Thursday, 09/29/11, PM

More Trauma Drama!
Last night, Cherokee and I were sitting in front of Creekside, talking before going home for the night.  We usually do that, and we so enjoy each other's company.  We had gone on an adventure earlier yesterday, which I will talk about later.
Penny drove up in her jeep, and got out and started yelling and cussing me.  She said that I had 'fu**ed up her life', and that I did not have a concience.  I asked her why she felt that way, and she said that it was because I had told about her and Randy running off together.  I told her that I had just told in my blog what Rhonda (Randy's wife) had told me about their whereabouts and activities.  She said that she had last seen Randy Friday afternoon when she had dropped him off at 'a blue house on Highway 92'.  I don't know which house she had been talking about.  However, Elaine (Rhonda's mother) had said that Penny had called and offered to bring Randy home on Sunday if Rhonda would not ever say anything to him about runnion off with Penny.  If she did, they threatened to take her car.
Then, after she had yelled at me, she asked me to give her $20.00.  I refused, of course.  I figured she had already cost me enough.  Not so.
When I got home, the house here at Clairemont had been broken into.  Whoever had done it had come in through a dining room window, and stolen all my jewlery, valued at about $20,000.00-$30,000.00, many of the pieces being custom made by Mark Enix at Fountain City Jewelers.
They had done 'something' to my bed, and I'm not sure I want to know about that, but I sure changed the sheets.  The house had been gone through, but not too much taken but the jewelry.
Tonight, Steve came home and re-played the video on the burglar system.  It was two tall, skinny people wearing jackets exactly like that one Penny had worn at my house when she was working for me.  They had come up from the creek, to avoid detection by Otto, who Penny knows is nosey.  It's almost like she has been gathering information to use for this event.  You can clearly recognise her forehead and eyes, and some clothing, and her stance and walk are unmistakable.
Steve is presently working on computer-enhancing the images for the Sheriff's Department, and we plan to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, and perhaps beyond.
Randy is a convicted felon, which means that if he's convicted, he will have to serve his former sentence (he's on probation) and any more time from this incident.
If he's caught and sent to prison, I'm going to visit and get some large, black buck to take him as his girlfriend.  He'll get out next walking funny.
Casper, the sheriff, is as useless as tits on a boar hog, but I have a couple of friends named Smith and Wesson who can catch about anybody.
I hope you're reading THIS post, Penny, and you're thinking about all the ways I can f**k up your life NOW!
You ain't seen nothin' yet, girlfriend.
I gave you a job, loaned you money, helped you in every way I knew how, and you're paying me back by stealing my jewelry out of my house.
And don't think I'm worried about what you'll say next.  You're a common thief, and I'm not afraid of you.  Do you know what a good shot I am?  Do you know how many guns I own?  You just might learn soon.  Or maybe you'll never know what hit you.  Or who!  Or WHEN!!!
Be afraid, fool, Be VERY afraid.
I've got friends in low places.
Matter of fact, I've BEEN in low places.
I saw you in my own video camers while you stood on the porch of my house and sent your boyfriend in to do your dirty work for you, and steal a pillow case off of my bed to carry off my jewelry.  Are you really so stupid that you think he'll take the rap alone?  Not so.
You're what's known as an accessory.  He's what's known as a repeat offender, and he won't be in the liberal Grainger County Jail this time...he'll be dealing with the state prison officials in Nashville.
How tight are the family jewels feeling NOW?
You know, revenge is not only sweet, it's therapeutic.
I'm gonna get you, sucka!

