Fifty-One Blue Schoolbus Photos & Peppermint Patty

Hang on folks,
it is about to be one of THOSE posts.
But before that, 
I did finish this little penny rug above
and
some painting for orders,
but,
I can't get to them right now.
as you will see later in this post.
(Well, truthfully you won't SEE,
because while I am all about truth, reality and telling it like it is...
sometimes SHOWING it is a little beyond even my
sense of
full disclosure)
So,
I am going to try to recreate the events of yesterday as accurately as my brain
and time
will allow.

So here is how yesterday was supposed to go.
Starting at 4:30 when the alarm woke me up.
Coffee
Walk
Get ready
Few things at work
Dialysis Driver
A few thrifts shops looking for a dresser
Run a few errands
Deliver some shirts to a customer
See a woman about doing some custom painting in her home
Stop to visit the three of the cutest little grandchildren in the world
Pick up the Dialysis patient.
Deliver her home.
A little work at the shop..
Fairgrounds to work for the evening.
Home to finish painting a coffee pot.
Bed
Neat and tidy,
right?

Well neat and tidy for my world anyway.

And then somewhere about
Few things at work,
the plan started to unravel.
Just a little unravel.

Stopping at the shop, with the dialysis patient in tow,
I hear,
"So you have a little time to kill while your MIL is in dialysis, right?"
(Did anyone see "time to kill" on that list above?)
Perhaps you could stop at that JoAnn Fabrics in Kittanning and get material for these.
He holds up a flag for the fair.
Now, thank goodness this was not JWS that said this.
It was his Best Fair Buddy,
who has not had the privilege to see my dark side YET.
Close...but not yet.
I look at the flag closer.
It is handmade.
I narrow my eyes.
"And just who do you think is going to make these before Saturday IF I manage to find the fabric
and
by the way, there has not been a JoAnn's in Kittanning for over 15 years?"
His answer of
"I have an Amish lady that will make them"
saved him from the dark side
for another day.
OK, little detour
little kink in the day.
I head to Kittanning,
drop the
Dialysis Patient.
Head to Pittsburgh to what I think is the closest Joann's.
40 miles or so.
Halfway, I think I know where another one is.
Punch it into my trusty smart phone GPS,
it takes me right to the door.
Fabric...bounced my debit card,
who knew it would cost that much?
Anyway...there is so much more to tell,
we won't go into that fiasco of the day.
I did manage to find the yarn pictured below for .50 a skein.
What a deal!
Mission accomplished,
and by the way,
the initial Joann's that I was heading to?
Closed!
Five years ago!
it is time to sniff out some second hand and thrift shops in this area.
A junk one,
then the Habitat Store in New Kensington,
(that was a pretty cool place, I would go back there)
then this little gem.
Oh my gosh!
It is just the greatest little shop.
So clean,
So organized,
and
Great Prices.
It is in Tarentum, Pa and if you ever get a chance, go there!
Click on the pic or the name to link to the website.

This is an inside pic. 
Everything was color coordinated and the lady running it was so nice. 
I'll be back.

A few more shops,
no dresser and now it is time to pick up my MIL
The Dialysis Patient.
Load her up and we head to fast food.
Not the healthiest,
but you can sit in the car and eat and
she has to eat pretty quick when she gets out of there.
We eat, we talk.
She asks if I found a dresser.
NO.
Did I check that shop in Kittanning?
NO,
fabric,
other shops,
etc.
She suggests we go through town and she will sit outside and I can run in and look.
Great.
We pull out, start down over the hill and she begins to slur her words.
AND
then proceeds to turn gray and pass out.
ONLY
I did not think she just passed out.
Get the picture? 
I am yelling and pushing on her while I am trying to turn the car around and head back to the hospital.
and she comes around
a little.
Scared
does not begin to describe where I was.
She is still slurring her words and now she is sick.
I am heading as quick as possible,
not knowing where to take her.
Our local ER can have a bit of a wait time.
And that dark side?
Well they, at the ER, managed to see that over a year ago.
And I am sure that they remember me.
Oh well,
can't hurt the reputation any more.
I go straight in and tell them (in as nice a way as possible)
what has happened and that if they can't see her immediately
I am heading to another hospital.
They come with a wheelchair and take her right away.
I am sure that someone there is looking for my mug shot to put back up on the wall.
There has to be a big red slash through my face with the
B word written underneath it.
I see that the waiting room is packed,
There would have been a big wait time.
Tests,
calls,
more tests,
IV,
JWS on the phone telling me that this is normal.
I go to the hall and hiss into the phone..
YOU WERE NOT THERE AND THIS WAS NOT NORMAL!!!
Dark side again.

He brings clean clothes,
They release her.
Dialysis must have taken too much fluid from her.
JWS finally "gets" what happened.
He takes his mother home.
I have the truck.
Was it wrong to go to one more shop to look for a dresser? 
So, here's the deal.
When JWS and I got married, we built on to his house.
A separate wing,
We had our own area and my living room set went into our bedroom.
No bedroom furniture.
We had this old hand me down living room set in the family room.
I didn't like it.
Not the color,
Not the style,
Nothing
But
Whatever.
It worked.
Well eight years later,
it does not work.
It is worn,
It is broke
It is embarrassing.
I thought if I could find a dresser,
take the living room furniture from my bedroom to the family room
The family room stuff to some camp
or wherever.
Life will be fine.

