Mass Destruction!

The weapons!!!

Scary, aren't they?


Ewwww!!!  Body parts!

But wait...

Some of these I'll put in the "fridge"!  Like...

...strange threaded brass ball, or I guess it's a nut.  Sadly, only one of them.  The other was replaced by those two screws.  Decorative.



(CSA Approved!)



...tension pole...NOT!   You'd have to hack-saw some of the pieces to wedge it in to fit my 7-foot ceilings.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Well, okay, I'll tell you anyway!  'Cause I had to do surgery on my Mom & Dad H.'s pole lamp (circa 1954) with the three beautiful amber glass shades that started my amber glass fixation collection.

...one of the switches still has it's knob, and those marrettes (sp?).

Which brings me to...The Victims!!!

I killed one ugly-pole floor lamp and one ugly-pole tension-pole lamp and got 4, count 'em, four lovely light fixtures out of the deal...happy Kathen!  Now, where will I put them?  and how will I hang/mount them?  Not sure yet, but I am very happy not to be banging into them every time I turn around in my kitchen.  LOL!

What?  You don't like them?

...See the light?  Not really?  Yeah, me neither.  Let me try again...

...see?  I held one up in front of my bedroom lamp, and I think they show some promise!  I am going to rub some antiquing (Is that a word?  Antique-ing?)  on the gold.  It looks cool in this picture, but in real light, the antique brass looking stuff is a garish bright gold colour.

So, that is how Kathen cheers herself up when the anti-depression drugs are not cutting it.  Not to worry, I will be better in a day or two.  Mass Destruction really helps my mood!  Only thing better is Mass Construction!  Or actually, Mass.  But that's a post for another day.

Miasma

That's the word for the day, kiddies.  Miasma.  That's what I've had around here for the past few days.  Rain.  Rain.  Rain.  Repeat, ad nauseam.  The grass has prodigiously grown up to my knees, since my sunshine-filled hours have been filled with excitement or recovery from said excitement. 

Fire*.  Water**.  Work***.  Then lotsa rain to keep the grass wet and growing.  Bah.

The famous quote, from I-don't-remember, is that "the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, and expecting a different result".  So, today I am doing everything weird I can think of.  I will have tomorrow to do the mundane tasks of living that I am procrastinating over, anyway.

Hang mirrors.  Clean hallway.  Call the plumber.  (I am not a strong woman, by any stretch of the imagination.  How the heck did I strip the brand-new hot-water knob in my bathtub?!)  Dismantle the pole-lamps I got at The Nearly-New Sale three years ago. (I have plans for them.  Big plans.  Weird plans.  Not-BGH plans.  Ha.)

Will update y'all tonight on my progress.  'Cause the first step is to step away from this computer.

*I did not take pictures of my neighbour's porch trying to burn down a week ago.  I could not bear the thought.  I just stood there for 4 hours praying.  Thank God it was not windy.  I live in a trailer.  Thank God for our Fire Department.  They are heroes all.

**Allowing your car to dip it's nose into a water-filled ditch (F*****g Ducks!!!) is a recipe for disaster.  And a new-old car.  I'll never replace that sturdy little Toyota with the money MPIC will see fit to give me. 

***Gotta find more.  Part-time isn't cutting it, even the Best Part-time Job In The World.

Double Unicorn Success Club, Here I come!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!  I am joining a book club ! ! ! 

This is funny, because I am a very slow reader.  AND I don't own the book yet, 'cause I have no money, and I live 70 miles from the nearest book store, and there is only one copy in the library system of my puny branch of the local library, although I guess I am the first on the list when it gets here, whichever month that will be...

I really am a slow reader.  I married into a family of readers that devour serious books, taking entire evenings to read them. (/sarc off)  I discovered my favourite author about 30 years ago, and I had almost caught up on the backlog of books she wrote before I had discovered her, but then I started bearing and raising children, and having no money or time to keep up, she got away from me.  She wrote books way faster than I could read them.  I am sad that she died last year, but I will be enjoying her books, probably I won't ever finish reading them all. 

