Dumb as a Door Knob

A recent hate e-mail stated I was "as dumb as a door knob" which made me wonder, how did door knobs end up with such a bad rap...

It's actually an English insult that originally was "dumb as a doornail" -- a doornail was the nail/plate behind a door knocker. When one knocked on the door, this doornail was abused. Since few people have these door knockers now days, the saying at some point became "door knob" instead of "door nail." So there we have a quick educational moment thanks to a yahoo who doesn't like my research abilities.

:-)

Someone has my electronic cigarette...

From time to time I do product reviews where I'm sent a product, I try it out and I write about it. Not long ago I was supposed to review a style of electronic cigarette -- the item was shipped and it never arrived. Unfortunately this is not the first time that someone has either taken a package out of our mailbox after it was delivered or it never appeared.

We don't have a regular mail person to even be able to ask, cuts here at the local post office have created a scenario where our mail is delivered by whoever has time to do an extra route. It is frustrating and in this scenario it was a product I was really looking forward to checking out. So for now? We'll not discover what I think of them.

:-)

Had I felt like getting dressed today...

Today would be a great day to sit outside and do some blogging while propping my feet up with some nice outdoor pillows, I say outdoor pillows because in this family we have a history of forgetting to take things into the garage or the house when it's about to rain so I always look for outdoor pillows that can take some rain...

My container tomato plant is about to finally produce some red tomatoes, I was beginning to wonder if I needed to just focus on some fried green tomatoes, and it's hot and humid but there is a nice breeze.

However, today was a bad day physical feeling wise and to be honest, I have not even bothered to put clothes on beyond my t-shirt and undies. The lack of motivation to donn a pair of shorts has me working here from inside using my tower rather than being out with my netbook.

:-)

How I escaped yardwork...

I know many of you enjoy yardwork, and some of you enjoy gardening. While I do enjoy gardening, the actual yard work aspect of cutting the lawn, trimming it, pulling weeds, are not on my list of favorite things to do. When I came home from work Thursday, the front and back yard was cut and trimmed, the outdoor décor items we use in the backyard, including my awesome solar stump light, were taken from the garage and displayed in the right places.

It dawned on me that there were huge advantages to having a 18 year old be a resident of our household. He enjoys yardwork, even the persnickety lawnmower that likes to give me grief starting every time seems to so far, cooperate for him. Though when looking for a companion to my eflish type stump light, had I known there were gargoyles? I'd have at least two...maybe three...

Our haunted doorbell...

When we moved in here several years ago, the house did not have a working doorbell, it was something I was used to having, so we bought a doorbell that attached to the front door jamb but plugged into an electrical outlet. It seemed simple but what followed was strange. The doorbell would ring when there was no one there. The dogs would bark and carry on, rush to the front door and nothing. It happened at all times of the day and night, with no discernible cause or pattern. We tried different outlets, same result, without warning the doorbell would ring and no one would be there.

This began the girls believing the house was haunted. I told them that if it wasn't plugged in then rang, they should begin to worry...That thankfully never happened, at least not yet.

:-)

A hair product for every day...

Earlier today I set upon a mission I try to avoid as long as possible. Cleaning out the bathtub; which always has to involve removing all of the empty bottles of hair products that are left there to rot. Evidently the distance required to carry an empty bottle of hair supplements from the tub to the garbage can is an insurmountable task for those who reside in my house. They are also apparently unable to tell someone when a product is running low. This can create the male members of the house being forced to use flowery feminine hair products and the female members of the house to be forced to smell like, oceans or spices or "fresh scent" whatever "fresh scent" is supposed to be.

Those of you who have followed my tale of trials and tribulations related to the inability of members of this house to put a roll of toilet paper on the roll, will not be shocked by the empty hair product, body soap, razor blades beyond use and empty bubble bath saga. Though the amount of hair and body washing products that two males and two females can go through in the course of a week, makes me wonder how much they use that they don't really need. Which is why I always try to buy products that come with a pump, that doesn't always work though.

Yesterday is a perfect example, one daughter decided to take a bath, after the tub got done filling up, as she got ready to go in, she saw a spider fall into the bath water. Rather than scoop out the skinning dippying arachnoid, she felt it necessary to drain the complete tub, wash it out then fill it up again with bubble bath...

The itsy bitsy spider went down the water spout...

:-)

Monitoring monitors...

I have the biggest flat screen monitor in the house as well as the newest computer since I spend more time on the internet than anyone else and I do generate a bit of income from my net adventures. There is a set line of progression when I replace a computer but most of the time the discussion surrounds the monitor, with several family members eying my monitor and hoping my next upgrade includes a new monitor. Thanks to my oldest daughter, the only person in the house who didn't have an lcd monitor was my husband, but she bought a refurbished one that has a small blemish on the screen, which has him arguing that he's the one that should get my monitor (which I haven't even decided if I am going to get a new monitor) and my almost 15 year old arguing since her flat screen is the oldest and the smallest it should be her and she doesn't want the one with the blemish.

