My Falling Down Story`

Inspired by HeathahLee's story, http://butterflygenes.blogspot.com/2009/08/falling-down-revisited.html I have to share mine.

May 2007. Cabinet Man, Specialist and I were going to the younger kids' charter school to hear College Dude (Chick Magnet was his moniker at the time) present his senior thesis. Yes, our high school makes the students present and defend a junior AND senior thesis. 18 page oral, 25 page written for junior year. 25 page oral and 35 page written (I think) for senior year. These grads can write like the wind by the time they get to college. Forgotten his question, but the theme was The Phantom Tollbooth http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Tollbooth-Norton-Juster/dp/0394815009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251436030&sr=8-1 A book that my boys dearly loved.

Anyway, I was wearing a new pair of khaki slacks that I had just gotten. First wearing. Yeah, you know where this is going.

We were all talking and Cabinet Man and Specialist stepped up on the sidewalk and I am not sure what happened. I felt myself falling and did the usual reaching...and still went down...they were still walking and talking. A few steps later Cabinet Man looks back and says, "Susan? What are you doing down there?" (Duh, what do you think I am doing?)

I hit the ground and rolled over on my back...laughing. After THAT comment, I was laughing even harder. The expressions on their faces were ones that I wish I'd had a camera to capture. Priceless.

They helped me up and we did an injury check. Ankles, fine. Knees? One, bloody and torn slacks. Damn. Slightly grazed hand. And all I can think is that I hope the assistant principal was at the presentation and NOT looking out his window at that particular time as he would NEVER let me live that one down.

We went on in (me limping slightly) and God bless the school for reinforcing etiquette, manners and chivalry in those students as a young man got up immediately and gave me his seat and he moved to the back row. Chick Magnet (aka College Dude) gave a terrific presentation, then came over to find out what his mother was up to now...

The End.

More Thrifty Thursday and Thrifty Treasures Monday

Okay, I had to add the button and toss this in for Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures. See? I finally managed to get the button done.

Made another run to Goodwill Thursday for a couple of candlestick lamps I had seen Wednesday. Someone else had bought my Lucy Vitavegamin metal sign though. Shoulda hidden the thing!

Filled a cart then wandered around adding and thinking and subtracting. Realized that since I have been seeing a number of the metal wall vases, I will probably see a few more. So I grabbed the lamps and will use them with shades I picked up free in Denver. The one on my side of the bed appears to need to be rewired...but it's a candlestick...how hard can that be? It's a 3 way so I plan to use the wiring from the lamp it is replacing and paint the part that shows white. I'll keep one shade I had used, then I will take the other lamp and shade to Savers or Goodwill. Funny, do my donations at Savers and money at Goodwill recently.

I am guessing Target had recently sent stuff over as I grabbed a skirt that I thought Target wanted too much for. It's white so I can only wear it a week or so, but I have it for next spring and summer so it's all good. Hmm..guess I need to be ready to put away the white flipflops too with the flower and get another pair for fall. Yes, I still adhere to 'don't wear white after Labor Day or before Easter'. I think that it is tattooed on my bum somewhere. ;D

So here are my goodies.

 

The pics with the small frames are for our bathroom as I redo it. They are on the wall now and I plan to replace the towel rod with a shelf made from a small shutter and put hooks to hang my t-shirt that I use to dry my hair. (naturally curly hair...hair doesn't snag on a t-shirt the way it does on towels...less frizz).

Once I decided to go with a sort of beachy feel to our family room, I've been looking for stuff...and I found these two shell  displays. I am removing the frames and painting them white, along with the frames on the ones I bought last week. My biggest problem will be deciding how to display them. I think I will use the two narrow ones on the outside and these two vertically between them...or maybe just in a row across the wall and use another long shutter for a shelf under them and figure out a display for there...it's a long wall and I had a bigger pic there. I also found two larger pics at GW that I am going to try to go back and get if they are there when my next unemployment check comes in. if not, oh well. I'll find something else. Wasn't sure where I'd have put them anyway...maybe youngest daughter's room.

Anyway, here is a close-up of one particular find. Bill, http://affordableaccoutrements.blogspot.com/it's for you. And your dad. ;D I'm not sure what her name is yet...it's hard to understand her through the muffling effect of the plastic.

Now to get this silliness posted before midnight Mountain Time...technically it is no longer Thursday in Bloggeritaville, but it still is in my world.

