A THOUSAND YEARS WENT BY

This is a complex story but one worth reading 

especially

if you believe

EVENTS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

August

I was a hostess for a dear friend's daughter's bridal shower, which I missed

she heytelled me and sang to me 

"I have your hostess gift and I bought you something at a yard sale"

Late October

I found a photo of my mom and dad in my granddaughter's bedroom

I was telling my youngest daughter how pretty Honey was and that she was in a curvy stage of her life

I thought it was kind of strange as my dad's date of death was October 14

so this photo made me very sentimental
note his book collection

Mid November

I am finally preparing for art lessons to begin in January so was researching programs online 

  I had narrowed it down to 2 and finally selected

MASTERS OF PAINTING

with this program there will be history and technique

we will take one artist at a time to study who they were,  how they painted and their impact on the world

And then we will paint how they did.  I am very excited!

Wednesday

I am at my computer and think I hear my front door open and shut...could be the UPS man

I later rush out the door to get Betty at school and notice a gift sack and 2 books...no time to look

when we get back from school and store I pick up this little gift that someone has left just inside my door

It was a sweet hostess gift from my longtime friend and two art books

Under the first one is a book (both coffee table style) called

I immediately heytell my friend to thank her and mention how incredible it is... this coincidence...
this book she purchased at a yard sale and my art class plans

In fact...I was so touched by the coincidence that it brought tears to my eyes

(I talk too long and my heytell message is cut short)

She heytells me back..."I did get your message and I don't know how much you know about the books...long pause...

but they belonged to your dad

Backup to August in Amarillo

It seems she went to a yard sale, thought the girl looked familiar from her church, they struck up a conversation and discovered they were both from Spearman 

"I am going to buy these books for my friend"

"Who is that?"

"my name"

"I was married to her brother"

"these books belonged to her dad"

As I sat last night and opened the books, page by page, caressing each one
and taking in the fragrance of the old paper... 

knowing that my dad would have done the exact same thing, 

I could not help but believe that he was sitting up above, looking down at me 

in this old rock house that my mother begged him to buy in 1965

in an illustrious circle

sharing a smile

with

DaVinci, Monet, Picasso,  his family, my grandparents, his yet to be grandchildren

looking down with a loving smile as if a thousand years are only moments

he thinking of his precious family

Three Graces

His mother, his granddaughter and a Grace yet to be?

and the artists thinking of the impact they have had and continue to have

 with no idea their talent would fill the pages of a book purchased in a yard sale

that will be used from now on

to teach little kids in an upstairs studio in an old rock house

PRETEND

In the summer of my 5th grade year

I was riding my bicycle down Barkley Street and I stopped in front of 822

I said to myself in just a whisper

"Pretend"

"Pretend you live here and you live here with a man who will give you diamonds"

I have never forgotten the scene in Far and Away

where Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise had broken into a home

and they sat down in front of a diamond window as the snow falls behind them

she said

"Pretend you love me and I am your wife"

and he said

"I pretend"

and they kissed

Our lives are not like the movie

instead it is filled with

hammers and nails and ladders and saws

we have painted and caulked and plumbed and wired

"we"

 are the demolition crew

the pool boy

 the sod layer 

the grass mower

 the base coat guys

the apprentice on a 25 foot ladder

the tile cutters

the rock stackers

and most days in a very unromantic state of being

but the heart and soul of 822

building something to last forever for those we love

 just recently I remember that wish so long ago

and I realize that I do indeed live here with man who has given me diamonds

and the only one thing greater than my abundance 

via last Christmas

is my gratitude for it

I hope that you find yourself in this time of Thanksgiving

giving thanks for all the things you hold dear

THE CHEAPEST SKATE OF ALL

Ok...so here are the photos of the poor pitiful 

loo

I'm proud to say that I think I spent a whopping

$28.50

on towels and light bulbs

coming in at 

$171.50

under budget!

 Paint the counter top...I know I know...high maintenance 

but hey...I'm the go-to girl on this one and I know where the paint is

Window cubby with chandy and grasscloth

still need to get a shade but I have to do that in Amarillo

so later I will add in a tank of gas to go with the shade and spend my savings

at Hobby Lobby

still under budget!

Miss Betty Bubble Hat

and a fern

Man I love this angel...we bought her in Madrid....New Mexico that is!

she will eventually go in my dressing room

and this cabinet will be but a memory

that's why I didn't worry too much about painting it

Oh how pretty

 Remove cabinet doors 

See those new towels with brown ribbon I bought on sale at Alco?

They match the brown tub

I really do like the accent tile...I even like that curry color

but it will also be a memory

got an elephant in your room?  Put a ribbon on it!

I just love these little lavender sachets I bought from 

Rose Petals and Rust

they smell divine and I have several of them that I love to squeeze and toss

I also love old postcards

A lifetime supply of Q-tips in shiny glass jars

I'm quite serious about river rock in the sink

kind of Zen-ish to me

I always say...if you're paying high dollar for a room and they have cute soap?

