Just Plain Filthy.......or Digging Out & Taking My House Back!

With the departure of Daughter to college last Friday, I gained a new project here at Chez Sluggy.

When my kids leave home for college, I get their bedroom back.

Oh, they still get to stay in their rooms when they are home for the brief period of times between semesters and summer employment, but I get to rearrange/decorate/commandeer/refashion/repurpose  their bedroom.
This includes moving all the crap they leave behind.

No, I am NOT leaving their bedrooms as a shrine that is left undisturbed just as it was when they left home.  I plan to sell and move from this house in 3-7 years from now.  While I'm still in it, I plan to take back this room and use it.

When #1 son left home for college he didn't leave behind much for me to deal with.  He got the "cleaning bug" when he hit 14 or so, and he kept his room quite clean and tidy.  He is also not a "saver" so he regularly threw or gave away old stuff he no longer wanted/needed.
When he left home, I gathered his belongings he didn't take with him and fit them into the bedroom closet, all nice and tidy.
Then Hubs moved in his massive collection of books and it became a study.   There's a futon in the closet that #1 son can roll out for sleeping when he is home.

#1 son's sister on the other hand IS a saver.
She is such a saver that I was compelled to go on Facebook yesterday and post about it.  This is what ensued....

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Denise Arcure

Attention Holly Caroline Arcure>After cleaning out your dresser I have decided that you are NOT allowed to EVER call me a Hoarder again.

· · Tuesday at 10:55am

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  Marsha Adams, Julia Park Tracey and Pamela Webber like this.
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    Holly Caroline Arcure Chut up, mom. i needed all those things!
    

    Tuesday at 11:28am ·
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    Denise Arcure When confronted by the psychologist, that's what all the Hoarders say on those shows.lol
    

    Tuesday at 12:07pm · · 1 personLoading...
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    Sonya Mott Laughing
    

    Tuesday at 12:22pm ·

    
    And to legitimize my claim, here is a shot of her bed with everything I pulled out of ONE of her dressers. You will note that there is NO CLOTHING in this shot...
    

     

    
    

    And this doesn't include what was ON TOP of the dresser!
    
    Here is what the top of the card table she was using as a desk looked like.....
    
    

    

    
    The card table is black under all the layers of dust there.
    
    And here is what the wall behind the card table looks like......
    
    

    

    There is a mysterious black/brown stain where was once a newly painted wall 4 years ago.
    
    If you are reading this daughter, you have some cleaning and repainting to do when you come home for break.
    
    For now, the dresser I just cleaned out will be moved to in front of this wall so I don't have to look at it for the next 3 months.
    
    I have just begun to dig out in there.  There is a very long closet with crap filling it too.
    Ugh.
    
    In conjunction with the bedroom clean out I have undertaken a bathroom cabinet clean out too but more on that later.
    
    I am sorry if you are embarrassed by this post Daughter.  But after all the ribbing you do on me about being a hoarder, and all the picking on your little brother you do about his room being a pigsty you deserve at least this.
    
    Sluggy

My Checkered Artistic Past

From time to time I've mentioned that I was a Costume Designer way back in my younger days.
Back before kids.
Back in the Prehistoric days of my youth, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

A few weeks ago, while I was cleaning some things out of the garage in preparation for one of the Stockpile/Garage Sales, I came across some sketches from my old portfolio from college.

Since I have nothing else worthwhile to blog about today and I have a feeling nobody actually believes half of what I say here, you get to see these stunning works of art *cough*.

Though it may appear to be a simple job, a costume designer has to wear many hats and have many skills.
First you have to create a vision or rather bring the artistic vision of the director of the play to life via clothing.  You must create a cohesive design for all the garments in the play.

Then you have to draw or otherwise put to paper this design.
Not only do you have to convey the design in a 2 dimensional medium, but you have to locate fabrics and trimmings appropriate to turn your design concept into an actual garment that can be worn.
A costume rendering not only is a work of art but it is first and foremost a working tool.
It gives voice to the vision and serves as a guide to the seamstresses as they set about bringing the design to life as an honest to goodness garment.

