a clean bed awaits

Sadly, this has been the highlight of my week: making up my bed.
I kid you not.
I had started feeling ill shortly after moving into my "new" bedroom. Yes, I had thoroughly cleaned the new rug from Belgium. Yes, I had given it several days to air and stretch and breathe.
However, that doesn't seem to have been sufficient.
Between all of the stuff brought over by Michael and the girls the past three weekends, the crazy shifts of the weather into cold temperatures that brought the need for heat, and the new flooring in my sleeping space, it's been too much for my sinuses.
When I'd gone to the doctor on Monday, I had a raging sinus infection in full tilt boogie mode.
The next day, I also contracted influenza b, courtesy of my new housemates.
They had returned from their annual trip to Orlando on Sunday evening, with Michael sick, sick, sick.
His trip to his doctor revealed the flu. He and the girls went to his mom's for mothering and have been there all week.
If only I could have Mama taking care of me.
I sure have missed her, this week in particular.
As I've told Christina and Kevin and Scott, as well as Smitty and Tony, there's nothing anyone can really do for me.
I have antibiotics, and I have soup, and I have time to get well.
It's been an absolute blessing to have had all of that, as well as the loving thoughts of those who know of my plight.
Not having internet has added a layer of isolation, but I've been okay with that.
The internet has been lost since the 15th, when a storm came through.
Have I called Comcast about it?
No.
The very thought of trying to hold the phone against my aching sinus passages is painful.
So, no, that will wait until I have the capability of withstanding long wait times on the phone.
I am hoping that day will soon come.
Today, I stripped the bed of all linens that had been coughed on.
Then, I took a shower and washed my hair, cleaning me of all germs.
Afterward, I went to Sandfly Laundry and washed all the bedding.
I also made use of their wifi to catch up on my emails (250+); that took a while.
(My thanks to Amber for her help getting all back to my car.)
Now, I've made up my bed with fresh, clean bedding.
I've also sprayed Lysol generously all around the room, as well as in the living room, kitchen, bath, and dining room.
Today has been my fifth day of Amoxicillin, so my sinus infection is improving, but my muscles ache, I've had a severe pain at the base of my neck for the past three days, and I am absolutely exhausted.
As Murdock would say, "I'm too old for this sh*t."
Thank God I'm retired and have no responsibility to be anywhere right now.
I pray that tomorrow will be a better day.
At least I was able to leave the house today.
(smile)
i thank You, God.

the bfe and The 'Cole get hitched!

A marriage makes of two fractional lives a whole;
It gives two purposeless lives a work,
And doubles the strength of each to perform it.
It gives to two questioning natures a reason for living
And something to live for.
It will give new gladness to the sunshine,
A new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
–Mark Twain

Here they are, the physicist and the chemist, getting hitched in front of God, family, and friends!
Chelsea was officiating her first wedding, but I think she did pretty well.
She began with the quote from Mark Twain, certainly an appropriate choice for the two scientists, and particularly so with Nicole looking like a breath of spring on this unseasonably cold day.

Jeff and his bride had special vows to each other, naturally, and they had a special safeguarder of the wedding jewelry:
a ceramic ring squirrel, right beside the lamp!
What a clever little twist!
Another nice twist was the choice of "I will" instead of the standard "I do" to seal the union.
I haven't heard that one before, but I like it!

The final step, however, was quite
traditional, with J-Dawg sweeping his lady
love into his arms for a solid kiss!
I definitely liked that!
Then came the signing of the marriage license -
ho hum -
before they could receive all the congratulatory
hugs and kisses and well-wishes from family
and all of their friends -
woohoo!!!
What to do next?
Hey, time to drink more beer...
and eat more ribs and macarons...
and spend more time at the house-warming
part of the evening!

Jenn-Dog and Justin had come in from New York
for the event!
I was so glad to get to meet them!
They were pretty much just as I had imagined
they would be!
I'm glad they had a few days to visit with
the bfe before the nuptials, too.

Several colleagues from the university -
does it really matter what the name is? -
had received treasured invites.
Here's the lovely 'Cole with fellow chem
nerds Todd Hizer and Cliff Padgett, as well
as J-Dawg - they didn't even know their
photo was being snapped!

That isn't to say that everyone there was
known by me.
Au contraire!
In fact, I could count on both hands the
folks that I knew -
and that included the groom and the bride!

As for this couple with the J-Dawg,
I knew Josh Williams, but not his wife,
Ellen, or their accompanying children.
I had played Jenga with their son, a bit
earlier, before the wedding.
That led to a touch of magic a-foot after the boy put handcuffs on his mom... and didn't have the key!

