Monday Morning Vinny

Monday, July 29, 2013

 
I wanted to give you guys an update on Vin Vin. I took him to the vet a little over a week ago because he was coughing. They did some x rays and they saw a small spot on his lungs but the radiologist said it wasn't anything to be concerned with. Just some bruising that was still healing. They gave him an antibiotic to be safe and he's not coughing any more.

He must be feeling much better this week because he's been scratching at the door to go out. As I said before, I would really rather keep him inside but he knows his adoring fans are waiting for him outside. I've been taking him out on a leash and he's been a pretty good sport about it. He just waits for me to pull his little legs through the harness.



I've been working on finally making my office functional after a year of living here and I've tried to clear off as many spaces as I can in front of the windows to appease him and so far, it's working pretty well.





Thank you all for your prayers and wishes for Vinny's recovery. He's doing great!
 .

Monday Morning Dino

Monday, July 22, 2013

 
 
"Hey....this isn't marshmallow in here!"


Secondhand Sunday

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Sundays are my Secondhand day. I'm basically too lazy to think of anything new to say so I re-post a "vintage" entry.

If you aren't in the mood for repeats, please feel free to change the channel.


"I'm too dumb for my Smartphone"


Original Post Date, September 22, 2011


I ordered it online and activated it 48 hours before my trip to Florida. I only mention that because when the pilot announced, "At this time, we ask that all passengers turn off their electronic devices", I had no CLUE how to do it!I I panicked and shoved it under my right cheek, certain that any conflicting radio frequencies would be blocked by the subcutaneous layer of thick fat on my ass.

Then I remembered that the layer wasn't as fat as it used to be and I closed my eyes and pictured the plane crashing. The last thing heard on the flight recorder would be, "How the hell do I turn this thing off??"

Luckily, we took off without a hitch and I spent the next few days trying to figure out how to make a phone call. As I did with Facebook, I initially resisted the whole Smartphone concept, but I succumbed because my contract was renewing and I got the HTC Trophy for cheap. You know how much I like cheap!

Well, it happened.

I've become one of those Smartphone people. You know, the ones who check their Facebook status 20 times a day and feel the need to let everyone know that "One of us will die when the satellite falls on us." If you haven't already friended me on Facebook, you must so that you can get these exciting updates, too. Here's my latest.

"How is it only Thursday?"

Take a moment to bask in its brilliance before you keep reading.

Not only do I check my Facebook 20 times a day but I also know what the current temperature is now and every hour on the hour until infinity.

It's 72 degrees with intermittent clouds.

Be forewarned that when I invite you to my Christmas party and you tell me that you can't make it because of a snowstorm, I WILL punch in your zip code to confirm it.

Busted!

You're only having light flurries. Get your ass over here!

The camera on this phone is about a million times better than mine was and since I'm a picture taking machine anyway, I'm constantly clicking away.



I'm sure the novelty of this phone will wear off soon but in the mean time, Can I take your picture? C'mon, I'll post it on Facebook!

By the way, it's now 71 degrees and mostly cloudy.

C Cleveland - Greenwood Farm

Saturday, July 20, 2013



As I mentioned on Tuesday, the community garage sale that we worked at last Saturday was held at Greenwood Farm in Richmond Heights. Richmond Heights is the next city over from where I grew up. My grandparents lived there for a while so I spent many summers enjoying the public pool and parks of the city but the one place I wasn't allowed to go was the big old house on Richmond Road.

My parents just assumed it was someone's big old house and you couldn't just go knock on the doors of people's big old houses that you didn't know. I made my father slow down our silver Buick LeSabre as we drove by and my dreamy, little girl mind would envision the glamorous parties and huge Christmas tree that would surely be displayed in the front parlor for the holidays. We all lived in bungalows or ranches so the third floor of this home must be something magical like a ballroom but alas, I never found out.

I don't have much occasion to drive past the house anymore but when I saw that the community garage sale was going to be on the grounds of the house, I told myself that I would find a way to sneak in and take a look around. Well, when I realized that they were going to be giving tours, I was beside myself. I wouldn't have to risk criminal trespassing, after all!

And now it had a name.

Greenwood Farm.

I decided to do some research and this is what I found.

The property itself can be traced back to 1798. After a series of owners, George and Maude Phypers purchased it in 1908 and named it Greenwood Farm, after the family farm where Maude grew up in Massachusetts.  George Phypers was known not only for his land holdings but for his civic involvement and his part in developing Cleveland's insurance infrastructure.

The original house was a 19th century farmhouse that the Phypers planned to enlarged but it was destroyed in a fire and the current home was built in its place. The land consisted of almost 19 acres which weren't split until 1994 when one son took ownership of seven acres and renamed it Deerhaven for the many deer that frequently emerge from  Euclid Creek which runs through the property.



