"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Upgrade

Menopause has made me allergic to the sun.
And the heat outside.
A blistering 83 degrees with a cooling breeze and I'm still not happy.

Watch out Minnesota, I'm coming for you @;)

Anyhoo...Last weekend I posted about tin-foiling a couple of windows in our bedroom to see if it helped keep the room cooler.  It does.

So I went and tin-foiled a few of the lower windows in The Nook.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and even with ceiling fans on it can get quite warm during the Summer.  The tinfoil did keep the room cooler but made the room WAY too dark.  

I was just about resigned to the fact that I'd have to drill in those white roll up shades into my window frames when it occurred to me to try something else.

Freezer Paper.  I had a box that I'd bought to wrap meat in right beside the tinfoil.  Hm.





I cut and taped the paper to the inside part of the glass on most of the lower windows in The Nook, leaving the mini-blinds in place.


 

Not bad at all.  I can still look outside but the direct sunlight is diffused enough that it keeps the room bright but cooler.  The added bonus is that I can rip it off whenever I want.  A cheap solution for the moment.
 




And not all that bad to look at from the outside either.  Better than tinfoil at any rate.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Surgical Gardening

There was a day last week that had a brilliant blue sky. 

I had been outside working in the yard, pulling weeds and such, and thought I'd take a picture of the English Oak blooming against that gorgeous sky.

Here's the picture that I took. 




I then set the IPad down on the mulch to yoink out a couple of weeds that I'd spotted when suddenly I had a cluster bomb of curious pups checking it out.

I snuck my finger in to snap the camera wondering what I'd get.  Here's the only shot worth posting. 


And "Yes", that's my ear along with a facemask that I stole from work.  I wear masks whenever I'm outside in the springtime to help keep me from inhaling too much pollen.

Just in case you thought gardening was a sterile procedure around here @;)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Run and Hide, Baby. It's THAT Time of the Year Again!

The countdown is on.

Two more days to go.  And then it's Staycation time once again.





I can't wait!

Staycation is my annual week off to play around the house. 
It's never long enough. 

A week long, ass-busting festival of To-Do's that may (Or may not) see completion. 

I've begin "The List" already. 
Surprisingly, the list doesn't change all that much from year to year.

SM is invited to attend.  I've already mentioned the annual Clean Out and Reorganize The Garage. 

All I got in reply was a groan. 
I might have heard a muttered "Not again."  

I don't count on SM for hard labor during Staycation.  Sometimes he's with me and sometimes he runs and hides.  All the signs this year appear to suggest the latter. 

Can't blame him.  I can become Scary Drill Sargent during Staycation.





Do this, do that.  All the poor man can hope for is that I wear my sorry butt out working the garden, spreading mulch, pulling weeds, reorganizing the kitchen, staining, painting.....  

Run and hide, Baby. 
Run and hide...






Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter

It's been a quiet weekend here so far. 

I was on post-ops Saturday morning and then came home to spend the afternoon napping in my chair, listening to the rain.




And boy did it rain. 
Close to 3 inches.
Almost 6 inches for the month already.

Plus we were hit with 2 frosty mornings this past week that were fortunately light. 

The blueberries and strawberries pulled through just fine.  The peach was already past it's bloom but the apples were just starting to pop.  I'm not sure yet if the blooms were killed off or just delayed.

Our Oak tree has bloomed already.  Both SM and I noted that it has never leafed out in April.  Never.  It always waits until May along with the crepe myrtles which are last to pop. 

I expect it will be another quiet day here at the house.  Church and Easter dinner.  The ground will be too soggy to play outside today so I'll have to find something to do inside.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Ooma

Our internet has been cutting in and out this week for some reason.  SM suspects it might be our 10 year old router.  But then he checks it and it seems to be fine so then he thinks it might be the TWC Roadrunner connection.

So he called TWC and they're sending out "The Dude" to check it later today so we can figure out how to proceed.

The reason I bring this up is because we also have an internet phone system.  


Ooma





Have you heard of it?  I hadn't and was very skeptical about it when SM bought it last year. 

