"...Just Because..."
Mood:  d'oh


....I can!

Okay, starting on getting more done on the bathroom before I have to work tomorrow through Monday. Taking a break already for eats and having a 'Canadian' to follow. Well, they're known for thier little quotes on thier bottles. Here's one I really like! 'STOP IGNORNING ME!'

Yep, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to walls! UGH!

Mary

The Usual Stuff!


Not much new this week. The bathroom project is on hold until the weekend. Between work and kid stuff it's been next to impossible to get much more accomplished except for getting the rest of the insulation installed and plastic over it. Well, I got the plastic is over it but ran out of staples for the staple gun. Then, I get a message on my cell phone while I was at work yesterday. Seems that the welding on the plumbing job sprung a leak. Oh well! Not that I'm surprised but that too will put the project behind a little more!

Oh, and another thing! My niece who went to live in Chicago a few months back returned home for good. There's more to this story than I can say right now but will update when I get confirmation on a few things.

Anywho, off I go to take care of some errands!

Mary

A Warning For Men!


Being a female I can understand this!

Attention to all men: BEWARE! LOL!


Subject: Married Couple

A married couple in their early 60s was out celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant. Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table and said, "For being such an exemplary married couple and for being faithful to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish."

"Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband" said the wife. The fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - two tickets for the Queen Mary II luxury liner appeared in her hands. Then it was the husband's turn. He thought for a moment and said: "Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me. "

The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish...

So the fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - the husband became 92 years old.

The moral of the story: Men who are ungrateful bastards should remember fairies are female.

"The Money Pit revisited" - UPDATE!

We now have the new tub in, some insulation put up as well as bisquine plastic to protect the insulation from moisture. The rest of the insulating and plastic installation delayed due to some repairs that needed to be done.

As per usual, with any home renovation or project, we ran in to a few setbacks putting us further behind.

The installation of the tub took a little longer than planned due to the plumbing fixtures. With the new tub you can only use brass pipes and fittings. $$$$CA-CHING$$$$!!!!!!!!

After cutting and customizing the angle of the fittings, welding together and testing for leaks 'before' installing, they did indeed leak. After a full day of taking care of that and leaving the fitting attached to the washer water outlets for more pressure testing for leaks over night with no leaks, could finally be attached to the tub and water lines in the bathroom. Yes, a little delay in what could have turned out to be a disaster if not tested and welded correctly.

It was also discovered that the soil pipe directly above the bathroom in the attic had a leak and therefore needed repaired before we could go further.

Hopefully today, after some much needed catching-up of shopping and laundry son and I are planning on finishing the of the rest of the insulation today so we can get going with the final preps for green board and dry wall this coming Friday.

So, off I go for now!

Mary

'The Money Pit' revisited! - Bare Bones Bathroom!
Mood:  rushed


Yep! As it says! The only thing that now resembles a bathroom in my house is a toilet and the floor. Otherwise, the walls, ceiling and old tub are all down and headed to the dump.

Between work and the other 'normal' every day craziness around here I now have to start putting it all back together in the spare time that is rare anymore around here before my parents lock us out of the house for using their shower way too much. I'm hoping in the long run(as in investment for selling)it'll all be worth it.

Anywho, a little 'funny' (?) during the destruction and clean-up. Whilst taking the shop-vac to the left-over plaster and lath dust I managed to get so 'in' to getting all of the crap up, feverishly going around the entire room and framing to get it done as soon as possible I forgot that the extension cord coil was placed on a not so sturdy nail above the water lines leading to the old vanity. Well, I turned to pick something up and bumped my ass end in to the coil knocking it off.

Beyond the racket of the vac I hear this 'hissing' sound. In a split second I turn around and discover what that sound was. It was what was left of the cold water line that led up to the old vanity having been broken and spewing a stream of water all over the bathroom and remaining plaster dust. I stood there for another second with the shop-vac still running before it clicked in, 'broken water line, running shop-vac, electricty........SHIT!!!!!!! While un-plugging the vac I yell to my son '.......TURN THE WATER OFF IN THE BASEMENT!' Son, quick to his feet ran down the stairs and managed to turn off the correct main feed valve to the bathroom in less than 10 seconds!

Whew! That done it was time to act quick to soak up the water on the floor as well as the water that found it's way to the holes in the floor leading to the newer in the kitchen and lighting fixtures before anymore damage could be done!

