Hey! Check it out!

First thing yesterday, Grandpa was out in the yard snooping around. He found this and asked if he could keep it. Hah! I should think not.

We went from this yesterday morning...

To this....

It makes the whole pool look larger and the pool area so much more beautiful.
We are very very pleased with the progress...
After speaking with the company's owner, it's thanks to his wife for pushing him to get this pool done. He and his family live across the street and are really terrific people.  It seems that she made him sit and watch all the kids, cars, and people pile in here for all the events we have had. He said she made him stay up for the cast party. She made him watch for the graduation party. She makes him stay and watch the kids come up for the Wednesday Sectional Rehearsals. I had no idea they even noticed. He said it gave him perspective - he saw it from the consumer's side of things. That alone is worth the parties we had without the pool. As long as something good comes out of it - besides my learning to be patient - it was all worth it.
Now -- if they don't show up to plaster and fill today, I'll be absolutely crushed. Patience is a virtue, but I still want the kids to swim on Monday!

Hang on Toto!!

The wind is whipping! I feel like we might be blown away! It sounded like a freight train all night... and all day yesterday - which was when I was out driving in it.

LLB and I went shopping and to the movies yesterday instead of staying home and taking those pictures I promised you. We had a great day - I may have found the drapes - which I purchased for a song - but I need to wait to see the bedding before I get too excited.  LLB got some bargains and spent her Kohls' gift card that was burning a hole in her pocket. I got some goodies for some of LLB's friends for next Christmas - yes, I've already started.  I also picked up some frames so I can get all of the school pictures from years past up on the wall. (I have the current year's pix up in the family room, but the rest are sitting in a drawer and that, my friends, is totally unacceptable.)

So this morning, I am up and dressed and ready to start my day. I even made the bed so I could take that picture you've been wanting to see.  I have a before and an after...  Here is the before:

It doesn't give you the whole sense of how bad it really was, so you can use your imagination. Mr. is steaming off that hideous blue paper. I told you it was attractive... imagine a whole room with bows and flowers... it was exactly of what nightmares are made...

Here is the "somewhat" after... The painting is done. The crown is up. The loveseat needs a slip cover, but you can ignore that and the curtains and rods aren't up yet...

Soon that ugly 1986 carpet will be hardwood flooring - stay tuned.  But anyway, now you can see what we've been doing with our free time.

Crazy People

live here.
We decided that it would be a good idea to strip wallpaper and paint the master bedroom and bathroom during Christmas week. This is because we got 2 feet of snow and we couldn't split wood... The chore we'd been planning for a while now. (I thank the Lord we got 2 feet of snow because if we didn't, I'd still be looking at 1986 blue floral and bow wallpaper.)


Our master bedroom is a whole lot bigger than we thought... Fortunately, our master bath is teeny tiny in comparison...

It took us a whole day to get the wallpaper off the walls - and it came off relatively easily. We washed and rinsed and spackled as we thought we'd paint the room the next day. It took 2 days to paint that room, but it is lovely.

Just as we finished painting the master bedroom, Mr. mentioned that since the bathroom was upside down, too, we may as well do that.  How long could it really take anyway...

The wallpaper in the bathroom was interesting. It was not the quality of that in the bedroom. The top half came off in sheets - I'm sure it's from years of being steamed from the shower. The bottom half - not so much - that came off one itty bitty piece at a time.

We washed those walls and spackled... The next morning, we painted. It took no time at all!  Now we have to put it all back together. I got a new medicine cabinet and am on the hunt for a new "over the toilet" cabinet. For now, we'll use the old one and I'll get new knobs.  Those will be hung this morning so we can begin to put stuff away.  I'm going to paint the sink base in the bathroom -- unless I can convince Mr. that a new one is in order.  (Measurements will be taken and prices will be compared because honestly, the sink is from 1986 and has definitely seen a better day...)

Tomorrow Mr. and Grandpa will be putting the crown molding up in the bedroom. This is only because the bathroom threw up into the bedroom and we need to clean it all up so we can get to the walls to put up the crown!  I will admit to cheating on the crown. I got the corner moldings pre-made... you put them up, measure between, make straight cuts and slap the crown in there.  They aren't cheap, but in the long run, it will save much angst and gnashing of teeth to do it this way.

I've ordered new bedding - we'll see if it stays or goes...  it was on sale and it is in the style that Jackie Davis,  the HGTV designer (and dear friend) told me to get when she gave me the colors for the room. I'm not sure the colors are exactly right - the colors on the monitor are often a wee bit different in person, but I'll know when it arrives.