But now, I have a favourite Living Authoress !




I will get the t-shirt!



Okay. Here goes nothin'.

Here I am again, and oh my, Blogger has really changed since 2006 when I was heavy into mastering HTML to say what I wanted to say, in the colourful way I wanted to say it!  Now they even have a button to let me reveal my inner child type strike-out at will. 

What has happened since I was a blogger last?  That was back before I knew the meaning of "LOL"!  Been a long time.

My former business, and that of my hubby's, is a distant memory. In fact, the 2 buildings are now under the parking lot of the Big Food Emporium.  Do I miss them?  Not on your tintype! 

I worked at The Hotel, 2006 version, for the summer, until the fall when the owners skipped the country with all the lottery, booze, and payroll money.  Stiffed me 2 paycheques, the bastards. 

Then I worked at the 2007 version of The Hotel.  It opened in July, and I worked there for the summer, until November, when the Manager decided me and the Cook no longer needed to be there.  At least I got friendship with the Cook out of the deal, which was WAY more valuable than anything else in that miserable place.  Such auspicious beginnings, and it closed in 2009?  2010?  'Nuff said there. 

I was trucking with my beloved hubby, and I was going to get my Class 1 with Air, so I could REALLY be a trucker.  We had plans.  Lotsa plans.  Sadly, he got sick in December of 2007, and passed away of lung cancer in August of 2008.  All I can say is the "grief process" is different for every person, and I have little advice for anyone else.  I know DFC Smash is busy, trying to be "Eyes In The Smoke" for other firefighters out there.  He will be waiting for me some day.  I can't say I am in a hurry (most days) because we have 2 beautiful (grown) children I want to watch for a while longer.  My Lord Jesus and Mother Mary help me every day with missing him terribly.  'Nuff said about that.

I had to give up our house, it was too big and lonely for little old me, and I couldn't make the payments, anyway.  Remember when I said I was friends with the Cook?  Well, she was dumped, jilted, shit upon crapped on, by her live-in, who gave her the mobile home he had bought for them and skipped town.  She moved away (she really had no good feelings about living in this town after that) and her trailer sat empty.  But then, like an ANGEL of mercy, when I needed to find new digs she said, "Use my trailer!"  At least, that's what I heard.  After I had moved in, she told me that I didn't understand, she was giving me the trailer.  Whoa!  Really?  Wow!

I had just about unpacked, when the land upon which the trailer had been sitting for 35 years was sold.  Yup, gotta pack up everything and batten down the hatches, and move it.  Went from not owing anyone a cent, to bills around town, and a loan to pay the moving company to relocate to the "Trailer Court" on the edge of town.  Blessing In Disguise:  Found out it is really in pretty good shape, it felt rickety before because the underpinnings were rotten.  I hired professionals to move it, and it is now levelled and solid.  Unexpected Crap:  The Porch, the 3-season storage room : the years have not been so kind to it.  A corner of it is rotten, and it looks like it will be scrapped, even though it was solidly built (survived the move!) and it's gonna be tough nail-pullin' to take it apart.  I'll get re-unpacked someday.

My application to work for Home Care was accepted, and I started working almost immediately after the hotel fiascos, so I was pretty pumped!  It is a great job to help people who need it.  I love it.  Had a few false starts at trying to take Health Care Aide by correspondence.  As the years went by, I finally had enough hours of doing the job to take a crash course from a career college and get my Health Care Aide certification.  Yay!  Now if I can just get more than part-time, I will be a very happy camper.

There it is, five years in a 7-paragraph nutshell.  A big thank-you to the following, for making this production possible:  DFC Smash (together forever, although we're apart!), Clare McLeod (sister extroardinaire), Amma and Grampa (my adoptive parents!), Tato (my Dad), Sweetie and Spud (the best kids in the world), and last but not least, The Lady With The Wooly Socks, and the Short Lady With the Humungous Heart (they kept me laughing!).  Oh, and the Firefighters and their FireBelles (who helped keep me sane).  And anyone I've missed mentioning.  LOL!