Share Your world, August 31, 2020 (yes I am late!)

 Roger Shipp and Melanie B Cee have partnered for the next few weeks to ask the Share Your World Challenge questions. Roger's take is from the Harry Potter series of books..Mel's are from the mind of Mel.

Check out BOTH of these intrepid writers through the klinks above.

Mel's questions: 

• What is the last song you sang along to?
• What was your scariest nightmare about?
• What food do you crave most often?
• What’s your grossest bug story?

Roger's questions:

1. Many local regions, especially rural areas where I live, have haunted houses. Have you ever spent the night in a house that was supposedly haunted? Anything ‘strange” happen?
   
   
2. The Quidditch Cup (riding broomsticks while chasing a small ball) was a huge sporting event in the land of Hogwarts. What is the largest sporting event (or concert, etc.) that you have ever attended?
   
   
3. When you go for a swim, do you prefer an ocean, the seaside lakes, or a pool?
   
   
4. Ron Weasley received a horrid robe to wear as formal wear to the Christmas dance at Hogwarts. Tell about the most ‘ghastly’ fashion statement that you have ever made.

 and my answers to the above....

"this is how you Burlesque" while shimmying around the living room with a paintbrush in my hands. Yes, I was painting as well.

Scariest nightmare? Walking through a forest with my tiny sons, and suddenly realizing I was no longer holding their hands, nor could I see them anywhere. I awoke screaming their names and frightening the dogs half to death.

food cravings? Ummmmmm, jammie dodgers. Doesn't help that I am American, and these biscuits are British and no store carries them.

Nope..sorry, not going there. I'll have nightmares again.

Yes, my best friend's home is haunted. We are pretty sure it's her great grandmother from the clothing we've seen the lady wear. She simply walks through a room into the kitchen.

Elton John, Greensboro North Carolina..his first American tour (rocketman tour)

Pool. I can't walk in sand anymore.

I haven't worn anything ghastly, actually. ever. 

forgot the pictures........

 Okay, so I did two major things in my home over the last two weeks...

I painted the living room and I wrenched off cupboard doors in the kitchen and rearranged all the canned goods, etc.

And I completely failed to stick in pictures.

Heck I could have been just babbling for all you know.......so........

Here's proof I actually did something!

First the pretty living room. Remember it used to be coral and turquoise........Now:

Pretty, Huh?  Okay, so for most people it's a bit much.....but for me, it is pretty darned calm!

And I cleared the pantry...

and put the things I use daily..coffee, flour, sugar, etc onto a pretty shelf.

For once, everything is easy for me to find and looks neat on the shelves.

It seems though, that once one thing is done (and works) it opens up a dozen more projects.

But, right now I am tired and simply going to go read a book.

Saturday morning

 After organizing all the cupboards in my kitchen and pantry, I fell asleep far too early.

That made me wake up at the unGodly hour of 3:30 this morning.

Too much coffee later, I am wishing I were 23 years old again and not bound by the physical laws of nature.....

So, is today going to be laid back and filled with reading and lounging?

I could only wish..first it's 50 gazillion loads of laundry...none of which can be hung to dry since it is "fixin to gully wash" as the locals say. 

Second, there's some landscaping..well, that's done already. Did it before the night skies turned to dawn. Now to fill in the rock garden with actual river rocks.

I need to touch up paint in the living room. And finish rearranging the dishes.

sigh.

It was so much easier being a kid. Then all I had to deal with was watching cartoons for hours before playing outside with friends until the sun went down..eating at whomever's house the Mom caught us around lunchtime.....going home for dinner when our own Mother yelled out the screen doors.

Ya'll just keep remembering your own childhoods while I go put wet stuff in the dryer and stat another load of laundry.

Considering a kitchen reconstruction

 Our cottage is a 1920's wanna-be Craftsman style home......built not so much for style but simply as a place to get out of the weather.

George and I have been replacing floors, upgrading plumbing systems and electrical, painting and "prettifying' the house since we moved in.

I've wanted to do SOMETHING to the horrid tiny kitchen for going on six years now, but until recently all other things had to be done first.

Money is always an issue with us as we are both retired and our social security just doesn't allow for pricy upgrades.

But, now..all important upgrades have been done and maintenance is easy.......so it is time to think about what I want.

