Beauty

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

Any kind of August is fine with me.  

For myself, I think I’ll be having an “Acceptable” August.  I think I’ve gotten to the point where I am realizing my abilities (far fewer than I had not long ago) and my limitations (more than before) and have become accepting of what kind of life I can, should, and (hopefully) will be able to have from here on in.  

Simplification is at the top of my list.  Which means sticking to limiting what comes in and not giving in to societal hype.  We’ve had some really nice weather this past week and I’ve actually felt like a normal human being again.  I haven’t realized just how much the weather here beats me down.  Anyway, just that one aspect sort of helped to open my eyes to what is important to me, what I need to do, and what I need to let go.

I still don’t understand the ‘why’ of my current situation, but I’m becoming accepting of it and I need to make the best of it.

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@geezerette 

Oooh.  How 'bout Acceptance August?  I've had to do a little "acceptance" myself these past couple months.  To accept doesn't mean to endorse, but it does put things into perspective and makes a situation manageable.

I like it!  A nice segue to September...

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@just bee 

Whatever strikes your fancy—you’re running this show.  Whatever you and the others decide is okey dokey with me.👌

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

@geezerette 

Forgot to mention that when we stopped by the pet supply store to pick up a new hedgehog toy for WGD, there was a dog in line behind us -- a Rottie.  A real looker.  When he got to the counter he stood up and put his paws on it, then smiled at everybody.

BH was cute.  He said: "There's Carla!"

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@just bee 

🤣

Carla’s cousin has a hedgehog toy.  Er, had a hedgehog toy.  Her mommy had the same stuffed toy through about six of her past Rotties.  But when it got to Carla’s cousin, well, it couldn’t survive. 

I had gotten Carla one when she was a puppy.  She loved it.  For all of the six minutes it took for her to completely destroy it. 😩

[geezerette]

@just bee 

How did your brick hunting go?

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

@geezerette 

Forgot to mention that when we stopped by the pet supply store to pick up a new hedgehog toy for WGD, there was a dog in line behind us -- a Rottie.  A real looker.  When he got to the counter he stood up and put his paws on it, then smiled at everybody.

BH was cute.  He said: "There's Carla!"

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@just bee 

🤣

Carla’s cousin has a hedgehog toy.  Er, had a hedgehog toy.  Her mommy had the same stuffed toy through about six of her past Rotties.  But when it got to Carla’s cousin, well, it couldn’t survive. 

I had gotten Carla one when she was a puppy.  She loved it.  For all of the six minutes it took for her to completely destroy it. 😩

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@geezerette 

Clearly a manufacturing flaw!  WGD is gentle with his toys and the first hedgehog split open almost immediately.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee 

How did your brick hunting go?

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@geezerette 

It's the small decisions that get me.  Like what to have for dinner.  Major decisions like choosing the brick that will determine most of our future decisions aren't that difficult.

We'll go with our first choice: The locally made (by bears) brick that we saw on the commercial property.  It looked so different compared to the sample board they gave us, so when we checked it out yesterday I brought the samples with us and held them up to the building.  Probably looked weird but it was a smart move.  I found that individual bricks on the building matched the sample bricks perfectly.  Even BH, who stayed in the car with WGD, saw the match.

I think we'll stick with the "old" instead of the "rustic."  They used rustic on the building and the texture is really dramatic.  It's sort of a combination of cream, peach, terra cotta, gray and charcoal.

The mortar color and shingle color will really make the difference.  We just have to figure out which color in the brick we want to highlight.

So different from our old brick.

[geezerette]

@just bee 

It sounds pretty!  I like “old”.  I like “rustic” too, but when I think of rustic, I think ‘mountain cabin’, not ‘subdivision’.  Good choice.👍

What’s that new color they’ve come up with lately—“greige”?  Kind of a combination of grey and beige?  Maybe you can find a mortar color that kind of combines the two.  Although mortar colors are somewhat limited.  And how they look after they’re actually on the house are often different than the samples.  Outside of a really dark color vs. a really light color they’re often indistinguishable except up very close.

Do you have any idea when the work of rebuilding might actually start?

