Death in the family

My PC!!!

My limping along computer finally cacked. Dead. Won't even turn on and try.

Like my old cat -- I was the only one who loved it. Everyone else thinks it's about time, but me? I'm marching it down to the PC doctor just to see how much to revive it.

Why bother? Because next purchase will be a Mac, and the way this thing went down, I think it may just be a parts issue and not a virus or past it's prime thing. If it's a cheap part...

Just a reminder -- back up your pictures. I had most of mine, but there are some (several hundred) recent that may go down in flames (several hundred recent -- gotta love digital photagraphy).

***Important info to my e-mail pals -- NO E-MAIL SET UP on this here, husband's, computer. If you would like to reach me, use my hotmail account that is set up to the link in my blogger profile.

***whoops -- just saw the e-mail button isn't set up -- must have lost that when I did my new background color. it's :
kimberly-louise at hotmail dot com

*** this reads like I don't want a Mac. Wrong. Can't afford the Mac I want at this time (still working on the kitchen) and won't spend money on another pc, unless I can revive the dead one for a small fee.

Project updates

Winnie's window treatments -- this was taken when I had two different tie backs up. I went with the black.

FYI -- Cheap to do a window box. They will cut the wood for you at Home Depot. You bring it home, nail it together, cover with cheap batting and fabric from the clearance section at Jo-Ann Fabrics, staple fabric in place, get some corner brackets, screw them into the box and wall and poof -- looks sharp, cost little.

The black bling on the ends is from a cheap (seven bucks on a clearance shelf) chandelier that I took apart, then attached to the corners.










Mirrors!

****Blogger is not playing nice with me and won't let me put the type by the pictures, but I'm sure you can match the story with the correct project.

The picture of the mess was the only picture I could find of Winnie's desk before I painted it black and green and stuck pretty knobs on it. Lizzie's dresser was a road-kill find (as was Winnie's desk).

The dresser was hunter green and coated in some diamond gauge varnishing product that I am unfamiliar with. The varnish product held the paint in place, but once I sanded through -- it was clear the previous painter had not prepped the previous previous surface and the paint started peeling off like an old sunburn. Not a desired effect -- I don't strip furniture. Half of my creativity is born out of finding ways to avoid stripping old paint off of furniture I want to re-paint.

Because I was doing a crackle finish anyway, the surface didn't need to be pristine, but I did have to peel a lot of paint before it was all over.

When Lizzie's dresser was at the crackle stage, with no hardware nor detail paint, she was disappointed.
She's a tough client -- she wants it all, 'a little of this over here, a little of that over there and add in six of these and a dash of sparkle and it will be just what I want'. Lizzie wanted roses. After searching a couple of stores for decals, or wallpaper -- anything with a rose that I could affix to the dresser. No luck. My love for gaining info via the internet, however, was renewed yet again -- this time thanks to you tube and Donna Dewberry.
Go ahead, you will be painting roses and leaves on everything you own by the end of the day -- not necessarily because you like them, but because you can.

"Every hour we spent together lives within my heart" -- from a sarah mclachlan song

Winnie is a girl who wants to be able to do certain gymnastics moves and she's willing to put in the work and make it happen. First there was the cartwheel -- which she has not stopped doing since she learned how four or so years ago. Then she had a desire to do a roundoff, then a need to do a front walkover.

This years goal was the back walkover. She had all the lead in skills in place, but just needed that last bit of trust to flip herself back and believe that she would land where she was supposed to (and that her spotter really had her back).

Tonight was the night!

She did it twice!

She looked up to where I was on the windowed observation level -- she beamed and mouthed, "did you see me? I did it!"

"Yes!" -- big thumbs up.

At that very moment -- from the dance class in the next room -- Sarah McLachlin starts singing the Jessie song.

I was glad I was at the end of the row of chairs and that nobody was next to me because first the chin quiver and then the blithering. I was choking back sobs.

SOBS!

What on earth? I almost had to walk out of the room -- it was the perfect sentimental storm.

I would have been fine with a back walkover -- "great!" -- thumbs up, brief moment of pride, and that would have been the end of it. "The Jessie song" kills me anyway, but to have it go off at that moment was like a time machine and I was experiencing two special moments in time, all at once.

Jessie was Winnie's second love (Barbie Rapunzel was the first, but Jessie was a much deeper and more meaningful relationship). The moment I was transported to this evening was a time where I heard a little Winnie singing that song and when I went to peek on her, she was dancing with her Jessie Doll -- complete with loving twirls around the room. I watched the whole thing without being discovered and it was about as precious as watching a kid and favorite toy gets.

My baby is nine and she can do a back walkover.

Personal update for my peeps

I've been painting again, which leaves not a lot of time to blog or comment.

I'll post pictures soon, but I've done two dressers, one desk and the better part of four rooms.
Two items were mine, the rest were for my cousin and his family. They got an opportunity to become homeowners -- of a home in need of some gutting!

Good thing my dad is from a large family and there were lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters and brothers to help.

Some of the rooms were fine, but others were too far gone. It was neat to see everyone come together and make stuff happen -- our own personal home makeover team. We got the 4 kids bedrooms mostly painted, including a brick wall (takes forever!). The living room walls were stripped of paneling and given a knock down plaster treatment, master bedroom painted, ceiling fan installed, plumbing fixed and added for future laundry room, bathroom gutted and ready for drywall, kitchen painted and some cabinets removed.

Rich was amazing, I was a proud wife this weekend -- there's no home project he can't do or figure out, plus he's not a hack.

