A New Weekly!!

[Nancj]

Aren't we the busy busy bees. I've been gone for two weeks and everyone seems to have all sorts of projects going on. And yet were still on the subject of bacon and chocolate, hmmm, go figure. ( has anyone tried it yet?, just curious)

I see we have quite a few interesting new people aboard also. looks like things will really start picking up speed around here with the Holidays rolling in. I have to take the whole weekend off just to catch up with you guys, which by the way I didn't think I'd miss ya'll as much as I did. You guys have grown on me(GROUP HUG!!!!) Yes you too Sickie!

love those vintage ornaments putrid, excelent condition on them. Are you plannig to refinish them or use them as is?

Vaca was great although a little hectic, flew out to Vegas to visit my parents, I didn't gamble this time around so I didn't lose any money. YAY!! stayed there for a week and then drove out to Florida for a week to meet hubbys biological family ( he's adopted) so that was a lot of fun. I was glad to be part of the experience. Then we drove out to St. Augustine in Florida, and wow what a great city so much to see and do. The city has such a rich history plus its haunted, if you like that kind of stuff. it was very cool. now I'm just glad to be back home.
Time to get the kiddies ready for school and start getting ready to open all thoses boxes for the holidays, I swear I thought I just packed away all that stuff the other day.

anyways, talk to you all later!!

[putrid]

Totally cool to hear from ya Nancj! You when to Vegas and didn't gamble? Congrats!!! You are in only a hand full of people that walked away from there with cash! LOL Glad to hear your trip was a smooth one. Sounds like ya'll had fun.

I'm actually planning on selling the unsilvered ornaments. I think there's folks out there that would appreciate them more than I would. Because of the cardboard hangers I wouldn't want to put them on a tree. I will keep all the old glass garlands and two figural ornaments. The one not pictured is red and has diamond shapes in it. They'll look cool on my fake feather tree.

[bethene]

lloks like a grat haul, Putrid, I love the old glasss beads! love all the 50's things,and from the 60's' too, memories and all! Alot of th old ornaments I have form my mom are from 40's I think, the problem is when worked on getting the bad paint off, it is now glass, not sivlered, but I still have some that are not stripped down, will have to take pics at some pint and show you and ask you opinion on what to do.

[bethene]

speaking of feathered tree, saw one at hobby lobby in red, also lots of trees made out of different things, it was fun looking at them! They have most of their stuff out, notthe big trees, but most every thing else

[putrid]

Bethene, here's a shot of my fake feather tree before it's decked. The 'feathers' are a cheepo plastic green garland wrapped tightly around wire. Then trimmed short. The center poll is a 3/4 inch wood dowel rod.

http://www.christmasfanclub.com/picture.php?albumid=8&pictureid=107

[putrid]

Well I survived my first 8 hours back on nights. Man am I tired. Decided to do something simple that wouldn't take to much thought. Something I wouldn't screw up. LOL Restrung a few of those glass bead garlands I got at the auction. I combined 3 broken multi color strands into one. Now I have a 6 1/2 ft one. Because the original twine was shredded I used embroidery floss. Dipped one end in wax and used that to thread the beads on. In case any one wants to know the colors in order..red, silver, green, shartreuse, blue and gold. The blue is a light blue. 2 beads per color. In case someone is crazy enough to paint wooden beads...like I did a few years back .LOL.
Got 3 pink strands. One 7 ft, one 4+ ft and one 3+ ft. Was able to use all the original twine. Ended up with two strands of the long red bead garland. The longer strand is all original and is 2 strands wired together. More than likely done 70 or 80 years ago. I put together a strand out of loose pieces and got 4 1/2 ft. The lime bean colored one is a few strands wired together. It's a healthy 7 ft+ but will have to be re tide because of broken beads. Will put all this and the old shaped ornaments in the feather tree box. If I keep this up I'll have to make a bigger one. LOL

Computer is on it's way back to the shop. By by Vista. Hopefully when I get it back I wont end up being locked out of my own computer again. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

I've heard much bad things about vista. Too bad. It was supposed to be an improvement, but instead wound up a pain in the butt.

[Sickie Ickie]

Your ornaments sound great! Nice that you are able to keep so much of the originality of the original materials.

I've never seen the cardboard for loops. Is it legs inside, spread apart to hold the ball up?

Th next two weeks will divert my attention. I'm a HUGE Olympic watcher anytime I'm home. heh

[bethene]

great tree Putrid. They type of feather tree that they had a t Hobby Lobby, was on a cone, or wire frame, don't remember which, with actualy red deathers and glittery things on it. They had trees made out of garland, wrapped on a frame, plus lots of other types of different looking small trees, they were 18-24 inches would be my guess.

[putrid]

I've never seen the cardboard for loops. Is it legs inside, spread apart to hold the ball up?

That's it. There's a circle on the top with a hole in it for the hook. A long narrow piece that goes down the neck of the ball. Then a T to hold the ball in place. Not very sturdy. Looks like it could be easily ripped.


Bethene, those feather trees at Hobby Lobby sound like they'd be hard to decorate. LOL I think they had black ones like that last year.

[Carrie]

I've heard much bad things about vista. Too bad. It was supposed to be an improvement, but instead wound up a pain in the butt.

I've heard so much bad about Vista too, but in its defense, I have it on my laptop and I have to say I love it. From all the discussions I've heard and read about, for some reason Vista is really terrible on desktops but is perfect on laptops. I received my laptop last year for Christmas, I was worried when I saw it was Vista, but once I started to use it, I fell in love with this OS, its so easy and user friendly, very logical too. So my own experience bore out what so many others had said about it. Vista on desktop = terrible; Vista on laptop = great!

[Sickie Ickie]

Interesting info Carrie. I wonder if the designers developed it on the laptop and assumed it would work on everything?

[putrid]

Totally cool that it's working well for you Carrie. I don't know what all you use your lap top for so please don't take offense in my next statement. If all I was doing with the computer was surfing the web Vista was great. But I use my computer to do a LOT of work from. It made everything impossible or a lot harder to do. It deleted things on me. It refused me access to files. It even changed the formats of some files making them impossible to work with or print. I'm looking forward to XP. And to the break up of Microsoft.

Well night one went by with out a hitch. Night two? You can't fix stupid. I know, I've tried for years but I wont change. It's not a habit. I can quit being stupid every time I go to sleep. LOL When I make a mistake it's usually big. And I was in rare form last night. It took over 2 hours to fix what it took me 2 minuets to do. The good news is I didn't break anything and no one got hurt. I can't even blame it on inexperience on the machine. That's how stupid it was. LOL Hopefully I got that out of my system. Be nice to think the rest of the week will be better. Guess I'll find out starting tonight. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Did anyone notice your stupidness or were you able to solve it without anyone knowing you did it?

[putrid]

Oh no. I ran my underwear up a flag pole and sang the national anthem like Rosan Barr. I guess the bright side to all of this is there's a few new folks on 3rd shift. They've never seen me before so for them this is something new. LOL

[putrid]

Looks like I've survived night 3. Found out the parts for my machine came in. When I got there last night the machine was up and ready to go. The mechanical parts anyway. Took 2+ hours to clear the water lines. But after that it ran good all night. Good news! I didn't do anything stupid last night!!!!LOL More good news, I'm going back to days next week. I like day shift. It's less pay and that does hurt a bit. But it's nice living like a normal human. I get more done when I'm awake. LOL

Haven't heard anything from Dave the computer guy. Might give him a call to day to see what's up.

[Mistress Muffy]

Hey my Dear Friends the Scary Scene contest finally closed last night & I'm so tired I could die. Why did we think we could pull that off in 3-4 days. Just was busy or my feet wouldn't work so we were not getting done. So the last 3 days we worked like crazy to build & get stuff done and guess what>>>>>>we made the deadline last night.

I got canning this week, a party to go to on Saturday(hey its my 1st party I been invited to in North Carolina & I been here 5 years!!lol) Jerry is doing some of the cooking Saturday & I'm bringing a candy tray. The phone has been ringing & its back to Charlotte on Monday to try & get some candy orders.

Hope all is well my buddies...gotta catch up on reading & writing here!!

the Muffster

[Sickie Ickie]

show us a pic of your halloween scene! :D

[putrid]

Mistress Muffy, I checked out your entry on the Halloween forum. Real nice!!!!! Looks like ya'll planned that for months. Not 3 days. Totally cool!

Survived night 4!!!! One more to go!

[Carrie]

Totally cool that it's working well for you Carrie. I don't know what all you use your lap top for so please don't take offense in my next statement. If all I was doing with the computer was surfing the web Vista was great. But I use my computer to do a LOT of work from. It made everything impossible or a lot harder to do. It deleted things on me. It refused me access to files. It even changed the formats of some files making them impossible to work with or print. I'm looking forward to XP. And to the break up of Microsoft.



