All the Worlds a Stage and i've got the drapes to prove it.

Okay, so i got the drapes mostly done and hung up. Sometimes it pains me to be such a green fanatic, but we all have to be something.

The picture to the left, save for the kid shoes and my son's shot put, is of the Theatre Drape i made for our French doors. I wanted something heavy to help cut the cold from the door. It's not entirely finished, but this is pretty much what it's going to look like. You'll see in the last picture, i made the drape to cover the entire span of that wall. I'd rather have this big mysterious curtain than small strips of white wall on either side, especially given that they'd be narrower than the white space above the drape. It just made sense to me. I still need to get some weights and magnets to make it do as i wish, but i left pockets for those. If you look closely, it looks as though the ends are lower than the center. I assure you, this is an optical hallucination. The weights will lift the lip at the top and that will self correct. The one thing i didn't count on was the placement of the door. The door is actually four inches to the left of center. This means i'll have to move the center support for the rod to get the gathers to bunch right.

As i said in my previous post, i really didn't have enough material for what i wanted to do, but i did my best to use what i had. I couldn't exactly make this drape puddle, but i did make it drag the floor. Right now it looks as though i don't know how to hem, but once i add the weight and so on, this will also self correct.

I haven't decided whether i'm going to gather them in the middle or from the sides. So, for now, i can live with the way they look. Boy, i was really rationing material on this one, but i think it turned out alright.

You can see what i am talking about, when i said i don't know whether to gather them in the middle or from the side in the next picture. If you have an opinion on this, Please, do share.

I'm really leaning on gathering in the middle with a couple of ties that are looser than the piece i have tied on there. The tie will probably be a purple color which will make me gee-gaw up the rest of it with a splash of purple here and there. I say purple, probably a pastel or drabby lavender color. Just something different.

Here is the door. See, it's totally off to one side. Eh, well, we play the cards we are dealt.

On a brighter note, they fixed my oven. (woo hoo) or so i thought. It is either at 275 or 450. Some choice. I'm tired of dealing with the stove and i think i'm going to just buy one and tell them to come store theirs.

Well, i'm not too much into the writing mood right now, i have a movie to watch. So, if you have any ideas or comments, feel free to leave me any thought you like.

Until the next time i post, may peace and happiness be the order of the day,

Dave

P.S. Wouldn't an alphabet table look great in place of that cedar chest??

All the news that's new and improved

Okay, so our new apartment here in Amarillo is about 85% put away. It's the remainder that is going to take some time to get situated. I got the books put up this weekend and now i have to sort out hers from mine and get them all "put right" in the shelves. While doing this, i have been screaming at myself over our french doors and the two other windows off of our living room. In Garland we had three windows in the whole place, not counting the sliding glass door to the balcony. I have recycled the one in our living room there to go in the dining room and it's okay, until i find something i like better. Though that does leave the three windows downstairs and our bedroom upstairs to make drapes for.

I absolutely refuse to pay retail for fabric unless it's for something i can't do anything else about. To cover the French doors, i figured i needed about 9 yards in drapery material and the same in blackout panel. Well when you figure the cost of what i like, which was right at 29.00 a yard and then i'd need another 6 yards for the other two windows, the price was completely out of reason. I mean it isn't like i can run over to the apparel district here and go to the warehouses or anything. I have one lonely JoAnn's and that's it.

So, i'm cruising through JoAnn's and i see a fabric i really like and i'm thinking if i can get 10 yards of it i can make it work. See, i wanted the extra fabric so the drapes at the French Doors would puddle. I just thought it would look cool and help to keep the air out. However, at nearly thirty dollars a yard, no way. So i'm eyeing this fabric and i see a red tag that says 6 dollars a yard. I'm thinking woo hoo, just please have 10 yards on the cob. So off to the cut table. 6 5/8th yds. I wanted to scream like Charlie Brown!!! So, back i went to see if there were any other red tags and as fate would have it, why yes there was. It measured out at 5 1/8th yds. Boy, i just couldn't catch a break. Everything else be it regular price or on sale i just didn't groove on. So, i'm wandering the store and something clicked. I went back and bought both cobs of material and enough gimp to go crazy with.

