work work work

I know I need to post--Lauren has gently let me know!! Well last saturday we went outside and started to clean up our shrubs. Now that sounds pretty routine, however it was anything but that. As we started to cut back the shrubs the leaves disappeared and ugly wood stood out. Tech dad started to cut off the ugly shrubs and we really thought it looked so much better. After about three hours almost all the shrubs were gone and it really looked better. Now to replant--Caslon is going to help me with some ideas and I think we will come up with something passable. The upstairs room is now completed and put together. It looks so much better. It is amazing how much difference it makes to get wallpaper off. Vacation comes soon and it will be welcome after our long push!! We both say we are getting old for this but it does feel good to get things done!!

paint

This weekend caslon and photo guy came over to our house. It was such a busy weekend. We had 2 main goals, one was for caslon to go through her boxes and take them to her home. I think she was surprised how many she had here !! The other was to pick out paint for the bonus room upstairs. Now that was a tall order--it is so much harder than one thinks to pick out color. One color had too much green and it fought with the green carpet up there. But we managed and the colors are like carmel candy --light carmel and dark carmel. Audit guy and I managed to get all the cutting in done on the paint. I also plan to paint the bathroom downstairs and so photo guy took pictures of it as caslon had painted flowers along the bottom of it while she was still in high school. Needless to say we did not sit around very much so tonight is "chill" night. Audit guy has federal audit tomorrow so he is not in the mood to paint either. Hope you all had a good weekend. Til later...

Being Stubborn

Today my coworkers got a glimpse of my "strong,stubborn,bulldog"side!! One of the reference labs called us today and told us that one of our samples was qns-- that means in lab terms quanity not sufficient. It was a complicated grouping of tests done on a teenage girl last week. The processing of the blood was done by Lisa who is by the way a very exacting tech and extremely careful in all areas of processing. First of all, as background let me explain that before we drew this girls blood we got the manual out and made sure of each test and the quantity required. There was a total of 27ml of blood drawn, with a hematocrit of 36 we could figure out that was a minimum of 9 ml of serum sent to the lab. This was way more than the quantity required in the manual of the reference lab. So when the lab called I simply said I did not buy that there was not enough serum--perhaps they had lost one of the three tubes. She then started some story that they had ben bought out by another lab and the book was no longer accurate-also the methods are changing and now they need more serun. I told her that she did not convince me because new methods are doing the same test with less blood not more. We will not accept this as an explanation. She said do you want to talk to my supervisor and I said "yes" I then went and got Our supervisor and let them duke it out--guess what-- we got a call at 3 o'clock and our lab tests were being done !!!!Then our Sup. put in a complaint on their lab--we think the tube was in another dept. and the person was too lazy to get it and just marked it qns!! Lisa said --I never want you to get mad at me I want to stay on your good side--I hope I wasn't that bad but I can not stand it when they try to pass off some contrived story instead of the truth. If they had simply said I'm sorry we dropped a tube or lost the sample I would have accepted it. So sometimes it pays to be stubborn!!!

Invasion number three!!

Tonight as I was sitting in the driveway and talking to my mom on the cell phone I noticed a squirrel on the fence eating a nut. He then scampered to a big shrub and up on the roof in a flash! I stared at him--he stared at me and then promptly took off and ran to the end of our gutter and disappeared! I called dad out to look---he got out a ladder, went to the end of our gutter and voila!!! A big hole about the size of his fist!! After being inside a while we noticed the squirrel-- back on the tree outside-- so dad went armed with a can of expanding foam spray and some wire. After putting the wire in the hole and the spray, he seemed to think it may be closed off-- unless they have another hole!! Tune in later to see how this turns out!!

New Invasion

Well I think dad did a pretty good job of critter control last week!! However this week it is a new invasion--ants!!! They are marching in and we are telling them to " come to the table" and dine on our delicious terro meal we have set out for them. You almost cannot set anything down on the floor or counter. Oh well, they will soon be gone as that terro really does a good job. It was a busy morning as we had a missionary luncheon at church. It was tenderloin, make ahead mashed potatoes, asparagus with cream sauce and roasted red pepper, green italian salad with homemade dressing and mandaring orange cake for dessert! Now tomorrow morning we are taking a breakfast casserole, and cheese grits to S.S. Mostly it is a cooking weekend . Dad wanted to prove that a Northerner could make cheese grits!! Time to get some shut eye-everyone have a good day tomorrow!!

Strange Noises

A couple of weeks ago I was in the kitchen and noticed something walking above my head, it was in between the ceiling of the kitchen and the floor upstairs. I told dad it was big!! Princess jumped up on the counter and looked up at the ceiling so I know I was not just hearing things. So off to the home depot went the home protector--he bought a rat trap, mouse and rat poison etc--a whole arsonal!! After baiting the rat trap, dumping out the poison etc, we waited-- still noises-the trap had been sprung but no bait taken . So home protector was gone this week and I only heard noise on one night. When he came home he checked the trap-- no bait had been taken and nothing had changed. So he explored further under the eaves and in so doing found a dead sparrow. Upon this discovery, he went outside to check around the house. He found a spot where the eaves trough had sagged a little and you could see in the house-- it was about 1 inch or so wide and there were feathers and some seeds etc., hence making an entry point for smart birds to find shelter--not in my house you don't !! Thank heavens for expandable foam !! So we shall see if this takes care of the saga--tune in next week for critter control!!

