house envy

The "Old Dover Road" house.

I've been spending far too much time on the site The Beach Studios and Locations, drooling over the gorgeous homes and clean, open rooms.

The "French House":

I'd love to move right in to one of them. Look! No cat hair! No dog hair! No accidental pee pee puddles (from the dogs . . . not me)! No dishes in the sink! No piles of mail and old magazines!

The "Lavender Grove":

White furniture!

The "Foster House":

"Thames Street" house:

I want this summerhouse in my yard.

Sigh. Off to unload the dishwasher.

And on a similar note: does anyone watch How Clean is Your House on BBC America? I am totally addicted and DVR every episode. After watching it, you'll feel much better about your own house. Trust me.

My favorite episode to date:

photo friday

Whew! After the heaviness of the last post, I decided to end the week with happier photos. Above is one of my favorites - from left to right: my great-great-grandpa, my great-great-grandma, my grandma (the toddler), my great-grandma, my great-grandpa. The rest of the people I don't know, but they are listed as Cordy, Harry, Ida, and Helen (the little girl).

In the left photo are my great-grandparents with my grandma. I never knew my great-grandpa (he died in 1965), but I was extremely close to my great-grandma (she died in 1985) as well as my grandma (who died in 2005). I love the photo of my grandma on the right, looking like a little lady with her legs crossed and hands folded. This one says "June 21, 1929, age 3 years, 4 months."



Here's my grandma on a pile of snow in 1940. On the right photo, it says "July 18, 1936. Ring, age 12 (the dog), Arlene age 10."


Going through the photos of my grandma in her late teens, I began to wonder if she always wore dainty frocks, had perfectly curled hair, and wore lipstick while she worked on the farm. Then I realized that she must have had her mom take these photos so she could send them to my grandpa, who was overseas in World War II - so of course she wanted to look her best! This was taken in June, 1943.

See? Here she is again in 1943 with a curly updo and dark lips, hanging out in the yard. I just love these "glamour" shots of her, all gussied up for her man!

yay! i have a cold!

That's Donna's head and arms on top, my arms in the middle, and Sarah's arms and legs on the bottom. We were trying to portray a Hindu goddess, but wound up looking more like a tick.

I wore myself down with all the traveling, frolicking, and general merriment that's been going on for the past two weeks. Last night I could barely move, I was so exhausted. Today I woke up with a cold, which is a huge relief - I was worried that I was going to herx in a big way. It's strange that I embrace a sore throat, achey muscles, and a headache, but I'm a wacky girl like that.

I'm taking it easy, and going to bed early. Photos, deep thoughts, and other useless information will come your way tomorrow.

"Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!"

Trying on my jeans, which now (tightly) fit, and my fun girlie shoes, which now (barely) fit my still-healing left foot.

When Gen and her husband get settled in their new house, I'm planning on sending them a care package. In it will be Cap'n Crunch cereal, graham crackers (which they don't have in Australia - the travesty!) to make s'mores, marshmallows (which are a different taste and consistency than here), and other fun food.

I e-mailed her asking if they had Rice Krispies there, and she replied that they have Rice Bubbles, which is Kellogg's Australian brand name for the cereal. RICE BUBBLES! Isn't that the best name EVER? For some reason, it makes me all giddy and tickly.

It's so strange to think of growing up eating Rice Bubble Treats. In fact, there's NO recipe for it on the Rice Bubble recipe page. Horrors! They do, however, have pre-made ones, called LCM's, with marshmallow flavor. I told Gen not to buy them, and to wait until I send her the ingredients to make homemade ones. I hope she likes them as much as I always have. I've been known to plow through a pan of them in record time.

Wikipedia has an interesting article about Rice Krispies, including how to say "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" in nine different languages.

I really need to get a hobby.

when dirt makes you happy

Working in the yard. Too filthy for a proper photo.

Today I burned two huge boxes of old bills and papers. I had such a hot fire that I had to back five feet away and poke at it with a long stick, and there were so many ashes that the pan overflowed in a powdery mess. It looks like the fire pit threw up.

I spent the rest of the day moving more perennials around, raking walnut shells, cleaning the garage, and hauling out the trash. And getting very, very skanky.

It was a great day.

mosaic

Mosaic idea from Boho Girl.

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name? (Lisa)
2. What is your favorite food? (Mexican)
3. What high school did you attend? (Western)
4. What is your favorite color? (Burgundy)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Colin Firth)
6. Favorite drink? (Beer)
7. Dream vacation? (Easter Island)
8. Favorite dessert? (Cheesecake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Photographer)
10.What do you love most in life? (Adventure)
11. One word to describe you. (Funny)
12. Your Flickr name. (Lymie)

Here are the links to the photos above:

1. the light, 2. mexican hot chocolate cookies, 3. Pinnacles desert, Western Australia, 4. burgundy rose, 5. Colin Firth having coffee dumped on him, 6. pentacon six tl wannabe edward hopper edward olive, 7. Chile - Easter Island, 8. cheesecake for Lianna!, 9. The Photographer, 10. 105/366: Adventures in Balloonland, 11. ...Ladybird Traffic Jam..., 12. Lymie backstreet

road trip

My niece, Katie, taken this past weekend.

