and in the middle

of it all, the dryer went out.  I got online to search for a new one and found exactly what I need.  A dryer.  It dries.  We bought our current dryer almost 20 years ago.  I know that's not terribly old in dryer years but it's had a few minor repairs along the way.  After the last repair, we decided that one more repair could've totaled the cost of a new dryer.  So here it is, the day I get a new dryer.

My old dryer is basic.  You pretty much get to decide how long you want the dryer set and whether or not you want to turn it on.  I know there are a lot of cool ones now but I'm pretty practical and I went into this knowing I've done fine with a basic dryer.  So when I started my online search, I found the one.  The price was good, the size was good and it dries clothes.  So we went down to Sears to check it in person and all that flew out the window.  There it was.  The new, modern dryer, sitting there in all its digital glory.  Not only was it the brand I wanted and the size I wanted, it was half off.  HALF.  It was marked to $599.  Anyone who knows me, knows that all of a sudden, that bargain was a contender.  It's so hard for me to pass on a deal.  One catch, no delivery on that one.  We left Sears with a solution.  If we could find a way to get it home, I'd get the fancy one.  Well, I didn't find a way so I went back into Sears Monday morning to get my basic dryer.  I walked by the fancy one and the $599 had been changed to $529.

(Insert Charlie Brown AAUGH! here.)

You know I'm dying inside at this point. I thought of one more option to getting it home but guess what.  It was pouring outside.  (Anyone who knows me, also knows I look for signs.)  The rain was my sign.  Besides, I started reminding myself of the reasons I wanted the basic dryer to begin with.

So, here I am at home waiting on my new plain-Jane dryer to be delivered.  It's crazy how anxious I am to do laundry.

i'm not here to

finish with the stuff we did on the house.  I'm here to discuss me, my camera and my tripod.

Last night was a blue moon.  Here you go, like any of the other moon pics I had to get.

This morning was a different story.  This morning I wanted the stars.  I grabbed the camera and tripod and adjusted my settings.  It was a little frustrating trying to get what I wanted but I later realized why it wasn't working.

You know that moment when you realize it isn't the camera and tripod that are moving but it's actually the planet?  I do.  And guess what.  That's what happens when you're standing there waiting for the shutter to open and close.

In my defense, the picture wasn't this big so all I could tell was that my stars were blurry.

i have a little

free time so I'll write a little about a few of the changes that have been made around here.

It all started with the floors.

A few years ago we tore out our carpet and put wood down.  We never finished.  There were issues.  There were matters of my measures and cuts as well as transition pieces.  When we decided to have a party for my cousin, I knew I had to decide on something and get it done.  So I figured out what I would do.

1. On all the pieces between wood and tile flooring, I would put a wood strip.  (One of the T-shaped things that matches the flooring.)
2. Between the white trim and wood I would put quarter round to paint white.
3. The main issue I had... a tile step-down to the wood, that I decided to use the quarter round that matched the flooring and put it between the white quarter round.  That might be a little hard to understand but you'll see a pic in a minute.

So I called someone to do the job and he measured and told me how much of what to get.  Simple.  Next step, call Lumber Liquidators (where I bought my flooring) for the coordinating trim.  Here's where it gets fun.  While they did have the 6' piece of quarter round I needed at the tile step-down, they didn't have the T pieces I needed for the tile (I don't remember how much it was exactly but I know I needed about 36'.)  The closest store was New Jersey.  Now what?  I decided I couldn't have the matching bamboo but would have to buy the stuff from Home Depot and stain it to match.  Yuck, but okay.  Wrong again.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  Just when I was about to pay WAY too much and have the stuff shipped from New Jersey with Lumber Liquidators, I remembered a carpet store pretty close to my house.  If they offered wood, they probably offered trim.  I went in and not only did they have it but they stained it for me at no extra cost.  I knew it would be different because my floors are bamboo and the trim is not AND I really didn't think the stain was matchable.  (In my house it looks like it has a little mahogany in it but in the store you see definite green and black... it's weird.)

Anyway, I ended up saving more money that way and now my floor is finished.  Here's my solutions.

The T's between the wood and tile

the threshold and quarter round painted white 

and the quarter round at the step-down from the tile.  What was originally going to be a piece of coordinating quarter round put down between the trim's quarter round ended up being one long piece.  I taped off the ending points of the trim and painted white, then did the same with the stain.

