Suzanne's Quilt Shop

I've started a new job! It's a task I feel challenged by, qualified for, and excited about. Suzanne's Quilt Shop is perched just across the street from the courthouse on the square. It's a beautiful and classic downtown setting, and it's the perfect small town setting for the shop.


Suzanne's Quilt Shop does about 75% of its business online through quarterly group mailings (a follow-along project for members as far as Canada, France, and Italy!) and online shopping. She carries all the supplies any quilter might need to create her own one-of-a-kind timeless work of art... except for sewing machines. She told me "they're just too dramatic of an item to sell. All the parts, all the maintenance, all the drama!" She sends any customers asking for sewing machines to her favorite dealer based out of Florida for the "good machines."

Suzanne offers classes almost every single weekend of the month in addition to an annual conference which takes place in Norman Park, Georgia at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center. Every year, over 50 quilters show up with their fabrics, supplies, and sewing machines ready to sew, quilt, win prizes, eat, laugh, and compete in specific categories! Suzanne teaches the classes herself.

My job for Suzanne is going to be a really busy one! First and foremost, Suzanne has been applying to have her shop published in specialty quilters' magazines for years. After she made a quick move from Florida to Georgia just three years ago, her shelves of fabric, checkout counter, cutting tables, and display shelves were just sort of placed around the perimeter of the store with honest intentions of being organized and placed better once she settled in.

This is the view from the front entrance, straight into the shop. It's a lot to take in!

Here is one of my two favorite corners of the store. It's a wall of prints and colors that are true to the fabrics of the 1930's and 1940's.
And here is my other most favorite corner in the shop. This is part of the color wall which is just absolutely captivating in person. All of these bolts of fabric are batiks, which means they are painted... by hand! They are just breathtaking up close.

Fast forward to now, and she's been settled in for a while. She's ready to have this shop published already! She wants more customers popping in on their drive through Moultrie on the way town or on the way from a Florida vacation every year. She wants traveling quilting girlfriends to come in to quilt, chat, and shop. The more her name is out there, the more quilters will know where she is! So, to entice the magazines to publish a story about her shop as well as beautiful pictures showcasing her extravagant selection of patterns, she's hired me to merchandise the entire place. I'm working from the shopfront windows for sidewalk shoppers, all the way back to the workroom where her sewing tables and 8-foot-long quilting machine are perched. (Just look at that huge quilting machine in the back of the picture posted below!) The checkout counter and cutting tables are being moved, shelves are being built for her books and patterns thanks to Suzanne's hardworking husband Ladd, and a total re-vamp of fabric layout and merchandising is coming into view of my designer's eye!


And, on top of all this, I am going to officially take over all of Suzanne's blogging and social networking business. Her website is great for making purchases, but she just hasn't had the time and know-how to maintain her blog and facebook profile to keep all of her loyal clients updated and informed! I'm sure they would all love to know about the revamp of the shop, what events and classes are coming up, and the quilting and sewing projects other customers have brought into the shop.

I am so very excited about getting up and running. The store being moved around for better merchandising and flow will be so great. And I think I will really enjoy being a professional blogger! Hopefully, someday in the not-too-distant future, I will be a published Interior Designer!

A few of our favorite Arizona things....

Because the Hub and I were so excited to be moving back to Georgia, there were a few great things I left out of my blog once Carlton got this job. I guess I got a little ahead of myself, so bare with me while I backtrack a little bit to share a couple "finishing experiences" from our life in Arizona.

One of Vespa's most favorite "go for a ride" destinations was getting to visit Naomi. Naomi was Vespa's groomer in Scottsdale, and I absolutely loved everything about her! Naomi worked at Groomingtails, a swanky yet competitively priced grooming service near our house. She was always so incredibly friendly, and I never saw her without a smile on her face. I could tell that she really loved her job. As a Christmas gift to all her puprents, Naomi always makes these adorable Christmas ornaments:


On festively bright green construction paper and outlined in a pop of red glitter squiggly-stripes, ours is still on the fridge! I could ask Vespa, "You wanna go see Naomi?" and she would totally freak out with excitement... more so than her usual tail wag for a car ride or a walk through the neighborhood. After picking Vespa up from her three-hour beauty routine every four weeks, I could NEVER resist taking a few pictures of the fresh cut and fluff of that silky coat. Naomi could leave Vespa's little toes cut just-so, so that they came to a tender little point in the middle. Her ears were always cut so short, and that made them super-cute when they would do those crazy-Vespa-ear-tricks. And I don't know if it's Vespa's natural coat, or if Naomi had a shine-enhancing Naomi brush infused with fairy dust, but Vespa was so silky and shiny when we got home from her appointments that it was really quite captivating! See? So shiny! And so totally cute pupicured paws!


