I have a new love...

Maybe I should call it an addiction.  I've had to limit myself to only once a month.  If not, I'll spend a fortune.  It's terribly unhealthy.

What, you say?  Drugs, alcohol, an illicit affair?

Nope.  It's worse.

It's online antique auctions.

In two weeks, I've spent $*#*%@&  (can't reveal the actual number in case someone tells David...) and who knows how many hours checking the furniture, collectibles, and junk for sale on www.proxibid.com.

I've even made a trip to Greenville, SC to pick up 3 beds, 3 end tables, a night stand, a wooden chest, 6 chairs, various Degenhart glass pieces, an old bottle crate, a Shawnee planter, a Fiestaware platter, and several old planters, one of which is a McCoy.  I told David I was picking up a bed.  Only.

I just got a box from Kansas today.  It has some Christmas plates, a depression glass creamer, and a couple of other things.  Cost me only 36 dollars.

And 14 dollars to ship it.

I'm visiting Manchester, TN Thursday.  Two old library chairs.

I have 5 more boxes coming in the next week or so.  Or maybe 6??

Yeah.  I'm addicted.

Just don't bid against me.  Or do...please...

Rollergirls--Part 2

The Sake Tuyas won a nail-biter, beating the Toxic Shocks because of some AWESOME jams in the second half.  Our girl Regreta won MVP for the night for her team.  All-in-all, a successful night, with an after-the-bout dinner at Eats on Ponce...

Check out the details and go see maybe the best sports team in Atlanta (okay, that was typed with my tongue only slightly in my cheek...) for yourself.  Google Atlanta Rollergirls and peruse the schedule.  Bet you can find a date that works for you!!

Oh, and this is what I know...buy a raffle ticket or two and you might just win a bag of meat.

Don't ask.  Just trust me.

Atlanta Rollergirls!!

Yes, you read that right.  It's June 18th and I'm about to head to Atlanta for the roller derby!

Crazy, right?  You should see these girls skate while being tripped, elbowed, punched and blocked--it's insane!  I would never have been able to do this, even when I was young, and I think it's awesome that they can.

Dirty South All-Stars

It's not your mama's roller derby, with an inclined track and rails. These women skate on a flat surface without rails. Remember watching the men's and women's derby on black and white television when you were young?  (if you're as old as I am!)  They'd link arms and slingshot each other around the track.  You can't do that on a flat track, and no one goes head first over the rails, but they do travel to other places to compete, and tonight the Fort Myers team is coming to Atlanta.  I'm actually going to both bouts...Bout 1 is the Sake Tuyas vs the Toxic Shocks.  Yep.  That's what I said.

One particular derby girl, #1905, Regreta Garbo, skates for the Sake Tuyas, who is currently the only undefeated team of the four Atlanta teams.  She also rolls for the All-Star team that competes against the other traveling teams.  I've known her since she played basketball at the high school where I taught.  I'm going with one of her ex-high school teammates--we've gone a couple of other times--to cheer her on.

They hold these things at the Yaarab Shrine Center on Ponce.  You can buy food, non-alcoholic beverages, t-shirts and other souvenirs, and you can also BYOB!  If you want, you can browse the tables in the courtyard for jewelry, paintings, or other art while you listen to the band play between bouts.  There's something for (most) everyone, and the girls promise to put on a show you won't soon forget!

Is anybody out there melting?? I mean, besides me...

Okay, so I'm watching the 5:00 news on Channel 2 and I hear Glenn Burns say, "we'll get a break from this heat June 21st."

EXCUSE ME??  June 21st, last time I checked, is the official first day of summer.  This is spring, for goodness sake.  96 degrees???  On June 2nd?  I think I need to move to, I don't know, anywhere but here, where it's 96 degrees in SPRING...

I'm through with that rant (I think) and I'm going to go on to the next thing I heard.  The state of Georgia is about to increase the gas tax, for the second time in two months, I might add.  It's going up 1 to 2 cents a gallon.  Yes, I realize that's less than a quarter per fill up.  But damn, first it's the Texas lizard that's supposed to make it go up to $5 a gallon by summer (when they put the little reptile on the endangered species list) and now they're sneaking in another tax on us.

Add the gas prices to the heat and I'm just a happy camper sitting here at home, with the air on and every fan in the house aimed my way.  At least until I can't afford the air conditioner bill...

Have I told you about my daughter's puppy?  When we went to visit Thomasville a couple of months ago we saw the cutest little dog at the soccer fields.  He was a Chorkie--half Yorkshire Terrier and half Chihuahua.  Not a big fan of Chihuahuas myself, but this was seriously the cutest little dog I've ever seen.  So anyway, I did all the "you don't have time for a dog, you can't afford a dog, etc, etc" speeches and she agreed, but right before graduation she says to us, "you know I won't have any family down there and a puppy could be my family..." and within two days there we were, scouring the internet to find a Chorkie.

it's hard work being cute!

yes, they changed my name to Aubie!

I am adorable!

on the way to Mommy's graduation

He's a cutie alright.  A cutie who has chewed the top corner of my footboard, the back of the rocking chair's rocker, and the black mesh-like fabric on the underside of my box springs.

This is what I know.  It's hotter upstairs in my bedroom (where I need to sit to make sure he doesn't destroy my room any further, and where my husband has hung out with him so much that Aubie loves him more than the rest of us put together) than it is downstairs in my house right now.  And it's another month before Kelli moves and takes him with her.

And if we had it to do over, we'd buy him again.  What will we do when they move?

One down, three to go...

I've finished a chair.

