Life Lessons

My first real job was with McDonalds. I had other jobs in college that included working in a clothing store and a sit down restaurant. While I learned many things at these jobs (how to clean a shake machine, how to make change, how to remove those annoying things on clothes that set off the alarm if you try to walk out), but the biggest thing I can say that I learned was "clean as you go"...you know that idea of cleaning things up as you complete a job rather than stack things up and end up with a big, nasty mess. 

Sadly, as an adult, I'm struggling to remember this one simple lesson. Now, I am very good at cleaning my house when I am planning on having company, but normally I am admittedly disgusting...not like hoarder living in my own filth disgusting, but college frat house or maybe Amerca's Next Top Model house disgusting. I freely admit this and warn anybody to give me a couple hours warning before dropping by (partly to mad dash clean the house and partly to make certain that I have showered and dressed). 

I was reminded today that I must commit myself to cleaning as I go. I was noticing and odd odor wafting from the kitchen and noted that I hadn't cleaned the dishes in the sink for quite some time and something in the sink had turned. Therefore, I was forced to first unload the dishwasher (I habitually just get dishes out of there when needed rather than unloading it) and then load it all back up, get some sink cleaner and scrub down the sink, and then run a disposal deodorizer. There is now a pleasant citrus smell wafting rather than the stench of death coming from the kitchen...how long do we think this will last? 

The dishwasher did just finish running, if I were smart, I would hop up off the couch right now and unload it so that I can then put dirty dishes in the machine as they are used rather than stacking then in the sink...bets on whether that will actually happen?

Hermit's Log

I am excited to report that I am only a few random acts away from securing the title of "Weird Neighborhood Lady".

Yesterday, I decided to try and clear the sidewalk in front of my house of snow so that it would be "safe". Mind you, I didn't bother to do anything to provide safety in front of my house last week when we were iced in and the sidewalks were probably truly dangerous. 

So you may be asking yourself, aside from my choice of what form of precipitation requires clearing, does this action go towards my hopeful title.... Well, first, I didn't actually wait for the snow to stop therefore all of my work was quickly voided by Mother Nature. Second, I used a broom; yes, I swept my stoop, the sidewalk in front of my house, and about half of the sidewalk in front of my neighbor's house...if did a pretty good job since the snow wasn't real sticky, and heavy. Third, I did this work while dressed in yoga pants, a t-shirt, my dad's quilted flannel shirt, and slip on shoes with no socks...I basically looked homeless. 

Admittedly, I did have a purpose for clearing the sidewalk, I wanted it to be clear for the pizza delivery guy...yeah, I'm not willing yo get out on slick roads but I have very few qualms about paying somebody else to do it just so I can have one last hurrah of unhealthy sustenance before March 1, which is when I join a gym and start (again) with a course of whole foods in preparation for getting in good shape for my family's trip to Alaska in the summer. 

The next question I have to ask myself, though, is what can I do to amp up the weirdness so that I can clench the title....must ponder. 

Christmas Decorations

While driving through the neighborhood today, I've started to notice that decorations are going up. I'm sure they are lovely at night when they are all on and going strong, but at 10 am they are just a little sad. I call this yard "Christmas Character Mass Murder Scene". 

Too morbid?

Walking the Dog

I am currently lucky enough that I get to work from home. This means that I have developed a morning routine that makes Leo very happy.

5:30 - Alarm goes off and feed Leo. Return to bed to actually wake up and Leo curls up next to me.
6:00 - Actually get out of bed. Take my vitamins, put on some clothes, make a cup of coffee (thank you, Laura and Ash for giving me the ability to do this), turn on my computer, log in, check email, address some issues, update Facebook.
7:00 - Coffee has kicked in, so...well.... Put on my shoes, Leo jumps off the bed and starts pacing around all excited. Put leash on Leo and head out the door.
7:45ish - Return home (this all depends on how long we walk and how much sniffing/marking Leo does). Get in shower.
8:00 - Return to computer and start working. Leo decides that now HIS coffee has kicked in, so to speak, so he needs to spend some time in the backyard....yeah, he is sorta like his Mom in that he likes to 'take care of business' at home.
8:15 - Mom is hard at work. Leo is asleep on the floor of the office.

And so goes the day.

