Black Belt Scrapping

A Silly Riddle for You

So, what do you get when you cross Ty Pennington with a Disney movie? You guessed it, you get CARPENTER ANTZ! Boo.....

Well, the real boo is that in the midst of our Extreme Makeover Home Edition, when going to repair some trim on the house yesterday, the contractor found about fifteen years of carpenter ant damage. As it turns out, these suckers have been eating us out of house and home for a really long time, and I don't rightly appreciate it! They're costing me money that could be better spent on something like shoes, vacations, braces, or even vet bills.

But hey, it's nothing that some money and a lavish coate of harsh hazardous materials can't cure, right?

I hate bugs. I have nightmares about them. It took me nearly ten years to get over the Million Bug Swarm of termites in April 1997. I will go to sleep tonight saying "it's only money, they're not crawling into my bed. It's only money, they're not crawling into my bed....."

I leave you with photos of the devistation.

The Perfect Weekend

Now this past weekend is what weekends are supposed to be all about.

Starting out on Friday, we had no plans. Andy was golfing on Friday night and wasn't going to be home until late, so Shannon and I just hung out together. Olive was still moving a bit slow, so we decided to stay home instead of going out to dinner with friends (sorry Ginger!). Around 6pm, my next door neighbor, who was also home alone, called and asked if I'd like to come over for a little wine and cheese. Well, heck YEAH! I feel like I hadn't seen her in AGES. We talked about alot of stuff and a lot of nothing....her son, who is a delightful lad and is starting to make it big on Wall Street; our home improvements and the pros and cons of home maintenance; school starting; personal relationships; and all things girlie! It was such fun and more so because it was completely unplanned.

On Saturday, I got up early and was feeling great. I started with a really great taekwondo class at 9, then came home, did a little housework, took a shower, and took Shannon to her TKD class at noon. After her class we stopped at the video store to rent some movies, then came home, where I proceeded to dig through my photo boxes for some missing pics that I wanted to get scanned. Unbelievably, I actually FOUND my photos. I'm so organized when it comes to my digital images, but when it comes to prints.....FURGEDDABOUDIT!

As I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner, our other neighbors called and invited us out to dinner with them. Well, this time we jumped at the chance. After 5:30 Mass, we met them at the Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner. What a BLAST is that place?!?!?!?!?! I think we've found our new favorite sports bar/casual restraurant for sure. Football Sundays could be really fun over there. And the "Leaded Lube-N-Ade"....well, let's just say that it's some serious ass kicking lemonade! It sure kicked mine in record time. We had SO much fun, and again, the best part was that it was all totally unplanned.

Today we woke up to glorious weather....temps in the 70's. I actually shut off the air conditioning and opened all of the windows. Well, I opened all of the windows that 1) actually open, and 2) have screens that are semi-functional. Can I just say that I can't wait for the new windows to get installed? The timing is going to be just right for fall. I really don't like air conditioning and crave fresh air, so it's way overdue.

Anyhow, I started out outside, weeding, trimming, and catching up on gardening, which has been seriously overdue thanks to the obnoxious temperatures. I hate gardening, so it felt really good to get it done and put a reign on the overgrown stuff. Later this afternoon, Andy and I decided to tackle some of the tree trimming that also needed to be done, and we finished that too! In between, I managed to get the house cleaned; get a bunch of photos scanned and photoshopped; flip through my new Creating Keepsakes, Digital Scrapbooking, and Southern Living magazines; and made a trip to the farm market for fresh veggies and corn! Tonight we're having feta turkey burgers, fresh tomatoes and corn, and sourdough bread for dinner and our friend Janet is joining us.

For once, our weekend didn't seem totally rushed, we got so much accomplished, and it was a blast!

Tomorrow, we get new gutters and downspouts. We are some WILD AND CRAZY GUYS, for sure.

A Note from Olive

Dear Friends,

Thanks for your good wishes.

As it turns out, I ate a rock last weekend. I thought it could be tasty, but it wasn't very good for me. I broke a few toofers and hurt my tummy. When I went to the vet, I spazzed out and the vet thought I was having a heart attack, but I wasn't. My heart is okay. I'm home now and I'm almost feeling like my old self again. My family is taking good care of me and I'm glad to be home.

Thanks for thinking about me.

Love Olive

p.s. I think Michael Vick should eat a box of rocks.

Hot Men!

There are HOT MEN at my house this week. Yeah, it's 102 degrees and they're up on the roof. But if you can stand being outside, there's some pretty good eye candy up there too! Check out my roof! Looking good! These are really nice guys too...a lot nicer than I'd be if I were working up there all day laying shingles. Thank goodness that we're not putting a new black roof on!

Good news about Olive! As it turns out, she managed to eat a rock. Silly dog. It broke her molar and the pain from her tummy and her broken tooth, caused her heart to do whacky things. But she's on the mend now. She had her tooth removed yesterday, the stone will come out the natural way, and I'll be picking her up this afternoon. What a relief. Now I'll probably need a cardiac workup when I have to pay the bill. Too bad we can't use our health savings account for the dog.

Keep cool! I heard we're going to have a cold spell tomorrow....high of 92!

Bad Country Songs.....

Have you ever had weeks where you feel like your life is a bad country song? Well that's been me this week. I just haven't had much fun stuff to share. But I know I needed to update, so here goes!

School started yesterday ~ yay! Where did the summer go?

Olive the Wonder Dog has to go to the vet this morning for a full cardiology workup. That can't be good. We're all worried. Hopefully by the time I update this, we'll have some positive news.

