Moving

 I'll try to hit all of the highlights and also try to make it brief.

We talked about moving for years. The move would take place after B finished High School.  Why stay in a huge house when there is only two of us, and pay ridiculous taxes?

People around us thought we were crazy.  That we didn't think this through. What they didn't know was this was an ongoing topic between RT and I. The only problem? Where would we move?

We had to prepare for this move. We lived in our house for twenty seven years, raising three children.  During this time, we had to sell our parents' homes and, unfortunately, some of their things became residents of our house.  We did not want to move all of the stuff that we accumulated, so, downsizing was in order.

Downsizing is just another way to say that you are getting rid of a bunch of crap.  OK. It isn't all crap.  It's just stuff.  Stuff that you haven't looked at in thirty years and, frankly have no desire to look at in the next thirty years.  There were quite a few million texts sent to the kids (by me).  Basically, "Does anyone want this?" And, frequent runs to the Goodwill. I think we were one of their main suppliers for the last five years.

This major "downsizing event" went on for at least five years. Why did it take so long? I don't think we were that serious going into it. We kept thinking we would have more time.  We will do it later. We might need it.  The last six months we were at our house we got rid of more stuff than the previous five years.

There were quite a few things we did to make the house look nice.  I'm still upset we didn't paint the laundry room years ago.  Why did we wait until we were selling it?

We packed up what we could and stacked boxes in the garage. Those first boxes packed, we had no idea what was in them.  Yes, we labeled them.  I wasn't allowed to go back and pull stuff out.

Our house was put on the market in the middle of April.  We wanted enough time to celebrate Easter with our family and friends, watch B enjoy her senior activities (prom, senior celebration), B's graduation and a graduation party.  All with the hopes of moving out at the end of June.

Our house sold (crazy, but it happened on our 30th Anniversary). After the grad party I realized that I had to quit my favorite job and get serious about this whole move thing. 

We packed the rest of our stuff, made a million more trips to Goodwill and two moving trucks up to a storage locker in the town that we would eventually live.

Oh, our house, the one we would be moving into was being rented through the summer, so we were homeless for a while.

More about the crazy move in another post.

Hot Cross Buns

 I realized I should have posted this a couple of Fridays ago or wait a couple more weeks for Orthodox Good Friday.

Well, here we go.

While cleaning, one child found his recorder and decides to give it a whirl.  What song does he play?

Hot Cross Buns.

If you have kids, you know that, "Hot Cross Buns," is one of the songs they teach you when you start playing the recorder. 

Each child went through the recorder phase.  Learning how to play, "Hot Cross Buns."  I can't tell you how many times I heard that song played on a recorder in my lifetime.  I heard that song so much that I found myself humming the tune.  Sometimes I couldn't fall asleep at night because I had the song playing over and over in my head.  I couldn't wait until the recorder unit was over.

While this child was playing, the youngest child found her recorder and joined the concert.

They have now formed a band and will be touring.  It's a one song set.  Check your local venues.  Definitely something you won't want to miss!

Count The Money

 Took a trip out east a few weeks ago.  While out sightseeing, I stopped in a little shop and purchased an item.  It wasn't very expensive, and I thought I would just pay for it in cash. I had quite a bit of change and thought I would use it for this purchase. I counted out the change, separating each dollar out so it was easy for the cashier to count.  The cashier, a guy in his early twenties, starts counting the change.  He is counting quarters as thirty-five cents.  Nickels are sometimes worth five cents and sometimes twenty-five cents.  At this point I realize that he has no idea how to count money.  After struggling to count out two dollars in change, I had to step in and help the guy out.  He finally gave up and put all of the money in the drawer.   Normally the cashier counts the money prior to placing in the drawer.  I think he was just frustrated and possibly embarrassed.   

When we left the store, I must have talked about this moment for a LONG time (sorry, RT).  But isn't that sad, that this generation has no idea how to count change?   I realize that as a society we might eliminate currency (paper and coin) but, to not be able to count, add and identify American currency?  And you live here?

I find that very disturbing.

Thoughts?

Moving

Moving.  Something I never experienced growing up.

I've moved twice in my lifetime.  Both times weren't that bad because I didn't have a lot of stuff.  Now, three kids and twenty seven years later we made the difficult decision to move.   Large home with no kids and high taxes.   It's a smart decision.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Going through items (not just my stuff) and trying to figure out what to keep and what to toss is very stressful.  I have been leaning towards the "toss" side.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

I have sent many "snaps" to my kids with photos with, "Do you want this?"  If I don't get a response right away, I ask again.  There might be an angry, yelling snap in there somewhere and eventually the item gets tossed in the garbage.

I think my kids avoid me and my messages.  They want the stuff but don't have the space.