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee 

It sounds pretty!  I like “old”.  I like “rustic” too, but when I think of rustic, I think ‘mountain cabin’, not ‘subdivision’.  Good choice.👍

What’s that new color they’ve come up with lately—“greige”?  Kind of a combination of grey and beige?  Maybe you can find a mortar color that kind of combines the two.  Although mortar colors are somewhat limited.  And how they look after they’re actually on the house are often different than the samples.  Outside of a really dark color vs. a really light color they’re often indistinguishable except up very close.

Do you have any idea when the work of rebuilding might actually start?

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@geezerette 

We're hoping to get a mortar that looks like wet sand.  When we were at the brick company there was brick with gray mortar and brick with buff mortar.  The brick looked very different depending on the mortar.  When we went out in the wild and looked at another brick, we noticed the mortar was brownish -- like wet sand.  If we can get that color, that would be fine.

Stopped by the house today and they're still taking it down.  There's a lot to remove and get into the dumpster.  But most of the walls are down.

Have no schedule.  Our friend, whose house was destroyed by a tornado in Missouri, got a detailed schedule from the contractor.  We have no clue.

[geezerette]

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@just bee wrote:

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee 

It sounds pretty!  I like “old”.  I like “rustic” too, but when I think of rustic, I think ‘mountain cabin’, not ‘subdivision’.  Good choice.👍

What’s that new color they’ve come up with lately—“greige”?  Kind of a combination of grey and beige?  Maybe you can find a mortar color that kind of combines the two.  Although mortar colors are somewhat limited.  And how they look after they’re actually on the house are often different than the samples.  Outside of a really dark color vs. a really light color they’re often indistinguishable except up very close.

Do you have any idea when the work of rebuilding might actually start?

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@geezerette 

We're hoping to get a mortar that looks like wet sand.  When we were at the brick company there was brick with gray mortar and brick with buff mortar.  The brick looked very different depending on the mortar.  When we went out in the wild and looked at another brick, we noticed the mortar was brownish -- like wet sand.  If we can get that color, that would be fine.

Stopped by the house today and they're still taking it down.  There's a lot to remove and get into the dumpster.  But most of the walls are down.

Have no schedule.  Our friend, whose house was destroyed by a tornado in Missouri, got a detailed schedule from the contractor.  We have no clue.

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@just bee 

Business as usual, I see. 😖

[geezerette]

Well, ain’t that a smack upside the head and another wake up call.  

Sales tax on all online and catalog/out of state orders now.  I know my state legislators have been screaming about this for some time, but I didn’t know that it must now be official.  Amazon had started collecting sales tax some time ago, but that didn’t really bother me because I don’t normally order much from them.  Zappos also did, and I was getting my fairly expensive shoes there, so I switched to the manufacturer’s site.  But now, my beloved L.L. Bean is charging sales tax too. 🙀  That’s a real kick in the gut.  And I got charged tax from some dinky little place out of state from a catalog order.

Another very good incentive to cut down on buying—everywhere.

Something to “accept” in August...and beyond.  ☹️👎

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

Well, ain’t that a smack upside the head and another wake up call.  

Sales tax on all online and catalog/out of state orders now.  I know my state legislators have been screaming about this for some time, but I didn’t know that it must now be official.  Amazon had started collecting sales tax some time ago, but that didn’t really bother me because I don’t normally order much from them.  Zappos also did, and I was getting my fairly expensive shoes there, so I switched to the manufacturer’s site.  But now, my beloved L.L. Bean is charging sales tax too. 🙀  That’s a real kick in the gut.  And I got charged tax from some dinky little place out of state from a catalog order.

Another very good incentive to cut down on buying—everywhere.

Something to “accept” in August...and beyond.  ☹️👎

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@geezerette 

Don't get me started.  Albuquerque's sales tax is almost 8% now.  Tax on alcohol here is astronomical.  They really think that if they tax alcohol people will stop drinking it.  Hey!  Maybe if you raise their taxes again people will stop tossing their booze bottles out the car window!

Every chance we get, voters vote themselves a tax hike.  Proof we're still drinking in this state.

Maybe they can start taxing the meth...