Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Tuesday Thoughts About...

...Super Glue. 

I'm thinking I should never, ever, ever use Super Glue again. I need to leave it to the  resident Super Glue expert around here. I got myself into a sticky situation on Sunday night. Here's what happened.

I finished the caboose to my needlepoint Easter train---right on time, I might add. I gave myself a month to do each of the 3 cars. This was the last---I start my next project at a workshop next Friday and am very excited about it. 

Anyway, I went to Super Glue the pom poms on the beaded wheels. The glue wouldn't squeeze out. It seemed the tip was clogged. I decided to give it one last hard press before getting the scissors. OH! MY! GOSH! y'all, it gushed out in a burst for which I was not prepared. It squirted on me, the quartz counter and my needlework. I ran to the sink to grab the dishcloth. I'm not really sure what I should have done, but that's what I did. Not a good idea. I ended up smearing the glue and glued the dishcloth to the counter. Who knew wet things could be super glued? They can. I managed to pull the dishcloth off before it was stuck permanently, but there was still a problem. The gray fibers of the cloth stuck to the counter. Before I could figure out what to do about that, I had the dishcloth stuck to ME! I swear, I thought I was in an "I Love Lucy" episode! 

I ran the dishcloth and my hand under hot water. That did absolutely nothing. I decided I just needed to "pull off the proverbial bandaid" well aware that I might pull skin with it. It hurt, but no skin was broken. Whew! When I pulled the dishcloth off of my hand, I noticed two things. 1. It left grey fibers stuck to me, and 2. The skin between the joints of two fingers was stuck together. I could not straighten my fingers. I pulled the skin apart and that really hurt. I was certain it would bleed, but it didn't. I guess skin is tougher than I thought. Somehow I managed to get glue on the other hand too. What a mess.

Then I went back to work on the counter. I scraped the glue and fibers off as best as I could with my fingernails. My fingernails were already a mess from the glue and really hard! They made a handy  and strong tool. I got most of the washcloth fibers off, but there is definitely some residue.
I'll look into ways to remove it when I get back from St. Louis this week. 

Once I got myself "unstuck", I went back to the task at hand--glueing the pom poms. I was so careful this time and then, that's when it happened. I accidentally glued a pom pom to my finger. I pulled it off only to now have yellow fuzz left behind. Are you kidding me?
I finally got the pom poms glued on. But still, you can see the glue that splurted on the needlework. 
 It's not too bad, but you can definitely see it. I could have the finisher hide it, but I think I'll leave it as a cautionary tale. Beware of Super Glue! It could have been so much worse! As it was, there were only a few annoying consequences and one good one. My manicure was ruined and my phone and iPad do not recognize my thumbprint in order to unlock them.

The good consequence?? When I was putting my moisturizer on, I realized that my fingers were the perfect exfoliators---although it did hurt a little. Okay, a lot! Still, that's me making lemonade!




Monday, April 29, 2019

Monday Mystery

So, I've been doing so planning for our trip to England in June. I purchased theater tickets. Then this popped up:

Modern Slavery Act Statement 2018

This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps taken by Encore Tickets Ltd and its subsidiaries to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains.

What the heck? I've never seen this before. I don't even know what this means. How does slavery within a ticket company happen? I guess I don't understand modern day slavery. I get the sex slave business where people are abducted in to it. I don't understand other types of slavery---at least not in developed countries.
It's a mystery to me.
Back to St. Louis this week for the big move!

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

What I Buy Wednesday

I didn't buy anything this week. Oh wait, I did pick up some kitchen towels for our beach condo. That barely counts. Instead of buying, I saved us a lot of money this week. A. Lot.

I got 4 brand new outdoor chairs from Uncle Tony for FREE! Butch will bring them to the beach later this week.

And then there's this:
Two new FREE plants just from my cuttings! Gotta love that! At least I do. I offered them to the girls. Mindy said she'd take the one with the berries. Surely she knows those are the artificial stems I bought in England last fall---and not for sale! Or, maybe like these...
...artificial tomatoes I bought at the same time---has been fooled by their lifelike quality. They've folded just about everyone.