Pictures? Well, you'll have to wait until it's all done and picked up and dusted...

New Doors

The doors are in!
I was going to post a a picture of the front of the house until it loaded onto my screen. The door is lovely, but all I saw was the hedge that needs to be trimmed, the messy front stoop, and the trim that now needs to be painted white. So...anyway, here's the door. Ignore the ugly blue paint and picture it white...
Now I need to accessorize the front stoop and get the hedges trimmed up - maybe I'll start with that this morning. That will make the place look so much better. I didn't want to do it until all the construction was finished... I'm just lazy like that.

Windows...

Here is a picture of a family room window from the inside...


Here is a picture of the windows from the outside.


Once the doors are in, I'll give you a picture of the whole thing... until then, you'll just have to use your imagination...

T minus 24 hours...

Our new windows are due to arrive at 8am tomorrow morning.

Seeing out is a new concept around here because almost every window we have - and we have 24 - has broken seals. Moisture has crept between the panes and left a haze. The haze will be gone, the mullions will be between the windows for easy cleaning, and we will finally be air tight.

Oh and all of my windows will match!!! Right now some have mullions, some have partial mullions, and some have no mullions. It's lovely... really. (Most people probably don't notice, but I do.)

There is one downside to all of this: I'll actually have to wash the windows now... I refused to wash those hazy windows - it made no difference. It's a small price to pay.

I have two new doors coming as well, but those are taking a little longer.
I can be patient. Lord knows I've waited 5 years, what's another 2 weeks?

It is done.

I have finally packed up all of LLB's American Girl Dolls.

I dressed them in their original clothing. That was no easy task because she has had her dolls for a long time and my brain is stuffed with other more important items... I packed away the bed, the spa tub, the fishing rod, the horse... It's all safely tucked away.

Next on my organizational list - the attic.
Maybe next week... Maybe next month... Maybe in December...

Decisions, Decisions

Well, I made the choice - I got the dark black/brown shelving unit for #1's room. It took us a while to get it put together and in place, but it is awesome! I can't wait for #1 to see it!
When Mr. got home last night, he went to check it out.
"WOW! He's going to love this! This is awesome!"
I knew I'd hit a home run because Mr. doesn't usually get overly excited about stuff like this. I usually get, "Oh, that's nice."

I have another issue which I'm handling, but I need to vent a little - heaven forbid I be accused of being a complainer on my own blog...

I got a call from LLB the other day. She is still at music camp. I took this picture last weekend as we left her. I think it really gives you a sense of who she is... Anyway, She had a really rough lesson. She couldn't hit anything. She was having trouble with the easy stuff. She was havin' what you call "A BAD Day". She mentioned to the teacher that she "must be tired or something". The teacher flipped out. He said, "What, do you have an excuse for everything?" LLB was floored. She hadn't said anything before that. Then he said, "You don't have a right to be tired!"
Had I been there I would have said to this teacher, "Honey, it's summer camp. The child has been away from home for a week and a half. She's been up late. She's been honking her brains out for hours a day. Not to mention that the campus is built on a hill and her dorm is on the top, the cafeteria is in the middle and the classrooms are at the bottom. I get winded thinking about walking around that campus! That said, she's the youngest and only female trumpet there. She's been working hard to keep up since she got here. Obviously your knickers are in a twist over something that has nothing to do with my kid - untwist 'em and be nice."
Needless to say, I wrote to the camp director. I'm waiting to hear from her. I don't think any teacher should belittle a student - ever - but especially at summer camp - a camp for which I paid huge dollars - and at an extra lesson for which I paid through the nose. This is my kid he squawked at... And this mama isn't too happy about that...

Rant over...
There... I feel better. Thanks for listening.

Ahhh... What to do??

When the cat is away, the mouse - well, she goes shopping...
Today I was considering going to IKEA to get this for #1's room:
I'm still debating on the color...
It comes in the birch shown here, a brown/black color and white.
Most of his furniture is maple.
I really like the brown/black color... It just oozes masculinity. I think it would look great against the beige wall. But the birch will fade into the wall... And the white will match his trim.
Tell me - which color would you pick?

Look what we got!!

We went to my new favorite grocery store yesterday... Yes, I know... we are SO boring.
Anyway, when we got there I noticed some patio furniture out front.
Patio furniture is VERY expensive and although we would love to have all kinds of it out on our deck, is just isn't something that we are willing to purchase - especially when we need 27 new windows and our carpeting is circa 1986.

