Marvelous Monday Update 9/15/08

Does anyone ever say "Woo Hoo! It's Monday... Time to go back to work!!" LOL I suppose there is, but I think they probably need an evaluation by a licensed mental health professional. ;-) Let's see, what can I share on this Marvelous Monday?


Stitchy Stuff
You'd think after my last post, I wouldn't have any other stitchy stuff to talk about. But, I do! After Nancy left, I stitched a couple hours on LK's Peace Hope Love. Can you believe it's been 13 days since I last stitched on it? After 7.5 hours, this is what it looks like:

While Nancy was here, I stitched 2.5 hours on JG, but I haven't taken a progress pic because I don't feel there's enough to show. I spent that time doing a lot of over-one stitches to create a detailed edge on a stork. Nothing really exciting.


Kitchen Update
As you all know, I've been trying to finish up that *one* section of the kitchen cabinets before Nancy got here. Tuesday night I was putting the last of the newly painted doors back on the cabinets. I set it in place and reached over to get the screws and drill when crash-boom-bang! The door fell out off the cabinet, bounced off the exhaust fan hood, down to the step ladder, off the step ladder and landed on the floor! Talk about a very unhappy me standing there looking at a door with two corners dinged down to the original cabinet color of dark dark brown.

This meant in 2 days, I had to re-sand, re-primer, and re-paint the corners with hopes that they would look "normal", i.e. matched the rest of the paint job. By Friday night, I was again setting the door in place and what could possibly happen? I stripped the screws and had to go to Menards to get more. And yes, I *did* get the cabinet doors back on and new hardware changed out.

They went from this:

Pretty yucky! That's just two of the colors on the cabinets. Originally, I think they were a dark dark brown. Then painted that lovely green. Can you imagine an entire set of kitchen cabinets in that green? Next was a pale yellow. Finally white.

Pretty dingy, eh? No amount of cleaning would take away how bad that looks. If you look close near the cabinet pulls, you can see the indentations of previous hardware.

Here's what it looks like after my toiled labor and mishaps:


Now 1/4 of the cabinets and all the drawers have been re-painted and have new hardware. Several months ago, when my old Menards store closed, they had a clearance on cabinet hardware. I took that opportunity to stock up since I knew I would be repainting the cabinets.

You Just Never Know...

... what your online friends are going to be like when you finally meet in real life.

I was pleased to find out Nancy was as nice in person as she'd come across online. For two people who proclaim they're quiet, there weren't many moments where silence filled the air. Sometimes there's an uncomfortable awkwardness in meeting people from the world wide web. Fortunately for us, that wasn't the case. We got along famously, I thought. :)

I've followed Nancy's blog since she started one, plus we've emailed back and forth about various things, so I felt pretty good about having her stay the weekend when she suggested it. She's from Michigan and her coworker's daughter lives in the big city just east of me. So, we took the opportunity to meet and hang out. On a cloudy, rainy Friday afternoon, I trekked my way across two counties to pick up her up.

Since we were in the city, I suggested we take advantage of the opporunities to stash shop -- Michaels (25% off coupon), Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, and an LNS!

After we got to my house, Nancy unpacked her bag and held up two bottles of wine, one in each hand. "I brought wine!" Nancy's DH makes wine... and does a great job of it, too! We spent the rest of the night drinking wine and talking as she looked through my stash of charts and magazines.


On Saturday, we did get some stitching in before and after our visit with Deborah in IA. I have to say the trip to IA was much easier than it was the last time I went to see Deborah. It seemed much shorter, too, since Nancy was there to keep me company. :) Deborah was in good spirits and we all had a nice long visit. I had my florist make up a special basket of Deborah's favorite colors: mauves, pinks, and purples. She just loved it. Nancy gave Deborah the flatfold she made in the class, along with a nice smelling Yankee candle/warmer. We both took projects to show Deborah, too.

Me showing Deborah my Pink Carnations box and Christmas ornies
Nancy showing Deborah Tuscany Town Mandela
Me, Deborah, & Nancy
With a little over an hour drive home, we had to say our goodbye's to Deborah. She invited us both back for another visit. It was really nice to sit and chat with her. She's got quite the sense of humor. :)

On the way home, Nancy and I both determined we were starving, since we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast (and at that point it was around 6pm). We drove... and drove... and drove... before we saw anything resembling a restaurant. This particular restaurant had the word "RESTAURANT" handpainted on it's roof so you could see it from the road, LOL. Come to find out from the local gas station attendant, it's the only restaurant in town. It was surprisingly busy and nice on the inside... a small mom-and-pop family style restaurant. The food was pretty good, too! It was kinda funny... We both went in starving, and came out overstuffed. LOL

After getting back to my house, Nancy worked on a flatfold and then we both worked on our stitching projects. We were so immersed, and neither of us were talking! Nancy worked on Mystic Fruit & Cheese, and I worked on JG. I was SO impressed at Nancy's ability to stitch two-handed! She was zipping right along on F&C, while I was plodding along like a mule pulling a plow through a field. The frog came to visit me and JG not once, but twice! Determined to finish the over-one stitching, I trudged forward until it was all done. At midnight, I went to bed. I'm not sure what time Nancy went to sleep.

