my weekend project...

This weekend, I took on the project of re-upholstering the chair that I got from my great-uncle, Clifford. The chair was super comfy...but not so pretty. the fabric was kinda scratchy and almost to the point of being dry-rotted. I was going to try and take it somewhere to have it done, but I heard about how expensive it was and really didn't want to fork over $400 - $500 for a chair! I had previously bought some fabric for the chair, so I decided to give it a try. I shampooed the chair, thinking I would just put new fabric over the old stuff. But, with closer examination, I decided that all of the old fabric needed to come off. I ended up going all the way down to the frame. The potato sack-like mesh that was over the springs would start to crumble when I touched it...so off it came. I replaced it with a heavy fabric that I was lucky to find in the dollar section of my walmart's fabric department. Oh yeah... I now have a HUGE appreciation for people that do this for a living and completely understand why it is so expensive. It took me over a day just to get all the old fabric off. there were so many stinking staples and fabric nails in that thing... Anyway... I added some additional batting to the chair for a little extra comfort and I used the $1/yard fabric to hold the batting in place and as a trial for what I was going to have to do with the real fabric. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have chosen a striped pattern as my first re-upholstery project... but all in all, I am pretty darn impressed with how it turned out. I was able to strip most of the stain and poly off of the wood...but left a little on to give it that rustic type feel that Mike and I like. Mom is excited... b/c her chair is next and I was able to work out all the kinks with my own chair!

my little lady bug likes travel....

R.I.P. Sweet Tipsy...

after 14 months... 7 of which she has been off of her medicine, Tipsy's seizures came back. We decided that her quality of life was being effected to the point that we decided it was time to let her go. She is now in heaven with Wheezie and Lexi... laying in rays of never ending sun...

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Interesting....

News of the weird....
I read about a unique piece of Nickelodeon merchandising - a Spongebob Squarepants Musical Rectal Thermometer! Yes, it’s musical. And yes, it’s clearly marked for rectal use. It actually plays the Spongebob theme in your "bikini bottom" when your temperature is taken! The supposed intention is to make having a thermometer stuck up your bum less traumatizing (for kids, I am assuming??) ! I sure am glad that we adults take our temperature a little differently! well... at least I do.

Heidi... doesn't your nephew have a weird obsession with Sponge Bob? Do I see a possible b-day present? Or perhaps this would cure him of his obsession???

ladybug, ladybug...

Check out the lady bug rock that I painted for my flower bed. I think
she will enjoy living near my pond. Sorry for the im-prompto photo
shot, but I just finished painting her last night and she had to
spend the evening sleeping on the deck while her clear coat dried. I
will take more pictures one she is outside.

Sir Serious, Mr. Grumpy, the Sleepy Giant and the Princess

Seeing as I was home sick yesterday and had the camera handy... I set out to take a bunch of new kitty pictures. I think Milo has to be one of the most serious cats that I have ever met. His is such a thinker. You can see him analyzing things, cocking his head in different directions as he tries to figure things out. I tried very hard to get a picture of him where it looked like he was having fun! Not much luck... he looks pretty serious in all of them.






Gilbert on the other hand, always looks comfy cozy and is more of a fun loving, free spirit...except if you wake him up from a nap to take his picture. Lack of sleep makes him grumpy! (what can I say, he takes after his mommy!) As you can tell by the pictures, he was not to thrilled to have the camera in his face!




Stachie, on the other hand... didn't mind being me taking his picture. He woke up for the first one, and then quickly fell back asleep. My little baby is becoming quite the giant! he just keeps growing! He has to be at least 15 lbs or more now! what a chunker!




Miss Lydia is the princess of the house and tried to convince me that it was treat time! She was being all sweet and coy... Daddy can't resist her sweetness! Mommy on the other hand was busy taking pictures... the last picture shows you what little miss diva thought of me taking pictures instead of giving her treats! (and, yes... Stachie woke up b/c Lydia was begging for treats... he wont miss a meal or treats!)

New Pictures of Emmy

Here are some new pictures of little miss Emmy, aka Stinky. She has
the worst gas of any cat that I have ever met! She definitely has
Eschmeyer blood!! Other than her stinky butt, she has been an
absolute joy to have around. Since I was home sick yesterday, she
stuck to my side the entire day. She has really taken to playing
under the covers... which made curling up on the couch for a little
nap hard to do. but, it is hard to resist playing with her! I think
she is going to stay fairly petite. We have had her for a month and
she has not grown too much. I had her at the vet about a week ago for
a check up and she weighed in at 5 1/2 lbs.

new additions to the yard...

Here are some things that I just added to my garden... A humming bird feeder. It glows in the dark!! I know, hummingbirds don't feed at night, but it is still cool! And a new flag... A frog one! I have a couple kitty flags, but this is my first frog flag! I think it is pretty darn cute!




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Hee Hee

GUESS WHAT???????