It's great if a costume designer is a very good artist, but designing clothing that works well on actors is a designers most important skill.
It's a job that you learn from the ground up.  Nobody falls out of the sky and  becomes a costume designer without first learning how to sew, make and cut a pattern, fit a garment and all those non-designing skills.  It's a very hands on profession.  The nitty gritty skills you learn on your way up to being a designer makes you a better designer.

And because of a lack of time, a costume designer generally has little time to create renderings of the costumes.  Usually it's a very quick pencil drawing with some splashes of color thrown onto the paper.
Having the luxury of the time to create proper costume renderings is only a dream to all but the most successful and well paid designers.  And once you rise to that level a good portion of designers don't even do their own renderings.....that's what your paid flunky assistants are for. ;-)

Let me say that most struggling costume designers are also magicians sometimes, having to make expensive looking clothing on a shoestring budget.  Unless you are designing for top film or tv companies, you never have an adequate amount of cash for supplies.  College departments give you bare bones budgets, professional shops give you a pittance and if you work for a shop that uses Equity actors(unionized), then all their production budget goes to paying their salaries and the non-unionized production staff gets screwed.

But enough of that for now.
Onward to the sketch.....

This 1st rendering is for a character in a short play by Anton Chekov(very Russian and very turn of the century, Victorian era).
I used pastels on colored paper to render this sketch.
The blob on the left top are the swatches of the fabrics used to construct this costume, including an example of  'jewels' I handmade to embellish the front of the overlay of the skirt. Money for profession jewels made with Swarovski crystals?  Not in this budget!lol

Here is another costume sketch for a Molière play.  The clothing is apropos to French society of 1670's, the Baroque era.
I created this sketch in watercolors on watercolor paper.

Here is another rendering for another show I can't recall by whom at the moment.  The setting is Ancient Greece.
Again it is rendered in watercolors.

And here's another sketch for the same Molière play as before.....

This last sketch is dear to my heart because it is of ME.
Yes, not only did I design the costumes of this show and build a lot of them, I was also a major character in this production.

I apologize that my photos aren't so great and you can't see much of the detail that is in them.
I could talk for days about the techniques employed to give texture to both the drawings and the actual costumes, because, well, this is my first love.

Now I need to locate the photos of the actual costumes from these renderings, so I can show you how they looked on actual actors.lol

Sluggy

Last Rite-Aid Trips for August & Grand Totals for the Month

Basically, I've been on a break from Rite-Aid this month.
Not a full break, but I haven't darkened their door much and when I went there, I didn't haul much home.
As a result I don't have many +Up Rewards left or many items to report.

And face it, the fact that I had 2 Stockpile/Garage Sales this summer where I sold the stuff I get from Rite-Aid AND I still have a big load of stuff left, I really don't NEED to be hauling things home from Rite-Aid. ;-)

First let's catch up on 2 weeks ago.
2 sales ads ago I bought this.....

1 x Nutella raincheck price=$2.50
1 x Crest complete toothpaste on sale(20% wellness discount less)=$3.43
SubTotal....$5.93

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 Nutella AdPerk/VV Q=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Crest toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total....$2.00

$5.93-$2.00=$3.93 OOP
I used $3 in +Up Rewards and put the .93¢ on my gift card($30.55 balance).
I received $2 in +Up Rewards for the Crest toothpaste.
At least I was suppose to get $2 in +Ups.
My receipt says "you have received the maximum number of +Ups for this offer".
The sales ad states Limit of 1 +Ups offer for this sale item.
Well this was my one and only transaction at Rite-Aid that week, so it was my one and only tube of Crest that week.  Don't know how I could have maxed out on the offer.lol
I have had so much going on here with the kids' college stuff I didn't get around to contacting Rite-Aid about this screw up.  I may just return it as it's turning into a huge hassle, at least in my mind, and the last thing I NEED is more toothpaste, right?lol
Moving on.....

