My Home Redux

Ideas!

My daughter won her match in a tennis tournament last night. Great! Unfortunately, extended rains on wiped out the matches today. So while I had planned to visit a Cavalcade of Homes today to get ideas for future newsletters, I ended up staying at home checking hourly updates on the tennis tournament postponements. I'm very bummed. Although I hate to admit it, I need more ideas of what you want to learn about each week. So please email me at myhomeredux at aol dot com (read that out loud so I don't get hit with tons of spam) with ideas and suggestions that you want to learn about in the weekly issues of My Home Redux.

Best Tennis Match Ever

I've had a very busy weekend with a Fourth of July party and my daughter playing in a tennis tournament on Saturday, but today we relaxed. And watched the men's final at Wimbledon. Not to age myself too much, but I grew up in the era of the Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe duels - great tennis of contrasting styles and personalities. But I think the best match I've ever seen was today's battle between defending champion Roger Federer and challenger Rafael Nadal. Not only was it one of the longest - if not THE longest - tennis match at Wimbledon, but it was extraordinarily close at 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. At one point, late in the fifth and final set, they were equally matched with having won 178 points each. That's incredible. Although, if I remember correctly, there were two service breaks (where the server loses the game) early in the match, there were was only one other in the second to last game in the final set. Unbelievable. It was truly a match where it was a shame someone had to "lose", but we had been pulling for Nadal as the underdog and because he's my daughter's favorite.  If you are a tennis fan, it was truly a historic championship.

Illinois Earthquake Rocks My World ... Literally

I'm sleeping peacefully Friday morning when something wakes me up. I think it was my dogs getting restless in their kennels by my bed. Then I hear the furniture rattling and notice the house and bed shaking. Was it the wind?  No.  Was it thunder?  No.  The only logical explanation was an earthquake. It seemed to last a long time but I guessed it was only 30 seconds. I was the only one in the house - other than the dogs apparently - to wake up.  It was weird, frightening, and kind of cool all at the same time. 

People asked me what it was like. My best description was a giant lightly shaking the house. Or someone under the bed rattling the frame - but yet the walls and furniture were rocking too.  After the worst stopped, and I could no longer hear the furniture, I could still feel something. It was very subtle, but the only was I can describe it, was small, gentle waves - a bit like floating in a pool. Then that stopped too. Since I heard no crashes, pops, or cracks, I went back to sleep.  I did check out things around the house when I got up but  found no damage.

I immediately went online to see if it really was an earthquake. Yep. At least I wasn't crazy.  When I told my family, my oldest son thought I was teasing him and making it all up. Then I think he regretted not feeling it. My daughter was just glad it didn't make her late for school. My husband said it would take more than that to wake him up - and he's right! In any case, it certainly made for an interesting start of the day.

For the Love of a Dog

As my newsletter readers know, I've been thinking about a site for dog lovers - a place to share stories of our beloved canine companions. After weeks of thinking, I finally got to doing.  I still don't have the nice, easy to remember site link yet, but the site is up. Take a look at My Favorite Dog Tails here.  Add a comment or drop me an email if you have a favorite dog story to tell.  I start out with my first dog's story - Barney - pictured above.

What is wrong with people these days?

On Friday, as my son was waiting for the bus to go home, a mom of another student at the school came up to him and started yelling at him angrily. A teacher witnessed it and apparently the principal called this woman. I only have a message from the principal and will talk to her on Monday. Unfortunately, this is the second time this woman has done this. Last time, it was at the end of summer at the church where my kids go after school and during summer break.  That time she followed him into the bathroom. Her son jumped on mine and then blamed my son for hurting him when they both fell.  Apparently, she held some grudge from when these two boys were in day care, younger than five. Maybe my son stole her son's blocks as a toddler, but come on. She's never talked to me or a teacher. Her son is in a younger grade. My son said he forgot the kid even went to the school, but saw him outside on Thursday. The other boy glared at my son who walked away wondering what the kid's problem was. Since she has done this twice now, seemingly over a toddler incident years ago, I really think this lady is off the deep end. Not knowing what exactly I should do, I went to the police and filed a documented report of both incidents. I'll talk to the principal more on Monday and decide whether to talk to the mom. Maybe I should have done that the last time, but since they weren't coming back for the school year, I thought to just let it drop.  Since my son has done nothing wrong, and other than to chew her out, why do I call her? The police did say that the juvenile officer could go to talk with her and maybe that would wake her up that you don't come up and accost children.  I must say I am pretty disturbed by this and confused as to how to prevent it in the future.

