Got the heck outta the ATL for the 4th!

We took a very short, but much needed weekend off, and flitted down I85 (then 65) to lovely Gulf Shores, Alabama for the 4th of July weekend. My folks live there, and the last time we got to go was Thanksgiving! My Mother was in dire need of a Daughter fix, and she just loves Steve to bits.
We got there around noon-ish, relaxed for the afternoon, grilled burgers for all of us, then Steve and I headed down to the public beach to watch the fireworks. They get better every year, and this time it was 40 minutes of shimmery, explosive beauty. We had such a wonderful time, we didn't really even mind the hour it took to drive the 5 miles home. I'm thinking next year, we'll take our tandem bike and use the bike paths to get home.... would have been a lot faster!

Saturday we went fishing. Or rather, Steve fished, and Mom and I lolled on the beach and were cheering section and moral support. However, this time he only needed a cheering section. He caught 3 WHOLE FISH!! Yayyyyyy!!!! You see, usually he catches sticks... or weeds... sometimes trash. It's been 2 years of stick catching. There's even a really nifty one Mom has saved for him that she's been threatening to put on a plaque! LOL So now the curse is officially broken!

Gotta love my Mother though. Friday afternoon when we were just relaxing, Steve was discussing the fact that he needed to get some live bait. Mother pointed out the porch windows and says "Well, there's plenty of twigs out back".

I like to have wet myself laughing. She's sneaky like that sometimes.

I won't describe the hellish 9 hour drive home. Suffice it to say, NORMALLY it's around a 5 1/2 hour drive.

But, it was good to get outta the hood during a holiday weekend. Usually all we do is stay in the house and worry about the stupid hood-rats firing their guns and where the bullets are going to end up.
Going back soon, it's so relaxing to get away from the phones, the computer, and whiney-assed clients. We've decided not to wait until Thanksgiving to do it again.

The wheels on the bus go round and round!

And then they fly off and go bouncing down the road in fifty-eleven different damn directions!

That sound you heard yesterday? It was ME beating my head on the desk in between frantic phone calls to clients to reschedule their work, and trying to locate our lead carpenter who was unprecedentedly (is that a word? it is now!) AWOL yesterday. Turned out he had a dumb-ass moment, and forgot to call OR check his cell phone while it was in his truck having the transmission repaired. Tomorrow I'll put my foot in his skinny azz. Today I'm just glad everyone is back on track.... for the moment. *sigh*

Honestly, do people just not call anymore if they're going to be late or miss work? I was stunned. It has thrown our entire week into chaos, and anyone who knows me well, or as some of you may have guessed by reading my blog entries, I don't deal with chaos well at all. It sends me into panic overdrive. And once I get there it's hard to back down from DefCon 5.

Just when I think I've got a handle on things, it snaps off, and I am such a danged "fixer" I don't stop until everything is put right again. So far so good. Hopefully we won't have any MORE stupidity this week. I've warned all our crew (who all think I'm just soooooo nice), that I'm not a bitch.... I'm THE Bitch and if they screw up again they'll all find that out the hard way.
Now I'm off to compose a couple of lovely memos to our sometimes wayward crew to reinforce the idea that they don't get paid if they don't get it done right the first time and take forever to get it done. I run a business, not a charity.

Move over Ethel.... I'm driving the damn bus!

Well, it's official. I am now the keeper of all things. *sigh*

Business scheduling, billing and payroll. Me. Design consultant. Me. Cook, entertainment coordinator, financial counsellor, hairdresser, housekeeper, laundress, landscaper, masseuse, memory, psychiatrist, and general all-around dogs-body.... you guessed it. Me.

You know, I never in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) EVER thought I'd be the financial nerd in a relationship. I've always been more on the creative side. But I guess my hard won lessons in practicality have served me well. And of course, being really OCD about organization helps a lot. *grin*

Our little remodeling business is FINALLY starting to get on an even keel now that I've begun handling pretty much everydamnthing from scheduling to collections. My other half sells well, does a good deal of the general stuff himself, and we have a great crew. I'm just praying we can continue at this pace. We just might turn a small profit in the next year.