I do have to say I came to a point where I thought it would be a lot easier to just torch the place.  Or, even better, so we still have a house to sell, make a pile in the yard and have a HUGE bonfire.

After going through stuff, I feel everyone should have to move every five years.  That way you don't accumulate so much shi# stuff.  

I think this has been a huge learning experience (well, I haven't moved yet, just got the house prepped for photos and showings).  I'm in a holding pattern because I don't want to make a mess.  I haven't killed anyone (yet).  Although I have come pretty close a few times.

I do feel that I have learned something from this nightmare experience.  Arson Bonfires are the way to go.

New England

 Spent some time up in the New England area over spring break.  It was so beautiful that I have decided that I plan on moving up there and writing a novel. (Doesn't everyone move there to write a book?)

County Courthouse

 I mentioned a few posts back about my adventure as a witness at the county courthouse.  Very exciting stuff.  What I forgot to mention was my walk from my car into the building (and back again).

We live in a decent area.  The courthouse is in a very nice town.  Nice homes.  Friendly people.  A place where you feel safe walking down the street.

I parked in the back lot and walked up to the building.  When I reached the doors, I realized that I had my cell phone with me.  That's a big no-no.  Cell phones are not allowed, unless you are a juror.  So, I had to run it back to my car.  For some strange reason, I felt like I was going to be mugged walking back and forth to my car.  There were a few police cars by the doors, and I still felt someone was going to jump me.  

I'm sure I was safe (I think?).  I still ran to my car after completing my job as a witness.

Has anyone else felt this way at their county courthouse?

The Mona Lisa

 I found a small photo of the Mona Lisa.  It wasn't at a store.  Instead, this small 4x6 photocopy was found inside one of my picture frames.  I figured either my husband or one of my kids was playing a game with me.  

So, I took the bait and moved the photo to another location and waited.  

It took awhile for my secret competitor to locate the photo.  One day, the photo was gone.  I searched for it.  I mentioned something to RT about it.  He seemed clueless.  Or was he trying to throw me off the trail?  

This game of hide and seek has been going on for quite awhile.  I was never quite sure who my competitor was at this game until....

The youngest child had a friend over.  This friend said, "Why is there a picture of the Mona Lisa up there?"  

The youngest child: "Shh!"  

Me:  Oh, you found it for me!  Thanks!

Turns out, the youngest child is the other player in this game.  She's pretty good, too!

Meanwhile, RT said, "Mona Lisa?  What are you talking about?"  

I guess he really was clueless about the Mona Lisa photo game.

Pajamas

 When did it become acceptable to wear pajamas in public?  

I mean, I know there are quite a few people that think it's perfectly acceptable to wear pajamas in a WalMart.  But, to a Costco?  The grocery store?  These sightings are in the afternoon, so we can't use the excuse that they just rolled out of bed.  They look like they've been up for awhile.  Maybe their wardrobe consists of all pajamas?  

Do you wear your pajamas when you run errands?

Paint

 RT has been doing a little painting around the house.  We have a little checklist of things that need to be done prior to putting the house on the market.  RT has been checking things off the list one by one.  We are down to the last few things.  It's starting to sink in that we are actually going to move.

With all of this painting going on, I have noticed that paint smells like a bad foot odor.  I have been opening windows and turning the fans on because I don't want to smell bad feet.  

Does anyone else feel like they are breathing through someone's shoe after putting on a coat of paint?

Witness

 I was involved in a car accident a couple of months ago.  The youngest child and I survived.  My front bumper took a beating, though.

I was driving the child to school (she had late arrival and I was being nice).  I saw the accident start; one car hit another.  The car that got hit, spun through the intersection then skidded until it hit the front of my car.  I was stopped, fifteen feet from the start of the intersection thinking, "I'm a witness, how am I going to get the child to school and be here when the police arrive?"  That changed when my car was hit. The car that caused the accident was an Uber driver.  Yes, he just picked up his passenger at the train station.  

A couple weeks after the accident, I received a letter in the mail requesting my presence at court as a witness for the accident.  I was a little leery about going.  The last time I was involved in an accident (23 years ago and not my fault) I showed up at court as requested and was repeatedly asked why I was in attendance by the judge.  

For the record, I did appear in court, armed with both letter requests (yes, I received two).  I had my speech prepared.  I thought I would be asked to describe what happened that day.  I thought it would be very formal.  The courtroom had some chairs set out in rows, the judge's large desk and a place for people to pay their fines.  I was called up with the Uber driver and stood there for a few minutes and then was dismissed.  The judge made sure to thank me for my time and to have a pleasant day.  

 I was a little disappointed that I didn't have to recount the events of that day but grateful for the appreciation shown by the judge.

2023 - A Year in Review

 I can't believe it's New Year's Eve!  The year just flew by!  That means it's time for us to review all of the scary interesting things we experienced this year on A Scary Journey Inside My Life. 

