more trashy treasures

Original water color will look good in my purple and sage room. Haven't found out much about the artist other than she may be dead

From ArtPrize: peacock from spoons

Allie in front of her new kitchen

Allie put her baby to sleep on top of a birthday quilt and lay down next to her to comfort her

The very diluted out Hurricane Joachim is coming towards us in the form of high winds and heavy rains. Indian summer is over. Steve actually turned the heat  on this morning. As the winds are coming from an angle, the heavily wooded road protected me from most of the strong gusts  while I was running this morning but it has been way too windy to bike. The winds should die down in time for my bike tour with my friend tomorrow. Meanwhile there are no wind breaks around our new house and things keep getting knocked over.

Some major disappointments this week. I won't go through them and they could reverse but I need something to cheer myself up.

As soon as I got up Thursday morning (and I had gone to bed late due to ArtPrize), I get a call saying I was needed to watch Allie ASAP as she was ill. As Steve had at least an hour to go through his set routine (and there are no shortcuts) I went  to take care of Allie. IMHO, nothing was wrong. They take her temperature way too much and every little rise merits a doctor's visit and tests. Meanwhile, she is happily running around and asking for food. I never took my kids' temperatures unless I could feel that they were burning up, actually complained of something and looked tired and ill. Allie was disappointed that there was no Poppa Steve.

Where's Poppa Steve?
Oh he's sleeping.
Wake him up!

Repeat this conversation ten times. Obviously Gramma Sue was a disappointment.

I went to the other side in town yesterday in part to help my friend still recovering from her surgery. She is able to walk, with a walker in 6 minute intervals and was cabin crazy. Her neighborhood is difficult to walk through due to broken sidewalks and a street under construction so we went to a megastore with wide aisles. I was with her last week when she was released from the hospital listening to her final instructions. I am afraid she didn't pay attention to all of them as there were so many. I should have spoken up for her and now regret I didn't. Due to one of her complications, they took her off one of her medications that she has been reliant on for several years without explaining why (but I knew why) but worse yet, not offering her a safe substitute. Stupid doctors! (nurse was just the messenger) Did they think her underlying problem had just disappeared? I think I have found a safe substitute that she can call and ask for. Meanwhile she is left with just very short acting over the counter measures.

Before I saw my friend, I went to a resale house near her. It is the most disorganized place. No lighting (I take things outside for a better look) and things are just stacked in musty boxes with no prices affixed. You are literally digging for potential treasures but there is a big potential for good deals. I take my pile of things to the one legged proprietor . She always zeroes in on the most valuable item(pictured above) and charges what I believe is too much but then says I can have the rest of the stuff for a very little price. One of the little things in my pile is a set of glass photocoasters that retails for more than twice what I paid for everything. They currently have photos of the Pope (two popes ago) and some saints but those are easily removed. Then I take them home to sneak them in (easy when Steve is gone) and wait for him to leave so I can  hang them up without listening to him complain about the many holes I make. It sometimes takes him more than a week to see that I hung yet another thing up. Part of the fun is looking things up to see if I really scored a treasure but mainly it is a cheap way to decorate.