Sadly, even in this economy, developers are always looking for land to build residential housing and the Phypers property is no exception. There were a number of developers sniffing around, hoping to turn this beautiful green space into the next subdivided neighborhood. I applaud the city for making the offer to purchase the Greenwood Farm in 2004 and I thank the Phypers family for accepting their offer. The purchase price was somewhere in the mid-600's which is likely a small amount compared to what a developer would offer. However, the purchase by the city ensures that the land won't be developed.

The newly formed Greenwood Farm Historical, Cultural & Arts Association, Inc. hopes to renovate the home and grounds for the enjoyment of the community and many generations to come.

Here are the current photos. It was heartbreaking to see the current state of the home. As you can see, it has a long road ahead. The last remaining child lived on the property until a few years back but she lived in the groundskeeper's home so the main house fell into quite a state of disrepair. 
 
 the front of the house


 
front with view of veranda on the left



 
This is my ballroom. It turns out it's one big room that was used as a playroom.

Beautiful ironwork around the veranda


 
 

 
the front entrance
 Back stairs from the second floor that lead to the kitchen
 



Dining room built ins





Back stairs

 
Many of the original doors and fixtures were stolen by vandals

 
This is the exact paneling that was in my parents' family room when I moved in!

This makes me cry

 
 
 
 

View to the back of the house

 
Steepest and shortest steps ever.
Can't believe I didn't flip flop down on top of the woman in front of me.
 
Bedroom view. The creek is off to the right.


 

 
the barn

the groundskeeper's house

rear of the barn
 
 



Check out this short little power line pole. It was about 6' tall.
 
I don't care what anyone says. I see the Christmas tree in the corner. Don't you?



Wanna see my junk in the trunk?

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

I'm not even going to beat around the bush on this one. Every year, I have a garage sale and every year, I say NEVER again.

I did it. Okay?

There I said it.
 
Well, I guess this year was a little different but only by location.
 
A few weeks ago, I was stopped at a traffic light and I glanced over at the electronic billboard sign outside of city hall. It flashed from one topic to another.
 
Concert in the Park - Sunday, June 23
 
One day trash pick up delay - Thursday, July 4
 
Junk in the Trunk Community Wide Garage Sale, Greenwood Farm - Saturday, July 13
 
Did someone say garage sale??
 
At first I thought that it would just be something fun to attend but then I talked to my friend, Angela, and we decided we should set up a table. You remember, Angela. She's my hoarder's house, flea market, garage sale, tree lawn picker partner. She refinishes furniture and I look for vintage items to resell so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to hawk some of our wares. Unlike my sign on the corner and half-inch ad in the local paper, this sale was being promoted on the news, radio and newspapers so we just knew we would make a killing!
 
In fact, since I already have a PayPal account, I upgraded my phone and ordered a free card reader so that we could accept credit cards. Oh my gosh! It was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel!
 
Yeah...not so much.
 
The sale started at 9:00 but for some reason, we were required to be there at 7AM.
 
Yes.
 
7 freakin' AM.
 
I knew that would require me to wake up by at least 5:30 so that I could take the dogs out, feed them and double check that my car was packed and ready to go. I trieeeedddd going to sleep early but it just didn't happen and I ended up only getting about 5 hours of sleep.
 
We had loaded up two cars but we were only allowed to keep one in our designated space so the other (mine) had to be unloaded to allow for the other vendors to set up. The man who was directing the traffic was very adamant about me unloading quickly and moving my car. Well, Chrissy on 5 hours of sleep doesn't respond well to being told what to do and I looked over at Angela and she was raising her right arm up and down slowly at me and saying, "Chrissy....."
 
You know, like when someone is pointing a gun and they tell them, "Put the gun down....put it doooownnnn."
 
We started to set up our table and display our stuff when this woman in her late 60's came over and introduced herself.
 
"Hi Ladies! I'm Sherry. I just wanted to be friendly since we'll be next to each other all day."
 
"So Sherry," I say. "Did you participate last year? Was it really busy?"
 
"Oh yes! It was wonderful! You girls are going to love it!"
 
I looked at Angela and we were both really excited that we weren't going to have to pack all this stuff up at the end of the day because it was going to sell!
 





 
 
We got our first small sales of the day right away and that was encouraging. But then we noticed that lots of people were coming to our space but they were just kind of glancing at things. I don't know about you, but when I go to flea markets or garage sales, I dig through stuff, hold things up and make sure that there isn't anything I'm missing.
 
That wasn't happening.
 
There was a decent amount of traffic but there weren't a lot of shoppers. Except for this one guy. He was on the hunt for vintage pieces and he kept walking past with loads of things to take to the car and then coming back. It was a hot day and we even noticed that he must have gone home to change his sweat stained clothes before he made another trek around the grounds.
 
Sherry was talking loudly on her flip phone to someone that she was going to go "meet at the gate". It looked like Sherry was going have a helper. This older late 60's woman joined her and Sherry pointed out a table that Angela had redone. Admittedly, it's a color and style that you either really love or really hate. We've listed it on eBay and Etsy for $75 but Angela priced it at $40 hoping for a quick sale.
 