Another beautiful experience I had while we lived in Arizona was working at the pottery shop called As You Wish Pottery Painting, or for short, AYW. Or, as we employees called it, FUN! Coming in to work every day was not always what we wanted to do. But lemme tell ya, once I got there, all I wanted to do was skip and hum to the music in the studio. The walls were painted so brightly. The underglaze paints were organized so rainbow-colorfully. Plus, with paint colors named What a Yolk (a yellow the color of... your guessed it!... a yolk) and Happy Go Lucky (a sort of apple-y green), what's not to love?


And the girls. Oh, the girls I worked with! It was a great mash-up of quirky personalities. We worked hard, but we worked efficiently and happily. It almost as good as Disney World. In this picture, Maci was explaining how the underglaze paints worked to a table of noobs. Maci was always such a laugh! She tried her darndest to immitate my southern accent, and would even speak to customers with the fakester accent like it was completely normal... leaving me rolling with laughter in the back glaze room where the confused customers couldn't see me.


I even got to celebrate a new life while working at the pottery studio: coworker Cynthia's baby arrived, and on top of a very fun baby shower in the studio, Cynthia brought the baby by pretty often, and she frequently styled the heck outta that knit blankey I made her!


While we complained and whined and moaned and groaned that we had no friends or family in Arizona, I'll admit now that it was just a tiny exaggeration. Obviously, I enjoyed the visits with Vespa's groomer. And work was a blast for me. And family? Okay, okay! I do have a cousin... wait, a second cousin there in Arizona. When I was a little girl, I was the flower girl for Kris, my mom's only girl cousin playmate from her childhood. Kris and her husband Dave have three kids: Melissa (the oldest), Michael (the only boy, and the middle kid), and Michelle (the yougest girl of the family). We got together three or four times over the course of the year we lived there in Arizona. We were always blown away by Michael's ability to eat more than Carlton and myself combined (he really is a growing boy)! We were always entertained by Michelle's outgoing personality and willingness to order from the menu for herself, thank you very much. And Melissa... oh, Melissa and her iPod earbud tucked underneath her hair and pecked inside one of her ears all throughout dinner. Her texting at the table and the rolling of her eyes at her dad's jokes, and at her siblings' boisterousness. She was my favorite, with her own quiet personality... when she did talk, she always had something witty and captivating to say. And listen closely, because she only said what she had to say once. The restaurant of choice was always the Olive Garden, and it was always good food with great company.

I got our hostess to snap this photo of us all together after our last dinner as a group in Arizona. Above, from left to right, back to front: Carlton, me, Kris, Dave, Michael, Michelle, and Melissa (Look! A cute smile!)

Of course we missed Georgia when we lived in Arizona! Of course we are happy to be back home! But let me tell ya, there are plenty of things about our experiences in Arizona that are very, incredibly miss-worthy.

Happy 24th Birthday, Chelsea!!!

This past Saturday was my best friend Chelsea's 24th birthday. Since I'm *ahem* within driving distance from her now (yay!), I packed up little Vespa and we headed up to Macon where Chelsea lives for the weekend.

Firstly, it was sooooooo great to just pop up and spend the weekend with her and Andrew! Because Carlton is in Kansas City on business (since Tuesday the 7th until Thursday the 16th), I've been very lonely here in the apartment by myself with little Puppa. So it was an absolute given that I celebrated Chelsea's birthday weekend with her!

On Friday around 11:30 I stopped at the Moultrie farmer's market to pick up some local peaches before heading out of town to Macon... Chelsea requested a peach cobbler as her birthday present. I was at Chelsea's house by 1:30, just in time for Vespa to meet Chelsea's now-40-pound pups before we grabbed a couple appetizers at Wild Wing to hold us over until dinner. After a little fender bender drama for Andrew on his way home from work (thankfully, everyone was a-okay), we met back up with him at their house before heading out to their favorite pizza place, Ingleside, for pizza and beer with their friends Larry and Morgan Carpenter. I didn't get any pictures of us at the pizza place because the company was so great, but let me tell you: if you're ever in Macon for the afternoon, shopping or visiting, this place is a MUST-EAT pizzaria!

On Saturday (Chelsea's actualy birthday), Chelsea and I were very, very, verrrrrrrrrrrrry lazy. Andrew left us to go fishing for a while. Then we decided to get our booties off the sofa and we headed to get some birthday manicures and pedicures! This was SUCH a great treat for me, because I haven't had a manicure--with all the pottery and glaze I had been around at work--since Greg and Jillian's wedding in October! I am embarrassed to admit this, but I hadn't had a pedicure since a couple days before I got married... that's almost 2 whole years ago! And, let me tell you, both my retail-walking feet and pottery-making hands really needed the extra love and care that day!

Chelsea's got her pants rolled up, her paint colors picked out, and now she's just waiting in anticipation for the best footrub this side of Macon. The massage chairs we sat in were great!

Here are our freshly-manicured hands atop Chelsea's literature of choice... gossip about that glittering vampire boy!

Chelsea's request for a "simple flower nail art design" turned into a Mardi Gras party on her big toes! Hahahahahaha!!!