September 28, Wednesday AM

Well, someone (and you KNOW who you are, Lynn) called me yesterday morning to tell me that I need to get some rest.  She says she can't feel like I enjoy my work at Creekside anymore.
She's right.  I'm sorry if I've burdened my readers with the sad fact that I'm frustrated, tired, depressed, and anxious over that project, but it's true.
Lynn is very in-tune with my feelings, though she's far away geographically, and she felt that I needed a kick in the pants to get me back on track.
That's what friends are for.
Lord, send a revival!
....or a massage therapist!
I've been tired and frustrated for some time with all the work, the dust, the fact that I've neglected my own house and yard, that I don't have as much time for my friends, that I don't have time for church, that I don't have the energy (and time) for going to flea markets and yard sales, and that I haven't recovered from the throat surgery I had in the early summer.
I'm still quite hoarse, and my throat feels like I've tried to swallow needles.  I don't know if rest would help, but I haven't really tried to get enough rest to find out.
I need to.
I'm going to try to re-assess things, think some, pray a lot, rest, and take a new direction with all the work and drive.  I really need to see something really big get finished, I think.  That always inspired me and gives me strength. 
Lynn says she'd love to come and help me for about a week, but she's too much fun to run around with, so we'd just spend more of Steve's money.  He'd send her home in a desperate act of self defense.  I don't know if his American Express Card could stand Lynn and me shopping for a week.
I'm going to be thinking today about all the things I need to do to get a new start and new feelings about this house project and my health issues.  I'll try to blog again tonight and let everyone know what I'm thinking.  Faune Gerber is about the only one who writes to me about my blog, and I love her comments.  She sure has the energy for projects.  She needs to bring Armin up here to help for about 6 months.  That would be a great turn-around.
He's put new floors in her house, re-done the kitchen cabinets, done some landscaping, and many other projects.  I think I need some of his pills.
Enough for now.  I'll try to be more up-beat and get more done.  Film at 11:00.
Barbara, here's your mention.
You can call me now to tell me what a bad writer I am.

Tuesday AM early

It's still dark out, but I've been up for a while.
I can't seem to sleep anymore, except for just short naps.
I'm tired all the time.  My throat is not better, and I have some trouble breathing, and I suspect that the swelling and scarring on my throat is partly the reason for my breathing difficulties.
My feet and legs hurt constantly, and i't surely caused by my blood not being oxygenated well.
I've been trying to get a lot done at Creekside, but it seems that I only take one step forward to slide back another.
Cherokee and Stucco are distracted with trying to get Shawn out of jail, and are of little use.  Stucco wants me to advance him money on jobs to use for bail money.  Creed Daniel told him to not waste money on bail, but to save it for the expense of a trial.
I got them in contact with Peanut, who is an old friend of mine from cosmetology school from many years ago.  She's trying to help them in any way she can, and I so appreciate that.
I started putting the tile on the front of the whirlpool surround in the new upstairs bath yesterday evening.  It looks really nice, and I'm not having too much trouble doing all the cutting and fitting of the tile.  I'm using travertine for the field, with several types of accent tiles, which makes things interesting.  It's going to be a beautiful, earthy bathroom, softened with pink and pretty trims.  I finally got all the floor put down, without it looking too patchy.  It's going to be a really pretty bath.
I just wish Randy were still here to put the toilet back in for me.  He and Penny have hurt so many people with their little adventure.
I haven't made a decision yet as to which vanity I will use in that bath, but I want something unusual and elegant, to go with the decor, which is a sort of 'tumbled marble'/Italian/Roman look.
I'm depressed and anxious about almost everything.
Betty Pike wrote me a very nice e-mail inviting me to Convention, and I'd love to go and enjoy the peace and contentment on those lovely grounds again.
Steve will be home this weekend, so I guess that kicks in the head any intention of going anywhere I want to go.
I need to get my day started.
Off and running.
Oh!  I'd better mention Barbara.

