Next to naughty in the dictionary...Mooch!

I don't care if these look like balls, they are ornaments, doggone it!

Or were ornaments and the Mooch spent the morning working his way to the top of Santa's naughty list

and I was all set to ask D to buy a couple of cans of dog food to give him a treat from the dry food he gets every day. Double dang!!

And if he could not add deception on top of the offense he would be so much better off. When I shouted at him, his response was absolute denial of any involvement. He acted like he had no idea how any of it happened and that the only reason he was anywhere near the brokenness was because he had just that minute chased the bad guy from the living room.>

Doggone it Mooch!

Very possibly someone who gets me...

It is the desire of our hearts to be understood. I'm talking a soul mate type of connection that often reduces communication to a simple knowing nod or a look that speaks volumes.
I think that the phrase "I'm so busy"...is overused. Not that it is inaccurate, I mean, please, baby boomers were born in the fast lane and we cannot help but keep running just to stay up with old news. It has taken all my energy to learn things that are, by time I start to understand them, obsolete, which completely explains why the stereo system in the car keeps reading ERROR when I'm trying to listen to my Eagles 8 track.

Anyway, the world has evolved beyond us. Our kids are sailing along just fine, passing us by, without even a moment of tutorial. I think we deserve that. Please, we invented the world wide web for heaven's sake and paid for the first computer that brought that Inter-gem into their childhood home!

Anyway...back to being understood and the effort life takes to keep up. I am exhausted. I feel like every minute of everyday is booked for the next 17 years of my life. Not that 1926 promises anything calm, it's just that I am planning not to just slow down at age 65, but just be SLOW. I may run like the wind until then and hit that golden age like its a cement wall, but come what may, I plan to have hours everyday when I get to do absolutely nothing productive and simply begin to process the Post-Dramatic-Stress-Disorder that 65 years as a boomer has caused.

In the meantime, I just want someone to understand. I am trying as hard as I can. I am working as hard as I can. I say "yes" way too often and enjoy every minute of everything I say yes to, mostly. Its the thought of everything I am doing and trying to get the current thing finished up so I get to move on to the next fun thing.
Even as I write this, D has been sitting on the sofa next to me for 2+ hours, available and ready for bed "whenever you are". Every once in a while I try to explain to him how jealous I am that both of his jobs are "go, start, finish, leave" and don't thing about it again until the next time you "go, start, finish, leave". Jealous, I am and exhausted.

He tries so hard to be sympathetic and is really good at offering to help with whatever, which is great, but its not the same as someone really getting the weight of it all. Someone who understands why even my sleep position has changed to having one foot on the floor ready to jump at the 2nd, 3rd or 4th light of day.

Then today...I found him. My soul mate, the one other soul on this planet that knows what it feels like to be on the ready even when it looks like we are resting. Oh the weight of a life filled with responsibility...lucky for you, I had my camera to capture both the one who understands and proof that true rest for the few of us never really comes...

Trust me when I tell you that his eyes are closed...sound asleep with his paws on the fence, just in case he needs to spring to his feet at any urgency. So much in common, so much understanding. I did crop out the things we do not have in common. You're welcome.

Finally...understanding...exhausted understanding. ahhh, the Mooch!

PS. I love my new map gadget, but I am undone with intrigue over the dots out of So Ca. Please take a sec and comment with a sign in. A Gmail ID is pretty easy and I'd love to know who you are and where you are from.

Awe...such a big helper !!

Paaaalease...I got up this morning poured a cup of "hot and bold" and made sure the Pitcher had directions, boarding passes, ID and a big hug as he drove off into the sunrise heading for Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plane. Checking out Oklahoma Baptist University. He keeps telling me how nice the coach is on the phone. Oklahoma is a long way away I remind him and besides everything sounds nice with an Oklahoma accent! The scholarship he's been offered is great, but please is it really a savings with all the counseling bills that will follow for D and me? Ok, forgetting about the state of Oklahoma, back to the state of denial!

I refilled the mug and picked up the paint brush. We were here...

Progressed to here...

and now here...

and not without the help of the Mooch! Note to self, when is a 5 year old's (dog years) energy at its peak on any given day...apparently 7-9am. Notice the wire fence meant to keep the Mooch on the outside and yes, I'm painting in my pjs, and based on the angle of this shot, so glad Shick has both of those blades!

So, coat of paint #1 done, #2 later today I think and then on to the doors.

Interactive Thursday

I was a little panicked this morning realizing that tomorrow is Thursday and last week's "I T" was such a success I ... Oh wait Oprah has Carrie Underwood on and she is THE most darling thing-seriously! Beautiful and why won't my hair do that? And I love when she closes her eyes to sing and they do a closeup on her face and I try to memorize her eye makeup, except that my 48 year old lids are not quite gonna show it off the same way, unless I close my eyes quite a bit when I talk, slow blink or something. But I think people would be so distracted by how wierd that looks that they wouldn't actually appreciate the creative layers of colored pressed powder. I guess it really only makes sense if you are singing or praying, but walking up to a friend and falling quickly into "Our Father" or something is kind of bizaar and then they close their eyes because of the reverance and all, thus defeating the purpose...so I guess I should call for voice lessons, well, after Interactive Thursday anyway.