What's to come in the following week? Well, you guessed it. Time allowing I'll update the best I can, but it's going to be a full week at that. I need to get the , dry-wall, tub framing and supports up, tub in. Mud the walls, ceiling sand and prime, paint Go over screw holes and all that with filler, sand and seal so I can put up the . Prime the and then paint.

Hopefully, after all of this is done I'll have a close to as possible 'period style' bathroom of that from the year it was built, 1918.

If I'm lucky I'll have some time to get some pictures of the progress so you can see everything I've been talking about.

In the mean time, it's back to work!

Cheers,

Mary

Ah, Yes! Kids Will Be Kids!


Daughter broke her left arm last week in two places. She was at a work skating party and two kids fell in front of her thus causing her to fall back and while falling braced herself with her arm that took the brunt of the mishap.

I found out when getting a call from the rink owner telling me about the mishap asking if I could come get her and recommended that I take her to get it looked at. Right away I knew it couldn't be good in the owner was calling me.

So, I get to the rink and she comes out of the office with a splint on. I ask to look at the arm, the splint comes off and I go "Ooookay! (while thinking to myself "Eeeeew, this isn't good!"). I don't think we're stopping at home. It's straight to the hospital with this one!"

Although I think shock and adrenaline played a big part of it I was amazed that she wasn't in tears. By the looks of the arm at the time she should have been.

We got to the hospital, registered and waited maybe 10 minutes in the waiting room before we were called. Surprised I was at that! Then, instead of going to triage they took us back to a room right away. Another surprise considering there was about 15 other people waiting to be seen.

There was no real time to get settled in before the doctor came in, looked at and evaluated the arm before she was taken to x-ray. She came back, they gave her a pain pill and within 5 minutes the pictures were back.

The doctor came back and asked for us to go to the viewing screen to look at the picture. Yep, she most defiantly had a fracture of her radius in two spots. The worry for the doctor was that is was rather unusual and he was working on seeing if there was an orthopedic specialist in the hospital to further evaluate treatment of the injury. They were worried about the position of one of the bones overlapping the other bone with the other fracture.

A half an hour goes by and they 't able to find a specialist in house so they went ahead and splinted the arm, so swelling could go down before putting the better cast on. Sent us home with a prescription of pain pills for her, to which thankfully she really didn't depend on, and gave us instructions to call the recommended specialist first thing in the morning.

The next day I get up and try to call the specialist recommended. They were out of the office until this past Tuesday. No sense in waiting that long just to get an appointment so I decided to call our doctor because I had a follow up for something else, told them what happened and asked if she could piggy-back my appointment so we could get another recommendation for an orthopedic specialist to get her in sooner. They didn't set her arm in the E.R. and thought it would be a good idea to get her seen as soon as possible before it started knitting itself together before setting.

That wasn't a problem at all! We got the referral and a rush-in appointment with a specialist in the office. The earliest date was January 5th. Exactly one week after the fall. I was a little anxious about the time of waiting, the type of break and the healing of the arm while waiting. But, all was well. We went for the appointment, they took more x-rays to compare and what a blessing, the bones started going back in to place themselves, therefore making in not necessary to re-break (if knitting together the wrong way), and set the bones in place.

Very LUCKY Girl!

Mary

The Normal (?) Life!


Oh to wish we all had enough time in the day to get the things done we'd all like to do in the time we have to get it all done!

Did that make any sense? Didn't think so and neither should it. That's just life as it is!

I had yesterday off and took some time to get to the the bank to cash a check and make a deposit, shop for some much needed things and try to shop for a few other much needed things but was called in to work They were apparently short handed and needed another closer for the night. Can't say that I really wanted to.

The schedulers have cut hours for so many there that it's no wonder moral seems to be on the downslope. I almost didn't go in for the fact that they cut my hours in half to what I normally have and wasn't feeling too peachy about it. But, I went in anyway. I do need the money!

I'm already looking for another job. I can't live on the hourly rate of pay and 13.5 hours a week! Keep your fingers crossed!

On another note, I'd like to get some more things done outside of the house but that changed yesterday as I was out and about when the car in front of my flinged a rock out of their tire and pinged my windshield leaving a nice crack. So, I'm waiting, between 2:00pm and 5:00pm for the auto window people to show up to take out the windshield and replace it with a new one. Now I we have another financial pinch to fork over, the $50.00 deductible to replace it. I can't complain, at least I have the insurance to take care of it otherwise it could have cost a lot more!