 We discovered some fun, interesting National Month holidays to celebrate

Learned from my retail stories that there are some really, scary strange people out there

Discovered that I am a weed-a-holic (that's dandelion weeds, not, well, you get my drift)

Found out that Chicago had the worst air quality in the world this summer (I gotta get out of here!)

Sent my blog into a kerfluffle when we learned some new words.  I know that I am looking forward to seeing the snollygosters in the next year.  How about you?

Went on a little dental journey.

Learned about the neighborhood informant. The one who knows everyone's business.

How I learned to keep my car on empty, so no one wants to drive it.

My two days nightmare of driving to the airport

After all of these years I finally had to break down and buy some dental floss

I got witnessed by mail.

Had a little history lesson of the Monotonous, I mean the Monopoly game tokens

And, reminisced on our little holiday tradition, "Night before night."

RT got in there with his hip surgery in February.  

We also learned that the Bluetooth on my car refers to him as, "Retweet."

Oh, and then there were some interesting stories with My Weird Dog Pippen

My weird dog turned 11 this year

With aging comes aches and pains in the legs, eyesight going and sometimes the hearing isn't all there.

Tried to join a coyote family at 3 in the morning

How Pippen spent spring break at home 

Pippen's fear of bubbles

Pippen goes to the vet 

Get's his teeth cleaned

We find out that Pippen loves cooked green beans

How he was forgotten outside at night and decided he wanted back in at 3am

How Halloween is a big day of protection for Pippen, and of course, there is the long recovery

We made a few new meals/snacks/desserts:

Kale and Quinoa Salad

Mediterranean Farro Salad 

Vegetable Tempeh Teriyaki Dish 

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Hershey Kiss Pretzels 

and

Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes (for the puppy in your life)

Let's not forget that we celebrated twelve long frightening scary years on A Scary Journey Inside My Life.  Thanks again for sticking around.  

Cheers to another scary year!

Monopoly

 That long boring game you loved playing as a kid.  The game that could last for hours, sometimes days.  RT refers to the game as, "monotonous."

When Monopoly first came out, there were no tokens in the box.  You were encouraged to use buttons, pins, etc. from your home.   In 1935, Parker Brothers took over distribution and added tokens.  The original tokens were the battleship, boot, canon, thimble, top hat and iron.  Within the year they added the racecar, purse and rocking horse.  The original pieces were made of a mixture of lead and tin. During the war, they needed these metals so wooden pieces (like pawns in chess) were added to the game.  These pieces were painted different colors.  Some of the pieces were made of sawdust and paper.  Those didn't hold up very well (but they are a collector item).   After the war, pewter was used for the tokens.  They also added the wheelbarrow, horse and rider and the Scottish terrier.  The car remained and the canon was replaced with a howitzer.  Oh, and an airplane was introduced to the game.  Of course, by 1950, some of these pieces changed.  The current tokens available in the newer editions of Monopoly are the penguin, rubber ducky, dog, cat, battleship, top hat, racecar and thimble.

Whether you played the game as a kid or still play the game now you probably had a favorite token that you used when playing.  Was it the:

top hat

shoe/boot

iron

dog (Scottie)

racecar

rubber ducky

thimble

horse and rider

wheelbarrow

rocking horse

t-rex

hazel cat

money bag

My "go to" tokens were the shoe, iron, thimble and the dog.

What are your favorite Monopoly tokens?

Pretty Paper

 Well, you read about my blank notebook obsession, so I guess I should confess to my pretty paper fascination.  

I have quite an assortment of pretty paper, various colors and designs.  Some were purchased and others gifted to me. I have used some of the paper over the years.  Recently it was brought to my attention that there was an obscene amount of paper and that I had to do something about it.  The child who mentioned this knows that this paper is part of her inheritance and would like the amount to decrease before it becomes entirely in her possession.

A side note:  I think I'm in good shape because I have used quite a bit of the paper on a recent project and have plans to use some for an activity in the next couple of months.

Do you need any pretty paper for future projects?

Do you have a stockpile of pretty paper?

Blank Notebooks

 I have quite the collection of blank notebooks.  I'm a sucker for the pretty designs.  The ideas flow through my head of how I could use them.  I mean, there are so many things that you can do with a new blank notebook. 

Here's my list of what to do with those beautiful, blank notebooks:

Gratitude Journal

Daily planner

To Do List

Personal Journal (Diary)

Food Journal

Travel Jornal

Place to write down your thoughts

Favorite quotes

Favorite lists (songs, flowers, food, movies, etc.)

Bullet journal

Journaling prompts

Recipes

Goal Setting

Bucket List

Doodle or drawing book

Write stories (or blog posts)

Learn a new language

Track your finances

Prayers or reflections

Memories

I could go on and on.

