Making and losing money; finding Victor; welcome Watson; visiting Destiny; funny kids

Let's see if I can do a quick overview of this past week before I start the next one.  Weeks fly by!  But that's a good thing when you're heading toward Spring. 

This week I made some money and lost some all in one day.  On Wednesday morning I asked Dick to brush the snow off my old car so I could take pictures of it for Craigslist.  I went out there in my jammies and snow boots and did just that.

I posted it on Craigslist and within minutes was receiving emails.  I discovered why Craigslist warns against scammers who offer to pay with a certified check or money order (which do clear the bank but then are found to be fraudulent).  I received at least three such emails, all them sounding identical and reminding me of the emails I used to get from Nigeria.  By that evening the car was sold to a person who paid us cash and was very happy with it.  I love Craigslist.  

The joy of selling the car was ruined by the discovery I made later Wednesday evening in an email from Expedia that my upcoming trip to Florida had been cancelled.  I was planning to go down March 20 to 23 for Sophie's Grandparents Day at school.  Imagine my horror when upon investigation I discovered that I had mistakenly booked my flight down for FEBRUARY 20!!!  (Wednesday).  They told me I had not shown up for my flight so my entire trip was cancelled.  It was a non-refundable ticket.  I was beyond sick.  After talking with several people from Expedia and US Airways I found out that I could get credit for the cost of the flight, but whenever I use that credit I will have to pay an extra $175 in change-ticket fees.  The price of tickets was already crazy high when I booked the trip, but even higher now.  I called Lisa and we didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Believe me, I DID cry.  It was all I could think of for days, because I really didn't think I would be going, and I was just SO MAD at myself.  As it turns out Generous George came to my rescue with his American Express points, so I will be going after all, and I'll use my US Airways credit some other time when tickets are cheaper.  We have such amazing kids.  Even Jeremy was willing to use his Delta points to get me at least a one-way ticket.  I said, "I don't want anyone to feel like they have to rescue me."  He said,  'Mom, how many times did you rescue me?"  Awww.  Made me cry again.

On Friday Lori asked me to pick up Austin from preschool, because she had a meeting and Anthony was out of town.  I was going to bring him here to our house, but when I picked him up he had Victor on his mind.  Victor is one of the Thomas the Train engines.  He asked me in every way he could think of if we could please go to his house first to get Victor.  He really wanted Victor.  And I don't have any trains at my house, and he really needed Victor.  I decided I would just stay at their house and have Dick stop to pick up something on his way home from work  for our dinner.  Well, when we got to their house Austin could not find Victor.  We looked upstairs, we looked downstairs.  We looked in the bathroom, in his bedroom.  Then he remembered - he had taken Victor along in the car on the way to preschool that morning.  I said,  "Then that's where he is - in your mommy's car."  He ran to the door to go outside and get Victor out of the car, but I reminded him that Mommy's car was at Penn State and we couldn't get Victor till she came home.  He went back to his bed and lay down and cried softly like he had lost his best friend.  Bless his heart!  We did end up playing and having fun eventually and eating dinner with Grandpa when he got there, but he was VERY happy when Lori got home with Victor.  He loves his trains.  He thinks HE'S a train half the time, hahaha!  He has discovered that the ledge at the top of their trim is a perfect place to run his trains.  Anthony said,  "He finally discovered why I did the trim that way."  Right.

    

Yesterday we got a new grandpuppy in DC - Watson.  He's a miniature Italian Greyhound like Molly, who is now six years old.  Jeremy is in love!

This morning I played at both churches.  Judy, the pianist and choir director at Fillmore, had her second hip replacement surgery this week, so I'll be subbing for her the next few weeks.  After church at Houserville we picked up our chicken noodle soup from their soup sale this week and our Girl Scout cookies from one of the girls at church and headed for Pottsville to see Destiny.  I drove half way so Dick could nap, then he drove while I napped. 

Oh, was that soup ever good!  And the cookies too!  Here's a picture of us eating at Frank's diningroom-turned-work-table.  He's making a beautiful tile counter top for his kitchen.

He got Destiny this amazing bunk bed/dresser/desk combo.  The ceilings in his apartment are so high I think she could stand up on top of her bed!  

On the way home I was enjoying the funnies on Facebook.  Lisa posted these two pictures of Sophie doing Lisa's hair.

Then the funniest of all was when she texted that she had laughed so hard while watching a show that she banged her nose on her knee really hard.  Anthony immediately shot back,  "Now you nose better."  and  "You kneed to be more careful."  

Well, if you're still with me - goodnight!

Home improvement and BEAUTIFUL store setup pics

While we were in DC this past weekend, Dick and Jeremy were on a mission.  First of all, a picture of Jeremy's house taken from the street.  It's an end-of-row-home with lots of potential and endless projects to do. 

Right behind those trash cans there was a place where a few bricks were missing and feral cats were coming and going into the crawl space under the house.  Dick and Jeremy came up with this solution:

Any cats that were still in there can get out (it swings out), but hopefully they will not be able to get back in.  Mike also read that they hate cayenne pepper, so he dumped a whole bunch of it on the ground!

Another problem has been squirrels in the crawl space above the second floor.  They've seen them crawl in through the openings in the bricks up there, and they sound like they're having all-out wrestling matches.  I was down on the first floor and heard a thud that sounded like someone would have fallen out of bed.  It was the squirrels above the second floor!!!  There's no way to access that area, so Dick and Jeremy made a little hole in the one bedroom ceiling, just enough to poke a squirrel repellant thing through, and they squirted the stinky stuff into the crawl space.  They closed the little hole with duct tape for now.  There were no squirrel wrestling matches that night!  Time will tell.  They may have to call an exterminator.