After the manicures and pedicures, we headed back to Chelsea's house and played with Vespa for a couple hours before dinnertime. The night started off with an amazing dinner at the local Japanese steakhouse. I enjoyed a juicy filet and chicken with veggies and way too much fried rice. It was all delicious! After dinner, we all headed to Chelsea's next requested stop, The Tic Toc Room in downtown Macon. I ordered one of my most favorite mixed drinks, an amaretto sour. Chelsea and Morgan tried a couple different martinis each, and the boys stuck to beer or Crown Royal on the rocks. The drinks were really reasonably priced for such a swanky place. My ticket for two Disaronno Sours was only $10! And the $8 martinis for Chelsea and Morgan were served half-in-the-martini-glass and half-on-a-glass-of-ice to ensure your entire drink stayed ice cold from start to finish.

Here is the whole group! From left to right: Andrew (Chelsea's hub), Justin (a friend of ours going all the way back to grade school whose 7-months-pregnant wife was out of town on business), Larry and Morgan (Chelsea and Andrew's college friends), Chelsea (the birthday girl!), and me.

A closeup, thanks to Andrew, of the three girls: Morgan, Chelsea, and me.

After dinner and drinks, we all headed back over to Chelsea and Andrew's house. The boys stayed up really, really late (Andrew thinks it was about 4 or 5 am when he finally got to bed!) while the girls hung out mostly inside, away from the nasty nighttime spiders and noisy boy music. On our way back from drinks, we stopped by Morgan and Larry's house to pick up their little man Ramsey. He's just a couple pounds bigger than little 6 pound Vespa, so she wasn't afraid of him at all like she was of Chelsea's "big kids" playing tag team behind her back! Vespa and Ramsey hit it off instantly, and became boyfriend and girlfriend after just about 5 minutes of playing tag!

Chelsea couldn't resist taking this video of the playful pair of pups. This time around, Vespa was hiding while little Ramsey man bounced and chased her. So cute! Morgan was pretty much histerical with laughter, and I was happy to have our pups playing like civil little pups should. They were both very well behaved!

Here is Vespa begging sleepy little Ramsey man to jump off the sofa and play some more. "But Vespa, it's, like, 1 o'clooooooooooooooock."

The two really got going when Kitty-Bug came downstairs and joined in by swatting at them. Look at those fuzzy blurs of puppy fun!

After a little more pup romping around, Morgan and Larry called it a night and took Ramsey home for some sleep. Chelsea and I stayed up until about 2:00 or 2:30 am and then headed to bed while Andrew and Justin stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday morning came and went. Vespa and I woke up at about 8:30am and walked around outside, and then hung out in bed playing "blanket monster" and watching tv. I heard Andrew get up at about 11:00, so Vespa and I went downstairs to hang out. After a couple more hours of good company in Macon, Vespa and I packed up and headed back home to Moultrie. What a great weekend! I'm so happy that I got to spend the time with Chelsea for her birthday, and visit with Morgan, Larry, and Justin. And, of course, Vespa was happy to meet Ramsey. Happy Birthday, Chelsea!

Happy 4th of July!

The following is a semi-edited version of the weekend's festivities... I say 'semi-edited' because it got pretty long. Enjoy!

The 4th of July has always been a special time for my family to get together, appreciate the country we live in and the freedoms we have, eat lots and lots of food, and celebrate with plenty of fireworks. This year's company, food, and fireworks seemed to top our past celebrations by far! Here is my most favorite homage to America... let the music fill your heart as I share our family's 4th of July celebration with you! (Ray Charles's version of the song has been my favorite since I heard it in one of the best childhood movies ever--The Sandlot... so much soul, and so much respect for the song!)

We started our holiday weekend on the 3rd by swimming at Carlton's parents' house. Plenty of leisurely sunning in the warm backyard pool. Dinner with Hub and Mom-in-Law over some great saxophone music in Acworth. Late to sleep, thanks to some good comedy on tv.

On the morning of the 4th, I headed to my parents' house. I met up with my mom and sister, and we started cooking our menu, desserts first. Kristen made her favorite--tea cookies, my mom chopped lots of fruit and prepared most of the dinner menu, and I tip-toed shyly into making my first cobbler... yay for Georgia peaches!!!


Our day went by quickly, with cleaning and pup-sitting for five rambunctious fuzzy pups, and we were all happy when friends and family started arriving around 5:00-5:30.

(From left to right, we have: Vespa (my pup, a Yorkie-Poo mix), Bella (my parents' pup, a dachshund/shih-tzu mix), Charlie (my parents' pup, a Maltese/Poodle mix), Shi(loh) (my sister's pup, and Vespa's sister, a Yorkie-Poo mix), and Luke (my sister's boyfriend Scott's new pup, a Springer Spaniel baby boy... look at that smile!).)

Sister pups Vespa and Shi enjoyed lots and lots of romping around the living room. Vespa wins again!!!

