 19!
Missus Wookie wins with 8!! Now that's what I call using what you have.

Okay, this was a fun nonsense sort of challenge. I learned a few things. My girls and I have around the same amount give or take 5-10 pairs! But the biggest surprise of all is this little cutie:

Josie has 14 pairs of shoes not counting slippers and snow boots and another 11 of various sizes that are waiting for her to grow in to! At 4 years old, she is already a shoe fanatic!

And then there's the biggest surprise of all! My niece, Jackie thought she had around 70 pairs. The final count was 79. Pretty close.

Jackie is the mom of Josie. She admitted to guessing 70 pairs. When she counted it was 79!!!!! I can't put enough exclamation points here. You have to know Jackie. She doesn't want a lot of clutter. She doesn't want a lot of junk. She doesn't let her kids have or keep too much junk. Yet, she has 79 pairs of shoes!!! OMGosh! Jackie! I'm shocked! This is not like you at all!!! What are ya' gonna do about it?

I think this was a good exercise for a reality check. We don't realize what we actually have. Now we know. I think I need to clear out a few more or 10 pairs of shoes. Here's the kicker. I was looking for a pair of shoes the other day---only to realize that I'd already gotten rid of them. Bummer! I hate it when that happens!