Here's the thing, I have a Fitbit that I wear and I shoot for a certain number of steps every day. This morning walk typically gets me close to halfway there but because I like to know what my progress is, I like to count my steps as I walk. I count to 100 and using my fingers as a sort of abacus, I keep track to 5 counts of 100 and know that I've gone 1,000 steps (I know you are probably thinking the math doesn't add up there, but I only count the steps that the left foot takes). Sadly, I have a tendency to get a little dyslexic when I'm walking and always (especially today) screw up when I get to the 40s. I tend to be counting along and find myself back in the 30s. I have no idea why I do this, but it really throws my count off...luckily it typically means that I go over the steps that I think I'm taking.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I get the rest of my steps in during the house, typically by marching in place in front of the television or pacing from one end of the house to the other, circling Leo as I go and have to deal emotionally with the quizzical looks that he gives me as he doesn't comprehend why Mom is speed walking through the house over and over again in a maniacal manner periodically stopping to read what the little black thing on her shirt says. 

Update

I have learned about the fate of my neighbor (http://abbaquiltingqueen.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-right-thing.html)....

I found him on Facebook and friended him, with a note saying who I was and why I was reaching out to him. His brother was managing his account and accepted the request. This allowed me to follow his posts as well as to almost get to know this man. Unfortunately, he passed away yesterday evening and while the details as to what his health history was, I know that it was a sudden and unexpected passing.

On a personal note, I'm very sad that I did not get to know this man because what I have learned about him from his page and from the postings of his friends is that he was a unique and artistic person and I feel that I probably would have had a lot in common with him and a lot to talk about. He was an artist who worked primarily in ceramic sculpture, which is an area that I am interested, in as well as an all around character. He was a member of the Craft Guild of Dallas. I am now interested in joining the Craft Guild and am investigating it along with taking classes there in their pottery studios.

This experience has also made me want to actually venture out of my hidey-hole and make the effort to meet the people around me....    

Unprepared....

To be honest, I was not prepared for the winter storm that came through yesterday. I don't watch the news and anything that I learned about what was happening was thanks to other people's Facebook posts. Therefore, when I left work yesterday and found it already sleeting, I started wondering if perhaps I was a little screwed.

I got home without issue and went to check the mail, etc. I saw that I already had a faucet cover on the faucet on the front of the house (as it had never been taken off from last winter...yeah, yeah bad home owner) then went to check the faucet on the side of the house, where I realized that I did NOT have a cover. The one that I had there I had removed to wash out a dog bowl at one time and I have no idea what happened to it. I searched the house and garage in hopes that I had an extra one, but could not locate one.

About this time, I had a call from the vet saying that Leo's antibiotic was ready to pick up (yeah, he has a cough again so we are just automatically shoving ciprofloxin down his throat). I decided that while I was out I would swing by Walmart (most hated place in my world) and pick up a faucet cover. Sadly, Walmart did not have any covers and as the icy rain and sleet was starting to get worse, I decided that I didn't really want to drive to Lowes or Home Depot as they were in crazy traffic areas and I really just wanted to get home and off the roads.

Therefore, I decided that I would just make my own cover and keep my fingers crossed that it would do what it was supposed to do and when the ice clears up, I will venture out to find a proper cover. This is what I devised and how it has so far stood the winter blast:

Yes, that is two Target shopping bags and zebra striped duct tape. I also took some left over quilt batting and wrapped around the faucet first before covering that with the bags. I'll let you know if I end up with burst pipes because of my lack of planning......

The Right Thing?

Hopefully I did the right thing yesterday......

Let me start by saying that I am NO Gladys Kravitz. In fact, I could not tell you the names of any of my neighbors and would not be able to point them out in a line up.

Early Wednesday morning at about 2:30, Leo wakes me up barking, which he never does. He usually doesn't need to get up and go out in the middle of the night and when he does, he is good about ringing the bell by the door and somehow no matter how softly he rings that I can hear it and will zombie-like stumble from bed and let him out. So, when he is barking it definitely wakes me up and scares me a bit. I got up and let him out, but he continued to bark and it got through my addled, sleepy-hazed mind that the lighting outside was not right and I could here large trucks running. So, I pulled a Gladys and peaked out my windows to see what the heck was going on. Turns out there was a fire and an ambulance truck at my neighbor's house. They had arrived sans sirens, which makes me think that they are actually considerate of people and unless there is traffic that they need to warn of their approach that perhaps emergency vehicles don't just willy-nilly run their sirens...but I digress. I couldn't really see what was going on with the ambulance and, although I was curious, I didn't want to be THAT nosey of a neighbor and put on clothes and shoes and investigate. Instead, I cleaned off Leo's feet and we went back to bed.