Sunday Am...very early

So much information, and much that I wish I didn't have to tell you readers or keep as a reminder to myself in some other day, if I live and the Lord tarries.
On Thursday, we learned that Teddy Swinney had hanged himself in their front yard.  Leslie, his wife, found him that afternoon when she went home from work.
We later learned that he had said that he was going to kill himself because he was facing jail time for not paying child support.  His daughter will now face each day knowing that her father had rather hang himself than feed her.  What a message to leave for those behind.
All of Rutledge has been talking so much about it.
Cherokee and I went by to sign the register at Smith's yesterday.
He looked nice.
Friday evening, Rhonda, Randy's wife, came by pretty late to get him from work.  I told her he had left some time before, and had actually left early, because he was riding with Penny.  She had wanted to leave early to take her sister home to Virginia.
Rhonda said that Randy was perhaps at Penny and Kerry's house, visiting with Kerry.  He now has a lot of time to visit, as he's not working anywhere.
He and Penny have been having some disagreement over her working for me, and he had made some snide remarks about Penny being 'my slave girl'.
She had told him that SOMEONE in the household needed to have a job, as his mother is now making the house payment.
She had asked if she might stay in the camper at Creekside, and I told her it was fine with me if she needed a place, knowing that, at any time, she could become homeless.
Well, yesterday afternoon, Rhonda and Elaine waved Cherokee and myself over to the side of the road, and asked me to meet her at the Elementary School parking lot to talk with her.
Rany had not come home at that time, and she told us that she had suspected that he and Penny were off somewhere together.  Kerry had called Penny's mother's house, and Penny had not arrived there yet.
None of this is my fault, of course, but I've been caught in the middle, and I don't like it a bit.
I doubt that I'll be able to keep either employee.  I don't want that kind of behavior in or on my property.  Rhonda had also told me that Penny and Randy had put a mattress on the floor in one of the upstairs bedrooms, a mirror to show if anyone was coming up the stairs, and a bell on the door to indicate if anyone opened it.
I didn't do any of these kinds of things.  I go there to work.
There's other news, too, but my head is hurting me, so I'm going to go back to bed and try to sleep just a little more.

Hectic Thursday

It's been a wild and crazy day.
Shawn Richards, Cherokee's and Stucco's son, was arrested this morning at work for the wreck of last January.  He has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, and Dirk Daniel told me that he will most surely do time in prison for that. They want me to loan them the money for his bail, but he would do better to serve some time in jail, which will go towards his time in prison.
While they were gone to Knoxville to try to get to see him, we got the news that Teddy Swinney had hung himself in his yard.  He is the fellow who stole my purse.  His wife is a sweet lady who works at the Down Home, and probably knew of his drug addiction, but not of all the thefts he has perpetrated.  He had told someone that he would kill himself before he would go to jail for not paying his back child support.  Now his daughter will face every day knowing that her father would rather kill himself than feed her.
His father is a local pastor, and Leslie's parents are both ordained pastors, so Leslie will have a LOT of local community support.
He was a nice person, but was a victim of the ever-present drug culture in society today.  I didn't like him much after I learned that it was he who had stolen my purse, and then got caught by Stucco trying to steal money from my purse at a later time.
I had supper at the Down Home with Gary Hern, and we discussed the unreality of someone making it to heaven after suicide, but the preachers at his funeral will probably try to preach him into heaven.
When I got home this evening, Sweety had caught and killed a mouse...in the house!  I don't know how it had gotten in, but she had surely worked it over and killed it about as dead as a salt fish.
They try to come in about this time of year.
I'm awfully tired, and I hurt all over, so I'm going to take some meds and try to rest some.
I just don't feel well at all.

