Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Kansas warns residents to be prepared for a zombie apocalypse | Plog

Kansas warns residents to be prepared for a zombie apocalypse | Plog

Monique

Authored by Leandro Delgado

We have adt sensor that detect motion in our house at night. They go off if motion is detected around windows and doors. The sensors are placed at a level where they are not set off by animals, just people. We have never had a sensor set the alarm off until the other night. My husband and I frantically jumped out of bed. I ran to the kid’s room and he checked the alarm pad to see what had been set off. The keypad showed that the motion detector around our bay window had been set off. The police came and searched the house. They could not find anything. They suggested that it may have just been a fluke. When we got back in bed that night, it occurred to me that some pictures on the table underneath the window had been turned over. I thought about it and realized that I knew who the culprit was. It was our cat, Monique. She had leaped on the bench. When she jumped off, she must have reached a height that made the motion sensor think that she was a person. If I had realized this sooner, we would have gotten a lot more sleep!

Friday, June 10, 2011

What a Nightmare!

Here comes the water!  Bill is completely convinced that the boys and I should stay with his mom and dad till he gets back.  it is starting to look like we may have to.  I don't want to. I would much rather stay here than go through the nightmare of packing everyone up.  The boys and Sam will be thrilled.  Mama is going to be pissed.
Yes, my life seems to revolve around keeping the cat from getting pissed off.  She tends to attack people when she is pissy.
Anyway, I guess that is something that we will have to discuss when Mr. Bill gets up.  Speaking of Mr. Bill....he is only supposed to work 55 hours a week.  This week he had 77 hours.  Too bad he no longer gets overtime.  I can't even begin to think of everything that will have to be done if we leave.  AHHHHH
And its storming, again.  At least it won't be hot today:)

Friday, May 20, 2011

How To Decorate a Victorian Home?

I've decided that I will stop worrying about the outside of the house for now. I can't do anything about Mother Nature. The roof will be done when it gets done:)
So, instead of obsessing about things I can't do anything about, at the moment, I think that I should start thinking about the inside of the house. We have all of the original woodwork and most of the fixtures, but pulling it all together, is a real challenge for me. I am very challenged, in the area of decorating. I want things what look like they might have been around when the house was built, but I also need things that are sturdy and practical. The boys are really hard on furniture, lol, not to mention the dog and cats.
So, let's start with the master bedroom. Right now, I have a very generic head-board & footboard, mis-matched dressers, 2 bookshelves and a nightstand. Nothing matches. The curtains are a bit on the tacky side as well.
I did find some sites, that have a lot of the sort of nice furniture I have in mind, but some of it was just way to nice to even think about getting while the boys are still so young.
Have you ever been just looking around, with no intent to actually buy anything, and then, you see something, that you must have?
That happened to me. I think I must have seen about 200 things I must have, right now. I will of course, show Bill, but the odds are that right now with the roof being done, is not going to want to go on a shopping spree. That's why wish lists were created.:) I can't wait to show Bill and see what he thinks. I have a feeling he would lean more towards the wood furniture, we will see.
I really like more simple things, when decorating. Actually, I should probably say I would like more simple, tasteful things, if I did actually decorate.
There are just so many things I want! Really beautiful, antique looking dressers and night stands, that if the boys ever move out, I want!
So, If I am getting a new bed, I am going to need new bedding. Found some!  But, I am not sure if we will actually be getting anything new right now.
  Looking that those reminded me that, I have a wedding present to buy. I really don't know what I should get the happy couple. Comforter set? I don't think I really know their tastes well enough to pick out sheets. But, maybe something useful? 
Picking out gifts for other people is difficult. I have a hard time picking things out for myself. At least I was able to get several good ideas, that I can sit down and discuss with Bill. Plus, I am not thinking about rain.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Day 3 of the Rebuild, Still have a Headache from Yesterday