They have another weekend to get things done and then they will be moving in -- wish them more luck.

Hope all you blogger buddies are having a dandy week as well. And to the moms, may the paper work angels come and fill out all your school forms and do all of your fund raising work.

God Bless.

Power

Half the time I'm bitching that my kids don't listen to a word I say, but the freakier fact is that they do.

So many examples this week, especially with Winnie, who is in the fourth grade. Apparently, fourth grade is the year to be fickle, and the time to learn about fair-weather friends, and the year to learn how to be mad without ending the friendship.

This is a terrible post because I can't think of the example that really floored me this week, I can only remember that I thought, holy crap, I'd better start paying closer attention to the advice I'm giving this kid and give her something that she can really use.

When your kid is in tears and says, "I tried doing what you said" and goes into detail about doing the thing you suggested and how it did not resolve a thing. Something about hearing your words in action and having them fail your kid -- uhg.

I fessed up and told her I didn't have all the answers. I mentioned the things I say are the things that work for me, but in truth -- there are grown ups who don't ever get this stuff -- it doesn't work on everyone. I told her grade school can be harder than middle school and even high school in this regard because this is the time you have to figure out about being a friend and who deserves a second chance and who should sit on it and rotate.

The hardest part for me was seeing how my kid was trying to impress this other girl who was treating her like shit. Hear me when I say, "that girl does not deserve your effort." And pointing out all of the good friends who were standing by her...nothing. But today Winnie and the enemy were getting along and my girl is happy again.

Of all the sage things I had to offer, the one thing that seemed to give her a bit of relief was when I said I thought grade school could be really hard. Her whole body slumped with that "you understand" slump thing that people do -- it made me want to hold my baby forever, right after I kicked that Shelly girl's ass.

Of course I did no kicking of any ass -- it's a good thing too, because of them being friends again today aaand, I don't think it would have been right for a mom to kick the ass of a fourth grader. Winnie would have been embarrassed for sure -- she doesn't even like it when I sing out loud.

I can't think -- I'm dancin'!

I realized that I can only paint to certain types of music, fairly ambient is best for the zen like state required for the tedious crap.

This song does not work for painting.

Mere hours before he gets his own vehicle

The boy.

"...two hearts that beat as one..."

Yesterday, as I was writing the movie review, my doorbell rang. It was a man who was looking for previous owners of my home. The name was not of whom we had purchased the house from and that family had lived here for 30 years. This man was looking for someone who lived here when this house was nothing but a basement.

Our living room, kitchen and laundry room are in the walk-out basement area. I have a goofy house and have always wondered which parts were original. We have regular ceilings and low ceilings and cobbled additions, old forgotten pipes...crazy house.

Enough about my house, this guy was in town for his 50 year high school reunion and had gone to the elementary school next door when it was only a two room school house. He was looking for his first love -- she used to live in my house!

How stinkin' cute and romantic is that?!

I took his name and number just in case I could find anything out for him. He said he's already googled her to no avail.

I hope he finds her.

"Burn After Reading" -- review

Hmm.

First of all, a sneak peek preview is a weird way to see a movie. It reminded me of going to see my cousins' college movie project (which was really funny Dave -- way to go!) -- there was an intimate and artsy vibe that you don't usually get at the theatre.

The part that was weird and distracting was how the setting affected the reactions of a few people. There were a certain amount of folk who were clearly over reacting to the funny stuff and sort of funny, not quite super loud belly laugh, funny stuff. And I say this as one who has been the only one laughing in a theater before -- this was not a few oddball senses of humor -- this was laughing for the guy in the back who was taking notes on a clipboard.

Again, weird and distracting and possibly the reason I didn't seem to be able to fully engage with the movie. Or maybe the movie wasn't all that engaging -- I still can't tell, thus the "hmm".

The movie started a little slow and I never felt the payoff of a truly complicated plot. It was twisty and layered, and yet nothing seemed all that new. There were plenty of great moments, Brad Pitt plays a perfect goof, Frances McDormand is always perfect -- everybody had a funny vignette or two, but overall there was something too purposeful or seemingly planned and it left me a little underwhelmed.

At the same time, there were funny bits that are still sinking in today. I keep chuckling about George Clooney huffing off with a special pillow and other little gem moments that I don't want to spill and spoil. I liked all the scenes with J.K. Simmons right away (he played Juno's dad and was an intelligence guy in this movie) -- none of his stuff seemed contrived and was good darkly silly stuff.

I recommend this movie based on the plentiful farcey antics of all. There is nothing that I hated about this movie -- I'm also not overly enthusiastic about it either. It's a -- see for yourself -- type of movie. Go see it.

I'm a Winner

I just won tickets to a pre-screening of the new Coen Brother's movie!

I was laying on the couch waiting for the advil to kick in and do their thing on my cramps. I was surfing between the three channels the cable guy left behind (tv guide, nbc, and tbs), when the local morning show said they will be previewing the new movie and "call this number -- callers 6 through 10 will win tickets".

I didn't dash for the phone -- it was only when it occurred to me, "hey, I'm a winner" -- that I grabbed the phone, dialed, and hit redial until I got a ring instead of that busy signal. It took some time and rang so long I considered hanging up, but then I thought, "it takes time to get people's info and I'm a winner, so I'm going to wait until they answer and tell me so."

Guess how he answered the phone? "You're a winner."

I knew it!

Oprah would be so proud, I totally got those tickets with my mind.