I know it's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd better post something. They finally got everything working in the apartment. When they installed the dryer, it didn't get hot, so that had to be fixed. When they installed the washing machine, they hooked up the hot and cold backwards, so that had to be fixed. Then our air conditioner quit working and that had to be fixed as well. But now everything is working fine and I've been putting it to good use.
I've also been making more aprons. I participated in an apron swap and made the apron for it and sent it off Monday.I forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it. But I did take pictures of the other aprons I made with the same fabric. The one for the swap was a full apron, but the other ones I made are just half aprons. Here are the pictures:
Oh, and I learned how to make pleats. They are at the bottom of the second one.
Y'all know how we were going to go see my family last weekend but couldn't? Well, we planned to go this weekend too, but with Gustav out there, we figured we would wait. So we came to see Mr. McHacker's parents for the weekend instead. They don't live quite as far south as my family does. I think I've said it before, but my in-laws are great. I always enjoy spending time with them, we all have a lot of fun together. We'll probably stay busy this weekend, but if I get bored, I'll post some more :-) I've got a few ideas. Which is good, since I've had a bit of a block lately.
I hope everyone in the path of Gustav will be safe. I'm worried about y'all :-( I wish I had room for all of you to come stay with me. Sadly, I don't, but I will be thinking about you and praying for you. Stay safe.
No I'm not moving...yet. But I did just get a text message from my landlord that he had an apartment for rent and will give $100 (or take $100 off rent next month) to a tenant that can find him someone to rent it. It's a one bedroom with an office (basically 2 bedroom) for $390 a month. It's just off University Dr., within walking distance to campus. Not the greatest apartments in town (but not bad either), really affordable and very convenient to campus and downtown. So if you know anyone looking for an apartment in Starkville, let me know.
BEWARE! There may be cussing, swearing, and vulgarity in this post, cause it's just been that kind of day. It probably going to be one of those "too long, didn't read" kind of posts, but I need to vent, so skip it or read it, I don't care.
It's funny that today was so frustrating because just yesterday, I told my therapist that I am happier than I have been in a long time, and how I've learned to control my reactions and not let things bother me as much as they used to. Well, I think I was being tested today.
Our landlord has been telling us for a while now that he's going to put a washer, dryer, and dishwasher in our apartment. Last time we talked to him about it, he said it would sometime this month, on a Saturday or Sunday. Of course we said that was fine, just to give us a little notice first. Let me give you a little background info. This man is probably the biggest idiot I know. He's very disorganized and lacks any kind of management skills. He is really bad about not giving notice and just showing up when something needs to be done. I could go on and on about how much this guy gets on my nerves, but I'll spare you.
So Landlord Dumbass calls last night at 9:35 and tells my husband that his "guys" will be here tomorrow and the plumbers can start working on putting in the washing machine and dishwasher and the other "guys" are going to whatever needs to be done to the cabinets to ready them for the dishwasher, and to run the wiring for the dryer. All of this is supposed to happen in the kitchen, but the breaker box is in the bedroom, about as far as it can be away from where the dryer is supposed to go. So the plan was to run the wiring along the top of the wall from the bedroom to the kitchen, which meant that everything along the walls where the wiring was going to be installed had to be moved so the "guy" could get the walls. The problem is that this apartment is tiny and there is stuff along most of the walls, so it all had to be moved. Also, all of the stuff in the bottom cabinets had to be taken out and a lot of stuff had to be moved around in the kitchen so they would be able to do what they needed to do. So we stayed up really late trying to get stuff moved around (I think I went to bed at 4:00), because the "guys" were supposed to be here at 8:00. I had a chiropractic appointment that I had to reschedule because they were supposed to be here at 8:00 and neither Mr. McHacker or I wanted a bunch of strangers in our home while we weren't home.
I waited. Then I got tired of waiting and decided to take a nap. Around 11:00, Landlord Dumbass woke me up by ringing the bell AND beating on the door - not a pleasant way to wake up. He proceeds to tell me that the plumbers aren't coming today, but they'll be here tomorrow. So I ask if there is anything that can be done today because my home is turned upside down and it would be nice to at least get something done today. He says the carpenter is here working on another apartment and he will go see if we can get the cabinets done and the wiring ran and that he would come back and let me know.
