What did Baby Corn say to Mama Corn?

"Where's PopCorn?"

Well, I don't know, but not on my ceiling anymore!

Handsome Handyman and I spent Friday afternoon & most of Saturday scraping the popcorn texture from our living room, dining room, and hallway ceiling. It was a daunting job, but except for a small square above the stairwell, the upstairs is now completely scraped! (Don't worry, we tested for asbestos first, and Prego here did take breaks to make sure the babe was still kicking).

Before...

During (beauty & femininity incarnate)...

During (Handsome Handyman doing the detail work)...
After!

While we were hard at work & making things messy, messy, messy, Little Chick was at her first sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa N. It went great, and we couldn't have done anything with her at home. Thanks G&G!

It will still be a long haul to get it all sanded, retextured, and painted (not to mention replacing lighting fixtures, etc), but having the mess and work of scraping done is a great relief for me.

"Why is your bumper in my tire?"

So just a quick note about our exciting adventure last night. We were a couple of blocks from home when a police car started following us. They didn't turn on their lights until we were on our street, and Handsome Handyman drove 1/2 a block before he was able to swing around to a free stopping spot. They must have viewed his turn around as hostile (Handsome Handyman was just thinking that they'd like it better than driving the rest of the way to our driveway)...and Handsome Handyman is always "cautious" (read: SLOW) in answering when he's been pulled over anyhow. I don't think it helps that they asked such a weird question, not "Do you know why I pulled you over?" but "Why is your bumper in my tire?" If I were driving, I would have to take a minute to figure that one out too...

Anyhow, they right away had him get out of the car, pulled a gun, and HANDCUFFED HIM! I didn't see the gun, thank goodness, because I started freaking out just from the handcuffs and their attitudes! "OFFICER, WHY ARE YOU HANDCUFFING MY HUSBAND?!" They took Handsome Handyman over to their car, ran the usual background checks, and talked to me (since I was clearly distraught)... "Is your husband on any medication? He's acting weird."

When the background checks were done they let him go-- no warning, no ticket (they pulled us over because we had a headlight out, of all things). We went home and had a few good laughs to relieve the stress of it. Handsome Handyman asked if I was going to write about it on my blog, and said that I should have run home to get the camera. I didn't, of course, but if you need a visual try watching COPS... but instead of having them pull over the drug dealer or guy packing a gun, picture our little family (chick asleep in the back seat) with a headlight out.

A little bit high

Let me start with some background history from last week. Albertsons was having a great sale on several things - Campbells soups, canned stocks, frozen veggies, and fish crackers. All things that I would like to have a good supply of, but since they aren't necessities my buy price is pretty low by today's standards. Well, last week they were all on sale at Albertsons for the right price PLUS if you spent a certain amount you'd get hundreds of bonus Education Label points AND free oreo cookies AND free apple juice. I spent $50, and saved $90-something. I came home on a total shopping high.

So this week Albertsons had another great sale! 70 cents for Hershey's chocolate chips, and $1.75 for several different kinds of juice PLUS free eggs if you spent a certain amount. I spent around $25, and saved $60-something. I came home on a high again.

Last week the high didn't last for very long, though--by morning I was back to my normal self (but with a lot of food storage!). This week my high lasted much longer...all thanks to my handsome handyman. While I was shopping he finished putting the carpet in our master bedroom AND he set up the bed. That might not sound so exciting, but we have been camping out since we moved to this house in January. First it was on a hide-a-bed in the living room, then a mattress on the floor in the guest room, then a mattress on the floor in the master bedroom, then the guest room bed. It has been a long process, but finally we got to sleep on a new bed (well, bought for pennies from my Aunt, who didn't use it all that long), a new mattress set (also from my Aunt & included in the pennies paid for the frame), brand new mattress pad & sheet set...and in our newly carpetted master bedroom! Talk about waking up with a high!

Everything takes so long to finish...I tend to forget how much work we've done and get frustrated that it's going so slowly. It's great when we have payoffs like last night. Plus we have enough chocolate chips to last for a couple of years!

(Here is a detail picture of the curtains that I made last week for the master bedroom)

Ok, ok...I give in

It is quite common, when I am avoiding actually accomplishing something, for me to surf my friends' blogs. I love being able to "check in" (without the committment of an actual phone call or email) and see the latest pictures of their kids or cats or flowers or whathaveyou.

Today I got some sad sad news about some friends. While I was reading about it on their blog, I noticed that they had links to other folks who I hadn't kept in touch with, so I looked at their blogs, which led to more blogs. It was quite the paperless chase, and led me to think that maybe I should start a blog. Maybe I should stop kicking against the pricks, and let other people peer into my life (without the commitment of an actual phone call or email, of course).

So here you have it...my blog. Enjoy, fellow voyeurs.