I think I'll just decide to only get a tower if I decide to upgrade at all and avoid monitoring the monitor wars completely...

Fire the dogs...

Every day there is mail and UPS delivery, like clockwork as soon as the mail person approaches the door, my two little dogs go crazy. As soon as they hear the UPS truck even begin to come down the street, whether it stops at our house or not, they start barking like crazy. The neighbors come home? Barking...Someone walks down our sidewalk, with or without a dog? Barking...When we come home from anywhere? Barking...Yet last night when my one daughter came home I wasn't even aware she was home because neither dog barked. This made me wonder if their purpose as home alarm systems was a complete failure. So, I tested them out today...I discovered that for some reason when they hear the sound of the key in the lock they don't bark.

Now if I could only break them of barking at the mail person...

She's not a swinger...

Last weekend my husband and I took my oldest granddaughter to the park, she's not quite two years old yet. We had previously thought about swing sets when we get finished with the renovation at the other house, because my children always enjoyed swings from the time they were very young until...well some of them still enjoy swing sets, especially if it is a porch swing. However, at least at this point my granddaughter hates swings. At least swing sets, though I'm told that she does like porch swings. That written, she may out grow the swingset fear and there is another granddaughter who in a year or so may have a different attitude towards swings...

From mobile homes to manufactured homes

Ask most people why mobile homes are now called manufactured homes and they might tell you that it was created by the industry to try to make it sound more appealing since some have placed a negative connotation on mobile homes and the accompanying trailer park.

Yet the history of the mobile home is one that started after World War II when housing was needed. In the late 70's the government stepped in to make sure that certain standards existed in building mobile homes and then in the early 80's after the industry and the government started using the term "manufactured" home things went from there. Now, most parks call themselves "manufactured home communities" instead of trailer park. The actual construction features have changed where the image of a metal roofed narrow home is now one that can be set on a foundation or even with a basement with a traditional shingle style roof when the home is placed on it's own lot.

This also impacts the prices but in many cases a manufactured home is less expensive than a home built on site.

Perhaps he's trying for the pond look...

I happened to notice that the small swimming pool we have in our back yard that some of those in my house use to cool off with on hot days was starting to look a bit greenish...Which this is the first time this year it's happened because until recently the proper chemicals had been added to the pool on a regular basis to try to avoid the pond look. This led me to wonder if it was a lack of attention or perhaps instead of pool supplies it might be time to start looking at pond supplies...

After then noticing a back area of the yard that appears it hasn't seen the lawnmower in a while, I decided it was a lack of attention. I made the silly mistake of asking if we still had a weed whacker, and when that response was "yes" when I asked why then was that one part of the yard higher than the rest, the answer was "I don't know" -- I've decided I am just not going to pay attention either...or buy fish for the "pond."

:-)

My life as a season...

I was born the first day of Spring, and while I love Spring, I've often wondered what it would be like to have been born in the Fall, there aren't many opportunities to have a theme party for a Spring birthday, beyond Mardi Gras, which while fun, doesn't have the same appeal as a Fall themed or Halloween Invitations as a birthday party. I suppose though that it would be very possible to have a party in the Spring and still use Invitations Halloween style as a theme and a party, after all it would give people the chance to dust off their Halloween costumes more than once or twice a year and while it would be hard to find them in the store, Cards Shoppe are online 365 days of the year. With the thousands of different styles out there, it wouldn't be that hard to find a Halloween Invitation that could be used in the Spring and with the Mardi Gras items that are out in Spring? It'd be easy to combine the two. Hopefully we'll be in the new house by Spring which would mean the actual space to hold a party would be possible...

It's not too early to be thinking about Christmas...

I know, the summer heat is here and you might be thinking - Christmas? But it's really not too early to be thinking about the holidays, especially when it comes to Christmas Parties. While of course you aren't going to want even think about mailing out your Christmas Invitations out now, there's no reason to not start thinking of what type of a theme you want perhaps inspired by whatever Christmas Party Invitations you find at a place like Cards Shoppe It's also not too early for planning out the date so you can make arrangements, especially if you are going to make hall or other reservations. I've often thought about doing a formal Invitation Party Christmas thing, but I always procrastinate and then? It's too late because others have their dates set and their travel arrangements made. This year? I am at least looking at Party Christmas Invitations, so perhaps this will be the year. :-)

Real invitations versus e-invites

I know the internet is used by many of us and it's much simpler for people to send and e-vite than to take the time to order or buy party invitations, then address them, then mail them out. Yet I'm still a fan of getting things in the mail, for one simple reason. On any given day I get hundreds of emails, I've discovered it's really easy to read and forget to mark something down that I'm invited to via email than it is to have the invitation on my desk...While I have a webcalendar, I'm horrible at remembering to update it and if a story breaks or something else comes up that I have to deal with? Days can pass before I remember again, which if I do remember, is the nice thing about using gmail, it's easy to search for things, since I thankfully keep my desk in better order than my memory? What I have tried to do with e-vites is print them out...