I waited. Then I got tired of waiting and called my husband to bitch around 2:00. He proceeded to call Landlord Dumbass to find out what is going on. That's when we find out that the way he planned on running the wiring is not up to code and can't be done that way. Which means that the dryer will have to be in the BEDROOM! All the moving shit around last night was for nothing! AND now we have to rearrange the bedroom to accommodate the dryer. So you know what got done today? Landlord Dumbass got the "guy" to replace the doorknob since I told him it had been sticking.
This one day has completely fucked up the rest of my week and weekend because one man is such a dumbass. Not only did I have to reschedule an appointment, I had a cake to do today on top of that and was planning on taking the car to get a belt replaced because I have to drive 35 miles to deliver the cake tomorrow and had promised to volunteer at the school tomorrow while I was there. And we were planning on Mr. McHacker taking Friday off so we could leave Thursday evening to make the trip to see my family this weekend. But now I will have to deliver the cake and hope the belt is okay since I won't have a chance to get it fixed until Friday. Which means we won't get to take our trip because if we leave on Friday and come back on Sunday that's really only one day we get to spend there which is really not even worth making the trip for. Plus, since I already have obligations, Mr. McHacker is taking off of work tomorrow (actually I guess it's today by now) so someone can be here while these "guys" are in the apartment. And he really doesn't need to take off two days in a row in the same week. GRRR I hope tomorrow is better.
Okay, enough ranting. Here's the cake I did today. It's for the janitor at the school I used to work at. The Sunshine Committee usually gets him a cake for his birthday each year and of course they asked if I would do it. These people kept me busy with cakes last year, lets hope they'll continue to do the same this year.
I had a little extra batter, so I made a small cake for myself and Mr. McHacker. Since I had a ton of extra icing in a lot of colors, I tried making it look like tie-dye. I LOVE tie-dye (I'll always be a hippie) and thought it would make a fun cake. I pretty happy with it. It made me feel better. That and listening to "If I Had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies. That's my happy song :-)
I've been pretty busy the past couple of days and still have lots to do, but I wanted to make a quick post. Yesterday I decided that I HAD to get the bedroom organized. I am the world's biggest pack-rat and it is starting to show in a bad way. So I figured the only way I was going to get the bedroom in shape was to do a "Clean Sweep" you know, like the show. I hate that show because I always think "I wouldn't let them throw out MY stuff. I HAVE to have my stuff. I can't live without my STUFF!" But alas, it has to be done. So yesterday I took EVERYTHING except furniture out of the bedroom and threw it in the living room floor. I put it there because I knew seeing the piles of stuff in the floor would make me do something. And it did. I spent nine hours cleaning/organizing yesterday. I threw away or gave away at least two dozen pair of shoes (and I thought I wasn't a shoe person HA!). Got rid of BAGS of clothes. Found about eleventy bajillion ponytail holders and clothes that I forgot I owned. But I still have work to do. Part of the reason is that I had to stop and do a cake. It's an anniversary cake for the aunt and uncle of a friend of mine. It's supposed to look like a miniature of their wedding cake from 30 years ago. Here's a pic: I'm not crazy about it, but I guess it's okay.
Well, I'd better go get back to work. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!
I think I mentioned that I am going to try to make as many of my Christmas gifts this year as possible. I spent yesterday working on the gift for a good friend of mine. My friend E goes to Destin about 4 times a year and LOVES the beach. She also collects crosses to display in her home. So when I saw this blog, E immediately came to mind since the sea shell cross looked liked something she would love.
The other day I went back to that blog and saw that she was selling some of the crosses she had made. For $40 and $45 dollars! Of course I thought I could make something similar a lot cheaper. So I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 3 bags of shells for $3.21 and to Wal-mart and bought a wooden cross and clear spray paint for $5.59. I already had the hot glue gun and glue sticks. Total cost = $8.80 and about 3 hours.