Musicians

Saturday dad and I went to a concert at the Otherlands coffee bar. Now this is not your sleek green and black coffee bar!! It has funky painted tables, painted chairs, leftover office chairs,leftover school chairs and is painted with dark turquoise paint accented with orange trim! Also don't forget the tin ceiling. But let me tell you, it has the best coffee served anywhere and it is served in nice big coffee mugs!! In addition to the coffee it has vegetarian food-all homemade and a variety of baked goods also homemade!!
The musician was Clive Carroll who was listed by guitar magazine as one of the top 10 guitarists of all time!! Whether they were the judges or not was immaterial as he was so talented and really "picked that guitar". It is something to sit back just a few rows and actually see all his fingers as they fly and make this incredible music. Also to appreciate how truely difficult it is to make it look so easy. It is so fascinating to see these songwriter musicians that are not in the limelight and then to see marginal talent make it {as far as money goes anyway}. One wonders why some make so much money and others with more talent just make a living. I guess it all boils down to marketing and the whole package!! Anyway we really enjoyed the night!!

Atlanta

Caslon and I went to Atlanta on Saturday--it was a special day and I appreciate the time spent together very much as time with family is precious. We went to the mall, shopped til we dropped ate lunch and shopped some more--only bargains of course!! Ienjoyed the different stores like Anthropologie,Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel etc. We didn't make it to Ikea--we were too tired to hit that big store after the mall. The container store is quite the place also and if you are an organization nut that is the place for you!! I could have spent an entire paycheck there but refrained!! We did find a pretty set of dishes at crate and barrel that we thought crt would like but they were really pricey--leave it to us to find the pricey ones!! The trip home was good we caught up on some visiting and after another trip today we are back in Memphis--thank the Lord for safe travels!!

finicky cat

Tonight we went to the big box store that I hate and bought our cat some new catfood. It is Purina One senior formula with yogurt. Now this sounds routine but it isn't. She decided about a year ago that she wouldn't eat any more of her max cat cat food --by the way that was not cheap cat food. She litterly lost weight and only ate enough to stay alive before caslon helped me by telling me to try different cat food. I was going to take her to the vet. Then I switched her to Purina one and she loved it. Now you know Natural food is supposed to be better for us so when Purina came out with the Naturals formulation I thought she would like it.
Well she did good with the first bag but when I bought her the second bag--no thank you!! Hence the trip back to the big box store for the blue bag of Purina One. She is lucky she is not a farm cat that we had back in Wis. she would have had to make the best of it!!

New and Improved Trader Mom's World

The black didn't show the text on the ticker, so we've changed the background for the time being... and i am now on new blogger, thanks to my blogaholic daughter-in-love.

tagged

When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? I am looking forward to going to work today !!! We really have good times and fellowship--they know a lot about wandering heart, aslan's child and caslon !! How much cash do you have on you? about $30 What's a word that rhymes with DOOR? floor--I would like a new kitchen and dining one. Do you label yourself? unfortunately yes
Bright or Dark Room? actually I like both so as to have the contrast in my house. What does your watch look like? round silver and gold combo with a second hand on it.
What were you doing at midnight last night? catching zzzz's Where is your nearest 7-11? 3 blocks What's a word that you say a lot? I'm going to room so and so to stick this kid!!!
Who told you he/she loved you last? The kids--talked to them today--hubby said it at noon on the phone Last furry thing you touched? Princess
How many rolls of film do you need developed? none--yeah digital
Favorite age you have been so far? 25--happily married and expecting our first child!
Your worst enemy? time
What is your current desktop picture? Let's go with my screensaver--the grandchildren at the Indy zoo--
What was the last thing you said to someone? I'm so excited that I figured this out!! I said to Sara when she helped me copy and paste this in my blog!! The last song you listened to? The radio is on at work-- songs play but I tune them out!!
What time of day were you born? i have no clue
What do you do when vending machines steal your money? hit them not too vigorously
Do you consider yourself kind? usually
What's your life motto? enjoy each day to the fullest
Name three things you have on you at all times. My watch, wedding rings, diamond ring on the right hand also. Can you change the oil on a car? Not really
When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? Christmas 2007

trader moms world

January is the month that we revaluate and get ourselves motivated to do what we put off until we feel guilty. From the comments on my blog I see I need to post !! Well we are listening to Garrison Keilor, and dad is sleeping after running on the treadmill. I told him not to run too long as he hadn't run in quite a while. I too started back at curves. It actually felt good and I'm not sure what else I would do to take its place. I am making some low calorie soup and trying to purge my body from eating sweets and rich food at Christmas. I don't know why we go through all these rituals but I guess we like to believe we can at least make an attempt to get more healthy. But life is also short and we need to savor and enjoy each day. I know I truly enjoyed being with each and every family member over the holidays. So here goes--chicken taco soup and a workout on the way--til later

cleaning

I haven't written much lately as I have been busy cleaning!!My washer got a workout as I washed all the bedding and blankets etc upstairs in our home. I don't want there to be any problem with the allergies in the family!! Now it is on to the food, so I took my recipe box to work. The girls were so fascinated by the writing on the cards, they noted how all the people around 70 or 80 years of age write the same--their handwiting looks so much alike. My mom says it is because they had to make circles by the hour. In my generation we had handwiting but we did not make circles by the hour hence our writing is very much different. My grandma who lived to be over a hundred had a flowery script writing and she always used an ink pen and liquid ink. I'm not sure this was worthy of a blog but it was quite fascinating. this is wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!Maybe next year I'll post more but I will never keep up to wandering heart!!