Here's hoping they get here sooner than later so I can get out there and finish getting stuff done!

Mary

Dean McDermott Asked Tori To Marry Him! (?)
Mood:  not sure

Okay, so my web sites have been hammered with queries regarding Dean McDermott asking for Tori Spelling's hand in marriage. Asked For Her Hand In Marriage (?)

I really don't quite know what to say. Althought I run a website about him, and it says 'I don't know him on a personal basis' and I've met him personally, corresponded with him a few times, I knew there was a reason for my tossing my cookies two nights ago after I returned from the E.R. I thought it was from the pain shot they gave me for my leg they thought I broke. But you know what they say when you have a 'Gut Feeling' about something and that must have been it in the literal sense twice over!

I didn't find out until last night after coming home from work and settling in to rest my leg. Shocked? No! ? Um, not really! I had a feeling this was going to happen.

Oh the gossip banter that's going on out there goes on and on from people commenting about the engagement can be at Perez Hilton's Gossip Column, "Tori Spelling Not Sperminated But ENGAGED!", to a of other celebrity gossip blogs that you can link from this site and more.

I won't list any more blogs out there for you to link to because it's not really in my nature to do so. I just found this out by searching myself.

The ink on the divorce filings for both parties isn't even dry yet and they're taking it to the next step?!?!? I'd like to comment myself but really shouldn't. I'm sure any of you reading might have something to say that could reflect my feelings. So, I say 'GO FOR IT!' Comment away! Or, if you'd like to, (Dean has been known to visit his web site), you can leave Dean a message at the The Dean McDermott Appreciation Page Guest Book .

Cheers,

Mary

"Happy Holidays (?)"


Okay, "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukkah", "Happy Kwanzaa" and all that!

How about "Happy Everything" just to get it out of the way. It's incredible how this is all coming to be. Politics! (rolls eyes) Gosh sakes!

For what it's worth, be glad you can celebrate any holiday at all! We're blessed with that freedom!

Mary

Sometimes...


...Under pressure we say the stupidest things! And I've done that alot lately. I think it's time I take a break and have a nice examination of reality! Especially after what was said in a recent post.

I suppose I was hurting for some really stupid reasons that some may or may not understand. I guess it's a "Girl Thing". This kind of feeling was, for the most part, totally ridiculous, uncalled for and I should have inserted foot in to mouth before proceeding to click on the *post* button. It's time I grew up!

Mary

Been A While!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been incredibly busy here!

Work has been crazy with all of the holiday shoppers. But, I can't complain. Time goes by fast. Then again, so fast that I really need to put things in order and get my cards out, shopping done, party's to go to (which reminds me, I need to get a skirt and a nice top to wear), and cookies to finish. More on that later!

Daughter's school's football team had a State Championship game almost three hours out of town last Friday that we went to. It was awesome!

Although the temperature was 21 degrees with a wind chill of -10 it was still great! Why? Well, ofcourse WE WON! These boys played thier hearts out and for the first time in 42 years took the Division II State Championship with a score of 31 to 29! What a game!!!!!!! GO IRISH!

We took pleanty of warm clothing, layers mind you, and a sleeping bag to keep warm in the stands. But, I seemed to have a problem with my eyes once the game was finished. We were heading back home and I noticed that my eyes, even when taking my glasses off, were fogged up and tingled a little. I wondered if the wind and wind chill combined managed to freeze my cornias a little. I closed my eyes for a while hoping that warming them up would take away the effect but when I opened them I still had a fogged and starred effect when looking in to any lights. After about an hour or so it seemed to dissipate but I still had a burning feeling. The next day it all seemed okay and I was good to go.

That next day daughter had her second S.A.T. test at 7:45am. This after finally hitting the bed at approximatly 2:05am. Such is the saying that goes,'No Rest For The Wicked!' She seemed to do okay. Then she had to work from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Ater that she had 'Broom Ball' practice (a simplified version of hockey but with brooms instead of hockey sticks, special ice shoes as opposed to skates), at 12:30am which wound up being 1:00am because the team before them had a delay in thier practice time. Once again, we didn't get to bed until 2:00am. ********THUD********

I worked Sunday and Monday. Today I decided I'd make my Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs. I went all out and tripled the recipe but forgot that I only had a bag and a quarter of powered sugar for the frosting so I'll have to go to the store again to get more powdered sugar to finish up the rest of the cookies.

