Two of my uppercase living projects...

Here is my Southern Living "Dress Me Up Plate" newly monogramed....I
need to add a ribbon, but have been lazy and haven't gotten up into the attic where I have a nice stash of red ribbons. I think the plate turned out pretty snazzy with the "L" on it... Mike's cousin wants to
do the same thing for her mom (who also has one of these plates). She was very impressed by the Uppercase Living Catalog...she might get
addicted to it too!

If you have never heard of Upper Case Living...it is really cool. You can check out there website here

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Here is the saying that Mike and I chose (they had lots to choose from, or we could have created our own) for in our foyer. It is now the first thing you see when you walk in our front door. It is above the doorway going into the kitchen.


Same saying... from a little further away (I took a picture that showed more of our foyer...but it also showed how dusty the light fixture is in the foyer...so I opted to spare you all from looking at my dust!).
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A Walkway!!

New meaning for the term "squatters rights"

I thought you would all get a kick out of this little story from my work, and how Jane being in the peace corp solved the mystery!

We have had a restroom related mystery to solve here at work! Lately... we have noticed that when we go into the restroom, the seat is up. This is after we have been in there earlier in the day...and the seat was down (and the cleaning people "clean" overnight). hmmm???? how is the seat getting up?? We first decided that perhaps there was a man mistakingly using our restroom...but, when it continued to happen, we got skeptical of this and curious as to what was really going on. My co-worker, Karen decided that we must have a transvestite working on the floor and using the women's room. Our floor isn't that big... and we would probably notice something/someone strange walking around. That is when I remember the article I recently emailed to Jane about the squat toilets in China and how they are having to change to western style toilets for the olympics! (click here to read more. not the same article...but same topic) Ironically... we just got some new-fresh off the plane (I am not trying to be mean...but they don't speak english or anything)- chinese people working in the lab across the hall. I decided that we had some nice squatters that were lifting the seat! Karen wasn't convinced. So...we decided to do a little more research. As I was in the restroom, tinkling -in the modern western style, I realized that there had been many times when I went into the restroom and thought that someone was in the other stall, but didn't see any feet. I mentioned this to Karen, and she too had noticed that lately. Then... I found an article talking about Chinese potty customs and how they are "notorious for leaving footprints on seats" (their wording, not mine). I don't like to stereotype...but, I am quite convinced that our mystery has been solved. Too many coincidences... And... after we mentioned the theory to my boss, she remembers seeing footprints on the seat a while back, but just filed it away as something strange. Now...we are just waiting to see some feet emerge as they hop off the toilet! Maybe the first person to see feet emerging will win a prize! Maybe some good angel snot??

Anyway... after doing a little research, (check out this site) they say that squatting is the more natural way to "go" and it almost makes me want to perch myself up on my toilet! I don't know if I could aim for a hole in the floor just yet (that is what a squat toilet is, a hole in the floor)... I will leave that for Jane. For those of you that don't know...my friend, Jane, is in the peace corps. She is stationed in Azerbaijan and has to use squat toilets on a regular basis. Thank you Jane for helping us solve our mystery and giving us all something to think and chuckle about here at work!

here's to all the squatters in the world! may they all be nice enough to lift the seat so that they don't leave footprints!

Milo... Mr. Separation Anxiety

Here are some pictures of Milo from when I took a break from shoveling to sip my beer and nurse my blister ...(yes, only 30 minutes into shoveling...but hey...it is hard work). I couldn't help but take some pictures of Milo. He is just so darn cute when he paws at the glass. Poor baby can't stand it when we are separated by glass, if we are outside and he can't see us, he is fine...

Progress...

Here is a picture of the dirt pile when I got home from work on Friday (notice the spiffy new car behind the dirt pile!!)


This is the dirt pile a half hour, one beer and one large blister later (Mike hadn't gotten home from work to help yet).


After many tries... we finally got the walkway in a layout that we liked (now all we need to do is place them in the ground!)


How the walkway will look going to the front porch.


The dirt pile after a day and a half of digging! yes...there is still more digging to do!!

The Yard Boss...

Mike and I broke down and got a mini-tiller. With the ever increasing number of flower beds in our yard...we have needed one for a while. We got it yesterday... the Stihl Yard Boss (you can get all sorts of attachments for it. I think in total it has like 8 optional attachments). Anyway, we wanted to till up the area within the new retaining wall. Today... I am soooooooooo sore. It was easy while I was working with it, but my arms sure are feeling the pain today!!! Just in time to start shoveling the 10 tons of dirt we are having dropped off this afternoon!

Yahoo! News Story - Jumping eagle ray kills boater off Florida Keys

Good thing this didn't happen to Amber while on vacation in Florida! My favorite line is when they say they don't know which she died from...the eagle ray or hitting her head. Either way... that sucks.

Jumping eagle ray kills boater off Florida Keys

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/us_nm/florida_ray_dc

Food Holidays - National Food Celebrations

Check out this fun website! Who doesn't want to celebrate food 365 days a year!!
Food Holidays - National Food Celebrations

Don't forget... March 23rd is National Chip and Dip Day! And... April 17th is National Cheeseball Day!! I am super duper excited about that one....b/c I love me some cheeseball.

