Redneck Plumbing & Blog Vacation

If you've ever used a small ball of polymer clay to hold your drain stopper open you might be a Redneck.............  I finally got tired of the water not being able to go down the drain properly, so I did this---at least until I get around to Googling it to see how to remove/replace the crazy thing! And before you say it, yes, I have tried to adjust the lever behind the faucet that raises and lowers the stopper.  But even set at its furthest point it still won't keep the stopper up where it needs to be.  Hence my "ingenuity".  I never need to stop the sink for anything, so the little clay ball is a perfect remedy for now.  Goes right along with my tomato can side-table risers...........=)

Oh hi.  Yes, I'm back.  Yes, I went on a vacation from blogging.  No, I didn't announce it because I didn't know I was going to do it at the time. lol  I just got too busy and too tired to blog for a while.  The busy part included a little trip to Hilton Head Island, SC.  My very generous Aunt and Uncle have a time-share and were so kind as to invite a bunch of us there to share the time-share with them.  I had never been to HHI, so it was nice to see and explore.  We were just a short walk from the beach, and a short drive to just about any kind of store and dining place you can imagine.  I don't know when I've seen so many shopping opportunities in one small area!  Amazing.  So I walked on the beach, laughed with aunts, uncles and cousins, shopped, went to Starbucks almost every morning (2 miles away! yay!), surfed on Pinterest, crocheted, and ate.  Whew.  I had to come home to rest up! lol  It was really a nice time.  I just didn't feel like blogging about it then.  Now you know.  And the tired part?  Don't know why.  Maybe it's just time for Spring.  Not that I can complain about the weather here in NC.  Today it's already almost 50 degrees and it's not even 10am!  It's wet out there, but the sun is shining and there's not a speck of snow in sight.  The field across the road has been plowed up and I'm expecting them to plow the one in front of the house anytime now.  Wonder what he'll plant this year?  So I don't know why I should have Spring Fever.  Its not as if I'm buried under snow and cold.  But I think maybe our bodies have an inside clock that still longs for Spring, no matter what our Winter looks like.  =)  Anyway.  Here's hoping for more energy and more blogging!  In 2 weeks I'm back to the beach with my sisters.  Can't. Wait.  Maybe I'll blog better at this beach than I did at the last! lol  TTFN!

Chaos and Sunsets

Ooh today was a day!  One of those days with it's own particular brand of chaos that is hard to describe.  One of those where the only thing you can do is put your head down and slog through it one hour at a time.  Well, it's either that or cry.  Which I felt like doing. Several times.  But thanks be to God I made it through and I don't have to go back tomorrow!  Yay!  Sometimes I hear people say they love their job.  I dream of having a job I love, one that I don't mind going to.  I'm sure that even if I loved my job there would be days I didn't want to go, but it would be nice to at least not dread it!  lol  I'm not complaining.  I'm thankful I have a job in an economy such as ours---a job that makes me a good living too.  But I can't help but dream of doing what I love.  In spite of my day though, there was a gorgeous sunset this evening---like a message from God that He has everything under control.  I didn't take any pictures (gasp!), just stepped outside to admire the view.  So beautiful.  Isn't it amazing to think that the sun sets like that whether anyone is looking or not?   Nature does her thing as God intends and to His Glory.  We're just happenstance spectators to the show. 

Monday Muse

This quote was on the sermon outline insert in the bulletin at church yesterday.  Very thought provoking.  (The sermon was great too, by the way. Just in case you wondered.)

"The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of slavery."~~Dietrich Bonheoffer


Have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday (Spring Dreaming)

I'm dreaming.............=)

What flowers are you dreaming of?

The Crud

I finally did it.  I tried to avoid it.  I even turned my back on it a few times.  But somehow, just like the sneaky viral thing that it is, it caught up with me.  Somewhere between last post and today I was invaded by The Crud.  Thankfully it has not been full-out flu or anything, just The Crud.  The thing is, sometimes just dealing with The Crud vs the flu can be the hard thing.  If I'm going to be sick I want that to mean that I get to stay at home in my jammies, under the covers, eating soup and crackers, and washing it down with juice and Sprite.  lol  Unfortunately when you just have a case of The Crud, you still have to crawl out of bed in the morning and drag yourself to work.  You're not sick enough to stay home, but you really REALLY don't feel like working.  You have to try to not cough on anyone while you listen to lungs and hearts and pull needles out;  you have to correctly read your med list and give the right doses while ignoring that pain in your face that is steadily growing; and you have to listen to other people's ailments, while desperately wishing for your comfy bed.  See what I mean?  Actually, I've survived quite well, and hope that this post will make you smile instead of feel too sorry for me.  Unless you can get me out of work for the rest of the week.  Then you can feel as sorry for me as you wish! lol  I think it may be getting better, though every day has had different symptoms, so I don't know what to expect.  Thankfully, tomorrow is off, so I can stay in my jammies if I want and drink juice all day long.  With my trusty box of tissues at my side of course.  =)