What's holding me back from using my journals?  Oh, afraid that I use them for the wrong thing.  Messing up the book with my bad handwriting (you would agree if you saw the original writing of this post in my, believe it or not, blank notebook).  

Do you have a blank notebook obsession?

Do you use blank notebooks?  If yes, how do you use them?  Let me know in the comments below.

Belly Ache Day

 Another Halloween has come and gone.  How much candy did you eat?

My Dad always called the day after Halloween, "Belly Ache Day."  The belly ache came from eating too much candy the day before (Halloween).  I never suffered on Belly Ache Day.  I was allowed a few pieces of candy on Halloween, and then the rest of my candy was squirreled away by my mom, never to be seen again.  I think she probably threw it all in the garbage (Thanks, Mom).

If you have some energy and are looking for some ways to use up that Halloween candy (besides hiding it or throwing it away), check out my recipe for Halloween cupcakes.  You can make a few batches and give them out to the neighbors.   You can always donate some candy to a food pantry or bring candy to a nursing home (the seniors love getting the candy as a bingo prize!).  There are local dentists that collect candy, also.

Here's hoping that you aren't suffering too much on this Belly Ache Day!

Happy Halloween!

 Every day I go on a bike ride and take the same route just so I can ride by this one house.  They have two skeletons in their front yard that they move every day.  One day they are exercising, the next day they are playing baseball or football.  They have been known to camp, barbecue, do sit ups, cut the grass, do yard work, golf and rake leaves.  Today they were Trick or Treating. 

I'm a little sad the Halloween season is over because I will miss my skeleton friends.   Hopefully one of the neighbors has some creative outdoor holiday decorations planned.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Witnessed - by mail

 The other day I looked through the mail and saw we got a letter from Donna T.  I set the envelope aside and sorted the rest of the mail, all the while trying to figure out who is this Donna T. person?  

I have to admit, it was rather exciting receiving mail from a person instead of a bill.  I mean, who doesn't like getting a personal letter in the mail?  I don't get a lot of letters in the mail these days, just bills like the rest of the world, so you can imagine my excitement this letter is bringing me.  I was so excited to find out who this Donna person is, so I tore open the envelope.    I pull out the letter and find out that Donna T. is a Jehovah's Witness.  I have to admit that my excitement deflated rather quickly.  I was surprised that I was receiving a letter in the mail.  Don't they walk through neighborhoods and knock on doors anymore?  It seems rather impersonal to just send a letter.  I guess there are a lot of weirdos out there.  I wouldn't want to knock on random people's doors. 

Have you been witnessed by mail? 

If you need a little laugh about being witnessed, check out this post.

RT or Retweet

 I think we all know that I refer to my husband as RT.  In fact, I have him in my phone as RT.  When calling him while driving my last car, the voice would say, "Calling Artie."  By the way, that is how I had to say his name if I wanted to call him.

Recently I noticed that RT's name has changed.  When I call or receive a text from him, he is now referred to as, "Retweet."  I never know if I am calling my husband or retweeting something.

I guess I could just change his name in my phone but that would take away all of the fun.  

Stickers

 There are stickers on fruit that easily peal off.  There are those beastly stickers they put on items like glasses or dishes that are difficult to pull off.  And there are fun stickers of animals, sayings or pictures that you can decorate yourself, a water bottle, your locker or a notebook.  I'm going to talk about the fun stickers.

We have a small box of fun stickers at every register at work.  If the customer has a child(ren) you can offer them a sticker.  I have to say, sticker distribution is the highlight of my job.  If you see how happy these kids are to get a sticker you would understand.  I'm even excited about giving out the sticker!  I hand over a sticker and the child's life is immediately changed forever.  They are so happy and excited.  Makes you wonder how something so small and insignificant can bring so much joy.

What small item brings you joy?

The Proust Phenomenon

 The Proust Phenomenon is the idea that certain smells can trigger childhood memories.  Marcel Proust wrote about this in "Swann's Way" referencing how the taste of a cookie soaked in tea revived a long-buried childhood memory.  How does it work?  Our brain stores all sorts of details on odors that we come across.  Location, people, emotions, animals and the like are stored along with this memory.  Smelling this odor again brings up all of the memories (good and bad).  These memories can be from the ages of 1-10.

We visit a local halal market.  I love going up and down the aisles and seeing items that either my dad or grandparents would buy.  Brings up some happy memories for me.  My dad had a store, filled with cases of various fruits and vegetables.  To this day, the smell of golden delicious apples takes me back to being in his store as a little girl.  I have been known to sneak "smells" when I'm in the product department while grocery shopping.

Do you have any smells that bring you back to childhood?

Are they from good times or bad times?