This is where a discovery was made.  I might not be the best at painting or any of this home improvement stuff but my stained quarter round matches REALLY well with the bamboo.  Seriously, look at my stain compared to the others.  I might have missed my calling.  Once I realized what a whiz I am at stain matching and blending, I went over some of the stuff they did.  (Not much, just a few touch ups)

And that was most of the flooring situation.  In my next post, if the wounds aren't still too fresh, I'll try to explain how the trim turned into almost everything else being painted.  There really is a good explanation.

so i'm still not

giving a play-by-play of the work on the house.  That's one of those stories where it wears me out just thinking about where to start.  It will happen one day, I'm pretty sure.  For now though, let's talk about some weather we had yesterday.

Cosme stayed a little late at work because he had originally planned on a flying lesson at 7.  Well the email finally came that there was bad weather so it was cancelled.  He waited a little longer, hoping to miss traffic.  Although he got caught in a little on I-10, it was 288 where the biggest problem was.  Rain.  Serious rain.  He said everyone was driving with their hazards on and the people that weren't pulled over were barely moving.  He couldn't believe it wasn't raining here.  He was telling me how bad it looked and finally asked me to look up for any warnings.  There were a few and for the area he was driving through.  I went out to take a few panoramic pics of the clouds coming.  They were grainy and bad but I wanted to get the full effect of those crazy lines of clouds.

After getting the full effect with that view, it only took a few seconds for me to realize I wanted the camera for this.

And after a few of those, I ran to the garage for the tripod because I needed that shutter speed opened more.  There was a lot of lightening in that storm and I was determined to catch some.  This is what I got.  It's not the best or most visible, but I got some.

I thought it was pretty cool too how I couldn't really tell what was going on because it was so dark but when lightening would flash in different areas and light up the sky, I could see where the rain was pouring down.

And after all the lightening passed, cars started shooting laser beams down the street.  Kidding.  It all goes back to the slow shutter speed... I hope.

And of all that nastiness, we got a few sprinkles and some wind.  Good news, bad news I guess.

slowly but

surely I will recover.  Remember when I gave notice a while back about how neglected this blog would  be and how much I would have going on?  It was amplified.  Not only did the blog get neglected but so did the photography workshop I was in the middle of.  And basically, I feel like I've had a hangover for about a week now.  I have been worn out, totally exhausted.  When I mentioned having a lot coming up on my schedule, I hadn't planned on any house remodeling.  That's when I got kicked in the butt.  Everything was leading up to the party we had for my cousin and I barely made it through the party.  Several times I went to my room just to lie on the bed in darkness, wondering if anyone would notice if I was missing.  I mean there were four other hostesses.  Like I said, I barely made it through the party but once I did, I didn't move.  I slept almost all the next day, not moving from my new couch.  It's been crazy and I have been totally zoned out.  If you've talked to me or been around me lately and I've seemed a little spacey or loopy, there was no seeming to that, I have been.

Today's the day when I have to get back on track.  I've done almost no cooking over the last few weeks so today's the day where I have to go to the store to restock and get back to moving.

I will try to post a few pictures tomorrow but for now I'm off.

a few things

I've learned this week:

1.  Spend the money and buy a better paint brush.  There is a difference.

2.  Sanding and wiping down isn't that bad when someone is helping.

3.  Manual labor makes me frustrated to the point of crying.

Well, it's not just the manual labor.  Let's face it, if someone said they needed me to bake x amount of cakes, that's different.  I'd much rather bake than paint.  Also, to add to my painting frustration is how out of order the entire house is.  That throws me off to a freak out.  It puts me in a foul mood, then I stew over it while I paint all day and by the end of the day I'm angry and have a meltdown.

As it ends up, a good chicken fried steak can help a meltdown.  So here's one more

4.  Food does make it better.

Today I'm starting off differently.  Instead of waking up to paint at 5:30, I'm getting some of my normal stuff done.  I've already started laundry and plan to do more than the one load I accomplished yesterday.  I'm about to make my bed and iron while I catch up on dvr (assuming I can work around the chair and end table at the foot of my bed).  After that I'll probably head out to look at a chair and buy some bougainvilleas for the backyard.  Then, when all my stuff is done, and I don't feel like I've left anything neglected, I'll paint.  And if a pit stop at Taco Cabana falls in there somewhere along the way... Well, let's just call it meltdown prevention. 