Frost

Yesterday morning we had frost.  No, I don't mean frost, I mean FROST.   It was almost like a slight snow, but better.  See snow has a way of blanketing things and changing silhouettes so that trees are more round, and individual branches and grasses become less distinct---things turn "lumpy and bumpy".  Frost, on the other hand, coats each individual branch and blade of grass.  That's what was so beautiful yesterday.  It was one of the heaviest frosts I have ever seen.  You could still see the frozen dew in the air like a cloud.  The world was almost completely white--as if someone had come along with a very large can of white spray paint and covered everything.  Up close, it was like little spikes of ice all along the edges of whatever it was clinging too.  It was amazing!  The trees especially were a wonder.  Frosting on every branch, and on the pines, every little pine needle was coated with icing.  I don't think I have ever beheld such a beautiful Winter morning!  I could hardly stand it driving to church! lol  Have you ever seen something so beautiful and majestic that you felt like you couldn't take any more beauty right then?  That's how I felt.  I was by myself, but I kept exclaiming about it over and over--because I couldn't help myself.  I did think it was quite appropriate to be blown away by the majesty of God's creation while driving to His House for Worship.  What a way to get ready for church!  =)  And before you ask, no.  Sadly I did not get a single picture.  Why?  Because I did not realize the world had put on such a show until I was began my drive to church.  By then it was too late to turn around for the camera, and too late to take any pictures even if I had.  =(  I was really disappointed!  If I had known what beauty was outside my windows I could have left an hour early for church and tried to capture it.  Though I'm not sure I could have done it justice.  There are some things that can only truly be captured by the camera of your mind.  But I sure would like to have tried.  In the mean time I'll keep the majesty in mind, and you'll just have to take my word for it.....

I think about posting nearly every day.  I really do.  And then before I know it, the day is gone and I've not posted anything........grr.  Anyway, I've been getting back into my dye buckets in the past week.  I discovered that I can do my final rinsing in the washing machine just fine, which is very exciting!  This means I don't have to stand outside with a couple buckets and a hose, rinsing and draining.  Now that I found this out I want to dye a new set of towels every day!  There are SO many colors to pick from.  The Rit website alone has 500 recipes, all of which could be varied just a little to make even more colors!  I feel like a kid set free in a candy shop!  So many colors, so little time.....=)  But back to my dyeing.  First I did a new red.  It is nearing Valentine's Day after all.  It turned out lovely---a really nice Valentine Red made by mixing scarlet and wine (the dye, not the drink!).  I've already painted one up...but I'm not going to show it to you yet.  Yes, I'm mean like that!  I want to get it up in the store first (hopefully tomorrow).  After the red, came the blue..........oh dear.  The color I tried was Color # 211 in the Rit "cookbook".  Just a splash of royal blue in the water.  The towels came out a beautiful ice blue color.  I know, you're thinking "And where's the problem?  She doesn't like ice blue?"  The problem started with two white towels.  I was ironing a white towel to paint on, but in the ironing my iron decided to start spitting.  It has these fits now and then and I usually pay them no mind.  What's a little water on cloth.  This time though, the "iron saliva" was just a little brown---on my white towel!!!!  Grr.  So I put that one aside and picked up another.  Got it ironed part way and......you guessed it, another episode of brown iron spit!  GRRR.  I can't sell them like that, so I sprayed some spot remover on them and set them aside, figuring I would dye those ones and see if the dye would hide the slight brown stain.  I washed the stained towels with several other good ones and put the whole bunch in the blue dye.  When I went to take them out for rinsing however, I saw, to my dismay, that the places I had sprayed with the stain remover had dyed as a stain!  What on earth?!!  I thought 'Well, maybe if I dye them darker'........ So back into the pot they went, along with a bit more dye.  The result?  A darker towel with  a darker stain!  For some reason, that stain remover didn't wash out or left some kind of residue on the fabric that absorbed the dye differently.  Aaagh!  So needless to say, I have two gorgeous blue towels that are useful to me only for practice and my own kitchen!  Again I say, Grr.  As if this weren't discouraging enough, I carelessly threw the dark and light freshly dyed towels (read dye still wet!) into the washer together to rinse........ Now I have 2 stained towels and 3 slightly mottled towels.....Oh me!  I think, though, that when the lighter towels are pressed they will be ok.  They will have a slightly marbled appearance, but at least it's even and not a glaring round spot like the other 2!  Maybe people will think I did them that way on purpose........=)  One can always hope, right?  The good that came from this is that I have 2 new recipes for colors I like.  I guess one has to be thankful for the little things....... I am itching to dye more, and I've been inspired with a new idea to try.  But I'm not going to tell you now.  Oh quit whining!  Let me try it first and see if/how it works.  Then I'll tell you.  But now it's chocolate chip cookie time......=)