So I make one more stop.
On Market
in
Kittanning.
A shop I love to frequent.
And there it is,
Triple dresser,
Large mirror
Three Drawer nightstand.
The drawers all slide nice.
Good Price.
Pay,
Load it in the truck.
Three women over 50.
Empowering.
The mirror won't fit.
Drive to Shawnee's to pin up a pair of pants for her that have to be hemmed for tomorrow.
Take Brian's truck back to town to get the mirror,
this time with Gracelyn in tow.
Brian's truck spins a little getting out of the driveway.
Gracelyn says,
"That's OK Mama, I have a helmet on!"
Ha
Ha
Ha
How does this happen at three years old?
Her mother did not become a
sarcastic
back seat
driver
until she was at least nine years old.
Load the mirror,
Back to Shawnee's,
Pin the pants,
Have some Pizza,
Brian agrees to follow me home with the mirror so that it is at our house.
I am not worried because I don't think all the furniture is getting moved for a few days anyway.
8:30 PM

OK, I have missed helping with the fair,
that is OK.
I come in
check my emails.
Jenn wanders over,
Her sister in law just had twins today.
We have that story,
I tell her the story of her Gram.
and John comes in.
He has seen the furniture.
He knows what the next two weeks holds around here.
He wants to move it NOW.
So in a flurry of activity,
we move all that furniture,
vacuuming.
I am going to be totally honest here.
When we moved the love seat that was in my paint room,
there was a newspaper under it.
The date?
2004.
That's it folks.
Not the cleanest person in the world.
So before any of that two hours of activity,
I was going to blog my day.
I got out my phone and went to download the pics that I took
and
this is what I found.




Fifty one pictures
in negative
that Tyler apparently took with my phone
while looking at my computer.
Kind of makes you wonder how much unsupervised time he actually has?
Fifty one!
How long is it going to take me to delete
fifty one pictures?
Maybe I could teach him to clean under furniture.
I think he has way more spare time than I do.

Anyway, this is my family room with the "new" furniture from the bedroom.
I'll get a pic of the dresser another time.
When the room is cleaned up...
some
time.


And one more pic,
the 52nd of
Peppermint Patty.

So, that was my day,
4:30 AM
until
Midnight when I reset the alarm for
5:00 am this morning.
Today's plan?
Well
I have my four miles in.
Clothes in the washer.
We are taking the boys to the
Clearfield County Fair today
and they are staying overnight tonight.
Tomorrow night
Gracelyn and Garren are sleeping over.
John just told me that he is going to
the fair to do some chores.
so I have to be to work by
9:00.
Not in my plans this morning.

Sunday?
I think I'll sleep!

Comments

Catherine said…
Oh my goodness! I'm exhausted just from reading about all of your happenings! I'm still chuckling about the 51 blue bus pics and Peppermint Patty!
Teresa said…
It's 7 am here and I am already exhausted. Can't wait to hear about fair and sleep overs.
Well at least you found the dresser.
Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches
(PS-don't feel bad about the newspaper, we moved my oven and I won't even go into what we found)
Good Morning, Cathy,
I'm sure by now you have put in a full 8 hours of work! Wow, I don't know how you do it!!

And the incident with your mother in law, that had to be scary...

Yes, Sunday should be a napping day for you. Have a fabulous Friday! ~Natalie
I think I need a nap after reading all that! Thanks for sharing.

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen
Barb said…
Holy cow!! I will be having a nap for you to day!
Have an enjoyable day today!
Barb
I commend the hubby for moving--even volunteering to move--that furniture after a full day. Most men would do their best to avoid that task. And it does look lovely. Aren't you glad you saved it all these years? It's like an all new, free room! Maybe now you can fit in a bed?!
★Linda★
Sheila said…
Glad your MIL is ok after that scarey incident! As for the rest of the day, I'm tired just reading and laughing in between.
You really should put up a sign that advises against drinking while reading this post!
Wasn't expecting my boys till next week but then came last night and taking them back tomorrow. I'll get your lightbox finished on Sunday while you are resting! :-)
~Sheila
LibbiesHome said…
I need a nap after just reading about that. I can so empathize about the we might as well move it now or it's just going to get uglier routine. I want you to know that I really appreciate that you share real life stories. Heck you don't even chance the names to protect the innocent! I hope you get a chance to rest somewhere in your weekend! Enjoy the roller-coaster. My husband and I always say merry-go-rounds are boring. :)
TheCrankyCrow said…
Whew!! I was gonna say something like "glad THAT day is behind you" - but, it doesn't matter - seems like you have a lot of "those" days...I think it might be a bit amusing to follow you around for just one day....ok....on second thought, maybe not so much. Girlfriend, I don't know how you do what you do...(or why!!) ;o) Anywhohow - your family room is looking great...so cozy and inviting (and, yes....clean! Where's the pet hair???) And I love your little penny mat!! Awesome colors!! And the 51 schoolbus photos and Peppermint Patty??? Well, in the words of Forest Gump, "that's all I'm gonna say 'bout that...." Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin
I just love your penny and Im so glad to hear that your MIL is ok , how frightening ! I hope you can at least get time to catch your breath on Sunday ! Love the reverse pics ,,,kids anyway ! have a great weekend! hugs lil raggedy angie
auntdeedee said…
My goodness, i think my stress level just went up about 10 notches after reading that! I think after a day like that you're entitled to a spa or pampering day! LOL
Wow!! Sounds pretty busy! I thunk I need a nap just after reading it :) so glad your MIL is okay - I would have panicked!
Anonymous said…
wow I'm tired just reading this Cath!! phewwww you'd be so bored without all the drama...I think!
hugs,
patti
Anonymous said…
ps I say again...you'd win Last Comic Standing with this stuff!!
When is that show coming back on the air????
hahahahahahaha!!
Linda Cardella said…
Cathy,
The incident with your MIL must have been so scary! What were you supposed to do? What will you do when it happens again?
Would it be fair to say that you have an amazing life? :o)
Linda
Unknown said…
Have mercy, Cathy, I'm exhausted!!!

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