COLLECT IT!

or as I do...GRAB IT UP WITH GREED

the trick is, each day you have to put it in your suitcase so they refill it

then you can leave with enough to fill a pretty antique bowl

vintage tea towels for fun

There's that darlin' Miss Betty Bubble Hat again!

and those wonderful smelling sachets!

See the other new towels I bought?  I took back a rug that was the wrong color and exchanged for these towels...still have to put in the window sill

An old cracked bowl filled with loose lavender and little rose balls

I tell you...I love shopping at my house!

Not bad...not what it will look like someday...but not bad

I can live with it being the last project

also coming in under budget

but not on time...oh well...can't have it all!

This cute carpenter and his cute helper both have day jobs!

do I drive folks crazy with my angel picture, chandelier and cross bottle in the window

before the tile is complete?

I'm guessing a big fat 

YES!

TUFF!

It helps me have faith past this!

POWDER ROOM

Have you ever run out of money?

or time? or both?

This little bathroom was going to be our last whatever project and it was going to be a big one!

It's so out of date and so tiny, yet a full bath

It's very masculine and kind of looks like a library

featuring a nice brown bathtub

and an equally lovely brown sink

believe it or not...the shower is wonderful...nice and large with great tile!

It kind of scares me to walk in here and I promise..if and when we have company or parties, it's much cleaner than this.  Right now we use it to wash our paint brushes and store our river rocks

The plan was to tackle it in August

well, well, well

we are just this weekend laying the marble in our master bath

The tub is coming out and a new sink will go there

This sink will be the doorway into the nearby bedroom so it that can be a suite

and the existing doorway will be closed off to allow more room for the shower area

I don't like carpet in a bath, but when we got new carpet in the rest of the house, there was enough to cover the dreadful floor

Since it will only be a guest bath

I'm taking the doors off and this will be filled with spa sundries

When people came in this bath when we first bought 822...everyone

and I mean EVERYONE commented on the cool counter top

ewwww!  

the ironic thing is that in the upstairs bathroom we actually

CHOSE it...just in a neutral color and I do love it!

So...back to the money/time thing

since we are not going to get this little bathroom tackled by

THIS August

I just can't stand it any longer and am going to spend the weekend

making it be the best it can be for about

$200 or LESS 

The very first thing we did is put in a new window

These panes were a mis-measure and we decided to use them here..they fit just right

funny....one got broken in the garage and the day we were going to install them...they fell off the AC unit and another one broke...so there's only one original pane and by this time we could have had one single piece of glass...and I used my left over grasscloth on the inside...see how thick this old rock house is...

and the chandy?  Well...stay tuned...this ugly little bath is about to come alive!

ORANGE LIPSTICK

"What?  This old orange lipstick?  Well...I only wear it when I don't care how I look!"

Ok...so....I'm a bit of a boy these days...cross dresser...or maybe you could say I dress like a person who is in constant state of construction and all that implies....

paint*caulk*wallpaper*tile*demo*reno*

you name it...it's on my outfit

but I also have a job
mostly I am able to do the vast majority of my job alone...in hiding...in boy construction clothes

But on occasion when I am texted, or emailed or called...for a photo op I have

a dress...with ruffles...

READY. TO. GO.

I bought this dress early in the summer for a wedding shower for Mattie...and I swear I have worn that thing about a hundred times.  Even the people at Hobby Lobby are thinking..."that dress?  AGAIN?"  What I love about it is that I can lay it across a chair, slip it over my head and walla!  Instant reporter!

So yesterday was one of those days..."Hey we got a new ambulance...can you come take a picture and do an interview?"

I slip on the dress
I  rat my hair
I tear out the perfume page in my Neiman Marcus catalog and apply to wrists
and put on some orange lipstick
(My mom used to wear red lip liner, orange lipstick with gold over it)

When I get to the fire station and meet with the City Manager and the EMS director..there are several other people there.  One of them says to me...

She:  "what color is your lipstick?"
Me:  "I don't know just something orange that I got at Alco"
Me:  "want me to kiss your hand so you can match it?"
She:  "when I do nails and toes, some people like to match their lipstick and I can just tell them to go to Alco for that color"
Me to myself:  "Those must be some high maintenance women!"

So later...I catch another girl kind of giving my legs the look over and all I can think about is how hairy they  probably are and that this is a day I should have worn black tights under this dress...

and when I get home realize my legs are covered with paint (I have been painting cabinets in my bathroom)...oopsie...I guess I was too busy fluffing the upper stuff and forgot about my issues down south

but in the big picture I was actually kind of pleased....it's been a long time since someone asked me about my lipstick!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY FINIAL BACK ON

Yesterday I was sitting at my computer posting the HPO daily headlines and gazing out my window

when I looked a little higher and spied this!

THIS!

So I went outside for a closer look and

found the catastrophe to be 

TRUE

We have wind folks...nothing to compare to the horrible hurricane 

Sandy...but

this big copper ball is not light

and it was laying in my yard a few feet from where it's supposed to be

and about 30 feet below

So this is where it will remain

until Thanksgiving is over

and someone big and strong and brave

will put it back

when they are hanging Christmas Lights