Testimony

This is our auction pal Little Jimmy. Tiny as he could be, and friendly- but has that combination of soft-talking and Pender County Mush-mouth accent. (Kyle has the exact same accent... it's a fast southern blur of wordage...) Anyhoo, Jimmy has been working the auction every since Robin got squashed by a phone booth. (Not permanently squashed, just out-of-commission squashed).

Last night was the auction... this last week was a blur, school work, testing and it just flew by without me blogging. I feel guilty! I need to make time for this, it's important, and my way of connecting to my faithful readers...and to myself. The bits and specs of life.

So, an update. School is ending and starting, it's been grades and paperwork and classes and learning curve for college. Taxes, FASFA, and Grendel forgot his jacket-coffeemaker-dishes-funnel..... Charles has been working with the auction everyday, getting this, picking up that, busy manz, even though they keep telling everyone they aren't making any money and are doooooooomed! I still have hope, just because the auction house is so very full of stuff that it would be a nightmare to clean it all out.

Would be easier to lose money than to move out~

Last night we acquired: light up yard deer for Christmas, a moving Frankenstein for Halloween, some brass for resale. An old quilt for 3$, not in great shape but make-something-out-of ok, and a beautiful quilt (a splurge! my fault- Charles almost fell off his feet-) for $35.00 Oak table for resale, assorted small stuff in box lots, an old cow creamer (it's lying down, not standing up... I wanted it, someone else got it in their box lots and they gave it to Charles). A collection of nice old photos from the 1880's, including a lovely 'cheesecake' one of a lady in her smalls. From the size of her legs and butt she was probably close to my size, but corseted to within an inch of her life- tiny waist but I bet she can't breathe! In the box with the old cheap quilt were 3 "gentlemans'' magazines from 1954, 64 and 70. Tame but one has a Ray Bradbury story I haven't read, and one has an interview with Cassius Clay before he became Muhammad Ali.

I had my customary auction Rib-b-que, and opted for a slice of ambrosia pie (good but not as fantastic as Charles's moms). My friends Brenda and Rochelle (and her son Noah) were there, as well as the auction usuals and one of Millie's Betties. (Millie/Brenda/Rochelle are all art or drama teachers... I've gotten them hooked on auctions. Odd thing is that everyone Millie knows is named Betty. Best-friend-betty, neighbor betty and last night it was cousin betty. Millie wasn't there because she was feeling icky.... but at least there was a betty in the house!) Noah bought a box of hand-written sheet music, and 4 big old pottery crocks/jugs for making stuff. Noah is one of those strange boys that does everything... he has many talents- and a graduate degree in theatre from SCAD- and does things like buys an organic pig, learns how to butcher it and put up the meat in various ways. I mean, that is pretty interesting, but I could not bear to hurt an animal (Noah is tender hearted to, don't know how he managed) and I prefer *not* to know my dinner before it was dinner. Suppose I'll just stick to All-Bran.

Blanket, and the birthday

This post is late, which seems to be a bad habit of mine lately, but the manz birthday was Saturday. Happy Birthday Manz!

He is not much of a birthday person- he says "it's just another day" but I know he liked all his cards... and I made cookies (the only thing I seem to be able to cook anymore). We went out Friday night for date-night Mexican (hooray for fish tacos!) and then had Domino's Saturday, which was a disaster. The new sauce is to sweet, the pizzas really greasy, and I have had an icky tummy ever since. Which is why I am still awake at this time of night (9pm... so very late.. he is sleeping like a baby under our...)

NEW ELECTRIC BLANKET! It's the red one in the photo. It's our birthday present to us, and is dual control queen size lovely warmness that makes sleeping ever so much cozyier, and less argumentative. Before, I had to have a stack of quilts on the bed to be warm enough, which were to hot and heavy for him. He'd toss them off onto me, and then they would slide down to the floor, and I'd be cold so I'd steal whatever remained of his blankets. Along with my mysterious power to move the mattress all cross ways at night- it's always hanging over one side or the other. We know it's me, because I do the same thing when I take naps.... Anyway, electric blankets are important things, the whole family swears by them... Mother never travels without one, which is an excellent idea. Maybe my tummy will calm down enough that I can crawl back into bed under ours....

School Lunch!

mmmmm....lunch in Pender county......mmmm. Seriously, this lovely deer-butt I acquired at the auction (where else?). It was almost free (not much of a market for deer-butts) and I ended up taking it to school. My thought was that Neil could maybe use it as a prop for his senior project (taxidermy) and he is going to. In the meanwhile, all the kids love it.

I stumbled upon Little Lunchbox (he has a real name, but I don't remember it. His big brother's nick name was Lunchbox, so we all just call him little lunch) . He happened to be wearing the perfect shirt for a deer-butt photo op.

Semester is almost over, and I must admit that I like these days of quite test-taking... I can get oodles of homework done while they are being slowly grilled on the fires of knowledge.

Deer Butt!