Blogging from your backyard

I love my tower and I don't plan to get rid of it any time soon, but I have to admit I do like the ability of going outside using my laptop and our wireless connection. While my outdoor furniture is not totally conducive to a comfortable typing scenario for hours on end, right now I am sitting on my back deck, enjoying a cool breeze, yelling at the dog to stop eating grass...

Okay so it'd be more perfect if the dog wasn't eating grass, but I spend too much time inside and since I was behind on a variety of writing assignments this was one way to be able to be outside, and still be able to get some things done. As well as to take a break and post something here, since I have been behind here as well.

Now, if I had a waterproof laptop, I could blog while I was floating on a raft...

:-)

If you are thinking about planters...

I used to love to garden, it would be fair to say I still do but I don't make enough time for it. I do have a window box planter but it's one that could use some TLC and some more plants. Right now it's more weeds than plants, though at least I can argue that some of the weeds are kind of pretty. Many weeds don't look like weeds, or at least that's the story I'm sticking with at this point. :-)

There are an amazing number of different styles of outdoor planters out there of almost every price range. Which makes it fun to dream online about which type I'd like to have for the new house since the porch there is huge and is the perfect type to have garden planters and who knows, maybe a fountain...That would be even easier to maintain.

Calorie burning conflicting answers...

A certain friend who shall remain nameless and I were joking around about how sex was a great way to burn calories. Ever the curious sort, I sought out information as to exactly how many were burned to determine if it was true that the best fat burner could actually be sex...

A problem then happened, it appears it's not agreed upon how many calories having sex burns. There are sites that state 34 calories per hour which seriously doesn't seem right though their site done in humor was entertaining. Then there are sites that claim you burn 150 calories per half an hour.

According to MSNBC using their handy dandy calorie burning calculator that's online you burn more calories cleaning house 105 than having sex, 35 per half an hour. Now that was a bummer. So, I'm going for this calculator because it says for my weight? It's 153 calories per half an hour, which is more than housework which is 105 per half an hour...

:-)

Things you notice when you buy a house...

Well, it's completely official, we got the deed for our house so we are now officially homeowners. With the exception of making payments on some past due taxes, at this point we own the house free and clear which will probably not stay that way for long since the house does need some semi-major renovations before we can actually move into it. We are going to do as much of the work that we can do as possible to keep down the costs, but as we were there cleaning today, I started noticing all of the things we are going to need, like door hardware almost all of the doors and the hardware are gone. We have two closet doors and two bathroom doors, all of the bedrooms are missing doors, we need a new front door and we need a new back door. We did discover upon the recommendation of some friends our local Habitat for Humanity store, which has a huge number of doors, some of which are brand new, some have come from homes that were salvaged. Which means it's a matter of measurements and then searching...

House dream may include security system...

We are in the process of finalizing details on owning a home that needs some renovation before it's going to be ready for us to move into. One of the discussions we've had is related to a Home Security Surveillance System since we (and the dogs) won't be living there and there will be construction materials as well as new items installed that could go a day or two without someone being there since we are planning on doing as much of the work as possible by ourselves.

The house sat vacant for about two years, and while we luckily did not experience any of the pipes being stolen since the house had been converted to pvc, there are signs that someone was living in the house illegally not that long ago. This makes the issue of Home Security a valid concern. Some of the windows of our new home have been broken, but thankfully those who did "visit" the house did not destroy it as the house next door experienced. It had copper piping, and apparently a few more visitors bent on destruction.

I never really worried that much about Home Security Systems in the past. We've always had dogs and while they are of course not a total deterrent, some of our neighbors who have had break ins did not have dogs. Of course before we can worry about a security system, we have to put in new windows, but? We'll get there, and I'm sure considering the adventures we had in fixing up the home we are currently renting before we moved in that this will be an adventure too.

:-)

Blogging outdoors...

We spent some of today cleaning off the back deck here with the idea of being able to use it again now that winter is over and the grilling season is almost officially here. We used the grill last weekend when it was almost 80 degrees outside. I'm envisioning blogging outside, sitting there on my nice outdoor cushions with my laptop and enjoying the weather. That way I can work on my tan and work on my blogs at the same time.

:-)