I'm off to South Bend for a few days on business. It's about a four-hour trip, but since my boss does the driving, I can kick back with my arm out the window and enjoy the countryside (halfway there, we leave the expressway and take the back roads).

My foot surgery is one week from today. Eeek! and Yay! I've been feverishly cleaning and getting organized so I can lay around with my foot up during those first few swollen days.

Time for bed. I have to be up at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow to start the trip. And I am SO not a morning person!

sing me to sleep

On the ship, leaving Ft. Lauderdale.

I had planned on uploading another set of photos tonight, but somehow that didn't happen. I'm not really sure what I did instead. I watched So You Think You Can Dance, went through a pile of bills and cringed, and packed my lunch for work tomorrow. And suddenly it's 10:30.

So how about some Erasure? I never, ever get tired of this song - I'll be chair dancing to this when I'm 95 years old. Andy Bell, sing us out . . .

Crap, now I'm wide awake.

domo arigato

Some days you wake up tired, grumpy, and depressed. You feel your life has no meaning and that you are a failure. You want to curl up on your lawn and be rained on.

But then.

On your way to work you hear the song "Mr. Roboto". You sing along. You remember that in 1983 you owned the 45 and played it over and over in your room. You roller skated to it. And now you realize that it's one of the worst songs ever made. Ever. But it makes you happy, and soon you are smiling and bobbing your head to the beeps and blips and chimes.

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto, for helping me escape, just when I needed to. Thank you.

Who can finish the rest of the song? Who will admit that they can?!

more fun flu details with a surprise ending

A week ago tonight we still had two more shows to go. I miss these people!
And don't they look happy here? You'd never know that . . . well, murder was about to take place . . .

My flu marches on. Just when I think that, yes, this is it, there cannot possibly be anything more in my body - WHAM, nature proves me wrong. It's amazing. Today I've had one small container of chicken noodle soup from the cafeteria at work. I'm not a fan of soup, but it tasted heavenly. Then I just had oatmeal, the old-fashioned kind you make on the stove. Yum. Oh, and when I got home from work, I saw a can of peaches in my cupboard. Even though I've been avoiding fruit so as not to upset my stomach, I wanted those peaches like they were some kind of drug. I could barely open the can fast enough.

You may have noticed I've mentioned the word "work" twice. Yes, I was a moron and actually dragged myself into work for a half day. There was a Really Important Hot Project that some Really Important People had to have designed by noon. I didn't talk to anyone, didn't breathe on anyone, tried not to touch anything, and made my co-worker go get the soup for me. He opened my door a crack, handed me the container, and ran away in a blur. I think it's too late, anyway - more people were out with the flu today. It's sweeping through the company.

I must mention that I saw a GREAT movie on DVD today: Little Children. I've been thinking about it all afternoon. It was so well done in every area. Run out and rent it. Now. It was so good that it distracted me from my achey self and drowned out the random gurgling noises coming from my stomach. Yes. That good.

And now, the best for last. The custody hearing was today, the one that decided temporary custody of my nieces until the official hearing happens (after home inspections, research, etc). And . . . my brother was awarded temporary custody! I am so grateful and happy. They will be returned to him on Sunday evening, they will attend their own school and see all their friends again, and his ex-wife will get them every weekend. Basically, the judge ordered that everything be returned to the way it was. I can't give a lot of details, but his ex-wife was in contempt of court for yanking them out of school and taking them to live with her without arranging it with my brother through Friend of the Court. It's one step closer to a hopefully good outcome at the final hearing.

My parents are beside themselves with relief that we got them back. And yes, even though I was 120 miles away, laying on the couch and eating peaches during the hearing, and really had nothing to do with it, I say "we". When one thing happens in our family, it happens to all of us. We are a team. So WE. We got them back.

hope?

Entrance to Parkview Cemetery, Livonia.

After a particularly bad day today, I pulled over to have a good cry - it was no longer wise for me to be driving with makeup and tears mushing together in my eyeballs. I happened to be near one of my favorite photography sites in the area, which also happens to be a cemetery entrance. So this is where I ended up. What does it say about me that after I calmed down, I had to dig for my tiny Canon SD1000 Elph and take a photo out of the sunroof? By the way, the light is from a big spotlight and not the sunset - it was raining when I took this.

And now it is still raining, and I'm going to bed.

a bit of calm

A garden at Hampton Court Palace, southwest of London, England, May 2005.

Even though I have so many worries weighing me down, today I am grateful:

. . . that our show opened to a GREAT weekend! Thank you cast and crew!

. . . that my bathroom is finally clean and sparkling.

