Moving once again

No, not me.  But once again I helped someone move.  You'd think I'd have learned by now....  But NOPE.  Who was it this time?  My folks!

Now, my folks moved into the house I grew up in when I was 5 or so.  And they lived in it for over 30 years.  (Now you know I'm over 35.  That's good enough...)

In those 30+ years, my mom didn't throw a whole lot away.  My dad did.  Repeatedly.  When I was growing up, and didn't take my shoes up to my room, my dad would threaten to throw them away.  And he did.  More than once.  He was usually good about not putting them in the kitchen trash can, so they were salvageable.  But he'd also go on periodic cleaning sprees where he'd throw all kinds of things away, much to my moms horror.  

Fast forward to this move.  They had months and months to plan, and my mom did a pretty good job of throwing things away.  But they still had a LOT of stuff to move.  They were smart, and hired movers.  Even still, I spent all day Saturday at the new house.

I showed up at the old house, to pack up the fridge and freezer into coolers, to take straight to the new house.  I threw half of the old fridge away.  There were dressings from 2004, limes wrapped in cellophane that I'm pretty sure was from when I was in high school, and unidentifiable objects that I don't think I want to know what they started out as.  Freezer was slightly better, but not much.  Got it all put away in the new house, and it looked like I threw out 90% of what they had, only because the new fridge was BIGGER.

I thought I'd tackle the kitchen (since I already had experience with the fridge), and try to get it a bit settled.  When the truck got there, they started bringing boxes in.  I backed my self into a corner, and just told them to pile them up, I'd work my way out.  BIG MISTAKE!  After half-a-dozen LARGE boxes, I know that had to be it, but noooooo.  There were more.  I lost count.  I managed to get it ALL put away (9 hours later) with room leftover.  Of course, I had to go through the spices and the food, and throw some more stuff away.  BUT I made mom make a list of things that needed to be replaced.  

I also managed to hang the electric can opener (which meant emptying the bottom shelf of one of the cabinets  I had worked so hard on), and hanging a light over the built in desk.  

Having not moved in 30+ years, my mom was getting frustrated as to why it wasn't all coming together by Saturday night.  And why there were still so many boxes everywhere.  BUT she did get connected.  By Saturday night, she had all of the TV's in the house hooked up, and her internet up and working.  For her, that's heaven!

I'm hoping most of my friends and family are pretty settled for now, and that I don't have to do this again any time soon!

AMW

Survivor - Gabon

YEAH!  Survivor started last night!  Looks to be a good season, if just a bit predictable.  Hopefully they'll throw some twists in.  The location is awesome!  

But really, let's talk about the important stuff.  Do these people NOT know they are going into the jungle?  Do they NOT realize that a dress is probably NOT going to benefit them much.  Or a suit?  Come-on!  Not that I would try out or even make it on the show, but I'd probably wear a pair of long hiking pants that had zip off legs (to convert to shorts), a sports bra, a t-shirt underneath a sweatshirt, and of course HIKING SHOES WITH GOOD SOCKS!  A good hat would not be a bad idea too.

And an injury requiring stitches the first night...  brilliant.  I like how a couple of folks have lied about what they do (or just left out the important stuff!).   And early alliances are forming. We all know that they will crumble about half way through (although we've seen a few last through the whole game before).

OK, and what about the tribe that has lost all three challenges, but still managed to catch fish...  Good for them!

All for now...

AMW

BBBU

*****In booming announcer voice*****

Today, folks, we have another installment of "BORING BOWLING BLOG UPDATE".  

First, the scores:  

1st game - 138  {the crowd goes wild!!!}

2nd game - 98  {some signs of condolences}

3rd game - 129 {the crowd applauds}

But here's the fun part....

During bowling we play poker.  [What???  Poker during bowling????]  Let me explain.  With each new game, we take a deck of cards, shuffle them, and then everyone puts a dollar in.  Each time you mark (a spare or a strike), you get to draw a card.  You make the best 5 card hand, and that person wins the money.  BUT, you HAVE to have 5 cards, thus 5 marks to win.  Doesn't matter if you have 4 Aces.  If you don't have 5 cards total, you can't win.  Which is where I am most nights.  Or if I do have 5 cards, I don't have squat between them.  Two weeks ago, during my Consistently Inconsistent night I won poker for the first time!  I thought it was a fluke, but I WON AGAIN LAST NIGHT!  Not on the second game, to be sure, but on the 3rd game.  

Yeah!

*****Returning to booming announcer voice>

Tune in next week!  Same time, same place, same station for another "BORING BOWLING BLOG UPDATE!"*****

AMW

Indigo Girls

Tuesday night, I got to see the Indigo Girls at the NorVa.  You've heard before that I enjoy live music, and like the venue of the NorVa.  This was the 3rd time I'd seen them there, and again they didn't disappoint.  They are such timeless musicians, and reach a broad array of audiences.  Young, older, married, single, gay, straight, black, white, all basis were covered.