*sigh* When did I become an adult? I'm pretty sure I'm not. Oh well.

The Hills are alive.... part deux.

Wellllll... I'm about 2 or 3 days of HARD work from being totally done with the flowerbeds, stone drive side, and the edge of the concrete side of the driveway.

Now it's just finding the time, and about $200 extra bucks to get it finished.

I got my last bed installed and mulched last weekend, threw a bit of extra mulch down on the thin or bare spots on the long stretch along the stone drive side, and the last of the existing stepping stones shifted.
What's left is the prying up of the granite curbstone my darling other half put down years ago along the concrete side of the driveway, shifting them into the end of the stone part of the drive (about a 7' X 8' section) moving those we don't use into the backyard for other use, weed matting and filling that foot or so wide strip with river pebbles, and the same along the stone side for that last bit.... along with the area around the new bed and shifted stepping stones.
I also need to find 4 more stepping stones of the same type he originally used. The last few steppers and the river pebbles will be the only expense. Everything else is being recycled from one area to another.

I know, most of you probably think I'm nuts. And you'd be absolutely correct. I'm just funny about how I want it all to look. I have a vision... and DAMMIT it will be realized!! : p

The good thing about all this, is that even though we expanded our driveway to accomodate our odd schedules (meaning one of us doesn't have to get up and move a vehicle) ALL of it is recycled materials (old city curbstones that were being removed and tossed, sand from along the railroad tracks where the cars lost excess), it's water permeable (which controlls excess water running off into the storm drains and not into the ground), and it's low maintenance once it's installed.
So, call me sort of ecologically concious... I suppose. ; )
I just can't believe it's June already... and I'm this close to being done for the most part with the front yard for the year.

The Hills are Alive... with the sound of cursing.....

I spent 4 solid days this last week working on our front yard. And when I say solid, I mean from 10 am until almost dark every day.

The first 2 1/2 were the hardest, since they were spent shifting rocks and yanking out several yard bags worth of monkeyfreakin' grass that had been allowed to go crazy for over 5 years. I HATE that stuff, it's highly invasive, and if you don't keep it under close watch, will literally take over a flower bed and spread out into your yard.

SO! Monkey grass gone, a new band of mulched edging put down over weed suppressing landscape fabric, rocks shifted, paver edging shifted, 2 huge clumps of pampas grass shifted (that ATE my arms when moved, I had welts for 2 days), a few new plants and some flowers later... and... Voila! Attractive new front yard!

I've still got a long way to go before it's totally done, but this was the largest chunk of it. I totally reconfigured the beds along the entire front of the house and down the driveway. Hopefully I'll have the rest of the edging and much/gravel down this weekend. I needed a couple days break from it to relax!

It's been hard to sit inside and get my last couple costuming projects finished with the weather staying so nice, but I'll be back at them shortly!

Happy Gardening!

Spring Cleaning is upon me!!

To quote Daffy Duck...... Yoiks!! : )

I got a wild hair and decided I just CAN NOT stand the cluttered mess that is our attic any longer. Soooo, yesterday I got up there and began the official cleaning out of the junk!

4 bags of trash, and several banged foreheads later, I'm about halfway done. Hopefully I can finish up today. There is a substantial amount of stuff going into a yard sale on Saturday, and what doesn't sell is going straight to Goodwill.

My beloved other is a packrat. I on the other hand, am one of those folks who regularly clean out stuff I don't use after a year or so, and either sell it, give it to someone who can use it, or toss it. It's a combination of being raised in a military family, and the OCD component of my ADD. I HATE clutter, and even worse, I hate going to look for something and not being able to find it because it's buried in a pile of mess!

*sigh*

If anyone needs me... just yell real loud outside the gable vents... I'll play Quasimodo and swing down on the attic stair rope.

Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits!

I am finally DONE with the Prom dress! I delivered it this afternoon to a VERY excited young lady and her muchly pleased Father.

