Beautiful

I came home today to yarn. Chloe must have been bored while we all were at work.

She started under my chair, snagging a small skein of wool yarn and twisting it around the legs. She carried it under my bed, unwinding all the way, through the doorway and into Jessica’s room.

Down the stairs, around the corner, and into the big dining room. Under the big dining room table. around the feet of the bookcase three times. Into the kitchen and around the table, then through the stool’s legs. Into the little dining room, around that table, and around the legs of all four chairs.

At that point, she kind of ran out of yarn and steam. She probably then took a nap, secure in a job well done.

But when I got home, she was raring to play, and since I had to try to get all the yarn picked up before Dad got home from work, I tried my best not to let her have it again. (I failed. She snagged a few pieces.)

Of course, then I had to go outside to feed in the rain, and Tipsy got in while Zoey and Chloe were eating and Zoey had a catfit right there, knocking over the cat food bowl and everything.

I have a feeling that Pooh will be living in my rooms for the first couple of months. Zoey can’t have catfits forever, can she?

Sorry, everyone! Not sure why it posted so many times. Argh.

Spurred on by my success with the tabletop, I decided to go ahead and clean the working dropleaf last night. It took me another hour to scrape off glue and filth and icky stuff (and my fingernails will never look the same) but by the time I was done, it looked fabulous.

I did take pictures this time. Haven’t put them up yet, but I’ll try to do that tonight. The table’s going to look great in my kitchen, though!

(The other side of the gateleg is broken, so we won’t be using that dropleaf for the time being. I might clean it later, since it will be more difficult to clean while in a vertical position.)

I had to take a break from packing last night, and I’m glad I did. Of course, I didn’t write either, but a clean table is a good thing.

Now if I could only get my fingernails completely clean…

It’s so obviously shopping-for-Christmas season. Evidently, the average American spend $265 last weekend on Christmas gifts. That adds up to billions and billions of dollars, which is rather depressing.

Surely we don’t need all this stuff we’re buying. I mean, okay, if something breaks, perhaps, but if it’s not broke, then why bother?

I have a coworker who is redoing her kitchen. All new everything, including cabinets, appliances, countertops, etc. So she brought in a list of stuff she wanted to sell (for exorbient prices.) Most of it is still for sale. (I didn’t buy anything.) Did she really need to spend something akin to $20,000 redoing her kitchen? Hell no. Could that money have been spent more wisely? Of course. But she’s selfish, and used to a certain ‘quality’ of life (I use that term loosely) and has more money than she knows what to do with.

That we all should have that problem is one of my lesser wishes.

The big Christmas machine is wound up in full force. Black Friday has passed, and people are still spending money. It will never end if the majority of America keeps the crowd mentality firmly in the forefront of their minds.

I am buying practical Christmas gifts this year. I’d tell you what I got my Dad, but he reads this on occassion, and I want it to be a surprise. I think he will like it, however, as long as they sprout.

I ordered myself Camellia sinensis seeds, which, if you know, is the common tea plant. I have always wanted to grow my own tea, but the plants themselves are a bit expensive. I didn’t even think about looking for seeds! (I really want to grow Clemetines, too, but I’m not spending $75 for a four-foot tree. Although, I did have a seed in one of my Clementines yesterday, so I planted it. We’ll see what happens.

I just spent an hour and a half cleaning off part of the top of my future kitchen table.

A couple of months ago, Dad brought this table home from a yard sale, where it had been sitting in a garage for years. It has red and gold paint on it, something had leaked on it in two places, and one of the gatelegs was broken off. It is a gateleg dropleaf table, and now I wonder if it’s too good for the kitchen.

It’s solid cherry and weighs a ton. Dad paid $50 for it. He started cleaning off the grime about a month ago, but didn’t get very far. Today, in a spurt of something-or-other, I decided to give it a go. (In truth, packing bores me. And I rationalized it by saying that we’re going to need to clean it anyway, so I might as well do it now.)