Our menu was delicious, and I think it touched on everyone's favorites. Of course, there were grilled burgers and hotdogs, baked beans, grilled veggies, and grilled shrimp. And, because we have all been so inspired by our recent Greek cruise, this year's menu also included pork suvlaki, tzatziki sauce, fresh pita bread, a Greek salad, a tomato/mozzarella/basil dish, and an assortment of cheeses to taste. This year we also celebrated with ice cones, margaritas, sangria, and other mixed drinks. Everything was delish!


As many of you already know, Cartersville's beautiful Dellinger Park serves up some amazing fireworks just after dark every 4th of July. My parents' house is perched on a hill just across the street from the park, so every year they have a big party with lots of good food and entertainment while we wait to watch the park's fireworks in our own front lawn... I know, how nice! Well, it's become a sort of tradition for my dad to entertain the guests of the party with his own display of (il)legal fireworks. We all gather on the back deck while he ignites everything from below in the back yard. A few of the surrounding neighbors have made desperate attempts at competing with our display of Michael-Bay-esque explosions, but so far, all attempts have been futile. So. After about... oh, I don't remember, 30 minutes or an hour of setting these off...


...the park fireworks began. It was a colorful explosion of colors in the black sky, and everyone at the house enjoyed them while we ate our fair share of my mom's homemade apple pie and my surprisingly tasty peach cobbler over a beer or margarita.


Then came the great finale. We all migrated back out to the deck of the house and cheered my dad on as he lit one after another after another of GREAT fireworks! The show was intense and exciting, enough for me to end up with a painful bruise on my forhead (dangerous shrapnel!) and my sister to wet her pants (surprising screaming bottle rockets!)!!!

You don't believe me about these fireworks? Watch this for yourself! (Yes, that's my dad lighting the fuses with his handheld torch, and yes that is the yard sprinkler you hear in the background, just in case.)

My old high school principal, Jay Floyd, was one of the strong contenders trying to knock my dad from first place in the illegal fireworks display this year. He rolled in on his huge golf cart with his family, old-school boom box strapped to the top thumping "Sweet Home Alabama", toting a huge wagon filled with food, beer, and fireworks. Eventually, he realized he came to the show unable to bring the noise required to beat the Neighborhood Explosives Master (aka Dad). As he and his family rolled out, he promised us when we asked where he was going, "I gotta go somewheres I can win. I'll be back next year. I'm gonna bring the NOOOOOOISE! I'm gonna bring my A GAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!" We'll see, Jaybez, we'll see about that.


After a night of tossing and turning for me (I could NOT sleep well for some reason, no matter how exhausted I was from the entire day's preparations and festivities!), Carlton and I woke up and headed back over to his parents' house. Because it rained, we couldn't swim... but we did enjoy lots of yummy food and an afternoon of Rock Band!


Carlton, SJ Jr (dad), and SJ3 (Carlton's brother) were the main band. But there was always something missing with just the three of them. SJ3's toddler Katie Anne surprised us and agreed to teach her daddy a few lessons. The band sounded great after KA's expertise and her mom's singing talents rocked through the mic!!!


What a special holiday weekend! We are so glad we were back home in Georgia to share it with our families!

To market, to market to use my fine bag!

Because it's depressing to even think of taking pictures of our little apartment yet, and because I can't bare to bore you with the details of unpacking, I'm choosing to write about something a little more fun and colorful.

Don't you dare think that just because I haven't posted any progress posts on my knitting projects that it's not on my mind! I've been dying to pull my knitting projects out of their packed boxes and get started on a new project.

For now, Toula has to be put on hold. Unfortunately, there are some kinks in the pattern that I've found, but I have no idea how to unkinkify them. I wrote the creator of the pattern and asked for her help in figuring everything out, but she hasn't gotten back with me for a couple months now. :( So, I'm recycling all of the yarn from Toula (yes, I will frown as she unravels) and creating a new project that will be far more useful than a sweater in the summertime.

Introducing... The Market Bag!


Here in Moultrie, we've got a great Farmers Market for the selection of fresh local fruits (cantaloupes! watermelons! peaches!), nuts (peanuts! pecans!), and vegetables (squash! zucchini! pumpkins!). For a mere $5, anyone with homegrown produce or sale-worthy crafts can rent a table and sell their goods. I'm seeing some early Saturday mornings in my future. Why not carry my own bags, ready to tote home all the fresh grillin' zucchini I can handle? (Mmmmmmm.) Who knows, maybe some day I'll dish out 5 whole dollars and rent my own table to sell the bags.... The Market Bag is a nice, comfortable size that can have a short handle or a shoulder strap. It's also nice and stretchy, so it'll expand to hold plenty of homegrown goodies (or, knitting projects!) without everything spilling over the open top.


