Another off the bucket list

I almost died.

So for a couple of months now, my hair straightener has been going in and out. It won't stay on for any extended period of time. Sometimes it doesn't come on at all. It's a real pain in the butt especially since my hair is getting longer. And if you aren't familiar with my hair first thing in the morning, it's a scary, scary sight. It's been in a messy, throw-back to high school bun for the past month. I tried to do my hair the other day and it was completely unsuccessful. The thing only stayed on long enough for me to do the pieces near my face, not even long enough to touch the craziness in the back. So I logged on to amazon to buy one and saw a review about how their straightener was shorting out. That's what I thought was happening with mine. Well, the reviewer also posted steps to fixing it. Sweet. Because I had thought if I could just get the damn thing open I might be able to tighten up a wire or two and fix the problem. And save us $70 (and that's a cheap price for one of these....usually over $100. But spread that over the three+ years I've had this last one). I break out the mini screwdrivers from the drill head set and the drill and a couple of full size screw drivers just in case. I say this like I had a plan and gathered everything up but in reality it was more like 15 trips between the tool kit and the computer.

I'm humming along nicely. I get the plate off holding the cord, get the cord out, see some wires that look promising. Only they look too good. Like there's nothing wrong with them. But that's okay because I'm really after the switchboard under the switch. I pry off the covers for the hinge and de-hinge the thing. (That may have involved a drill, gigantic screwdriver, my knees, and some cuss words). Finally all that is standing between me and my faulty switchboard are two teeny tiny screws. First out pretty easy and them onto the second. STRIPPED. screw. I worked on that stupid screw for ten solid minutes with at least ten different tools. Nothing. Notta. Crap-ola. Maybe I could just pry it open. Fail. Well, maybe jiggling the wires and prying everything kind of open made it work. Like how kicking things can make it work. So I put the cord back in and go plug it in to see if it works. Nope. I pull the cord out of the straightener. Keep in mind, it is still plugged into the wall. Then I decide to put the cord back into the straightener. WIthout unplugging it from the wall. Now, I can check being electrocuted off my bucket list. After the shock wore off (pun? or just the truth?) I threw the whole stupid thing, stripped screw included, in the trash and hit purchase on amazon. A girl needs a present after almost dying you know.

Now taking applications

It's a sad sad day here in the Winfield house. My roommate just moved out. Now who am I going to get to mow the yard, take care of the dogs, and most importantly make coffee in the morning.

So any roommate seekers....apply here. You must be able to fix toilets, mow yards, do dishes, feed dogs, make coffee, watch That 70s show, and perform miscellaneous tasks to the best of your ability. Rent's cheap.

The story of MIA

Because I am such a regular blogger type you may have noticed I have been MIA. Well, technically I wasn't really missing because people knew where I was. And now we get to look at the pictures to prove I was where I say I was. Because I was.

When we were growing up, about every other summer we, grandparents included, would pile in cars and caravan to Oak Island, NC. I'm not sure if this is the Outer Banks or not. Mainly because I'm unaware of what is and where are the Outer Banks. But we would drive and drive and drive and finally meet our FL cousins there and a bunch of friends they grew up with in VA. (BTW, I'm also quizzing you on state abbreviations. Good luck!) A whole week was spent jumping waves and laying out on the beach. At least the rest of the family spent a whole week doing that. I was usually burnt by Day 3 and would spend the rest of the time reading on the porch or in the AC. Alas, that is the exciting life of a redhead.

Anyway, it had been about ten or eleven years since our last trip. Funny how the trip out there was basically the same. We just had more drivers. We even played the ABC Billboard game where you find words that start with each letter of the alphabet. Of course, we always get stuck on X (along with a few others like K...don't ask me why K is so hard to find.) I told my sister it was one of my life goals to find the word xylophone on a billboard. So much so I thought we should buy a billboard and paint xylophone on it just to help out the ABC Billboard game players everywhere. Well, lo and behold, look what we found.

Yes, that says 'xylophone.' Yes, that's Dillon's car. Thanks to the sneaky text messaging of my sister I can now cross that off my bucket list. It was awesome. I should also note that this happened during the only two or three hours I drove the entire trip. Us Harris women don't drive, we're driven.

After a long two days, a kinda sketchy hotel, and a huge bag of Twizzlers, we finally made it. Let's just say we were all paying for that first night the next day. Evidenced by the fact we thought it was necessary to take multiple shots of people wearing sun hats.