Saturday afternoon

It's been a busy time.  I went to Crossville Tile to try to get more of the upstairs bathroom tile (I only needed a few pieces) and they told me that the pattern I need had not been made sinse 1991.
They did not keep obsolete material, so I was out of luck.  I did find some other tile while I was there that I like a lot, though.  I got some small glass tile that I hope to use in making some 'stained glass' windows.  I'm going to try one in the upstairs closet that has a window.  I think it would be terribly interesting, and a fun project that I could do sitting down.  Cherokee is going to help me with them.  We're going to glue the glass blocks onto sheets of plexiglass, so that the windows can be removed and changed if we get tired of them.  I must mention Barbara, so I'll say that we're not going to ask her to help us. They will also give some insulation value.
There's many shapes of them, but they're all with square corners, so putting them together will be fairly easy, and like working a puzzle, to make the most interesting window units.
Cherokee and I really enjoy each other's company.  She's a delight to me, and I try to be useful and helpful to her as well.
Stucco has created some of the most beautiful window surrounds in the free world on the house.  That man is so gifted.  He made one window surround that he had described to me, and I didn't think I would like it.  After he was finished, I loved it!
He can do anything with his hands.
I had forgotten to get one of the colors of the glass tiles that I wanted, so I called Crossville Tile to get them to hold it for me.  So, on Friday, Cherokee, Stucco, and I went back to Crossville to get them.  Stucco went nuts over all the tile and the easy availability of them.  He, too, is disgusted with the way they set the tiles out in a field and let the weather, the high-lift operators, and customers mis-use and abuse those lovely tiles.  He, like myself, has been hungry, and he hates waste.  He can make almost anything over, or make it work in another manner, and he seldom throws anything away.  His personality and mine work together well.
We really enjoyed our trip together, though it was a little crowded in the cab of the red truck.  The white truck would have been a better choice, but it needs alignment, so we had to drive the red truck.
They told me at Crossville Tile that they had some of the tiles in the color I wanted, but that they were 'mat', which is not as heavily textured as the ones I really wanted.  I picked up a box, but when we got back to Rutledge, they did not match as closely as I had hoped.  I've got some more thoughts on how to manage the shortfall, and I'll see what I can do.
Marsha Higgs came by last night to see me.  She is the widow of Jack Higgs, who was one of the most tallented men I've ever known with wood.  She has been wanting her kitchen floor covered with slate, and I had told her once that she could do it herself if she applied herself.  When she saw my tile-laying efforts, she was quite impressed.  She has always loved my tastes, and she had not seen Creekside until last night.  She likes what I'm doing with it.  Jason, her son, has been faithful in visiting me sinse his father died. Jack and I were old friends, and he's sadly missed by many.  I really wish he were here to give me some tips on wood for the house.
Randy is doing a fantastic job on some of the wood-work.  He is so gifted.  He is another man who can do almost anything.  I had asked him to sand the trim to get it smooth for re-painting, and when he got it ready for me, he had sanded all of the old paint off of it.  It's old-growth antique pine, and is incredibly beautiful wood.  I'm going to use most of it in it's natural color with just a polyurethane coating on it.  He brought a lot of beauty out of that old wood that many people might have discarded.  He reminds me of the poem, "The Touch of the Master's Hand".
He and Penny took the old paneling off of the wall in the stair well yesterday while Cherokee, Stucco, and I were gone to Crossville.  More bad news.  The wall is badly rotted under the south-facing window. Stucco said that the brick window sill is mostly the culprit, as they are somewhat porus, and water can seep through them.   It's not all bad though.  I had planned to raise the roof of the back porch, which will then cover the area from outside, and it can be repaired from inside.  We are going to replace that window with a fixed window, which will not open.  It's beveled glass that is totally beautiful.  I bought it at Habitat.  Stucco will then stucco the window trim, which will keep out moisture.  He sure can do good windows.
There was a huge drug bust in Rutledge this past week.  Casper and his merry band of functional illiterates went to serve a warrant on a man I know, and they smelled meth being cooked.  He had a meth kitchen in his basement.  He is a junk dealer, which is why I knew him.  Barbara (there's another mention for you, Barbara) and I often bought Christmas decorations from him.
He seemed like a nice man, but I don't think nice people cook meth.  His home is not far from mine.  Drugs are the down-fall of society.
I've got to get to work, so I'll write more, later.
Now, Barbara, don't you be calling and scolding me for not mentioning you in my blog.
And you're still fat, so you need a little more Jenny Craig and a lot less Sarah Lee.
If you were ever to really visit Hillshire Farms, they'd hook you to a plow.

Monday Morning

I'm foggy this moprning...even more foggy than the weather.
I got the tile put in the sides of the windows in the new upstairs bath room yesterday.  It's really pretty.  Stucco says that I'm doing a good job on the bathroom floor.  I hope so.
I need a few more tiles before I can finish laying all the floor area, and I'm going today to try to find some to finish that project.
The tile I put into the windows is a small (3"X3") dark green tile with quite a bit of texture, though the finish is smooth.  It will clean easily, and will dress the window nicely.  And, it won't rot.  When I pulled the quarter-round material off the windows, I learned that whoever had installed the Plexiglass windows had not even sealed them with caulk or any other product to prevent air or water leakage.  Well, They're sealed now.  I also cut the trim pieces and got them sealed with Polyurethane to dry overnight, and they will be put in place today.  The windows will be dressed nicely.
If I can find enough tile to finish the floor in the new bath today, it will be finished as soon as I lay the tile.  Then, I'm going to start on the Sun Room.  It shouldn't take too long, as it's about finished now.  I'm going to put laminate floor in there, so it will go faster than all the tile with it's cutting and fitting.
I worked some last night on 'tightening' the bloor in the sun room, to make it more 'squeek-proof' when it's finished.
Work Work Work.
Betty says Sharon Weirwille is doing really great.  That's an answer to prayer.  She was at Convention Preps.  I'd love to go this year.  Perhaps.
I so miss those times of spiritual refreshment and rest amoung such good people.
I'd especially love to see Alma Bartlett and Cynthia Thomas again, two of my favorite Sister Workers.  I'd love to see Vickie Billings, too, but I doubt she will be there.
Seeing Betty Pike would be great, and getting to spend some time with her.  And Deloris Richards.  And Illa Brawdy.  The list grows as I think of all the good people I know and love who are still in that holy church.
God Bless Them All.