We parked and sauntered up to the store. We were there for raspberry lambic and 2 cases of seltzer. We noticed that the patio furniture was on sale - I mean VERY on sale... like affordable to the point that we couldn't leave it there. We are bargain hunters and we know a good deal when we see one...

We ended up with this:

And a total of 8 of these (Gram and Grandpa purchased 4):

And the best part - we didn't break the bank. We spent less than the original cost of 1 chair for all of it.

Eau de Toilet

I don't like toilets that don't flush well.
I don't like toilets that talk to me - they never have anything good to say.
Most of all, I don't like toilets that puke all over my bathroom floor with effuse from an upstairs bathroom.
My downstairs toilet did all of those things to me yesterday.
We obviously have a blockage somewhere!
I have to disinfect that bathroom from top to bottom. Thus, I have a date with the bleach bottle today.

I saw the plumber at church yesterday.
I'm calling him this morning.
He already knows he will be paying a visit here today.
I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

I know I don't cook, but...

I have this great appetizer recipe that my friend R found out on the internet this past week. She made it for the scrapbooking thing I went to the other night. If I could have found a way to stand in front of the bowl and eat the stuff with a spoon, I would have... Alas, that would have been totally tacky, so instead I stood in front of the bowl and scooped half of it on to my plate.

I call it Corn Dip, but she called it something else... which I can't remember.
Anyway, it's wicked easy and everyone loves it - And we all know it has to be wicked easy or I can't make it.

Ready?

Corn Dip

1 can white corn - drained
1 can yellow corn - drained
1 can rotel - drained
1 block cream cheese
garlic powder to taste
chili powder to taste - I didn't have any and nobody noticed.

Plop it all in a bowl.
Nuke it for 2 min or until the cheese melts -- or you can bake it at 350 for 30 min. until the cheese melts
Stir it up.
Serve with corn chips. I used Frito Scoops - oh so yummy!

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things LadyBug Is Thinking About Today 1. It's Thursday. It's been a pretty busy week for me. 2. I shoveled out both LLB's and #1's rooms. 3. I shoveled out my closet and my dresser. (That is a huge accomplishment!) 4. Today I'm going through all of LLB's children's books and weeding them. 5. I will take the old clothes to the Salvation Army. 6. I will take all the old books to the library. 7. I found margarita glasses for $1 yesterday. We have been invited to a 4th of July party and our contribution is daiquiris. 8. They look really pretty served in those margarita glasses. I knew I could find them if I looked long and hard enough. 9. I found them at the dollar store yesterday. Yippeee for me!!! 10. Gram and I are thinking we might need a few more.... So when I go to the Salvation Army, I'll stop by the dollar store and them. 11. Last night #1 had a friend stay over. They had a terrific time. They even went to bed at a reasonable hour - 12am. They are still asleep... Ahhh... life is good. 12. LLB is still at camp. We are all missing her, but we know she is having a blast! 13. My friend R is off to Kennebunkport for her anniversary. If you see her, wish her a happy anniversary - she and J will be the ones eating lobster and blueberry pie. That narrowed it down for you, didn't it? Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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All clean and tidy

For now.

LLB's room has been shoveled out. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I do have some shelves of children's books that need to be weeded, but basically, her room, drawers, and closet have been cleaned and tidied.

I need to go in there and dust and vacuum, but that will take just a few minutes compared to the whole morning I spent in there yesterday.

In the afternoon, I was going to flop on the couch, but #1 wanted to go through his things and start to pack for camp. He will be gone for 3 weeks. So... we went through his things. We packed a trunk for his first 12 days away. We set aside what he needs me to bring up for the following however many days he will be gone. We went through every drawer. We cleaned the closet. We weeded his book case. We tossed, chucked, and sorted.
His room is looking pretty darned good, too!

He has shelves that need to be weeded, but I'll do that later this week or when he's gone. The tough stuff is done!

#1 and I worked hard. We chatted. We laughed. It was tough stuff, but it was fun... He's such a terrific kid...

#1 is learning how to drive. Grandpa is teaching him.
They went for a lesson yesterday. The car #1 is learning to drive is the one he will be driving - it's a stick shift 1990 Camry. It's a total cream puff. #1 is really enjoying that car! He came in yesterday after his lesson and said, "Mom, that car is awesome! I love that car!"

Ahh yes, my #1... it will be much cheaper to insure than anything else. You best enjoy it and take care of it.