Time Out

It's Saturday, I've a million and one things to do- new semester at college, exams at Trask, house that needs attention- but this morning I gave myself a time-out. Oh, I woke up at the usual time (around 5:30, the manz was long awake and had coffee made)... he made a big weekend breakfast- grits, sausage, eggs- and we watched a really odd cowboy movie then two episodes of Deadwood, which is really odd in an entirely different way. (Not for the faint of heart or those easily offended by language- but a great story). Then, even after two pots of kick-ass coffee, I was ready for a nap at 9..... The stress of napping over with, I landed in a hot hot bath with a book- 'Waiting for Normal' and ended up reading the whole thing. (not all in the bath, I just kept on afterwards until it was done)... now I have been productive in that I did the dishes and laundry, baked some cookies that aren't that great (I forgot to add the bits, so they are just kinda bland cinnamony. I'll take these to school maybe and make more for the manz), and disposed of two deceased mice. (The mouse problem is much better, thanks to the buzzy repellent things, a cat and the flock of guinea hens that hang out in the yarden). I even vacuumed! But nice lazy things like that- it's only a bit after one, and after this I will start on some school stuff.

Poor manz hasn't it so easy- it's cold today, bitter cold and gray. He went out to the store when I was napping and ended up coming home to change and go fix some frozen-broken waterlines on a house. So he is out in this, in his winter coveralls, under some house messing with pipes. Then he has to work the auction tonight- no rest for the weary as mother always said.

The book was good- it's actually a 'young adult' book. I read books out loud to my class when they are working (they actually ask for it) and I have learned (the hard way) to preview them first. I liked this book but they will find it to young - the main character is only in middle school. Funny, while it might be beyond their reading level they demand 'edgy' topics. Drugs, sex and vampires.... so far we have read 'Holes', 'Lord of the Flies', 'Alt Ed'... I refuse to read 'Twilight' out loud- not that it's a bad book, I'm just tired of it.... actually, their favorite thing so far has been 'The Urban Reader'. That book is a collection of true case studies from 1971. Stories from New York City, they deal with gangs, addiction, immigration and crime. It's odd how the kids like them- the titles are sensational but then it is like reading out loud a newspaper- full of dates and city departments in charge of this or that, and statistics. Still they listen. Maybe I am underestimating them, maybe they are just sleeping with their eyes open, maybe something sinks in. All we can do is hope.

The Spot

This is my spot- we all have a spot... the manz says "go find you a spot" and we all know exactly where to go... the doggs get in their beds, Grendel vanishes to his room, the kitty runs to his room... I curl up in my chair because I know that something good will be appearing soon- tonight it was some manmade chili with hot garlic bread, perfect on a cold night. (we already have a 2 hour delay tomorrow- yay!)

My spot is a messy spot, but it contains all the good things. A 'lovey' blanket, my chair, Evie (the little computer), a book to read, my sketchbooks, paints and other art things, the pretty little lamp and a box of kleenex. (right now sunshine makes me sneeze like crazy for some reason). My spot is right next to his spot (which is much, much more tidy) close enough though that I can lean over and snooze on his shoulder. Funny, I never used to fall asleep in this room all that often, but now I just cuddle up and everything is so warm and cozy that *poof* I'm in dreamland. Then I toddle off to bed....

Lucky Iron

It's winter, and I'm lazy- already missed a day of blogging despite my best intentions. There is no excuse really, and it applies across the board... I know I have things to do, but I get distracted, butterfly off in circles and forget. Then - like last night- I was warm from a shower (it was soooo cold outside) and full from dinner... we were watching the Da Vinci Code and I was sound asleep in my chair by 7:30. All I want to do is cozy in and hibernate, drink warm drinks, eat comfort food (which is not on the diet at all) and take naps (despite my to-do list). At work I'm just drifting from one class to another, seemingly asleep...just like the kids. Hard to be enthusiastic at the end of the semester.

Yesterday though, Manz again surprised me- he had been out working all day in the cold, loading the contents of a house to be auctioned. It filled up the entire big green trailer and Esmeralda.... during the process he found me a few treasures in the metal pile- a set of curious large iron rings, a beautiful pair of shears rusted shut, and this lovely horseshoe. It was sitting on a (bell pull? well pump? somewhere) and was upside down- he rescued it from the trash pile and brought it home. It's a real horseshoe, with signs of age and wear, rusted and lucky. I've been wanting a horseshoe for the longest time, but like all lucky things, horseshoes have rules in order to work. You can't buy them. They can't be new. They must of been worn. You place them open-side-up, to hold the luck in- rather like a cup. They go above a door, or on a post, or on the chimney- mine is temporarily in the cauldron in the fireplace. That's ok- it will gather luck there until we put it up proper.

One reason I love the manz so much is that he knows me so well- he knows that gifts of magic and luck, found treasures like this mean so much more to me than anything acquired in a store. They show thoughtfulness and observation, respect for my weird ways, knowledge of my soul. I love that- thank-you, beloved.