Ok, so I'm making headway on the painting and have the fence up to keep the Mooch at a safe distance and my cell phone is in the basket on the counter for financial reasons. My challenge will be the patience to let the paint dry REALLY well before I put the doors back on. You know, I will be all impatient about seeing the whole look and then the doors will stick to the frames and though beautiful, it kind of cuts back on the storagability when you can't actually open the kitchen cabinets, which would totally save on the grocery bill, but D and the pitcher that visits regularly and thinks this is a filling station for his 6'5" self, would be all fussy about the lack of food I guess. So, I am going to wait 3 days before hanging the doors and another 2 days before closing them, or less.
OK, remember "interactive Thursday" means reader participation and I already know 2/3rds of my followers are in Colorado so feel free to leave several comments and opinions, there will be room for sure. I found these fabric samples of www.fabric.com and need some feedback, because left to me, I would just order 3 yards of each and decide later. Kind of defeats the whole spending freeze makeover goal, so I should limit my selections to the best ones.

That's where you come in...so interact friend. Just call them 1 through 10, top to bottom or describe them, like swirly blue or stripes etc...I am planning on a slipcover for the sofa, window coverings, table runner, throw pillows etc... Anything less than 12 choices is a savings from my perspective!

And the lamps...I am thinking about this...But the question is, what do you think? Remember D had that ONE opinion about not liking the white, so I will have to consult him as well, since he is apparently, and no one is more surprised than me, a lamp person. After 28 years, he still has me on the edge of my seat.

Wrong little boy leaves for Colorado!

Dot is taking the Deeds to Colorado tomorrow...for A WHOLE WEEK! I used to think that family vacation was the best idea ever. Only now there is this other family and well, let's just say D and I have our suitcases packed because we are pretty sure they will be surprising us with our own plane tickets any moment now. So if you could just keep the calls to our house to a minimum for the next 24 hours you know just to keep the line free for the big surprise! Anyway, the freedom from the phone should give your family plenty of time to get used to the idea of adopting a DOG! (Yes I am yelling) Because "Mr. No-longer-cute" is now also known as "Mr. No-longer-sweet! either. I am not going to go so far as to actually post on the internet that I ran screaming after him "Bad Dog! Bad Dog!" Though I wouldn't blame someone who did, especially since it was me.
I decided to take yet another step in the "point of no return" path I am on in the kitchen makeover by choosing one cabinet to sand and primer and maybe even paint later today. I removed the doors yesterday, took them to the backyard and sanded them, but today I sanded the frame and painted one coat of primer on the cabinet after cleaning out the Deeds' finger paints and a couple of bottles of craft glue (remember this fact). So far so good. Then I thought through the idea of painting the doors outside for the heat and ventilation and decided the little "crew cut" pooch might brush up against them with the only hair he has left. So I brought them into the kitchen table and went to work with the primer. While waiting for them to dry, I went to the garage to work embroidery business and cut and number Beth Moore tickets, because 17 projects going at the same time is just how I roll. But within a few minutes I heard a disturbing sound coming from inside. Disturbing sound is code for "cabinet doors banging around on the table". MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH!!!!!!!!! Disturbing sound is followed by many disturbing sights! In order. First... dog footprints on the doors. Now forensics has yet to do a match, and the Mooch swears he has 4 paws and claims that with only 2 foot prints in the paint it could not have been him,

but he's only 5 in dog years and I remember the compulsion at that age to tell what ever self-preserving fibs necessary, well for...self preservation. Of course with the back log in all that CSI stuff, I'm not waiting for the results, a mother knows these things. In this house you are guilty until proven innocent! So...disturbing sight #2...RED fingerpaint container missing from table and found near the living room...not a room scheduled for makeover soon, but red would now be a really convenient choice for the tile and carpet. Honestly I thought plastic squeeze bottles for finger paints was such a good idea, except now that I see that the plastic can easily be penetrate by a canine's canines...not such a good idea. And lest we forget about the glue bottles, (yep plastic), or think that the family room was somehow left out of the disturbance...well, you get the picture. Though there was a propondrance (sp) of evidence on the plastics including some saliva DNA (I'm not paying for testing), the Mooch sat with his head cocked to one side and I sure he was saying "I know Mom, what a disaster, huh! How did this happen to us?" me.."yes, well maybe we need a guard dog, and I'm thinking one that doesn't HAVE A RED BEARD AND WHISKERS THAT ARE GLUED TOGETHER!!!" When he's done hiding from me, perhaps I will return him to the parlor where I am sure they will look at his "matted face" and ask if they should just trim up to his earlobes or something. Bottom line...I think the Deeds should stay here and the Mooch should hop on the next flight out of town, maybe Colorado!