And such good shots at that. No one can say we aren't one photogenic family.

This was a regular occurrence on our front porch. I know I was shocked too. I didn't know Abbey could read. She said she just learned last year. Sidenote, we all get houses close to each other usually instead of staying all together. Ours was the furthest away but the best. Nice view, no? Oh you need a better look. Okay.

Nice, huh? Oh about awesome. That is my one of my favorite adjectives.

Joplin loved the water once she got used to the waves. Dad would throw sticks and she would swim out to get it. If there was someone out in the water, she wanted them to hold her though. She's a big baby.

We also discovered that she hates HATES black dogs. She's a racist. She ended up dragging Mom, Abbey, and a lawn chair down the beach at one point. The whole time Mom is screaming, "She just wants to play." If the dog's owner could have heard Mom over Joplin's ferocious, not happy barks, I'm sure she would have believed her. So Joplin spent a lot of time like this:

Bound by the stinking leash. That was also influenced by the leash laws they had on the beach. Which Dad was reminded of on multiple occasions by a crotchety old man and a six year old little girl whenever he chose to release the beast. Notice Abbey has no real responsibility over Joplin. As usual.

We always have a theme for each beach trip and a costume cocktail party at some point. This year's theme was Under the Sea. Apocalypse was a runner up but no one could read the Mayan calendar so we had to pass. Half the fun is trying to figure out what people are going to be before the party.

I was pollution. Thank goodness for Abbey's sea dress and a recycling bin.

Dillon was the Bermuda triangle. We both decided on our costumes about 45 minutes until the party. You can be impressed.

The cousins and aunt. Or a wave, high tide, and the sea goddess.

But the best costumes, by far, were these jellyfish. Because when they walked down to the beach they turned into this...

I hope you can see the tentacles too. Mom still can't quit talking about it. BTW, Mom and Dad were there too. I'm just too lazy to upload more pictures. Though I have quite a few of Mom doing Zumba. Those will be used as needed for leverage. Dad's costume of a sand dollar was pretty impressive too. Impressive because he participated.

However, all being said, the beach life is a hard life.

A thug life.

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

Talked to Rick last night and, before I knew what I was doing, I blurted out "painting the bathrooms" when he asked what I was going to do today. That's what I get for talking to him in the middle of the night.

Luckily, that's what Dillon got too. The sweet job of rolling. And of accompanying me to Lowe's. I think I can outlast any guy in my family at Lowe's. I can't be in and out of there in under an hour. No way.

We just continued the same color as the rest of the house, just in a different finish. We're adventurous like that. The picture below probably shows the color best.

Gee, I'm handy. Lucky for Rick, I'm getting all the crappy house stuff done before he gets back. He'll probably be disappointed there's nothing left to paint. Too bad, Rick, too bad.

And that's how you spend a lazy 3.5 hours on a Saturday afternoon. Especially when it is 7 billion degrees outside.

*Sidenote, my painting clothes include a shirt from some place with the slogan "Who's your paint guy?" I thought it was especially appropriate.

** Second Sidenote, just realized all of my painting clothes, shirt and shorts, at one time were Abbey's. Thanks, sis.

Manly Men

Not only am I drinking my coffee black like a real man, I'm posting pictures of me doing manly construction type stuff, too. Like a real man. Who uses craft supplies to draw straight lines and complains about how heavy the saw is after cutting six inches. A real man I tell you. I'm even wearing my own work gloves. That I didn't even know I owned.

I had to post two pictures of myself to capture all the awesomeness.

Okay, Dad helped a little. Though all the tools are mine....like that heavy duty staple gun he is using. Mine.

After only a few dizzy spells caused by the swell Arkansas heat combined with not drinking any water (you don't drink water when you are doing real men's work), all finally resulted in this:

I just realized you probably don't know what it looked like before. Just imagine a black pit of despair without the lattice containing all the despair.

See that sad dog on top of the stairs? She is crying because I took away her mud/dirt bath area. Now she's going to have to pay top dollar to go to the spa for her treatments. So sad. Try not to be envious of my backyard oasis. I know it looks really lush.

Obviously, I probably should put some trim along there and maybe some plants. But I need to drink some more black coffee and do some more manly things before I start to accomplish that. And maybe wait for a day when the temperature isn't in the high 90s.

Rick, I'll teach you how to be really manly when you get back. It will take lots of practice but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it.