I didn't think anything more about my neighbor until Thursday afternoon when a winter storm hit the area and ice started building up on anything that didn't move. I noticed that my neighbor had a couple of packages sitting on his front porch. They had been sitting there on Wednesday afternoon as well and were still there 24 hours later. So, I went over and took those packages and brought them into my house. One of them had already formed a layer of ice, so I scraped all of the ice off of it and now both packages are sitting in my living room. I left a note tucked into his door (I know it is a him because I did meet him one time out by the mailbox) and I think I found him on Facebook and left a message there for a complete stranger.

We shall see if I hear from him.....If I don't, what do I do with the packages? I don't know if he is in the hospital and for how long. Do I just wait until the weather clears up and then take the packages back over and leave them for him? Do I call the police in a couple of days and find out from them what I should do? I don't want to be arrested for mail theft. I don't want my neighbors to think that I go around taking things from people's porches. I would hope that somebody would do something similar for me if the need ever arose.

Picture Challenge - January 25

So, today I got to play the role of Plumber. The chain on the plunger thingy broke on my guest room toilet this past weekend while Sam was here. I decided I needed to fix it before I have Laura and Ash here next weekend. I might just quit my current job and take up plumbing as a permanent profession....if there wasn't so much ickiness involved. 

Busy Week

This has been a bit of a crazy week. My team lead has been in town this week so I've had a lot going on with her and my team....well, what is left of our team. About a year ago, we had 8 people on our team, we lost a couple as they moved to other teams and we came down to five folks on the team. We were able to keep things moving, however, last week one of our team members left to go to work at another company. We were all very happy for him and excited because it is a great opportunity. Last Thursday was his last day. On Friday, one of our other team members took a leave of absence. That left our team down to three....our team lead and then the two of us remaining to hold everything together. So far we are doing a pretty good job of keeping on top of things, the hardest part is that before we were only on call once a month...now it is every other week....

So, enough of the negative. With our team lead in town, we made the effort to get together in the evenings to keep her "entertained" and build our tiny team morale. We didn't do anything Monday night because she didn't get into town and into her hotel until around midnight on Sunday, so she was pretty worn out. 

Tuesday night I couldn't do anything because I had my ceramics class (which was great, yet challenging, because we started with working with the wheel and I suck at it...but I'll get better as I practice). 

Wednesday night we went bowling, which was a lot of fun. We went to a place called Splitsville, which is somewhere that if I ever have a date I'm definitely going there. The place is over 21 after 9 PM, which is a great idea to me. While, I didn't bowl particularly well, I did have a great time. 

Thursday night everybody came over to my house and had dinner. I put a pork loin in the crock pot with a bottle of Dr. Pepper and a bottle of bar-b-que sauce, turned it on low and left it for 10 hours. By the time I got home, there was a ton of YUMMY, tender pork that we put on Hawaiian sweet rolls with coleslaw and had scrumptious BBQ sliders.

I also made some cookies and my team member brought some different potato salads and we sat around and ate and visited. They all finally had the chance to meet Leo, since they have heard lots about his as he is my baby. 

So, what I learned this week:

• Splitsville is definitely a place that I will go back to on a date or just with friends because it is really a lot of fun and they have tasty eats. 
• I love my crock pot (thanks sister for giving it to me as a house warming present). I may even offer to make BBQ sliders for the family, if they ever want to come visit me again....Actually, that may become the standard food that ABBA serves to anybody that visits. 
• Hawaiian sweet rolls....that is the way to go. I'd never had them before and have learned that they are bueno.  

Pests I Don't Need

I checked my mail last night and when I reached into the mailbox I was assaulted by the familiar touch of a spider web, which promptly gave me the heebie-jeebies. I slowly pulled the mail out, now knowing where said spider might be. At the bottom of the pile I saw something that was similar to this:

After some research, I have determined that it was a juvenile black widow. I say "was" because I promptly smashed the bejeezus out of it. I had a similar experience in my mailbox when I first moved into Casa ABBA but with a more mature BWS. I'm going to have to be very cautious when checking my mail from now on.

