I’m Dreaming of a Purple Christmas

Did you hear the music?  Yeah, yeah, I know it’s supposed to be “White” Christmas, but this is my world!  And it’s purple all the time!!  Real life is purple for me, no matter the occasion.

Why am I already decorating for Christmas? Because I’m having the First Christmas Party of the year on Saturday!  (I don’t like to fight the crowds! )

I put up the lights around 1 door frame, so far.  Then I had to rest.  (Because of that whole recovery thing, remember??)

I want to put them all around my windows, but I only have 3 70 light strings.  (that was how many was left on clearance after Halloween.  Why would I pay full price before??)  So probably only the big window will get the lights.  Oh well, that will be good enough.  If I can even get those up.  I tried, and couldn’t do it.  And only 1 1/2 strings lit up.  What’s that about??

From this:

To this:

Sparkly! Purple!

Pretty, huh?  (I confess, I had help.)

Then, on to the baubles,and beads.  Ornaments, if you insist.

Just happens to be my middle name. (Could that be why I love it???)

I’m a star!

Now that my living room is all decked out for Christmas, I’m ready to PAR-TAY!!

New Dispenser

This was my soap dispenser after I threw away the pretty, rose one.

Classy, huh?

This is the pretty rose one, in case you forgot.

But then I bought a plain, white plastic one and had it spray painted purple.  Gorgeous , huh? And cheap too!

Also, here is the ugly (even though it’s purple) plastic glass (well, what do you call ’em?) I used as a toothbrush holder.

Now here is my new,pretty, purple one, that’s a real toothbrush holder!

(It was a cheap white plastic one too, that was sprayed painted).

Spray Paint is the best invention since Finger Paint! (HA! Bet you thought I was gonna say sliced bread, didn’t ya? huh? LOL)

Now my bathroom is a little bit prettier, with no old, broken or misused pieces. YAY!

Linky Party #15

I linked up my Sewing So Steadily post to the Home MAtters Linky Party #15, on TheRoadtoDomestication.com

Go check it out! You’ll be glad you did!

Sewing So Steadily

How do ya like that alliteration? Pretty good,right?

I have been chained to my sewing machine since last weekend, because I finally felt well enough to start the 2 projects which were urgent; a baby quilt that was 2 months late for the shower, (and the baby is already 3 weeks old!), and PP’s Thanksgiving dress. (YES, I KNOW it’s only 1 week from today! Thanx! Hence, the URGENCY!)

Me sewing industriously

Thankfully, I have an in with the slavedriver boss, and I’m able to have breaks for food, water, and the necessaries.

Here is the baby quilt, modeled by non other than the famous (in her own mind) designer herself.

Please ignore all clutter in background. Creative genius at work.

Picture of PP’s dress might be harder to come by, since no smartphone or camera is in residence now.  Perhaps I can troll the neighborhood for an IPhone owner, and beg for 1 pic.  Mmmmm, might not be the best idea.

Here it is in all it’s glory:

 

Here I am showing off my latest creation

( Thanks, sis, for coming to my aid, with your smartphone!)

It’s so pretty, right?? RIGHT?? If you don’t agree, you lose your reader privileges for a week.  Go to your room.

The bodice fabric has cartoon turkeys on it and says “Gobble till you Wobble”, and “I’m stuffed”. How could I resist it?

The skirt , and sleeves are Indian corn, so adorable.  I know, I keep bragging on myself.  Well, I just broke my arm patting myself on the back, so I’m having to type one handed while I wait for the ambulance.  That’ll teach me.

(Why didn’t you come outta your room and help me??)

Whew! Now that I’ve wrapped up those 2 projects, and mailed the dress, I think I’ll take a break for a day or two and rest!

House of Horrors

Disclaimer: This post was originally written before May 12th, and I just forgot to publish it.

Remember when I kept bragging about sweeping, and mopping all the time,some times, a few days a week?

Well, I was, just not everywhere.  Yesterday I needed to plug in my laptop, which required going behind my recliner.

Oh my goodness!!  I was unprepared for the House of Horrors hiding there.  MY EYES!!  MY EYES!!

Before: 

Real Cheerios, not the generic o’s.

(Okay, so maybe there really wasn’t THAT many.   But there were a LOT!!)

I had inadvertently uncovered a Cheerios graveyard.  At least I’m assuming they used to be Cheerios, by the round shape of the dust, with the hole in the middle.  How did they all know where to go to die in peace?  Should I put up markers to commemorate their lives?  Brave, brave Cheerios, we appreciate your sacrifice.

So, what does this mean for me?  Well, I guess I could should actually sweep and mop back there.  But the real question, will I???

Here’s an AFTER:

What other junk? What do you mean? I don’t see anything, other than 1 lone Cheerio that escaped my broom of doom.

Rest assure, All the long dead Cheerios were granted a peaceful rest in the appropriate urn.

(File 13 is the most appropriate container for dead Cheerios, right?  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

Clean It Out!