. . . that I am home tonight and not dashing all over the place or at the theater.

. . . that I have clean socks and t-shirts tumbling in the dryer.

. . . for the great new skin products I bought at Target (and what the heck is going on with my skin, anyway? Who has a surge of breakouts at age 38?!).

. . . that the unexplained measuring cup in the hallway I've been stepping over for a week is now in the dishwasher (yes, my house was that messy).

. . . that Sophie & Sadie love their new bones so much that they've been happily gnawing away for hours.

. . . that tomorrow evening I'll have a fabulous sushi dinner with Cliff & Claudia.

. . . that I get to go to bed early tonight on clean sheets!

lymie 'do

My new haircut (5" gone) and fun with Photoshop textures.

holing up, day two

Clean Lymie, looking sleepy after a long soak in the jacuzzi tub.

I love being stinky and dirty. Sweaty, grimy, covered in dust and grass clippings, hair sticking to my head, fingernails black, miscellaneous twigs, leaves, and mulch stuck to my clothes and shoes. It means that I have worked hard and accomplished something. I didn't exert myself for three years. Think about that. Three years of not being able to do much of anything. So I welcome the grime and overall disgusting aroma that comes from a day of getting things done. Especially when my reward is a jacuzzi bath with homemade grapefruit-scented soap.

Soaking the grime away.

Today I:

• slept in
• drank coffee
• turned on the "Dirty Jobs" marathon to admire my future husband, Mike Rowe
• colored my hair
• gave sophie a bath
• mowed the lawn
• weedwacked
• watered the garden
• ate coconut shrimp
• hauled the weekly trash and bags of yard waste to the curb
• swept the garage
• vacuumed my car
• did more laundry
• soaked in the jacuzzi tub
• packed for the upcoming wedding in NJ

Today I injured myself by:

• falling down the stairs. I had been tossing laundry and sheets from my upstairs bedroom down the stairs. With an armload of magazines, DVDs, and books, I headed downstairs, slipped on the laundry 2 stairs from the bottom, and came crashing down onto the hardwood floor. I re-bruised my knees from my fall in NJ, wrenched my back, and scraped my forearm.
• burning my fingers. I cleaned the ashes out my fire pit to dump on my garden. I began using my hands to scoop ashes when YOW! An ember from last night's fire was still hot, and burned and blistered two of my fingers on my right hand.
• slicing my left hand with a pair of scissors while opening the package of coconut shrimp. It took me awhile to figure out where all the blood was coming from.

I am a klutz!

holing up

Sophie, hanging out in the yard.

I am secluding myself in my house for some much-needed Lisa time. My head has been swimming with projects and information and some not-so-good issues in my family (which I may share at a later time). This weekend I am staying home alone and re-centering myself, regaining control and strength.

Today I:

• slept in
• drank coffee while reading blogs
• cleaned my living room, bathroom, and kitchen (I even moved furniture and cleaned cupboards)
• did laundry
• watched the Tiger game
• gave Sophie a haircut
• grilled a steak and ate it with a baked sweet potato
• took a shower
• read the play "Epic Proportions" on my back patio with Sophie snoozing beside me
• had a campfire after dark

I am feeling more like me.

visitor

On a break from cleaning my house, I found this little guy on my mailbox.

male magnet

The cucumber. I love how Marvin the Martian on my mug looks so startled.

Today at work, I went down to my old department to chat with some co-workers. One person had a bag of cucumbers on her desk from her garden and asked if I'd like one. I said "yes", picked one out of the bag, and stood there clutching it. She said "hmmm. Do you want to put it in a bag for the walk back to your desk?" Because it looked a little phallic. I said, "Nah, I think it's funny. And it's a short walk and I never run into anyone."

I walk back through the shop and the testing area, through the door into our office, round the corner to my desk. And there are 4 male managers standing there waiting for me, plus my boss. What's a girl to do? I waved my cucumber in the air and said "how I can I help you?" Now, I knew these people, so it's not like I was too inappropriate. They all laughed and my boss said "don't even go there!" After they left, I said, "no one ever comes in here. And the day I'm clutching a cucumber, all these men show up!"

Then I'm doing another project with the cucumber sitting in the middle of my desk. I hear feet behind me, and here comes a TOUR of men, six of them, four of which were young hotties - visitors to our company who are working with us on some engine project and being shown around the building. I am polite and smiley, but I see them eyeing my cucumber.

So my new plan to attract men is to always, always have a cucumber with me.

zen moments

A campfire in the backyard.

Deep Lymie thoughts by firelight.

Morning in the Lymie Garden.

Birdhouses and coleus under the black walnut tree.

my celebrity boyfriend

Please meet my new boyfriend, Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. I love him. I'm pretty sure he loves me, too. He just hasn't met me yet. Once we overcome that obstacle, our love will grow and grow and grow. Mike . . . call me . . .

fireflies

My cool new firefly lights, strung across the top of my bookshelf.