PS: I did work on the lamp on Friday morning. I took an old yucky lamp and broke it for the cord. The socket wouldn't come apart on it, so I took another one that was actually already kind of stoved in at the back, but still usable. Besides, it was in the bedroom and not visible. Grabbed the socket from it and replace the old one. The cord was not the problem. Now I have a length of white cord with plug and a length of black cord with plug for future replacements! guess I need to start me a little storage bucket for that stuff.

Thrifty Thursday

Well, I didn't manage to post for Monday at Rhoda's after all but since I have a few more things for Leigh's...yay! Here's to Bloggeritaville!

When I was in Denver a couple of weeks ago,  along with the Ball jars, I got THIS!

Look at the price(s). Each.

Well, I dug through my purse and pockets and came up with $12 so I offered her that for just the chair. She said okay and came to help me load the jars and chair in the car...and threw in the ottoman! I had taken a minute and called my BIL to see if I could stick it in the basement of the house they are building (I was driving a Prius that day and had room on the way home for either the chair and ottoman or the girls...it was a tough call ;D

My Goodwill run last week netted me these lovelies. Not pictured are the school supplies that I scored. The shell pics are numbered, but I can't find the artist info anywhere. Two metal lamps and my free shades from Denver fit...a white planter, the flowered plant pot.

Closeup of shell plants.

$3.00 lamp and one of my free shades from Denver.

And THIS is today's Goodwill find. I've found 3 VERY similar black metal lamps in 3 sizes over the summer at Goodwill and another pretty metal one that might be painted white or black, for around $16.00...including shades. I found this one today and did lamp rearranging. This one went over by Cabinet Man's reading chair, the first one I found went back in the entryway and the smallest one back out to the garage until I decide what to do with it. It might end up on my buffet....not sure. I have wanted one of the candle wall wreaths for ages but not willing to pay the price of $30-50! I do need to get little tea light holders, but I can find those really inexpensively. $4 for the candle wreath, $4 for the lamp/shade. The shade looks like leather and it is really pretty.

Please excuse the tape on the wall. I'm painting tomorrow and Friday as Cabinet Man and Snickerdoodle are going to Denver to a client's home to install a staircase railing, newels and spindles. Should be gorgeous. Here is what I helped with on Monday afternoon and Tuesday AM...upper cabinets, corner cabinet and SOLID maple butcher block countertops. Those suckers weigh a TON! I was secretly (okay, it was a secret!) proud of myself for being able to manhandle and lift them like I did. I had a chiropracticly induced stroke in 1994 and my right grip has never been as strong as before. So I was pretty excited that I didn't drop anything, was able to hold things up, etc.

Scoot over to Leigh's and check out other finds from wonderful bloggers (and non bloggers!)

http://lbratina.blogspot.com/2009/08/thrifty-thursday-31-and-tablescape.html

The Constitution and American Sovereignty

Slight drift into politics here. I receive this publication every couple of months and it is always thought provoking. Excerpts from speeches by David Limbaugh, Mark Steyn, Rush and others and there are many more in their archives. They lead to many conversations in our home and I often find my copy in my kids' rooms, or I send it to Specialist.

I think this one is particularly important to read and understand, then put in contrast to what has been happening in our nation in the past 20 years or so. Keep in mind the Texas court case mentioned, the Kyoto treaty, Law of the Sea proposed by the UN, etc. As a nation, we cannot submit our sovereignty to foreign countries. I've been reading British papers for a few years now, and I am sickened and astounded by the way they keep giving away their rights and sovereignty to the EU...which is nothing more than a huge bureaucracy. Amnesty International and the International Red Cross also sicken me. I refuse to donate to the Red Cross any more, and anyone who approaches me regarding anything like this gets one of two things...a question about their personal knowledge of the Constitution and how it expressly FORBIDS anything above it or why they are so stupid as to think that we need to do what Europe does. We left, remember?

Anyway, take a few minutes to read the article and ponder on it. Real food for thought. Any emphasis is mine.

"The Constitution and American Sovereignty

Jeremy Rabkin
George Mason University
"WOULD WE be far wrong," President Lincoln asked in a special message to Congress in 1861, "if we defined [sovereignty] as a political community without a political superior?" Maybe that’s not exhaustive, but it comes on good authority. And notice that for Lincoln, sovereignty is a political or legal concept. It’s not about power. Lincoln didn’t say that the sovereign is the one with the most troops. He was making a point about rightful authority.

