Tuesday Thoughts About...

...Volunteering! 

I think volunteering is an important thing to encourage kids to do. It's an exercise in giving back and not only thinking about yourself. I saw this sign and totally agree!

Monday Mystery

My friends and I have "Movie Monday" just about every week. We usually combine it with lunch. Last week, when I was walking to Panera Bread, I came upon this door on the rear of the restaurant. 

What the heck is a "sprinkler riser room?" I cannot imagine.

So, I decided to look it up. Here is the long answer:

A sprinkler riser room is a designated area in a building that houses the main components of a fire sprinkler system, including valves, gauges, and alarms. It provides a central location for the system's control and maintenance, often found on the lowest level or near an external wall for easy access by emergency personnel.

Okay, I get it. But what exactly does the name mean. I get the "sprinkler" part and the "room" part. Why is the word "riser" even in this sign? Would there be some confusion as to where the sprinkler works were if the sign just said "Sprinkler Room?" Me thinks not.

It's still a mystery to me!

Something for Sunday

This post should have been a "Friday Frustrations" post. Instead, I'm doing it today.

A few weeks ago, we "lost" ABC on our YouTube tv--for two weeks!! Long story short, ABC is owned by Disney and they were fighting over--you guessed it--MONEY. 

There are a lot of ABC programs that we watch: reality tv, sports and the most important--our local news station. We were out of sorts with the whole tv thing as we didn't realize that channel 2 was our most watched channel. 

Anyway, I was getting so frustrated--what was going on with "The Golden Bachelor?" I don't even love that show, but I was invested in it! 

I decided to contact YouTube directly via email. The first response I got, the "person"--Roshan acted like he/she didn't know what I was talking about. That was ludicrous since I mentioned that they needed to resolve the problem between them and Disney! What could I have been referring to??

Thus started a back and forth that consisted of 17 emails! Long story short, I was offered a $20 credit--as were ALL customers. But, rather than just giving it to ALL customers, we had to seek it out for ourselves--and it should have been simple. It wasn't. 

The first thing that happened--I could not login to our account. How many times has that happened in this digital age with all different websites? It's so frustrating. The person I was dealing with even suggested that perhaps we didn't even have an account but instead was accessing YouTube through other family members! OMGosh! I really lost it then. I assured said person that we were paying the bill!

Long-story short, we finally got to the bottom of it (after 17 emails) and they did indeed "find" our account. They gave me the information I needed to get our $20--which I still had to go after on my own. Of course, I complained about that too. It's ridiculous that the customer has to jump through such hoops! In the end, WE are the ones who will pay with higher rates. Who do they think they are fooling by giving us a measly 20 bucks? 

Anyway, it's over now and we're back to our "regularly scheduled programs." That makes me happy, BUT--and this is really the crux of the matter--it makes me realize how addicted to tv we are! And we are not alone!!

Scrapbook Saturday

This is my September re-cap spread. I know it's November, but I've had quite a backlog of layouts to share.

This is the first time I made a book like this. It took quite a bit of my brain power, but I love it. I'm not really happy about the edging in pen, but it needed something. I'll come up with something better the next time!

AYM layouts for October and November:

This is Janet's:

Pam's Layout:

Karolyn's Layout:

Susan's November Layout:

Karolyn's November Layout:

Susan's October layout (for whatever reason, she arrived with only one page):

Pam's November layout:

My layouts:

Ten Things Thursday

Although my mind has turned to Christmas, I thought I would get one more Fall/Thanksgiving post in. I do love these beautiful tables and mantles. Plus, I threw in a really cute turkey charcuterie.

Enjoy!

Table #2 is my favorite! Those turkey plates!!

This one looks really easy to do. Don't know what the eyes are made of but you could even leave them off and you would still get the idea--although there needs to be more crackers.

On to the mantles.

It was kind of hard to pick a mantle. I'm going with #3. But, one thing that really stands out is that these work because the room colors and furniture all go together perfectly. It would be a completely different look if the furniture was red or even blue. Anyway, I love the #2 is all lit up. But I love the leaves in #3. 

I didn't do any fall decorating this year. We're staying home in for Thanksgiving, but I'm not cooking. We're going to the club. Everyone will come here at 9 for Nicky's famous bloody Mary's and the Macy's Day Parade. It's a tradition. We love it! In fact, we're thinking we might go to New York next year for the 100th anniversary of the parade. Just going has been on our bucket list, but going for the anniversary would be pretty special. I'm not getting my hopes up as it's the kind of thing that would be super expensive and mostly likely already sold out--the rooms overlooking the parade route. We'll see.

Anyway, it's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just one week away. Where has the fall gone?

What I Buy Wednesday

Let me start out by wishing Stephanie a happy birthday!! She's closing in on 50! We'll be celebrating over dinner tonight. 

On to What I Buy Wednesday.

So, my Christmas shopping is well underway. I don't really have much more to do, but I need to start wrapping so I can see where I am as I take inventory. 

On Monday, I had an itch to go to Target. So, I did.

I won't really need to go again. I was a little disappointed. I didn't really know exactly what I was looking for, so I guess that's why I didn't find it! I am going to start wrapping so I can get a handle on it. 

How are you doing with your shopping this year?

Tuesday Thoughts on...

...wrapping up the gardening.

A few weeks ago, we brought in many plants. There were some that we just had no way of taking in:

This wandering jew was started with about 6 sprigs I just poked in the planter. So simple and not look at it! We already brought the main plant inside, so we can easily do this again next year. 

It seems to like its new location as it's blooming!

Oh, and those broken windows? The painters we had a few years ago did not put them back properly. We've had 3 fall out now. They are old and hard to get. We're still waiting on our "guy" to have them replaced.

Next, we brought in these plants:

I have hated this one for years. This year, I decided to fertilize it. I've determined that it's a banana plant. It has grown gangbusters. We'll see how it does through the winter. Our sunroom is a heated room, but, as you can imagine, with all these windows, this room is cold! Last year, we bought a space heater and that really helped. I'm kind of anxious now to see what happens next year when I fertilize it again.

This, tropical hibiscus has continued to bloom inside. 

Can you see all of the new buds? We'll see how long it continues. The only problem with hibiscus, is that the blooms only last one day. Actually, it's probably more like 12 hours! Luckily they are big flowers and put on a good show.

I don't really like having to care for these plants all winter long, but it's not that hard. I'm just kinda' lazy--and "over it" by this time of the year. It only takes about 30 minutes of maintenance a week--usually on Sunday. That's not too hard, but I still don't like doing it. If they hold up well, I'll probably be happy come spring!

Speaking of gardening chores, Butch undertook this big job a couple weeks ago. Our house is 40 years old--which means everything is 40 years old--including this planter bed which has rotted.

He thought it was going to be a breeze. But as with most projects, it's never easy. Something always goes awry.

After several hours over a couple days, he got it done!

I'm always amazed at what he can do. He can figure out anything! And usually does! One more thing updated. At some point, we're going to have to tackle the driveway and patios. They are all cracking and crumbling. We got a bid about 10 years ago and we wouldn't even consider it. It's got to be way more now. At some point, we're going to have to bite the bullet! But not this year!

When you have a 40 year old house, it's always something!