I went back this past Friday evening to check for Nutella and bought this.....

2 x Nutella raincheck price=$5.00
1 x Crest toothpaste! on sale=$2.99  *Yes MORE of the SAME toothpaste, but a smaller tube
SubTotal....$7.99

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 AdPerks/VV Wellness Q=$1.00
2 x $1/1 Nutella AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Crest toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total....$4.00

$7.99-$4.00=$3.99 OOP
I used $3 +Up Rewards and put the .99¢ on my gift card(balance of $29.56).

I DID receive the $2 +Up Rewards for the Crest this time.  That week, the smaller Crest complete tube gave a $2 +Up and the limit was 2, but I only bought 1.

Now I KNOW you are wondering why all the toothpaste.
Well, there is a SCR #35--Buy $25 of select Crest/Oral-B/Scope items and get a $5 rebate.  I needed $5 more so the last 2 toothpaste tubes were to put me over $25.

Nutella?
That's easy.....#2 son is addicted to it.  I need to purchase stock in that company....it's THAT bad here!lol

The August SCR Period ends today, Tuesday, August 30th.  I don't plan on going to Rite-Aid today, so this is my end of the month post.

  THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....2
Total Spent....$1.92 put on free gift card
Value of Items....$19.05
SCR qualified for...$5.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$4.00 *but I only have $2 right now*
+Up Rewards spent.....$6.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$4.00
And I have $29.56 left on my gift card.


And now, the monthly totals.

Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--AUGUST Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......10
Total Spent....$7.68 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Number of Items purchased.....57
Value of Items purchased....$156.77
SCR qualified for....$22.99
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for August SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 8/13.....$6.00
+Up Rewards spent....$46.50
+Up Rewards earned....$28.00
+Up Rewards left....$4.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period




So in August, I spent $7.68 of my free gift card "money", brought home $156.77 worth of items and Rite-Aid will be sending me cash rebates of $22.99 for shopping there.

How was your month at Rite-Aid?


Sluggy

The Weekend That Was.....Letting Go, Being Wet and Marking the Years

First things first.

Here is the worst damage Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene did in our yard......

You probably can't make out the clumps of leaves and twigs littering the yard.
And Hubs fished small branches out of the pool.

We got lots of wind and rain.
LOTS of rain according to my makeshift rain gauge.....

Yes, my onion root cellar is a multitasker!lol
We got 8 inches from Irene.
I am shocked that no trees here were uprooted since the ground was already saturated from the abundant rains we already had experienced in August.
My neighbor has a tree that is heavily listing to one side after the storm that may fall during the next windy day.
The yard is like a bog it's so saturated.
You walk on it, you sink.

The sun came out around 3pm yesterday.
Then we had a band of rain as late as 5pm.
Some more winds around 7pm and Irene was kaput here.

Hubs went out yesterday and saw some tree limbs down and road flooding in the usual places when we get heavy quick storms here.
I got a phone call from the school district this morning.  Seems they are excusing students who can't make it in for the FIRST DAY of SCHOOL today, due to intermittent road flooding around the district.
Too bad they called AFTER #2 son headed to school.
He will be pissed he missed the opportunity to play hooky, legally.
Sometimes "the man" just can't catch a break, can he?

Now let's back up a bit to Friday.
To say Daughter was ready to leave home would be an understatement.

She's saying in this picture, "Will you get in the car and start it already!!"

Once we got to college, she set us to work unloading the car and transporting it all to the SIXTH FLOOR(somebody just kill me now!)and then stashing it all away into place.
I think she missed her calling as a Drill Sargent!lol

 After we got things squared away, she consented to a photo....the only one she willingly let me take.

She is still without a roommate in her double room.
She has never made friends easily so I worry that she doesn't have a roommate at this point.
I know she'll overcome this eventually.

As I sat later waiting on Hubs to come pick me up with the car, I watched some of the stuff I saw other parents/students unloading from their cars.