 
Helper woman walked over, asked me how much the table was and when I told her, turned to Sherry and muttered, "Never!"
 
The rest of the day she was known as the C-word. She scowled at everything, bitched about the heat and threw daggers our way if we were laughing too loud. We decided that she must be employed in a nursing home where she surely abused the patients. Later we found out that she worked for an answering service so it appeared that the only abuse she doled out was over the phone.
 
 
This is C-word
 
We sat in the hot sun for almost 8 hours for what turned out to be a pittance. So I walked to the back of the property to retrieve my car, sweat pouring down my face and almost got into a fist fight with a man who insisted that I was parked too close to him. Hot and crabby Chrissy might be slightly worse than tired Chrissy.
 
Greenwood Farm holds the oldest remaining house in the city, built in 1908 and I've been fascinated by it ever since I was a little girl. When you drive down that section of Richmond Road, you pass bungalow after ranch after bungalow. And then you see the Greenwood Farm house sitting back 1000 feet from the road, rising up in all its three-story glory. Every time we drove by, I would ask my father, "Who lives there? Can we go visit?" And every time, he said he didn't know so we couldn't go visit.
 
One of the "perks" of the Junk in the Trunk sale that I looked forward to the most was the opportunity to tour the home. I'll share it with you on Saturday in C Cleveland.
 
This time, I SWEAR, I am never participating in or having another garage sale!
 
Until next time...
 
 

Monday Morning Beagle

Monday, July 15, 2013

 
 
 
 
Check out my new fan. Another beagle for the pack!

Secondhand Sunday

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Sundays are my Secondhand day. I'm basically too lazy to think of anything new to say so I re-post a "vintage" entry.

If you aren't in the mood for repeats, please feel free to change the channel.


"No match.com"


Original Post Date, January 25, 2011


Okay, so I haven't given you an update on my Match.com adventure because there's really not much to tell.

Online dating is still online dating. It's the bar scene of the new millenium.

As you know, my goal wasn't to find a relationship but to just get out there and casually date. Apparently, I was barking up the wrong man tree because it seemed like every guy I dated wanted way more than I did. I have to admit, it feels weird to be on the opposite end of this equation. I'm used to being the one who wants a relationship and being told that they don't.

Nice guys I met aside, let me give you a sample of what I had to choose from:


BACHELOR #1

52-year-old man
Beachwood, Ohio, United States
seeking women 18-35
within 50 miles of Beachwood, Ohio, United States
Relationships: Never Married
Have kids: Yes, and they live at home (1)
Want kids: Definitely
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian


I am a tall handsome sub looking for mommy to serve and take care of every day any way she needs. I am tied up now and want to be set free. please mommy come rescue me. I love displine and need a lot of correction from my new mommy.

Fine women that are married with kids or women that love cheating on men or only looking sex.

As you can see, he's so anxious, he didn't even have time to correct his grammar.


BACHELOR #2
40-year-old man
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
seeking women 18-50
within 50 miles of Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Relationships: Never Married
Have kids: No
Want kids: Someday
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian


healping police and ems any 911 call
love meet women on line going for walk with my dog talking on line to women

im a 40year old i live in cleveland ohio all my life
im a good man i love working for y self out my home i llove helping police ems fire that way i open a emergency service out my home i love to fine a woman that will speen her time get to no me beter and go from there togeter

I was really on the fence with this one because I do think it's important to speen time get to no someone.


BACHELOR #3
I got a wink from the Cleveland firefighter who was indicted for raping women he met on Match about 5 years ago. He was either cleared or he's finally out of prison. Luckily, when he emailed me 5 years ago, we went back and forth a few times online but I decided his ears were too big.

My shallowness probably saved me from a really bad situation.


I wasn't going to post pictures of men from Match but I'm just going to make some objective observations so you can understand my journey.


If you are 50, please post pictures of how you look TODAY, not when you were 25. I looked way better then, too, but c'mon, eventually people are gonna realize that's not how you look now. This guy says he's 48. Um, not in this picture. Don't his parents look thrilled?




Don't try to convince me that these are 6 months apart.






I feel bad for this man because it looks like all of his friends watched that video from The Ring and will be dead in 7 days.



What year is this? It looks like it was taken with a Kodak Instamatic.



This guy called me weird when I told him I thought he lived too far away.



I can't tell you how many of these there are. Don't you have a timer on your camera or a friend that could take a picture?



Hey, guy, you can crop people out, you know.



We get it. You have a stethoscope and a lab coat. Wait...don't tell me...are you a DOCTOR?



Sir, did you want to purchase a gym membership or not?



I think his name was Jason..


This last one is my favorite. I told my sister, Lisa, that some guy sent me a picture of his girly boobs and she scolded me, saying that he probably has a medical condition called Gynecomastia and that I shouldn't make fun of him.

I sent her this picture.





Lisa's response,"Whoa. Now those are some moobs!"

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