Okay, so I actually saved on the houseplants, but I did just finally purchase the sago palms I've been wanting for nearly 25 years!! I haven't actually bought them yet. My garden girl just found them. Getting 4 at the same time and size has been the problem. They go fast. So, most likely, that will be the post "What I Buy Wednesday" for next week!


Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Travel Tuesday

Guess where I was last week? Here's a hint.
Yep, St. Louis! Look at that traffic! People who live in big cities are used to it. I have to say, Nashville isn't much better. The difference is--in St. Louis, you jump on the highway to go just about everywhere. In Nashville, we do not. So I don't have to get in highway traffic very often.

Anyway, I was in St. Louis to help Aunt Marie and Uncle Tony. They are getting ready to move to a senior community. Aunt Marie could probably use some assisted living (and at times, full nursing care), but Uncle Tony is not ready for that. This will be the best thing for them even if it means more work for him. I was there to "take care of" Aunt Marie while Uncle Tony could take care of business and have a break.

They took me to see the new place--The Oaks at Behesda. This was a perfect time to visit. The trees lining both sides of the street were in bloom---red buds---so pretty. The villa they are getting has been completely re-done and they got to pick out everything.

There is a small porch where you can have a couple chairs. When you walk through the front door, there is a small entry. To the right is a good sized bedroom, closet and bathroom.
I like the bay window. There is room to put a chair and table there.

To the left of the entry is this.
 Yes, it is this big! I don't have any fancy lenses, this was taken with my iPhone. The whole place is 1750 square feet---actually pretty large.
 The countertops are a real pretty quartz.
Everything is new---cabinets, counters, flooring and appliances. There is a lot of storage in this kitchen, but about half of what they had. They are downsizing from their big house on the golf course. Aunt Marie has a serious problem getting rid of stuff. I'm not quite sure what they are going to do. I tried just going through her wallet as it was stuffed full of cards. She had 6---yes 6---AARP cards--many old and expired-- and she wouldn't let me get rid of a single one! You get the picture. She was getting very agitated. Part of it is the dementia and part is that she's always had trouble with too much paper. I cleaned out her files years ago and just got rid of duplicate papers and business cars. That freaked her out back then! You can imagine how she is now.
There is no pantry. Uncle Tony is buying some baskets for the shelving to somewhat hide things. Considering he's 83 years old, he's done most of the packing himself. I'm pretty amazed. He's always had a lot of nervous energy. He still bounds up his double flight of stairs from the lower level of their house.
There is a nice sized Florida room off the living room and master bedroom. There's a door that goes out to a small deck. I love the beadboard ceiling and moulding details. The master bath is huge. This is the first time they will have counter height vanities!

Uncle Tony even took me to see the storage unit he rented. I'm not sure why, but I acted excited. He's already hauled all the boxes of their Christmas decorations. Still too many of those, but he said whatever they don't use at Christmas, he'll get rid of. I know how that goes!

I loved this place for them. I could go for it myself if it had another bedroom and just a little more space. I'll be going back next week to keep Aunt Marie occupied for 3.5 days while the actual moving is happening. I do plan to go back and help with the unpacking too. A lot of work for sure and they can use the help.

One thing I know from this experience. I DO NOT want to wait until we're in our 80's to move! If we do, I can guarantee you one thing---I won't be doing it! We'll have to hire people to do every single thing.



Monday, April 22, 2019

Monday Mystery

Well, we're having an ant problem in the bathroom. It's that time of year. We always have them somewhere. Our exterminator says it's pretty common in the spring.
We use the Terro Ant Bait and it works pretty well. I don't really understand why the ants are there. We certainly don't eat in the bathroom. You can see where they come in the window---they have a particular path. "The ants are marching one by one" back and forth (now you can have that tune in your head all day--you're welcome). They'll be gone soon enough, but that's not what the mystery is.
The problem is on the other side of the window. We have some sort of wood shavings. I know what you are thinking---"must be termites." And you might be right. I'm not worried about that because we have an annual termite inspection thorough our exterminator, so are guaranteed. If they are termites, we will not have to pay for the treatment. I'm more worried that we might have carpenter ants. They are really hard to get rid of. We've fought carpenter bees before too.