Oh, and just in case anybody is wondering, I have complete ickdom going on right now as I've been looking through spider images trying to figure out what I had and all I see now when I close my eyes are those danged eight-legged freaks....

Brrrr...Baby It Is Cold Outside

I'm sure none of you are aware of this, but those of us located in North Texas have been hit by a bit of a winter. I'm sure if you are from the Great White North (any place north of the Red River) you can't understand how a little snow and ice can pretty much shut a state down, but it can.

It has been quite the learning experience for me. First, I get a call from my Dad (and Mom) last night wanting to remind me that I needed to open up my bathroom cabinets and let air get to the pipes as well as set them to drip to keep the pipes from freezing and bursting (luckily, I already knew to cover up my faucets outside and unhook my water hose...unlike my next door neighbor). I then learned about power outages.... This morning, I'm working away and suddenly every light goes off and I realize that I have no power. First thing I do is get my flashlight, which I have a number of, throw on some clothes because I really didn't want to have to address this grown up situation in my flannel jammies. Next, I call my Dad.... Yes, step one in handling things as a grown up is to call my Daddy..... Since he is an hour and a half away with no traffic there really isn't much he can do for me aside from instructing me to call the power company. I call them and find out that I'm not alone.... I then check Facebook and learn from The Queen that there are rolling power outages (she later instructed me that I should ALWAYS check Facebook first). So, I hang up with the power company and decide to hunker down with my flashlight/headlamp and a good book but then the power comes back on and dang it all....I have to go back to work.

I did take a break this afternoon, to try and clean off my front stoop as it is a total sheet of ice (as is my driveway, yard, back porch, and all points in between). Turns out that I really can't do a whole lot of ice removal from a porch when all I have is my car's ice-scraper.... As you can see from the below picture, I did manage to dig out my door mat so there is a single spot where I can see the concrete and stand without sliding away....

I admit, I love being home....I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a bit of a hermit....but I also don't like being quite this stranded. I hope all the rest of you are staying safe and warm.

Couple of Things

I don't really have much to talk about these days. Things in my life are pretty calm and relaxing, none too exciting. And, I'm okay with that.

I am going today to go buy a grill for Casa ABBA. I'm getting this for a couple of reasons.

1. It is the thing you do when you have a backyard...you grill.
2. My family is coming over to see the place and celebrate August birthdays (Dad and BIL).
3. I'm sick and tired of eating frozen dinners and it cooking indoors heats the house up way too much, so I figure I'll get a grill and learn to cook with fire....cook up a whole bunch of chicken on Sunday afternoon and be set for meals for the week.

The oxymoron part of this whole idea is that I have a HUGE fear of fire. I guess you could say I am Pyrophobic (thank you Wikipedea). Over the years, though I have learned to conquer this fear. I mean, I'm living with a gas stove now, which means whenever I want to scramble an egg, I gotta create a flame. I've come to appreciate candles being lit, although I always make a couple of laps around the house before I leave or go to bed just to make certain that they are all blown out and yes, I do check them multiple times (I guess that is the OCD in me).

So, aside from getting a grill and learning how to actually cook on it there really isn't much excitement in my life....and I'm okay with that.

Furniture Frustrations

As I'm sure you are aware, I'm in the process of furnishing my new abode. While, I already had many pieces there were some that I needed to acquire:

• sofa
• television console
• bedroom suit

In April, I made a concerted effort and found the bedroom suit and sofa. The sofa and two of the five pieces of the bedroom suit arrived within a week. The remaining pieces were on back order and I was told that it would be mid-July before they would arrive. I'm thinking "okay, I can work with that." As of yesterday, it was 12 weeks AND pretty close to being mid-July. so, I call my salesperson and ask when the rest will be arriving. She has no idea, the computer still just says "mid-July". I'm annoyed, but I'm not getting snippy yet because the receipt does say that it could take up to 15 weeks for delivery. Believe you me, though, come July 27 if I haven't heard anything, I'll put on my angry face and call again....not that I'll actually open up that can of whup ass that I'd like to open....maybe I'll set the Queen to instructing this person on how to lean on getting stuff delivered.

