Heh.

Aye lay on dis an u shop no more.

And all things come to an end

You know, like the year. The Year comes to an end.

Don’t think I’m stepping down or closing up any time soon! I’m on a mission to bore the shit out of all of you!

For those who don’t want to read my wanderings and go straight to the meat – my top 10 posts – scroll scroll scroll and click on read more.

The day before yesterday, the alphabet ended at ‘Y’. I read the first 6 books of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Malone series and I have up to W. As per my usual, I wandered off between books and stacked them up to read at a later date – just like Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael, and Elizabeth George’s series.  I think I have up to W.  I KNOW I have up to W. Need to find them – and X and Y.

I had hoped to watch Berlin Station Season 2 this holiday, but that hasn’t happened yet.  I still have to Monday. (Along with laundry, going out to see Star Wars, grocery shopping…) I return to work on Tuesday, finish setting up my room. I went in for 3 hours Thursday and got down to 6 boxes. All 6 are the crip-crap boxes and anyone who has moved knows what crip-crap boxes are. I have to prepare sub plans for 2 days.

Also, my school year is half completed. I had decided back before Labor Day to transfer to a new school next year, but things… are now on a holding pattern.

I finally got my Christmas Tree up and finished – on December 27th. I won’t apologize.

 

It includes: 3 boats, 4 lighthouses, 1 Bert, 2 Ernies, 2 Mickey Mouses, 3 pianos, 14 OTHER instruments and musical notations, 6 handmade Cross Stitch Ornaments (that I made) 4 handmade ornaments that Spawn made, and 38 Angels.

Also, a bunch of little blue ornaments, a few snowmen and a hand carved nativity.

There is also a large, lace, hand crocheted snowflake. The snowflake was gifted to me by a professor – a choral director who set up a tree the last week of college decorated with these snowflakes. They were a labor of love, and it irritated me when she told us to pick one for our trees, I overheard several bitchy senior sopranos, mumbling to themselves saying they weren’t as big as last years. I recall mumbling back – go make your fucking own, then and after that, I was the nasty little freshman. Don’t care.

The choral director was past the first stage of those lovely forgetful golden years and I understand she retired, way past retirement the following year. I didn’t go back.

Because of the late finish, the tree will stay up until we return (again) from the Interior NEXT weekend. Spawn is having an MRI Thursday morning in Atlanta at Emory. They want a REALLY good look at the slowing pulmonary valve and see if he’s a candidate for a heart cath.

So back to End of the Year stuff. There used to be a cool little app that did all this for you and made it easier. I have since learned that WordPress isn’t about making things easier – they love making things difficult. But I’m finding this about most social platforms. Facebook is a joke. If it weren’t for my anti-adware, my reading space on Facebook woud be about 3 inches wide. I don’t know for how many months, I was spammed to Follow Mark zuckerburg or Zuckerman or what ever that hypocrite goes by. I x’d him out, deleted the spam, I think I even once asked him on the follow page – do you not have ANY friends? I finally blocked him. That did the trick.

Either way, I managed to find the Stats page HERE and was able to cobble together some semblance of a wrap up. I learned a lot from it.

I learned that I was REALLY popular in 2015. REALLY popular. Especially during POP!Thorin’s travels and job hunting and moving. I wasn’t alone on that odyssey, and I’m grateful for it.

I learned I was NOT popular in 2017. I was pretty boring, to be honest. I AM pretty boring. Clothes and reading and not very much Richard or Beefcake. My readership dropped 60%. I can hear it now – if you weren’t so bitchy, if you weren’t so hard-nosed, if you weren’t so Conservative, my God your politics, if you didn’t hate…. and if you weren’t so shallow!

I tell people, I don’t debate well, that’s why I don’t discuss politics. That’s part of the reason. The other part is the friendship is more important to me than the arguing over elections and candidates. I respect people have differing opinions than I do. I hope that’s mutual.

Clothes is an easy one to explain. Before Spawn, I was a clothes-horse. I had a killer wardrobe before Spawn. My first apartment had a 12 foot long closet, that was 4 feet wide and my clothes were JAMMED down the 12 foot side and across the 4 foot side and I STILL had flat out-of-season-wardrobe boxes on top of the racks. I had (and still have) an old-fashioned wardrobe JUST for girlie underthings and sexy stuff and it was full. I worked for sometime at a furniture store and I recall one of my co-workers- who worked the same shift as I did tell me – I don’t GET it! I’ve worked here over a year and I’ve NEVER seen you wear the same exact outfit TWICE!

Because I’m a clothes-whore. When Spawn arrived and I never GOT back down into those pre-pregnancy clothes, someone at the Salvation Army had a good day. And Spawn was expensive to upkeep, so my closet shrunk considerably. I added a bit to the wardrobe when I started teaching, but eventually, I outgrew them or wore them out and they too, found new homes from the Salvation Army.

When I moved here in July of 2015, I had 2 pairs of work pants to my name and 4 or 5 tops that could be worn at work and 2 pairs of shoes – one of them fairly well worn out. My first paycheck purchased a pair of leggings and 2 tunics. For 6 months, once a month, I added another tunic. I wore those leggings out.

And then Former-Future-Former Suitor (aka Bill) showed up on the scene and I discovered Zulily and WomanWithin and FullBeauty and JessicaLondon and Ellos and Roamans and ThePyramidCollection and also discovered there was a CatoPlus across the street. And Roaman’s gave me a credit card. WHICH I keep up with and pay more than the minimum on. And right this very minute, I do not need ANYTHING because I’ve bought myself silly.

Although there is a lovely black and white poncho top….

coughs.