Barbara Barbara Barbara

Barbara's all upset that I don't mention her enough on my posts.
Most fat, ugly people don't want the public talking about how fat and ugly they are, but Barbara has such a HUGE ego that she just can't live without mention on my blog.  Now she's gone and got her boxers all up in her butt, and I just HAVE to mention her, or she'll have a coniption fit.
She's at the beauty salon this morning, and she needs it really badly.  It wil take them hours with the windows open to get all the stink out of there, but I guess they need the money, so they just keep on trying to get her to looking a little less like she needs to be back in her coffin before the sun comes up.  Darla Daniel sure has her work cut out for her.  I would want to get my beauty equipment all sullied up by working on such a project.  I'd say it's an act of Christian Charity on Darla's part.
Steve didn't sleep well last night.  I was all cross-ways on the bed this morning, and I guess I'd gone to sleep that way, leaving him just a little room at the foot of the bed.  I so wish I could get my sleep disorders diagnosed and cared for.  I toss and turn all night, and get up feeling like I've been beaten up.  I'm groggy all day, and want to lay down, but I know it would just be another session of tossing and turning.  My legs hurt so badly this morning.  I guess I kicked all night.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I had another one of those 'sleepy migraines' day before yesterday, when all I could do is sleep.  If I get up to eat or go to the bathroom, I throw up.  I have to have the room dark, and can't even stand to sit up in bed.  There's little pain in my head, but the rest of my body hurts, which is about usual.  I've just developed this type of migraine lately, and, at first, I laid it to exhaustion. 
The work at Creekside goes on.  I'm currently frustrated with the tile in the new upstairs bathroom.  I thought I had plenty of tile for the room, which is a distinct pink color, and is a little rough in texture.  After I got to doing the actual laying of it, I discovered that I don't have enough.  It's close, but just not enough.  There's so many odd cuts and angles that it was almost impossible to figure before the actual laying.  I would have made a checker-board pattern with some other tile had I known in time, but I wasn't about to start over with the job.  It's Crossville Tile, so I might can find more if I went to the factory in Crossville, but that will take about half a day to get there and back with the tile.  I SO wish I could feel like I'm making some progress.
I bought a top border yesterday, but I'm not totally sold on the idea that it's perfect for that room.
It's really pretty, and about the only border that the wall paper shop had that would work at all, with color.  Tile wall paper is hard to match with border, I think.
..and I'm so particular with that house.
We slept late this morning.  We don't get home until late, so we don't want to get started too early.
Steve did not get the new door for the kitchen installed, so we're still behind on that project.
I went to a place down on Papermill Road to get another one after he took out the former one.
That man is so nice, and he lifts and moves those doors and windows like they're lego blocks.  He has the lowest prices in East Tennessee for doors and windows.
Stucco has not been back to work.  I haven't heard from him or Cherokee.  I went by their house yesterday, but they were not there.  Steve is about as mad as a hornet over the work not being done, as Cherokee and I told Stucco he would.  I have to live with the rage, though.
Well....another day.
I need to get to Lowe's for some more mastic for the ceramic tile I CAN lay.