I'd obviously blocked out how much of a pain in the butt, or should I say hands, weaving chair bottoms is.

It's not just keeping your hands wet for several hours.  It's the chunks of flesh I pulled off on tacks and staples as I hit my thumb, little finger, and pretty much all my knuckles as I wove the splints!

I guess it's a good thing I finished one of them now...by the time my hands heal and I can do another one, I MIGHT have time to get them all done before the middle of July when she moves.

Just Do It

What's your "it"?

I think all of us have at least one.  Something you're really good at.  Or something you really love doing.  And if you're lucky, both.

I love cooking.  I'm pretty good at it I think.  I like to experiment but I also like the tried and true recipes.  I keep a kitchen garden just outside on the deck so I can have all the fresh herbs I need.  I have 6 tomato plants on the deck, 4 heirlooms and a couple of others.  I like to run my hand through the herbs and tomato leaves...nothing smells better!  I also have a strawberry pot, although it is more for looking at since Washington farms has all I can pick just a few miles down the road.  I love grilling.  I love baking.  The clean up afterwards...not so much!!

my fave kitchen item!

I love painting...canvases and furniture and walls!  I'm getting better at it the more I do.  We're finally finishing the coffee table I told you we were making for Kelli's apartment.  It's been stained...didn't like it.  It's now painted and glazed to look like it's older and we let it dry overnight so we can seal it and put on its legs!!  Can't wait to see it finished.  I did a new canvas for a grad present and it's pretty nice.  I also (finally!!) finished Juliette's froggie picture!  I hope they love it!!

hard to see it here because of the lighting

bedroom table

Not quite finished in this picture...it has a pink border and froggie has a face!!

I love plants.  I love buying them, I love planting them, I love watering them.  Bright flowers, shades of greens, the way light plays off the vines at different times of the day, love it.  I like to sit under the fan on the deck, under the arbor with the wisteria vine, and just be.  It's my quiet place.  Especially in the mornings, when I let out the dogs, and nobody's up but me.

I wish I loved cleaning too, but that's WAY down the list!!  Well, maybe not cleaning, but what our parents called "picking up." I think it's a lack of organization that keeps me from being good at it.  Everything needs a place.  That part I get.  What I don't get is how to get rid of the stuff I no longer need so that everything else has room in its designated place!  I've read all the "only keep it if you use it or love it" stuff in the magazines and I've watched it all on tv.  And I'm not a hoarder...I don't think I need 7500 rolls of toilet paper just because it's on sale this week or because the world might end soon (or today, I guess, since it's May 21?!?)  I just have a hard time taking the time to throw things out!!  So at any given moment, you're likely to find folded clothes in my family room that haven't made it up to their rooms, glasses on tv trays from the night before, paint and canvases and brushes in whichever room I used last as a "studio", and a vast array of stuff on my kitchen bar and table (at this very moment, from my view from the couch, I see a large wooden salad bowl, a newspaper still in its plastic wrapper, 2 pairs of glasses, 3 rolls of athletic tape, a bag of training treats for Kelli's puppy, an empty gallon jug for ChickfilA tea, Kelli's car keys, a container of pond algaecide, 2 boxes of complete seasons of Grey's Anatomy, and a pair of scissors)--and that's just downstairs.  Cleaning is something you do before the company comes, right??

you thought I made it up, right??

these are "dog towels" to go in the puppy's crate...folded, but on the back of my couch!!

So here's to finding the things you love and taking the time to do them!  'Cause this is what I know, happiness is just that simple!! Take pride in your accomplishments and accept the compliments.  You've earned that right. We get this one life here on earth, so find your passion!  And enjoy!

Graduation Day!!

Hey y'all...it's been crazy at my house for the last week or so....

Kelli graduated from college!!!

and the rest of us celebrated!  We had a party at the lake last Friday for friends and relatives which involved a bunch of planning and cooking and mostly loading and unloading of cars and boats.  Great time with everyone, and lots of fun on the lake.  Graduation was actually Saturday morning; weather was awesome and it was a wonderful day...graduation, cookout at Ally's, then more lake fun and grilling of steaks and scallops for dinner!  (Did I mention we ate well???)  We were all surprised by Kelli's ex-coach from Argentina, Juanpa, along with a special visit from Chris and Jenn from Thomasville.  Chris was Juanpa's assistant and will be Kelli's new boss in south Georgia!  All-in-all, it was a great weekend and it took until today to even think about doing anything productive.  Can you say old and tired???

There were 6 girls who stuck it out and played soccer together all four years.  Kelli and two of the others played club soccer together since they were 10 or so as well.  They referred to themselves as the sophomore six; they came in with a few others as freshmen but the six of them lasted all four years.  Anyway, I painted each of the other five girls a picture as a little graduation gift.  Here are the canvases, some of which weren't completely finished when I took these pictures, but for some reason I didn't take finished pictures of them??!:

for Binks

for Kayla (unfinished when photo was taken)

for MR

for New

for Ally (not finished in this picture...)

As for food, Thursday before we left I cooked 3 pork roasts and made barbeque of them.  I also made s'mores in bell jars, fruit cups in cinnamon/sugar tortillas, and really that's all I cooked before we left.  I have to admit, I bought macaroni, potato salad, and baked beans from a caterer in Milledgeville.  She's the sister of a lady Kelli worked with in the solicitor's office, and her food is awesome!  I almost couldn't lift the giant pan of mac and cheese to get it in the oven!!

This is what I know...I'm proud of my intelligent, beautiful, caring daughter.  And I love her very much!