Sunday I cleaned out my fridge and freezer, with the help of a friend, Sheryl.  That was so sweet of her to come help me!

I wish I had thought to have her take before and after pix, but alas….

Just trust me when I say it was BAD!

Somethings she wanted to put on a haz-mat suit before she even touched!  Black salad greens anyone?

(I told you it was bad.)

When you can see black through the lid of sour cream, it isn’t pretty!  Needless to say, we didn’t even check the date on that one!

Does ketchup go bad???

 

(Mine was NOT organic.)

Fortunately, the jalapeno slices were still good, and we were able to donate those to the pregnant lady next door.  She loved them! Win-win!!

Spicy, but nicy! (To her, not me!)

 

 

When we were done, it practically looked like a barren wasteland, like this.

Pretty empty, I’d say.

 

Not quite that empty, but compared to before, when it was stuffed full of rotting food, yeah.

Now I can safely eat anything in there.  Yay for not getting salmonella from my own food!

Thank you, Sheryl.  You may have saved my life.

Donation Mountain

 

After I had the Manic Monday, I thought surely I had found everything there was to be found to get rid of.

Au contraire , mon cherie!

What to my wondering eyes should appear but a mountain of PP’s too small baby clothes, more and more other stuff, and generally more junk than I even knew I had. Where did all this zinginhoffer come from???

But!!! I’m letting go of a huge pile of the stuff, seeeeee??

SN95208421

 

 

Okay, so I wasn’t letting go of THAT much….

 

 

(Someday when I get a camera, I can start showing real pix of my own stuff again!!  DD1, who had the smartphone, has her own place now.)

 

Now can I get off the hoarder list? Pleeeease, pretty please? with no cherry on top, I purged it today.

Recovery, Two Ways

Lately, (since May) recovery has meant 2 things around here.

My learning to declutter and clean, recovering from slobbery, and healing physically and emotionally, recovering health.

Both are important.  Both are extremely hard for me.  I’m not used to being a cleanie, which I am NOT yet!! By any stretch of the imagination! But I am working twards it, which is an improvement, ask any body EVER who has visited me on a non-party day!  Putting myself first so I can heal is also difficult.  I’m more accustomed to helping others.

So, if I talk about physical recovery, it’s still under the definition of my blog, to my way of thinking.  If you disagree, well… my blog, etc,etc

Trying to decide how to show a pic of my physical recovery.  (whirring sounds while brain works. Yes, like everything else these days, my brain makes audible noises while active.  Joints creaking, anybody?)

I had to have this pic cuz Mama loves giraffes!

I love my zebra legs.  While I was in rehab for my knee  surgery 2 years ago, I asked my sis Michelle, to get me some purple duct tape to personalize my walker.  (In the nursing home, everybody and their brother had one, and I didn’t want mine to get lost in the shuffle.) Sadly, the store she chose was out of purple that day, so she chose zebra print, which just happened to be my niece’s favorite.  So, she got the rest of the roll.

When I graduate to a wheelchair, I’ll just spray paint the whole sucker.  (I asked Hoveround about their color choices, none of which were purple.  I think if you pay that much money for something, they jolly well should make it the color You want.)  But if not, I’ll take care of it myself.

Decluttering the Broken

Look at this gorgeous soap dispenser.

I love it. I have a whole bathroom set that matches it, BUT, did you see the ginormous chip??

I’ve decided since I’m a grown up now, I’m not going to live with broken, non-working, cracked, chipped stuff.  My real life is NOW, no more waiting till later to get good stuff. I deserve good stuff now.  (Even if it’s from Dollar Tree, if I like it, and it’s whole, it’s the good stuff.)

Time to toss it. It hurts to let it go…. Now my set will not be complete!!!   But, it’s time to just say bye…

Moment of silence, please.

Update: 10/21/15  I didn’t know when I deleted a picture from the library, it disappeared from the post.  Sorry!  And it’s long gone, so no do over.  My bad.  Won’t do that again!!

Bad, Bad Shoes.

(Did you hear the scolding tone of the title? I totally meant it to sound like I was yelling at a dog for messing in the house.) Look closely at my shoes, see any problems??

{The sole was peeling away from the sides.}

(I messed up with these photos.  At that time, I didn’t know if you deleted them from the library, that they disappeared from the post.    I know, you might think it’s a “DUH!”     But, to me it wasn’t.     So, now I have missing pix in some posts.      And, due to the fact that the shoes went in the trash, I can’t recover the pix.)   

 

I knew they were old, but really????  This is why I prefer to go barefoot, but the hot sidewalks are brutal here in FL!!  Okay, so I bought a new pair, since I can no longer wear my beloved ugly sandals, due to my falls. So, then what happens to the old ones?  Throw them back into the far forsaken corner of the closet?  Under the bed? In the vast wasteland under the sink?  Those would be my former slob choices.     No! Be a non-slob and throw them away! Alright, alright! Quit nagging!  There, they’re in the trash. Happy now??