Labor Day PM

Wierd weather.  Yesterday, it was insufferably hot, and today, visitors wore sweaters.
It rained hard all day, and the rain was pretty cold, which may have been a factor in the cool weather.  It feels good to me.
I worked in the new upstairs bathroom today, finishing the prep for the ceramic tile for the floor and starting the arduous task of laying it.  It's pink, and a little rough, which will make it less likely to cause slips and falls.  It perfectly matches the walls.  I hope I have enough.  It's going to be close, but I have an idea to 'stretch' it.
Steve wouldn't help me with the job, preferring, instead, to take down the kitchen door.  He didn't think it worked right, but even a door that doesn't work right is better than no door at all, which is what we now have.  He felt that a sheer curtain hung in the doorway would be adequate to keep out all the night-roamers.  Lotsa Luck.
We were really hungry and tired when we came home.  I made some of my famous cream of chicken soup, which is really meaty with lots of chicken chunks.  It was great for a cool evening.
I'm tired, but Steve doesn't want to get his bath and go to bed, so I'm going alone.

Labor Day The Day No One Works

I will work today, though I'd really like to rest.
There's no rest when you have so much to do and you're the cheap help.
Steve and I worked on Creekside yesterday by ourselves.
It Started storming here as a result of the hurricanes elsewhere (there's several now going), and the rain came off the top of the house like a fire hose.  Steve got out in the rain and started trying to fix it so that the run-off would not get too near the foundation of the house, but mostly he was just yelling at me.  I had been upstairs finishing the wallpaper in the new bathroom, minding my own business, but he just couldn't resist the temptation to yell at me for something. 
The wallpaper in the new bath is slightly 'padded', which makes it feel 'cushy', and it's in a tile design, with a small flower on some of the tiles.  I perfectly matched the grout color (a deep peach) with the paint for the upper part of the walls, and I'm using the paper to just make wainscoating.  It's really pretty, and the paper looks like mosiac tile on the walls.  It's just 32 inches high, the height of chair rail, but it looks so nice that I wish now that I'd made it a little higher.  I think I have an idea to 'raise' the top of it.
I'm having some mental/emotional pain over some trama-drama with my relationship with a good friend.  I won't discuss it now, but it's really got me disturbed.  My friend won't answer my calls, and won't return my messages.
Sweety, the new house cat, is really enjoying her father's visit home.  She is the most affectionate cat, but wants to lightly bite.  I wish I could break her of that habit.  There will never be another perfect cat like Yoda.
I've dismissed the workers at Creekside for the week.  I need a slower pace for a while, and I don't want Steve and them to have a clash of wills.  I think they probably need a week off, too, as the hard work and the heat is getting to everyone.  It's supposed to cool down this week, with rain predicted for every day.  I hate the thought of all that mud, and the rain will wash the dirt off of a bunch of broken glass and rocks in the yard at Creekside, which I will then feel obligated to pick up.
It's job security.
Richland's Creek is not yet out of it's banks, but the way it's raining, it's only a matter of time.
There's so much litter and trash people throw out, and broken tree limbs that clog the water and make the creek rise when it rains.  Also, the fact that Rutledge is in a valley makes the rain run off into low areas, which contribute to flooding.
I covered all my outdoor-stored lumber yesterday, so it will be more likely to stay dry.
I need to get a storage barn or tomato growing hoop house built to store all the lumber and building materials that don't need to get wet.  Cold and wet weather is coming soon.
More later on the progress.