36" Flatscreen tvs.
Seriously.
Who needs to bring that to college?

Refrigerators the size of a small child.
Some were larger than the one in my 1st apartment.

A box of 100 tubs of ramen noodles.
I guess that kid is on the 8 meals a week meal plan.

A waffle maker.
?

We only had to make 1 run to Walmart for longer cables and cords, etc. and then we were done.

I have no photo of Daughter with either her father or me, so I'll end this part with a shot of her "Home Sweet Home" for the next 3 months....

I just wonder how long until I get a phone call that she needs money.
Oh and you KNOW I'll get that call......lol

On Saturday morning #1 son and his girlfriend left to go back to school before Irene arrived, and as of Sunday night he was back ensconced in his dorm for another semester.

On Sunday evening, after the rain let up but before dark, I began weeding the front garden/flower bed jungle.  I figured with 8 inches of fresh rain in the ground, it was not going to get any easier to pull weeds!lol  I filled a black garbage bag with weeds before my back gave out.  There is at least another bag full to pull so I'll finish the job later today.

Sunday was also Hubs and my Wedding Anniversary.
Yes, I have now been married for TWENTY NINE YEARS.
And all 29 to the same man.
I caught a glimpse of us in the mirror the other day and yes, it IS true.
You do start to look alike when you've been together this long.
Since neither of us is/was very attractive to begin with it hasn't been a devastating development.lol
I just don't remember agreeing to get this old, with our without a spouse.
I've lost my youth and I'm barely hanging onto pieces of my mind and my sanity these days, so it's a good thing my sense of humor is intact. ;-)

So now it's Monday and all my kids are back in school.
The Hubs is back at work and I am blissfully alone....except for the dogs snoring gently behind me in their beds.

Ok, I am not really alone.
There are 4 bowls of tomatoes staring at me each time I walk into the kitchen, whispering, "Pssst! You need to can us NOW!"
So tomato prep is on the agenda today.
And tomato canning is on the agenda for tomorrow.

And here is what is still outside waiting for me......*SonyaAnn DON'T LOOK WARNING*........

So what is up in your part of the world lately?

Sluggy

Goodbye Hurricane Holly, Hello Hurricane Irene

Yesterday was spent ushering out Hurricane Holly.
AKA driving my Daughter across PA to college for the first time.

The last few days here have felt like a Hurricane.....albeit an emotional teenage Hurricane.
Drama.
Young love drama.
Leaving home and going somewhere I don't know anyone drama.
Take everything you own and worrying that you forgot something drama.

We have been witnesses to most of this drama.
Her father and I the "bear the brunt of her anxieties & rollercoasting emotions from thrilled one minute to deepest despair the next" adult bystanders.
We've helped where we could with organizing and offered sage old people advise and a shoulder to cry on when nothing else would do.
Now that we have deposited her at school, we are just wrung out and are in need of some relaxation and quiet time.

Just in time to greet a new Hurricane, Irene.
I called my brother and his wife yesterday.  They live in the town due west, next to Virginia Beach, VA.
My deceased oldest brother's house is 1.5 blocks from the oceanfront in Va. Beach.
My brother and his wife and assorted family there are staying put.  Not that they have anywhere to go that's out of the path of Irene.  Please hold them in your prayers.

Even little old me and ours are in the path of Irene.  We are east of the I-81 corridor and within the pink "Extreme Damage" area on the map.  We won't get any flooding or surge damage but we are flash flood prone around here.

I worry here about the wind damage more.  We are in the light turquoise "widespread damage" band.
The ground here is so saturated from the abundant rains this summer that more rain and high winds may uproot trees.  And we have some perfect very tall candidates in our yard for uprooting.  Luckily our power lines are underground but the larger lines are not.

We'll be ok I know....just very soggy when it's over.

If you are in the path of this my bloggy friends (Sheila in NC, Mark, Ron, et al), please stay safe!

Sluggy