Rebecca Homecca

Hubs gave me the night off tonight and insisted I go to art class. I haven’t been in weeks so it was good times. I painted a really nice Iris painting. Time permitting I will post a picture later in the week. I also painted an avacado. They were both smaller in size so I was able to do 2 tonight.

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Today I went to a luncheon for Gilda’s Club at Meijer Gardens. My friend Pam volunteers there and was hosting a table. It was really interesting. I guess I just thought it was for people dealing with breast cancer. But it actually is support for people with all kinds of cancer. The most amazing thing they do is the support of the families of people dealing with cancer. They really focus on the children of people who have been diagnosed. I can’t imagine trying to explain to your children what you are going through and also making sure their needs are taken care of. They have a lot of programs for kids of all ages. Several members made videos talking about how Gilda’s Club has helped them. The kids repeated the same message in different words. It made me feel like a regular person again.

It was really amazing.

I also found out they are only funded by donations. They don’t get any government grants. You can do what you want with that information.

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When I come down to sit on the couch the cat often hops up and stands where I was just about to sit. He did that tonight, but I did not see him. I lean back and I am like “What is wrong with the pillow?” So I am smashing up against what I thought was a pillow trying to get the lumps out. Nope.

It was the cat.

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I will leave you with that. I am going to go try and watch some AI before I find out who got the boot.

We opted out of working on the new house Tuesday night. I think hubs felt sorry for me. I am running out of steam. I was sleeping when he got home from work. Which is pretty impressive since he usually gets home10 minutes or so after me.

But also, the laundry mountain was taking over the basement and the rest of the house was getting kind of trashed out. That’s what happens when you are home only long enough to heat up some sort of pre-cooked meal, then go work until you can’t stand up anymore, only to come home and crash, hoping you will have the strength to get out bed in the morning.

Which I did not have on Monday. I was an hour and a half late for work. I had a feeling when I went to bed Sunday night that 8:00 probably wasn’t going to happen. But you can’t really call and say you slept in late at midnight.

So I called and my girl Kim answered the phone. I just said “I’m running a little behind today.”

So it’s kind of a night off, but hubs mowed the lawn and I cleaned up a little and got the laundry done. The cat was stuck to me like glue. Poor fella. He is so lonely.

Last Friday we took the night off and went to see Arena Football with our friend Squarepants (since he was the one with the free passes!). We had a good time. We used to go to games all the time, but our team has been in a re-building season for like the past eight years. So, we kind of stopped going. They are still not very good. Our team won, but as hubs pointed out, someone has to win. We missed the pre-game festivities, which is kind of a bummer. They have fireworks INSIDE. Who doesn’t love that?

Now, I would like to discuss the obscene price on the pop. $3 for a 20 oz bottle. THREE DOLLARS. It was not listed anywhere on the sign so… We ordered a couple of hot dogs (I don’t remember how much those were, but I am guessing more than they were worth. My bun was hard. Really you can’t get fresh buns for a game??) and hubs ordered a pop.

Then he turns to me and says “Do you want your own drink?”

I ask the guy “How much is the pop?”

THREE DOLLARS.

Um, no thanks.

While I fully expected it to be overpriced, I really feel like THREE DOLLARS is an obscene amount for pop. Even at two dollars, while they would still be taking advantage of me, I would not be so offended by the price. I mean, what am I, at Cedar Point?

It was family night, which made this price even more obnoxious. Can you imagine buying snacks for your kids at those rates?

Well, I guess Sally and Suzy can share a pop. Hmmm, Sorry Junior, maybe next time.

I did something today that I pledged I would NEVER do.

I bought those pre-grilled, pre-sliced chicken breasts.

I know. Total waste of money. It’s one of those foods that I am morally opposed to. Along with those frozen peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Honestly, it takes like one minute to make a real sandwich on real bread.

However, it takes like five minutes to grill a chicken breast, another couple to slice it. So the justification begins!

I had intended to make chicken for some other meal, and use the leftovers on pizza. However, that other meal never happened and Frankly, the thought of grilling and slicing a chicken breast makes me tired. I’m all about fast and easy right now. Time & energy are both at a premium.

And so my downward spiral begins. What’s next? That microwave mac & cheese?

In the interest of full disclosure, I also have to tell you that I bought Mashed Potatoes that you put in the microwave. But I have had those before and they are quite good. And only take a couple minutes.

I also bought a tub of LLoyds, which you also microwave. But I don’t, even in the best of times, have the energy to shred pork.

I am looking forward to the day when I can make a real meal. I figure at least “homemade” convenience food is cheaper than eating out all the time.

Yesterday was an incredibly long day. I think we got started around 9 am and got home just before midnight. We made lots of progress though. Hubs got the floor just about done, he just has a little finishing work to do this morning. I got his office painted (2 coats). It turned out a little more Green Apple than Sage, but it looks good. We both agreed, once the white trim goes in, that room will be sharp! I also got both coats of the orange on. It was tedious going around the cabinets but it looks really good. And I LOVE my orange wall in the dining room.

We had to make 3 trips in to town (Ha! I get to say ‘going in to town’ now!), which slowed progress some. I made the first one, because we forgot something at home. We both went in for the second one because we ran out of flooring. Apparently, taking measurements from memory and doing math in your head are not a good idea. Turns out we needed almost twice as much as I thought. Hubs made the last trip in to rent the floor sander.

And that brings us to today. Sanding the floor. I am in charge of the little sander to get into the corners, etc. Hubs will be driving the big sander. We refinished the living room here at the old house, so at least we have some practice.