Here's the finished project:
Mine isn't quite as fancy as the ones from the Gahan Girls blog, but I think it looks pretty nice, and I think my friend will like it. I want to go to the beach now, just so I can collect a truck full of free shells!
I don't really have anything to post about so I thought I would just copy and paste a survey thingy I just did on myspace.
1. Have you ever told someone to their face that they were ugly? Maybe just to be mean to one of my sister when we were kids.
2. Do you chew with your mouth open or closed? Closed.Open mouth chewing is so gross.
3. Is your bed against more than one of your walls? No.
4. Have you ever been attracted to someone's parent? Not that I can recall.
5. Are you currently in a relationship, single, or married? Married.
6. Have you ever pole danced? HAHAHA not a chance.
7. Do you think the legal drinking age should be changed? No.
8. How much water do you drink daily? Does the water in sweet tea count?
9. Are you scared of people that don't have eyelashes? What a weird question. The only person I've ever seen who didn't have eyelashes was a girl that rode my school bus when I was in 4th grade. It looked kinda strange, but not scary.
10. Do you normally say "cute" or "hot"? Cute.
11. Have you illegally downloaded anything in the past 24 hours? No. Was this survey started by the RIAA or the MPAA? It's a trap!
12. What color are your eyes/What color do you wish they were? Brown. I used to wish they were some other color but I don't care about that kind of stuff anymore.
13. Something you really want right now? Always.
14. Do you think you've changed over the past year? Yes. For the better I'd like to think.
15. Have you ever broken into someone's house? No.
16. Do you currently have feelings for anybody? Sure. I love my friends and family.
17. Have you ever traveled out of the country? No.
18. Would you ever kiss your best friend's boyfriend/girlfriend? Are you kidding!?! That's just trashy.
19. Do you give up easily? Not usually. I tend to hang on way to long.
20. What are you going to do when you're done with this survey? Hopefully get some sleep.
21. Have you ever swallowed a watermelon seed? Hasn't every kid who grew up in the south?
22. Would you rather meet the President or Paris Hilton? Neither thank you very much. I meet enough idiots who aren't celebrities.
23. Are you currently looking forward to anything? Sleeping.
24. Have you ever had a bubble blowing contest? Probably as a kid.
25. Do you wear a hat or visor daily? No. I could probably count the times I've worn a hat. They look really stupid on me.
26. Have you ever wished for something and it came true? Wished, no. Prayed, yes.
27. Do you regret anything about your past? A few things but nothing I can't handle.
28. Would you forgive your best friend for sleeping with your fiance? I don't know. I would sever the relationships with both of them. I might eventually forgive, it's the forgetting of things that is hard. I tend to be a grudge holder.
29. Where were you on your 18th birthday? I have no idea. Whatever I did, it wasn't too memorable.
30. Are you scared of being hit? By an 18 wheeler.
31. Would you fight just about anybody? I'm a lover, not a fighter. But if someone provoked me, I would defend myself.
32. Have you ever seen a live bat? Yes, they used to fly around the lights of the chapel bell tower on campus.
33. Do you find it in your heart to forgive? I really try to. Like I said, forgiving is the easy part. Forgetting is what's hard.
34. Would you rather not eat or not sleep? Neither, but if I had to choose one, I guess it would be not sleep because you can live longer without sleep than without food. And if I didn't get tired, imagine how much I could get done!
35. Do you care if people talk badly about you? I want people to like me but I'm not going to kiss anyone's ass for that to happen. The older I get, the less I care about what other people think about me.
36. Are you in a good mood? Most of the time, yeah.
37. Do you think people will exist forever? Not forever on Earth, but I do believe that Christians will spend eternity in Heaven.
38. Would you rather skydive or bungee jump? Skydive.
39. Does the number 23 have any significance to you? None whatsoever.
40. Be honest, do you like people in general? I know I sound like a horrible person, but honestly, not really. I'm pretty content to stay in my home and not interact with the general public. Individuals are great, but as a whole, I'm not very happy with our society.