Putrid, good question..I use my laptop to surf the web (obviously) but I also use it for: photo editing, cataloguing, a lot of excel spreadsheet work, and other work on it (primarily using Microsoft Office and its related software). I have also used it to create and edit videos. So not a lot, but its been very well behaved for me. And I agree, looking forward to the breakup of Microsoft! LOL

[putrid]

Totally glad Vista is working that well on your lap top Carrie. Mine had a sense of humor of it's own. It's funny now but at the time........LOL

My last night on nights went very well. I'm happy that's over with. Just wish there was a way I could get that extra $1.50 an hour but you can't have it all all the time. Looking forward to getting some sleep and going to the auction tonight.

[Sickie Ickie]

I'm constantly watching the Olympics, but stop in here when I can get to the computer (when my 3 yr old isn't on it). what did ya get this time?

[putrid]

Nothing, not a thing there worth waiting around for or bidding on. There's always next week! Didn't really get any sleep today either. Got to bed around 10:30. Woke up around 2:00. I don't think I'll have any trouble getting some sleep tonight. Think all I'd have to do is go in the living room and turn the TV on. I'd be out in 5 minuets or less. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

I've desperately been trying to stay up as late as possible to watch the last of the olympics every night. 'tis a losing battle. LOL

[putrid]

Well I did exactly what I said. Turned the TV on and I was out. LOL Woke up about 2:00am. Decided to look around the net for some good Jazz Christmas CD's. Why is it everything I like is $25 to $45 a CD? And that's on Half.com. My ears are bigger than my wallet. LOL I'll have to look around some more and see if I can find these cheaper elsewhere. Will have to wait till I get the new computer back to surf Ebay. All there new Java script plays havoc on this old system.

Looking for;
A Cyber jazz hoilday. By Akinyele Gemini soul feat.
A sleigh, a song, and a baby boy. By Rick gallagher
Christmas jazz. By Beegie Adair
Is it Christmas yet. By Greg vail
Christmas and hymns, by Greg Vail
Silent nights: A christmas jazz album. by Chet Baker
Trio West plays hoilday songs. by Trio West

It's a partial list. Or a wish list at these prices. LOL

[putrid]

Amazon to the rescue! Found most of this on Amazon from $8 to $15. Guess I'll either have to set up an account with them or try my luck on Half.com or Ebay closer to Christmas. Can't have to much good Christmas music!

[bethene]

I have been staying up for the olympics too, at least go to bed with it on, catch bits and pieces when I wake up periodically. But the other night in the owmens gymnastics, I did stay awake til the bitter end, very tired in the morning, but worth it, good thing they are only on every 4 years!

[Sickie Ickie]

I was routing for Sean, but Lukin has two Olympic parents, and I have to admit- she stuck much better landings, plus the long legs added to the gracefullness.

Did ya see Phelps win the 7th gold medal by 1 hundredth of a sec? Absolutely incredible!

[putrid]

XP is much better. Nothing's getting deleted on me. So far nothing is getting re directed. I have complete say as to what goes where. Vista sucks. Still have a few things to get installed. About 500 links and that many or more pics from the old computer. Will have to see if XP decides I don't need all those links like Vista did. Got the new web software, Namo 6.0 in and mostly running. I think I have to register before I can use the 'web canvas' program.LOL New office program with no glitches. And best of all? I can add words to All my spell checks!!! Imagine being told that every Latin or science term you use is spelled wrong. Every time you type it. Without any way of stopping the computer from doing it. This is good. I'm happy.

So far I only have one glitch. My publisher program's giving the old option screens instead of the newer ones. I think I had this problem before. I'll eventually figure it out. At least now it's working properly. That's a vast improvement over Vista.

[Mistress Muffy]

http://www.halloweenforum.com/scary-scene-contest/69705-muffys-official-entry.html

Ok My Friends...for those of you that wanted to read my story & look at our photos here they are! Above link

I thought today was going to be a relaxing day.....we had that birthday party today, Jerry was suppose to help the ladies son w/ the grilling. Its was horrible, we got there at 11am ( after getting lost) party was to start at 2......we were told 50 people....we went & got all the meat for her Friday morning. Anyways her hubby who had knee surgery 2 weeks ago had a heart attack at 2am in the morning so she was at the hospital. This poor woman.......she has been so excited & has been planning this party for months.

The kids were there but I told them if they needed to go to the hospital that we could handle taking care of everything. This was a much planned "Sweet 16" for the grand-daughter ( this is the lady who does my nails, her gran -d.) So anyways all went well & at the hall they told us 90 were coming. Jerry cooked, Joe ran trays of food from outside inside to the chafing dishes, we made cheese trays, sliced tomatoes & onions, dished up everything they had in the frig, I brought a big candy tray and I was the designated photographer. Mildred made it to the party finally , hubby not doing well at all, neither was she.

She called me tonight to apologize for putting everything on us......hey we did catering for a long time its 2nd nature to us. And most importantly the food was delicious & everyone had a great time>>>>>>>>and the 3 of us?????WE ARE POOPED!!! Not use to working that hard anymore!!

I got a few more hectic days in front of me & then I'll be able to sit down here & read. The Scary Scene contest over there had us working like crazy for about 4 days......man the old bones ache.

PLus they added more meds to the cocktail<<<>>>>>>>>>now I gotta start taking anti-inflammatory ass medicine hahahhahahahahahah>>>don't ask....I could just say I got a hot ass!!!lol


Ouch!

the Muffster

P.S. Oh I forgot to tell yas....in my entry you have to read all 4 pages cause the story went on for 4 days & there are pictures in the sections. Also reading whats on page 4 is very very important!!

[putrid]

Totally cool you were able to help out like that. Your definitely a blessing to those folks! Some folks call me sadistic but I've always found rubbing alcohol cures what ever is hot on the back side. A few minuets of burning gets rid of what could bother ya for days.

Fixed the glitches in the programs! Then I took all my pics from the old computer and got them on this one. In vista I had to do it one folder at a time because it wouldn't recognize my camera program. With XP I put half of the pictures on the removable card and they all went into the right folders. SWEET! Still have all my links, sound files, older photos, spread sheets, publisher files.......a few more hours and I'll be completely moved into this box.

Guess there has to be at least one tragedy. Monster Truck Madness. My favorite waste of time game. LOL There's to much processing power. The trucks I race against just meander around. Kinda looks like a group of 3rd graders trying to drive. LOL

[putrid]

Found a way to increase my chances of getting Christmas stuff on Friday nights! There's another consignment auction place no more than 20 or so miles away from the one I go to. I'll go to the usual spot early. If there's nothing of interest there I'll go to the other. I think I've visited the other auction house a few years ago. Real old building in a small town west of here. I'm told the place has no air conditioning and is a bit of a dump. I'm not going for the scenery. LOL

Talked to a guy at work about widows media dissecting my jazz CDs. He told me to try changing some of the settings. I've done the changes. I can now move the misplaced songs to the right spots. That's a big help. I'm listening to the complete 'Indestructible' CD by Art Blakey. Sweet Jazz! I want to rip most of the Christmas CDs I have so I can bun a few (10,30...LOL) for the house and car. Be nice to have each song in the right spot the first time around. I might have 60 versions of 'O Holy Night'. It'd really suck if the computer decided to put them all in the same CD. LOL

[Nancj]

Muffy what a great story!!
Love it how the butchers name is Jerry's, nice touch. reading it was like watching a movie, lots of details. You are very creative. have not seen the pictures yet, not a member of the forum so it didn't give me access. Can't wait to see them. If it looks like your story sounds I'm sure it's deliciously gory. how long did it take you to write it?
Plus you entertained your friends Sweet 16 party, and you have a "hot Ass". Girl you are on fire! no pun intended. How do you do it!!

[putrid]

Gotta go back and look at how the voting is doing. Hope your ahead by a long shot Mistress Muffy! Still think ya'lls display is the best of the bunch. I like the pig heads in the one display. Gotta find out how he made them.

Went to the other auction house last night. Picture an old west brick building with 12 ft ceilings. A place that could only hold 50 people at best. Fill it with church pews to sit on and tables with stuff to sell. Add furniture along two walls to sell as well. Now fill the place with 200+ people and try to cool it with a hand full of fans. LOL There was nothing there I was interested in so I didn't stay. Ran into folks I new. Guess they go to both places. Guess I'll go back next Friday if there isn't anything at the auction house I go to. Came home empty handed.