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FROG BUTT!!!!!!!!



ok... so the little frog butt happens to be one of my most favorite things in my garden. I usually have the figure turned so that I see his little butt because it always makes me chuckle!

Hostas

A coworker and I are going to a hosta sale at a place called Carolyn's Garden this afternoon (assuming that it stops raining) Another co-worker wanted me to look for some hostas with white centers and green margins. Last night I realized that I had some hostas that fit the above description. This morning, I decided that taking some pictures would get me in the right frame of mind for this afternoon and I would be able to show my coworker what I have (that way, I can just give her some of mine if she likes it). It was raining this morning, which I thought would result in some not so great pictures. I was pleasantly surprised when I down-loaded the pictures and saw that the rain enhanced the pictures by giving the hostas a nice shine! All of these hostas are from a single plant that was at our house when we moved in. I have since divided it up multiple times and it continues to do wonderfully. I have quite a few other varieties around the yard. The most recent addition being the "Francis Williams." Hopefully I will be able to get some more pictures this weekend.

Do you like our giant satelite flower??

So we started having trouble with our direct TV lately... we weren't
getting the HD channels anymore. What is the point of having a big
fancy tv if you can't get HD!??! (ok, so it really doesn't matter
much to me, but it does to Mike). Anyway...the solution that the
Direct TV guy came up with....to raise our dish a couple feet higher
into the air! Yay... just what I want to see in my flower bed. It is
probably a good 6 feet or higher. So... I am starting to re-arrange
some of the plants in my front bed. I moved my zebra grass from the
corner of the house and put it right next to the dish. Hopefully that
will help camoflauge the dish a little from the driveway and street.
I will probably put some lily's or iris' around the dish for some
height that wont block the signal. I was afraid to put the grass in
front of it, since it can get pretty tall. ok... so that is all I
have for now! oh yeah...you can see the new hostas I planted along
the walkway. $2 each at walmart!! not to shabby! they are a variety
that will get pretty big.

My Mother's Day present from the kitties...

A bird feeder!! Silly Kitties... Actually... Mike and I bought this
on mother's day. I picked it out and we hung it right out side the
front window. You can see the cat perch in the window. Hopefully
their presence wont deter the birds!

Welcome to all my new blog readers!

Hi everyone...

Just wanted to give a formal welcome to everyone that has wondered over to my blog from the link on my mom's blog! WELCOME!!

For those of you that haven't gone through all of my older posts (there are quite of few of them... and it would probably take a long while) I originally started this blog to document the health situation of the epileptic cat that showed up on our porch last march. Well, Tipsy started getting better and my college friends convinced me to turn it into general blog about the happenings in my life. My friend, Heather got us all started with the whole blogging thing when she was pregnant with her son, William. It was a way for her to keep us posted on how her pregnancy was progressing... shortly thereafter, we all had blogs! It is a great way for us to keep in touch with each other and share pictures. When mom was diagnoses with cancer, I decided to set up a blog for her... I am so proud of how well she is doing with keeping up with the blog! It is pretty easy...I highly recommend blogging! And, if my mom can do it... anyone can!

well... it is just about time for me to head home for the day (good thing I have a little free time at work to update my blog...we only have dial up at home and it takes tooo long to do pictures). I hope that you all enjoy my blog.

love,
Shannon

Totally Ironic...

Is it just me... or does this story just seem so totally ironic to you too??? p.s...this is right down the street from my work.

Breaking: Illegal immigrant raid at new federal courthouse
From NBC12 News
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, raided the new federal courthouse building between 8th and 9th Streets near Broad this morning.

The new building is still under construction.

Witnesses say after agents yelled, "POLICE," workers dropped their tools and started running.

Virginia State Police was on hand to help detain the suspects.
One ICE official says they are processing the individuals right now and will confirm the number of workers arrested later this afternoon.

WRVA is reporting 50 people.

small things...

Have you ever stopped to think about how it can take just a small little thing to remind you of a much bigger thing...

They are taking down a building next to my parking garage. It was a relatively small building--for what you would find on a college campus. Just two stories high. I wish I would have had my camera last week, but here are some pictures from this morning. Every time I walk past this area, I can't help but think of 9/11 and how massive ground zero must have been. I see these guys ripping through the rubble and tearing things apart and then remember how gingerly they were trying to go through the rubble at ground zero: out of respect for the lives lost, and in attempts to recover some of the lives lost...

$5!!!!

Check out my new shoes!! Regularly $59.99.... and I got them for $5!! yup that is right... $5!! Shoe Carnival had all their "non-athletic" clearance shoes marked down to $5 this past weekend! I love a good bargain...now, if only I would love breaking in a new pair of shoes as much! I got blisters on both of my little toes : -(







p.s. This blog is making me sing that stupid Subway song about $5 Footlongs! I have to get that song out of my head... now, if I start doing the hand movements that go with the song, I will be in serious trouble!