Now, I'm not sure exactly how long this bag will take to finish, but I'm guessing that it won't take too long. Seems simple enough, no? Because I purchased seven or eight skeins of yarn to knit up Little Miss Toula, I should be able to finish 7-8 Market Bags! All the yarn is pure cotton (washable in case of any tomato explosions!). I should get three bags in a bright spring green, one creamy white, one bag in a poppy red, one bag in an on-the-blue-side-of-the-color periwinkle, and one bag in a lighter periwinkle color.


Getting started... now!

The Drive

I can honestly say with 99% assurance that I will never move across country again. Unless the entire eastern half of the United States falls off the face of the planet, I'm staying put. Our drive from Arizona to Georgia was complete within two days.


You may ask, "Trisha, how many miles was that drive?"

"Why, just a simple and straight 2017 miles," I'll reply.


But even one mile driven simple and straight can be, well, quite dull. Now multiply that 2017 times, and suddenly a simple and straight 2017 mile drive is no easy task. Especially when you're in the car with no one but a nervous and uncomfortable pup to talk to. I drove my MINI with the pup in the front passenger seat. Carlton drove his Nissan and zoned out while listening to a book on tape and following the little red ZipZip in front of him.


Now you might be wondering, "Trisha, if you drove 2017 miles in two days all by yourself while the Hub listened to a book on tape, how did you stay awake and keep yourself entertained?"

"Well," I would so pridefully answer, "on Day 1 of our drive through Texas, I discovered an All-Aerosmith-All-The-Time radio station. SCORE! Now imagine to yourself, My Inquisitive Friend, my relief when I realized that the nervous little pup next to me would calm down when I sang aloud in the car. And then imagine my immediate giggle-worthy reaction to my own silly self as I realized I was having fun when I made funny faces to the beat of the music... Steven Tyleresque faces. And then, when my face got tired, Curious Friend, I sang in the most obnoxious opera voice I could muster."

Being alone in a straight-driving car for that long will lead a girl to do some crazy things.


By 6:00 am on Saturday we left our house in Scottsdale, Arizona and wheeled out onto I-10 (which eventually puked out into I-20). Then some time around 1:00 am we arrived in Fort Worth, Texas and stayed for the night. By 9:00 am we hit 80 mph once again, and stopped in Macon, Georgia at my best friend Chelsea's for the night around 10:30. I woke up around 8:00 am with the pup and let Carlton sleep until about 10:30 (thanks, Chels, for letting us take our time that morning!). My sister met us there and followed us the last 2 hours down to our final destination, and our new home, Moultrie, Georgia.

*Finally-Content Sigh.*

On the road again

Well not quite yet, but this lovely 27' package showed up this morning:


Oh, dear, this is totally intimidating.

eww.

forgive the transitional mess. trying to find something pretty to look at.

The sale stats

I was really excited about posting our yard sale online, especially because it was a free service. (Thanks for the info, Nesting Place, I'll always go to that site to advertise and look up sales!). I was ready for visitors roaring for our sleeper sofa and mattress set. I was prepared to sell a few things that would hurt to go, but would help with the move and were not necessarily needed or used anymore.

We made almost $300 without selling our souls... or the mattress... or the sofa. But these $300, well, they're $300 we didn't have before we sold everything except this:


I'd call it a success, especially because I was complimented on my talent for sign placement and directional assistance! These neon yellow arrows and large letters were complimented by an avid yard sale-er, who complained of having to give up on possible great deals all too often because of poor signage.


I was sad to sell an entire set (plus a piece) of cute girl luggage for $28, but hey, that's major cash at a yard sale, and those suitcases and purses had just about seen their last days. Two young sisters who like to play "airplane" will love these pretty and sophisticated "toys" for a while.

A large rattan chair and side table went for a healthy $25. I'm still sad that they're gone, because I've had them since I was a little girl. But they were starting to give up on life a little, and a model home staging associate purchased them to spray paint and stage on one of her company's properties.

Don't cry, Vicki, but that 5 gallon vat of Ben Moore beige/yellow paint you gave to us, which never made it onto the walls because it was oil base, went for $20 to a very happy Hispanic husband and wife. They also got a great deal on a DVD player ($5) and like-new sewing machine ($50).

Lots of bulky, never-warn, and never-to-be-warn-again-in-south-Georgia winter sweaters went for $1 each, and I was glad to see them go.

Another Hispanic lady wanted to purchase my set of drinking glasses, but I couldn't bare the thought of drinking from Dixie cups until another sale hits Crate&Barrel kitchen goods. So the glasses stayed.

One guy proudly toted our beloved Coleman charcoal grill to the bed of his pickup truck after only paying $8 for it.

An iron with a scratchy point (the very tip on the front of the ironing surface) sold for $5. It got dropped, the tip got scratched from the fall, and so it made tiny little pulls on delicate clothes. I just bought a new one a few weeks ago, so with the $5 "reimbursement" from the old iron, I only paid $24.99 for my new appliance. Hooray! Also, that annoying hang-over-the-door ironing board went for $4, and the pad was all burned and really thin. So technically I have a new $24.99 iron and no board to iron it on, but hey, it doesn't scratch up my clothes.

