Week 22/23: Keep on Keepin on.

June 1-7, 2007 About 2 years ago I was driving from State College to Lewistown via 45. This route takes you past many farms, a few with horses. Off to my right a horse was taking a pee. It was amazing. Kind of like a laser of urine drilling into the ground. I almost drove off the road. I called Troy immediately to relay what I had just seen. I was mesmerized. MESMERIZED! For days! I still think/talk about it, and often, especially when we drive past those farms or I decided the fastest way to make the 1 1/2+ trip from Frackville to Bellefonte is to not stop to pee after drinking a 32 oz Mountain Dew. Anywhat! This is what I've done the past two weeks. Insanilarity ensues. Friday - Sunday, 6/1 - 6/3/07. Williamsport. We left for Williamport on Friday with hopes of making it to First Friday and seeing our friends. Unfortunately we both got stuck at work late on Friday and really didn't have time to check out the art scene/new mural in the 'Port. Well try to make it next month. I really need to thank Gayle and Beasley for giving us a great place to crash for a couple of days. Even though I did not sleep well, thanks to her new found ghost, it was great and I wish that we lived closer. I'm really excited about all of the progress that they've made with the 2010 initiative, but the scene is completely different now. Maybe it's just because I haven't lived there for 4 years and my memories may be blurred by 50 cent draft night. It was still great to be back. Here is a picture of Gayle and Troy outside the Old Corner, our favorite bar to visit. Also, a crazy fat spider. Yikes. Jen and Derek made me, Troy and Gayle dinner on Friday. I don't remember what the hell it was called. I just called it yummy. Or I should say "yumm-o" because it was a recipe from Rachel Ray. And really good. I should have taken a picture of it, but I'm lazy and didn't take one. Instead here is a pic of Troy on Ava's tricycle. I'm serious when I say Troy wants one of his own and we have been looking for one for a year. If you find one, pick it up for us. It needs to be metal (all metal) because Troy has a lot of arms and legs to try and cram into a small space. Breaking from the shear stress of it all is not an option. On Saturday, we took some photos of Ava for a beauty pageant she is entered in next month. She's a cute kid so it wasn't a very hard job. A photo of her that we took in April won best snapshot at States. If these don't win something at Nationals I would be surprised. Here are some of the best. We also got to meet Tommy and Lucy, their new guinea pigs. CUTE! Tommy is not a fan of Beasley and threw a fit. That was funny. I'm mad that I didn't take more pictures of us all hanging around at Jen's house. We had a great time. Thanks Jen, Derek and Ava. I miss you guys. Also on Saturday we stopped at my friend Sheila's new house. She pregnant with her second baby. I'm really happy for her and I'm glad that I got to see her and Mike and Mike jr. I'm even more happy that I look thin in this picture. Ha. Seriously, it is weird to see someone who is/was a really close friends in such a completely different stage of life that yourself. I met her when we both were in college and working at the mall. I was her maid of honor. We are opposites but we get along really well and I miss seeing her a lot. Not to diverge again, but thinking/seeing her again made me realize that a lot of my friends are completely weird/normal/eccentric. I really don't have many duplicates, you know. But the close friends are all individuals and most are nothing like me, but they all are loyal and reliable. I think that speaks volumes for both myself and them. I'm not a huggy-touchy-feely person, but I love them all and I hope they know that. A friend that personifies that statement above would be Jim from Hazleton. He is one of my favorite friends from college and it's a true shame that we don't see more of each other. Troy and I were going to a junkyard in Hazleton to find more parts for the truck. We got there literally as they were closing. The bright side is that we got to spend an afternoon with Jim catching up. He is another friend that says seeing me is like slipping into a time machine to 5 years ago. I'm still a bossy big-mouth. To which I said (and I think this is my favorite quote of me) "I don't care if I run a tight ship, it's my fucking ship!" We all peed a little. We were talking about Tre and how she doesn't always appreciate my urgency to get shit done. Here are some photos of Jim's art. He's amazing and I think that most of you will recognize it from the sculpture hanging next to our door. If you like it - please buy his work. Or commission something from him. This one contains the hubcap from the Cutlass Ciera from when I ramped it like a Duke Boy. He didn't modify that hubcap. That's really what it looked like after I landed. It was a crazy night. He's also single ladies and very handsome. Go get yourselves some! One more thing. We (troy/gayle/me) went to Rita's Italian Ice and got a Blendini. They were sooo good we went back on Sunday and had another. Then on Tuesday as well. Saturday, 6/9/07: The Fonte: Auction. I don't hunt. I really don't care for guns at all. I like to gather. Mostly during huckleberry season with my pop-pop. I decided that the way I fulfill my primordial hunting instinct is to track down sales. This was all to abundantly clear when we went to an auction last Saturday. The house was crazy (our Victorian house now could fit inside easily.) and this woman was something of a pack rat. An amazing pack rat and I do fear that my future could not be far off from hers. The estate auction lasted 2 Sat. and went all day. We went the second Sat and the amount of stuff there was staggaring. She made Porcelain dolls (both the actual porcelain, evident by the molds, and the clothing), quilted, refinished and collected chairs and was something of a seamstress. There was one room in the house (something of a mud room) that was stacked from floor to ceiling with wooden straight back chairs. We bought two, which is about what our house can hold at the time. We got them for $2 a piece. CRAZY! We also bought this smokeless oil heater. It's about 2 foot tall and amazing. I'm in love with it for sure. $4 bucks. Fucking CRAZY. I bought these two quilt tops for a total of $28 bucks. I bought with the idea that I would make them into bags. Troy and Gayle are both against it. They are 100% hand sewn. HAND SEWN! They are close to perfect. A woman next to me said she bought a whole bin of them for 20 bucks the week before. After I got home I really regretted not buying more. They don't match much in my house and after the knitting explosion of 2005 I really don't have room for many more blankets. They don't match much in our house but nothing really matches here. We stopped at a couple of yard sales too, trying to take the edge off of missing out on this velvet hat that looked like something Professor McGonagle would wear. I bought this bag which will now be my over night bag. It is CUTE!!! and has a little lock on it. I want to carry it around like a purse, but I realize I am not a celebutard and may get picked up for shoplifting. Lest you all think that a) I'm made of money or b) I piss it away, the bag cost a dollar. I also bought this heap of ties and scarves. The lot cost 12 bucks but I think it was all worth it for this one. I don't know if it's a hydrangea or a chrysanthemum. All I know is that it's gorgeous and I'm in love. I know. This blog is loooooonnnnnnnnngggggggg. Who knew I could bullshit about shopping and stuff. Most of the rest of my life for the past 2 weeks is hanging out with the truck. As always, you can check out Troy's blog here. Here is what I did. Grind. Sand. Complain. I hate grinding but less so then sanding. Grinding gets the job done or atleast it gives you fast results. Sanding just makes your hands numb. Either way, I got that really weird sweat mark under my boobs but above my stomach. I found that impressive in it's own right. The bed is my albatross of sorts. It took 2 weeks. Mostly of me bitching and/or moaning. Here are some before and afters of a lot of stuff. Well folks, that's about it. I have some ideas for what I would like to do coming up, but if you have any suggestions - have at them. I'm thinking about some waxing of various bits and pieces. Also, this weekend past was the Cruise so I'll have some photos of that.