10 years of college does pay off ...

I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person. I never went to college so I'm not book smart, but I do pretty good ... I thought. lol

So as you know, we are changing around everything in the house. We've had painting done and the carpet cleaned. There is furniture everywhere, I'm redoing my scrapbooking stuff, etc. Alot of stuff from upstairs is being worked in downstairs, and vice versa. Add to all this the 6 cats, and normal house stuff, it's a little bit crazy around here right now. So after we had the carpet cleaned, I decided that since it's all perfect upstairs now, we'll just put a baby gate across the steps and the cats all stay on the first floor. It's a big house .. this shouldn't be a problem. Well since I did that a week ago, you are just tripping over cats. You can't go anywhere, or do anything .. its like your living in a house with a thousand cats, they are everywhere, and I can't figure out why.

So this morning when I'm talking to Mark about the cats and how they are just everywhere, (this must be the part they teach you in college) he says "Of course they are everywhere, they are living now in 3 rooms of the house" I'm shocked, and thinking ... no ... they have the entire first floor still, and half of a huge house, is still pretty big, except, when you do the math. Of the first floor, our room and the office are closed up, so that just leaves the kitchen, family room, and green room .. and a bunch of hallways (I think it was the hallways that messed me up)
So really it's like a quarter of the house they are in. Opps .. we have a problem. The cat/square footage ratio is totally out of wack now, so as much as I would like to keep the upstairs ... a cat free zone, I don't think that is going to be possible.

Always a lady ...

I took Kayla to get her maid-0-honor dress for Ashley's wedding today. The dress is beautiful. (good choice Ashley)




This however, is what I usually end up with. Hopefully the wedding photographer will have better luck than I do.

Future predictions ...

Yesterday before class Linda, Karen, Carolyn and I went to get Chinese, and this was my fortune. Having a "special talent" with fortune cookie interpretations ... I know exactly what it means. Check back in May (when the flowers bloom)... and I'll let you know if I was right.

Nice Matters ...

This is the project we made today at scrapbooking. Changed it a bit to work in the "nice matters."

Looking for a dress ...

I took Kayla out looking for a dress today for Ashleys shower, couldn't find anything. I'm not asking for much ... just something as cute as this.

Organized Chaos ...

The painter finished in Ashleys room, so today the carpet cleaners will be here. Mark and I took everything that we could move, and put it all in the girls bathroom. I'm kinda doing all this in segments. lol Right now it's the upstairs, then we'll tackle the first floor.



Can't do the first floor now anyway ... since scrapbooking island is back. As much as I like to cook, we could really get rid of all this kitchen stuff .. and change it over to a scrapbooking room.

Just been Scrapbooking

I finished this "quilt" about a week ago, and have been finishing up the puzzle pieces for the swap I'm in. I had planned on making one of these quilts (I say that loosely, since they are made out of grungeboard & grungepaper - not fabric) every month for all the holidays, but haven't gotten very far with that. lol

Today is the first day of fall ...

This is my favorite season, although winter comes in a close second. I always say I could live anywhere, but I can't imagine living somewhere that the seasons don't change. Knowing that fall is right around the corner, is the only thing that gets me through those 100* days of summer. lol




Fall here isn't quite what it was up north, but I love it anyway.

The neighbors will be happy ...

They won't have to cover their eyes anymore when they walk past a window that gets the "glare" from Ashley's old room. We've actually had neighbors come over to ask about the color of the room. It is -bright bright- sunshine yellow, or should I say ... it used to be -bright bright- sunshine yellow. The painter is here today, and sorry Ashley .. were going with a beige.

Flea Market findings ...

I went to the flea market yesterday with Carolyn and Pat, and this is what I came home with. I love the hand statues. I plan on having Kayla artsy up the little wagons, and we'll see what we end up with. They have the flea market once a month, and I can't wait till next month. Opps, just checked the calendar and looks like I have plans for next month's flea market, but guess what Deb and Trish ... were going on Sunday.