Yes.  It's been over a year that we've been using Ooma and I guess it never occurred to me to mention it to you because I actually forgot all about it. 

I pick up the phone and I have service.  Good service.  Good quality on both ends too.

Buy an Ooma if you want to have a house phone. 

(*Longtime readers will know that while SM has a cell phone, I do not.  I don't feel I need one.  Yes, I know, what century am I living in?)

Ooma solves my need for a house phone and it's cheap. 

As in SM only pays taxes on the calls we make. 
Which is about $6 a month.
That's right. 
$6 Bucks. 




I can make all the local or long distance calls I want. 
Free. 
We just pay taxes. 

Now you do have to actually buy the Ooma box which sells for about $150.  The sound quality is there.  You can port your existing phone number if you want for a fee (we didn't).

I highly recommend Ooma for anyone who wants a house phone.  All you need is a reliable internet connection.

Reliable being the operative word. 

(*Yes.  I actually did pick up the phone last night to call SM to let him know the internet was out.  Duh.)

Monday, April 14, 2014

Crazy

What does a 50 something, hot flash menopausal woman do with the first 80 degree day of the season?

That's right.  She runs back inside, turns on the AC and plops her red-faced, sweating self in front of a fan. 

I have fans everywhere. 
I even took one into work.  
This girl has got to have a cooling station available at all times.

Our house is North-South facing.  Front door North.  Back door South.  Most of our "living" is done on the backside of our house.  Even our bedroom and bathroom are South facing which means that things can heat up around here pretty quickly.

Now for the past fifteen years of living here, we've managed to survive the heat using mini-blinds, curtains and the AC.  But now that my personal heat-wave is going into it's 3rd Summer, I've started to look at other possible options to help keep this place a little cooler.

They make window film that does everything from just "shade/block" the heat to the heavy duty stuff they use in Arizona that actually reflects the heat.

Another option is separate awnings for the windows.  SM is not keen on this one.

Or we could replace the existing screen material for a Solar Screen that's darker and blocks the heat. 

If any of you out there have some experience with these products please share your thoughts with me.

In the meantime, I thought I'd try a little experiment of my own.

"Whatcha doing?"  SM asked me the other day as I stood in our bedroom with a roll of heavy duty tinfoil.

"I'm taping tinfoil to the windows to see how much cooler we can make the bedroom feel." 

"Uh...you know how that's going to make the house look?"

"Yeah I know." 

We've all heard the jokes about crack house trailers with tinfoil on the windows.





"When the law comes knocking on the door just explain to them that you're living with a 52 year old menopausal woman who can spontaneously combust on the spot.  And if that doesn't satisfy them than just say that you're living with a crazy lady and it's not got anything to do with you."

"Crazy....Uh huh."  SM shakes his head and wanders away.

That's right, Baby.  Go to the happy place.




Sunday, April 13, 2014

Spring Fever

Spring has finally come to the Piedmont.  It feels almost like a combination of March with windy, windy days and then you have warm, gorgeous days like yesterday and today.  True April weather.





The strawberries and apple trees are starting to blossom.






I was so excited to finally have a nice weekend that I swung by the nursery on the way home from work Friday and blew a wad on a trunkful of annual flowers.  Just goes to show you how giddy I am now that Winter is finally gone.




Give me color.  Everywhere.  I'm starving for it. 






I spent the better part of Saturday morning pulling weeds and tidying up the front yard.  Everyone was out and about cleaning up and mowing. 

SM tried to mow our lawn the other day but the engine made a loud BANG noise and quit suddenly. 

Uh Oh. 

First mow of the season and we're dead in the water already.  SM called around to see if anyone could take a look at it but most of the engine repair guys are backed up a couple of weeks.  Sounds like we're not the only ones with Tall grass

So SM went out yesterday and got a temporary push mower that he'll sell after the riding mower is fixed.  It's always something isn't it?  Still cheaper than a lawn service. 

Which makes me wonder if they still make those old fashioned spinner push mowers.  I remember using one as a kid.




I poked around the internet and found that you can still buy them at Target of all places.  They're called Reel Mowers. 

Huh. 

