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Found the Cutest Bird Feeder!

I was looking for a hummingbird feeder, but came across a different, adorable bird feeder and I really want to buy this one! What do you think? Hummingbirds or regular songbirds?

I just liked the idea of a tree having a window with an angel or fairy looking out the window at the birds. I think I would have a fairy in the window instead of an angel, but I can switch that out myself if I buy it.

I already have two beautiful, glass hummingbird feeders, but I was thinking that if I bought one or two more that I might attract more hummingbirds to my yard. I have two in the Dogwood tree, where I can see it from my living room window.

I was thinking about putting a new one in the oak tree by my kitchen window. But maybe I’ll do one for the songbirds, instead. My only concern about feeding songbirds is that it attracts squirrels. I don’t like to encourage squirrels in my yard, because they are so destructive. I had a lot of trouble with them getting into my attic and chewing through some electrical wires. That cost me several hundred dollars to pay an electrician to come fix that, plus they could have started a fire!

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Transform Tube Socks into Snowmen

photo of DIY sock craft

Found this cute crafting project to transform tube socks into snowmen. I got some old socks from my dad and have a jar of odd buttons – I always cut off the buttons before throwing out a shirt or jacket.

It looks pretty easy – I think I have enough things on hand to make a couple of these sock snowmen this weekend – while we are snowed in!

Yes, the weather forecast is for snow, starting this afternoon and going through the rest of the week, including Thanksgiving. I guess last year’s mild winter has put us on the hook for a colder and wetter winter this year.

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Not Particularly Wishing the Ex a Happy Birthday

I wonder how many years have to go by before I stop thinking about my first love – now my ex – and special days like his birthday and senior prom and those special dates that are a big part of my history and life? I don’t really want to think of him on his birthday anymore. We broke up 3 years ago. But here it is November 20 and I know that it is his birthday. I wonder who is he celebrated his birthday with? What are they doing tonight? What gift did she buy for him? And I know I shouldn’t care and it sounds like I am jealous – but I’m not jealous. Just curious.

Not particularly wanting to be wishing the ex a Happy Birthday. I am certainly not going to call him and say that. But I am curious and don’t really like it that I am curious. I should not care enough to even think of him at all. But I can’t help it. I guess it is hard to give up all those dreams and plans and that we made and realize that they won’t be happening with him. And probably not even with someone else. I’ve moved on to a different path and my dreams have changed, too. I just wish I didn’t think about him on the days that were special to us. Does that make any sense?

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Pumpkin Decorated like Cinderella’s Coach

I found a photo of a pumpkin decorated like Cinderella’s coach and it gave me the idea to do this at home. I bought 3 pumpkins at Fred’s Discount store for only $2 each. I also found this little plastic Cinderella doll and the rhinestone crown in the toy section of K-Mart for only $3 for the doll and $6 for the crown. I can’t find the Prince Charming doll anywhere locally and I shopped all the different store toy sections looking for him. Maybe I will check Amazon and see if the Prince Charming is available there. I would not mind paying another $3 to have Prince Charming greeting Cinderella.

 

I’m going to embellish my pumpkin with bling and put it on my porch so the kids who come trick or treating can see the vignette and I won’t be too worried about teenagers vandalizing or smashing my pumpkin like they did last year when I had it closer to the road. I dare them to come up on my porch and try that shit!

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Getting Ready for a Yard Sale

This time of year my neighborhood has “Yard Sale” signs popping up on every street corner every weekend. It’s the perfect time to get serious about clearing out your clutter and getting ready to sell it off to strangers who happen to drive by and see all your stuff in the yard – or garage. Most of the houses on my street have a garage that faces the street, so if it happens to rain during the yard sale, we just move it all into the garage and people will come.

I’m the first one to admit that I have hoarder tendencies, but I try to  keep everything organized and clean. About twice a year I will do Spring Cleaning and toss a bunch of things that I don’t want into some big plastic tubs that I keep in the garage in anticipation of having a yard sale. There are some things that were easy to discard, such as all the old VHS tapes that I’ve had since the 1990’s, a bunch of old CD’s that I have to admit that I don’t listen to, and this weekend I will be purging my closet of clothes that don’t fit.

Today I realized that I have 4 media shelving units full of DVDs and they are covered with dust. I seriously cannot remember the last time I walked over to the shelves and looked for a movie to watch. Everything is pretty much on demand digitally, so why are all these old movies taking up space and collecting dust? I’d be better off selling the old DVDs for a little cash and put that money toward my vacation this summer.

My last boyfriend was a big movie fan and loved to collect DVDs. It seemed like every time we went to WalMart, he would pick up one or two movies to add to our collection. The only problems is that they are all guy movies. You know, the action movies with Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson. A few comedies with Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller. And those crime dramas with Robert De Nero or Al Pacino. As far as I’m concerned, once I’ve watched those kinds of movies, I’m not really interested in watching them a second or third time. So, what’s the point of having them on the media shelves?