I also need to get my 'Christmas Wreath' (a version of Rice Krispie treats only made out of Corn Flakes), cookies made before I return to work Thursday. My-my how time fly's.

C'ya soon!

M

HOCKEY!


Yes, I'm a RABID hockey fan and am I ever glad that there's a season this year.

But, with my work schedule it's been next to impossible to watch a game when it's happening. I'm lucky if I get the chance to listen to the highlights when I'm on the way home from work.

My poor animals, both cats and dogs, have finally managed to experience me watching a game last week when I had the chance to watch Calgagary play Vancouver on CBC Hockey Night in Canada. The poor things are going to need tranqualizers when I do managed to have a night off to watch. I guess I got a little excited when Vancouver scored over Calgary and both the dogs and cats hair stood on end, they looked all over for what was causing the excitement and ran out of the room barking and meowing!

Hopefully I'll be able to go to a 'Wings' game this season and break my NHL virginity by actually experincing a game in person.

Speaking of the 'Wings', I had to see the highlights of a game a few days ago of a game that was cancelled after the start of the first period when 'Wings' player Jiri Fischer colapsed with a seziure and heart failure while playing.

What a shock that was. But then again, not. After finding out that after an exam for the NHL a few years ago he had a heart defect. No suprise that this heart failure would happen but a sad reality that this condition may end his professional career. I haven't had the chance to check up on his status as far as the NHL is concerned but know that he was very lucky to have a training coach and team psychian available with a defribrilator on the ready to revive him when he collapsed.

Very lucky to even have the chance to be talking to his team mates that evening given the possablity that he could have lost his life. He's here for a reason!

Well, off I go! It's going to be a busy few days ahead for all of us.

Cheers,

M

Happy Thanksgiving!


Sorry it's been a few days since I've had the chance to visit here. Life is life after all and well, it's as usual here, busy!

I've been working odd hours and having two consecutive days off at a time is a rarity any more. We're getting ready for Thanksgiving here and the our contribution is the potato's. Both sweet and mashed.

Although I've tried to get my parent's to come here they're doing the dinner at thier place again. Poor mum. She try's so hard some times and well, she's tired. After taking care of Great Aunt Verlin and everything else the poor thing has managed to mess up the first two pumpkin pies by not adding the cream and nearly had a fit. Then when trying to do the next two pies she spilled them putting them in the oven thus catching the spilled mess on fire. Well, that taken care of she managed to finally get them cooked.

I'll probably get up fairly early to get the potatos going and then head over to help her with the turkey and the rest of the food we tend to gorge our selves with.

Then it's going to be an early day. I have to be at work by 5:45am Friday for all of the LOVELY holiday shoppers in a hurry to get the best deal. -shrug- go figure! There's always a sale! I never understood the need to bust open store doors that early for things that will be on sale through out the holiday season but hey, it pays the bills.

Anyhoo, off to talk about more topics.

Cheers,

M

All In Good Fun!


Here are some candids that were taken by an attendee at the auction last month of actor Dean McDermott, Garett Maggart and yours truly during my 'Birthday Suprise' that a friend got for me. A neck message by Garett and a reading from the yellow pages by Dean McDermott.

It got a bit crazy after a few minutes and it all ended up with everyone being good sports!


Dean McDermott reads me the phone book while Garett rubs my ever so tense shoulders.


I'm motioning a friend to bring up a dollar bill. This is for the 'Smut Bucket' that had overflowed many times during the course of the weekend.


Like I said, all in good fun. Here's where the 'Smut Bucket' started filling again.


All done! After all of that Dean decided I needed a little more rubbing down to ease the tension! :^)

Mary

Work!

Yep! Work! I'm glad I have it but I'm making half of what I was at my former job. I can't tell you how much I miss the travel industry, especially now!

I'm working as a cashier making less than half of what I was at my former job but I have to do what I have to to try and make ends meet. It's very hard right now and almost humilitating to the point of 'Pimping' credit cards (as much as I despise them), just so I can keep the job I currently have to pay the bills. If I don't do so then my hours are cut and my earings are even less!

I need to keep this job as long as I can so I can pay the bills, put my kids through school and hope that when it comes to tax time, I can deduct enough to catch up!

M