Tag Archives: maine

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The eyes have it and other nonsense.

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Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is on the horizon so it’s time to be bombarded by Christmas. I like the holiday as much as the next person but geesh, there’s such a thing as overload.

Even my FB news feed is rife with Yuletide ideas and decorations.

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Because nothing says Christmas like whipped spiced eggs.

Changing topics, I like a good humorous license plate and often enjoy the challenge of deciphering the messages while driving down the road. But I draw the line at vulgar slang and crude content. There’s a place for that but it’s not on the back of your car for young children and your curious grandmother to see.

Maine has outlawed the F*ck this and F*ck that and blatantly sexualized custom plates but every now and then a few slip through the cracks.

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I was stopped behind Mr. Give Her Some at a light the other day. Do men really think this endears them to women?

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After seeing this I realized I could be monetizing Lord Dudley Mountcatten’s 18 hour a day naps. It’s about time he started pulling his weight around here.

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For the love of all that’s holy, no.

The houses don’t sleep and neither would I. That is beyond creepy. And because my algorithm is nothing if not consistent…

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🤣

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Bedroom renovation project part whatever… I’m not sure I even care anymore.

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Einstein said time is relative and while that may be true in most cases, when you’re seriously considering slashing the tires of a building supply store’s sales representative you have to wonder at the veracity of his statement.

Time has been crawling… and often standing stock still for our small, nothing special, should have been completed long ago project.

We ordered windows in July. They were delivered in October. On day one of the installation the first was found faulty. On day two the second was found faulty.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited for the Marvin window specialists to come inspect the problem. We waited and we complained to our contractor. Who in turn waited and complained to the store’s sales rep. After a full three weeks of waiting and complaining and wind whistling through the gaps, we issued an ultimatum to our contractor who issued an ultimatum to the store’s sales rep. Come out and fix the issue or take back your windows and refund our money.

When pressed the sales rep said the specialists could be here in 3 weeks. Three more weeks? That would put us at the end of November… which in Maine can mean snow. And if we wait those three weeks and the specialists determine the new windows are indeed faulty and need to be replaced? We’d be another 3 weeks behind schedule.

Nuts to that.

Our contractor is coming back in a few days to remove the two faulty windows and reinstall our old leaking nightmares. We’ll demand a full refund and will have to order another set of custom built windows at another store because the customer service at this one…. which is local, Maine owned, and highly respected… sucked the big root.

And after I put a curse on the manager? I’m never dealing with them again.

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I’m beyond disgusted at this point. The new bedroom flooring and furniture I’ve been anxious to buy has been put on hold again and there’s no telling how long it will take for 5 new windows to be built elsewhere.

The doors? Do not get me started on the doors. That problem hasn’t been solved yet either.

This project has been such an utter clusterf*ck it makes me shudder at the mere thought of redoing our two bathrooms. They were supposed to be next on the list… but to be honest I’m not sure my nerves can take it.

🥴

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Miscellaneous nonsense.

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After the recent mass shooting tragedy in Maine lots of people were paying tribute to the resilience of my state and its people. I happen to like Stephen Colbert’s take…

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And since it’s November in my northern home, temperatures are dropping rapidly at night. They had snow to the west of us and we’re waking up to frost. I say bring it! But my husband is starting to shiver. Since menopause has endowed me with internal heating I’m slow to crank up the furnace these days and see nothing wrong with throwing another blanket on top of the spouse. … which is why I got a kick out of seeing this online the other day.

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I really need to post that on our thermostat.

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If you’ve never listened to the Grateful Dead? Never mind, you won’t get it.

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And if you’ve never watched Game of Thrones or The Last of Us? Never mind you won’t get this either.

But speaking of the latter?

It’s real.

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Thankfully it hasn’t moved on to humans, but you never know.

Which is why I was a little shocked to see it was the top ingredient in a coffee that’s being hawked on FB.

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What the Hell people?

😳

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As seen in Wal Mart.

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I was in Wal Mart the other day, innocently walking through the health and beauty section looking for some reading glasses.

We call them cheaters and I swear the older I get the more I need a pair in every single room of the house and two in the kitchen.

I’m old y’all.

And while I admit I have a hard time reading the fine print on labels, I didn’t have any trouble identifying these products when I turned the corner in search of eyeball magnification.

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Tush toys?

Vibrating rings?

Little suckers?

Shelf upon shelf of …. accessories.

And to think I used to take my mother shopping here.