Fortunately, there was a magician in
residence and he knew exactly where the
'cuff key was - voilà!
Madame Williams was again free!
Not so the magic Secrest, who then was
forced to show off some of his craft
to the errant lad.
Card tricks?
But, of course he knew those!

Disappearing acts?
Certainly, just step right up and
watch him closely!
Object transformation?
I saw a scarf become this fluffy
yellow feather with my own eyes!
What a magical evening!
(smile!)

red velvet no more

For many years, this sofa bed has served as the focal point in the guest room.
Now that the room was being given over to my nephew, with his own furniture, it needed to vacate the premises.
I sent the photo to Andy, its original owner, on Monday.
Would he like it back?
He did not, thanks, but his wife had a friend who might want it.

Two days later, I heard back that the woman had found something else.
But hold on while he checked with his stepson...
nah, that was a no-go as well.
And he told me a dear memory of when a kitten, frightened by a thunderstorm, had curled up within the spring mechanism, so Andy had to wait until the storm had passed to rescue him.
Sweet tale... but I still had the sofa bed in the house.


As it was far too cumbersome to move to the curb - as I'd done with the other three pieces of furniture - I turned to an old reliable market: craigslist.
"- free furniture -
- red velvet sofa bed must go -
This is a rather gently used sofa bed that has been in occasional use in my guest bedroom. Now my nephew is moving in and has his own furniture, so this piece MUST go.
72" long x 30" high x 35" wide.
Mattress is firm and is at least a double, as I recall, and has been rarely used for more than a few nights.
One seat cushion has a broken zipper on the cover, result of a washing incident.
I'm in midtown, near Jenkins High School.
"

That was late last night.
At 6:30 this morning, I had a taker.
He would be here at 4:30 PM, with a truck.
Magnificent!!!

Two hours later, a freight truck arrived.
They had the missing shipment that was to have arrived for the National Chemistry Week event.
Instead of one box, it was two boxes, both very heavy.
I had the man deliver them directly into my car.
Oh, yeah!
Then I took them to FedEx and had them shipped out by noon.
Oh, yeah!
Done and d-o-n-e!

Then to await the proposed new owner of the couch.
Before he arrived, I had two other requests for the sofa bed.
I assured them that I would notify them if the deal fell through.
Fortunately, the young man arrived, truck at the ready.
However, it was just me and him.

But you know what?
We managed to get it done!
I had taken the mattress out and secured the box spring already.
Together, we took off the legs - hooray! - and managed to get it through the bedroom doorway, the living room doorway, and out the front door.
Whew... but we still had to LIFT IT up into the bed of his truck.
And we did it, the lithe young man and this 61-year-old woman.
RAWR!!!

I did the right thing.
I contacted the other two parties and let them know it was well and truly gone.
They very nicely thanked me for that info!
(smile)
Then I went onto craigslist and removed the posting.
What a relief to have that done!
Then I settled in for dinner before the rainstorm to come.
Very nice!

By wonderful coincidence, Michael sent me a photo that reminded me why I was making all of these changes to my house and to my life.
Leila and Alyssa were about to go to the pool at Cypress Resort and were gracing their G'Aunt Tina with smiles and laughter.
Yeah, this has all definitely been worth it.
I sure look forward to seeing them on Sunday!
(smile)

not my aquarium, for sure

Last weekend, the furniture and the disassembled trampoline and many large boxes were moved into my house by my nephew, my outlaw Melinda, and Chelsea, Michael's younger sister.
Friday of this week brought more boxes, mostly of clothes and toys.
I am utterly amazed at how many toys there are!

See that enormous toy box against the curtain, where my rocking chair once was?
That was full of stuff, as are the boxes between it and the bunk beds and in front of the closet.
Then there's the bookcase, with boxes of books and videos yet to be unpacked.
That will all await their return next weekend from their annual birthday trip to Orlando.

The two chests of drawers are to the right of where
my bed was.
Michael placed them against that wall to hopefully
serve as a sound baffle between their room and my
new Ocean.
The beds were assembled last night, not that they
have yet used them.
They are still sleeping at their old house.

This was once my guest room.
All of my pictures have been removed from this room,
as well as from the girls' room.
Somehow, that is what has bothered me the most.
I had a place for everything, and every thing in its
place, but now I have things which are displaced.
So, I've drawn up a lease and roommate agreement to
try to protect my sense of place and Michael signed it
tonight before he left his mom's.
They're spending the night with her before their trip.
I guess our getting used to each other's patterns will
have to wait until their return.
I had sure hoped for that to begin happening sooner.
I guess I have been anticipating this for two months now and I'm ready to see how we will all fit into each other's lives.
One day at a time, my girl.
As for tomorrow, I have brunch at Chili's, then dinner at Olive Garden with the running bear.
All free for me!
I am so thankful for Veterans Day!
(smile!)

i am woman... hear me RAWR!