Dryer Day

Today is the day we re-vent the dryer.
Mr. got all kinds of nifty elbows and straight lengths of vent tube - the good kind... not that flimsy stuff.
He should be all set under the house. I figure the whole thing should take 15 minutes give or take.
For my part, I'll be more than happy to hook up the dryer to the first elbow. It's the least I can do. I'm such a generous, helpful wife.

Disinfecting...

Mr. is sick... again.

He is back on Zithromax. He can't breathe. His throat is sore. He is just a miserable mess. He seems to just get over it, and it comes back.

I will be spending the day with my friend, the bleach bottle. Together we will disinfect every single surface. That means every door knob, handle, phone, counter, toilet, and toothbrush.

Yesterday I got most of the laundry caught up. Today, there will be more. That's they way it is with rabbits and laundry. Today I will change and bleach every set of sheets including the duvets. I've got to get rid of the germs...

I need my Mr. back.

So - here's a stock tip for you - Buy Clorox.
I'll be using a lot of it today.

A Lovely Piece of Ash

This lovely - very tall - ash tree was taken down the other day. (It was too close to the house.)

A friend of Mr.'s is a boat builder and he wanted us to save him a couple of pieces of ash. He also asked us to set aside some crotches. Who knew? I have no idea what they do with the crotches and I'm not about to ask.

Our climbing arborist - that speck in the top of the tree - cut the branches and made the kind of crotches the boat builder needed. So - right now I have two lovely large pieces of ash in the yard and a bunch of crotches piled up.

Ash and crotches... oh the fun we've had with those two words this week!! Double entendre is our specialty...

A New Look

Thanks to Jane, I've finally found a new template that I like. I'm not sure about the picture of my rock... it might have to go. I think it might be a bit much with the transparency thing I've got going. What do you think?

I am slowly getting all my goodies reinstalled - Like haloscan comments and such. It might take me a couple more days to get it all set, but I think I'll keep this sweet ladybug for my very own.

I am having a bit of trouble wiht a couple of things - like my handbell button. It will not stay solid on the template. I dunno why... it's just weird like that! I will be tweaking this puppy for a few more days, so if something looks stupid or odd, let me know, k?

xo
LBC

A New Look

Not that I wanted one... I was happy with what I had, but it seems that my template that Denise had done for me was shafted by Photobucket. It appears that they have dumped her pretty pictures that she made just for me.
Alas, I will eventually get over the trauma of it all.

I spent much of the evening fighting with Booger trying to load all the goodies I used to have. Booger is a pain in the patootie! It doesn't like this code... it needs a parameter... it needs something else... I'm not a codie!! I don't want to be a codie!

So - this is as far as I got. My TT blogroll is gone. My regular blogroll is gone! I'm just furious and frustrated and thoroughly annoyed.

Fortunately, I read most everyone on my google reader, but still... there were a few that the reader wouldn't pick up. URGH!!

I have a web page design program thingy on my computer... I may just have to design a whole new page. For now - enjoy this little ditty and bear with me, k?

Toilet Trauma

Remember last weekend when we had the party to end all parties? Well, it was about 2 minutes before the first guests were to arrive. I was just about to go choose my beverage when I heard #1 calling,
"MOM!! Quick! The toilet is overflowing! I can't get it to stop! You gotta help me!"
I went flying up the stairs expecting to see Mount Penatubo instead, I had Niagara Falls coming out the back of the toilet.
I turned off the water. Aren't I the smart one?!
I discovered that the bolt that holds the tank onto the base was broken - therefore we had a hole where the water was pouring out.
My next brilliant move was to flush.
This got the water out of the tank... Thus stopping the flow of water.
I was throwing every towel I had down on the floor to sop up the water so it wouldn't leak down into the kitchen, when #1 said this,
"Mom, I don't know what happened. I was taking a dump and I leaned back. I heard a crack and the water started pouring out."
"You leaned back? Why would you do that?"
"I needed to take a rest."

"Ladybug, Mr. calls, The guests are here!"
"Crap! #1, run down and get their coats. Then come back."

Huh??? Who leans back? He's taking a rest? From what?

"Mom, I'm back. It was your friend, F, and her husband, C. I had them sit at Gram's. Auntie is talking to them."
"Great. Thanks. Honey - don't lean back any more, k? That's bad... it breaks the toilet."
"Ummm... okay. I'm really sorry."
"No more resting. Do your poop and get out."
"Umm... okay. Can you fix it?"
"Yes."
"Do you think Santa will count this against me?"
"No. You're all set. Accidents don't count as naughty."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup.. but if you want to be sure, go take coats and be a good host."