This new box is working again but it still has more than it's share of glitches. I tried to make a data base to keep track of all my CD's. When I went back to open it the computer wanted to open it with Window's Media. I clicked on the data base and the CD player popped up and tells me the program is not responding. Still can't access any data bases. Now it's telling me I need something called a "Java running environment" to access them. Eveidently I don't have one anymore. Then it decided I didn't need my modem. Now I have one. ( kinda easy to tell, I'm on line. LOL) This computer is more unstable than I am. I don't know weather to be jealous or seek help. LOL

[bethene]

Muffy, I voted for you, GF! I think your scene is great!
Sorry you didn't find anythingPutrid, better hunting next time. Hope ypour computer gets it's act together!

[Sickie Ickie]

Tell your computer is it doesn't get its act together, it will get a time out! eh...sometimes works for kids.

[putrid]

Sickie Ickie,I've already got it's life planned out. Going to by a gun. Take this thing out to the shooting range and see how many holes I can put in it at 20 yards. Bet I'll get 8 outa 9. LOL Might even borrow a riffle and see if I can gut it in one shot. A good 30"o"6 hollow point should do the trick. I'd hit it with an ax but I've heard the power supply keeps a hefty charge. Hit it in the right spot and it'll knock me for a loop. LOL You can tell I'm all for gun control. Learn to control it and you'll hit what your aiming at.

I voted for ya too Mistress Muffy. Still think yours is the best of the bunch. I don't get the haunted gas station one. Looks like a cool full service station to me. LOL

Thanks Bethene. There's always this Friday!

[Mummy deer-est]

lol, putrid...reminds me of a great movie where office workers took their printer out into a field and gave it a beating of a lifetime. Straight ghetto on it's ass! lol

Walked 17 miles Saturday...have a bruise on my food to show for it, and lanced my blisters too. Gross, huh? :)

[putrid]

Congrats Mummy deer-est! 17 miles? Totally cool. Did the event go off well? Were there a lot of people in it this time? Blisters, your talking to a guy who's worn steel toe'd boots for the past 14 years. I've gone from a size 8 1/2 to a 9 because of the thickness of the calluses alone. LOL Hope your feet start to heal up quickly and feal better soon.

[Mummy deer-est]

That was just a training walk Putrid! Met up with a dozen other people and walked til the dogs were barkin'! Your feet sound just as pretty as mind do! Can't wait til Oct 6 so I can finally get a pedicure. :)

[Mistress Muffy]

Hey I wanna thank you guys for voting for us. We had so much fun doing that scene. I still don't know how we pulled it off so fast.

I'm sorry I have not been around.....its a bad habit my friends but around this time of year I'm like stuck to the halloween board, especially since I been trying to get this NC group started.

Mummy I cannot believe you are walking that far....holy cow thats aways!

Nancj - Believe it or not I wrote that story each time I sat down to make an entry. Did you catch the end where I reveal that the 1st entry is a true story. The rest of it was fictional. I set mine up like that cause I was not sure I was gonna be able to pull it off. Unfortunately guys this health issue is getting much more severe but I'm trying like hell to just keep doing things in life.

Anyways I had to buy some time so I dragged that story out 3 days to try & get stuff done in the garage. So I sat down at the pc & said...ok what am I gonna type next??lol
I can say we are thrilled to have gotten it done. Sure gave us a head start on getting the garage started. Jerry worked his butt off. Right after we got done taking the pictures & getting the garage done I was pooped.

Muf

[Mistress Muffy]

I will be here for hours & hours catching up on the reading.

Muf

[putrid]

Auction night! I got some Christmas stuff but there's no way I can use them. Bought a stack of 54 Albums for $5.00. Man , I forgot just how heavy these things are. LOL Bought the entire stack for one album. 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet' Time Out. One of the best polyrhythm Jazz drummers. Got 8 Christmas albums. The stand out? "Christmas with Lawrence Welk". LOL Don't have a turn table so can't listen to them. A lot of weird music from the late 60's. Most of it I've never heard of. A few Polka and a few square dance. Lots of British and even a few completely in German. One of the coolest of the weird is "The First Family". It's a spoof of the Kennedys. Maybe one of these days I'll score a turn table and be able to hear all this stuff. Even the Polka! LOL Which I'll probibly listen to way before I listen to Lawrence Welk. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

congrats on the scores. :) I don't have a turn table either...don't even want one anymore. after all the scratching up I do with CDs, I can only imagine the havic I would do with vynal again!

[Mummy deer-est]

Well, my bruise isn't going away...think it might be a stress fracture :(
Why is it that stuff like this always gets worse on the weekend? A long one to boot!
Guess I'll be seing the doc tuesday. Grrrrrr.

[putrid]

I make a habit of always updating my anti virus program. Cleaned out my first 'trojan horse' last night. No idea where I got it.

Hope it's just a bruise and it goes away soon for ya Mummy deer-est.

[Sickie Ickie]

Remember Mummy...No good deed goes unpunished.

[putrid]

I disagree Sickie Ickie. Mummy deer-est simply pushed herself past her physical endurance. Doing something we all are guilty of. Setting physical goals based on what we would like to do instead of what we can do. No matter how bad she feels now, if she had her heart set on doing this, she would feal worst had she not. Doing good has nothing to do with it. Doing more than you can is the culprit. And I speak from experience! LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

captain's log stardate 08.31.08 . First mate Putrid has expressed a desire to have on the record his disagreement over my theory. We shall see who is correct during the next mission. I'm sending Mr X down to the planet's surface with Mr. Spock to check for signs of life. I shall report more when he gets back.

[Mummy deer-est]

Now boys, stop fighting over me...I'm starting to *blush* !!!!

:D

[Sickie Ickie]

No wonder you're looking even more pretty than normal. :D

[Mummy deer-est]

Ooooo, how nice.



Uh...hello?

I wasn't done hearing my praises. :D

[Sickie Ickie]

your antlers sparkle in the reflected snow. :D

[Mistress Muffy]

Well hurricane Fae came to visit at my house Friday morning at 3am! We had a small flood in the basement which took every towel & blanket we own to try to control. WE have a pump down here but it just could not handle how fast the water was coming in. We got it somewhat contained.........it was not high but enough water to destroy the new carpeting in my office. Man I had it so nice in my office & now it smells like a swamp.

We worked like crazy people w/ the dry vac & got everything cleaned up. Now we gotta move everything out of my office & get this rug out!

Hope you all are well!

Muf

[Mistress Muffy]

Nancj I just wanted to thank you again for my gift.........I have it & your card sitting on my desk & its so fun to look at this everyday. When the lady came from "Our State" magazine to see if we wanted to buy an ad she asked me where I got that cute Santa in the Box!

Muffy

[bethene]

hope every one had a good holiday week end
(sorry mummy about your leg, hope it's not a fracture)
Putrid, another great score!! I actually have a coupla turntables, my hubby collects anything we really don't have room for!
Muffy, I am sorry your carpet got wrecked,~hope you get it fixed soon!
I had my kids over for a cook out today, it was a good time, I enjoyed it alot. Well, have a good week all. I am going camping Friday, I can not wait!!

[Mummy deer-est]

Thank you Sickie...I shine them regularly. :)

Muffy, so sorry to hear about your flooding. We had two big floods in our basement last year. It sucks to have those big fans running all the time. Hopefully you don't have to rip up any drywall. We were really thankful for the homeowners insurance then. The one thing I was happy about was that we got to pick out better carpet and tiles!

[Sickie Ickie]

A blessing in disguise? I hope so. Sorry to hear about the yucky flooding. :(

[Nancj]

Your welcome Muffy, I'm glad you like it. just don't keep it near an open window unless you'r into the sparkly look.
Sorry to hear about the flooding, My neighbor has had flooding in her basement several times, (she has wall to wall carpeting) and she's rented a dehumidifyer. she says it works like a charm. helps dry out the walls and carpet quicker and more efficient.

I haven't been on the forum lately, just heard that my uncle has Leukemia things are not looking too good for him. very sad, he's only 66. And last month my aunt, his wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer. My heart breaks for them I'm very close to them both. And to make matters worse, one year and a half ago their daughter who was in a coma for 22 yrs passed away from phenumonia. just when you think things can't get any worse for them, it keeps getting worse. I feel my head spinning, and every time the phone rings my heart stops for a moment dreading any more bad news.
and to top things of my sister just found out she has a severe thyroid problem. I have my first doctors appointment in three years tomarrow. ( thanks to my mothers urging). wish me luck! I just turned 35 this past year. Is it true what they say? everythings down hill after that!? if it is I'm going to where a helmt. we all know what happened to Jack and Jill!

[Nancj]

sorry to be such a stick in the mud. Just wanted to get all that off my chest.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and healthy weekend.

[Sickie Ickie]

Nancj, we all care for ya here, so we do not consider this stick in the mud. Hugs from all us here, for you.