After that, all that was left were the blackout panels. Between the rods and the material and some other stuff, i had pretty much exhausted my drapery budget. Even with the red tag fabric. Okay, for some guys it's Home Depot, for me it's a fabric store.

I was sitting here thinking i could just go ahead and make up the drapes and do the black out panels later, when it occurred to me i should check my fabric stash. My fabric stash is in six Rubbermaid tubs. When stacked, they are nearly eight feet tall. I checked them all and to no avail. I just didn't have enough. Then Zeke came in dragging a bundle of bolts of fabric i had cling wrapped together. In that was the prize!!! A bolt of pale blue/teal denim with nearly 20yds on the bolt. Woo Hoo!!! I started doing my happy dance. It's not traditionally what i'd use, but my silk is Sage green with spots of a pale blue in it. The denim will work fine for protecting my silk from the sun.

I'll post a pic as soon as i get them done. Now, don't get your hopes up, it's what i like which means it's going to be either weird or really weird.

Oh, and just for the Tally Sheet, when i got to the register i discovered the fabric and gimp i picked out were both on sale an additional 50%. I'm happy, but at that price everything in the house would have puddled.

Until next time, Peace be with you, Dave

Go West Young Man...

As it turns out, Horace Greeley didn't coin the phrase he is credited with, but I did it anyway.

Without retelling my last post, i'll say that this move came on short notice and everything had to fall into place just right for it to come off reasonably smooth. It didn't, it wasn't, and it still isn't, but i'm gaining on it. Now here are the facts: 1500sqft 3bdr apartment in Garland => 370 miles => 1600+sqft 3bdr apartment in Amarillo. The biggest truck U-Haul has, two teenage boys and half the offensive line, bundles of boxes and a refrigerator dolly. Two sheep to get butchered, one car to get fixed, one week to pack, and a whole bunch of friends to say goodbye to.

Okay, so the last week in Garland, Donna had my car in Amarillo, i got the sheep to the butcher, and all i had to do was pack. Firstly, this left me without a car. Thankfully, i have a couple of friends, Julie and Tina, whom i love terribly, who didn't allow me to want for anything. I really do Thank You Guys!!!

At this point all i really had to do was pack. I set a goal of ten boxes a day over and above whatever it was i did during the school day. I'd love to say this was a good plan, but i can't. One kid packed and watched TV at the same time and the other packed with one hand, the other one was needed for texting. I just love teenage boys. I mean i really had a plan on how things needed to roll out and it got started off wrong and got worse. Donna flew back in on Friday night and we were supposed to go eat dinner afterward. Naturally, her flight was delayed and she got home late. We still had dinner, but it was during the time we were supposed to be doing something else. Ugh!!

On Friday, i picked up the truck and the boys from school. They were amazed that i could drive it around town. I never really thought too much about it. I had errands to run and it was transportation. The only time things got a little weird was when i went to take our mechanic friend some money for the car and had to negotiate that monster through his neighborhood, but not a problem.

Saturday morning, i backed the truck up in the only place i could get it. It was about sixty yards from our apartment. There's nothing like lugging stuff for a move, unless you add a hike to it. The football players showed up en masse and i thought all right, we're going to get this knocked out in no time. OOPS!!! silly me, what was i thinking. They carried the boxes one at a time instead of using the dolly because they said it was easier. The funny thing is two of them would carry a box and two more would walk with them to the truck. Kind of funny, but kind of annoying. Then my worst fears about the Tourister Luggage Ape came true. Among other things, they dropped my wife's Lane chest, her cabinet Victrola, and a box of green glass. I just cringed and went on. It's not like i could yell at these kids, they were doing us a favor. Then the most remarkable thing happened.

First i have to say that during the week i went to the dollar store and bought fifteen rolls of that cheap cling wrap. You know the kind that doesn't stick to anything but itself and i wrapped everything i could with it. Including my chest of drawers that all my office stuff and sewing patterns are in. Okay, now for the remarkable part.