Too bad we didn't have the original Nintendo or Sega games for that 20-year-old guy with the Ipod in his snap-up thrift store shirt pocket and "tragic" hairstyle.

And then there was my drafting table. Oh, that drafting table. It was my beloved, my friend, my enemy, my crutch for four very tough years. It withstood move-ins and move-homes and move-backs-into-crappy-apartments. It survived a move into a newlywed apartment in Buford, and a move across country to Scottsdale, Arizona. It loved a good Windex wipe-off and held onto just enough paint to make me happy that it had been used well. It served well, with its little catch-all open art bin attached to the side, as a large and in charge sewing table, cutting table, and crafting table. I staged a number of blog photos atop its pristine white surface. And now it's paying for about 10 gallons of gas to send me back home. Oh drafting table, my drafting table, how I will miss thee. (Okay, okay, so maybe I sold my soul just a little in this case.)

The 7' tall shutters didn't sell. Mostly because I priced them at $40 and wouldn't budge for even our lovely neighbor. I like how they look as the headboard of a bed, or to cover an otherwise naked wall. They don't take up a lot of space in the moving truck, anyway. :)

Carlton's beloved toaster oven didn't sell. For some reason, the Hubster loves that toaster oven. It probably didn't sell because I didn't feel like cleaning out all the cinnamon raisin and cheese toast crusty crumbs from the bottom. Hub is pleased.

So to all the things we sold, thank you. And to all the things we didn't, PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU, PACK EASILY, LIGHTLY, AND QUICKLY!!! We're outta here and headed for home in...

FOUR DAYS????

Four days it is!

Garage Sale

We're selling off as much as we can to make the move back home. If you're in the area, follow the neon yellow arrows and take a look! Actually, follow the arrows at either Thunderbird & 60th Street or Greenway & 60th Street, and buy our stuff!

Click here to see our garage sale online advertisement and map with easy-to-follow Google Maps directions!

Queen sleeper sofa

Queen mattress set

7' folding shutters (we used these as a partition, or as the headboard wall for our bed)

Cute girly luggage, easy to find at baggage claim! (Carry-on case, duffel bag, square shoulder bag, and carry-on purse)

PLUS lots more, including:
small Chrismas tree and lights
drafting table
electronics
sewing machine
small kitchen appliances

We're also serving ice cold drinks and water for $1 for refreshment!

A-Buuuuuuuhhhh....

I know that because this story backs right up to my Tonsilloliths post, I might just sound like a total hypochondriac. However, these few things just piled up on me all at once! I think my body and surrounding infectious attack agents knew I would need extra energy because of all this packing and moving stress. And it's all hitting me at once!

While on our cruise with the families (check out my many pictures posted about a week ago), I had my mom take a look at a mole that I have had on the back side of my scalp pretty much all my life. Because I had a feeling it might be changing a little, and because she has always sort of kept an eye on it for me (because it's on the back side of my scalp where I can't really see it), I had her take a look. She was concerned that it had changed and maybe even grown a little since the last time she had seen it, and urged me to see a dermatologist as soon as we were back from our vacation.

(I can't stop thinking of Austin Powers every time I type the word mole. Watch this scene as well as this scene and finally this scene to understand why it's... A-BUUUUUUUUH... hilarious!!!)

Friday afternoon I called a local dermatologist and made an appointment to have the mole evaluated on Tuesday (this morning) at 11:00. Once I got off the phone, I decided to myself that even if the mole was deemed healthy and not at any risk of being a problem, I still wanted to have it removed. Why? Well, it's just a really big mole. And, even though it's hidden by my thick and massive hair, it is always a big issue when I have my hair cut.

So the weekend passed and I went into work for a morning shift, from 8:00 until 1:00 on Monday. During my work in the studio, I noticed that my elbow was super itchy. And there were a few little bumps on it, like a mosquito had gotten to it in the middle of the night or early in the morning.

I shrugged it off and went about my work, but by the time I got home around 1:30, these itchy welts were getting bigger, and the three "bites" had turned into about seven or eight pink, warm, intensely itchy welts. And my right arm had a few now, too. But since I tend to get pretty big welts from mosquitoes anyway, I just kept shrugging it off like it was nothing.

But the itching. I mean, come ON! It was insane.

Once I got home and changed from my yucky, glaze-splattered work clothes, I noticed that my legs were itching as well. Now I had welts on both my arms and both my legs. And they were getting itchier and bigger and they were all little hot spots. I called my mom and asked her what she thought they might be. We ruled out a second round of chicken pox (I had them when I was little), and we ruled out shingles. With my mom, I still decided this was probably a super-hungry mosquito, or maybe even a few fleas, that got into the bedroom on Sunday night and ate me alive.