The opening act, Missy Higgins from Australia, did a good job of setting the acoustic stage, and getting everyone in the mood.  She even came out on stage with Amy and Emily to sing probably one of their biggest hits "Closer to Fine".  

We ran into some friends there, which sparked running into more friends, and then meeting some new friends.  Being up on the second floor this time allowed us to look down over the crowd and really take it all in.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be.

Once again, the NorVa was an excellent choice for a small venue for the Indigo Girls, and a good time was had by all...

AMW

Random Quiz

Ok - here is another random quiz. I'll post it, then comment on it...





Now my question is: REALLY? ARE YOU SERIOUS? 90 days without leaving??? OMG, I would go insane. Maybe I could handle 30 IF it was extreme circumstances, and we had access to THE PORCH. After 60, I'd really be ready to KILL SOMEONE. And 90? Well, I'd be suicidal at that point...

How about you?

AMW

Boring Bowling Update

Might as well get used to it...  Seems like my randomness is (at least weekly) going to involve a bowling update.  On with the show......

First game - 88

Second game - 90

Third game - 116

An average for the night of 98.  Remind you that my league average is 103, so yes, I did NOT bowl my average last night, and in fact SUCKED a big dog.  

Let's see if I can find some excuses...

• UM - 2 of my team mates were missing cause they are on vacation, so the flow was off.  
  
• UH - I was tired from going to the Indigo Girls concert on Tuesday night and getting home so late.  (OOOPS, will try to do a review of the show with pics later...)
  
• Well, they just oiled the lanes, and my throw was off.
  
• See - the team we played were very intimidating, and I was scared (not really, they were cool).
  
• It was the beer.
  
• It was the pretzel for dinner.
• My dog ate my bowling ball.

OK - really, I just suck, and can't get it together.  I was hoping this blog would show how I progressed throughout the year, but it certainly doesn't look like THAT'S going to happen.

At this point, you might be wondering why I even go???  Well, it's actually fun.  Even though I suck, and I'm sore as hell the next day, I have a good time!  (Guess I'm just a little on the sick side.........)

Until next week (for the bowling update....)

AMW

Embroidery

This weekend, I was able to spend a day at some friends house for a "craft day".  I've wanted to try machine embroidery for a while, but didn't want to invest in a machine not trying it out.  This weekend provided that opportunity.  Here are some samples that I did:

This is the first one I did.  Not too bad, and it ended up on a shirt that was in the goodwill pile.  It turned out cute enough that I may actually keep this one.

Just a cute little sun, that was a default pattern on the machine I was using.  

For some reason, I really liked this pattern.  It turned out pretty good...

This disney pattern was on a disk, and I put it on another goodwill shirt.  The embroidery turned out great, but the placement was bad (my fault).  Instead of being on the left side above the breast, it was ON the breast.  So, now it's a sleep-shirt.

It was really fun to learn, and I can think of a ton of applications for this!

AMW

Consistently Inconsistent

Here I go again, boring all 2 of you with another bowling update....  But it just amazes me how consistently inconsistent I can be.  You already know that my "official" bowling average is 103.  And you saw how last week, there was a 33 point difference between two of my games.  But somehow, I maintained my average.

This week was no different.  I started off GREAT!  My first game was a 133.  Felt good, looked good, lots of high-fives.  Second game - 88.  (No that's not a typo, it was actually an 88).  45 pins difference.  Can you believe it???  The third game was a 131.  Nice finish to the night, and my average for the evening was 117.  Now HOW does that happen when one bowls an 88!?!  I'll never get it...

If I could just figure out what I was doing right in the 130 games, and how not to do whatever it is I'm doing in the 80 games, then we might just have something important to talk about here...

AMW

Surviving Hanna

Well, we survived the ravaging blows of Hanna.  Ok, all sarcasm aside, it wasn't that bad.  It was very windy, and a little rainy, but overall, not bad at all.  In fact, it was kinda cool watching it.  And, we managed to get a lot of things done around the house that we've been neglecting to do.  Isn't it funny that it takes a storm to make you slow down, and get things done.  I think I even commented at one point during the day that I needed a few more hurricanes to come through to get the house in presentable condition.  Yeah, if only...  Luckily, we didn't lose power or anything.  Just yucky enough to not want to go outside...

AMW

Bowling again

You may remember THIS POST back in April.  So last year was my first season bowling, and last night was the first night of this year.  A new league, new bowling alley, and new experience.  There are 40 teams.  40!  Last year, our league was 4.  Quite a difference.  My official average is 103.  My games last night were 85 (ugh!), 118, and 111.  Not too bad a start to the season.  Keep your fingers crossed that I do better this year than last.......

AMW