Friday, September 28, 2007

New Zealand Abalone















While Rosie's stomach is filling up and distending, once again to gigantic proportions, I'll show you some tile I've selected.
I found something similar to this at a local tile store. This is a block of 8 - 2x2" tiles. The local store wanted $26 per 2x2" tile. I was flabbergasted. I thought they meant $26 for the whole mesh of 8.



So, Rosie went surfing. Finally found what she wanted after llllliteralllly hours of research. These tiles change color depending on the angle at which you look at them. Here's where I finally found the stuff:
www.matrix-z.com/






Now, they were less than half the price of the tile I found on the beach. Each 2-inch square will be a diagonally placed accent tile in my back splash. And just wait until you see the counter tops. These are going to look f'ntastik.


What this is actually is New Zealand abalone. The reason it costs so much is that it is harvested solely by free-divers. Apparently no scuba gear is involved.

Aren't these pretty: www.matrix-z.com/gfx/gallery/seatile_11_lg.jpg


Thursday, September 27, 2007

Rosie's Adventure

Today: Those are Rosie's legs. And she's wearing the silky jammie bottoms Miss Hawthorne gave her. I lllllloooooovvvve yoooouuuuu, lllllittlllle Miss Hawthorne! Heh, llllittllle Miss Hawthorne's name starts with LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.



Why on earth would Rosie be relaxing in the middle of the day when she has so much work to do?








I believe Percocet might be involved.

And lookie lookie.
SandyLoo is on TV.






























Doesn't look good, does it folks?







Talk about getting over the hump of the week that is Wednesday.

Warning: This will be long and meandering and at times disillusional and delusional, all due to my possibly being under the influence of a Schedule II controlled substance.

Here it is, 4:23 AM on Thursday and, unable to sleep, I am penning my thoughts to paper for later blogging.

Wednesday started out as usual. Ed showed up at 7:30 and continued painting window frames and doors, which is time consuming work since he has to take off all the hardware.

The rest of the extra maple we had ordered arrived Tuesday, so Floorman and Floorman's cousin arrived early to finish the hall closet and the rest of the hall back to my daughter's bedroom.

My two electricians showed up to continue wiring stuff, putting on new face plates, and installing under-the-counter light fixtures with rheostats.

Everything seemed to be going quite smoothly. Mr. Hawthorne had made a nice breakfast for us- bacon, aig, and cheese sandwiches. He's learned to scramble aigs in the microwave.

Now, let me digress. Tuesday afternoon when we were running errands, I was feeling a slight pain in my stomach. At the time, I attributed it to the seatbelt pushing the button on my britches INto my bellybutton. I know, sounds stupid, but at the time, it was working for me.

OK. Fast forward to Wednesday. I'm a happy camper with all my happy lllllittlllle workers toiling away in my happy llllittllle home.

Well, gosh darn it! That pesky pain in my stomach is still there and it is increasing in strength through the morning. Nope, don't think a mere button was responsible for this. The pain is in my navel and when I go to palpate said navel, I find a hard lump that - OUCH - is very sensitive. I add at this point: never try to self-diagnose from the internet. Just don't.

As the morning progressed, so did my pain. I finally asked Mr. Hawthorne to take me to the Medical Center since I thought I had an umbilical hernia. I finally see Dr S. after waiting maybe 1/2 hour. She's not sure what it is because it's so hard and painful and you can usually move and push a hernia back in, and this one you couldn't do that with. She says, "Hold on, let me make you an appointment with Dr. R. I said, "No, I won't see Dr. R., but I will see Dr. J." Dr. J. did my son's hernia 2 years ago and I liked him. Well, she tells me that Dr. J. is in surgery all day and she wants me to see Dr. R. immediately. I tell Dr. S. to find me another doctor because one of my neighbors went to Dr. R. for a lump in her breast and now she has one deformed breast thanks to Dr. R. I'm standing firm on this one.

Finally, Dr. S. says she'll call down at the Outer Banks hospital for an appointment with a different Dr. S. She tells me, in the meantime to go home and rest and relax (yeah, right) and not to eat or drink anything until after seeing this Dr. S. at the hospital, who is a surgeon.
I give her my home phone and cell numbers. This does not bode well.

I leave the office, shaken, but unbowed. Since we're up at that end of the beach - Mile Post 1, I tell Mr. H. to drive to Home Depot so we can return the unuseable lights we bought the other day. Then we go back to my little island to wait for a phone call from Dr. S.

