I meant to write sooner, but…

A member of my household has locked the keys in his truck two nights in a row and I was busy helping him get them out. Yes, two. The first night included tacking an hour round trip drive north onto my already 45-minute drive home from work. And $10 worth of gas. The second night included wandering around Wal-mart while waiting for the locksmith. Now there’s a good story. When it became apparent that the keys were in fact inside the truck cab along with the magnetic box that holds the spare key (which wasn’t placed under the truck the day before, the first time the keys were locked in the truck), we went into Wal-mart to see if they would let us use a phone (since neither of us brought our cell phones) to call the police or if they had a tool we could use to get the lock open (Matthew is very skilled in breaking into cars- he’s needed to be! ). When neither of those options panned out, we decided to hoof it the 3-miles back to the house (in the 100F heat), break into the house (since we didn’t have keys), get my set of keys, drive back to the Wal-mart parking lot and open his truck.

As we were rounding the corner to exit the store, I held my hands up in a furtive plea and said, “Here’s to hoping that someone we know walks in right now and can give us a lift!” Well low and behold, as soon as we made it to the doors, one of Matthew’s classmates walked right into us. Not only is he a friend of Matthew’s but get this, he’s also a LOCKSMITH! Get out of here! You’ve got to be kidding me! No way!

Long story short, after going home to get his tools and driving back to the store, he was able to get Matthew’s truck open in less than 10 seconds and after a too-long hiatus at Wal-mart, we finally made it home. I say all of this not to embarass my husband, but to show that yes, God does listen to us, even on the little things, and sometimes He even gives us what we ask for- and more! I did ask for a friend to rescue us, but didn’t expect that it would be a friend who was also a locksmith. I believe that part could have been due to the fact that I didn’t lose my cool and didn’t make Matthew feel bad for doing this two days in a row- I partnered with him in figuring out how to fix the problem, even if that meant a long walk in a heatwave in flip flops. And sometimes, when we do the right thing in trying circumstances, we’re rewarded.

More to come later on crafting, inexpensive groceries and a few new websites I’ve been checking out. And if you haven’t done so already, please check out my new blog ManMadeMarket. I’ve posted several profiles of Etsy shops that have items for men (and sometimes women) and it’s turning into a fun way to find handmade gifts and items for the guys in my life!

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And so it begins…

My mother’s going to be so ashamed that my kitchen looks like this and doubly ashamed that I’m showing it off on the internet. But, this is a diary of sorts and therefore deserves complete honesty so that in a year, when my kitchen looks like this, I can say, “Remember what it used to look like? How’d we live with that for so long?” Not that it’s ever going to look like that, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

Speaking of dreaming, I think I’ll be having nightmares about what lurks behind walls and under the nasty floor. And man alive! Look at what the top of this cupboard looked like when Matthew pulled it off the wall:

I chose not to investigate the suspicious yellow streak across the back part. Could be paint, could be pollen. Whatever it is, it’s going out in the shed to be a part of Matthew’s workshop, because that’s what these cupboards are for folks- workshops, basements, garages- very utilitarian they are. And cheap. And ugly. And oh yeah, NOT made for kitchens. The last owners really knew how to do it up, let me tell ya.

One of the joys/fears/anxiety-inducing charms about living in a 90 year old house is that you just never know what you’re going to discover hiding in the most curious places. We’re still waiting for our landslide of money from some depression era penny pincher to come falling out of the wall. Even though that didn’t happen today, Matthew did discover that there is siding behind the drywall in the kitchen- on an interior wall. Strange. You can see it in the photo below. It’s the little green square amidst the blazing yellow. It makes it impossible for him to run the water lines through the wall for the washer, so he’s going through the floor instead. It’s days like these that I’m thankful I married someone who knows how to plumb a house.

In the corner you can see the brick chimney and the hole near the top for the wood burning stove to vent. Don’t know where the stove went, but that’s alright with me since I prefer modern appliances. You can also see where the dirty cupboard was. And what was underneath the fridge. When we moved in, I refused to move it to see what was underneath. It was pretty disgusting in our last house, so my preferred method this time around was ignorance. Pure, blissful, ignorance. And I knew today would eventually come and ruin that ignorance, but it would be quickly followed by new flooring. Which will then be followed by more dirty floors. But it will be my dirt baby, all mine.

On a completely different note, I’ve received a ton of positive feedback on the ManMadeMarket website from Etsy shop owners. I had a hunch that this might be something that people would want, so I’m glad to see that inkling validated. I’ve posted two profiles so far and have several more waiting in the wings. I’d like to post more than just profiles and am brainstorming some ideas. Do you have anything that might work?

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Summer’s Here

We’ve had an unusually mild May for NC this year. But with June 1 right a mere few hours away, summer has finally arrived. It’s in the 90s right now. Blah. I told Matthew that summer’s in NC are my winter. I just want to stay inside in the air conditioning for the next four months. I love that there is so much going on around town right now with farmer’s markets, outdoor music concerts and garden growing, but it. is. so. hot. And it’s just going to get worse. And to think, there are some people who actually like this kind of weather.

We’ve seen two movies in the last week. First we saw the new Indiana Jones flick. Let me just make myself clear. I LOVED Indiana Jonesas a kid. I even took archaeology classes my freshman year of college so I could be like him. That was, until I realized that being an archaeologist meant being nothing like Indiana Jones. That’s when I switched to Public History (and then Professional Writing). Cest la vie.

I did like this addition to the IJ movies. Yeah, it was a bit too sci-fi, but I was thrilled that it was filmed to look like the original trilogy and they stayed pretty true to the main characters. I was even impressed that Harrison Ford did a pretty good job. For an old guy. I guess 60 really is the new 40.

We had some free vouchers from the movie theater, so we ended up going to see Prince Caspian with Mark and Jennifer last night. Again, another movie to go along with a favorite of mine. I haven’t read The Chronicles of Narnia for several years, so it was hard to remember how true to the story the movie is, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I did notice there was a lot more death in this one than the last and I was sadly missing more Aslan screen time though, even if it is true to the story that he is not seen for the most part. Overall, I would recommend it.

I’m working on a new blog right now. It was birthed out of an idea straight from my hubby. He’s always been way more creative than me. You can find out what it is at manmademarket.wordpress.com. I’d be intersted to hear your feedback on this one.

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