Jeannie Marie & Company

A fond look forward  .   The long drive up to the house which will hold the big Budget moving van.  The 24 footer that holds up to 8 rooms that we have packed out, after we pared down everything we could live without.  I tremble when I think about how full it will make the house.  The one we bought for a simpler life.   Miss Goodness Gracious who has never known another house.  Gracie has been edgy these past few weeks as furniture disappeared and the household has been upset.  Sad eyes follow me around, upstairs and down and sighs as she flops down in unaccustomed places because the sofa is gone, the bed is gone, her dishes and mat are gone.  She is bereft but we can't help it. Mohawk, affectionately known as MoMoMo or simply Mo is as unconcerned as the tortoise that lives in the backyard of the new house now.  He is happy for all the open doors that let him explore the backyard freely and munch on grass and unfortuna...

I knew a move in the summer would be awful, especially a move to Florida, but I didn't count on a heat wave of such majestic proportions.  A heat wave that is breaking records in state after state.  A heat wave that makes the news every night with a death toll. I have been slowly packing up my house for several weeks, but the real crunch came last week.  Just about the time the heat wave began.  I began wearing my "Don't Panic" button even on my PJ's.  We do not have air conditioning just now.  Everywhere I look, it's empty, it's a mess, and the windows are open hoping for a breath of cool air.  In vain.  Then I get a call from my contractor.  "What?  July 29th your moving in? You sent an email Aug 29th."  Oops.  It takes five days to order carpet and then time to install it in three rooms.  We will make it with a few hours to spare. I also forgot to send him my sample color.  Now I must trust computer color....

There were more than a few surprises when I arrived to my local Half-Price Books.   It was certainly an experience.  I had been racing to get there to beat Dianne, who was meeting me from Cincinnati.  I was going to test a couple of theories that web research had pointed out. Beautiful people get more for their books, the smaller the batch the better price per book.  You'll spend your profits right there if you aren't careful.  The first surprise being, after lugging in a laundry basket full of books, is they have carts you can bring out to your car.  They even have a ramp built into the sidewalk.  Nowhere did I see that in any research I did. A second shock was these beautiful children's books are ineligible.  What?  I was stunned.  I was also sweaty from hauling in a basket load and I'm sure my face was beet red.  I demanded to know why. They simply have a policy that they do not accept books that have ever belonged to...

I should have been packing but I got a call and an invitation to go Fossil Hunting! My friend, the Mad Scientist, remembered to bring bandanas this time!  Earlier in the week we could not see for the flood of sweat dripping in our eyes.  It did look as if we had been in a terrible accident and bandaged up...but who cared.  They worked!  The smaller colored ones were for mopping the sweat on the face and neck...at least that is what they were for.  I put mine on my head since I forgot my hat.  You'll notice at the end there is not a picture of me with a green cloth on my head.  That was deliberate.  We were not allowed to climb the hill.  So we were careful and did not climb the hill....very high.  We were excited to find fossils in almost every stone we picked up.  This place was a treasure trove.  Oops!  Are we too high up the hill? I don't know if there were any fossils in these stones, but the formation suggests an a...

Today I am freeing myself from the weight of hundreds of books I have brought home and have either 1. Not read or 2. Read but won't read again or 3. Read to death. Our new place cannot hold books numbering in the thousands.  I have 3 large bookshelves upstairs, two huge bookshelves downstairs, stacks of books in various places throughout the house and several hundred garage sale books in the garage. Ninety five percent of which are hard cover books. Someone told me Half Price Books will buy them!  I'm not expecting my amazing garage sale price of $1.00 a book, nor my eBay prices that sometimes got bid into the hundreds but usually sold from $5-9.99.  No.  When I called to inquire she said I am going to get a cash offer for all books brought in.  Those they don't need or want will be recycled. Ouch. I'm biting the bullet to a point.  None of my Ralph Moody, Janice Holt Giles, Miss Read, Maud Hart Lovelace or McCall-Smith books will be inclu...

I am thinking about changing my white comfy wrap around sofa that has seen better days and go out on a limb and buy something different for the new house.  One that will go well with my brown leather chair and ottoman. This is one Bill chose that is very comfortable and comfortable looking.  It is brown, not gray like it shows in the photo.    And this is the one I picked out!  This sofa is something completely different than I've had in the past.  I recoiled when I first saw it...and perhaps I should go with my first impression... but then I sat on it.   It's the right height for me and very comfortable!  It also looks better with three pillows across the back and none of the white tags showing!  It's roomy to lie down on (if you remove the pillows) and lying down on a sofa is very important when one watches TV late at night. The more I looked at it, the better I liked it.  Then all the other sofas in the room looked overstu...

 Last night there was a thunderstorm that was quite exciting.  It cleared the humidity and cool, almost cold air blew in the windows and cheered us.  The lack of air conditioning in all the house except the bedroom can be difficult for those of us with health problems.   We had a man coming to buy an old patio table we can't take with us and he arrived in the thick of the storm and sat in our driveway for almost an hour before anyone dared to load the metal table into the metal truck.  At times the rain was so heavy we couldn't see the house across the street.  The lightening was frighteningly loud and thunder following was immediate.   Our neighbors suffered with damage to their homes and it was quite a tour we took as we drove through the few blocks surrounding our house. We were fortunate that our thirty year old maples stayed upright and kept all but one branch.  A branch that landed in the center of the back yard, not causing...

So today we said farewell to K who is our leader and founder of The South Dayton Knitting/Crocheting Group Meetup. We met at the home of RevPam and Rev Mary and it was a lovely afternoon. Our group.... AKA The South Dayton Knitters group on Ravelry, was founded by K a little over three years ago and it was a success from the beginning. We met first at the Java Street Cafe. This great little cafe had sandwiches, coffee and sofas as well as tables. We grouped several tables together at every meeting. The talk was nonstop. The coffee was endless and we were happy. Sadly, the cafe closed soon after. We met at several other locations before settling in comfortably at Boston Stoker in Kettering near the famous Dorothy Lane Market. We enjoy our specialty coffee's (unfortunately not endless!) and we group all the comfy leather chairs and tables into a large circle. We knit from 1:00 to 4:00 every Saturday afternoon. We are such a fixture there that we notified them that we we...

So, it's July 6 and I am going to try and reserve a moving truck for the 26th. I'm nailing this down to 20 days left. The bunk beds are not going. They have been sold. These beds held my child for many years. His friends lived here every weekend he was in high school. My grandchildren claimed them on their frequent visits and the TV was visible from both bunks. It made me sad to see them go. They also provided a bed for many bands that passed through our town. Some famous ones like A Day to Remember and UnderOath. Some not so famous, Jaxin of Of Mice and Men, Gwen Stacy, Asking Alexandrea. Many I can't remember their names. My bed and breakfast dream became reality when I fixed up the family room into the band dorm. Bunk beds, pull out beds and carpeted floors let boys stretch out to sleep instead of in their vans. This is where I gave bands beds and breakfasts for free. Breakfast like their mom would give them. Eggs, any way they ordered them up. Bacon and s...