This is why I can't get my drapes done ...

More than three years ago, I bought beautiful fabric to make window treatments in my dining room. It's still on the bolt. I have no time to make these. So I checked at the store where I bought the material to see if they could refer someone to sew them for me. They can do it. For one set of windows (3 windows wide), it will cost about $1000.  That doesn't even include the cost of the fabric I bought.  This may be a great deal for custom drapes, but I know I can do it myself because I've made drapes many times before. Heck, it would be cheaper for me to take a day off work without pay to make them than to pay that much. I'm sure I could hunt around for a cheaper option, but then if I spent that time sewing, I might actually get the drapes made. Now, I'm trying to decide if I have a vacation day to spare and when I would take it make these window treatments.  I'll let you know what I decide. Just don't be surprised if there's no update for another three years. [smile]

Help me name my next blog

If you have been on My Home Redux before, or receive my newsletter, you know I'm a dog lover. And dog rescuer in that the three dogs I have owned have been rescued in some way or another.  I also love reading the stories about other's dogs. I just finished Rescuing Sprite. I laughed, cried, and was inspired. So I'm going to develop another blog and website where I share dog tales (get it, like dog tails) about my dogs and invite others to share theirs too.  But I need a name.  Here are the options. Help me narrow down the choices:
www.bestdogtales.com
www.favoritedogtales.com
www.myfavoritedogtales.com

Or suggest one of your own. These names are available but I'm open to any good suggestion. Just reply in the comments or send me an email.

(For those that don't know, Bella is the light colored dog, and Chief is the darker one with his arm/leg holding Bella. Sweet, huh.)

Laser Tag Target

Today was my middle child's tenth birthday party. We hosted 12 boys to two games of laser tag. My husband and I joined in the melee because, well, basically, we're still kids at heart despite what our birth certificate says.  In the second game, the boys decided to gang up on the parents. 12 - 2 are NOT good odds, even if you are older, wiser, and more strategic.  I ran for cover for 20 minutes straight, working up a sweat. I started off strong, finding a sniper perch to hide in on the second level. I took out someone's laser from across the room and was awarded with the cry, "Supergirl, where are you?"  That was my code name. But one boy decided to follow me nearly the entire time, shooting my vest continually. I told him, "Come on, Jimmy, that's not really fair."  He said, "I don't care, I'm going to win." Even telling him that was more like cheating didn't stop the onslaught. He won. I sweated. And am now thoroughly exhausted.  Maybe I am too old for children's games ... but they are still fun, even sweaty!

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I was tricked Halloween morning.  As my sons went out for the bus, they yelled, "Mom, there's a raccoon in your car."  Sure enough, there it was, cowering in fear on top of my dash. Amazingly, the car was locked. How did this critter get inside?  Through a series of "who would have thought it" events.  First, for Halloween we had a haunted maze in our garage so we couldn't park inside. Second, after taking my sons out the night before, one apparently didn't shut the door, and I didn't notice. Third, when my husband came home late after a business dinner, he thoughtfully shut the open door as to not run down the battery. Too late. Being locked in scared the little devil senseless. He pooped and peed all over. Tore up the weatherstripping around the doors and windows and ripped the ceiling upholstery to shreds. He also created some damage to the side door fabric panels. Fortunately, he left the seats alone. Insurance is covering all of it. Body shops also repair the inside of cars. (Learn something new every day.)  But next Halloween, I'll take the treat, thank you very much. Preferably peanut M&Ms!

Halloween Crazy

As I've mentioned many times, Halloween is a big deal at the Lohmeiers. I've been a bit behind the eight-ball this year, but I finally got my decorations up.  I am in charge of the "pretty" decorations such as pumpkins, cornstalks, lights, leaves, candles, etc. My husband manages the scary stuff - moving zombies, sound effects, ghosts. Each year he adds more stuff in the front, in the back yard, even a haunted maze in the garage. This scary clown is one of our latest editions this year. It's set up with a motion detector strobe light - sure to scare trick-or-treaters.