tearoom fare

Saturday my friends from the lab met at a tearoom in the midtown area. It is quite an experience, a treat for the eyes and the stomach! The setting was a antique store and the furnishings in the tearoom were beautiful old tables,benches and chairs. It was immaculate and the service was superb. Now the food was very good but picture your average plate of food and shrinky dink it up and you have tea fare. Our dessert was chocolate bread pudding it looked beautiful but was about the size of a doughnut hole!! Maybe that's the way I need to eat on a regular basis!!

Getting out the decorations

Yes, we really do have some christmas decorations. We dug them out after at least 4 years. It actually was fun to remember when we got them. Also it made me remember all the charlie brown trees that dad came home with and how we turned the "bad" side to the back to cover it up . When it was all done, no one ever knew we had an ugly tree! It will be such a treat to have everyone here it has been a really long time since we had a holiday here--I hope I can be creative with the food etc--Now we have older children and they can put in their recipes and ideas--should be fun.

Falling asleep and waking up

Today reminded of how fragile and precious life is. My favorite uncle died on Tuesday of this week. He always teased me as a child and always had neat gadgets for me when we visited him. not only was he a gadget man he was a puzzle and riddle man and he always tried to stump me.His personality reminded me most of my fathers hence the reason he was my favorite. He did live to a remarkable age of 101. Now for the rest of the story --his new great-grandaughter was born on the day he died and she was present at his funeral--isn't that how bittersweet life is !! It is however so much more sweet to those who have the blessed hope!! I know he had that hope in the Lord and walked with him many years.

Praire Home Companion

Tonight we watched the Prairie Home Companion Movie. I know, you say here we go on movies again but this one was kind of nostalgic and made me remember when dad and I listened to Garrison Keillor. We used to listen whenever we could and I remember certain of our children that made fun of us!!!
It is a reminder of how much talent it takes to do live productions--right crt??It is a recommend for a m0vie and much better than Lakehouse that we watched last night.
I also am reading a book right now--It is called -an unexpected light It is formatted like Jenkins books walking across america and walking across china etc. But it takes place in Afghanistan. The author walks through the country guided by the afghan warriors in the mountains--he is a journalist and writes a fascinating story about his experiences--some of them quite harrowing.
Enough on my entertainment for now . It does enrich our life though .
Speaking of an enriched life we are looking so forward to being with our grandchildren next week when we gather to celebrate Hannah's 1st birthday. They are a heritage and we love all of them very much! Not to mention their moms and dads aunts and uncles too!
til later......

Movie Firing

Well I did it again!!! I seem to have a propensity for picking out the worst movies--when the kids were young I picked out a 5 star movie that was a psychological movie about some guys remodeling an apartment house in Germany that different people passed through. My kids never let me forget it. About 2 weeks ago I saw this 4 star movie in the tv guide it was titled Ordet--well--it was about this farmer in the Netherlands with 3 sons. One was a believer who went to seminary . While in seminary he must have thought too much and he went delusional and thought he was Jesus Christ. The other son was an unbeliever and the 3rd son was just young and believed in faith and joy like the father and grandfather. The story come to a climax when the wife of the unbelieving son dies in childbirth--the other little girl asks the delusional son to raise her mom from the dead and he says "they don't believe so I can't do it". To make a long story short--at the funeral the son stands up and calls on God to raise up the mom while holding on to the ,little girls hand and the mom raises from the dead!! I know what you are thinking and you are right Dad fired me from movies again!!!

Hi every one! Are you shocked??????????I am not sure I have this done correctly but here goes!Tonight we put the heat on for the first time --the cat is soaking up the heat on the floor in front of the heatdish from Costco.I became so frustrated that I could not comment on crt's blog so I decided to do something about it.
It has been very enjoyable reading the blogs and has been a source of entertainment for me in the evening after work--I love the pictures also--probably I won't get that creative but you never know! We had a great trip this past weekend --we flew to upstate New York and enjoyed Niagra Falls --we have been married 36 years and never gone there so it was a treat! I enjoyed the maid of the mist boat ride that takes you down below the falls---there is something about being under that huge volume of water coming down and feeling the mist on your face that is awe-inspiring. Another favorite was the ride up the skylon space needle where you could see for miles --all the way to toronto . The fall colors were great and we walked for miles all around the area and took in all the overlooks that we could for two 50 something year olds!My flight back was long since I volunteered to get bumped--but now I can fly again somewhere.--Enough for today--til later mom