Flashback - The turtle and the gate

Last summer, Brad came running into the house to get me to go outside and see this huge turtle that was in the driveway. We both went back out to find a pretty large box turtle up by the house. Not really knowing what to do with it, I said just leave it right where it is, and hopefully he will find his way back to the lake across the street, and we went back in the house. I went back outside about 5 minutes later and the turtle was gone. Now I'm not a rocket scientist, but I know turtles are not fast, so I started looking around the yard for the turtle. Couldn't find the turtle anywhere, but the gate to the backyard was open. Was it open before ... I would of said no. So for what seemed like an eternity, I'm looking at the open gate, and no turtle. My next logical conclusion -- how did the turtle open the gate?? Fast forward to today ...




I come home from the flea market, and this was my thought process ...
Omg .. Doug's car is in the driveway. How can that possibly be, since Doug turned his car in and they destroyed it with the cash for clunkers program. Omg .. how did the car get here, omg ... why did it come here, and not to Doug's house. Well .. because we're closer to the dealership. That's an easy one. Omg ... how did Doug's car drive here, when it was supposed to be blown-up. Omg .. Doug's car is possessed. And for those of you who wonder how I think ... it's all right here.
Now it turns out, the car was Dave's ... Doug's dad. He and Mark went to the baseball game today, and Mark drove. But that still doesn't explain the turtle ...

Ashley's Apple Pie

Ashley sent me a phone picture of the apple pie she made tonight, but couldn't figure out how to get that one online .. so I used an online picture instead. Looks really good.



Ashley - I think I'll pencil you in for making all the pies for Thanksgiving this year .. lol

Danny's home today ...

Danny's home today from school. We're hoping it's not the swine flu, but we'll have to wait and see. We've had a pretty good run around here with regards to everyone staying healthy ... looks like this year might just change that. Ashley and Brad have both already been sick at school, and the school year is about a monthish old. The only ones staying healthy are me and Kayla. I'm guessing they will prove the healing powers of pop-tarts and chicken fingers at sometime in the near future.

Minky island is back ...

I came back from taking Kayla to lunch today, and Minky was back where he belongs. He claimed this spot when he could first jump up there, and it's been his favorite ever since.

It's a boy week ...

What that means around here is .. All my scrapbooking stuff needs to be put away so we have a "real" kitchen. Normally, 3 of the 4 kids are away at college, and Danny is only here .. every other week. So on non-boy weeks ... This is what it looks like. But all is back to normal again.



The good news is .. I did get these 2 puzzle pieces done for a puzzle swap I'm in ... only 10 more pieces to go ... lol

The highlight of the Art Show

Kayla and I went to the Outdoor art show in Maplewood this evening. Not alot to see there, but this was the best booth in the show. Check out his website. http://www.catworks-online.com/

This looks like fun

I've been to some outdoor art festivals, but I've never made it to this one. So I called Kayla ( who was up .. amazing ) and we're going tonight.

A little bird told me ...

that Paulo wasn't feeling good. Now I'm not sure that little bird can be trusted, since she can't seem to get up and go to her early classes, but ... none the less .. I'll believe her on this one.

Paulo - Hope you feel better soon. I would make you some chicken soup, but I'm not much of a cook ... so this is about as good as it gets.

day two

The magic of yesterday, didn't quite work out all the kinks with this blog problem. I did get the color to change, but I also lost the template, and crashed my computer sometime overnight. And as we all know, there are no pictures. So when all else fails .. go to the scrapbooking store. Maybe that will help.

Well I got the color changed, but still no luck on the pictures. I'll keep trying.
Glee was awesome tonight.

still day one

hmmm ... I'm still trying to change the color, and post pictures. As of right now ... no luck. But its all good .. since tonight is Glee night. This will probably be my new favorite show.

day one

09-09-09

Take 2. I had to go "live" with this today, since I can use all the help I can get on this. So if there is some ... magical karma ... floating around in the air today .. maybe it will somehow find it's way to me and make this blog thing a little easier.