[putrid]

We're family here. If you can't let it out here where can ya? Hoping you get a good report from the doc.

[Mistress Muffy]

Nancj I'm so sorry to hear of your bad news with the family. The lady that does my nails here is a wonderful woman but for the last 9 months 2 of her brothers have died & a sister -in-law & now another brother has brain cancer. Sometimes ya wonder how much people can endure & where the strenght to keep going comes from. Its very hard. She is the lady we did the party for....the day of the party her hubby had another heart attack.

I'll tell ya with my ongoing health issues & the chronic pain issue being the worse I never realized how great my life was when I could get up every morning & just do anything without even thinking about not feeling well. I often say if this pain will ever go away in my life.....I will never complain about anything again because I will have learned that when you have your health...you have everything in life.

Yes Nancj I have a dehumidfier in my office that is drying things out prttey good. Its amazing how much water it pulls out of the air. I also have 2 big ones in the candy area to control humidity. You can make candy anywhere but you have to be able to control the environment its made in. Humidity & temperature are the biggest factors.


Muf

[Mistress Muffy]

I was thinking about all of us Chicagoans this last weekend......remember when I suggested us getting together to visit Ravens Grin when I come home!! Well the Chicago group off the Halloween Forum board met over Labor Day weekend to all go to Bachelors Grove Cemetery, one of the most haunted places in the nation for those of you that are not familiar with it! & out to eat together...they posted pictures & had a great time......made me think of us all getting together and what fun it would be.

Guys I'm working very hard to get my Halloween group together this year. Last year I tried to get them together to meet & eat at my house but it was just to close to Xmas, ya know we all found each other just around halloween last year.

And we were waiting for a member who was moving from California to NC to get here & settled in....well you guys know who I am talking about...its Spookineer. So anyways he is here now & we have had some new members join the forum that are all within a distance to be able to get together. SO I posted in the convention, gatherings section of the sight & am in the process of getting ahold of the members via private message & the date is set.

We are having a Halloween Xmas Party at my house on Dec 13th.. If any of you are in the vicinity please know you are invited too! The party is for families so ya bring the whole family & you must come with a huge appetite ....cause thats what ya do at a "Muffy's" house....ya eat hearty! We are doing a grand south of the border comida.

For the group we're gonna try to set up some guidelines & see what we wanna do & how often we want to meet. I think it will be great fun...besides...I'm sick of living out here with no friends! What could be better than halloween friends....opppss forgot where I am....ok the answer to that question is "Christmas Friends"!!!hahaha

the Merry Muffster

[Mistress Muffy]

Wanted to mention to you all......about a month ago if you all remember the news was telling us of a surge in Afganistan where 9 of our soldiers were killed & 17 wounded. One of those wounded was Mat, an Army ranger & a very dear friend of my father-in-law. Mat & his brother did not have a dad in sight growing up so Mat & his brother were always with my father-in-law. My hubby & his dad have watched Mat grow up & enlist & we all knew he wanted a military career. Each time he has been home on leave Joe & his dad go out w/ Mat.

Mat got wounded this time pretty bad, they sent him to Germany for emergency surgery & then he was shipped to Walter Reed for awhile & then finally came home 2 weeks ago for 30 days leave. As all of you know I worked with Veterans for 3 years & I am quite the advocate for them. But guys something happened to me when Mat came home...this is so strange.

They were planning a big parade of people that were going to meet him when he got in town & the mayor was going to present his purple heart. This was scheduled for 10PM at night...thats when he was getting in. Joe & his dad were going. I did not go.

When the news said what they were planning this I started crying right away. Ya see I know the story of Joe coming home to his small town of Thomasville, yes its when Thomasville furniture was made. Joe came home at 3 in the morning to no parade or anyone meeting him. As a matter of fact in his uniform he was stopped by the local police where he got off the bus & was waiting for a cab.

He got hurt pretty bad in Vietnam too. I don't know it just made me feel bad.......and it should not have cause we learned from the way the Vietnam Vets were treated when they came home to never treat our military people like that again & the huge damage it played out to be in Vietnam Vets lives. Can't tell all of you why I copped an attitude but I did!! Oh well guess the muffy girl still has some growing to do.

I asked Joe how Mat was doing, last week they all went to dinner together. Joe said ...Debbie.....he's gettin' quiet. Well Joe being a combat veteran & me with my counseling experience with Vietnam Vets & a few Desert Storm Vets & a few Iraqi Vets.....well I knew what that meant.....When you see what a combat Veteran has seen, life is never the same. I wish them all well but with the amount of tours they are being forced to do....this generation of soldiers will have a lot more to deal with. Its hard to see them already coming thru the PTSD program at our VA hospital, lots in the psyche ward....life will never be the same for them again.

Muffy

[putrid]

I work with a guy who was in Desert Storm. He doesn't talk about it. My father in law is a Vietnam vet and doesn't talk about it. I only know one guy who talks about Iraq. He's an x marine and his life is so screwed up now because of bad decisions he'd rather be back in the forces.

Well the auction last night was all but a bust. Everything I looked at went way higher than I was willing to spend. Did walk away with a few small plastic Mangers. In bad shape but I should be able to piece together one good one.
The aluminum tree when for $45. A small one with sparse branching. Not sure if it was complete.
The Pent-a-ray color wheel in it's original box went for $65. Wonder if the buy knew it was missing one of the clips to the wheel?
The 17 inch indoor candles in there original boxes went for $14.
The light up red Santa face with a metal back went for $30.

There's always next week. With it being the once a month antique auction the place was crawling with dealers and collectors. They have a lot more money than I do. LOL And in reality I have a color wheel and tree. And more light up things than I have plug ins in this old house. So no real loss. Hopefully the folks who bought them will enjoy em as much as I do mine.

[Sickie Ickie]

I've known a few combat vets as well. None will talk about the experience. It seems as if they don't like what they've seen, but if they talk- they are traiters for betraying the hero image.

Putrid. Let the high dollar stuff go. You get more items if you spend the same price on things that cost less! LOL

[putrid]

Your totally right Sickie Ickie. No sense in spending that much for that little. I've gotten good stuff because no body else knows what it is. Or I don't know what it is and buy it anyway. LOL As auctions go it really has more to do with the folks that show up. Had that same stuff been auctioned off any other day than the once a month antique auction I might of had a chance. When you got stuff flying off the shelves for a few bucks it's easy to come home with something cool. At the antique auction stuff's flying off the shelves at $100 to $200 all night. It's hard to find a bargain. Especially when all you show up with is $24. LOL

Still having loads of trouble with this computer. Something ya'll said got me thinking. Why does Vista work better on lap tops? This is just an uneducated thought. If a computer uses energy and the absence of energy to work then a sealed environment presents perfect control of the ground ( negative). My house has the old two prong wiring. Perhaps the floating or unstable ground may have something to do with it's unstability. The basement is wired for three prong. I'm going to take the box downstairs and set it up there. If I'm right this thing will turn into a real computer. If not? A friend at work as offered to let me barrow his 9mm Luger. He gave me a choice between several different riffles, 357s and 45s. It's way to easy to hit something with a riffle. A 357 or 45 will kick back like a horse. Hit ya in the head if your not holding them right. I'm not looking to cause myself any more pain because of this box. LOL

[Mistress Muffy]

I agree with yu Sickie about the hero image but from experience I learned that you don't ever want in your head what they put there when they tell their stories, thats why they can't. Early on I use to wonder why they couldn't just tell their families about what they had been through. That was before I started having them tell me those stories.

Muf

[putrid]

It takes a real special person to help folks who have killed other people. You can call it what you like but in the end that's how they feel about it. That's what eats at them. "You did what you had to" and " it was them or you" doesn't cut it. Doesn't help. Most of them have lost friends. The thought of "you didn't do enough" is just as damaging. It my opinion that this country has never done enough for it's vets. The use them and lose them attitude is discusting. And what the armed forces has for brass is just as discusting. I'm working with a West Point officer. He is the most irresponsible, disrespectful poor excuse of a human been I have ever dealt with. If this guy is a representation of them all then it's easy to see why nothing is done for the vets.

Well I took the box downstairs. Plugged it all it. Got the same results. It was worth the try. Might try bringing it back to Dave before I borrow that Luger........right now that Luger sounds like a lot of stress release fun. LOL I'm typing to ya'll form the old 98'. Looking into a Mac.

[Sickie Ickie]

They're not all that way, Putrid. Sounds as if you have an irresponsible one though. In the end people are people.