Luckily, since I already had this dermatologist appointment scheduled for this morning, I was able to ask her about my "bites" as well as show her the moley-moley-moley on my head. First, we talked about my mole, and I told her that even if there was no risk in keeping it, I wanted it removed. She got out a few tools and got set up immediately! Wow, I thought this would require a consultation, a biopsy, and a separate appointment to have it removed. And here she was, ready to go! Woohoo! She took a look at my mole and decided she wouldn't want it staying anyway, because the side of it I thought might have gotten a little bigger was the side that she thought was a little irregularly shaped. Yes, it was big enough to have sides!

Once she numbed the area with a tiny needle, she just sliced it right off. A little topical cream to keep any germs out, and she was done. Then she took a look at my legs and arms. "Whoa! I bet you're ready to crawl out of your skin! This is some kind of rash, I'd say." Who knows what I got into, or what I got on me, or what Vespa got into and got on me, but it's something that my skin does not agree with. I mean, look at this! These are a few pictures of the spots on my arms and one spot on one of my legs. Are you itching yet?


I have a steroid in pill form to take every day as well as a topical cream to put on twice a day. I'm not starting the steroid until tomorrow, but I put the cream on as soon as I got home from the pharmacy. The itching has gone away a little, and hopefully it'll go away totally pretty soon.

Now I am a clean-tonsil (I'm instantly down 10 notches to the rank of "normal morning breath" now!!! Be so happy for me!), mole-free, itchy person. And hopefully the itchy part will stop very soon!

Tonsilloliths

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY GRAPHIC AND DISGUSTING ENTRY. TO THOSE WHO ARE SENSITIVE TO ILLNESS OR ANY MEDICAL ISSUES DEALING WITH INFECTION--PLEASE, SAVE YOUR LUNCH. DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING STORY. AND, YES, IT REALLY IS THAT BAD.

You may remember my vivid dream of being stuck in a dumpster (number 8) which woke me into the terrible reality that my breath really smelled... like a dumpster.

Chronic bad breath is something that I have dealt with for a really long time. I don't remember having bad breath when I was little, or suffering from a stinky mouthpiece when I finished playing my flute or piccolo for hours on end in high school... but I've suffered from terrible breath for a really long time. Who wouldn't say that suffering from bad breath every morning was bad? Well, a thorough brushing and mouthwash rinse wear off after a while, and my nasty dumpster breath comes back. And it's just as bad as when I woke up.

I use a tongue scraper to clean my tongue, from allllll the way back, and alllll the way to the tip of my tongue. I brush my cheeks with my toothbrush once I'm finished with my teeth and gums. Mouthwash is a given for me. I've never been big on flossing, but the stinky breath isn't coming from my mouth, I could tell. My tongue didn't taste bad. And when I could really stop and pay attention, I could taste that the nasty breath wasn't coming from my lungs or stomach from a stinky meal. But I could never really pinpoint the problem.

Then comes this past week. I've been suffering from a cold which started as a general head soreness, moved to an ear infection, and has settled itself comfortably into the sniffles and a little juicy cough. With the cough, it's much worse in the morning, a hard cough might sound nasty but not bring any satisfying results. But as the day goes on, things loosen up and it's mostly sniffles and a clearing of the throat from then on out.

With the cough, and trying the get the yuckies out of my throat, I've been noticing some little yellowish-white pellets. Not boogers. Not puss. But somewhere in between. Upon inspection of one earlier in the week, I squished it in between my fingers, and the foulest, most rank smell EVER was the result. The little pellet squished into a grainy, sticky mess on my finger and thumb. And the smell, as disgusting and horrifying as it was, reminded me of something very familiar: my breath.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Lots of chatting over Gmail chat with my best friend Chelsea, lots of laundry and cleaning and planning. Lots of online house shopping and talking over the phone with the Hub. And then I felt it. A loose lump in the back of my throat.

I raced to the bathroom in the guest bedroom, where the bulbs are brightest thanks to all the surrounding mirrors and skylight above. I opened my mouth, stuck out my tongue, and flexed my tonsils. Sure enough, out popped one of those nasty balls of grossness. For some reason, I squished it in between my finger and my thumb again. This time, the smell made me gag. As I held back my lunch over the sink, I felt more in the back of my throat. I opened up. Terror struck my insides. I just knew I was dying of throat cancer.

I ran to the fireplace mantle where our gigantic flashlight is, and ran back into the bathroom to get a closer look. My right tonsil was practically exploding with these disgusting pods of infected grossness.

And they smelled like my dumpster breath. I could tell as I was swabbing them up with q-tip after q-tip. I'll save some of the "surfacing" details because if the image hasn't made you puke so far, the details probably would. But by the time I squished around my tonsil for about 20 minutes, I'd say I had enough of these things to cover the face of a quarter.

I know.

At this point, I was convinced that I was dying of throat cancer, and rushed to the computer to type up "trusty" ole webmd.com. Typed in the word tonsils.

And next came probably the single largest epiphany I have ever had! These nasty, smelly pellets have a name. They are a sort of "condition" one could say. These things are called "Tonsilloliths" or Tonsil Stones.