after a few years of not

having our floor finished, I had it done last week.  There were several things holding us up.  It was mainly decisions on what to do in odd places.  So yesterday morning I was bored and started painting the new trim.  When Cosme woke up I told him I had an idea for one of our odd spots.  We've been wanting to paint the built in stuff and kitchen cabinets for a while but just haven't done it.  So, I had the bright idea of painting all the built-ins and cabinets now.  The guy who put the floors in told me to let him know if I need him to do anything else.  PERFECT.  There was only one problem.  Cosme's idea was to do it ourselves.  First you should know that I HATE painting.  I'm messy and I'm not good at it.  I'm way to impatient to paint.  When it comes to painting, Shortcut is my middle name.  I hate it.  I despise it.  I loathe it.  Whatever.  Yesterday we went and bought wall paint, cabinet paint and island/mantle/bar paint.  Here's what we got:

This is the trim

This is the kitchen cabinets and entertainment center

This is the kitchen island, mantle and bar (which happened approximately two minutes after opening the can).  And FYI, the dark stuff stinks.  I'm pretty sure I'll need to crack a window today.

I don't have a sample of the wall because that wasn't part of my duties.  But here's a picture of Strat I took on a little break yesterday.

So I started painting yesterday morning around 8:00 and stopped around 8:30pm.  I'm sore and tired.  It's 6:30 and I've already put a second coat on part of the island and a first coat on another section.  Oh, I've also got laundry going.  Today is already making me want to cry.  On the plus side, I am determined to take a break and get a pedicure today.

ps- I hate projects not only because everything is out of order around here (like furniture in the middle of the room and stashed in other rooms) but it's just the act of getting from point A to point B.  It's so much better to have someone else do it.  Work sucks.

once upon a time

I started designing a table after seeing several similar to it on Pinterest.  My goal was to get one for a fraction of the price.  Don't ask me what that fraction is because they've never been my strong point.  Anyway, I knew I wanted a metal frame with a wood top so we went to Lowe's.  (Funny little story: we started off at Home Depot but we knew Lowe's had the material and figured HD would as well.  We couldn't find it so we asked.  

     Cosme: Can you tell me where your angle iron is?

     Worker dude: The what?

     Cosme: Angle iron (insert brief description here).  I know Lowe's has it, figured you would too.

     Worker dude: Oh, we don't have that.  You'll need to check with a specialty store.

     Cosme: Like Lowe's?

It was funny.  It was a laugh, eye roll and shaking of the head all in one... at least it was for me.  Anyway, back to my coffee table.  We started with this.

 And worked our way (and I use "we" and "our" loosely)

 Up to this.

I sampled a few stains before going with the mahogany.  Can you imagine what was going through my head when I thought I was getting the stain on the left and out came the one on the right.  I'm pretty sure I sampled the correct one and didn't use a different can.  I didn't stir the sample and only shook it but I just don't see how that could be the same.  Oh well, it's a good thing I like mahogany, I mean a lot of my furniture is mahogany after all...

 And here it is with my stuff back on it.

 My plan is to put a couple of little storage ottoman's underneath.  In the meantime, Cosme is going to cut it down some, maybe 2 inches.  Since that involves cutting the casters off, I bought four more today but this time I bought bronze ones.  I haven't held them up to the table so we'll see what makes it on.

Here's what I asked for next.  It's going in the spot where my broken wine refrigerator is.  This will store liquor bottles and stuff of that nature.  (That's all my wine refrigerator is doing, serving as a work/storage surface.)  This just got a coat of mahogany stain this morning.

I've learned two things from this: 1. I'm way to impatient and messy to stain and 2. if you get stain on your hands, it comes off SUPER fast and easy with vegetable oil (just remember to turn the water on before you start).

Yesterday while Cosme was building my shelf unit, I was rearranging a few things inside.  I cleaned out a cabinet went to get the new things to put in it.  I got on the floor and went to put the stuff in when I saw Strat looking back at me.  I SCREAMED.  He was all the way in the back and I was NOT expecting that.  By the time I got my phone to the camera, he had turned around and was checking everything out.

And then a little later Lucille wanted to shop online with me but it wore her out.