By contrast, sovereignty wasn’t an issue in the ancient world. Cicero notes that the ancient Romans had the same word for "stranger" as for "enemy." In the ancient world, people didn’t interact with foreigners enough to think about their relation to them except insofar as it meant war. Nor was sovereignty an issue in medieval Europe, since the defining character of that period was overlapping authority and a lot of confusion about which authority had primary claims. No one had to think about defining national boundaries. This became an issue only in the modern era, when interaction between different peoples increased.

>snip<

The Constitution provides for treaties, and even specifies that treaties will be "the supreme Law of the Land"; that is, that they will be binding on the states. But from 1787 on, it has been recognized that for a treaty to be valid, it must be consistent with the Constitution—that <span style="font-weight:bold;">the Constitution is a higher authority than treaties.</span> And what is it that allows us to judge whether a treaty is consistent with the Constitution? Alexander Hamilton explained this in a pamphlet early on: "A treaty cannot change the frame of the government." And he gave a very logical reason: <span style="font-weight:bold;">It is the Constitution that authorizes us to make treaties. If a treaty violates the Constitution, it would be like an agent betraying his principal or authority.</span> And as I said, there has been a consensus on this in the past that few ever questioned.

Read the rest here please. Then comment if you please.

http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp

Thrifty Monday and Met Monday

I'm joining Rhoda Southern Hospitality and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Monday.

I went to a little consignment store here in town a few weeks ago. I had wanted to go in there for some time, but hadn't had the opportunity. I found a Christmas present there for Cabinet Man.

Back says Sweden, the front interprets to Father's Day 1971. Which leads me to wonder how it ended up in a small city in Northern Colorado! And since Cabinet Man is a cabinetmaker, how perfect is this? It is currently living in the top of Snickerdoodle's closet.

That was my available cash. I had to wait 2 weeks. She held the plate over a week for me. I have gone back in three times since and spotted this. Lovely, but seriously tarnished.Two sugar bowls, a creamer and a tray. Sugar, creamer are one pattern, second sugar bowl another pattern and a pretty tray. 4 piece set marked down from $25 to $10!

So, Saturday afternoon I sat down with my silver polish, soft cloths, sink of warm water, and paper towels (ala Bill at Affordable Accoutrements http://affordableaccoutrements.blogspot.com/2009/08/silver-for-your-table-from-goodwill.html). And my cable remote. Drop Dead Diva On Demand (http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/drop-dead-diva) One of my new favorite shows but I have a hard time watching it in its slot. So I polished and buffed and ruined two fingernails in the process of getting to this. I already had the spoon and the Battenberg doilies were a gift from a friend's trip to Italy some years ago.

I'm not sure if it is silver or plated, the tray says Churchill on the bottom, one sugar bowl says FB Rogers Silver (it's plate) and I can't find markings on the other 2 pieces. I didn't find much on the F. B. Rogers. It was founded in 1883 and appears to still be around today.

Still have not finished the rattan patio set, but have a couple more projects to show you soon, including a score from the garage sale in Denver last weekend.

Bop on over to Rhoda's http://southernhospitalityblog.com/those-thrifty-finds/and Susan's http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ to see what else is up!

Thrifty Monday and Met Monday

I'm joining Rhoda Southern Hospitality and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Monday. My Live Writer didn't want to publish my post so after fussing for a half hour, I said "Phooey" and just used Blogger. Hopefully it will work next time.

I went to a little consignment store here in town a few weeks ago. I had wanted to go in there for some time, but hadn't had the opportunity. I found a Christmas present there for Cabinet Man.




Back says Sweden, the front interprets to Father's Day 1971. Which leads me to wonder how it ended up in a small city in Northern Colorado! And since Cabinet Man is a cabinetmaker, how perfect is this? It is currently living in the top of Snickerdoodle's closet.

I have gone back in three times since and spotted this. Lovely, but seriously tarnished.Two sugar bowls, a creamer and a tray. One sugar and creamer are one pattern, second sugar bowl another pattern and a pretty tray. 4 piece set marked down from $25 to $10!