This morning, after breakfast, it was time to work.
I had moved the chest of drawers into my Ocean Room on Wednesday, as well as everything that was to go into the closet.
Today, Mama's sewing machine became a "table" to hold my piece of the SeeSAW muralcle and the bejeweled tequila bottle.
Then to vacuum the top of the Ocean Ombre, making ready for the main project of the day: my bed.

Did mention that my mattress is made of latex?
That makes it extremely heavy.
However, I do manage to rotate it around at least twice a year.
I had hoped to be able to stand it up and lean it against the wall.
Nothing doing with that notion.
So, I slid it off the left side of the bed, to access the right boxspring.
After a vacuuming, and tacking up the lining, off to the Ocean it went!

Then I went back to my aquarium to try to free the other boxspring.
This shows the mattress shifted over to the wall, with the left boxspring trapped beneath its mass.
After vacuuming the carpet and the top of the mattress, I'd postponed it as long as I could.
Helen Reddy's song popped up on my mental jukebox and I could hear CB6 Chuck's voice telling me to "work smarter, not harder".

If I and another woman could get a solid metal exterior door off its hinges, sand it down, prime it, and reinstall it without a man's aid, than I could certainly move this bed!
Sure enough, within 45 minutes, I'd shifted off the mattress, vacuumed the boxspring, wrestled the steel bar within back into place, tacked its lining back up, and moved that boxspring, and part of the frame, down the hall and into the Ocean.

Within another hour, it was looking like a bed again!
I'd put the frame together - taking care to use the 4th tab, as it had been before - and then squared up the two boxsprings in their original places, too.
I went back and vacuumed the aquarium's carpet and the rest of the mattress.
Then, I realized how exhausted I was and stopped for a very late lunch.

How was I going to get the mattress down the hall and turned into the entry of the Ocean?
Just how was I to do that?
Should I call one of my brothers, ask them to help?
And justthatfast, my phone rang!
It was my first niece, asking what I was doing!
So, I told her and she came by to give me an assist!
Female ingenuity to the rescue!
i thank You, God!

We had grabbed those side handles and pushed the mattress together, using the same technique as for folding a blanket.
Then she had p-u-l-l-e-d and I had p-u-s-h-e-d... and we'd even been able to end up with the vomit-stained side face-down and the clean side face-up!
i thank You, God!!!
If not for this move to the Ocean,
I would not have known that was an option for my bed!

And to think: we managed to get it all done in time to pick up her girls!
Hallelujah!
Now, I've just returned from dinner at Cici's with Christina, Miyah, and Chloe...
with a little baseball duckie for me...
and I'm even going to be able to catch Savannah Shakes' "MacBeth"...
and that, amazingly, is free!
What a blessing this day has been!
i thank You, God!

from the aquarium to the Ocean

My BFF had once told me that being in my bedroom felt like she was in an aquarium.
I thought that was a lovely analogy!
The Aged Mint walls and the filmy teal-aqua curtains certainly did give that sensation.
Now, I'm in transition from my aquarium to my Ocean Room.

Leila and Alyssa will be swimming in my big room at the end of the hall on Friday.
Their two bookshelves, chest of drawers, and toy box arrived last Friday, and are already waiting for them.
Time for me to get moving!

After the "Dracula" matinee at the Savannah Children's Theatre, I spent an hour looking at carpet in the nearby Home Depot.
(The Ocean Room's flooring was a bleached cat-wreck.)
Not finding something affordable and colorful, I was leaving when I espied the sign: "Rugs".
Hallelujah!!!
Hanging before me was the absolutely perfect rug!!!

I went home to check the room.
Would a 10 foot by 7 foot work?
Where was my Sunwashed Blue paint chip?
Could Tony help fetch it home for me?
Yes! There it was! And, yes, with Laura, too!
I unrolled it upside-down and let it relax from Sunday night until noon today.

In the meantime, I used yesterday to clear out part of the guest bedroom.
Gone is the changing table acquired from Angela before her move years ago!
Gone is the dining chair from Panama, with Toffee's teeth marks still on one of its rungs!

There they are, out by the curb, along with the white table that had been my girlhood dressing table.
Thirty minutes later, the table and chair went to another little blonde girl!
What sweet serendipity!
Today, the mom returned for the changing table for a pregnant friend!

So what remained in the Ocean Room?
My new rug, that's what!
The bookcase was in the hall and the filing cabinet was moved to the living room closet.
I'm glad I had worked to clean that three weeks ago!
Cleaning is what I did today, too, vacuuming the back of the rug, vacuuming the exposed carpet, using the round tool for all of it - my poor back!