I hear the old computers that fill a room for a calculator may be more reliable for ya. LOL

[putrid]

LOL Sickie Ickie. I could do as much with a sun dial and a clay tablet as I can with that box. No I'll take that back. I tried to send an email. It decided the address wasn't valid????? At least a clay tablet would make it to where I sent it. I've never hated a computer operating system as much as I do that one. I'd have to stick a rod in it for the sun dial. That might be a cool idea. Wonder how many folks would have a Vista/ XP sun dial in there front yards? LOL Looked at some Macs. Man there expensive. I'll have to look into all my production and business software to see if they'll convert. I'll talk to Dave tomorrow. I don't do business on weekends. Not the mad as hell type anyway.

[Sickie Ickie]

Someday I'll have my weekends off. that would be nice.

[putrid]

Dave's coming over tomorrow after he leaves the office. I think he want's to see for himself what's going on. There's only a few things on this computer that actually work. Emailing folks isn't one of them. Any time I send out an email it comes back saying something about the address being wrong. Same addresses I can use on my 98. I told em about me moving everything to a non floating ground. He said that wouldn't have any effect. Nice to know he knew that before I did. LOL With so many glitches I'm going to throw a bet on a faulty processor. I'm not going to tell him that. I'll feal vindicated if I'm right. LOL I really hope it's that easy to fix.

Let ya'll know what happens sometime tomorrow.

[Sickie Ickie]

Looking forward to the solution, Rev.

[putrid]

Well, Dave didn't show. In the mean time I played around with the computer. First I tried the data base again. Wont go into details. If I tried to explain anything ya'll would be reading a short novel. Then be more confused about it. If I don't try to explain it it'll be easier to understand. I'm that bad at it. LOL The data base give the option of using a 'key' or not. When I choose not, I can't do anything with the program. If I choose to and try to save it? I get an error window telling me I need one. It'll add one for me. Then tell me it can't save a data base with two keys. And the fun is just starting. I then played with the spread sheets. I was trying to sum a column of numbers that contained a 'false' or null because it's contents depended on a division of two non existing numbers. I was having trouble finding what this program uses as the 'is' in a mathematical equation. I've used 4 different programs and each one uses a different one. As I contiually got the error I started to notice the fonts and font size was changing on the spread sheet. I thought "jee, that's nice. I could do an entire sheet to find my answer is a no smoking sign." So I decided not to save that either. After all that it was around 9:00. Decided to go on line. That's when the computer decided I didn't have a modem again. I got a few empty CD's. Copied every thing I needed off the box. Then deleted the rest. Unplugged everything and packed it all back in its original boxes. I went computer hunting. Only found Vista and a host of folks telling me what a mess Vista is. They were preaching to the choir. LOL These were computer techs I was talking to. I learned my best bet would be to go online and order one with XP. And that was from folks selling Vista.
I've been to the official Imac site. These things are expensive. The part I don't understand is they don't tell you anything about the computer your buying. There's a few places to the east I'll check out over the week end. Looking for an IBM, Sony or IMac.

[putrid]

I admit it. I'm still milling over the computer. Going to the auction tonight. If there's nothing there I want I might buy a box of junk just to take it home and throw it away. JK LOL Let ya'll know if I score anything good.

[Sickie Ickie]

I'll be waiting with breathless anticipation!

[putrid]

Well don't hold your breath to long. LOL There was some Christmas stuff there. Went way more that they were worth. All glass ornaments. Did come home with a few things. Bought a head and foot board for my bed. Needs some work and I'll have to re stain the head board to match the rest of the room. Don't know what I'll do with the foot board. No need to putting something on the bed to ram my feet into night after night. LOL Not bad for $2.50. Bought a micro wave for $1.00. Hopefully this one will pop popcorn. The one I bought the last time starts to burn the pop corn before the bags half full. Also have the box of ornaments my in-laws got for me a few weeks ago. A few real old ones but in really bad shape. I plastic spinner with a tin fan in good shape. An indent that really needs a re painting. The rest are glass balls that'll be stripped and redone.

[putrid]

Got started on the head board. Took the legs off. They're in real bad shape. Cut some wood to make new ones. The rest is in the basement with the de-humidifier. It rained like mad last night. Not much between the bed and the elements in the back of a truck. LOL Gota wait till it dries out all the way before I sand and restain. Kinda late for 'before and after' photos. I'll take a shot of the finished headboard as soon as it's done.

Was thinking of turning the foot board into a display shelf for the kitchen. Kinda like an old plait board. At 62 inches it's a bit big for the small space. I think it'd weigh as much as the wall I put it on. LOL Have to see how it goes.

[Sickie Ickie]

working on real life props as opposed to seasonal? tsk tsk tsk. j/k

[putrid]

LOL What I'm using as a head board now is there just to keep the sheets and my hands from getting into an electrical outlet I need to use. Old house doesn't have many outlets in any room. The new board will be a lot safer. The latex gloves I wore wile I was staining the new legs failed. Now I look like I wipe my butt with my right hand. LOL It'll ware off in time.

[bethene]

Hey all, been camping for the last almost week, back now, and busy , busy with the "other" holiday, I enjoyed getting away, very peaceful, had the campground almost to our selves, but now am a week behind where I wanted to be. Oh well, Have a good week end every one!!

[Sickie Ickie]

Thanks Bethene. :) Hoping to find new blowmolds soon in the thrift stores. I think I'm checking there too often now. Gotta chill and check maybe once a week.

[putrid]

Totally cool Bethene. Years back we got lucky and had the camping area almost all to our selves. It IS nice. The sites were spread out to begin with. Trees and all between most of them. The best part is having the showers all to yourself. LOL Glad ya'll had a great time. All rested up like that you'll breeze threw what you need to get done.

Used a gel stain on the head board legs. Chose to use gel stain so I wont have to strip the finish off the wood veneer on the head board. It's a great way to give cheaper furniture a new look. The only draw back is how long it takes for this stuff to dry. Did the legs yesterday and they're still to wet to lacquer. Will sand a bit on the head board to get rid of any waxy build up. It's almost dry enough and not quite as heavy. LOL It's cheapo pressed paper with a wood veneer. The $2.50 I paid for it will go a long way. If I get something I like better I'll cut it up for another project. I'll keep the pressed lumber. I'm cheap. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Have you tried poly stain? I really like the one step process.

[putrid]

Yes I have Sickie Ickie. They work well. I wanted to give the computer desk I rebuilt a more antique look. I used a dark oak stain and sealed it with a yellow oak poly. The yellow added a slight depth to the color and made it look older. The polyurethane is easier to clean. I eat at my desk. Tomato sauce wont stain urethane. LOL

The difference between the gel stain and tinted poly is the gel is thicker. Goes on heavier so it covers the other stain better. Good for going darker. Wont work if you want to go lighter. I might use the yellow oak poly to seal the bed as well. A lot of work for pressed paper board but I'm going to get my $2.50 out of it for sure. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

If anyone can do it, you can!

[putrid]

Thanks for the comp Sickie Ickie. I've done more than my share of mistakes to get to were I am now. LOL

Personal victory. I finally remembered how to sum numbers from a column full of error messages. The kind you get when you try to divide two numbers that haven't been added yet. The criteria range or cell has to contain the math function needed. You don't place the ">" to the sumif ( sum if ) math. You have to add it to a cell containing the number each cell to be summed would be greater than. So ">.001" is greater than an error message. Then any number in the column of division would be added together. No matter how many error messages are in that column. I'm happy. But now that I've gone threw all of that I've found the number I end up with isn't the number I need. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

lost me in there, pal. LOL

[putrid]

Sorry dude, I get carried away when I get excited. LOL When someone at work starts talking to me about engines or 4 wheel drive trucks I find a way to bring the conversation around to botanical ploidy or science. Shuts em up real quick. LOL If they're going to talk greek to me....LOL

I've lived in rural MO. for most of my life. To this day I don't understand the fascination with trucks. I'm not talking about a needed vehicle. Something that gets supplies and needed things from point a to b. At times I wish I had one. As it is I know at least 50 people with one or more so I can always get things I need to the house. I'm talking about toys. Case in point. Had a guy at work spend thousands to supe a truck up. Only to get a ticket the first day he drove it on the street. Excessive noise. He had the thing running so hot that it blew up on him on the highway. It's total running time was maybe two weeks. I've seen a truck with 5 full sets of headlights welded on it's front grill and bumper. He got pulled over too. It's illegal to have more than one set. I saw a new truck with a full size screen door strapped to it's front grill. Guess they were keeping the bugs off. I might have to start a thread about observations of rural life. I've got lots of stories and info you wouldn't get living in the city. Like did you know that pigs LOVE to play with bolling balls?