So, Saturday afternoon I sat down with my silver polish, soft cloths, sink of warm water, and paper towels (ala Bill at Affordable Accoutrements http://affordableaccoutrements.blogspot.com/2009/08/silver-for-your-table-from-goodwill.html). And my cable remote. And Drop Dead Diva On Demand (http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/drop-dead-diva) One of my new favorite shows but I have a hard time watching it in its slot. So I polished and buffed and ruined two fingernails in the process of getting to this. I already had the spoon and the Battenberg doilies were a gift from a friend's trip to Italy some years ago.




I'm not sure if it is silver or plate,probably plate. The tray has Churchill on the bottom, one sugar bowl says FB Rogers Silver (it's plate) and I can't find markings on the other 2 pieces. I didn't find much on the F. B. Rogers. It was founded in 1883 and appears to still be around today.

Still have not finished the rattan patio set, but have a couple more projects to show you soon, including a score from the garage sale in Denver last weekend.

Bop on over to Rhoda's http://southernhospitalityblog.com/those-thrifty-finds/and Susan's http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ to see what else is up!

Thrifty Monday and Met Monday Sneak Peak

I went to Denver on Sunday for the day. Snickerdoodle won tickets, backstage passes AND private porta-potty passes to the Warped Tour this weekend. She's never been to an event like this and I told her those potty passes will be worth GOLD to her towards the end of the day ;D

Anyway, Sunshine and I were out on Friday to get school supplies so I had the truck. There is a senior housing place near us, cute LITTLE places...maybe 800 SF, but they are all single so I'm sure it's enough. Not much as they have already cleared out a lot of their things to move in. However, I found enough stuff ;D $10 so I was pleased.$3 VCR with remote (owned by a little old lady and only used on Sundays to view sermons taped by her son ;D) A very shallow bowl with a basket weave pattern around it for $1, the Christmas/Easter ornaments were $1.25. At the next one, a white glass wall lamp, hanging metal flower or greenery container that is being painted black as I type, and two cotton pillow cases with a crocheted blue trim and a Slip and Slide for $2!!! I offered her $5 for the 'box' and her daughter said YES! Sunshine did have to run back to get the kitty tin for a quarter.

I washed and starched the pillow cases.

Assembled the slip and slide (this is my Met Monday) This thing to the right actually goes over the slip and slide and when you use a hose splitter, it also pours water over you as you go under it.

This is the flower hanger that was in the first picture. I painted it black and hung it by the front door. I think I am going to have to painted the 'frame' for the doorbell black also.

I made my weekly trip to the landfill and grabbed several cans of black paint, a can of pink paint, various little things and a bottle of THIS!

I've never used it and not sure if I ever will. Maybe I'll make a laundry room vignette using that and the box of Faultless Starch I found a month or so ago. Of course, that would mean I would need to DO something with the laundry room in a rental where I am not allowed to redo the cabinets (or tear them out and put shelves and would be an absolute nightmare to paint as it has the furnace, hot water heater and washer/dryer in there...all on one wall. The cat's dish is on top of the dryer so the dog won't get into it, his litter box is in there as he refused to use it when I moved it to the garage and just went behind the door. He doesn't like change ;D Maybe when I get my own laundry room.

And here's the sneak peek for Met Monday...hopefully finished within the month. Unbelievably hideous fabric, but the batting wrapped foam is in excellent shape.

Sunday I drove down to Denver and oh my! I stopped at a yard sale that had gone to the FREE status. Charming little house that needed some TLC to be a great place. I got two dozen canning jars! FREE! I got 14 of the pint wide mouth jars (new drinking glasses!), 6 of the half pin ones for Sunshine to use, an odd size/shape on that I will use for a decorative thingie or storage. I also found TWO older aqua colored ones and one that is a pale green. I think the green one would be older, but I have to do some research.



I also scored NINE lampshades! I think I picked up around $60 worth of shades for FREE! This is all the free score in the chair. Sorry that the pic is awful.

So slide on over to Rhoda's Southern Hospitality at Home and Susan's Between Naps on the Porch and see what else was found!