More later!

Losing Weight.....

As far as my body goes, I've stayed pretty status quo over the past six weeks or so. Considering how crazy my life has been, I"m fine with that.

On the other hand, my scrap area has lost some serious weight in the last two days. This afternoon I mailed out both goodie boxes to Jenny Lilac and Fawn. Just letting you know, ladies, that each box weighed right around 11lbs. each. I was kind of shocked at that, especially when the lady at the post office gave me my options on postage! Yowza! But that's okay, I'm happy to share my good fortune. Today Jan came over and she got a laundry basket full of scrap goodness and more! She'll be the first to tell you, I have a lot of stuff. I had so much stuff that I couldn't begin to tell you what was there, I just kept finding more and more treasures. It's ridiculous. My tremendous stash has become so overwhelming to me, that it's sucking my creative juice right out.

For a fleeting minute, I was thinking that I should "cash in" by having a scrap supply tag sale and maybe sell enough to buy an iMac for my desk, but I don't have the time nor the inclination to deal with setting all of that up. So I gave it away. Next week another load goes to my friend Heather at Crayons to Computers. They're not only getting some more scrap love, but two laptops that I no longer use as well. Those will be refurbished and given to schools.

Pay it forward is a good thing.

Oh, and we ordered our new windows last night ~ they'll be arriving right when the fall colors start changing! I can't wait to get them!

And the Winners Are.....

Jenny Lilac and Fawn Ross! And Beth Warren ~ the magazines and books are yours! Please email me your snail mail address and I'll get boxes out on Tuesday!

Congrats and thanks to everybody who posted comments. That was really fun for me. Normally I don't get many, so this made me feel like my last name was Edwards or Zielske for a day. I guess I'm boring. That's okay, I think I'm pretty boring these days as well.

I have had some good comments in the last few days, however, that require some comment in return....

Jan ~ I was there when you saw Shannon singing at SJF. Mom and I were in the back on the left hand side. I left work early to be there. It was a proud mama, and proud alto moment indeed!

Laura ~ when I lived in London, I lived in Chelsea. My flat was on Sloane Street near King's Road in a place called Chelsea Cloisters. I rode the Tube every day and used the Sloane Square tube station. If I was only there for two weeks or less, I stayed at the Marlborough Hotel on Bloomsbury street, near the British Museum. That was great because I was constantly going to the theatre in the evenings, and the M'bo was right near the West End. I stayed there so often and I knew everybody on the staff so well, that I'd get upgraded a lot to one of their suites. I even found a pic of the suite that I used to stay in on the internet here! Ah, those were the best days of my life! It was such an adventure!

Amy ~ yeah, I read your blog and I think we do have the same girl. Heather, you're in for a wild ride with your two girls my friend. And yes, I look exactly like my mom, and Shannon looks exactly like me!

Kristi ~ I've struggled with taekwondo this summer. Between vacation, Shannon's broken foot, and my job promotion and increased hours, I've barely been hanging on. But I did test for senior first degree in July and will test for second degree black belt in November, as long as I don't get injured again! I'd love to hear the update on your TKD crew. Oh, the Tiger Path seminar is at our dojang next weekend. Grand Master BKollars will be in town and I get to take a class with him! I'd love it if you'd come up with your family! I think Tennessee is in our region.... Pleeeeaaaaaasssssseeeeeee!

Susan ~ glad you didn't melt at the Tiger's game. I loved the pic on your blog with your family. I'm so over this hot hot hot weather. It's ridiculous. We do not live in Las Vegas.

Yesterday I had an early morning TKD class, came home and showered, then took S out for a day of school shopping. It was "Girls' Day Out" since the dude in the family is playing in a golf tournament all weekend (it's only 9am on Sunday and he's been gone for hours already!). I was only intending to buy her shoes, which she really needs, but we ended up with a bunch of fun clothes too. We're shopping in different places now that she's over 5 foot tall and wears a women's size 7 shoe. We're shopping in the junior department now ~ oy!

Well that's about it for me this morning. I'm going to spend a few hours cleaning out and packing up goodies, spend a bit of time scrapping today. Jan lent me her Sweet Potato Queen books and they're a riot, so I'm sure I'll be finishing those up today too. I read the first one in about two hours. Silly!

Hold Yer Horses, Everybody!

It's 3pm on Saturday and I've been gone all day ~ left the house at 8:15am this morning. I haven't had a chance to print out all of the names and put them into a hat yet. I promise that a winner will be announced tomorrow!

My life is crazy, I tell you.

Sorry for any delays!

Cleaning Out

I have WAY too much scrapbook stash and I'm cleaning out.

If you're interested, I have a large box of scrap goodness that I'll give away if you post a comment. Winner will be picked on Saturday morning by the Pre Teen Drama Queen.

Good stuff for sure!

Also, if you're interested in a scrapbook magazine stash, I'll give that away too, just let me know if you want them. The first person to say "yeah, I want the magazines" will get them!

Spare me the Drama

I know I've written about this before, but here we go again.

I am the mom of a pre-teen drama queen.

So-and-so-said-that-she-could-play-but-now-there's-no-answer-at-her-house-and-how-can-she-do-this-to-me?

I-just-called-othergirlfriend-and-she-said-she-can't-talk-to-me-until-school-starts-and-then-she-hung-up.

Everybody-hates-me-nobody-loves-me-I-think-I'll-go-eat-worms.

Spare me.

When does school start again? August 22? It can't come too soon.