41. Big or small dogs? Either.
42. Are you taller than 5'6“? I wish!!!
43. Do you like the color blue? Yes, it's a nice color. It never did anything to make me not like it.
Y'all wanna see my favorite Youtube video of all time? Well here it is:
You wanna see my second favorite Youtube video of all time? Well here it is too:
Those ALWAYS make me smile when I'm having a bad day. :-)
I feel inadequate as a blogger. Even though I started writing this just for myself, I can't help but feel "not good enough." I read everyone else's posts and they all seem so well thought out and put together and when I post something, this is how it goes: (internal monologue) "I haven't written anything in a couple of days, I guess I should post something." Then I start a new post and pretty much just write whatever comes to mind. Which is exactly what I am doing just now.
Today was a really good day, one of the best days I've had in a while. We got up around 8:00, which is early for a Saturday, and went to the Starkville Community Market. It was pretty cool. We bought some tomatoes and peaches. The peaches are SO GOOD, between Mr. McHacker and myself, we've eaten 6 today. I'm going back next week just to get some more :-) Along with fruits and veggies, there are also people with booths set up to sell breads and baked goods, granola, and craft items. I'm thinking about renting a space and selling aprons and maybe some other handcrafted items. What do y'all think? I noticed that there were a lot of kids there and thought it might be cool to make and sell sock monkeys too. Does that sound crazy? Cause I felt kinda crazy typing it. I had one as a kid and thought it was awesome. I was thinking that moms would like the aprons, kids would like the monkeys, and Crystal would like the money. I want to do something to earn a little money, but I LOVE being able to stay home, so I think this may be a good idea.
So anyway, we also drove over to Columbus and did a little shopping over there. I found some more fabric to use for aprons, a gift to give my MIL for Christmas, and Mr. McHacker found a cool gadget to use with his computer network. I made a yummy supper and we watched an old movie called Inglorious Bastards. Quentin Tarantino is doing a sort of remake of it and since we're big Tarantino fans, we wanted to see the original. It was fun movie, other than all the people getting shot and blown up. After that, Mr. McHacker decided he wanted to watch Half Baked, I'm not really sure why. So we went out to Sam Goody and picked it up. I have never smoked weed in my life, but I think this movie is hilarious and stupid at the same time, I guess pretty much all stoner movies are.
I know most married women think their husband is great, but mine really is. I've been stressing out about finding a job because I'm still kind of limited on what I can do because of my back. After we talked about it, my sweet Mr. McHacker said that if I could budget our money well enough that we can pay the bills AND eat, that I don't have to work until I want to. Yay!!! I'm really good at budgeting and stretching money, so I think we'll be fine. We won't have much extra, but it will be worth it. It makes me happy to be a housewife and Mr. McHacker wants me to be happy. He's so sweet.
Not only is he the sweetest man on Earth, he's smart too. Really smart. The smartest person I know. Seriously. The only reason I'm keeping this blog somewhat anonymous is not to embarrass him in the event that I say or do something stupid. Because he's going places. He's really great at what he does and has been getting some much deserved recognition lately. There was even a local press release about his research in the local news a few days ago. I'm so proud of him. I want to link to the story, but for his sake I won't. But here are the good parts from the article.
"... recently discovered what is being called "a significant software vulnerability" that could allow hackers the ability to gain entry to computer control systems of numerous industries and potentially threaten national security."
"We know that this software exists in very critical infrastructures in the U.S... Through his research, ... demonstrated how it was possible to obtain unauthorized access to the control system in just a few seconds. He then discovered how to break every encoded password in the system and how to bypass password security altogether."
"The National Security Agency was notified immediately ... Shortly thereafter, the Department of Homeland Security broadcast an alert that included information on how to rectify the problem."
See I told y'all he was a good guy hacker.
This is what his major professor had to say: "... is one of the most technical students we have and a real asset to the department of computer science and engineering. He now also has proven himself to be an asset to the federal government."