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/08/welcome-to-30th-metamorphosis-monday.html

Nancy and the Astroturfers

A friend of mine on Facebook posted this today. I went to his website and read the entire thing. Wish I'd been in Denver yesterday. It would have been worth missing the garage sales I went to just to voice my opinion. Oh well, there is a rally here on August 22 that I'll be joining. Yes, I belong to a Tea Party group and I oppose the health care 'reform' that our president and Congress are pushing. (I told you there would be some politics here)

Here is an excerpt and a few pictures from El Marco's site. Please hop over and see more. Lookingattheleft.com



This was the scene when I arrived at Stout Street Clinic in downtown Denver. Nancy Pelosi is to pay a visit to the clinic within the hour. About 200 people opposed to Obama’s healthcare agenda braved the mile high Denver sun and high temperatures to show their opposition. Their signs indicate that they are well aware that they have been vilified and targeted in an Oval Office astroturfing campaign designed to discredit their opposition.

First let’s look at the messages and faces of these hardy dissenters. Take a close look so you can compare them to the community organizers who will soon enter the scene and harass them. These citizens have been described by the Democratic National Committee in an ad as “angry mobs organized by desperate Republicans and their well funded allies.

The Democrat party that funneled billions in the stimulus package to ACORN community organizers to organize, protest and agitate, this same party is now livid that private citizens attend townhall meetings.

These protesters told me that they pay their own way and question what the government is attempting to do to their health care.







I've talked to our representatives. They will not be taking the public option on healthcare. They will keep their gold-plated benefits for life. Including Bennet (D-CO) who is said to be a 'placeholder' for Gov. Ritter til he leaves office. Betsy Markey (D-CO) will not be taking it either, and neither will Mark Udall. They are all first termers and, I am hoping, single termers. But in a way, that doesn't matter. They will get hefty pensions and lifetime healthcare for two years or six years of service. Why is that right? Why do they get that?

I think Congress' benefits should be chosen and voted on by the people they represent. They should be allowed no say in what they receive. They get a raise every year, month long vacations and vacations that I pay for every year.

Thrifty Monday!

I was sitting here thinking, well, maybe I can do a post on being thrifty since I didn't find anything this week...oops, yes I did. ;D

I had to take Sunshine for her last day of summer school this week, so I did some "piddlin' around". Just me, the truck and a very small amount of cash. I wandered into a consignment shop that I'd seen for ages, but not be in to so this was my chance. She had some lovely stuff and we had a good talk also. Small business, banks and what this administration is trying to do to them. I picked up these two lovelies. A toile sewing....bag? Stand? What DO we call them? I think I paid $5 for it. I found a larger one at another shop that I'll try to get this week. I figured out how to change out the fabric on it. We're talking ugly 60s....but I love this one.

And I found this pretty little pic for our bedroom.....$3? I spent $8 so maybe they were both $4...

Just realized how bad that picture of the picture is ;D Sorry.

So cruise on over to Rhoda's and check out her goodies.  http://southernhospitalityblog.com/yardsaling-in-mountain-brook-jackpot/

Facebook

I think we either love it or hate it. It does drive me nuts that I know the minutae of the games/applications that my friends are using. I am SURE there is a way to turn it off, but I've not found it yet. But I will, 'cause I don't care. I want to know about their families, enjoy their pictures, etc., but the other I can do without.

And there are 'consequences' to it. The heartbreak that goes along with it.Finding out that the boy you had a crush on for ages did NOT age well. But I'm sure he's still the sweet man who married my friend. Secret satisfaction when you realize that you do look better than some of them, and the chagrin when you realize that some of them look better than you do ;D. And finding out that the sweet kid that had a major crush on you, the kid that had the guts to honor you when he first got his license and a car by asking you to be his first date in it. And that he didn't hold it against you when you had to turn him down as you had just met the man you were going to marry 2 years later. And the joy that he didn't hold it against you all those years and still held you affectionately in his memories, as you did him.

And the sorrow when you find that the parents of your friends have passed away. The ones who welcomed you into their homes (or not), the ones who teased you and worried over you. And the sorrow when you learn of teachers who have passed away, or the shock when the spouses of classmates or schoolmates pass away or are ill. Without FB, I wouldn't know that. But I also wouldn't have the privilege of praying for them and knowing that is one way of comforting them. And what a tremendous opportunity to also have them praying for you. And how cool is that? And what do people do when they don't have a 'connection' of some sort that they can call on prayer warriors when they need to and even when they don't?

Just a few thoughts on a sunny Saturday afternoon. When you are painting or sorting through paint at the landfill, you have a lot of time to think.

Happy Saturday everyone. And the rattan chairs are looking mighty fine!