She's going to send me photos of herself in it all fixed up and ready for the Prom. I'll have to post one here. It actually turned out quite pretty. I did a hand beaded gold/black bugle & seed bead trim for around the top edges & down the back, with a little beaded medallion in the center front. An 8' X 40" sheer black "veil" with a gold edge serves as her wrap.
I'm SOOOOO glad we moved her away from the hoochie look and into something a bit more elegant.... I know her Father let out a sigh of relief when he saw it on her for the final fitting.
Turns out she's not the hoochie type, but a slightly pampered youngest child (only girl) who's on the dance squad at school and is up for the Princess Court for Prom.

My best indicator of whether or not something might be well recieved - my other half - walked in last night, took one look at the beaded edging and said "She's going to LOVE that!" : )
I think I'm going to go have a lie down for a bit now!

I Remember Why I Never Wanted Kids....

Because no matter HOW cute they are, they're better roasted and served with a nice horseradish sauce on the side, and some parslied potatoes.

Went to the Georgia Rennaissance Festival today with my friend "L" and her 4 year old. It was generally a good day, but would have been more fun if it was just us girls and no little person being totally contrary almost the entire time.
We missed the jousts. We missed the Lippizanners. We pretty much missed all the shows but one juggling act which neither of us could really hear because he was obsessing over a "flat" tire on a power-chair, whose owner was mercifully too far away from us to hear him.

We didn't get to go into the really cool shops because he was bent on touching everything ESPECIALLY when asked NOT to by his mother, then running out into the foot traffic and acting an idiot. Poor "L" was about wore out with it.
He also came up with the game of waiting until people were walking down the path in front of him, then running across the path and practically tripping them. I caught him just before the last attempt at this and jerked his little butt back by the arm and told him he was being rude. He gave me the pouty-face, but desisted. I think I might have scared him a little. ; )

We've already decided to go back on a weekend when his father has him so we can tra-la-la through the shops we couldn't with him in tow, actually BUY some stuff, AND get to watch the shows.
Now I'm going to imbibe some yeasty adult beverages and relax.

No sex and no hoochie prom dress!!

Oh dear.... my darling, beloved and patient other half is going to have to continue his affair with his right hand for a couple more weeks. Poor thing. *snork*

6 week follow-up appointment was good, but I have a couple stitches that haven't quite dissolved yet, so Doc said no hanky panky for 2 more weeks. I nearly jumped off the exam table when he checked one of them! He put me on some very low dose estrogen, and the okay to get back to my regular activities. So now I don't have any excuses for not working in the yard or going on 3 to 5 mile trail walks. : ) I'm not having any "Personal Summers", and I feel better than I have in years. It's truly wonderful. I told him today he probably not only saved MY life, but several of those who know and love me as well.. LOL

On the other side of things, my little prom dress gal LOVED the less revealing pattern I found (and so did her folks), loved the fabric, and has already decided she wants me to make her dress next year. She wants a big foofy skirt princess style dress in pink for her Senior year Prom. : )
I've set aside my loose gown/kirtle project for the time being to keep my sanity and focus on getting her dress done in time. But it's come along nicely. I've got the front embroidery, hemming and lacing eyelets left to do. Then on to playing with yards of black velveteen!

If you hear wailing....

It's probably ME! I'm at the "what the holy hayel was I THINKING when I started this dress?" stage. I'm probably about a week from having it finished and I'm utterly sick of looking at it. Well... okay, not really. But I sure wish Cinderella would send along some of those handy sewing birds and mice to give me hand with finishing it up.

I'll have a commission piece to take my mind off of it for a few days. I have a prom dress to sew. Picked up the fabric for it today. Pale banana yellow. Ick. She's dressing to match his shirt. What happened to the days when HE dressed to match YOUR dress?! She's a cute petite child with a big ol' booty. Naturally she wants a slinky BACKLESS (and low backed at that) dress. *sigh* Oh.. and low in front too, and slit up the front. I'm hoping to talk her into covering just a BIT more of the decolletage and moving the slit to the side. Must go in search of suitable trim for it tomorrow... hopefully it won't look too much like a hoochie nightgown when I'm done. Oh well, it's work. And it won't take that long to knock it out.

Anyone have some nice cheese to go with my WHINE? : )