Thursday, September 1, 2011 AM

I seldom post in the mornings any more, and it's because I rush around trying to get some things done here before I go up to Creekside for the day.
Once I'm up there, it's so hard to quit there and come home to do anything, so if something needs doing here, I need to do it in the morning.
This house has suffered miserably while I've been so busy at Creekside.
I feel like there's just not enough of ME to do all I need to do.
There's enough hours in the day, there's just not enough strength and time to do all I want to get done.
I went to Habitat on Merchant's Road yesterday to get some tile to go around the windows in the new upstairs bathroom at Creekside.  It takes so long to get there from here.  I found some lovely parquet floor tile there, and the nice fellow in charge made me a really good price on it, so I bought it.  I'm considering using it on the floor in our downstairs guest bath here at Clairemont.  The congoleum in there was damaged by a heating pad we use on the floor in the winter, and we've not repaired it yet.  That's a project for us for later.
I also bought some beautiful ceramic tile accent pieces for use at Creekside.  I'm thinking I might use tile to trim the windows in one of the baths.  It would look nice, and the window moisture would not be a problem with tile.  That house still has moisture problems.
The man at Habitat forgot to load the tile I had gone there for.  I hate to take the time today to go back for it.  I might just wait to get it at another time.  Steve is coming home tomorrow, and he doesn't like to go to that kind of place with me.  We're always interested in different types of things, and can't agree on anything.
I found a great wood stove on Craig's List for the basement at Creekside.  I had bought a small wood stove a few weeks ago for there, but this one is really big, and will hold bigger fires for longer.  It looks like one of those stoves made from a 55-gallon drum, but is actually steel, with all the fittings and even a small rack on the top to hold a pot for cooking or heating water.  The man who sold it met me at Habitat, so it saved a trip.
Stucco has now got the stucco put around the tall front windows in the downstairs sun room.  They're dramatic, being 7 1/2 feet tall, and arched at the top.  When I walk into that room, I get the feeling that the front wall is gone.  They look splendid on the front of the house, and let in so much light.  They're low-e, and face north, so they will not get full sun, but will be warmer in the winter.  When we cut into the wall, we found all kinds of junk stuffed into the wall cavities.
There were old newspapers, cold drink bottles, and a varied assortment of junk.  I'm not sure if the papers were intended for insulation or not, but they didn't do a very good job if they were.  I'm stuffing the cavities with foam and fiberglass.
I used some table place mats to staple to the plywood in the bathroom, where we made the window smaller.  They're the foam type, a little spongy, and they really insulate well in small spaces.  I had lined the walls in my Hobby Hut with them last winter, and they work really well when you want a lot of insulating factor with not much loss of space.  I get them at Goodwills and yard sales, and I like the ones with square corners.  You can cut them with a knife or scissors, and they're good for sliding back into really tight places.  Not just anyone can have Vera desingns inside their walls.
I painted the walls and ceiling in the small upstairs bath.  The ceiling, of course, is white, and the walls are an antique dusty rose color that matches perfectly (because I mixed it) the grout lines in the wallpaper I'm going to use for the wainscoating.  It is a padded tile design, with a small flower, and it looks amazingly like ceramic tile.  It's really pretty.
The lady at the wallpaper store and I had a friendly visit while I was there.  She has cancer (brain tumor) and is terminal, but is really up-beat, and she loved the way I joked with her and made her laugh.  She wants me to visit her agian, and I will, not just for a visit, but she has a lovely and large assortment of wallpapers, which I love.  Steve doesn't like wallpaper, but I do.  I use it a lot.
I had bought some silk flowers at some yard sales (surprise!), and I put them out in the flower beds that Debbie had cleaned out at Creekside.  She came by for her paycheck yesterday evening, and she loved the flowers.  I told her to 'Just smell them', and she got down on her knees to sniff them before she realized that they were silk.  They add a lot of color to the front of the house, and I love teasing people, so they're a good foil for me.  I think I'll go upstairs and get into my stash there and take along some more this morning to put out.  It will make things look good for Steve when he gets home.
We were talking last night about perhaps having the hired help to take next week off, so we can be just us two working together and not having to worry about other people being around.  His people skills are not the best, anyway, so it might be a relief for everyone if there's not so much going on.  The workers are getting tired, too, and I'd think they would like a few days off.
Randy was off part of day before yesterday, and all day yesterday, for his grandmother's funeral.  She lived here in Rutledge.
Stucco and Cherokee have a new van.  They traded some work on a car for Jason Higgs for it, and Cherokee is thrilled to have another car.  She had gone to see her grandson (who is in foster care) yesterday, and the former live-in (for Cherokee's son) slashed her tires in the parking lot.  She had to call Stucco to come and get her, and she was in Maryville.  Most of his day was useless.
A weasel has got into my last pen of pigeons and killed most of them.  The ones who are still living had blood on their throats yesterday morning, and I'm dreading going up there this morning to see what's been done.  Weasels slash the throats of their victims and suck their blood.  They can go through a key hole, and are almost impossible to trap.
I've decided to just give up on birds.  There are way too many varmits and thieves around, and I'm tired of supporting both cultures.  I still have six peafowl, and I"ll keep them.  For now.
I feel like I'm out of control, and I don't like that feeling.
I need to get ready and go up to Creekside.
....and take some flowers.  The 'fast-blooming kind'.
Oh!  I didn't mention Barbara.  She's still fat.