Off to another long day!

Farmer’s Wife calls a post about a bunch of random things Sweeping out the Kitchen. I love the idea so much I stole borrowed it! Except I changed it up a little, and I calling it Cleaning out the closet (goodness knows there is a bunch of random stuff in there!). So here we go, in no particular order.

First-I just watched this weeks AI and can we talk about David Cook here a minute!!???!! Who knew he could sing like that!? I agree with Simon, I too prefer his edgier, more rockin’ stuff. However, I was beyond impressed that someone who can rock out like he does can also pull off a song like that! He truly could sing the phone book.

Next- Hubs is home! Yeah!! I can sleep again!

B. -House update! I got the Light Copper portions of the house finished last night. Next is the darker orange accent wall in the dining room and around the kitchen cupboards. I am excited for that! Hubs has been laying the hardwood floor yesterday and today. It was slow going yesterday because he had to do some tear out and he was working in the hallway (tedious!). I have not seen it yet, but it sounded like he got a lot more done today. I can’t wait! My awesome parents have been putting up light fixtures and changing out plugs and switches. So that has been a big help. Mom pulled the staples out of the floor so that hubs could put down the wood. BIG help on that one!

12. No work on the house tonight because our friend Squarepants got passes to Arena Football. Stories to follow!

Last but not least-I saw some people were heading to the dollar store to try out the denture cleaner. Let me know how it works out!

Here is a tip from Becky’s mom, the Original Rebecca Homecca.

Mom has been out helping us clean in the new house. Since the house had been empty for an extended period of time (and the people were pigs) the toilets were all rusted in the bowl and tank.  I had cleaned the toilets just enough to make the usable, but had not gone to work on the rust and such.

So the other day Mom got the toilets sparkling clean.  They look brand new (except for the seats, which are cracked).

Her secret – denture cleaning tablets (from the dollar store). Yep, those things that take the stains off fake teeth, also take stains out of your toilets! Just drop one in, let it soak a while, scrub with a brush and there you have it!  Clean toilets!

There is an end in sight to all the painting and it is looking really great. I got the first coat on the dining room/hall/entry today.

So anyway, now that you are all caught up on where we are, lets talk COLOR. If you have been to our current house, the colors in the new are very similar. And by similar I mean exactly the same.

Well, not exactly the same, there are some differences.

Our current living room is Winter Wheat (yellowish) and our new living room is Winter Wheat. Ok, that is exactly the same…

Our current kitchen/dining room is Light Copper (orangish) and our new dining room and 1 wall in the kitchen (and the hall & entry) are Light Copper…yes the same. However, we are mixing it up this time, the walls where the cupboards are will be Laredo (kind of a terra cotta) and there will be an accent wall in the dining room of that color also.

SEE! DIFFERENT!

Our current bedroom is gold with a burgundy accent wall (I can’t remember the names). Our new bedroom with be all gold, not the same exact one, but close (no accent wall, totally different!).

We have changed out the guest bedroom from light taupe to medium tan. Big Change there.

Our current bathroom is a sage green. Since our new house has blue countertop, we will not be able to do green in there. I am going to miss my white and green bathroom a little. It is so fresh and relaxing.

So, since there will be no green bathroom, we are painting Hub’s office sage green (it is currently tan). I don’t have a color chosen for the bathroom yet because I want to choose a floor first. So it will be lovely Primer White for a while.

I am sure you are wondering why we chose the same colors for our new house as the old house. I am sure you are saying “wouldn’t you want something new and different?” You would think so, but turns out no. I love the colors in my house. I thought about a different color for the living room, but I just could not find anything I liked better.

I had planned on doing a dark orange/light orange combo for the kitchen and dining room. I chose the dark color first and pulled a bunch of light orange to choose from. It was a total fluke that I chose the same one. I guess I know what I like!

Hubs favorite color is green so he called dibs on that. I was considering it for the guest room, but after discussing it we decided it might be better to be more neutral in there. I had originally chosen that tan for our bedroom to lighten it up a little. But after discussing it, we decided kind of like the cozy feeling a darker color gives us for our room. So the guest bedroom got the tan.

Since we have some down time (what’s that?) today I have been catching up on American Idol. I watched the Inspirational Week (BORING!) and Mariah Carey Week.

My first thought when I heard they were have MC week, was Don’t they always tell people NOT to sing Mariah and Whitney?

I have to talk about David Cook’s performance of Always Be My Baby. As the show progressed (with some lack luster results) I thought How on earth is David Cook going to pull off a Mariah Carey song?

Well, he did and it was awesome. They best of the night BY FAR. Honestly, if that does not become a single, there is something wrong in this world. I think because it was so different it worked. The girls especially try to hard to be Mariah, and let’s face it, that’s not happening. I am not a fan of her music, but there is no denying her singing ability.

I thought Jason did a good job too. Oh, and speaking of, I Loved, Loved, Loved, his performance of Over the Rainbow on Inspirational Night.

I heard on NPR today that the lead singer from Fountains of Wayne is working on the music for the Broadway adaptation of John Waters Cry Baby. Which struck me as odd, but then they also said that he also won an Oscar for the music in That Thing You Do. Really? The same guy that wrote Stacy’s Mom???

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I heard a statistic that China will be using about 1/2 the world’s coal. They were also discussing how terrible the equipment they use is and how we are all going to die or something from all the pollution.

So my question is this – Why did I just buy $8 lightbulbs if China is just going to ruin the planet anyway?

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