And that's what's been going on here.  Now I need to sign into a photography thing I'm doing but I think I might do a few dishes first.  But you know, looking at Lucille's face is making me a little drowsy...

has it really

been a week since my last post?  I guess so.  I'm apologizing now because I know the next couple of months are going to be crazy and the blog-neglect will probably be pretty bad... off the charts.  I don't know for sure but just in case, I'm sorry.  It's just going to be busy for me.  I've got a LOT of photography stuff going on, not only are there a couple of major photo sessions to be done but in the middle of it all I signed up for a photography workshop.  Let's see, there's a party happening here in less than a month (and I've got to prepare for that, but with some help), I've got a couple of SERIOUS concerts to attend on August 30 (The Cult) and September 18 (Depeche Mode), a major entertaining show in Houston that takes about a week to prepare for and just as long to recover from, and then... MY BIRTHDAY. 

Here's the kicker, I should officially be able to relax on September 22 because this is how that last week will go:
Sunday 15 - last day of cooking/entertaining show and clean up
(I usually don't move for the next two days, it's THAT. MUCH. WORK.)
Wednesday 18 - Depeche Mode
(Hopefully I can stand by then)
Friday 20 - MY BIRTHDAY and a rehearsal dinner
Saturday 21 - the wedding, which will be my first to ever shoot
Sunday 22 - BREATHE.

Other than any meltdowns that will probably happen along the way, I'm golden.

Now, on to other news.  I was getting the oil changed last week.  Sitting in the waiting room were two young guys, an older man and me.  A lady walks in with a little kid and I watch as the older man gets up for her to have his seat.  I had to roll my eyes at the to young guys and hope that Eric would do the right thing in that situation.  Which I later found out that he would have been and has been the one getting up for women and kids to sit. 

I have a new coffee table coming soon.  It's one that I designed and might be finished this week.  The frame is together, now I just need to go get pieces for the top.  I'm going to try to do that today.

And last but not least, Operation Dry to Wet (for Lucille) has been going great.  No hairballs or anything else that comes along with it.  I've been letting her eat in the laundry room and then opening the door when she's done.  Strat then comes in and finishes it all off.

Lucille, isolated and enjoying her meal at the molasses-like pace she does everything.

Strat, paces and watches, paces and watches.  Here he is watching.  (I also need to clean the door.)

And Strat finishing Lucille's juicy breakfast.  yum.

 Here's a little added something.  A few weeks ago Cosme and I were watching tv.  There was a commercial for cat food and the lady put the cat's food on a plate and had a vase with a flower next to it.  We were laughing.  The other day Cosme saw me feeding Lucille and said that container was small and asked if I was going to dump it out for her.  My reply was "I can.  Would you like for me to add a flower in a vase as well?"  I guess you had to be there...

Now I'm off.  I'ts time for TCB.  Lowe's and Kroger are first on the to-do list and I don't feel like doing either.

a few years ago I

found a recipe.  I don't know where it came from and I even went out of my way emailing the food blogs where I was pretty sure it came from but I couldn't find in a search.  I searched my recipe binder, hoping I had a weak moment with time to kill and printed it out.  Nope.  I gave up on it.  I think I might have found something similar on Pinterest but that didn't matter.  I wanted my recipe that I'd used before and I had nothing to compare it to.  Fast forward.  I was cleaning out my recipe box and guess what I found.  Correct.  Luckily, I had written it down and tucked it away.  It's like I knew I'd never come across it again online.

So anyway, we'll call then Honey Bites.  We could go with Oat & Honey Bites but that's a little wordy and if wordiness didn't matter, I'd probably go with something cutesy like Bits o' Honey and Oats.  We'll go with Honey Bites.

The odd thing is, Honey Bites involve two things I do not like: coconut and honey.  I know that if I can get past that and enjoy this recipe, anyone can.

HONEY BITES
8 TBS butter
1 1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/2 c flaked coconut
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 TBS all-purpose flour
2 TBS wheat flour
2/3 c honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a mini muffin pan with Bakers Joy.  Melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat.  In bowl, combine oats, coconut, walnuts and flour.  Add honey to the melted butter and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Pour butter mix over dry ingredients and mix well.  Scoop mixture into the muffin cups and slightly press it in.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool for 10 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

So that's that.

In other news, I think Lucille figured out that I'm boss.  The whole issue of wet versus dry food seems to be working.  Now it'll probably come down to do I like having to keep them separated to eat or will I eventually give in and have them both cross over to the wet side.

On the dog front, I was out playing with Maggie yesterday and my phone kept going off with texts in my pocket.  My text tone is a line from Despicable Me.  ("IT'S SO FLUFFY!")  I finally took my camera and iPad out to catch her reaction.  Although it wasn't as dramatic as she had been doing it, you get the idea.

