"I do it"

"I do it." That's what my daughter used to tell me when she was a toddler and I was trying to do something for her like tie her shoes or pick out her clothes or help her up onto the potty.  Nope, she wasn't gonna have it. She was a big girl and didn't need or want help from me.

I got the guts to go out in the garage and get my own damned crates, thank you very much. I am a big girl and often put on those proverbial panties. No snakes...yippee.

Here is a geezer trick I have perfected and it comes in very handy on many occasions. "Take off your glasses to do stuff that creeps you out".  I swear, it works. I may trip over a few things here and there, but I don't see any snakes or snake skins. I have done it to remove a bug carcass from the floor and to clean the "boy toilet". If you can't tell what it is, then it's OK to pick it up or clean it. Try it sometime if you wear glasses or are as old as dirt like me.

So at least I was wise to go out early before the sun roasted the walls of my garage making it inhabitable to everything but snakes and spiders. I won't embarrass myself and tell you how many trips it took to get them inside. Last year I weeded out all but the "special" things. I took a massive amount to work to offer up to my fellow workers. I did the same thing with Christmas stuff. So, theoretically I shouldn't have much left. I believe "special" is one of those relative terms, because I still have more crates than I care to admit. I'm not a hoarder, unless that's a relative term too.

Here are some of my favorite things:

This is the coolest mummy. He has his butt crack showing in the back which makes me smile out loud. He is propped on top of one of my antique store finds, a cool orange and black spice tin.

This is a treat from Jan and is an Etsy find. Love! She is flanked by one of my many Frankensteins. Orange and black has the power to make me think it is cooler than it really is. August (even this late) is hotter than hell in Florida. For that matter, so is September and October. But every day, I come home and look at my fall things and feel cooler and happier. Soon I will get out my Department 56 Halloween houses to round it all off. Happy Fall, y'all.

Don't be scared!

Oh, be still my heart! I see orange and black in the stores which means I am in my glory. I just got back today from a 4 day trip to NC to visit Terri. We did our annual "shop till we drop" in Asheville on day one, then Franklin NC and Dillard GA on day 2. Janice came with me for the trip and the 3 of us touched every single piece of "stuff" in every single antique store and antique mall we visited. I am always looking for props for my Halloween collectibles. As a matter of fact, my eyes automatically go to anything orange and black and if it's not intended for Halloween, I will come up with a way to repurpose it so it will. I already have a huge collection of props, but one can never have too many of those, can one! Props, to me, are vintage tins and boxes that are comprised of Halloween colors that add a little pop to whatever is sitting on top of it. Here are my latest scores:

These will all house some little cute sumpn sumpn from my spooky stash. I love love love Halloween and fall even if fall in Florida means high 90 temperatures. I didn't pay more than $5 for any of these (yea!) and I love'm all. Since I have to go in my garage and get my crates, where it is 140°, I have been putting off my Halloween decorating this year. I foolishly keep thinking it's going to get cool enough for me to go out there. I will send my brave husband out there to retrieve them, mainly because for the last 2 years, I have found snake skins under my crates. We all know what that means.  2 years ago it was a kind of short skin, last year it was bigger... much bigger.  I discovered, much to my surprise (not), that the sight of a snakeskin makes me pee a little. And yes, the sight of a whole, live snake makes me pee a lot and squeal uncontrollably for a very long time like a 9 year old girl. Can't help it. I hate to say this, but if you are with me and we see a snake, I am going to mount myself directly on top of your head. Or, I will throw your butt so fast in it's path, your head will spin. So, Happy Halloween! and don't be scared.

Anniversary # 32

We met in Jacksonville while we were working for the same company. I was a jewelry buyer for a 17 store - chain of catalog showrooms. Remember those? They've all gone by the wayside now, but in the 70's they were all over the country. He was a jewelry department manager. We worked closely together for a while and then got "flirty" with each other. We started dating and I was in love! He was 8 1/2 years older than me, 6'5" tall and reminded me of Pernell Roberts. Pernell, of course, was the older brother Adam on Bonanza.
We moved to Seattle Washington after dating for a couple of years. He had received a big promotion and was now working in the corporate office of another catalog showroom with stores in Washington and Oregon. They hired me too, to be a part of their buying staff. We lived together (gasp!) because it just made sense. Mama was not happy. She didn't like that VW camper owning guy who took her daughter camping all over Florida. She referred to him as "What's-his-name" only. Never by his given name. So when he took me all the way to Seattle, it was on like Donkey Kong. When I called, she'd say "Are you alone?" Uh, no, ma, I'm not.  I told her I was cold up there in the Pacific Northwest and she crocheted a lap blanket for me. I wish I still had it, I might have stored it somewhere, but who knows where. This lap blanket was only wide enough for one person. It is hilarious, we both laughed our butts off when it arrived.  No evil camper-owning man was going to snuggle with her daughter, that's for sure. When we finally decided to set a date, I hesitated to invite anyone. Mom was so upset with me for such a long time and I really didn't think she'd approve of our marriage. Surprisingly, she and my dad came. On our way to the airport to pick them up, I apologized in advance to my husband for what my mom might say to him. Back then, you could walk up to the gate and wait for passengers to deplane. There they are! I see them... and to my total amazement, mom passes right by me and hugs him first! After that, he was golden to her.

So we have been together for 32 years. Mom is 90 this year and still as feisty as she ever was. I saw on Pinterest recently an adorable gift idea for an anniversary, so of course, I copied it. And here is my version...

This is the journey of our lives together. I found maps on the internet of all the significant places we shared, like our first date destination, cities we lived in, places where we vacationed, took a snapshot (on my Mac) of all of them and adjusted them in Illustrator to be about 1 1/2 inches square each. I printed them out on glossy photo paper, and cut them out with a heart punch. I bought a 12x12 shadow box frame at Hob Lob with a 50% off coupon for $10. I had planned a total of 25 hearts, and put them in chronological order. I cut a 12x12 mat and placed them in 5 rows of 5, then when I was pleased with the placement, I mounted them with foam squares... so they popped. You could do this without the shadowbox frame and just make them flat, but I love how more interesting it looks with dimension.
I started with Daytona Beach (our first date) and ended with a satellite image of our house I found on Zillow. Most of the maps came from Map Quest. I have a couple of our favorite restaurants too. I jut looked them up on the internet and snapped a shot of their logos. Corky Bell's in East Palatka is one of our favorites places. We love to go outside and eat on the deck facing the St. John's River. They have the most awesome fried shrimp!

Beverly Beach was one of the places where we used to go camping. They had a campground that was right on the beach so we could hear the waves all night long. It is between St. Augustine and Daytona on A1A.

 

Our anniversary is on September 10, so I'm going to hide it until then. I think that he will be pleased. Happy Anniversary, Pieface!