One of the kids decided to use the dolly to move things and he started with my chest of drawers. I'm standing in the back of the truck watching him come down the side walk, attended to by two other boys, and i noticed that my chest looked funny. So, i looked around and found a good place to put it in the truck and in they came. My chest was on the dolly upside down????????????? Oh Lord. The only way to keep from completely screwing things up was to roll the chest end over end to right it without losing everything in the drawers. I really wanted to scream at this point. So, as we promised we took the kids to Ci Ci's Pizza and let them chow down. I took a xanax and a nap.

It was too late in the day, so we stayed over and left Sunday. Everything was going fine and we stopped in Decatur for lunch. I remembered that my crochet bag was in the back of the truck and i needed my glasses for driving in the dark. So, while we waited on our food, the boys went out and got in the back of the truck to get my glasses.

What happened next, seemed to happen in slow motion. The boys were rooting around for a bag that was on the top of the small filing cabinet at the very end of the truck. Something they futzed with moved my wife's three foot statue of the Virgin Mary and it fell out of the truck. I was looking on in Horror. I know how she is about that statue i gave her many years ago and there wasn't a damn thing i could do about it. I went to get up and she was standing at the table, frozen, grey, and tearful. I went out and picked up the three pieces of Mary and put them back in the truck. Both of the boys were crying and i assured them i could fix her. That remains to be seen. Then i picked my bag off of the filing cabinet and closed up the truck. Lunch was kind of sad and quiet with lots of assurances all around.

We made it to Amarillo and i parked the truck. We kept the truck an extra day and got everything inside our new place. For the next eight days i only had one of the eight Chicago Screws i needed to put our bed together. We found the other seven and it took us a day or two to find the one i had. The boys got their own rooms which puts me without a sewing room, which in turn means there is a lot of boxed and tubbed crap stacked about, but i'm gaining on it.

So far my only complaints are the stove, which is a nightmare and they've assured me they will fix or replace and the water which smells like something i would mop with. YUK!!! However, it is quiet and Donna's commute went from forty five minutes to just five. The kids start school Monday and i'm looking forward to that. Now all i have to get used to is paying three fifty for a gallon of milk instead of ninety nine cents. Well, that and being cold all the time.

Until next time, Peace be with you, Dave

Donner makes Director in Yeller Texas

For a number of years now, my wife and I have been trying to arrange things in such a way as to get moved down to the Canyon Lake area of Texas. What's that saying, "If you want to make God laugh tell her your plans"?

My wife has worked for the school she is at for about a year and a half. She put in just over seven at her previous school. In all of this time she has had good days and bad, much like you'd expect from any job. Believe me when i say, there were more bad days than good at all of her previous schools. On the other hand, the school she is currently at is everything she could want in a job other than the job title and the privileges that come with it. However, laying that aside, she absolutely loves her job and when she loves her job everything works well at home. Looking back, that was the quiet before the storm.

Sometime around the first of November, an executive recruiter called her to see what her job status was. During this call, he determined he had a position that would be perfect for her and asked if he could put her in for it. She said yes. It's not like the first time she's received a phone call promising the moon and nearly always they are either somewhere we just won't live, the money is terrible, or both. ( See also Hayward, California for 60K, for those that don't know, that's just not a good deal even if you are willing to live there)

Within forty eight hours of his putting her in for the job she had a telephone interview. It sounded more like a round table for business strategies than an interview. Two days later, she was at the corporate office meeting all the suits there and being interviewed. The following Friday, she flew to Amarillo for a tour and a face to face with the President of the school. The following Thursday, they made an offer, she countered, they answered, and she took the job. That puts us at the beginning of this last week. Wow Dude!!! There's no grass growing under this deal.

Now here comes the fun part. We have two boys in High School: a Freshman and a Sophomore. We talked to them about this and they were really good about the move. The jock wanted to make sure his new high school was 5A because of college recruiting and the brain wanted FFA. Well, there is only one High School in Amarillo that accommodates both, but there is one.

Now for the funner part. She starts work there on the thirteenth. The kids get out of school for Christmas on about the nineteenth. Then there are two sheep that prematurely get to go to the butcher on the sixth. Then there is all the packing and everything else that goes along with a move. So, i may or may not blog again before we move. I probably will, but if it seems like i have dropped off of the face of the earth just know it's only because we are moving.

By the by, i figured that pizza and sodas are cheaper than Bekins, so the jock's invited the team over to help load the truck. Suddenly, I'm seeing flashbacks of those old Tourister Luggage commercials with the ape. I better pack well.

