Hedgeapples & Spiders

I thought Halloween would be an appropriate time to post spider pics!  Here's the deal.  I'm not really afraid of spiders.  I mean, I don't want them crawling on me, but I'm not panicky, scaredy-cat, creepy-crawly, afraid of them.  

This one was in our shower when we first moved in. And okay... I was a little creeped out by it.  And I had to take a shower or I was going to be late, so I had to kill it.  I usually let them be, or take them out on a piece of paper.  But this one was BIG.  So I smashed it with a shoe and screamed while I did the deed.  

 

If you've ever watched a spider, they can weave some pretty cool webs.  Such as this Golden Orb Weaver I saw at Patty Beck's last year.

 

And I'm not freaked out wearing this bracelet.... 

(won these hand warmers at Grovy Girl Yarn!)

or having cool spider yard art in my yard made out of door knobs and bolts.

 

But this kinda freaked me out.  Not the mole!  But about two inches above it to the left.   I was cleaning out a cabinet in the garage and something itty-bitty-teeny-weeny-tiny-winy, bit me! And it hurt all the way to the core of my arm.  It hurt worse than any bee sting I've ever had.  And it immediately welted.

  

I killed that little bug too, which we decided was a tiny red spider.  It was about the size of those little no-seeum bugs, but it was red.  And the next day the area got bigger and itched a lot.  My nurse friend told me to draw a circle around it in pen and if it gets bigger to get to the hospital.  Now peeps, I've been stung, and never thought about going to the hospital over something like this.  But she seemed very concerned.  So I drew the circle.  That night I took Benadryl.  

The next day it swelled even more....but it wasn't itching as much.  So, I decided if the swelling didn't start going down the next day, I'd go to the hospital.  

Thankfully, it did start going down.  And when I went to spinning group I was telling them about the bug that bit me, and they suggested I get some hedgeapples and put them in the basement.  But where does one find hedgeapples?   Well, the next day...much to my surprise, one of my spinning friends came over with a whole sack of them!  (She told me the night before she had a friend die of a spider bite a couple of weeks prior)

 So I've decorated with them...

all over the house...

and it's the weirdest thing...

I haven't seen any spiders!

 What about you... Do you have any home remedies on how do you get rid of spiders?

Cindy Bee

PS...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Granny square scarf ta da!

 I've been working on a scarf for three or four weeks....

 and I finally finished it!

 TADAAAAA!

 It's very long.  I made it that way on purpose.  This time of year, I like to wear scarves, hat, and handwarmers, and sweaters, but not a coat. 

This scarf will wrap around several times.

 Or you can do all kinds of fun wraps with it.

 I also made this hunting hat so I could sit in my husband's tree stand

 and take pictures of wildlife.  I sat there one time and was cold and the seat was hard and I lasted about 45 minutes.  He said it was about 40 minutes longer than he thought I'd last!

I think I'll go now....if I see anything cool, I'll show you here!

(you can also follow Cindy Bee on facebook.  Link on my side bar.)

Cindy Bee

The weekend

 On Friday morning, My Shug and I woke up feeling so relieved.  I can't believe how good it felt to not have to go into town and take care of the other house.  Even though I will miss it, as all of you said, I will create new memories at our new house.  We already are....and the relief to not have to make the payments and keep it clean and mowed and heated.....you can imagine.   So Friday evening we decided to take some people out to eat that helped us get the house ready to sell. Mom, Gloria (cousin) and Vickie (Cousin)

 Ok well that guy on the end might not have helped, but his wife works hard enough for both of them!  No not this end, this end is my Dad...the other end!  (Ralph, Robert, Dad)

And On Saturday we took the day off.  The whole day!  We stopped on our way out of town at a bazaar and I bought these adorable hot pads.  Aren't they cute?  My Shug said they were not cute, but I have it on good authority that they are.  I might try to make some.

 

 We headed to Indianapolis and as always, first stop....Barnes and Noble, and I got these two magazines.  Anyone notice how expensive magazines are getting? 