🥴

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Royal feline or arctic fox? You be the judge…

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Since the renovation project is at a standstill, walkies have resumed at Casa River.

And with cooler weather coming on that means mouse hunting.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten can hear them scurrying under the foliage and through the rock wall and after long patient observation…

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He’s airborne.

Straight up in the blink of an eye.

Just like an arctic fox.

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He chases birds in the burning bush as well but that’s not nearly as entertaining, though it is more colorful this time of year.

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No worries, he never catches any.

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Catching His Lordship in full arctic fox mode is difficult but I managed one good shot.

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Unfortunately for him none of these flying leaps resulted in a captured mouse.

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Maybe next time…

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O.M.G. … is this a man thing or am I losing my mind?

23 Comments

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We have to special order two replacement doors.

I have told our contractor numerous times what type of doors we want. He relays this information to the store rep he orders through.

And while the rep was on track with the living room door for some reason the bedroom door is still a problem.

I gave our contractor the door catalog and circled these three styles.

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I texted him this photo from the website.

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I specifically described the shape and style of the top window door we want. I gave him everything he needed to order said door which he passed along to the sales rep… so you can imagine my surprise when he emailed me this.

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Does that look like the door we wanted?

No, it does not. So a few days later he emailed me this.

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Does that look like the door we wanted?

Again, it does not… so a few days later he emailed me this.

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Okay, we’re getting closer… but this half fan model is a bit old fashioned and not the door that we want.

Help me out here. Am I being unclear… or is this a man thing?

Do all pretty windows look the same to the male eye?

I swear this door will be the death of me. Or at the very least the death of my sanity.

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Bedroom renovation project part 8…. Getting cold feet.

27 Comments

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I live in Maine.

Today is November 1rst.

We’re still waiting for the oh so special Marvin window reps to grace us with their presence and friends, let me tell you… things are starting to get real up in here.

Last night the temps dropped into the 30’s and the wind blew for hours. And when I say it blew… I mean right into the bedroom through the gaps in the faulty windows that are on either side of our bed.

Cold drafts on my neck? Yes.

High pitched whistling that woke me up at 2:09am? You betcha.

Now I don’t know about you, but I am not my best self at 2:09am. Being a lifelong insomniac means the hours between 1 and 3 are pretty much the only ones I can guarantee to be deeply asleep. So when I have to get up and scramble around the bedroom in the dark looking for something to plug the leaks?

It’s not going to be pretty.

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If you notice anything odd about the picture I took this morning it will be on the right hand side.

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Because at 2:09am in the bedroom in the dark?

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Socks is what I found to plug the drafty whistling windows.

Jesus wept.

This is my life now.

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At daybreak I did manage to rustle up some foam weatherstripping from the utility closet.

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But like every other piece of bad luck I’ve been having, there wasn’t quite enough.

🥴

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The answer is 56.

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When my husband goes out of town for a few days? I get busy cleaning and organizing. It’s so much easier to do when my resident hoarder isn’t around saying “No… you can’t throw that out!”

First up was our utility (slash pantry slash I don’t know what to do with it so stick it in there) closet. I was merciless and got rid of a huge pile of worthless odds, ends and scraps. And buried under all that crap?

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A whole lotta plastic wrap, tin foil and Ziploc baggies. When the next supply chain apocalypse arrives? We’re ready.

🤣

After that clean out I moved on to our walk in closet. This is always a nightmare because I can’t resist a bargain when it comes to clothes shopping at thrift stores. I rarely take time to try things on when I’m there because hey… when a pair of jeans costs $2 and doesn’t fit? Who cares.

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Turns out our closet shelves cared because they were positively sagging under the weight.

Question- how many pairs of jeans and capris did I have to try on and sort?

Answer- 56.

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Nine bags of assorted jeans, capris, blouses, sweaters, purses and shoes ready to give to charity.

There’s nothing like a good purge.

It’s good for the soul..

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I was today years old…

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We’ve all seen the bell ringers standing in front of stores during the holidays. They’re raising money for the Salvation Army which is one of the few charities you can trust not to spend 80% of donations on “administrative” costs.

Standing outside in Maine in December can be tough. I’ve seen bell ringers wrapped up in so many layers of clothing they look like the Michelin Man.

Hell, I’ve bought coffee and hot chocolate for those poor volunteers to keep them warm.

Because, you know… they volunteered to help.

Or did they?

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Whaaaat!

Is this a new thing… or am I just woefully out of touch.

What happened to the volunteers?

🥴

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