| Week One: |
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If you didn't get to see the
Hallo-weenie Roast pictures from the end of October (which I did get added to Oct. with even a few MORE pictures!), make sure to
click this picture and check out all the food and fun we had!
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Speaking of Halloween, here's one more picture from that holiday. These are my nephews and niece dressed up for Trick-or-Treating. Jonathan looks just like Harry Potter  ; while Jackson looks just like Link from the "Zelda" Nintendo games . Isn't Jenny cute in her retro 50's poodle skirt?  (Just think how "retro" that is too. Over half a century ago, girls were dressing that way! Heck, I remember that being retro in the 70's during the "Happy Days" craze.) |
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| By the way, I want to say "thanks" to my sis-in-law, Lisa, for sending me this picture. So, see I really do still get the emails that you send me! |
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Hopefully you saw the beautiful Fall trees in last month's Hallo-weenie Roast section. A week later and although a lot of leaves have fallen, there are still plenty of colorful trees out there. I took this picture of the main park in Canton on my way back home from working on Friday (WooHoo! I've gotten a couple of jobs lately and things are looking better for November.) |
Speaking about jobs, I've got a couple really interesting ones lately. One of these new jobs has been back with Waikems, creating a mailer for the Ford store. If things go well with this first template that I created for them to mail out for Nov. and Dec., they want me to make a few changes, and send out a new one each month this next year.
The most interesting thing about this job was that I had to un-virus one of the Waikem computers before I could even print out a copy of this newsletter for them to proof. I bet they really still need me; but just won't admit it. LOL |
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My other new job is even more interesting. One wives of the salesmen, that I did this flyer for, recently opened up a small gift shop. She needs an ad for a local area newspaper for the upcoming holidays and also a re-do of her single webpage that she has online right now. Plus the most interesting part of this job is that she also wants some artwork painted on the stores from windows. Yes, I know I've never done something like that; but, after all the weirdo projects that Jim and I do on our own, I figure that this job shouldn't be any harder than any of the other things that I've done. It's certainly easier than cementing a patio or building a screened-in porch. |
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MouseOver these pictures to see how the store front looks now,
and how I hope to have it look after I've painted. |
And still speaking of "jobs", things are going much better for Jim too. While I was out the other day lining up my jobs, Jim was out being hired into another telemarketing (in-bound calls) job. WooHoo!
This weekend, before we headed over to DO's for a "project", Jim and I took Gabby for another ride when we went out for supplies. Little Gabby has gotten so spoiled now.  Just ask her if she wants to "go for a ride", and whoosh! she's at the door, bouncing around, ready to go. |
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| Although we have promised to clean up the gutters and the yard this Fall at DO's, that wasn't our project there. Today's project was painting her basement. Since Cliff got back from the hospital a few years ago, we have NOT been smoking in his house. However, this is Ohio and it's very cold having to smoke outside in the winter; so the basement has become our smoking room in the winter months. Of course, it IS an unfinished basement and was painted in a pretty dreary gray. Ah, but now it's over halfway white and much, much brighter. |
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Week Three: |
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| Boy was I lucky! This weekend I started the project
of painting the gift shop's windows and Jim had a three-day weekend;
so I had an assistant
And I sure was glad of that, cause this turned out to be quite a
project. Although I enjoyed making the gingerbread houses like
Christmas, after those and the gingerbread cookies for Expert Auto,
Jim and I were both tired of gingerbread and swore NEVER to do that
again. Now we have another type of project to add to our "NEVER DO"
list - window painting. Although this project went pretty well, it
turned out to be much harder and took a lot longer than I had
thought it would. Click the picture below to see pictures of the
whole process. |
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| Just a little side note too: while working on the
project, I was also having a little bit of a health problem too.
Many of years ago, I developed an infection in the middle finger of
my left hand. Turns out that it is a herpes type virus like
shingles, and periodically, I have outbreaks in that finger.
Sometimes, I have really bad outbreaks, and the sores extend down
into my palm. Not only are the sores painful, but it makes my whole
hand and arm hurt too. Sometimes it can even make me pretty
irritable. Lucky for Jim, I kept my temper throughout the project,
although I did get a little depressed by the time Day Three ended
and the painting still hadn't been completely finished. |
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What a busy time I've been
having lately. Not only have I still been working at the Cottage
Gate (Painting, painting, painting); but I've also had some more
work at Waikem's.  I set up a new computer for my friend Gayle and
will be going back to work on another two computers (one is my
ex-boss's ROFL He doesn't have the Computer Tutor around any more to
keep his computer running happily ALL the time. LOL) At least the
work at Waikem's is also giving my painting job some time to dry!
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OH, and look here! Winter has arrived!
Although this sn*w melted by 9 in the morning, we did have flurries
all day and a high of only 25!! BRRRRR! Luckily, this sn*w didn't
last long (although it did flurry all day long) and was melted away
within an hour or so. I was still working at "The Cottage Gate" and
watched the snowflakes drifting down throughout the day. |
My project at "The Cottage
Gate" is still in a work-in-progress (I'm between days 5 and 6 right
now). I really didn't see it taking this long; but I do see the end
coming.