Choices

Choices, choices, what's a manz to do? Let's see... there's the Piggly Wiggly flyer with all the meat on sale (mmmm meat mmmmm), a tin of cookies (now almost empty...down to the last few Christmas cookies, but it has since been refilled with orange cookies), the computer ('someone' now has their own email and facebook... we spent quite a bit of time walking down memory lane last night looking up people from high school) and the endless offerings of netflix. Good thing that chair has swivels on it-

So what we ended up doing was: going to the pig, making cookies, watching "Jeremiah" on netflix (last week it was a man-a-thon of 'The Deadliest Catch'- a crabtastic show), learning facebook and driving out to Penderlea to see the museum and hang out with Charles's dad. (Who is a very cool guy- and Penderlea is a very cool place.) I took 95 photos and learned about a perfume factory/ hosiery mill (now abandoned but up kept) that I would love to get into to photograph. Even though it was cold outside (toasty inside the museum) we had fun.

The dress was at the museum, and has an excellent cautionary tale with it. (Parents- feel free to use this on your teenagers). The dress belonged to Bernice Blanchard, and was her prom dress from 1945. She graduated that year at age 16, and went to work second shift at the perfume factory. That summer was hot, and like most teenagers, a pimple popped up on her face. Despite her mother's warnings, she popped it.... and got blood poisoning. Two weeks later she was dead.... all of her things were packed away in a giant trunk, not looked at for years then donated to the museum. She made the prom dress herself- it is beautiful, light with lots of little details. Her other clothes hang in the closet at the museum, including her saddle shoes and matching purse....

I never knew you could die from mashing a pimple. The world is a scary place....but I can't wait to tell this story to the kids at school. Maybe I can save someone from certain doom!

Living Room so far

Today is the last day of winter break, and I did work on the living room some. This is the floor plan Charles came up with to fit the love seat and couch- it works great! Before I had them in a 90 degree angle and we had the tree in the corner, but this made the room seem small and boxy. With the sofas on the diagonal the room seems much larger, and there are clear paths for movement.

Uncle Jack is back in his place over the mantel, and we moved the Victrola out of the four door room to where it could be seen. Charles finished the floors before the wedding- they are beautiful- and I like the paint color with the white and the furniture. He is going to build a corner cabinet for behind the love seat- somehow my books multiplied while in storage (suppose they were keeping each other warm) and we need more shelves. It will also give us another place to display treasures. The blue thing beside the couch was a wedding present- we are still not quite sure what it is for- maybe a vase- it's not permanently there, just there.

We need to finish hanging pictures- the botanical prints and maybe one of my things- it is a work in progress.

Tomorrow is back to school, and even though he claims not, I suspect that the manz will enjoy having his days back to himself. I know that the house will stay quite a bit neater when I am not around with my endless drift of art stuff and half-started projects. (I tend to start something, then butterfly off to something else). But it's time to wrap up the semester and start anew.

That's kinda exciting~ but I'm going to miss my naps and lunches.

Sign~

After the 911 laws where streets had to be named, people around here came up with some fairly original names. Of course, there are lots of people names, flower names, trees... then they moved on to fish (our street 'Chubb Road' is named after a fish...not a particularly interesting fish, and I would rather it be named something else, but it will do)... Charles's folks live on Horse Branch, the branch part referring to water, as streams are branches. Then there's a whole trailer park with streets named after dogs. (Deer Dog road etc.)

On the way out to his folks house today to store the manger scene in the barn, we went through Watha. Watha is a tiny town (?)... it was where 'The Secret Life of Bees' was filmed, if you are curious about what a place called Watha might look like. Anyway, there was this street sign "Who Done It Street". There has got to be a story behind this-the road itself leads nowhere but the back of the fire station....

Otherwise, today was a day for moving furniture around the living room until it was settled (Charles's plan- it's on diagonal, photo tomorrow, I like it!) and sorting books. I have way to many books, so I culled out a whole box and a half, mainly Russian history books. (why do I have Russian history books? Good question.) I figure that if he could sort through his bears (his idea, not mine- I wouldn't mind if he kept the whole shebang, and let me tell you the manz has some bears) I could part with a few books. Anyhoo, it will all fit in somehow.

Happy New Year!

"The good things in life are not to be had singly but in a mixture"~ the inscription on the inside of the mortar, and an excellent thing to keep in mind heading into the new year.

This mortar and pestle came from the pharmacy estate auction- the auction on the first day of Spring, the auction where the Manz asked me out for the first time... prophecy, magic. By the first of winter we would be married. From singularity to a mixture.

I know that the new year will hold a mixture- good fortune and ill, accomplishments and delays, deaths, births and new beginnings. I hope that we can all meet them with some form of grace, endure the things we must, change what we can, remember what we hold dear.

The New Year is a time for resolutions, which I teach my kids are 're- solutions', or new ways of approaching life. A willingness to adapt and change, to try new paths where old have failed. Remix the variables until it all falls into place. And trust that it will.

Happy New Year, many blessings!