Had to take Nancy back to the city on Sunday. The morning was pretty uneventful... spent getting ready and driving. Remnants of Hurricane Ike is reaching his cold wet fingers way up into Illinois and working his way east across Chicago, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio right now.

My trip back home
This is nothing compared to areas NE of me are getting.
It was really great to meet another stitching member from my online groups, and to see Deborah again. I hope we all can get together again! More pics can be seen HERE.

Worst First Date #4 - Sobering Night Out

"I agreed to go out with a guy I met at a local bar who was pretty drunk when we met but, come on, most people you meet in bars are drunk right?

As I pull in the parking lot of the movies he was walking to his vehicle. When he met me back at the door I asked him where he had been and he said, 'I was having a beer in my truck.'

Jokingly, I asked if he drank everywhere he went and he said, 'Of course, I keep a 12 pack in a cooler between my seats at all times.'

I then went on to tell him he had a drinking problem jokingly because I thought we were joking. He then made the comment, 'I don't think I have a problem but I do start classes Wednesday since I've gotten 4 D.W.I.s this year.'

As if this wasn't bad enough when he bought the movie tickets they asked him to donate $1 to the Children's Cancer Fund. He ignorantly said no and we went to the concession stand. They asked him again and in front of many children and families he abruptly yells, 'What the hell is up with all these sick kids?!' At that moment I realized the guy was toasted.

We went into the movie and he got up every 5 minutes to pee and drink another beer. I was so mortified. After the movie he walked me to my car and then went on to ask
me for money to buy more beer since he was so kind to pay for the movie."

-Michelle A. in Salisbury, Maryland
(from www.datingwithoutdrama.com)


This is a perfect example of why I haven't done the bar scene since before I was married (and subsequently divorced). Her assumption in the first paragraph made me LOL -- Not *everyone* who goes to bars get toasted. I would've left him standing there once he told me he had beer in the truck. Not only does he having a drinking problem, he's also STUPID. 4 DUI's? It made me swirl back to the conversation I had with T when he told me he got a DUI last year... and still proceeded to drink and drive. Ack! No thanks.

Anyone else have some worst first date stories?

Meari's Marvelous Monday Update 9/8/08

Weather
Mother Nature has been very finicky lately! Last week started out with 90-92F temps (the first time this year). By Thursday, the aftereffects of Hurricane Gustav arrived causing temps to dip to 59F. When the weekend hit, temps were in the 70's and are expected to stay there for a week or so. I actually had to wear socks to bed one night because I was SO cold.


Getting Fit
My round booty is still struggling to get into a workout routine. I've been managing to get in about 2 workouts a week... not nearly enough if I want to firm up and lose some pounds. But! Better than nothing. I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the WATP low impact/strength training videos and the Sexy Abs workout. I've been getting up early and doing both of those before I go to work.


Stitchy Stuff
Guess who I'm meeting this week?! Nancy from MI! We've been going back and forth working out the details for over a month, and now it's finally happening. We are BOTH excited. I'll be picking her up in the next city east of me and she'll be staying with me until Sunday. :)


The Wedding


I've uploaded a bunch more photos of my brother's wedding to my multiply albums HERE, now that they both have had a chance to see them all. That's just a small sampling of the photographs I took. In total there were 200-300.



Sunday Dinner
I was watching the Good Housekeeping show on Saturday afternoon and they were talking about saving money at the grocery store and how much cheaper it is to make meals at home. Well Hello?! Of course it is... and it's healthier... and if made from scratch, you don't have all those preservatives of 'convenience food' in a box.

A recipe for Italian-Herbed Roasted Chicken was shown and I thought... "Dang! That looks GOOD." I had everything except the chicken, which I picked up when I went shopping on Sunday. I've never roasted a chicken before, and it's really not that hard. And boy-o-boy, was it ever scrumptious and juicy!

Does this not look yummy?!?
I think it's comparable to the one on the website!

Green beans, fresh from the garden :)

Worst First Date 3 - Painful Experience

"My worst first date was also my first blind date. We met for a coffee after being set up through a mutual friend. At first glance he was attractive, but I really wanted to find out who this person was.

He immediately started into a recent break-up with a longtime girlfriend, followed by a description of how he was coping with his heartbreak. This included the recent addition of two very large tattoos on his head, underneath his hairline. Now this is years before tats were 'trendy' and were still associated with bikers and convicts, and I'm no prude, but his reasoning for the tats was most concerning.

He explained that he had the tats done for one clear reason; the physical pain of having them applied to his scalp in relation to the emotional pain he felt over the ex-girlfriend, 'to really feel the pain of it all' he said. He then told me about his piercings, which again at the time were considered to be pretty strange based on their location.

The piercings were located on his 'member,' both of which were applied for similar reasons as the tats.

Long before the second confession, I questioned the friendship I had with the girl who set us up, wondering if she knew me at all. He was a nice enough guy, but terribly troubled, with a past I wanted no involvement in. I never spoke to him again and I still wonder to this day what would have possessed her to set us up."

-Laura P. in Alberta, Canada
(from www.datingwithoutdrama.com)


Ummm... Been THERE, done THAT. Not with the tats/pain issues, but dealing with issues over ex's. People who do things like this definitely aren't ready for another relationship. (Think therapy, dude!) Also, have wondered what friends/family were thinking?! Next...