I want open shelves. I want an extension on the corner end of my counter-top. I want it to look nice but remain cheap.

What I have now are crappy ancient metal or particleboard cabinets attached to the wall. They don't have enough shelf space within, nor is the distance between shelves (vertically) appropriate for modern packaging.

I decided that shelves instead of cabinets would be nice, but instead of just yanking off the cabs from the wall, I'd take the doors off and "live with them for a while".

And I ended up rearranging all my canned and pantry goods because I couldn't stand the way some of them looked on open shelves.

They make much more sense to me now..as I can easily see all canned goods at a glance, and yes, I sorted them all.

And, I've begun the search for under-sink cabs that will fit the style of my 1920's cottage yet be updated enough for plenty of storage options.

I've almost decided a farmhouse table under the sink with corner cabs will work. But I can't decide on the style. I am keeping my 1920's sink......I LOVE it. I just need to figure out a base.

HELP! Just remember..super small fixed income here so everything will be second hand (or free).

staying positive

 I decided that today I will not bitch.  I will not moan about how unfair life is being.

I will not frown at the news when George plays it online for seven hours nonstop.

I won't even frown at George for being such a GUY.

Nope, today I am going to remain positive EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!

G cashed in his IRA at a former bank yesterday, and picked up the check today.

He then stuck it into our savings account because

1. we are over 59 1/2 and are allowed to do that and

2. there won't be an IRS penalty (because we are officially old farts)

 I'm staying "happy" about it because of no extra taxes and sheer determination not to be a whinger today.

Except...........I know my hubby......and that money (now he knows it is there) is suddenly going to start burning holes in his pockets.

He is the original proponent of "retail therapy"........and so help me, if he takes out one blasted cent I am gonna have to beat him with a frying pan.

with permission Hallmark Licensing, Inc.

i knew it would be difficult

 rebuilding a blog on a different site....I knew I'd feel a bit lost...but for some reason it never occurred to me that I would feel lonely.

For those who do not blog, bloggers want to have people reading their work..or looking at their photos..or trying their recipes or advice.

They interact with people who "follow" their blog..through comments mostly, sometimes through mutual challenges.

One "follows" either through an email subscription or by a "feed' into a community page.

My former blog has a community page where I could easily stay posted on what my followers, and those bloggers I followed were sharing. It became a huge "family".

But, in moving, I lost my followers. Oh they knew where I was going (I told them), but few have followed me over. (they are busy...sigh...yea right Suze)

And I miss them. 

I considered attempting to make a "community page" where everyone could post through an rss feed...but just because I know what words to use doesn't mean I have the slightest idea how to actually DO IT.

So, I just keep hoping that someone somewhere sees a post and thinks "I should follow her" and actually subscribe.

In the meantime, I'll just keep blathering on and wishing for a friend or two to pop in and just say hello.

there's something about color......

 When I get bored........or sad.........or just plain anxious for no reason at all, my mind instantly begins to focus on the colors surrounding me.

I love bright colors.....deep shades of rose, coral, yellow and blues....

They just lift my spirits and make me,........well....HAPPY!

Yesterday I painted my living room.  Garry, Angie and George all helped and the job was done in a few hours. (You can tell Great friends from good ones by the amount of work they happily do for you....Ang and Garry are the BEST!!!)

Last week, we all helped Angie paint HER bedroom, and George and I fell in love with one of her accent colors...a deep and rich violet.

So, of course, yesterday we used her accent color as my wall color.

The room used to be a bright coral.....with turquoise accents on the window sills and door frames. 

I loved that too...until I didn't. It only took four years (or is it five) but I did eventually get sick of it.

People tend to either love or hate the colors in my home. George (Bless his heart) let's me do whatever I wish.  In Texas, our home was described by my late mother as a "looking like a Mexican whorehouse".......everything was deep red, blue, yellow and green......I still wonder how exactly she knew what Mexican whorehouses looked like?

Now our home is still vibrant, but not so much "in your face" bold. Soft blue in the dining room, lavender in the bedroom........and violet in the living room. 

It's still bright but a bit calmer now.

Maybe it has something to do with retirement...now we can relax and don't need the house to energize us.  I'm not sure..

What I do know is that when I woke up this morning and walked into the room I discovered a huge smile on my face. And I am happy.