Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Celebrate The Small Things - June 29, 2016


I haven’t been able to post in the last three weeks. Our air conditioner just so happened to stop working when it was 108 degrees outside. We had to wait five days before the technician was scheduled to come out. The coolest room in the house was the living room so on the first night, my husband and I slept there on the hardwood floor with our heads on the deflated beanbag chairs that our kids used when they play video games. It was fine until I turned over on my side. I must’ve been in that position for hours because when I woke up, I was in so much pain I couldn’t roll over. My husband was in pain, too.

On the second night, he suggested we pump up the air mattress and sleep on that. I had not even thought of that! Duh! So, on the second night, we blew up two mattresses and the kids slept with us in the living room. The dog was confused, but so happy we were there with her, especially me since she loves me best, no lie.

I started doing a thorough cleaning of the house, threw out tons of stuff, donated brand new toys to Vietnam Veterans, and threw out a sofa. I ended up cleaning out part of the garage, dragging two old computer tables into the house, and setting up a new computer that is now old because it was sitting in our hallway for a couple of years without being opened. Now I have a “new” uncluttered workspace that feels pretty good except that now I’m sitting on a hard wooden stool instead of an overly soft sofa that used to make me hunch and hurt my back when I typed.

I was up late one night still cleaning the house when I saw my son at the sink in the bathroom. I thought he had gotten up to brush his teeth, but he had a big bottle of hair gel in his hand. I backed up from the hall and said, “What are you doing?” He squirted the hair gel on his finger. I said, “You’re sleepwalking. Don’t put that in your hair.” He said, “I’m not sleepwalking.” He looked at himself in the mirror. I said, “It’s past midnight. Don’t put that in your hair. It’s going to get all over your pillow.” He just smiled and rubbed the gel between his palms like he does before he puts gel in his hair. I said, “Don’t do it! Wash it off right now!” To my relief, he washed it off his hands and went back to bed. We had to buy him more hair gel today. I hope he hasn’t been wasting it by putting it in his hair during his sleepwalking bouts. It’s not cheap.

The next night, after a day of lugging the sofa out of the house in hot weather and lugging the computer tables in, I was up until past midnight again. I was exhausted and wanted to take a shower. I put my clean clothes in the bathroom and walked out to do something else. Before I came back, I heard the shower being turned on. My sleepwalking son was there in his shorts and t-shirt turning the shower on and adjusting the water. I said, “What are you doing? You already took a shower.” He said, “I know, but I sweated.” I said, “You’re sleepwalking. Go back to bed.” He peeked around the corner and looked at where I put my clothes. That is where he usually puts his clean clothes before he takes a shower, too. I said, “Those are not your clothes. Those are my clothes. I was about to take a shower. It’s past midnight and I’m tired.” He insisted on taking a shower. I was tired and irritated, so I said, “Okay, go ahead and take a shower.” I went to lie down which made me sleepy. When he came out of the shower he said, “I was sleepwalking.” Annoyed, I said, “I know. I was about to take a shower, but you went in there before me. Now I’m tired.” He said, “Sorry.” I said, “When did you wake up?” He said, “In the middle of my shower.” Lol Must be a weird feeling.

The a/c tech came out and changed a couple of parts, then left. I had told him that the house was not getting cooler, but he told us to give it fifteen minutes. He left before the fifteen minutes were up. Cold air was coming out of the vents, but very faintly. Thinking it was fixed, we were happy and immediately left to go to a rock & gem show that we were late to. We boasted to our friends and relatives that our a/c was now working. When we got home, the house was sweltering. We set it at 75, then 74, then 72, but the temperature never went below 81. Noooo! The next day was Sunday and the home warranty and a/c companies were closed. I was on hold for an hour and a half on Monday before I got someone on the phone to place an order for another tech to come out. It’s so hot out that a lot of people are calling for a/c repair. No one called us all day to set up an appointment even though we got an email with the name of the company that would be servicing us. Not good. I guess I can celebrate the weather being 10 degrees cooler than several days ago. :o/ Lower 90s.

The rock & gem show was fun, though and my sons won some rocks at the kiddie games. My mother-in-law spent $600 (!!!) on rocks for our kids. She loves rocks and was thrilled that our kids love rocks, too. We let her enjoy her time with her grandkids and went to look at the other booths. Our youngest son used to bring home rocks he found at school, but those were ugly and he even brought a piece of broken cement and a piece of brick home. Now they have some nice rocks, but when I heard how much she spent, I balked. On rocks?! But she loved sharing a common interest with them so I guess it was quality time well spent.,,

So, I’m celebrating living room campouts with my family (just the type of camping that is right up my alley since I’m not an outdoorsy type of person), rock & gem show, clean house with new workspace (I don’t have to step over stuff now), and something I didn’t mention, a new cell phone. The cell phone purchase was a bad experience, but we got a buy one get one free deal on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus so that is something to celebrate.