There are probably only 4 or 5 movies in each different genre that I can watch over and over again. Maybe I should grab 10 desert island picks from each genre to keep and then just sell off all the rest. My boyfriend left them all behind when I had to kick him to the curb, since I’m the one who actually paid for most of him while he was “looking for a job” for so long. It will be nice to having a little extra money when I head to the beach in August, and selling the DVDs – that I don’t even watch – in a yard sale is a pretty painless way to raise that extra cash.

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Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas

There are a lot of posts on Facebook this week from angry people who say that its wrong to tell people “Happy Holidays” or to have a “Holiday Tree.” They insist that we should say “Merry Christmas” and that we all have a “Christmas Tree.”

I have mixed feeling about that. I think it is OK to say either one and that people should be happy or glad that I took the time and made the effort to wish something good for them. The intent of the wish is the same. It is about spending the last week or so of the year visiting family and friends, exchanging gifts and celebrating whatever traditions are important to you and the ones you love. It is not about identifying your religion or forcing your religious beliefs on other people.

So, that’s my thoughts on the holiday and/or Christmas greetings. I will probably say Merry Christmas to your face and post that on Facebook, too. And this year I think I will just skip sending cards. I don’t really have the time or energy to put into them.

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Going Shopping for my Pumpkins Tomorrow

September is almost over and the grocery stores have got their first deliveries of pumpkins for Halloween. The ones at Kroger are $10 for medium sized pumkins. That is not a bad price, but I am going to check WalMart’s prices before I buy anything. Most of the time I don’t shop at WalMart, but I want to buy three pumpkins this year. If the pumpkins at Kroger are $10 each, that’s $30. But if they are only $5 at WalMart, then I will be saving $15 so that might be worth it.

I’m going shopping for my Halloween pumpkins tomorrow. I’ll check the WalMart price, then I’ll drive by the church pumpkin patch and see how much money they are are charging. The last time I went to the church lot, the pumpkins were huge but very expensive. The cheapest one they had was $20, and I did buy one from them last year because I was trying to support the church youth group. But this year my budget is tighter and I want to buy as many pumpkins as I can get for $20 – not just one big one.

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Dexter is a Stranger Show this Season

I love the premise of the show, Dexter, which is on the showtime cable channel. He is a serial killer who hunts other serial killers.

This season he has a sister who is causing him a lot of concerns. And his friend used to date her. And his “mother” shows up asking him for help. It has a lot of twists.

One of the cool things is that this show makes a lot of commentary on politics and our society. And it seems very realistic – real settings and scenes.

Tonight I watched episode 2 of the season 8 – last season for the show. One of these days I will watch the whole show, from beginning to end. I don’t want to buy all the DVDs, but I would not mind renting them all or ordering them from Netflix.

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Another Coffee Joke

Everyone knows how much I LOVE my coffee. And I love to see or hear coffee jokes.

I must have my coffee as soon as I wake up every morning. Most mornings I have my coffee maker set up and automatically turn on at 6:00 am. Unless it is the weekend or I’m on vacation. Then I usually don’t set it to start automatically – I press the start button as I stumbled past it on the kitchen counter.

On a regular work day, I head straight to the break room and get a cup of coffee to take to my desk. If I have been up late the night before, I might need a second cup of coffee before lunch. So that’s three cups before noon!

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Scored Big on my Yard Sale!

Tonight I am exhausted but over $600 richer than I was this morning before my yard sale. I really scored big on getting rid of so much stuff today. I even sold my futon for a good price and now I have a ton of room in the spare bedroom to organize all my crafting and sewing supplies.

I had set the alarm clock for 5:30 am – which is almost a crime for a Saturday morning! But I knew I needed to get an early start on setting up the tables and hauling all the stuff out to the front yard. At first I was going to just use the driveway, but realized that there was no shade over the driveway, so I used the front yard where I could be a little cooler in the hot sun. Good thing – the temperatures almost hit 90 degrees today. But there was a little breeze and the shade made it much cooler.

I was able to unload two old TV sets, a small bar with 2 leather seated bar stools, lots of kitchen gear that I never use (who needs three crockpots, anyway?) the futon, and some old jewelry that I never wear anymore. I sold about 40 CDs for $5 each. I didn’t think anyone would pay $5 for a music CD, but this younger guy stopped by and said he was starting a mobile disc jockey business and needed to get a lot of music together that people like me would dance to at weddings.

All together, it went really well and I had almost nothing left over – just a few clothes and old pocketbooks. So I tossed them into a big box and dropped them off at Good Will. That $600 is going to my vacation fund – that will come in really handy this summer!