The saga of my computer still continues. LOL I took it back to the guy that I got it from. So we started to play with it. Found out that one of the problems was my fault. If there's one thing I've always been able to do it's making mistakes. I can find the wrong way to use a program. I'm very good at that. LOL The rest of the glitches have been boiled down to one of three things. Power, my new serge protector may be screwed up. The internal memory or the modem. It's at his shop now. I tried to make it make the same glitches I put up with and the thing made a liar out of me. LOL Not a single problem. I had told him about me moving the box downstairs where the house has more modern wiring and what happened. That's when he asked me if I used the same protector. I did. That might be the culperet. But just in case he's going to run some programs threw it that are designed to find any hardware problems. If it turns out to be the serge protector I'll stall barrow the guy's Luger. Shoot the serge protector instead. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

The protector is a smaller target. You sure you'll hit it? :p

[putrid]

I'll hold it by the cord in one hand and put it out of it's...I mean my misery. LOL For real that'd be a stupid thing to do. No sense in putting myself in real harms way being that close to a target. Not sure how many times I'd hit it at a safe distance. Guessing at least 3 out of the 9 shots. It's been a few years. I'm a firm believer in gun control. Learn to control the gun.

A friend at work was telling me about a news story he'd heard recently. Seems a woman was trying to kill mice with a hand gun. The shot ricosheted, hit her, ricosheted out of her and hit her boyfriend. They both ended up in the hospital. Seems no mice were harmed.

[Sickie Ickie]

She should have tried a carving knife. LOL

[putrid]

It's sounds like she didn't want to get that close to the critter. LOL A bow and arrow? Imagine the damage you could do to the inside of your house. All the wile trying to keep the critters from damaging the inside of your house. LOL

No auction for me toning. A bit under the weather. Thought it best to stay home instead of driving that far being this tired.

I'll be back on 3rd shift again starting this Sunday. The machine I work on crashed again. Looks like the idea of replacing one gear wheel out of all of them on a 10+ year old machine wasn't a good idea. Not that anyone in there right mind would think that. But that's what our maintenence crew did. Somehow putting a nice new gear with all it's shiny new sharp parts in with old worn nubby parts caused one gear to sheer apart. It's parts fell into the rest of everything ellses parts. They stopped. But not before bending the main drive shaft. It's good to know that all that will be replaced is the main drive shate. That should fix it...LOL. In the mean time I'll be on 3rd shift again till the machine is up and running.

Ended up with 50 red fake apples. Going to spray paint some pine cones gold. Then add them and the apples to the 45 ft of garland I made earlier this year for the kitchen. Be a good project to work on tonight wile I try to stay up. Stabbing the ends of my fingers with florist wire all night should do it. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Ow! .

[putrid]

Only got 9 of the 45 ft. done. More tired that I thought. or just lazy...LOL I'm not happy with the price I paid for the apples. Ya'll know that I'm really proud of the 'spending as little as possible and getting the better end of the bargain' way of life. You don't get to choose but you still get what you need. And better quality than if you bought cheep stuff new. This is why I'm not happy with the price of the apples I got. (ebay)

Each 9ft strand of garland cost me $6.42 (tax and all) If I would have paid full price it would have been $25.66. Now here's my dilemma...
I paid $14.97 for 50 apples. Ruffly .30 each. Putting 9 apples to a 9 ft strand of garland means the cost goes up $2.70. From $6.42 to $9.12. But the full price only goes up by the same 2.70. From $25.66 to $28.36. My ratio of saving verses full price has dropped. My cheapness has been disturbed. JK LOL The apples and sprayed gold pine cones I added to the section looks really good. I plan on getting the other sections done today. And believe me, the garland looks like I spent a fortune. I'm happy with them. Hoping to be able to get the stuff after Christmas I need to make the rest of the kitchen garland. I think I need 5 more 9 ft sections to go all the way around. It's an odd shaped room.

[Sickie Ickie]

When you do more, camera the progress. I'll add the how-to to the SP site

[Mistress Muffy]

Putrid,

Keep an eye open for those apples, sometimes they put them on sale. I bought 40 of them last year at Jo Annes fabric for 15 cents each. I was using them for making creepy caramel apples for my Cadaver Kitchen. We spray painted them a caramel color, stuck sticks in them & are getting ready to glue bugs in them!

SO sometimes they do go on sale!

http://www.geocities.com/collinwood841/tmiscprojects.html


apples are on the above link

Muf

[Sickie Ickie]

What? You don't like the real stuff? :D

http://www.hotlix.com/insect_candy/insect_candy.html

[putrid]

Checked out your link. Some cool ideas Mistress Muffy!

A bit droggy and wore out but I survived my first night back on nights. Don't know how long this stint will last. Hopefully be back on days next week. But if the part for the machine don't come in till Friday....

I'm typing to you from my new computer. I got it back a few days ago. The problem? LOL Believe it or not my serge protector. I have it in a different one and the box is working perfectly. Getting all my Christmas CD's ripped into the computer. Going to make some compilation CD's for the house and car. Working on new spread sheets. Learning to put together a data base. And yes. Now I'm able to work on the well over due web site. The one I started 9 or 10 months ago....holidacraftology.com....the one I've been paying to have web space for....the one i registered the name for....the one that's been a victim of operator and technical difficulties....ya, that one. LOL Should be up some time around this time next year. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

congrats on the fix. So vista is now your best friend?

[putrid]

Nope. XP. Vista still sucks. LOL The box's got two hard drives. Vista works in the back ground controlling the hardware that XP doesn't recognize. All the processing is XP. Both hard drives are accessible and I can run programs on each. I can run Acid Pro 6 ( foley and music mixing software) on vista. All my older programs that vista wont work with are on the XP hard drive. So in reality, other than Acid, vista is just extra storage. LOL

[putrid]

Well what a day. Today started some time in May earlier this year. My neighbor has her trees pleated ( limbs cut short ) every other year. Seems last year that late frost took a toll on the two big ones in the back yard. She told me then she would have to have them removed. Now what are the chances of me going back on 3rd shift the same week she would have someone come out and remove those trees??? All day. ALL DAY. One guy. One guy with a chain saw, back hoe and a chipper/shredder the size of a mac truck. LOL Got no sleep. I'll call in tonight and take a vacation day. No way I'll be able to lift glass like I do and be safe. Kinda bummed about the trees. It's a shame and will be hard to replace trees that were 40 to 50 ft tall.

Looks like I'll be on 3rds next week as well. What's the chances someone will be next door one day next week with a gas powered stump remover? LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Naaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...hammer and chisel.

[putrid]

Don't know what would be worst. Listening to a jack hammer with a saw blade or someone banging on a metal chisel all day. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Where do ya think the term "heavy metal" comes from? :p

[putrid]

Getting ready to hit the hay and no signs or sounds of any activity next door. Guess they're waiting on me. LOL Got all the good Christmas CD's ripped to the computer. Ended up with a stack of muzac, 'what were they thinking' and strange sounding CD's. Ya never know what you'll get when you can't hear em before you buy em. Guess it's better to take a chance than not to. Compared to the rest of the CD's it's a small stack. I'll wait till all the rest of the CD's come in before I start burning comp disks for the car. I should end up with a couple of days worth of music. LOL

[putrid]

The stump remover is going strong this morning and it's really not that bad. This isn't a hand held monster. It's attached to a small cat. the guy can wheel around anywhere he needs. Looks like I'll be back on days starting next week. Looking forward to a normal life style.....well at least until the machine breaks down from this 'fix' again. LOL

Going to the auction tonight. Might have to spend a bit more because I mist it last Friday. LOL Let ya'll know if I come home with anything interesting.

[putrid]

Didn't make it to the auction. A bit to tired. There's always next week.

[Sickie Ickie]

I know the feeling my friend.

[putrid]

Up early and getting ready to go back on days. It'll be nice to be back to a normal life. At least until the machine breaks down again. That's the funny part. I'll find out today when we get there if the machine is working or not. What I do know is it was cheaper to replace the damaged gear, not the shaft. Be interesting to see how well and how long this 'fix' will last. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

You adapted FAST to the day life, Putrid. LOL

[putrid]

Kinda weird too. I had been on nights for years. You'd think it'd take a bit of time to adjust. Not by the middle of the first week back. LOL

Well......the machine is still in pieces. Parts didn't come in. If the machine isn't fixed by Friday I'm putting my food down. I'm not going back on nights because of the incopetence of management. I haven't been wrote up in a wile. Gotta keep a quota up. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Do it in a nice way so you don't lose your job, man. :rollseyes:

[putrid]

If I did it in a nice way they'd have me hospitalized to run tests. After putting up with me for 14 years that would be a real shock to the system. LOL Years back they went to a new system for write ups. As long as the incident was minor it would be taken out of your personal file one year to the date of the incident. They got tired of me taking up a whole filing cabinet drawer. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

wish I had your balls, P. I'm just too nice of a shy guy.

