This post is really long, loaded with pictures and I apologize for that. My intention was to post every day, but I got too busy and would crash at the end of the day.
I started my vacation with a rockin' music festival in Cullman, called Rock The South. It was originally created to raise money for the victims of the April 2011 tornado. It was awesome! Here are a few pictures
Easton Corbin
Charlie Daniels
Sara Evans
But I had waited all night (ant through a storm) to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. They did not disappoint!
How about a little "Sweet Home Alabama" (Remove your hats gentlemen for "our" National Anthem)
Sunday was pretty much a bust, for obvious reasons.
Monday. I decided that it was time to reclaim my bedroom. I had been sleeping on the couch far too long.I needed to finish sifting through all the things I have just thrown in there the last couple of months. I was not even going in there, which was ridiculous.
I will not say it was not painful. Coming across pictures, Mother's day cards, baby teeth, a stack of anniversary cards and notes broke my heart all over again. Funny how it all gets to you.
I'm not sure what triggered the insomnia, but I worked clean through until 4:30 Tuesday morning before I crashed, but was back up by 8:00 a.m. to start round two.
There were a few things that I needed to accomplish: I needed to repaint the mismatched headboard and I need to rearrange all the furniture. I didn't want anything to be the same.
I made a trip to Wallyworld to buy paint to repaint the headboard. I also had to buy a few basic tools to replace the ones I had divorced. I have an addiction to the $5 movie bin. I try to pick up a few with each pay check.
The rest of the furniture is a light pine. The headboard, that I bought at a local thrift store for just $10, had been painted a mauve color. I had used a length of rose garland, wrapped around the top to add a romantic feel. Back when I let the cats in the bedroom, Zipper had done a number on the headboard, scratching the posts and attacking the flowers on the garland. Many were missing. I am over all that now, and promptly threw that dust-catcher away. Removing it from the bedframe had proved quite a challenge.
Twelve years ago, when we moved into this house D/H had put the headboard on backwards. It had proved such a challenge for him, that we never corrected that mistake. The nuts, I found, were not tight at all. No need for my newly acquired channel locks.The first three bolts came out with no problem, but the fourth would not budge. In frustration, I beat on it with a hammer, and pushed at the headboard with my feet. After 45 sweaty minutes, the headboard finally relented and was free from the bed.
The wind had kicked up outside so the newspapers I laid down were trying to blow away. I managed to get all the pieces under the headboard enough to start painting. I had originally intended to mimic the light pine color by mixing a little peach paint and then washing over it with white, But I could not find peach spraypaint to save my life! There was every color of the rainbow, a whole line of fluorescent and about five colors of white, but no peach. I settled on a satin finish antique white.
Here is the result.
There was also a small, black bookcase that had come with my stereo many years ago, that didn't match anything either. Because I had used all the first can on the headboard, I had to go back for another can of paint. This time I went to Lowe's because I needed a set of furniture sliders. If I was going to move all that furniture myself, I was going to make it as easy as possible. I chose another can of antique white paint (Lowes, as luck would have it, had the peach I was searching for...too late, that ship had sailed) my furniture sliders and headed back to the house. I painted the bookcase in the drive way. It also took an entire can, I guess because it was black.
There is some spots that are not really well covered but it was close enough for government work.
Soon, it was obvious that I could not move the furniture by myself. I was tired and punchy and a little dizzy. I had to call for reinforcements. I had been on the phone on and off all day with BFF Cyn because it was her birthday. She must really love me because she came right over, on her birthday, with slave labor ( i.e. Miss Mary Mac and little sister Mad) in tow. It took no time to get everything in order.
Next up, was making the bed. I had these new sheets, and couldn't wait to get them on the bed.
I still need to iron the duvet, but I think that everything came together beautifully. There is still some tweaking, but here is a sneak peek.
My stepmother thinks that I need something larger and more decorative than that picture of me from college over my bed, but I like the minimalist look.
Wednesday I decided to go shopping. Now notice I said "shopping" which doesn't necessarily mean "buying." I did a lot more "shopping" than "buying." My first stop was to pick up Cyn's birthday present. Thanks to a hint from her daughter, I headed to Kirkland's and after some extensive searching, I found the canvas she wanted. It was a black and white picture of a tree with "Be still and know that I am God" across the bottom.
I went on to The Summit. First stop: The Fitting Touch. I wanted to get a new bra, since the other good ones no longer fit and because I have strange measurements. Though I found several, I could not bring myself to spend $100 on just one bra.
I went across to Victoria's Secret. I found several that I liked, but none of them came in my size. There were several that I did not like available in my size. Apparently 38 B is a very common size and those of us who wear them actually have good taste.
Last stop was Belk. Oh the time I would have saved. And I definitely got my money's worth! For the same cost of one FT bra, I got two matching bra and panty sets, a slip, and a bottle of Clinique's Dramatically Different moisturizer.
Next stop was a late lunch with Cyn at Red Lobster to celebrate both of our birthdays. Cyn got the roasted garlic seafood with crab legs and I had the seaside shrimp trio. I had to swap out the shrimp alfredo with a grilled shrimp skewer.
We finished up the evening having coffee at her house. I had a very interesting chat with W, who had gotten called away on business at the last minute. ("Story of my life lately" he said.)
Thursday, my birthday, started off with lunch at PF Chang's with my mother and the Chief. I had the Schezwan beef. For desert we had banana spring rolls and coconut ice cream. I stopped back by the local Wallyworld, which is much better than ours, to pick up a few things. I got a pair of Battenberg lace curtain panels to replace the grungy shades in my bathroom. And they had the most awesome $5 movie bin, and and equally awesome $4 movie bin across the aisle that my Wallyworld doesn't seem to have! I bought several double features packs so I got twice as many movies, most at only $2 a movie. By the time I was ready to leave, the bottom had dropped out! I finally had to just run for it because I was needed at a fund raiser.
The Miracle League as having a fund raiser at the local steakhouse. Miracle Mary had begged me to be there to help out. Little did I realize the cleverly disguised ruse she had orchestrated. She got me a cake
(many thanks to her son for picking out the AUsome color scheme and the other crown)
and a birthday tiara, which I wore while telling patrons about the fund raiser.
She even invited Dooder, who took a break from his busy schedule of protecting and serving to come by with a card. After a steak dinner (Happy Birthday to Me!) I headed home where I had another nice chat with W from his hotel.
I didn't even have time to think about the fact that my husband had left six months ago that day.
Friday, I did nothing for most of the day. Around 5-ish I get a text from Cyn. A picture of a large salad and a plate of steamed shrimp. "Come on over." it said. So I had dinner with her family. Then we settled down to watch a new Kirk Cameron movie. It was very odd, but we kept pausing it to laugh about things that the dialogue brought up, and the evening was punctuated with text from W.
It was nearly 1:00 a.m. before I got home.
Saturday was spent watching my newly acquired movies. Around noon I laid down for a little nap. That little nap lasted over six hours! I missed all the games at the Miracle League park. Thankfully I still had another event coming next week.
And that bring us to today. The last day of my vacation. I report back to work tomorrow.
I don't know where my vacation went.
I don't particularly feel rested.
I guess it's back to the grind
~EnJOY
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