I love books and music but clothes are my obsession. I like shoes, but not like my sister likes shoes. My sister – and her daughter LOVE shoes!

So I resolve not to post so many clothes pictures anymore. And more Richard and more beefcake.

I did discover that those long tunics I adore with the crazy, long hemlines and lengths are hard as hell to get OUT OF THE WAY, when one is trying to drop pants and sit before wha needs to occur, occurs.

For those who asked privately – this is the lovely stone around my neck on my last picture.

I have a good friend who knows I love all that is purple. (And red, I love red, but I REALLY love purple) and this is what he got me for birthday/Christmas.

And as it’s been cold here and I’ve been sick and stuck in the house, I decided to pamper myself a bit last night.

I discovered I lost a few followers sometime over the last 24 months. One I knew about, several I expected. (RichLee shippers. Has that ship sunk yet? I think it’s sunk.) One was a surprise. Really. Either they blocked me or deleted their blog. Oh well.

This year, I didn’t read so much, I didn’t write so much, I didn’t do a lot of things. I did lose weight, or it rearranged. People seem to think I’m thinner than I think I am.

This year, my top 10 is really my top 13.

Just me prissin’

So like I said, the outfit isn’t exactly how I envisioned, but then I envision myself thinner. But it still doesn’t look bad. I don’t think…

Confession

Because I NEED to cleanse my conscience.

1) I HATED the hair for RA Berlin Station S2. HATED IT! I wish he’d let it GROW dah Eff out!

2) I’m so over the bearditage. Please. Clean Shaven or scruff.

3) Dude! You’re too thin! You NEED a cheeseburger! A few! And some fries and onion rings!

I am relieved.

 

Merry Christmas

I have entered Stage 4 of the Holiday Hack – being where Stage 1 I’m starting, Stage 2 it’s so bad I go to the doctor, Stage 3, I kind of get better and Stage 4, I reoccur. Between the students hacking in my face, the dust from packing, the dust from unpacking, the dust of new construction, I have come home, hacking.

And if I were a lesser person or a coward, I would blame my current pissiness on said Hack, but it’s not and I won’t, so I’ll stay here and bite my tongue.

We have come home for the holidays. After fussing at my son for 2 hours Thursday morning for NOT being packed and ready to go (we were supposed to leave on Wednesday) I realize an hour from the my parents abode that I forgot to pack pajamas, so we hit the last Walmart. Folks the place was jam packed and EVERY register was open! I should have taken pictures.

I DID take pictures of this. This is what happens when my mother has decided she is DONE with decorating!

Strange woman.

Typically, this house is decorated from one end to the other, and this year it still is, however, it’s not so…decorated. Dad has had pneumonia and Mom has been busy keeping the house clean from all the visitors. The next 2 weeks the place will be Grand Station Central with all the comings and goings.

As a result, the main tree isn’t the normal ‘big’ tree and Mom didn’t realize it until the thing was full and she still had a bathtub full of ornaments to go.

I found my SECOND crochet heart teddy bear on this one and was told to remember to take it home as well.

The tree is full of personal ornaments, old (although not as old as Guylty’s) gifts, crafty… the birds hung from the ceiling at our home 35 years ago are nesting in the branches and the Angel Tree topper has special significance. (She is made from the lace of the bridal bouquet of a former daughter in law.)

My cough meds have taken affect so I will wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

 

Dear WordPress

Thank you SO much for marking a post I was responding to as ‘spam’ and then even tho I said undo it, you did it ANYWAY and now I can’t find it to put it BACK where it belongs.

Why you make things so frickin’ difficult???

Opinions ladies!

And if you have a guy friend around, ask him…

I’m having a discussion with a guy friend, over this outfit (which yes, I now own!)

These jeans (yes, they have them now in my size and with coupons and deals, I got them 30.00 off)

And a similar and daintier shoe (slenderer heel, not as high, with a thinner toe strap)

This chemise in this color (bought on sale 10.00 cheaper

With this jacket that I already own.

So the ensemble looks kinda like this….

I think this is a nice, classy and sexy outfit. My friend says it makes him think – here, slide your hand in my pocket and pull out my library card.

Folks, I have NO where to go this holiday and even if I did, I think this is about the extent of going out sexy dressed I’m going to get.  Maybe the symphony or art gallery…

what do you think???

 

 

 

Favorite Christmas decorations

A week or two back, Guylty posted a few pictures of her favorite Christmas decorations. I took pictures of a few of my things and then realized, I did this last year.

https://zeesmuse.wordpress.com/2016/12/22/i-have-3/#more-10392

I received good news today – the county is going to pay us up to 3 days for coming in during the holidays to set up our rooms. I’m going to need them. A LOT of my stuff will go on the shelving I’ve been promised. I’m trying to get it all separated.

So it was moving day”!

Systems all normal!

They were still down there when I left. I guess no one told them the playground was built on a lake of sorts…

I came to work to this –

I discovered that my record albums – which were in 2 milk crates – had boxes stacked ON them in the truck. I had a total melt down and these young guys didn’t get it. And then an older gentleman comes down the hall, takes a look at what I’m hyperventilating over and says “Those are vinyl! I done tole you those waz sacred!”

I believe they were put in the cab of the truck!

I have been to the new school – my room is SO big and it’s beautiful and I video’d it and now I can’t find the adapter so I can upload the video!! Dammit!

It’s~!!~!!!

MOVING DAY~!!!!

I got to school to find my entire room unloaded and in the hall. They are making a 2nd trip for my television, a few odds and ends and my chair.

Pictures forthcoming.

Sooooooooo excited!