[putrid]

Just what ya'll to know that I don't condone being an A.. just to be one. I speak my mind. If I'm wrong I'll be the first to apologies. And there's a difference in disagreeing for personal reasons and disagreeing based on experience. If it's personal it's a waste of time talking it out. Guess what I'm trying to say is I'm an A H. Not a jack A. LOL

Got to share what happened at work today. We have random drug testing. If you've every had to do one you'd know you have to empty the contents of your pockets before the doc or nurse hands you the container. This kid from a different department number was drawn. From what I understand this is what happened. When the doctor asked the kid to empty his pockets the kid handed the doc a bottle of someone else's urine. The kid didn't pass the test.

[Sickie Ickie]

LOL Last year our business cleaned house. We had drug tests for everyone. Me and another guy were the only ones to pass. Suddenly, he and I were trying to run the store 7 days a week, from 7 am to 7pm. Lots of hours to get pd from, but man did I get burned out!

[Mummy deer-est]

Hey guys...

Just thought I'd pop in real quick. Things have been crazy around here. Thought it would slow down with the girls back in school, but they are super busy instead.

Plus, it is hard to run around with a stress fracture and big old boot/cast thingy on your boot. Ugh. It came off after 2 weeks, but it isn't looking that great for the walk. I am going to be doing "some" of the walk, but the doc says to expect pain and to stop when I do. So, I'm packing today, then I leave late tomorrow. And I'll be walking by the crack of dawn on Friday morning! And I'll just do my best for the 3 days -- luckily, they let every one "cross the finish line" together, no matter how much you walk, so that should be a really moving moment. Wish me luck! I'll get some pictures to show you...but I'm sure I'll be a puddle of goop for a few days afterward. :)

[Sickie Ickie]

Bring plenty of toilet paper for the pile of poop, and lots of hugs for all the friends you make! :D

[putrid]

I admire your resolve and hope I don't seem like a wet blanket. Take care of your foot. Don't wait for the pain to slow you down. Really hoping your able to do some walking on all three days. Hope to hear from ya soon.

[bethene]

Best of Luck Mummy, I hope your foot does ok,

[Sickie Ickie]

...and the rest of you. :)

[putrid]

Went to the auction last night but didn't stay long. Just long enough to look around and do more talking than anything. Not much there for Christmas. A lot of high dollar folks walking around (antique night) so what was there would get out of my reach fast. Always next week to add to the collection.
There was a violin with a real nice hard shell case. Thought that would be cool to have. Learn to play it outside at night. I'd get all the neighbors together. They'd all come at me with pitch forks and torches. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Franken-Putrid!

[putrid]

Sickie Ickie, I think there's an F word involved there but I don't think it's Franken. LOL

I just wanted to use this opportunity to thank Larry for removing spam posts. Thanks Larry for doing a great job in keeping this a 'franken' ( sorry, that was to easy LOL) good place to be. Hope to hear from ya more often dude.

[Mistress Muffy]

Hey if I was your neighbor I would think it oh so cool to listen to you play the violin at night outside! I really like that idea!

Muf

[Mistress Muffy]

OK guys I get serious today......I been very very bad with staying on track since we started these craft shows on the weekends with the candy. BUT its going well & I am excited that in a short time I was able to line up all I did. Only have one slot to fill...the weekend after Thanksgiving and we are taking off Nov. 1st because of it being the day after halloween. Then we are lined up every weekend till Dec. 6th. I got a big festival in there & one weekend is a big college homecoming. We'll see how that goes, better go good for what the booth combined with a generator cost!!lol

We are so behind here its crazy.....nothing is done yet but the garage from the scary scene contest. SO today we are shampooing rugs & going to get started!! My feet been pretty bad but you guys always hear me say that. I just can't get stuff done cause I can't stand up!! BUT today no matter how bad they get I'm pluggin'! Halloween decorations here I come!!

the Muffster

[putrid]

Totally cool that you've been able to get every weekend booked in this short of time!!! Hope to hear you get great results from each show.

I've never picked up a violin before in my life. I'd sound like 10 cats fighting over an open can of tuna. The only thing that would drown that noise out would be the sounds of neighbors screaming and the sirens coming my way. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

so I should resell the Stradivarius I just bought ya for a Christmas present? Okay...

[putrid]

Now that would make a great starter instrument! With a Stradivarius it'd only sound like 8 cats fighting over that open tin of tuna. That's two cats better! LOL

[spookineer]

Just checking in, sorry for my absence for so long. Been busy busy busy. Hope you all are doing well and your Holiday decorations are on track. I doubt we'll get much of anything put up this year, Halloween or Christmas. I'll have to get a head start on next year...

[putrid]

Stop on by any time you get the chance to dude. It's always good to hear from ya.

[Sickie Ickie]

Ditto on that. Stop in and say hi every once in a while when you have time. :)

[putrid]

Went to the auction last night. Nothing there I was interested in. Did find out that violin sold for $60. Hope whoever got it will sound better on it than I would have. LOL Still haven't gone to look for a new computer. I still have tons of questions about a Mac. I know they got a program that lets you run windows. You need a windows CD, that I have. If I buy a PC with Vista I'll end up having to buy $100s in new software. Because Vista is mirosofts slap in the face to all PC owners. I thing Mac should come out with a new slogan,

"Hi, I'm a Mac. All my software still works"

That Vista service pac that was supposed to fix all the problems with older software doesn't work on all software. Microsoft is completely unapologetic for everyone they've screwed.

So I'm either going to have to find someone around here that sells Mac and pay more for it. Or buy a new Vista and pay even more for replacement Software. (office, publisher, works and the like = around $800). I've sent emails out to computer makers and asked if they still build ones with XP. So far I've got no responses. Guess it's off to the wild blue yonder. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

I likey my XP. :D

[putrid]

Getting an iMac!!!! There's a store in St. Louis. Bit of a drive to get there from here. Sickie Ickie, hold on to that XP as long as you can.

Not going to the auction tonight. Worked late most of this week and still have to come in for 8 hours tomorrow. Looking forward to the pay check, not the work. LOL

[bethene]

Hi all, been busy, I had a my first halloween camping weekend and was real busy getting ready, and of course going to the campground, had a great time, perfect weather, now if the weather just holds, supposed to go the 23rd for another one, I can't believe it is as close as it is to putting my outside X-mas lights up, also due to the weather, I hate putting lights up in the snow, getting to old for that!! well, have a good week end all,

[Sickie Ickie]

Had a good weekend, now if I can have a good week! LOL

[putrid]

Don't like the hours but I do like the pay. LOL Worked 8 hours Sat. After working a few extra each day last week. Today I was there till after 6:00. Kinda tired is an understatement. LOL I'm happy the St. Louis Rams are winning a few games. Be cool if they can keep this up.

[Sickie Ickie]

Well...just came back from my wife's ultrasound today...

Found out why she has gestational diabetes...

We're having a sweet girl! Finally!











...er...and a boy...heh


Yepper. Twins. *faint*

[putrid]

HOLY COW!!! One for each of ya! One way to get enough family for a base ball teem. LOL Well total Congrats Sickie Ickie.

[Sickie Ickie]

Thanks. I wonder if diapers are cheaper by the ton? LOL

[putrid]

Only if you get em used. LOL

Went to the auction last night. They had a few Christmas items. A red blow mold out door candle and a 2 1/2 ft tall blow mold snowman. I got the candle for $2.00 and sat and wated for the other to go up for bid. And waited, and waited.......and waited. LOL I finally got tired of waiting and left. If it's there next week I might try again. Folks were bidding higher for things that normally went cheap. Even the auctioneer was having a blast with the idea of candles going for $4 a piece. This means he was making more money too. LOL Normally they can't get bids on candles unless they're sold 5 or more at a time.

[Mummy deer-est]

Wow, let me start by saying...TWINS???? Holy hannah! Congrats Sickie! I have some smelling salts if you faint again!

Well guys and dolls, I did the walk! It was so great...and so emotional. There were lots of tears, but lots of laughs....and a general feeling of hope for mankind. And what is crazy, is that my foot barely hurt the whole time! More of a problem was the way I was walking. I guess the boot (although I didn't wear it) through off how I was used to walking, then next thing I knew, I had shooting pain from my knee to my hip. Luckily they had great docs and a lovely chiropracter that popped my hip back in place! So I did 41 of the 60 miles! And I'm already signed up for next year -- maybe as crew instead of a walker, but I'll be there no matter what!

I finally have up some halloween stuff. Will finish it up in the next few days. Need more outdoor extension cords. My youngest was quite p.o.-ed when I bought a huge moving spider at walmart. (She hates spiders) But is now happy to crawl through it's legs, so all is well.