Yesterday I was chopping some chicken for a chicken salad and almost cut off my fingernail. Luckily, I didn't slice it off completely. It would have been really gross to bite into my sandwich and find that. This reminded me of a story my Aunt Margie told me several years ago. I don't remember all of the details, but I think it's something like this... One day during home economics class, Aunt Margie and the two other young ladies in her group had to make a coconut cream pie. Apparently the teacher made them make it from scratch, all the way down to grating the coconut. After getting the pie in the oven, Aunt Margie noticed that she had broken a fingernail. Then she realized that it wasn't broken, that she must have grated it off when she was grating the coconut. Hesitantly, she told the other girls in the group what had happened. They decided not to tell the teacher and when it came time for them to taste the pie with her, if one of them got the fingernail, she would just pretend to wipe her mouth and spit it into her napkin. They were just all praying that the teacher didn't get the fingernail, if she did, they were going to pretend they didn't know what it was. So the time came, and one of the other girls in the group got the piece with the fingernail, spit it into her napkin, and the teacher was none the wiser. She even declared their group's the best pie in the class. Aunt Margie and her friends had to keep from laughing. According to Margie, none of them really cared for coconut cream pie after that.
Dinner at Old Venice was awesome. I had the manicotti and it was so yummy :-) After dinner we went to Coldstone Creamery for dessert and got drenched in the rain, but it was all good. I was just glad that I didn't take the time to style my hair because it got soaked.
When we got home, I decided I would finish the little project I started. But first, a little background info. Those of you who live in Mississippi probably know about Hudson's Dirt Cheap. If you don't know about it, it's a salvage store that buys closeouts and returns and such from retail stores. It's kinda hard to describe. Think thrift store with new items.All of the ones I've been to are kinda... umm... messy, and occasionally hazardous. But I love it. You never know what you might find and most likely, you will pay practically nothing for it. Even though, it's messy and I have to dig around through a lot of junk, it's probably one of my favorite stores. So anyway, Mr. McHacker and I were in there a couple of days ago and I was looking through the bedding stuff. I found two king size pillowcases that I just loved. Even though they don't match anything we have, I bought them anyway. And decided to turn them into an apron. I've been wanting to make myself a new apron for a while and figured this fabric would be good for one. So I turned this:
Into this:
I'm all about reusing things for a new purpose. I also found a red Tommy Hilfiger sheet, that I'm going to use to make a different style apron. I'll post it when I get it made. I've gone a little apron crazy lately. Not sure why. Don't really care why. I like it and it makes me happy.
Hi folks. Just letting anyone who is interested know that I did not drop off the face of the Earth. There have been a few reasons I haven't blogged in a couple of days. I was in kind of a blah mood and down on myself for some reason and just didn't feel like talking or writing. Also my shoulder has been hurting pretty badly and sometimes it hurts to type. It's feeling better now since I went back to the chiropractor again yesterday. When I finally got out of my mood slump, I started a project, so I was a little busy with it yesterday. I'll post about it when I'm finished. For now, a few random thoughts.
The other day, I was reminded about something my youngest nephew said a few years ago. And every time I think of it, it makes me laugh. He was about four years old and still wanted a pacifier. He knew that he was too old for it but he just couldn't help himself, he wanted it. One day when we were riding somewhere with him in my sister's car, he asked her if he could have it. She gave it to him. Then he said "I hate this thing for me wanting it so bad." Then stuck it in his mouth. Mr. McHacker and I say that he was a self-aware addict at four years old. Now sometimes when I want some chocolate, I tell Mr. McHacker that I hate that stuff for me wanting it so bad but I just can't help myself. I'm a self aware addict at thirty.
I started the last paragraph with "the other day." Now sometimes that phrase is literal, as in it just happened a few days ago. But sometimes I'll say "the other day" when I'm talking about something that happened months (or years) ago. I picked this up from my friend P. when we were in college. He said it was easier to just say "the other day" than to actually figure out when something really happened. I've come to agree with him on that.
Sometimes I start sentences with and or but. I know you're not supposed to do that. But I like to do it anyway, just because I can. I know you're thinking, "wow, what a rebel."
We're going to have dinner with some friends at Old Venice tonight and I'm excited about that. We haven't eaten there in a while and some yummy Italian food sounds good. I LOVE Italian food. The company will be good too. I really enjoy going out with friends and since I don't have many, it's a lot of fun for me when we go out.
I guess that's enough randomness for now. I think I'll go work on my project and then get ready to go. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.