We drive south to about the 7 Mile Post, then turn west, to go 5 miles home. Now, my cell rings. It's my daughter calling and crying because she had a light bulb burn out and the lady at the rental office was mean and rude to her. I had to let Mr. H. field this call since I had more pressing matters weighing on my mind. I have to tell him to switch to use his cell, not mine, since if the call came through from the doctor, he wouldn't know how to switch lines. Half a mile from home, Dr. S. calls and says to go immediately to the hospital to see the new Dr. S. So we go back the 5 miles East to the main drag and go down to the 17 Mile Post to the hospital and get there about 1:30.

I wait for what seems like forever. I did the crossword puzzle, the cryptoquip, the word jumble, and the Sudoku, thumbed through 2 North Carolina Today magazines (beautiful photography, by the way), browse through 1 National Geographic, a Martha Stewart Living, and stopped short of O Magazine. Because, just NO. Instead, I get up to study the Anatomy charts on the wall, where something really, really bad is wrong with every freakin' organ in this guy's body and it scares me and I'm thinking maybe I should have read O.

Finally Dr. S. comes in, feels my navel, and promptly says I have an umbilical hernia. (Thank you first Dr. S. That was $105 for her not to know what it was, when that's what I said it was when I went in.) But then, I'm not a doctor, so what the hell do I know?

My "option" he says is surgery. Now, I ask you, is it an option when there's only one scenario offered? Then he says, "When do you want to do this ... tomorrow ... ?" I hesitate. He says " ... now?" I says OK because I don't want to think about it any longer than I have to and I want it over and done with and not have to worry any more than I already have.

To make a long story even longer, I'm wheeled INto surgery about 3:30.

Damn, I'm gonna miss Oprah!

Oh, those nurses are absofuckinlutely wonderful. Patti said she'd stay with me the whole time, from start to finish. She put heated blankets on me (It's cold in there.) and just held my hand and rubbed my legs. I'm looking at the array of sharp instruments lying on the table to the side and the huge lights above me. I explained to her that really wasn't a tear dribbling down from the corner of my eye. I just had a lot of extra water in my eyes. Yeah, allergies, that's it.

OPERATING ROOMS ARE SCARY PLACES.

Next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room and it's about 5PM. Mr. H and littlest Hawthorne come in about 5:15. Awwww, littlest Hawthorne was worried about his Mommie.

We got home a little after 6 and I took my Percocet for the pain and just chilled for a while. Watched Dancing with the Stars, then went to bed. Alas, I could not sleep. I could hardly hold my eyes open, but I could not go to sleep. I can't sleep on my back under normal circumstances, and usually I turn like a rotisserie chicken. It hurt too much to turn over, so I just propped pillows up and watched TV. All. Night. Long.

Let's see, there was the Andy Griffith Show, Will and Grace, Frasier, Jeff Foxworthy, Leno, Letterman, and of course Paris Hilton was in the mix. My favorite television viewings last night were Dr. 90210 and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Boob jobs and more boob jobs.

Finally at 4:03 AM, the garbage truck came by. At 4:17, I noticed lights outside and heard a big truck, so I looked out the window and there's a truck at the construction site next door. It was the shit-sucker truck taking care of the porta-potty. At 4:17 AM.

I started writing at 4:23 AM and now it's 5:09 and I'm wide awake. Did you know Dr. Shill is on at 5 in the morning? A Shirley Temple movie is on too, with her singing "Animal Crackers in my Soup." Looks like she's in an orphanage. I think the movie is "Curly Top."

The rest of the TV programming consists of 2 Aerobionic(?) Garden infomercials, 3 Colon Cleanser infomercials, several vacuum cleaner infomercials with a few Girls Gone Wild thrown in, 2 Magic Bullet infomercials (BTW, I own one and love it.), 4 weight loss and 5 body building infocommercials on, 2 fishing programs, and QVC and 4 other shopping channels. Oooh boy, this is the programming at 5 in the morning.

Oh great! I'm happy now. There's an Andy Griffith on. It's the one with Rafe Hollister singing "Lonesome Road" and "Riding on that New River Train." I settle for Andy, Opie, Aunt Bee, Barney, Floyd, and Gomer. Thank goodness for TVLand.

If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. As you have probably guessed, I might still be under the influence of a Schedule II substance.

Blog:
"Short for weblog.
A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and 'I slept until noon today.' "

Thanks for the illusions.


Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Mr. & Mrs. Hawthorne in negotiations.

OoooKay. Now, we don't exactly know where we're going with this wall. I kind of was leaning toward this:

www.kineticfountains.com/horizon-falls-new-med.asp?zoom=yes

It would be a humidifier. It would take a lot of the dust out of the air. It would be nice to look at and listen to. And then there's that feng shui element going on with the fire and water.


Now, Mr. Hawthorne is leaning towards this:

accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A1226040


So, what I'm thinking is letting him have his TV over the mantel and I'll take the space between the two windows and put this:
www.kineticfountains.com/inspiration-falls-copper-rajah-sq.asp

Click on the bottom left one, rain forest green marble. I think that's real purty.

The place that has the water falls is in Arden, North Carolina. I'm 7-8 hours away, but I think Mr. H. and I should make a road trip to the showroom. As an extra added bonus, Arden isn't far from Asheville and Biltmore house, which is where I've always wanted to go.

Check it out:

www.romanticasheville.com/Biltmore.html

My entertainment center used to be between the two windows, but I'm not liking it there.

When Floorman did the floors, we had to move the entertainment center out of the way, so we pushed it next to the steps.

Now, I'm thinking of moving the lamp and table out and squishing the entertainment center next to the computer desk. I'd keep the VCR, DVD, and stereo components in it and wire it underneath the floor and up through the wall to the flat screen over the fireplace. Sounds like a plan!


Let there be light.

Not much went on today. Ed came to put a second coat of paint on the window moldings. The electrician came and fixed some of the can lights in the kitchen.

Mr. Hawthorne and I want out and had a lousy lunch. I couldn't eat mine. Oh well, yet another restaurant to add to my ever-growing list of "Where Not To Eat" on the Outer Banks.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Eating breakfast and taking measurements for granite.

I made me a yummy BLT this morning for breakfast, with T's right out of my garden. As Mr. Hawthorne says, "It's like camping in your own home." One does learn to compensate for things. Amazing what you can do with just a toaster oven and microwave, which by the way, I've learned I can't operate both at once. It blows a fuse.




Sourwood honey on buttered toast. If you've never had sourwood honey you haven't had honey. Dis is da bomb.






This is the guy sent out by my kitchen company. He's making the template for the granite that goes around my fireplace and on the kitchen counter tops. Everything is scanned into his computer and the measurements are fed directly into the machine that cuts the granite. Cool.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

This was scary.


I just took at look a Dixie's dog biscuit box. Am I the only who thought (just for a second) that The Retch was shilling for Milk-Bone?
Mr. Hawthorne made chicken salad today. He used a rotisserie chicken from our regular groshrey shtore. Know what? No one will ever know the difference. None of that monkey business of actually cooking. Isn't he just the smartest thing on the block? And he can take all the credit. How Semi-Ho is that? WHOOT! Watch out for those hot pepper seeds, Mr. Hawthorne!

I moved my elephant chair INto the living area from the other side of the house. I like it here. It's a very comfortable chair.
By the way, I have his tusks backward so the workmen don't knock them off.

Floorman is working on the hearth. We haven't exactly decided what we're doing here yet, but I think Floorman will become Mantelman and extend the mantel around the corners.
Mr. Hawthorne is seeing a 46-inch, flat screen, Sony LCD TV on the wall above.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Dixie is in La-La Land. She has her do-nut, her ducky-wucky, and her brand new pillow from WalMart. She's a happy puppy.

Dixie is just so damn cute. She loves her do-nut. And now, she's getting used to her doggie pillow. That's her Ducky to the left.

Oh WOW. Mr. Hawthorne and I went to WalMart today. Dixie has a problem with knowing whether she's supposed to actually get on the hardwood floors, and IT's ALL HARDWOOD NOW.

Anyways, we bought her this big ass pillow, and I found a little duck that quacks that I knew she'd like.

First thing she did with the duck, after tossing it around and catching it, was to dump it in her water bowl.
Oh, she's got her do-nut with her too.


We finally got her to actually get on the doggie pillow. And she LOVES it. Dixie's gone nitey-nite.

Breakfast.


Mr. Hawthorne made me breakfast and coffee this morning. Well, actually I cleaned out the coffee maker, ground the beans, put the filter in, and poured in the water. He pushed the ON button, so technically he made the coffee. But he did toast the bread and made the eggs in this plastic microwaveable thingie. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese from the pizza a few nights ago on the eggs. Then I drizzled some sourwood honey on my toast and poured myself a glass of sunshine. Now I'm trying to figure out where to go for lunch.