Then we went to my cousin's house.  They grow all of their own food.  One thing we noticed this year, we planted a few tomato plants right outside our door, and we ate more of them.  Convenience is the key in everything.  Right outside the door is convenient.  And we noticed their garden was right outside their back door.

 

My Shug had garage envy!

We noticed these ladies keeping an eye on everyone.

They had chickens,

and bunnies,

and honeybees

and ducks

and a loud rooster or two!  And a pig and some goats and some other critters.

It is a self-sufficient farm.  (this is  my cousin too - I have a LOT of cousins and I love them all!)

And a LOT of work!

I loved this young lady...

and she loved me!

(sorry about the blurry pics, but peeps, these animals don't hold still for a photo shoot, and I didn't hold still for a kiss!)

Cindy Bee

Fred

Before My Shug and I got married, he got a job in Kokomo, rented an apartment, sold his house in Mooresville, and went looking for a house to buy in Kokomo.  One day we were visiting a friend of Dave's, that lived across the street (from the house we just sold) and the friend said, "Hey, you might want to contact the people that lived in that house."  Pointing to 'our' house.  "They have been in a nursing home for a few months, and I just saw where the man died."  Dave wrote a letter to that address, after negotiating, he bought it.  Then he proposed.....Now, back in the day, the houses in that neighborhood did not go up for sale.  Or at least you never saw for sale signs in the yards.  The people who built the houses, in the 1930s and 1940s lived in them their whole lives, and they lived to be in their 90s....

And one Sunday morning before we were married, but after he moved into the house,  I went over to pick him up to take him to church, but he wasn't there.  I walked into the house, and when I went into the kitchen I heard what sounded like a bunch of pots and pans falling down the basement stairs.  The basement stairs were behind a door in the kitchen.  I took off out of there fast!!!!  Got in my car and drove to church.  When I got to church, Dave was already there! Which meant the house was empty.  I told him what I heard and when he went home, and I went to his house, nothing was at the bottom of the stairs. (I think someone was trying to scare me out of there and it worked!)

After Dave bought the house, moved in, we got married and I moved in, there was still 'stuff' in the basement that belonged to the previous owners.  (the house was FULL when he bought it) We would hear what sounded like light switches turning off and on, all the time.  There would never be a light on, but we'd hear the switches.

At that time one side of the basement had furniture and a TV, the other side was laundry room and utility.  I had a radio down there, and it would randomly turn on.  Dave was working afternoons so he would be gone from 2:30 to 10:30pm.  I worked from 8 - 5.  So we were home alone a lot during those first few years. One time we were visiting on lunch, and he was getting ready to go back to work and I was telling him, Fred was back today....he turned on the radio.  At that time, the radio came on!  Our eyes did the BIG, OH MY GOSH thing that your eyes do when you are in disbelief!

You see, whenever we would hear something like that, we just got to the point of saying Hi to Fred.  Fred and Alma owned the house before us.  Fred built the house.  Fred was the one that passed away, but Alma was still in the nursing home.  Their 76 year old daughter who lived in another town was who sold the house to us.

One day, my Dad was at our house waiting on a refrigerator to be delivered.  He said he was sitting in the living room and he heard a door open so he went to see if the delivery guys were there.  They were not.  So he told me, "I just figured it was Fred."

When Alma passed away, we never heard another noise that couldn't be explained.

True story.

Cindy Bee

Saying Goodbye

A couple of weeks ago, the boys that I watched from the time they were babies, wanted to come over and say "goodbye" to our house.  On the way there, I pulled up to a stop light and saw this on a semi truck!

 What?  Is that what it really says....so I rolled down the window....

Who knew?  

I think it was a reminder that even though I'm saying good-by to one place, I'm moving on to another.

The boys and their Mom pulled up right after I did, and Teng (picture below) was driving!  When they walked in the house, Teng instantly started taking pictures.  And it started.... 

"Remember when you used to hang on to my leg when I would walk across the room, and you would slide across the room?"