Also went on a spree of Xmas craft magazines. Hoping to get started on a bunch of that stuff soon. Working on an advent calendar to sell at a church bazaar next weekend. Made out of juice bottle caps and leftover holiday cards...and I actually found a bunch of mini things to fit inside like ornaments and erasers and such.

Anywho...now that I'm done obsessing over the walk, I should be around more often. Because who else will get my christmas obsession when Halloween isn't even over yet? :D

[Mummy deer-est]

Wow, sorry for the 80 page term paper above.

[Mummy deer-est]

oh, and who is gonna pull the trigger on a new weekly? Because sifting through 40 pages to catch up is a bit ....

1, 2, 3, not it!

[Sickie Ickie]

Let Putrid do it! He does everything! LOL

[putrid]

Congrats on 41 miles Mummy deer-est! Totally cool! That 40 page weekly will soon be 41. At least this way all you had to do is open one post to read it all. LOL Guess we should open a new 'weekly' after Halloween. Just seams a shame to let go of the old one. JK LOL

[putrid]

Well howdy Sickie Ickie, you got a post in there before I got finished with mine. Guess I should learn to type or think faster. LOL Then I'll start one the first week of Nov. Unless Sickie Ickie beats me to it. LOL

[Mummy deer-est]

Just came back from the neighborhood Halloween parade and party. Lots of fun for the kiddies. But I much more enjoyed Markoff's Haunted Forest!

We went on Friday night....and boy is that an awesome thing they got there! They had 3 humongous bonfires, games, zip line, leap of death, consessions, face painting, etc. Then the haunted hay ride and haunted bus. Both were fantastic...they had the surprise scare down pat. And that bus was actually two buses, part of which you had to crawl through tiny holes...spooky. And they had talent walking around scaring the poop outta you, and some guys on very well trained horses that would come up behind you and nudge you. That was awesome!

Then the trail itself was great! I swear they smelled my fear and preyed on me! I can't even count the amount of times I was touched or snuck up on. And the huge stilt stalker was crazy...and wouldn't let go of me til I ran away! Oy vey. My heart almost came out of my chest!

[Sickie Ickie]

glad to hear you had a good time. Myself, I always tell actors NEVER to touch the guests, but I guess it worked if you had a good time.

[putrid]

Totally cool Mummy deer-est. Sounds like ya'll had a blast!

Got some good news today. I've got a basement wall that's cracking apart. It has moved in about 4 inches and is now damaging my main sewer pipe. I had thought there would be no way to fix this. Pictured the house being raised up, the basement wall being ripped out and a new one pored. Thought the project would be around 20K. Boy was I relived when the total price was just under 8K!!!!! I signed the dotted line with a sigh of relief. The $800 down payment kinda strapped me a bit. They'll be able to fix the existing wall and everything will be 100% up to code. When will this miracle of modern engineering happen? The day after Christmas. LOL Looking forward to a better basement. Glad I didn't have to re finance the house to get it done. I'm a happy home owner again. Ya, I should be at work. Took the day off so I'd be home when the guy came by to look at the basement. Totally enjoying the day off. LOL

Went threw the Christmas stuff at the local wal marts. Way better than last year. Got me thinking if it's this nice here I wonder what it's like in bigger towns to the east. Guess I've have to check them out.

[Mummy deer-est]

I think most of them got really close, but didn't touch...with the exception of one gal who kinda tickled my face. Weird. Oh, and the big tree/stilted thing that grabbed me in a bear hug and wouldn't let go. That was so uncool. And one more dude got close enough that I felt his hot breath on my cheek. Amazingly, though, I only hit one of them! ;)

sorry about your basement, Putrid. Foundation problems are no joke...so glad to hear you can fix it. I agree about the walmart holiday stuff! I did a detour from the Halloween section and saw some nice stuff. May have to compromise with hubby and get one of their skinny fake trees this year, instead of 2 real ones. Then, of course, I'll still have to find stuff to decorate it!

[Sickie Ickie]

8K? In the situation you were expecting, I glad it was cheaper..er...than expected. :)

My Halloween decor this yr sucks because of finances, family and too much unwanted stuff on my plate, but at least next year will be better. heh

Hopefully by Christmas it will be better yet.

[Mummy deer-est]

So, are you fella's ready for Halloween? I'm really not, but at least I have candy. Don't want to get egged, ya know.
I hope to get up the black garland, lights, spider webs and giant spider in the next few days...if the wheather holds off. Still have to go get our pumpkins too. Eh, we have the candy and the costumes, so it will be fine, right?

[bethene]

well, last week end was the second camping trip and Mother Nature did not cooporate this time, cold rain and very strong winds, gale warnigs on the lake, but still had alot of fun, lots of TOTers, I don't do as much at home, so my halloween season is winding down, can't believe it went by so fast. Now on to christmas. I have to figure out how to do instructions on some of my projects for the Santa projects site like I promised Sickie I would!

[Sickie Ickie]

Yay B! Can't wait to get the projects! My site hasn't had much of anything added for a month or so now.

[Nancj]

Yay B! Can't wait to get the projects! My site hasn't had much of anything added for a month or so now.


I saw a couple of items today at Target and seem way soo easy to make at a fraction of the cost their selling them for. I'm hoping to get started on them soon after Halloween. So if you stay of the naughty list maybe I'll share the how to's :).

[Nancj]

Forget it Sickie, I just realized how impossible that is. I'll share them them anyways.

[Sickie Ickie]

LMAO!!! I'm so popular, Santa engraved my name on a permanent naughty list. :p

[putrid]

Don't have a display up and don't have funds for candy. ( that $800 to get the basement started got me cubberds a bit empty. But they will still be cubberds. And a house. and a dryer basement with walls that wont be crashing to the floor. LOL)

Going to the auction tonight. Hope to pick up more Christmas stuff. Looking to find regular multi color glass ornaments. Lots of them. I'd like to frost the tops of them for the three snowy trees. Got a great crop of pine cones this year. Big ens. Going to spray them gold and frost them up as well. Still hoping to pick up a third tree for this seen. If not I still have two snowy trees.

[putrid]

Back from the auction early but not empty handed. That snow man blow mold that was there last week? Mine now. I got em for $3.00. The most I spent on any one item all night. Got a big box of assorted wood picture frames for $1. A bag of polyester batting $1 and a cool older picture for , you guessed it, $1.00. LOL I'll take a shot of the blowmold candle I got a few weeks ago with the snowman I got tonight and post it.

[putrid]

As promised, Picture of the snowman and candle blowmolds.

http://www.christmasfanclub.com/picture.php?albumid=8&pictureid=149

I ended up with 29 picture frames. Not bad for 3.5 cents a piece. Most are with out there backs or glass. Both an easy fix for me. Some of our stuff is shipped packed in 1/4 inch plywood boxes. And I can order 1/8 or 5/32 glass real cheap from work. We also get things in heavy cardboard that would work for picture backs as well. Now I just need some pitcures and posters. I do have an old Kroger add that has canned horse meat on sale. Thinking of the kitchen....LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

Love them there blow molds, Putrid. :) I've had to stop buying for a while. Last month I spent way over my limit. :)

[putrid]

Thanks Sickie Ickie. Kinda been over spending myself. $3 for the snowman last night, $2 for the candle last week. When your on a real limited budget small numbers add up quickly.

Now I have to figure out how to get them to stay put in the front yard. And then how to light em all up. Some of them no longer have there lights. And now with the 11 I'm planning on using I'm going to have to use low voltage lights. Ye old wiring. LOL Think I'll start a thread in the decorations part of the forum. That way it'd be easier for other folks to find and get answers.

[putrid]

Starting the slow process of clearing out the only finished area of the basement. This room will all come down so the wall can be fixed. What do I happen to find? ( besides a lot of trash bag fillers LOL) Two unopened Christmas CDs.

"Glenn Miller, A Christmas Concert."
"Christmas Songs by Sinatra."

Now I have two of the Sinatra CDs. LOL No idea why these CDs got put in with the stuff on a shelf but there they were. I'm guessing I bought both last year some time. Wonder what other things I've got buried down there?.......LOL

I don't mind tearing this room out. The folks who put it up managed to waste a lot of space. I have a hallway in my basement. Be cool to finally get rid of that and two unnecessary closets. One 8X10 and a 6X8. The reconstruction will give me more storage and a better flow. I'm going to save as much materials as possible. Even if I have to piece and tape the walls back together.

[Sickie Ickie]

Putrid, they have the lights with spring clips that fit into the blowmolds for around $2-3 ea. at Ace and Menards. :) Cheaper than I can make them.

[bethene]

love the snow man Putrid, you always get good bargins at the auctions you go to!

[Mummy deer-est]

bethene is so right...how do I find an awesome auction site? hmmm....not like I need to spend more money, but....