Okay, so, I'm not dying. Maybe. Let's follow the links and make sure mine look like what the descriptions are telling me.

http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/tonsil-stones-tonsilloliths-treatment-and-prevention

That link above was the first set of information I had ever read on this nasty condition. Next, I clicked over from some link and found these articles. Beware, there are graphic photos of these nasty, infected tonsil impostors:

link to article and pictures

That entire web site is pretty much an advertisement for the doctor she raves about, but the graphic explanations about the stones was enough to make me jump up and down.

Now I know why my breath is always so nasty. It's not what I'm eating. It's not cancer hardening and tumbling out of my throat. They're existent in about 25% of adults who still have their tonsils. Dangit, I'm one of them.

Please don't hate me. Don't look at me with disgust or shy away from talking with me in an up-close conversation in a noisy room. I know what the problem is, and now I can work to fix it. Question is, should I poke at my tonsils for the rest of my life with Q-tips, or have them removed altogether?

Either way, I'm done with dumpster breath.

Just... read it.

Chelsea: trisha, i have proof that i desperately need you back.

me: why! lemme hear it!

Chelsea: without you here to knock sense into me, i have turned into something i have avoided for a couple of years now.

me: a blonde?

Chelsea: that would probably be better. but this is who i am, i shouldn't be ashamed.

i am...

a Twifan.

a Twihard

a TwiCrack addict.

me: ummm

oh no

i know

...light.

Chelsea: oh no is right

me: i've been so ashamed

so embarrassed

so disappointed

Chelsea: my blogger dashboard shows me anonymously following the dealers to feed my addiction

i know way too much about the series.

i am currently reading the first book again for the 5th time...

after trying to read another book and taking 20 minutes to read the first sentence.

i.

am.

ruined.

and you know what is the worst part?

me: i don't know if i want to!

but tell me

Chelsea: the person i did depend on to pick me up out of my Twi-Hole...

fell into it, too.

me: andrew

i know, i know.

i shake my head in disbelief

Chelsea: i.

ruined.

my.

husband.

me: just sit back and think about what you've done

take a look in the mirror

at your cute little short hair

and your favorite green striped dress

and the fang scars on your neck!

you fool!

Chelsea: but in twilight they don't have fangs

and they sparkle in the sunlight

me: so they're fairies

Chelsea: BAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAAAAAA

oops

i literally just laughed out loud

at my desk

at work

me: alone in your office

Chelsea: it would be better if i was in an office! i'm at a reception desk!

me: more proof that you've destroyed yourself

Chelsea: my life is over.

Country road, take me home to the place I belong!

Get ready, guys, we're moving back to Georgia!


What was probably a quick and relieving two-hour "interview" conversation in Moultrie, Georgia this morning for Carlton was indeed a grueling, terrible, miserable two hours for me with a phone that WOULD! NOT! RING! Finally, after my imagination led me to believe that Carlton was driving through the front yards of Moulrtie homeowners and smashing plants along with mailboxes on his way out of town with tears streaming down his face after he was rejected (breeeeeeeathe.), my phone rang. And it wasn't another text from my sister begging me to calm down... my phone screen flashed, "Hubby is calling!" Okay, here goes. I hunkered down on the sofa and braced myself. "Hey, you."

"Hey, babe, you wanna live in Moultrie?"

All I could do was cry and nod.

Carlton got the job offer on the spot, and I can say that I am a very, very proud, pleased, and relieved wife. He's so excited about the family of guys he's already met there in the office. "They're so nice, Trisha. They're just really good people. Mr. Rowell is going to be a good man to work for." Carlton's voice sounded so relieved, thankful, and proud.

Up front, from what I can understand, Carlton will be streamlining a lot of redundancy in their computer programs. He'll stand as their one and only guy for all computer needs. He's going to have a high-stress job, but only because if it works it's because of him... and if it doesn't... it's because of him. Lots of web programming and maintenance. Lots of challenges and fun projects. What an amazing opportunity for him to grow and prove himself!

Lots of phonecalls and texts to family and friends. I broke the news to a couple of my very favorite girls at work, and we all shared a frown, smile, and hug. I'm going to miss these girls soooooo badly. They are one of the reasons I warmed up to Arizona (no pun intended!) as much as I have.

A rental truck has already been reserved (and will be driven by paid professionals this time, whew!!!). A yard sale is being planned for next weekend. A couple other major plans are sill in limbo, but hey, I got the news two hours before I had to leave for work this afternoon!

For now, I'm just taking this one minute at a time, and thanking Good God Almighty for answering our prayers so quickly and abundantly. We have been blessed that we both have jobs here, and that we could live in this house and stay at our jobs here in Arizona until a perfect opportunity came along. We have never been left needing anything in the job search, and that is truly a blessing!

I have the need to start making lists and start organizing things: move, toss, donate, sale. This is going to be a very busy two weeks!