So I took a break for a day (to let the paint dry mainly) but still
didn't get the day off. I was back at wacky Waikem's once again
finishing up the project that I started there the other day. Gayle's
new printer really IS broke and needs to be returned; but her
computer and files are all up and running. Boy is she happy with the
nice, new machine that goes so much faster than the old piece of
trash she had been stuck with for years. |
The trip to Waikems was
pretty interesting though. First, it turned out to be the annual
Thanksgiving Employee Luncheon, so not only did I get some money out
of Waikems today; but I also got a great turkey dinner!
Of course, I was also reminded of why I don't work there anymore - I
got to tell off two people while I was there. LOL The first person
was the assistant manager at the Mitsubishi showroom. His manager
had told me he was having computer problems and would I take at look
at his computers. This assistant though was Mr. Know-it-all and
claimed there was nothing wrong with the computers. As I left I did
make sure to point out that for "nothing being wrong" he did have
several update icons waiting in his systray, and no anti-spyware
software on his machine at all. 
The second person I got to tell off was the office manager. This
lady is permanently grouchy and I've always kept on her good side by
discussing our gardens (the seeds for my morning glories in the
backyard came from this lady). Today though, she was in NO mood to
be friendly at all. Then when I tried taking Gayle's dead printer to
the office (I had been told by the boss, in front of the office
manager, to do just that), she gave me quite a bitchy hassle about
where was the packing slip or other paperwork on this printer. She
said that she knew nothing about it and wasn't going to be bothered
with it. I quickly pointed out that before she started being too
ugly to me to remember that I was NOT a Waikem employee any longer.
It not MY responsibility to track their paperwork anymore. LOL I
explained that that was okay though. I'd simply take the printer
back to Gayle's office and the boss could page her to get it herself
in a couple of days and handle it like he had instructed her too.
Either way though, it didn't matter to me. I'm the Computer Tutor, I
had done my job, here was my bill, and I was leaving. |
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| Another weekend spent painting, but
things are going really well and nearly done. Jim was able to help
me again on Sunday; we're going to take a break on Monday; and then
we'll be finished up on Tuesday. Just in time for the shop's Open
House the weekend after Thanksgiving. |
Click to see all the work on "The Cottage Gate" |
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| We ran out of white paint
on Sunday, so we ran over to DO and Cliff's in the afternoon and took
advantage of the nice weather - by raking, cleaning the gutters and
getting the Christmas lights on the roof up and working. Our work is
never done. ROFL |
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MouseOver
Look Out Below!
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Remember me telling you about the
little bit of snow we had, well, it's Ohio and you know that means more
was coming. The day before Thanksgiving, it started snowing lightly
and by that night we had about 1/2 an inch. |
| Of course, by the time Thanksgiving
morning rolled around, we had even more snow (about an inch or more
now), and they are predicting more snow throughout the day. So on
this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that DO's house is just over the
hill from my house. LOL The worse part about this weather though is
that it's getting COLD. It's about noon on Turkey Day now, and it's
23 and the temp is dropping! |
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Brrr!
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| Thanksgiving was held at DO's house once again this year.
Jim and I brought the green bean casserole, along with the appetizer
that my sister-in-law introduced to us last year - Jezebel Sauce. If
you haven't tried it yet, you really should. Jim and Linda both
gave it a big thumbs up, as we munched on some crackers and the
sauce as the last of the dinner was prepared. |
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| Linda and DO in the
kitchen putting the finally touches on the feast. |
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| Yummy! I only took a spoonful of
everything on the table and nearly exploded from eating so much.
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The kids played in the
pies and whip cream and Kerry ended up with a faceful,
while Ritchie had cream on his eyelids! Silly kids! |
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Becca and her mom are both
smiling from being with family
and having such a wonderful meal |
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Linda and DO enjoying
the fruits of their labors |
| Although it was quite cold
(17 degrees!) and still snowy outside, Jim and I had a special
ceremony after dinner. To celebrate the completion of the painting
at "The Cottage Gate", we burned the graphs I had created, in the
very pit that we has roasted weenies in last month. |
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MouseOver Special |
| Now that Loretta has her beautiful cottage gate on her windows, and a fair amount of stock in her store,
she is having an Open House during the weekend after Thanksgiving. |
| Jim and I got our "free" gift from "The Cottage Gate" early and without a coupon. When we finished up the window painting, Loretta gave us these cute stuffed animals as gifts. The doggie that I got sure looks a lot like Joxer. |
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| Saturday after
Thanksgiving, Jim and I picked up DO and headed up to North Canton,
to see Loretta and also to show off our handiwork (the window
painting of course, silly ) |
Loretta and her sister Cathy meet DO |
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Since the last time we were in the
shop, Loretta has transformed it into a Christmas gift shop. I must
say that Loretta has GREAT taste and I wish I had about $1000 to
spend on things in her shop. I'd redo my living with a bunch of
stuff that she sells. |
| The front of the store
looks great with the bistro dining set up by the fence |
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DO,
Jim (trying to sneak out of the
picture),
and Loretta |
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Good Luck, Loretta
with The Cottage Gate! |
MouseOver
the lower left corner of the window to see where we "signed"
our artwork |
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MouseOver
the right side of the windows to see a CloseUp of the
snowflakes and snowman peeping from behind the fence |
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