Here's what the dining room table-turned-work bench looked like.

One of Jeremy's projects was putting sturdy coat hooks in this little closet under the stairway.

There was quarter round to be cut and nailed down in the kitchen, and in the process they discovered how much cold air was coming in under the cabinets.  Once again, duct tape to the rescue!  I couldn't resist taking this picture!

The big project was tearing out a closet wall in Jeremy's bedroom.  It was a long closet with just one door in the middle, making a lot of it almost inaccessible.  

This is how it looked when we left - the dresser (which had been in his office down the hall) fit right into the closet.  He already got triple-track sliding panels at IKEA last evening to hang in front.  I'll be eager to see them.   

 
It's good these worker bees had a little time for this!

We packed up and left around 2:30, and headed to Glen Burnie, MD (about an hour away).  The past two weeks Jeremy had worked LONG days (7:30 am - 11:00 pm) getting a new store set up.  He got higher accolades and thanks from his boss than ever before, and he wanted to show us the fruit of all  his labor.  

Oh. My. Word!!  One amazing setup after the next.  I could not stop taking pictures.  They were having a Presidents Day 50% off sale, so the place was buzzing with activity.  Whenever sales people would ask if they could help me and I would say that I'm Jeremy's mom, they would exclaim over what a great job he had done.  One sales lady asked if I taught him how to decorate.  What a joke!  Definitely not!  A lot of natural talent and a lot of hard work at the Art Institute of Tampa and a whole lot of experience. Here's the proof!

Mike found a good chair!  His shoes look kind of good with the decor, don't you think?

Which is your favorite?

We said our goodbyes there at the store and headed for State College.  We were already an hour closer to home, so it was nice to be home by 8 pm.  

I'm GLAD we weren't traveling today.  We had freezing rain this morning followed by snow, now wind and more snow predicted.  I've been so good about trying to just enjoy the beauty of our snow instead of griping about it this winter.  But for some reason, this morning I didn't feel like appreciating the beauty of it.  I am really, really tired of being cold and I am officially ready for Spring.  This did not bring me a feeling of peace or joy this morning when I was ready to leave for work, especially when I realized there was a layer of ice under that snow.  But one thing to be very thankful for - my defroster and heat in my "new" car work like a charm, and everything was cleared off in short order.  I love it.

Presidents Day Weekend trip to DC

We had another great, although VERY COLD, weekend in DC.  As planned, Dick and I left as soon as he got off work at 5:30 Friday evening.  It was  not the most pleasant trip.  First it drizzled, then it poured, then it changed to slushy snow, then back to rain.  We were so glad to finally arrive at Jeremy's place about 9:45.  Jeremy and his friends Mike, Rob, and Kim had just gotten back from celebrating Jeremy's birthday at a French restaurant.  But waiting for our arrival were two birthday cakes and ice cream.  

After dessert it was time for the Molly show!  She NEVER tires of playing catch and gave us many laughs.

That swirl on the lower right hand corner of the pic is Molly in action.

Saturday morning I made some home fries with plenty of onions, peppers, mushrooms, and eggs folded in.   It was a such a cold day!  And Jeremy's house is old and not well-insulated.  Add the open stairway with lots of heat rising to the second floor, and you see why wrapping up in blankets was essential when sitting down!

By noon there was plenty of action in the house.  Lori and Austin arrived!  Austin is obsessed with Molly, so there was lots of doggy chasing.

He's also obsessed with trains, so we took the Metro and went to the American History museum to see the trains.  Lori and Jeremy had to pose when they saw my camera.

Austin admiring himself in the window of the train.

This is the only picture I have of the capital this time.  I had to hurry across the street and couldn't stop traffic to get a good picture.

Austin was somewhat impressed with the big trains, but was looking for the toys.

We went to the Natural History Museum next door, thinking maybe he'd be impressed with dinosaurs, but no such luck.  He wanted to go home and play with Molly!  So we admired the architecture instead!

Walking on the walls was much more fun!

And then we went home for the Austin and Molly Show.  

  
Lori and Jeremy walked to pick up our dinner - Indian for some and pizza for others.  Ray and Thyda arrived form Virginia Beach around 8 pm.  Things were pretty much crazy for the rest of the evening.  I was in the kitchen cooking my Middle Eastern stew for our Sunday lunch, so no more pictures of the evening.

On Sunday morning we went to Capital Hill United Methodist Church and thoroughly enjoyed the service.  There were lots of young adults and children there.  The choir was aMAZing!!   The stew had been in the crock pot all morning and was ready for our cold bodies when we got home.  Saturday had been cold, but Sunday was BITTERLY cold.  

After lunch Ray and Thyda and Lori and Austin had to leave.  Dick took a vacation day for Monday, so we were able to stay over.  

Austin waited till the bitter end to eat some lunch so he could have a piece of that carrot birthday cake. 

Lori said he was asleep about ten minutes after they left and slept all the way to Harrisburg!  I guess Molly wore  him out, haha!

I have a ton more pictures to show of home improvement projects Dick and Jeremy worked on and of the setups Jeremy did at his most recent store, but that will have to be another post.  To bed I go!