Please, join me in congratulating a fine strong woman as the Director of Education!!! Well done Donner!!!

P.S. For those interested, we currently live 502mi. from Alpine. We are moving 372mi. closer, but will still be 417mi. away. Only in Texas.

Until i find you again, Peace be with you. Dave

Oreo and Milky move in

Occasionally in life you find yourself on the wrong side of the equation and if you're lucky someone or something will reveal to you the other possible points of view. I was reminded of this Monday afternoon.

My son, Zeke, joined FFA (Future Farmers of America) this year when he entered High School. We talked at great length about the commitment involved in raising a show animal and the challenges that each one brings to the table. Things like: Sheep are dumb and act like cats, Goats are a pain in the butt and are true escape artists, Pigs are really smart and you can teach them to do anything a dog can do, but if they are used to you doing something for them and you miss a day they get their feelings hurt and can be hard to deal with, Steers are big and they eat a lot, but they end up being really big puppy dogs and the really bad news, he isn't raising a pet.

After much discussion, he decided on a lamb. Since this is an Agri-business project, I bought his lamb in exchange for his raising a feeder lamb for me. It's a nice cooperative approach and he saves the cost of his lamb at market.

Okay, so the day the lambs arrived i went with him to drag the feeder to the barn while he dragged his show lamb. We didn't really drag them, but they weren't too keen on the halter to say the least. When they picked their lambs, there were twenty kids and he drew number "2". What a great place in the order for picking. He took his turn and i really liked this smoky colored one, but he picked this white lamb i wasn't too keen on and then he got the one leftover lamb for our feeder.

So, we get them back to their stall and get them all fixed up and go home.

We quickly fell into the routine of going to the barn, mucking the stall, dragging them for exercise, halter feeding them, and going home. However, we did have a bit of a rough start getting our son to be proactive in taking control, especially haltering them. I showed him how to corner them and grab them, squeeze them between your legs and halter them up. So, about the third day i haltered the feeder (Oreo) and tied him in the run. Then i watched as Zeke chased the big one (Milky, his show lamb) around and around the stall. It looked a lot like Tom and Jerry, but wasn't at all funny to me. After all, he's about 5'7" and 150 and this lamb is about 100lbs. I got irritated at him dallying with the damn thing and grabbed him abruptly and barked at him. I told him if he didn't take haltering his lamb seriously he could get hurt and not to underestimate it because it's so cute and cuddly. He gave me one of those teen looks of terror and bewilderment, so i showed him again.

There is a two step riser in the corner for them to stand on, with their front legs, while they eat in their stall. Yeah, you know what's coming. I grabbed that woolly bugger and ended up straddling it on the top tier of the riser. With it firmly between my legs, i went to halter it. As i reached with the halter, the damn thing bucked and i went flying.

When i found my feet again, they were straight out in front of me. My butt bone hit the ground, my back hit one step and my neck hit the second. Now i have been knocked silly a time or two in this life, but that crap hurt. I swear this wasn't two minutes after i told him not to do the very same thing. ACk!!! Karma is a mother.

I didn't break anything, but i bruised more than my pride. On the upside though, Zeke has taken control of the lambs and is handling them like a pro.

I wonder if that's what they mean when they talk about sacrificing for your kids??

Till next time, watch what you say, it might be good advice.

Dave

Pen Pals are not Anachronistic

A few weeks ago i got an email through Facebook from a Japanese woman i knew from my days at the University of North Texas. She said she was doing a project that involved the mail and if i wanted to participate all i needed to do was send her my mailing address. Now, we've all gotten those emails about our rich uncle from Nigeria that left us ten million dollars and we just need to get it to an American bank or some such crap. So anytime someone i don't see or hear from regularly wants my mailing address, i'm a little skeptical. After all, i do place a premium on my privacy and afford some level of due diligence to protect it. Then again, i knew from the moment we met that she was a good person. So i took a chance and sent her my mailing address and waited to see what would come of it.

