My OGGI Cup Broke.

This is an Oggi Cup, in case you didn't already know. It's just like mine, though mine was GREEN!!! Seriously, what other color would it be for me. You see Donner's car has been running poorly and i thought i'd take matters into my own hands and see if i couldn't do something about it. Afterall, i have a pair of teenage boys that need some practical experience with car maintenance. In the process of this my cup fell off and broke. I know, it's just a cup, but it made me really kinda sad. I can't really explain why, but it really hurt my feelings.

I suppose my reaction to the cup could be, in part, just one more of the things that have been weighing on me since we moved to Amarillo. I mean, my sleep is down, my pain index is up, and my disinterest in my daily life is at an all time low. I've spent days considering why all of these things are as they are and what i need to do to lift myself back into the light. I just don't know. I believe i'm stuck in a trough of depression and i'll be as i am until some triggering event comes along that snaps me out of it. I hate feeling lost, out of control, and lonely. I know it's going to take some time for me to establish a life here, but i'm just not sure i really want to. Don't get me wrong, i am thrilled for Donner and her job, and i know that it is a stepping stone to what she wants to do and all that, but i'm just trying to find my place here, all the while being supportive and fulfilling my role. I'm sure that i'll be fine in a couple weeks and that eventually my place here will be revealed. Until then, i need to be patient and soldier on.

I did find me a cup similar to an Oggi cup at the World Market that is all green. The lid doesn't fit quite the same but i guess it's good enough. Someone once told me to find something good or interesting everyday. Well, while at the World Market i also found that they make candy bars with dark chocolate and bacon. Yes, you heard that right, bacon.

What an odd pairing, but that only reaffirms my belief that there is something for everyone.

Until i write again, Peace be with you,

Dave

So, I Got Cold Feet.

You know i've never been, what a lot of people would refer to as, cold natured. I have often credited the longevity of my marriage, due to Donner being a "cover hog". The truth be told, if i lived alone, about all you'd find on my bed would be a bottom sheet and a quilt for me to sleep against. There would probably be an inordinate number of pillows as well. So, i find it odd my feet should be cold most of the time since the move to Amarillo.

I would be remiss if i didn't lay it right out that i just don't like shoes. The first thing i lose when i walk in the door are my shoes and i only put them on when i need to. As far as house shoes go, i've found them to be less than ideal. For instance, they make my feet sweat. Sweaty feet + time = smelly shoes. Smelly shoes just don't work for me. I have two teenage boys and i just don't abide smelly anything, least of all; shoes. However, i did need something for my cold feet.

I remember when i was serving in the Army, i wore chanklas (flip-flops) or moccasins in the barracks. So, i thought i'd go to the Tandy store and by me a moccasin kit. Easy Peasy, no more coldy feetsy. Much to my dismay, a moccasin kit from Tandy is about fifty dollars here in Amarillo. That annoyed me greatly. I had something in the twenty dollar range in mind. Well, i have a whole bunch of leather here around the house and the pattern for moccasins was ten bucks. The solution was clear. I bought the pattern and enlarged it and did all of the work myself. You know, kind of a skip the middle man type of thing.

Well in true Truculent style, a plain pair of black moccasins just wasn't good enough.
I put my brain to work and thought i'd make the cuff and the toe out of patent leather and add a couple tassels just for grins. That plan was all fine and good until i noticed Tandy had small stingray skins on sale for twenty bucks. So, my next idea, and probably my favorite, was to make them with patent leather cuffs and just the black beaded part of the stingray. Well, when i got the skins home, it became painfully evident i didn't have enough skin to make them that way. As they say, the eyes have it. So, what you see in the picture is what i came up with. stingray toes, patent leather cuffs and tassels and 4-6oz black bull hide for the shoe itself. I still wasn't done. I didn't like the way white insoles looked in them. I thought they needed some sprucing up as well, so i used this muted green paisley and some anti-microbial foam for insoles. What i ended up with is definitely a one of a kind pair of mocs.

Just in case you haven't been keeping score, i still ended up paying about fifty bucks for my house shoes. On the bright side though, they are uniquely mine.

As an aside to my house shoe shenanigans, This has been a long week filled with reflection and prayer. This post is for Gus, Lupe, Johnny, and Trey.

Until i see you again, Peace be with you

Dave

What's good for the Gander

Here a while back i saw a commercial on TV that made me giggle. The basic set-up was designed around something like "The Antiques Roadshow". In the commercial, a woman had taken her item to the appraiser and he gave his appraisal. She brought him a mannequin hand with a little yellow bird in it and he told her that her bird in the hand should be worth two in the bush. This one made me giggle pretty good. I like it almost as much as i like the one where the retired drill sergeant is a therapist. That one is just funny to me. !!Cry Baby!!

This commercial reminded me of a writing class i had in school where we had to write a number of aphorisms. You know, singular truths, like Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder and so on. This is the class where i penned my now infamous aphorism; Always a bridegroom, but never a bride. I admit it's not very original, but it's cute all the same.

I remember this exercise as it was quite difficult for me. I met my deadline, but i wasn't very proud of what i accomplished.

Anyway, it snowed like mad here last week. I mean about a foot or more and the wind was

blowing like hell and the kids were home for a day or two. So, i was off my groove. I was Marshalling TV channels when this bird in the hand commercial came on and instantly i was struck with an idea. Why couldn't i make a bird in the hand??

I started running all of the old adages i knew through my head. I didn't want to re-do the bird in the hand, a penny saved is a penny earned lacked something creatively and what's good for the goose is good for the gander just didn't sing to me. Then it came to me, my adage.

I've had this old clock for some time and i've wanted to do something for my sewing room with it. Though, i no longer actually have a sewing room. What i do have is a kitchen table that suits me just fine for now. So, i presented my adage in a clock. Which now only seems fitting. Now for your enjoyment and mine, of course, here's my adage clock for my sewing room when i get one again.

I'm not going to tell you the adage that was the inspiration for this, but what i will say is that every time i look at it i giggle and swell with a sense of pride. I'm such a Wacko!!!

My wife has a clock and watch fetish, so naturally, she loves it. I was sort of inspired by the museum watches put out by Movado. I got Donner one shortly after she first saw one and i took the hint it was something she had to have.

I hope you can guess the adage, but if you can't i'll post it in the comments in a few days.

While i'm at it, i should tell you that my next project is a pair of house shoes. My feets get cold here and well i wouldn't be me if the design for them wasn't ridiculous. Think Stingray meets Patent Leather.

Until the next time i write, may peace be with you, Dave

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