Now I'm off to do housework while I catch up on my full load of Sunday night dvr.

we're being played

by a "sweet" little cat.  Earlier in the week I noticed that Lucille had been leaving little "gifts" behind.  Not to be too graphic or anything, but in these little gifts included whole pieces of food.  These gifts are usually followed by hair but lately the gifts had been happening more frequently.  (Here's a little info, Lucille loves it in the garage.  It's her favorite place.)  So, when we hear a gift on its way up, we grab her and take her to the garage.  (Face it, the garage floor is so much better than the carpet in the guestroom for a gift of that nature.)  Anyway, I've had her out there and have changed her food to wet food.  (Going by the whole pieces I've seen, she's obviously not doing a very decent job of chewing the dry stuff.) Everything seems to be going well.  There haven't been any surprises left behind in the garage.  I've let made her come in a few times and put a laundry basket over the dry food so she couldn't get to it.  The other day I had her in and I heard her getting ready for a "gift".   All she did was spit on the carpet but I grabbed her and put her outside.  Another day I let her in while we were gone for no more than 20 minutes.  I saw a little spot of spit on the wood.  Eric let me know this morning that she knows if she keeps doing that mess that we'll let her stay in the garage.  I figured he has a point but didn't think anything of it until an hour or so later.  I had come back from the gas station and pulled my car into the garage.  She heard me, I know it.  I opened the door and BECAUSE SHE IS PLAYING ME AND PLANNED THIS, she hunched over right there in the laundry room and started making her sounds.  It was at that moment that I realized I am being played by an innocent looking cat.  I've got news for her.  Homey don't play that.  I sent Cosme a text and let him know what she was doing and also declared that it is on.  If she wants to play that game with me, I WILL go there.  At first I thought I have stooped to the cats level but now I'm wondering if maybe she has risen to mine... bad move on her part.  Mess with the bull and you get the horns.

Then I glanced over and saw a box of litter that looks a lot like our two sweet cats.

Don't judge a book by its cover.  They're not smiling because they love you.  They're smiling because they have you right where they want you. 

ps- If she keeps this mess up, I have a feeling she won't like the garage nearly as much if Maggie is out there wanting to play. 

i like cake and

I like Twinkies so when I found a recipe on Pinterest for a Twinkie Cake, I knew I had to make it.  So I made it.  I always make my frosting from scratch and I almost never measure anything for it.  I questioned the amount of powdered sugar this recipe called for in the frosting but measured it and put it all in.  Looking back, I probably should have sampled it somewhere along the way.  It seemed more like the filling for my creme horns versus my regular frosting.  And for the record, the creme horn filling is, in my opinion, sweeter than the frosting.  To me, Twinkies aren't sweet.  I mean, yes, they're technically sweet but on a sweetness scale compared to other things, Twinkies aren't at the higher end.  This frosting is sweet, sweeter than what I would consider a Twinkie being.  I might eventually try this recipe again but when I do, I'll make adjustments to the frosting... maybe less sugar? more marshmallow fluff?  I don't know.

In conclusion, I'm not saying the cake is bad, I just wouldn't compare it to a Twinkie.

I didn't frost the cake on the sides just like the picture from the recipe did.  Also, please forgive me for not trying to glamorize my cake for the picture.  I roll a different way.  

i've been looking over

a recipe for at least a week now.  I found it on Pinterest and I finally made it today.  I just pulled it out of the oven but I'm having my doubts.  I don't know.  I'll post the results tomorrow.

We grabbed a tub from the garage and gave Maggie a bath over the weekend.  Since we've had Maggie, she hasn't been keen on water.  If I hose off the back porch, she hides in a dry spot.  She'll follow me until I start unwinding the water hose.  So this weekend was her first tub bath, with us anyway.

Bath? I'm not familiar with that word.

Oh, bath must mean you want me to sit in front of that black thing in front of your face.

I don't know what's going on but it needs to stop.  Look into my puppy dog eyes... you are supposed to make it stop now.

What did I do to deserve this?  This is making me so sad... except for those little bubbles on my tongue.  I kind of like that.

Dude, WTH!

I'm scarred.  I can never go back.  There's no forgetting this humiliation.

Oh, but wait.  That spot kind of works for me.  If you would please continue scratching right there, please?

Now we're talking.  This is pretty awesome.