Stay tuned. I hope for this mystery to be solved soon!

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Five Things Thursday

Actually, five things I love for Thursday!

1. I love Les Miserables! It is my all time favorite Broadway show. The music is incredible. I even loved the movie version with all the stars: Hugh Jackman (my favorite), Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne (my second favorite), Amanda Seyfried, etc. Lots of big names. But my favorite right now is the Masterpiece Theater version on PBS. It's a mini series that just started. You can probably get it on Demand. Then set it to tape. Awesome!

2. I love this cleaner.

 I don't really know what "naturally derived" means. I guess it means no preservatives. All I know for sure is that it is streakless. A must for my black glass top stove.

3. I love thank you notes! It's good to know I'm appreciated!

4. I love unexpected surprises.
I had to drive slowly behind to geese---they weren't Canadian, but some other type---in the mall parking lot. Now that's a surprise. No water anywhere near---not even a fountain. They just waddled out of the parking garage. Perhaps they were "parking" --if you know what I mean!
 5. I love my Aunt Marie. Looks pretty darn good for 86, don't ya' think!
And I love that she still has this candlewick pillow I made her in the mid 80's!

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

What I Buy Wednesday

I only bought this:
Fresh eggs from Wicked Chicken Farms. They only cost me lunch. I love that I can leave them sit out on the counter and enjoy their natural Easter egg colors. The girls want to dye eggs, so we bought plain white for that. I'm not sure how these would come out anyway.

The candle was a purchase a while back. It's chocolate scented---and it really does smell like that. Turns out that's not such a good thing. When I smell it, I want chocolate!

That's it for purchases this week. But then, I came across another photo from the Hillbilly garden. I remembered this one.
It's a bumper crop! I love the sewing machines too, but don't remember their significance. I should have written it all down.
The artist's thoughts were so clever. You can tell by looking at him that he's artsy!

Until next time....

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Travel Tuesday

Well, I need to devote an entire post to just this one place. On our way to St. Louis last week, we stopped at The Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden just outside of Paducah. After 34 years of traveling back and forth to St. Louis, we had no idea this place was there. It's fascinating and so is the owner. We spent about an hour roaming around and listening to his stories about each piece of art---all made out of junk and trash. Each display is based on a pun. You'll have to try to figure them out for yourself because now I can't remember a single one!

 There are also a couple buildings that house a massive toy collection.














 This is the guy that owns the place. He had many stories to tell and was quite a character! He talked so fast, it was hard to keep up.



 I had this dollhouse when I was growing up.



 I think this was called a graveyard of lost soles.



 Besides the art, there were animals roaming around--odd looking chickens and roosters. There were goats too.






 








 There were quite a few unusual fountains.










It all look like nothing but junk, but it was really artfully displayed---very creative and fun to look at. The owner told us that the neighbors had taken him to court several times, but he always won! It was a fascinating place. Everywhere you looked was something else unusual. The guy really is creative. We'll definitely go back.

My blogging is going to be rather sporadic for the next few weeks. Remember when I said we had vowed to travel more? Well, we have been, but then another situation has arisen. I'll be spending quite a bit of time in St. Louis as I have an aunt and uncle that really need some help. They are in the process of moving---and at 86 and 83, it's no small task. They are hiring people to handle it. That's not what I'm there for. I'm there to give my uncle a chance to take care of all the business involved with the move as I spend time with my aunt. She's not happy to be moving from her beautiful home and is becoming more and more confused. I'm just there to console her and keep her company. She has good days and bad days. I've witnessed the worst, the best and then the middle. She's happy when I'm there, so I'm glad to be able to do it. And, I'm pretty lucky to have such a supportive husband. Good thing he doesn't care about food!!