We will miss you

This is a post I never wanted to make, and I couldn't even bear the thought of doing this until tonight.

Tracey spent the last 3+ years battling cancer, and her battle ended Wednesday afternoon with her family at her side.

I never thought that the last time I saw you would be the last time. Tracey, you were always such a wonderful friend to us, and we will miss you more than you know. I've spent the last 24 hours remembering times we spent together.

I remember the first time we met in person. We had met online well before that, and at first sight, it was like old friends reunited. We spent your anniversary with you & Victor, and when my anniversary came around, The Hub was deployed to Iraq. Because you didn't want me to be alone, you came down and spent that weekend with me. I still remember you standing in my kitchen in your jammies having your morning tea.

I remember the 4th of July when your family came to spend it with my family. You and I watched the hubbies and kids playing in the pool, we grilled out, and then we went shrimping before the fireworks display that night.

I remember the weekend you organized and got so many of us together for a scrapping weekend where not much scrapping was actually done. You and I shared heart to heart talks, laughs, fears, joys, and tears over the years.

We didn't always agree on things, but we never let that stand in the way of our friendship. I remember so many phone calls, emails, and messages just to say hi and see how I was. You were always like that...more concerned about others than about yourself. You made our lives brighter and our world better. Thank you for all of it.

Everytime I hear Nickelback's "Rockstar", I think of you and always will. You are our rock star, Hon. Rock on. We love you and will see you again in a better place someday.

Shrimp toast and brown stick

hehehe The living room is done! Well, with the exception of the floors, but that'll be a while.

This is before. The previous owner left those hideous curtains, and this was just a day or so after we moved in. That front door is going bye-bye eventually, too, but one thing at a time.
This is now. I chose "Shrimp Toast" for the wall color, and the door/trim is "Tender Twig", but I call it "Brown stick".
Gracie's just so glad the living room is put back together. She's been mad at me for two days for wrecking her world.

Yep, that's Guapo from "Will & Grace" there on TV.

We still have to finish the dining room trim and the doors and trim in the hallway tomorrow. Not a bad day's work, though, considering a storm knocked out power here for about 4 hours today. I haven't decided what I want to do as far as curtains, but my old ones will do until I figure it out.

Feeling SO skeeved out

In the past two days, I've encountered TWO creatures that have totally turned me into a complete girl. DO NOT keep reading if you're skeeved out by creepy crawlies! There are pics, so consider yourself warned. The third pic also has some blood in it.

Yesterday, I was out front cleaning off my porch and was sweeping off the vinyl siding before I hosed it down. There was a spiderweb in one of the crevices that I couldn't get with the broom, so I reached in and pulled it out. Attached to the cocoon/web nastiness was a friggin' BROWN WIDOW! *shudder* I had never heard of such a thing, but I knew it had to be a widow b/c of the hourglass. I googled and looked at images, and sure as shit, there is such a thing as a brown widow. Check her out.

This one's blurry, but you can still kinda see that hourglass. Oh, and these bastages play dead! You *think* it's dead, but it isn't! I had to drown her in "Raid" to kill her.


Today, I mowed and did some weedeater-ing before the rain came. I was all over that yard like it was cool. This evening, we were out on the back porch and started back into the house. Mom glanced over by the back door, and there was a damn snake! It was partially in a hole, and I didn't know what kind it was. It wasn't like I could run in and Google it at the time. She ran to the shed to find a shovel, Breeze ran next door to get the Marine there to come kill it, and I was standing guard with a bucket in hand in case it tried to escape. Yeah, yeah. I know. I try to handle anything and everything, but a snake on my porch made me a shuddering lump of worthlessness. Well, the Marine's son came over, but in the meantime, Mom hacked it with a shovel and tried to drag it out of the hole. It was injured and pissed off by the time that kid got back there. He hacked its head mostly off while the three of us stood there completely freaked out. I took this pic so I could figure out what it was. Turns out it's a garter snake (I think), but it was in MY yard, so it was destined to be a dead snake. It is currently dead, in a bucket with a lid, and waiting to be hauled off tomorrow.
Now I'm all paranoid about shit in my yard! So that's been my past couple of days. Hopefully there will be no more surprises lying in wait out there. These two have been quite enough!