I am a little weirded out by March 28th food holiday... "Something on a Stick Day!" I don't know... something about the terminology doesn't sit well with me... instead of thinking about food...all I can think about is the book "Lord of the Flies" and the pig head on a stick. (heidi, you can correct me if I am wrong about that being the book) But anyway.... couldn't they have come up with better terminology... shish kabob day or something. I don't know... maybe I am just channeling literature reference energy from Heidi...... hmmmmmmmmm

Paintings

here are the paintings that I am working on for our bedroom... they are still a good ways from being done, but I like how they are turning out so far.

Putting "our landscaper" to work...

My mom and my step dad, Larry, came in town this past weekend. It was a good visit. It was mom's "good week" after round 6 of chemo. The weather was wonderful on Friday and Saturday... so we were able to put Larry to work out in the front yard. We connected the flower bed around our Pear Tree to the flower bed at the top of the hill (the one with all the tiger lilies). We also started a much needed retaining wall to the left of our front porch. It is going to be soooo nice when it is done. Our goal is to eventually put a matching one further down the hill and have it connect to the corner of the house. it will be nice to have a few "flat" flower beds in our yard... since I don't think we have any flat areas in our yard, other than the swamp.

alright....enough talking... here are the pictures.

In honor of Dr. Heidi!!

In honor of my good friend, Dr. Heidi, I am posting about something funny that I saw on the internet today. This t-shirt just cracked me up!! I think it is hilarious! (Ironically...or not so ironically, I saw the ad for this shirt on the ICHC website...a website I was turned onto by Heidi!) ... and in case you are wondering who Dr. Heidi is... there is a link to her blog in my "blogs I like to stalk" section!

Crank Windows and Manual Door Locks!

When was the last time you were in a car that you had to use the window crank to roll the windows down or actually lean all over the car to lock/unlock the doors??? Yeah... that is my rental car! No worries...there is nothing wrong with my new car. They are just getting it all spiffy clean for me and putting some protector on the paint and leather. Anyway...they put me in a rental car, a very very very basic Chevy Cobalt. I don't think I have every even heard of a cobalt. Oh well... at least it is only for one day.

I actually find the crank windows and manual locks kind of comical... and as a sign of the times... it took me quite a few minutes to figure out that there was no magic button to press to lock all the doors. ...I just sat there staring at the door going "how do I lock the doors" it was one of my frequent blonde moments lately! oh ... and you actually have to stick the key in the door to unlock it! I haven't done that in like...forever!!

I do have to say...that what I find to be the worst about this rental car is the overwhelming scent of febreeze/chemical cleaners. I had to crank down those windows just to breathe!

ahhh... rental cars.

Bye-Bye Durango...

And.... HELLO NEW CAR!!!!!!! Yup, Mike and I broke down and traded in the Durango (a very sad thing for me to do, as it was the first car that I went to a dealership and purchased...and not to mention the ridiculously low trade-in value). Anyway... I regress. Mike and I got our very first brand spanking new car!! (it did have 12 miles on it when we pulled off the lot...don't know where those came from). We are very very excited! We got a Honda CR-V... in royal blue pearl. It looks more navy to us, but hey...we didn't name the color. I was really wanting a color called "tea green metalic" but it only came with a yucky colored interior. The CR-V comes with lots of cool features...and, of course, we had to get the model with the heated seats!! I had to have heated seats!! that was a pre-requisite! It also has a navigation system with a back-up camera! once you put the thing in reverse, the back-up camera turns on and the navigation screen shows you what is behind your car!! pretty darn fun! When we were showing Mike's parents the car, I hid behind it and Mike but the car in reverse! To their surprise...there I was waving to them on the screen!!


Here is a picture of what our car looks like (this isn't our car...but this is what it looks like. I hope to get some pictures taken soon!)

Our New Bedroom!!!

Mike and I have just about completed re-doing our master bedroom!

We painted the walls "casual tan" and the trim white. The walls were "sante fe pink" and the trim a stained pine.

We also added some crown molding. It took two attempts...but it looks great!!


On Saturday, March 1st...our new furniture was delivered!! It is from the Chatham Collection at Bassett (a brand new collection).

Here are some pictures of the new furniture! It took 4 tries to find the right bedding!! I still have one coverlet that needs to be returned! I decided to go with an ivory coverlet...and a matching (but smaller) red coverlet at the foot of the bed. I am going to accent the room with pops of red! (yeah....I watch way too much HGTV!) One of my co-workers wants me to put some art above the bed that says "this is where the magic happens!" .... I think I may settle for something more like "together is a wonderful place to be" or "always kiss me goodnight". Ok...so this word art may be confusing you... check out this link to see what I am talking about. Cool Stuff.

The new bed!


The Nightstand:


Mike's Dresser:


The Entertainment Armoire! An absolutely massive piece. It is 80 some inches tall by 50 some inches wide and 24 inches deep!




My Extra Tall Dresser! I love it!!!


Gilbert loves the new bed!


Gilbs playing on the new bed!


Gilbert and Milo