Then, I started flipping the rug, using the same technique I had seen used so often for the heavy tarp at the baseball diamond.
Fold it over, slide it over to one side, then grab the top edge and pull it to open it up and flip it over.
Of course, I then had to vacuum that beige carpet again, too, after the slide.
Now, I'm sure no more orange fluff is around!

Time to let the new rug relax again... but not me!
Inspired, I decided to go ahead and move my chest of drawers into the room.
First, remove the five drawers...
get the chest onto old carpet to slide down the hall...
"walk" the chest, pivoting on this corner, then that...
with one final oomphf to set it in place.

Next, of course, was to grab each drawer and deliver them to their new resting place.
Five trips down the hall, watching door jambs...
taking care to not scratch up the walls...
trying to not dump out any of the contents...
sliding each drawer into the right slot...
making a note to not place the bed too close, so I'll be able to use the drawers in the future.
(smile)

I am truly getting excited about waking up in my Ocean Room!
And guess what the name of the color is for this beautiful Belgian rug?
"Ocean Ombre Blue"
It's as if it was made just for me, just for this room...
to reassure me that all would be well...
as I have felt it would be since the day I made the offer to Michael,
spurred on by two copper pennies at Lake Mayer...
unearthed by the hands of two beloved great-nieces.
i thank You, God.

wrong number, good talk

So, there I was, busy at my house, and "The Price Is Right" wasn't even on yet.
Then I got a text message.
*
*
*
Brenda of HVJ: Let me see first if Bill can come to beach to watch dogs. I don't leave dogs alone at night, unless it's an emergency.

me: Hi Brenda. This is Tina. Perhaps you meant to text elsewhere. :-)

her: I think you're probably right. How's Tina doing.

me: Good! Clearing out a room. My twin great-nieces move in on Friday. They are 5 yo.

her: OMG....you're going to go crazy for a little while. Then you'll adjust. Are they coming with your niece and toys?

me: They are coming with their dad - who is my nephew. I have given up my huge bedroom to the girls and their toys. :-)

her: You're a good Aunt.

me: Thanks! I saw this as the only option for them. I think we will be good after that first month of adjusting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)

her: You'll do fine...ear plugs work wonders. Like my husband says. "WHY DO GIRLS ACT THAT WAY. THEY SCREAM, CRY AND THEN THEY... SCREAM AND CRY SOME MORE!!!" Thank God I had 3 boys.

me: Lol! I will just scream and cry right back at them. That's what Mama would do. :-)

her: You got it right. With my granddaughters, I would turn my hearing aids off. Told them, when they quit screaming and crying, we will talk. Until then, no talking to Grandma or Grandpa. Now they just want money.
*
*
*
At least Alyssa and Leila know better than to ask me for money... for now.
After all, they're just 5 years old, and their dad has done well at letting them know you can't have it all.
As I say, if you had it all, where would you put it?
(smile!)
Okay, break is over! Back to work I go!
I have a lot more stuff than I had realized two months ago...
seriously.
I hope some of it will find a new home soon.

special treat for mister willie

When Berry first contacted me a few weeks ago about a surprise they had for the old man, I let him know that there was a birthday coming up.

What great timing!

That would provide the perfect cover story for their wanting him to come out there!

So, we went on that premise: a luncheon in honor of his 81st birthday.

(smile!)

Several phone calls later, the date was set for yesterday and we finalized plans.

I would be in charge of transport there and back, they would be in charge of everything else.

Part of that included setting him up in the comfy chair!

Then, the Bananas crew sang "Happy Birthday" to him, while he sat like the humble man he is and took it.

(He had already tried to stop them, to no avail! Hahaha!)

Then it was time for this baseball fan to partake of standard baseball food: hotdogs, sodas, burgers!

That meant it was time for standard baseball talk, too, between him and Berry, as they are wont to do on game nights!

By that time, the others had gone back to their desks to do what needed to be done while the guest of honor was distracted.

Willie didn't have a clue about what was forthcoming.

Honestly, neither did I.

So, when Berry had helped him to his feet and led him back toward the main office, the surprise there almost knocked his feet out from under him.

Literally.

A chair had to be rustled up for him to sit and a moment had to pass for him to compose himself.

He was so honored and so moved.

The Savannah Bananas had commissioned local artist Panhandle Slim to create a sign in his honor.

The quote used was from the interview Willie did with Jesse back in February.

Asked then if he would be attending the summer games, Willie said, "If the Lord's willing, I'll be here. Baseball is in my blood."

Excellent quote from him!

The sign will be installed in the main concourse for the 2020 season.

How wonderful!