Does anyone think I could talk SM into giving up the riding mower in favor of one of these babies?  It would give you a great work out, no doubt about it!





So what trouble are you getting yourself into this gorgeous Spring weekend?

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Tulips Together

Nothing says Easter and spring time to me more than tulips.  Look at those pretty Easter colors!



And every time I say "tulips" I think of a hand-clapping song that we used to sing as kids...Something like "Two lips together, twilight in heaven, bringing my love to you." 

Or something like that.




I also remember "Say, Say Oh playmate, come out and play with me..." But I can't remember the rest of the song.

Regardless...Happy Spring Everyone.  It's finally here in the Piedmont!

Go out and play!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Laid Back Guy and Twitchy Girl.

SM and I just got back from a quickie trip to Orlando Florida. 

I described it as a much needed "Break." 
A chance for something different. 
Warmer weather, new sights and sounds, eating out. 

What is it they say?
Eat, Drink and Be Merry?

SM knocked it out of the park with his selection of the hotel/resort that we stayed at.  The Hilton Grand Vacation Club was simply beautiful.  An oasis in the middle of a city. 

And I wish that BJ's Brew House had a location in Charlotte because their Asian Chopped Salad is my new addiction.  Seriously.  SM and I ate there 3 nights in a row and I ate that salad EVERY night.  SM swears the Crispy Jalapeno Burger was THE best thing he's eaten (besides my cooking) in months.

So our creature comforts were more than satisfied. 

But what about the "Be Merry" part of it. 

What did SM and I want   to do   with our short vacation?

Well...Here is where things kinda short circuited.

I assumed that being in Orlando meant going to the parks.  You know, Disney, Universal...We'd been there before but it had probably been 15-20 years ago.  I thought "Hey, we're not getting any younger." 

I tend to like to do things when I go on vacation.  Be active. Follow my nose.  Go.Go.Go. 

SM on the other hand wants to r e l a x when he goes on vacation.
 
As in get horizontal.
Sleep.
Hang out at the pool.
Soak in some sunshine.

And we both got our wish. 
Sort of.
But we each bored the other to tears.

Universal was a bust.  I thought we should check out the Harry Potter attraction (since we'd never been) and we waited an hour to get on the ride only to find out that older farts (who used to ride roller coasters in their youth) should really give it up after their fifth decade as motion sickness will ruin your day faster than a car wreck.





Blech.

So we were back at the resort by 1:00 and SM got horizontal for almost four hours. 

SM loves a good nap. 
I used too. 
Seems I can't sleep for long day or night anymore.
So I got up and hung out on the balcony.
Bored.

The next day, I thought we should do Epcot.  SM and I both loved it when we went there years ago so I thought it was a pretty safe bet. 

Turns out Epcot was just as old and as tired as we were.  Everything was pretty much the same.  Which kind of surprised us.  Again, I think we just assumed that over the years, things would change.  I like "The Worlds" area best, but I swear the films they showed us were from the 1970's.  I noticed SM's boredom and put an end to his misery by calling it quits around 5.

I told SM later that night that it was silly to try and "force" it for another day.  I hated the idea of wasting money for a trip that was getting off kilter. 

SM thought we should take the  next day and just hang out at the pool.  Sleep.  Relax.  Soak in some rays.  But hanging out at a pool is not my idea of relaxing.  Screaming kids don't compare to a walk on the beach. 

"Lets go to Hilton Head later in the month for a long weekend.  You can golf and I can walk the beach.  We always have a good time when we go there."  I offered as a compromise.

So we came home a day early. 
And I'm glad of it.  
Turns out there's no place like home. 

But it does make me wonder. 
Is that it? 
Is this all there is? 

I felt bad that the trip was kind of a dud and voiced this opinion to SM who wisely pointed out that "Yes" maybe some things are past. 

Over and done with. 

What interested us as kids just isn't the cats meow anymore.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't new roads to travel. 
New paths to explore.

We just need to figure out where they are.




Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Break

SM and I are running away for a long weekend. 





And even though we don't have snow on the ground, it has been a L O N G winter.  We thought it would be nice to head to The Sunshine State for a few days. 

See you when we get back!