Now, my REAL frustration was all around my television console. I went to a different store to find that piece. I had something fairly specific in mind, well, I had pretty clear dimensions that would work in the space and what would work with the furniture that I already have (an eclectic mix of restored antiques and made by my dad or granddad). I found a piece that I thought fit the bill, ordered it, paid for it and left after being told that the computer says it is probably already in process and should be here in about 3 weeks. That was a month ago. I came into the office on Monday and had 2 voice mails from my salesperson telling me that the style has been discontinued and they will not be able to accommodate me. I'll need to come back in a made another selection.....Um, if it was being discontinued why the {BLEEP} was it on the sales floor and looking all available? I did go back to the store yesterday afternoon and picked out a new one, that I think might actually work a little better, but still. Luckily, they have 18 in stock and will be delivering it to me on Saturday.

With the delivery of the console, my "public" space will pretty much be taken care of and I'll feel okay with having people over. Now, if I could only get my bedroom stuff here....

AC Drama

For those of you who are unaware, I recently purchased a house (less than 2 months ago) and it is in Texas.

Spring has now started to move into Summer here in Texas and the temperatures are rising. Today it is supposed to be over 90 degrees.

When it gets that hot, it is time to turn on the air conditioner. I mean, if you got it, flaunt it.

Sadly, when I went to turn on my AC...there was a lot of blowing, but no cooling.

OH NO!!

Luckily, I found the number of the heating and cooling contractor for my house and called them. They put me into their rotation today and a technician made it out here.

He starts asking me all the questions that they are supposed to ask and my answer to him is "I've lived here less than 2 months. I've never had the AC on. Isn't it just supposed to work in a new house with a new unit?"

Turns out that YES, it is supposed to work in a new house with a new unit....if the person who installed it had remembered to actually flip the breaker at the outside unit....

And, on a side note.... Dipping tobacco is disgusting. The guy, while very friendly and efficient, had a big ol' wad of chew in his mouth and little tobacco juice daubs at the corners of his lips, and when he smiled, or talked, all of his teeth were kinda brown and gooey looking. I have a habit of watching a person's mouth when they speak to make certain that I catch what they are saying, but with this guy I kept having to turn away because he was making me a little nauseous.

What I Learned

I had every intention of documenting this on Monday, but whew, what a week I've had thus far....

This past weekend I learned that AT&T Uverse DVR/cable boxes can't be moved by me. Well, they can but they won't work.

I recently purchased a fancy new television for my fancy new living room. Since, I didn't really want to have the technician come out and get me a new box just yet, I figured I could move the one from the bedroom to the living room and hook it up. My biggest concern at the time was that I would lose the shows that I had saved....but that was a moot point.

Saturday morning, I get up and I start moving things around and getting the new television all set up. I unplug the box from the bedroom and take it out to the living room ready to get it set up. Turns out that the connection in the wall isn't quite ready for prime-time. The cable is run and the plate is in the wall, but the little thingy that you screw the cable from the box to is actually missing. Drat.

So, I take the box back into the bedroom and get it set back up. Yippee!! None of my shows have gone missing so everything should be back to square one. Should be....

As I'm watching a show, it freezes in the middle and there is nothing that I can do. So, I get out my handy-dandy owners manual and figure out that I just need to do a reboot, which I do. Problem is that it freezes in the middle of the reboot and I get a big red X in the middle of the screen. So, I grab my phone and call the 1-800-number and after a series of questions the computer generated voice on the other end of the phone says to reboot the box, again and that should fix the issue, but if it happens again "he" will keep my ticket open for 24 hours and "we'll" pick up where we left off.

I reboot, again. It fixes it this time....Until Sunday, when it starts freezing up again and the reboot freezes as well. I call the 1-800-number again and this time after only a short series of questions I'm actually kicked over to A Real Live Person (I felt like Pinocchio). After explaining every that had occurred, including my moving the box, the RLP said, "Yeah, sounds like you didn't turn the system off properly before you moved it, oh and you can't move the box to another room as it is routed to go only to that port, blah blah blah. Um, that red X is the disaster recovery symbol, if 'this' doesn't work we'll have to send a tech out with a new box." Luckily, whatever magic the RLP did fixed my issue.

Who knew Uverse was so touchy....

Casa ABBA - House Warming Presents

I have gotten some GREAT Casa-warming presents, thus far...