So, Mother Nature and the Home Improvement Store Gods decided to mess with us yesterday.
It Stormed. Rain, Hail and gusty winds.  The guys ran out of material at lunch time.  Menards ran out of what we needed and so they didn't deliver.  Chris, spent the day going to every home improvement store in the Greater KC area looking for the stuff.  Apparently there was a run on it and everyone and their brother is out.  So, I have no idea if anyone is going to show up today.  Lovely.  The forecast looks like crap for next week, that is very sucky.
Oh, and just to top off my wonderful day, full of Evan having some sort of Screaming & whining fest, I got the results of the mammogram.
Obviously, if the results we that everything was fine, I wouldn't have bothered to even mention it.  So, as you guessed, the results are not fine.  I got to letters.  One from the hospital, saying that they forwarded the test results to my doctor and based on their findings they have recommended further testing to validate the results.  The next letter was from my doctor's office, stating that I need to make an appointment immediately to go over the results.  It also said that I really should not fail to make this very important appointment.  alrighty folks, thanks for the free freak out.  I made the appointment, I go in Saturday morning.  So I don't get to do the D.O.V.E.s Walk/run, which I was really looking forward to.  They really should rethink the wording on their little 'your test results are wonky' letter.  The wording gives you the impression that death is imminent.  Which it probably isn't, but still.
So, I'll go and see what he wants to do next.  My luck it will involve needles, I am pretty sick of needles.  Maybe it will involve a nap.  I really like naps.
Whatever, no point in freaking out or worrying about it till I hear what the Dr. Has to say.  It may be that its just nothing.  I have other things to freak out about right now. Like where is my materials?  Where are my carpenters?  What did I do to piss Mother Nature off?
I guess while I wait, I can browse through my new Spring Hill Catalogue and pick out a ton of way to expensive plants that Bill will definitely not let me buy :)  But its still fun to look:)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Day 3 of Rebuild and the Headaches Begin

Day two started off good.  Except for Sam making an escape and being gone for almost 5 hours.  I was not a happy camper.  On Day one, I kept her shut up in the boys room, so she wouldn't get, we had extension cords running out the doors, and I just knew she would get out.  Day 2, I figured out how to run the cords threw one of the windows, so I let her stay downstairs.  She really doesn't like to be alone.  When we go in or out of the house, the rule is, the door must be locked!  Sam can't get out of a locked door.  She can however bang up against a shut door and pop it open.  Everything in the house is old.  Anyway, Bill knows this rule.  Well, He was going over some paperwork with Chris and they came inside to do whatever it was and didn't lock the door behind them.  Sam apparently took her chance. I thought I would let her run it off a little while and she's be back.  Not this time.  So about noon, I contacted Animal control to let her know that Sam had made her escape and was who knows where, doing who knows what.  Right after I sent the message, a truck pulls up with a big delivery and guess who shows up.  Ms. Nosy had to to see what was going on with the forklifts.  I was able to catch her and get her inside.  Maybe it was the truck showing up, maybe it was as Aden calls it, me "calling the animal police". Either way she was back, and I made sure to keep the doors locked.
The guys made good headway.  Most of the framing is now done, some of the sofits, a little of the fascia and some of the crown molding.  This is where is headaches begin.
I love my husband, I do, I do, but sometimes, he can be a little bit difficult.  He was not happy that they guys didn't use a plum line.  So unhappy in fact, that when he saw they weren't using one, he ran out and bought some masonry line for them. 
He is a perfectionist.  Its one of those qualities that I love about him.  He holds himself to, in my mind, a pretty unrealistic standard.  So, when he does something, especially to the house, its done right, the first time, even if it take forever :)
So, He is not very happy with how things are looking.  Let me see if I can give you the list of things that he finds wrong, so far.
Okay so the sofits are a little lower than they used to be. This means that the quarter round partially covers some of the dots on the gingerbread.
Nothing is straight. Please remember these are his complaints. The Crown molding is also a little smaller than the old one.  And then something about the drip edge for the roof, he said it will look retarded with the crown that small.  Personally, I don't see it, but then, I have half lost with what it is they are doing anyway.  I think it looks good.  And a hell of a lot better than it did.  Another thing that is pissing him off is the cost of the corbels.  $40 each.  Holy F'in poo people.  We 28 corbels. That's about $1120.  OMG.  We are having them done in PVC, so that hopefully, no one will ever have to deal with issues of them rotting, after another 122 years.  So far, only one has came down intact. The rest just disintegrated when they touched them.
So back to Bill's issues.  The house is old, nothing is level, nothing is plum, nothing is straight.  Nothing.  I don't see how it could ever be again, unless someone completely took the house apart and rebuilt it.
But, because I am the dutiful wife, I will relay his concerns to the contractor.  I wrote down what he said, word for word, so nothing will be lost in the relay.  But, this is one of those instances in which, I will keep quiet and nod and smile alot.  After 12 years, I have figured out which battles are not worth the effort to fight:)
The guys worked till dark last night.  Right now its raining.  Thunderstorms are expected today. With of course hail & gusting winds.  I hope not.
I'll get some pictures of a little later of what has been done so far :)