I thought I was happy and excited yesterday. Today I might just pee.


Dixie isn't sure whether she's allowed on the new floor. She's got cool eyes. And she's got her Flying Nun ears going on.


Whoot! Look at my cabinets. That's Floorman on the left and Ed on the right. My dishwasher is going in that hole.



That will be my sink under the window. My daughter always complained about the nasty trashcan exposed in the middle of the kitchen. Now it'll be hidden in the cabinet.


















The hole is where my microwave/convection oven combo is going. Check out the lazy Susan.














Fridge goes in the right. I've got lots of cabinet space. I'm a happy camper. Range will go in the middle.

















I'm loving my office/computer space. Ed went to the job site next door and "borrowed" a piece of particle board and cut it to fit so I'd have a desk top. I know it's messy now, but Ed's going to hide all the wires when we get doors and drawers and desk top in.




































The tigerwood is bee-yoo-tee-mus. It's like a skating rink. I don't want to put any furniture in this room.


Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Oh What a Beautiful Day!



Let me tell you, I am so happy about today's events. So much was accomplished.

Ed started out at 7 this morning painting the kitchen.














Then Floorman finished the maple in the kitchen and started on the tigerwood in the living area.











This is the view from the kitchen out. Dixie likes her new floor.



I was cleaning out the hall closet so Floorman could continue tomorrow. I found lots of the kids' things that had been in there forever. So, I thought I would don certain accessories.

Now, what you've all been waiting for: Here is a picture of Rosie. I have NO anonymity anymore.















This is Rosie, in her HazMat gear, ready to tackle Mr. Hawthorne's bathroom.




Dixie is enjoying her newly found blankie. It has Batman on the other side.



I had to move my office from in front of the side of the steps over to the kitchen door going downstairs to the utility room. Lookie who's on TV!!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

I don't know why the last post has a rectangle at the beginning. I tried to get rid of it but bad things started to happen. Then something started happening with my apostrophe key that made the cursor jump somewhere else and do bad things. Sometimes I just hate computers.

Tuesday, September 18. Got a lot done today.

I just want to say right now and here: Forget about recipes. I ain't doin' anymore stinkin' arrussipies. I got NO WAY to clean anything I cook. I don't like to do dishes in the bathroom sink. Just freakin' forget arrussssipeeees. I'm going out to lunch every day.





Ed showed up at Swirlman's at 7:00 this morning demanding that he immediately get here to do something about what he screwed up yesterday. Here's the finished product. Not perfect, but much better. I can live with it. Oh, and Swirlman didn't even do the swirls today.

It's still wet. It'll look much better when painted. As Mr. Hawthorne said, "The original swirls are in the calm part of the house where you relax and the new swirls are in the busy part of the house. The busy swirls are in the kitchen where you're busy." Oh God, he's using Sandylogic.





He brought Swirlboy with him. Swirlboy donned stilts and did the swirls, whilst Swirlman rolled on the compound. Yesterday, Swirlman stood on tippy-toe with his neck at an alarming angle. He could barely reach the ceiling to swirl. Today, he brought Swirlboy to do the swirl job while he carped about the problem yesterday being due to Jason, aka Stiltman or Drywallguy, who didn't apply the compound correctly. Say what?



Doesn't Dixie look pretty sitting on my new maple floor?





I love how the kitchen flooring extends into the hallway.
This maple is bee-yoo-tee-ful.

Gasboy kind of missed the mark.



OOOkay. Yellow line is the gas line for my new gas cooktop. See the red circle with the line drawn through it on the right? That's where the floor was marked for the gas line to go through. And Gasboy was told this. So he moved it 6 inches to the left. Why can't people follow simple directions?

Monday, September 17, 2007

Swirlman effed ceiling up.



Do the new swirls on the right match the original swirls on the left? I think NOT. I'm giving Swirlman another chance tomorrow to get it right.

Sunday, September 16, 2007



Drywallman finally showed up at 7 PM tonight. I got the giraffe at the watering hole pose. And then some.

More Moonflowers.





Because no work was done on my kitchen project today, I thought I'd shoot some more pictures of my moonflowers. I get a different batch every night. They close up and fall off the next morning.

Friday, September 14, 2007

More Passion Flowers




























I used to be a photographer. 30 years ago. I think I might still be one.



My passion flowers are beautiful.