 "Remember when you were supposed to be taking naps, and I would hear you running up and down the hall upstsairs?  I finally just had you start taking your naps on the couch and chair."  "Yes, and that's where we stayed....me on the couch, Vinh on the chair."
"Yes, Vinh used to go into the cubby by the door and read, and he'd be sitting up against the door asleep.  I'd pick him up and put him to bed."

Vinh, "Remember when I locked myself in the bathroom and you had to climb the ladder and crawl through the window to get me out?" 

  "I'll never forget that!" 
I really should tell you that story...it'll make you laugh.  Vinh was about three, Teng was about 5.  My Shug was home because he had surgery on his foot.  The door mechanisms are old.  The knobs are old glass knobs (I wanted to take them!)  Vinh went upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom and I kept talking to him through the door, trying to tell him how to unlock it.  Teng, in the meantime was running up and down the stairs saying..."he's not coming out.  He's not going to be able to unlock the door.  He's still locked inside".  and on and on....just adding to the chaos!  So, My Shug got the ladder out, I climbed up to that window second from the right, and crawled in.  The toilet is right inside the window and I had my hands on the toilet and my feet in the air sticking out the window and
I. could. not. move!
And Vinh was standing there looking down at me saying, over and over..."you're gonna fall......you're gonna fall."  Teng's outside the door..."they're not out yet.  He's still locked inside.  Cindy can't get in."  While Dave is yelling at me from the outside to "GO ON.  GET INSIDE!"  The drop from the toilet to the floor was too far to take one hand off....without crumbling.  The next thing I know Dave is up on the ladder, with no patience left, shoving me by the feet into the bathroom!"  A few days later one of our neighbors asked, "what was going on at your house the other day?  I saw Cindy's feet hanging out the bathroom window, then I see you climb the ladder and shove her inside?" 

"Remember when we helped build this room?" It's true.  We built this room on by ourselves.  And when my Shug was putting a layer on the foundation the glue was drying too quickly.  He told us to all grab hammers and start nailing!  Anh came to get her boys and they were hammering nails into the decking/flooring (whatever you call it).  Lucky for me, she was very understanding and flexible.
(We put a time capsule in the walls of the new room we built on.  Even though that room is six years old, we still call it the 'new room'!)

 "Remember when we used to play in this pond!"

"Remember the fort we made out of trees and dirt in the back of the yard?"

Anh, "I remember the snake?"

"Remember the mouse in the potting shed that ran right through our legs?"

Me, "I remember Vinh and I jumped up on a chair screaming!"

This place was their home away from home.  It's right in the center of town, close to everything.  I'm going to miss it.

So, yesterday I got a call from our realtor.  "Hey, we are going to try to close tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?  Tomorrow! Ok....great."

 The last I heard we were going to have to sign extensions and it would be in November.

So I e-mailed my Shug at work.  "Hey, it looks likes we are going to close tomorrow."

He e-mails me back..."Tomorrow?  We better go say good-by to Fred."

So, I met him in town, and we started reminiscing....

 My Shug built the fence,

 and made the handle.

 My Shug built the potting shed for me, and left this note on the back of the door.  There are also notes written in markers on the inside of the walls.

 My Shug built this arbor....

 and this note was stamped on a piece of copper and nailed to the arbor.

When Mom and Dad were helping me paint the potting shed a couple of weeks ago, Dad asked me if I told the people buying the house about all of the Easter Egg hunts we've had here.  I don't even know who's buying our house.  Anh said I might tell the people buying the house they could find some plastic eggs with lottery tickets or candy in them.

A lot of people are going to miss this house.  We all have a lot of memories here.

When I walked in the door, on the counter is a letter written to the new peeps buying the house.  My Shug wrote it.  We hope the people buying this house loves it as much as we do.  We spent almost 20 years in it.   There are a lot of memories. 

Yup, we're going to miss this place.

Cindy Bee

PS - Who's Fred?........I'll tell you tomorrow.  This post is long.