Friday, October 8, 2010

Feel Good Friday


It's here again!!  There are some seemingly minor things that make me happy this week, so bear with me.

First there was this.  Yes, the sky.  It's BLUE!!  We've had a lot of rain and I've had enough.  When I got up this morning and saw this, I was quite pleased.

Then there was this.  I know, a row of lonely soldiers.  Very strange.  These are storm windows.  Not just any storm windows.  These are the original storm windows that were taken off the house 14 years ago when the new windows were installed.  Everyone tried to say the new windows were super and no storm windows would be needed, but I always had my doubts.  When the wind blows in the winter and the curtains move, I say we need to put up the storm windows.  But no one listens to me, so the storm windows went into the barn and have sat there for all this time.  The screens on the new windows are fiberglass and they have all finally succumbed to the weather we have here and are falling apart.  I took a screen to an aluminum guy to get it repaired and we got to talking.  The screens that came with the new windows are also pure crap and there's a plastic piece that breaks and eventually every screen will fall out and we won't be able to get it back in.  So he convinced me that rather than buying all new screens and their frames, I should look and see if all the storm windows are still there and if so, just fix the screens on those.  He agreed that the new windows are pure crap.  In fact, he said this before I even told him the brand or age and that was just from looking at the screen.

So being super frugal, I went home and found just about all of the storm windows.  We checked to make sure they all fit, then I scrubbed the hell out of them and took all of them apart so I could get the screens redone.  And then I lined them up nicely to dry.  And then it rained for a week and everything fell over and got filthy again.  And one window broke.  Thus the picture.  But I dropped off the screens and the frames for the storms that need to be replaced and the whole she-bang will cost just over $500 instead of big bucks for all brand new storm windows.  K-ster just has to paint the old storm windows this weekend, then we'll get the new screens and life will be warmer, I believe.
Then there is exhibit 3.  I know, what????  This weekend is the annual festival in town that kind of puts summer to bed and welcomes fall.  There is a parade on Sunday and for the first time in many years, I am not in charge of a float for school.  Seeing this trailer empty, knowing I don't have to fill it just makes me breathe.  When we were kids, EVERY group under the sun would make floats for the parade and it was legendary.  Every troop, school, you name it.  They'd be lined up on side roads the morning of the parade and if you were supposed to be on one, it took forever to find yours (remember, no cell phones then, so you had to just find people you were trying to meet up with).  Bands were paid to come from afar.  It was really something.  And it was long.

I hadn't seen the parade for all of my college years and when my friend j-ster and I watched it the year we graduated, we just threw up.  There were like 2 floats and a couple of old cars.  We were horrified.  So, we decided that since I had access to kids, we should create a float for school to be in the parade.  So, for many years, I have spent September trying to organize kids and help j-ster create a fantabulous float.  The problems are many.  First, these kids haven't been exposed to the fabulous parades we knew, so they just dont' get it.  They dont' understand what a float is.  They don't believe they have to actually show up.  We are limited in resources, so we walk around my yard finding crap to recycle into stuff.  And it just makes me a raging nightmare for the week before. Because j-ster and I don't like to create crap.  And we like to win.  And sometimes we have won ribbons for our floats.  And one year we won $500.  But after all the years we've done it, the parade still sucks and no one cares.  And this year, I said EFF THIS and I never mentioned it at school.  And no one cares.  I think j-ster is a little sad.  She loves papier mache.   And my dad is probably a little sad that he isn't driving his truck.  But there is a mystery vehicle that isn't my dad's attached to this trailer.  So I have no idea what's going on.  And we had a little joke of using this one piece of crap fencing on a board and each year we'd fashion it into something new (a windmill, a mountain, etc) and it's kind of sad not to be refashioning it.  But not sad enough that I want to whip something together right now.  It's amazing to think how much time and energy I've spent on those in the past and how much freer I feel. 
 
Number 4, we had a professional day today that appeared all week like it was going to suck but it turned out not so bad.  And I made someone laugh so hard I was pretty sure he might have wet himself.  I know I would have if I had been laughing that hard.  I amused myself but not the way I amused him.
 
And last, but not least.  I walked into Ann Taylor  Loft today, tried on a pair of pants I didn't plan to buy and they fit like butter.  I have to hem them, but since when is that new?  I can't believe they fit my butt the way I like.  And they were 40% off.

Now get over to see thegirlnextdoor and link up your own Feel Good Friday!!

3 comments:

  1. Good call on the storm windows!

    Love Ann Taylor Loft. Though usually just for dresses.

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  2. I love parades too. I hate it though how they have become so super political here.

    YAY for your storm windows and for keeping them all of this time. You just can't beat good windows.

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  3. I remember good storm windows like that. What luck you kept them and great luck on the pants. I love when that happens.

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