Peppy's Dream Moving Adventure Blog

The most remarkable thing happened this morning, but let me start at the beginning.

We were both up by 10:30am and I told Eric I wanted to take him out to breakfast.  I was about to jump in the shower when his sister, Ellen, called from Florida.  Eric went in the shower and Ellen and I talked for a while.  She’s really good about keeping in touch, as is another sister, Susan, and we really appreciate it!  She was happy to hear we’ll be visiting South Carolina, and would love it if we moved there, as we will be much closer to her and her family in Ft. Lauderdale!

We went to breakfast at DENNY'S, which is just down Clairemont Drive a bit.  The place was pretty busy, so we stood waiting for a table near one of those machines with the claw where you try to catch a stuffed character or animal.  A young man (maybe 14) and his mother and grandmother came by, after eating their breakfast, and he asked his mother for money for the machine.  I looked in there, saw STEWIE from FAMILY GUY (one of Eric’s favorite cartoons) and said, “Go for Stewie!  That’s what I’d pick!”

He and his mother proceeded to try a few times, but those machines are set up for failure!  Eric and I always say that the claw never really grips anything, and they’re designed so that if you DO manage to get something it will fall back before you can get it out of there!  Anyway, we’ve NEVER been successful.  Once Eric and I were at the movies and we tried a few times.  The guy right after us managed to get TWO stuffed characters, and he gave me one!  It was SO nice!

Well, I cannot believe it – but the same thing happened again today!  Eric and I were watching them try, commiserating on how hard and frustrating it was, and then we got called to our table, so we left, wishing them luck.  We were sitting in another part of the restaurant, so we couldn't see what happened next, but after we were sitting for a few minutes, the young man came over and handed me Stewie.  I told him I couldn’t take it, and I was just so happy that he managed to get it!  He told me I HAD to take it, and his mother showed me that he got another stuffed animal, too!  Some kind of dog.

Here's my little Stewie, dressed as a Christmas elf:

Anyway, I eventually accepted his gift, thanked him and his mother, too, and almost started to cry.  I thought it was the sweetest thing and know he must be such a fine young man to think of a total stranger and be so generous and thoughtful.  The people at the next table were curious as to why someone handed me a stuffed doll, so I explained it to them.  They agreed that it was very unusual and that it was a lovely gesture.  It really started our day off right!

The truth is, I love character dolls.  I brought ALF and GOSSAMER (from a Warner Brother's Bugs Bunny cartoon) with us from NY and also have POPEYE, KOKO THE CLOWN, and -- of course -- BETTY BOOP!  I used to have a LOT more, but I either sold them or gave them away.  Eric and I used to love the cartoon REN AND STIMPY and I had a lot of those dolls, along with all the SIMPSONS characters, and even BABE, the pig.

Since Alf was a puppet to begin with, the doll really looks exactly like him.  Gossamer, on the other hand, was a cartoon character!

So, back to breakfast.  We both got MOONS OVER MY HAMMY®, but I took the ham off my sandwich and gave it to Eric.  It was delicious.  Two kinds of cheese and scrambled egg on sourdough bread.  YUMMY!

After breakfast we came back to the apartment and Eric proceeded to do his second round of sanding.  I’m telling you, they were perfect, but he says he has to do one sanding with medium sandpaper, and then another with fine.  He uses an electric sander, but it’s still a hard, messy job.  He’s such a perfectionist.  It’s something I really respect, because I’m kind of lazy that way.  I’d say one sanding was just fine and start staining!

We must be driving the neighbors CRAZY, because he was sanding ALL day yesterday – with the radio on outside – and now he’s doing it again today.  And it IS the weekend.  I know they’re going to hate us, but he’s determined and he doesn’t have a backyard or garage, so there’s no place else to do it all.

I did four (yes, four) loads of laundry.  There were enough rags and drop cloths to make a load, because we’ve been doing so much work, and I’m also getting ready for company this weekend (Jimmy’s coming!), so I was washing linens and blankets, to be sure everything is perfect for our first guest.  So far, the only people who have stepped foot in here are the cable guys and our building manager.  We can’t wait for Jimmy!

I wanted to open up some boxes with artwork inside, because there’s an empty frame I packed that goes around a padded, black velvet board.  I had all my clear rhinestone pins on that board, with the silver frame around it, and it hung in the bedroom.  Eric and I made it about 20 years ago and I love it, because I got to look at all my pins all the time.  I never had a chance to find it today, but maybe tomorrow!

If you were ever in my shop, you know that I displayed my pins there the same way.  I had three frames filled with pins at one point!  It’s perfect for display, because, after all, jewelry IS artwork, and when you want to wear a pin it’s so much easier to look at all of them when they’re in front of you, instead of rummaging through a drawer.  I’d love to get a big jewelry box, or an armoire, for necklaces, bracelets and rings, but it’s just something else to pack and ship!

There was another MONK marathon on TV, so I watched a bunch of them while I did things around the apartment.  I’ve seen a lot of them, so I can just watch with one eye and one ear, while I work.  Eric worked outside for about 6 hours, first sanding and then staining all 16 shelves.  It was dark for an hour before he was finished.

When he came inside I made him dinner – leftover chicken and more of that Uncle Ben’s READY RICE. This time I tried Garden Vegetable – delicious!  I had a salad.  I’ve really been trying to watch what I eat, and since I had bread at breakfast, I had low-fat yogurt with an apple for lunch and just a salad for dinner.  I love salad, so it’s not like I’m suffering!

Eric spent the night watching football and cartoons (KING OF THE HILL and THE SIMPSONS).  He worked SO hard today I kept thinking I’d come out to the living room and find him fast asleep, but he’s still watching at 11:00pm.  I don’t know how he does it.  I’ll be glad when this project is done.  The hardest part is finished.  Now, all he has to do is hang the rest of the brackets and shelves, which is more about measuring and leveling.  It’s not very strenuous and it’s not dirty or messy.

This isn’t the last big project, because Eric wants to build legs on my desk, so I can take away the six boxes now holding the board up.  It will look the same (fully upholstered, so you can’t see what’s underneath), but I’ll be able to unpack and get rid of the boxes!

I’ll tell you one thing about Eric – there’s not a lazy bone in his body.  He is so hard-working and so diligent about doing a beautiful job.  He never cuts corners.  The only thing that drives me crazy is that sometimes he’ll do 95% of a job, and then just never finish it completely.  It has nothing to do with laziness, but is more about just losing interest.  I have to bug him to get him to finish, which is no fun at all.  Thank goodness it hasn’t happened lately!

I continued to work around the apartment and watch the MONK marathon until 8:00pm and then I watched EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION, and then a movie that Oprah produced called FOR ONE MORE DAY.  It is based on the book by Mitch Albom, which I already have, although I have not yet read it (it’s packed in one of the many boxes of books I shipped).  He wrote TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE and THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN.  The latter is one of my favorite books (and TV movies) of all time.  I knew this, too, would be a wonderful movie and I was not disappointed.  Now, I must find the book and read it (although I would have preferred to do it the other way around).

I was frustrated tonight, because I couldn’t record a new episode of MONK, which I haven’t seen yet, while I watched FOR ONE MORE DAY, because my DVR isn’t working.  I have an appointment for tomorrow, but I even tried calling tonight and having a technician walk me through rebooting, etc., but we couldn’t get it to work, so it may be the box.  I hope the guy who comes tomorrow can fix it, because I love to record my shows and watch them when I want, or watch one show while I record another (or two).  Once you’ve gone DVR (or TIVO) you can’t go back!