And just as she was starting to enjoy it, she was done.  All clean and ready to roll around and dig holes.

In other news, Lucille's had an upset stomach for a couple of days.  I've quit giving her the dry food and only wet.  She's also been hanging out in the garage more.  She's not constantly getting sick everywhere but if it keeps up, I'll need to get her to the vet.  Hoping it doesn't come to that.

Now I'm off to finish this cake and clean its mess.

i have of couple of

things to share but today I'll share the super moon.  Over the weekend I read the super moon would be best from 12:30 - 5:30am.  I went out as instructed and I didn't see what the big deal was.

This was 12:30.

This was 5:30

And this was Lucille at 5:30, wondering what was going on.

Dad was on his way to China but I don't think he would've seen the moon at the hours he was flying.  If he had, it'd probably look more like a super moon than what I saw being thousands of feet further away.

Coming tomorrow: Maggie.

Pampered Chef

to the rescue!  I was sitting here making a grocery list and going over Pinterest when THIS recipe for gummy snacks sounded good.  All I needed was Jello, gelatin, water and candy molds.  (Just a note, I'm good with the flavor of Jello but loathe the texture.  I do not want that stuff in my mouth.)  So, I had all the ingredients but no molds.  I read through the comments and saw that some people didn't use molds but ice trays or even pans with cooking spray.  Enter the Pampered Chef 5 1/4 Rectangle Leak Proof Glass Container.  I lined it with plastic wrap, mixed up the ingredients as directed and poured it in for cooling.

A little later I pulled the gummy stuff out by the ends of plastic wrap and used my basting brush for dusting corn starch over, but only a little.  I transferred it to a piece of wax paper and dusted the other side.  Then I used my pizza cutter to slice it into pieces.

Voila.  Gummy snacks. 

If you have kids or enjoy kid food (like me), try this today.  It's easy and good.

this is one

I had on my memory card from Surfside.

Now, let me talk about a little situation I had yesterday.  I was home alone and looking a few things up on the computer, none of which had anything to do with opening iTunes.  I walked away from the computer and went to take a shower.  I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom and heard music blaring in the other room.  (I should add that it's reasons like this that I always take my phone into the bathroom when I'm alone.)  Anyway, I quietly locked my bedroom door, grabbed the gun,  went back into the bathroom, locked that door and got in my closet.  I called Cosme (who was on his way home from work) and Eric (who was with a friend) and nobody answered.  Texting wasn't getting their attention either.  I tried Facebook.  Eric called.  I told him what was going on and he got in his car and headed home.  He tried calling a couple of friends who might could get here sooner and one answered and was on his way over.  Three things I realized at this point: I remembered that Maggie, the dog who never barks, let out one bark not long before I got in the shower, I was pretty sure the back door was unlocked and finally, I should have set the alarm.  (Which was also something I was in the habit of doing when Eric wasn't around so much)  Anyway, it sounded like the music had stopped but then it started up again.  Eric was on the phone with me and didn't want to hang up.  He asked why I just didn't call the police but I didn't want to bother them in case it was nothing.   

(This all reminds me of a time I was babysitting my sister when I was a teenager.  It was one night when my parents were out and it was probably around 9:00 when the doorbell rang.  Nobody could knock on our door because of the burglar bars that gated in the whole front porch.  I looked out the peephole and there was a man standing there.  I saw a Schwan's truck parked out in the street but not directly in front of our house.  That was odd but then the light hit something in his hand, a knife.  Lauren was right there with me and I looked at her and put my finger over my mouth, telling her to not say ANYTHING.  We ran and hid in the bedroom by the phone and listened for any noises.  I left her there and checked a little later and the man and the truck were gone.  I don't know what all that was about but I was really glad we were surrounded by bars.)  I might have told this story before and if so, there it is again.

So back to yesterday, I'm more of the "hide, be quiet and wait it out" type of person.  Eric's friend got here and a few minutes later Eric showed up.  Nobody was in the house.  That's why I didn't want to call the police, because if it had been nothing.  When I told everyone it might be the same thing that has opened doors in here, nobody was buying it.  Whatever.  They don't have to take me seriously... I'm sure the police wouldn't have either.

All this has me thinking of other situations I've been in: the day I hid in someone's storage closet so a man wanting to give me a ride would leave me alone, the morning a stranger left a love note on my car and started following me around town...

The lessons learned today are 1) there are weirdos everywhere and 2) there should have been cell phones in the 80's.