A couple of weeks later, i received a postcard in the mail from Chofu-Shi, Tokyo, Japan. A plain little card, stark white on both sides with her name just above mine. On the reverse, there was a brief little paragraph being guarded at the corners with watercolor koi fish in hues of aqua and violet. A reconnection made across a four year lull. One she closed simply with, "Hope to see all of you one day". What an offering of love. I have said it many times, but it is just as true each time i say it, "A letter is an act of genuine love, for there is nothing on this earth more precious than our time and to give our time freely with no concern for compensation is nothing short of a gift of love. Unconditional, open and free".

The next day i got out my collection of stationary and picked one that was simple and muted. Bone colored paper with stencils of something like sandy colored birch leaves across it and i began to return the love. I closed mine as simply as she, until we meet again, peace be with you.

In a world so full of complexity and demand on the spirit, don't lose sight of the joy simplicity can bring you. Surround yourself with love and that is what you will receive.

Until we meet again, Peace be with you,

Dave

The Mosque, The Wall, and what the Faux News Saw.

I have yet again found myself in, i would say Dutch, but that might raise some one's ire, trouble with a few of my contemporaries over my political views. Let me preface this by saying that i would never assume the position of being any better than they, nor am i any less. The current offense is somewhat connected to an aging one; The Mosque that is going to be built near the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks that took place in New York and the fence or wall to be or being built to separate the United States from Mexico. Lovingly referred to as "The Tortilla Curtain".
I have been branded a Liberal. A bleeding heart, commie loving, anti-American sap that is enabling those who drain the life force out of our country one entitlement at a time. Here, i will attempt to explain why i am not a bleeding heart Liberal and i'm not a Democrat and i'm not a Republican, nor am i aligned in a straight party manner with anyone. I am, however, a free thinker and i believe as i believe. I am a Christian, though i'm a Catholic and there are those that just don't see the two as being connected. As far as being a Catholic, no, i don't uphold all of the beliefs the church would have me to. Finally, Yes, i am a man. I know i don't have cocktails with the guys at topless bars or watch sports or never let anyone see me cry. If that's what it takes to be a man, i wouldn't want to be.
So, let's get to it:
Death Penalty: There are some people in this world that probably should be put to death, but that job was filled well before any of us got here.
Abortion: The argument over this only concerns the two people involved and the person providing the service. Imposing your beliefs on someone in the name of God, negates the very thing you profess.
Governmental Size: Yes, i would like the size of the government to be scaled back. A bunch.
Right to Bear Arms: Unless the Constitution has changed recently, it's the right to bear arms in a militia. I don't see anything wrong with Deer Rifles, Shotguns, even most pistols, but who needs a weapon designed to kill people en masse to go hunting.
Gays in the Military: It's an all volunteer military. If they are willing and do their job, then that is all that should matter. (side note: women in combat rolls. Same rule, if they are willing and they can do the job, Hell Yes!!! see also: Lyudmila Pavlichenko)
Gay Marriage/Civil Unions: Here again, this only concerns the people involved and the person officiating.
okay, so you have an idea of where i'm coming from. Now for the official reason behind my opinion on the tortilla curtain and the NYC ground zero mosque.
The Chinese built a wall to keep the hordes out. While it makes really nice post cards, the invading hordes got over the wall. OH Wait, correction, they didn't make it over the wall, they walked in through the gate. Don't believe me though, google it. Okay, so how will they walk through the tortilla curtain?? Yeah, like none of us ever drank before we turned 21. The prevalence of false entry documents will go up to a point where they (the U.S. Government) will more than likely issue us citizenship cards. You know the kind with biometric information or DNA or at the very least something trackable. Okay, now i'm a nut, a conspiracy theorist of the first order. They have tried before to give us citizenship cards, but don't believe me; google it.
As for the Mosque, is it better to not build it so close to where so many died at the hands of Muslim Extremists? Is it really a slap in the face to all those people that died that day? On the other hand, is it a much larger statement to the world by building it? Would we not be showing those extremist factions that our core belief in the Freedom of Religion has not been corrupted by them. That our resolve to live in a free society can not be brought down by zealotry and murder?
Maybe now is the time to remember to turn the other cheek and one of my favorites, Luke 23:34 Judge not...
It's for the record, i'm just sayin.
Be good to each other even when you don't understand what the other person's problem is. Dave