We almost got ripped off on our gym membership renewal. We got overcharged by $1000, but I questioned it and the manager, who we have known for 6 years, looked at it and caught the error. So, we are getting our money back. Yay! The sales guy was told he had to make $10,000 in sales every month so I guess he was overcharging everyone on purpose, including us. We’ve known him for years, too, but I had a feeling we were not going to get a good deal since he was not our original sales guy. I’m disappointed in him, but at the same time can’t blame him. Too bad our old sales guys who became our friends left, but now we know to go to the manager to get the rate we are supposed to get as loyal members. So, I’m celebrating new knowledge and saved money as well!

I hope to be celebrating a fixed air conditioner by next week. In the meantime, I hope it rains a nice, cool rain.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer!
 

What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.My Inner Geek8.Eclectic Alli
9.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell10.Constantine
11.My Miracle Life12.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
13.Shells Tales and Sails14.Lara Lacombe
15.TF Walsh16.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures
17.About myself, by myself18.Suzanne Furness
19.Elizabeth Seckman20.Avalon
21.Cherdo on the Flipside22.My Baffling Brain
23.Planet Kimberly24.Shah Wharton
25.Mere Joyce26.Victorian Scribbles
27.Tanya Miranda28.God, Entertainment, & Annoying Things
29.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 201330.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace
31.Square Pegs32.Patricia's Place
33.Yvonne Van Dalen34.Anne Higa
35.My Antimatter Life36.Bouquet of Books
37.Lightravellerkate38.Curious As A Cathy
39.Julie Flanders40.As the Fates Would Have It
41.Project Why42.Crazy Old Lady
43.In My Own Words44.Allison Bruning
45.Tamara Narayan, Author46.My Creatively Random Life

Friday, June 3, 2016

Celebrate The Small Things - June 3, 2016




 

This week flew by. I barely realized that it was Friday.

The other day I received the promo cards for a paranormal art show that I'm a part of called Art of Darkness. I was pleasantly surprised to find my painting on the card and I got the biggest spot! It's the picture on the left. I called it Alien Abduction. The show will be at the Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts in Fridley, Minnesota from July 30-August 27, 2016.



 

I also drew/designed a tattoo for my cousin who is from Hawaii. I like the first one, but her husband wanted the Hawaiian flag in the background. I thought it was too busy with the flag, but they loved it (minus the pole). She just wants the scanned version, so I guess I'll give the original one on the left to my mom who is also from Hawaii. It's a win-win situation! The tattoo artist is just going to use it as a guide so I didn't make the one with the flag as nice. He's going to make it look nice in his own style.
 

My kids are off for summer vacation now, so we watched Spirited Away together and I took them to the drawing workshop I go to. They loved the movie, hated the workshop. I never thought our kids would hate drawing since my husband and I are both artists. They hate writing, too. I must be doing something wrong. They are lukewarm when it comes to reading chapter books, but they enjoy comic books if it's the right one. I'll take that...I guess.

I just discovered interviews of Tony Sandoval on YouTube which answered questions I had about his writing and his life. I've been working on my comic book stories and hitting roadblocks (as usual). He doesn't seem to outline his stories beforehand and he likes to have the reader come up with his/her conclusion to parts of his stories. He wants the reader to be "interactive" with the story. That's what he calls it. I think that's what makes people think about his stories long after they have finished reading them. They stay with you. I think that's a pretty interesting trick. The critics end up calling his work "surreal" and he wins awards. Hahaha.
 
What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.My Inner Geek8.Eclectic Alli
9.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell10.Constantine
11.My Miracle Life12.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
13.Shells Tales and Sails14.Lara Lacombe
15.TF Walsh16.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures
17.About myself, by myself18.Suzanne Furness
19.Elizabeth Seckman20.Avalon
21.Cherdo on the Flipside22.My Baffling Brain
23.Planet Kimberly24.Shah Wharton
25.Mere Joyce26.Victorian Scribbles
27.Tanya Miranda28.God, Entertainment, & Annoying Things
29.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 201330.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace
31.Square Pegs32.Patricia's Place
33.Yvonne Van Dalen34.Anne Higa
35.My Antimatter Life36.Bouquet of Books
37.Lightravellerkate38.Curious As A Cathy
39.Julie Flanders40.As the Fates Would Have It
41.Project Why42.Crazy Old Lady
43.In My Own Words44.Allison Bruning