It’s lovely. What was a filth-encrusted top is now softly shining in the light of the big dining room. The paint’s still there, but the two places where things leaked (or rusted) on its top vanished under my scrubbing.

I used Orange Glo Degreaser and Murphy’s oil soap along with plenty of elbow grease. And it worked. I’m actually looking forward to doing both leaves, which are twice the depth of the top of the table. It will be nice to see how it looks when I’m finished.

So Dad would notice when he got home, I left the light on and set up the punchbowl set I got at Goodwill (for $5) over the weekend. I also put my electric teapot (from the 50s, a lovely chrome piece) on the table too. I can see the reflections of the curtains behind it. It looks great.

It sure doesn’t take much to make me happy. But I think that’s a good thing!

Whooohooo! She got her keys! The guy is now out of the picture. Yay!

Of course, he left the place a mess and she has to get helpers to clean, etc., before she moves, but at least we have progress.

Last night, I started a knitted bag that I designed myself. I’m almost done with it, except for sewing one side, the top, and the lining. It’s cute so far.

I also wrote a bit, and realized why it seems like it’s taken me months to get to 14k on SYWTBAV. Because it has taken me months. But the story should pick up soon, and I’m not on a deadline, so that’s fine, really. Just slow going.

I’m slowly packing. No word yet on actual dates. I’ll be calling her tomorrow if I don’t hear anything today, because my weekends in December are getting full. Argh.

I just saw a draft for the cover of The Secret of Redemption and it’s even more beautiful than the cover for Budget Cuts.

I am in looooove. *g*

Today is, of course, Buy Nothing Day.

I’ve never been one for the Black Friday 5am early bird specials. Back Before, I didn’t have any money, and I don’t like crowds anyway, so I tend to stay far, far away. If anything, I’d go to Goodwill if the Holiday Bucks coupons were any good this year. (They aren’t. You’re not even getting 50% off this year. Urgh.)

However, I have relatives who have been known to camp out in store parking lots so they can be the first person in the store at 5am. I think they’re nuts, even though they do come away with bargains. (Or, bargains to them, at least.)

And anyway, I work the day after Thanksgiving as a rule (no one in the office!) so my shopping is pretty limited.

Yesterday, however, a local store had some Thanksgiving Day-only sales, including a four-slice toaster for $9.99. Since my old toaster bit the dust as soon as it was pulled out of Storage to replace Mom and Dad’s toaster (which works when it wants to, but is still operational), I knew I would need one eventually.

Well, eventually is almost nigh. So yesterday morning, in between the getting ready for Thanksgiving bustle, Bekah and I drove down the road to get a toaster, among other things.

When we got to the store, though, we discovered that the toasters had not come in and that they were issuing rainchecks. That was fine with me, because I don’t need a toaster right now, so I picked up a couple of other things and went up to the checkout. The lady at the checkout said she thought they were substituting another toaster, so since I don’t really care what brand of toaster (they all toast bread!) I own, I said that was fine.

Well, it turns out the substituted toaster was the one they were advertising for today’s sale at being on sale for $24.99. It retails for $30! And I got it for $9.99. Ha. (I would never ever pay $30 for a toaster.)

So I have a toaster and a blender now (I bought the blender that was on sale, just in case I don’t have one, because I can’t remember.)

But today? I’m not a rabid Buy Nothing Day person, but I doubt I’ll buy much more than some chocolate chip cookies from a local deli. Does food count?

The ebay spammers are out in force this month. I have received ebay spam (fake suspension notices, fake auction pulled notices, fake ‘update your information’ notices) at least once a day. Sometimes, I’ve gotten two or three in a day.

If you receive an email supposedly from ebay, check the headers of the email to make sure it’s really from ebay. You’ll be able to tell. And if the link you’re supposed to click isn’t for a real ebay site, don’t click it. And definitely don’t give them any account information or credit card numbers.

Do people really get scammed by these guys? The mind boggles.

I am hoping to hear something from my PO this weekend about the house. The guy whose house she bought should have been out yesterday. But we’ll see. If I don’t hear from her by Monday, I will give her a call then.