1. Crock pot from my sister...gonna try and use that this weekend.
2. Adorable cake server from East Coast Andrea.

3. Gift certificate from Jenn (which will be used in the VERY near future)

4. Wall quilt from my mother, which was combined as a birthday present.

Casa ABBA - Part I

I LOVE my new house/home!!

I've now owned it for a whole week and I'm really, really far from being settled in, but I'm slowly getting there. The majority of the boxes are unpacked and even though the "stuff" isn't where it is going to be when it is all said and done, the boxes are out of the way and I can better see where things need to be (when I finally get furniture).

My family came over on Thursday and were so very helpful in betting stuff done. My dad and nephew worked together to put certain pieces of furniture together, which I could have done by myself but would have been a horrid struggle, so THANK YOU for doing the heavy lifting for me. Mom, thanks for putting all my shelf paper down. You now don't have to do that again for me. Marti and Kathleen, thanks for keeping me focused and getting me organized. My sister is the most organized person (well, probably on par with the Queen) and she is great at getting me focused on what task is at hand.

And while I stated the other day that my first gift was a great present from East Coast Andrea, I misspoke. My first housewarming present was one from Marti (and family). She got me a sparkly new crock pot, actually two...one is a large crock pot in which I will be prepping all sorts of yummy meals that will last me for weeks and a small crock pot for scrumptious cheesy warming and what not. Marti had me get rid of my old crock pot back in California when we went through the Great Purge of 2008, which is when I got rid of lots and lots of stuff and was a good thing. Now I have a replacement pot that is even better than my old one!!

So while, Andrea's present was the first mailed present I stand corrected on what my first housewarming gift was.

The downside of this past week has been that my back, or rather lower back and hips, are a little out of whack. Between driving for 10 hours on Monday and then all the trips up and down stairs getting stuff out of the castle and bending over to unpack boxes I've put myself into a great deal of pain. I currently stand for short bursts and get what I can done before I have to get back into the bed and try and relax everything and get things back in place, then I'm up at trying to get it all done again.

I Need Love

I'm having some serious trouble focusing on work today. It might be because I leave in a couple of hours to go do the FINAL walk through of Casa ABBA. Or it might be because I will be signing my life away about this time tomorrow. Or it might be because I'm on vacation all next week settling into Casa ABBA. Either way, I'm having some focus problems, so I decided to go out and do some shopping on line. While looking at bedding, I come across this:
I think I need this just to keep me company in bed. It is called the Hug Me Pillow, if anybody is interested in showing me some love.

The Deed is Done

Well, I did it. I put an offer on a house. Here is the picture that the Queen took of me signing the contract (and if you can't tell, I'm actually using a purple pen...is that even legal?):



I looked at quite a few townhouses, not as many as some people as I understand that some people go through lots and lots of houses before making up their mind. I ended up getting a place that is still in the building stages, although all that is really left is to put in the flooring and backsplash, appliances, finish up in the bathrooms, and sod the lawn. It is a garden home, which means there isn't much yard, but just the right size for me. The really great thing, that I'm excited about is that there is this bonus room upstairs that some people would probably make into a second living area or a guest suite, since it has a full bath, but which I'm going to make into my quilting studio.

I'll be posting pictures soon and often, once the offer is accepted and it actually becomes MINE!!

The funny thing is, I stopped and looked at this subdivision one evening last week and something told me that it was where I was meant to be, but I still kept looking at some other places. When my realtor and I went to the place and I walked in, I just knew it was right. My front porch and rooms look out over a park and face the West, so I'll be able to see the sunset and there will never be anything built in that space to block my view and my studio window faces the East so I'll have great sunrise views when I'm sewing.

When I talked to my mom yesterday morning, I told her that I was tired of looking and that the Queen had told me that I'd know the right one when I saw it and by-golly, she was right, as was my mom who concurred with the Queen's statement.

Needless to say, I'm very excited. I'm very scared. This is a huge step for somebody who has a history of moving every couple of years because she gets tired or never felt like she fit in where ever she was. I have the normal fears that everybody has about the cost and added expenses and what's going to happen next, but for now, I'm going to push all of these thoughts aside and plan where I'm going to put furinture and how I'm going to decorate and imagine what it will be like to wake up in my own home.

So, if you were wondering why I stated in my previous post that I had insomnia, this would be why.... the old mind is churning a thousand miles a minute now....

The Queen swung by and got a picture of it for me to post: