Visit to Mom's

Since we are back on the East coast, we were able to drive up to see my Mom in Pittsburgh for a few days over the holidays. As we were packing, someone decided there was plenty of room for her:We ended up leaving her behind - traveling with the dogs was enough!

This was my favorite truck image from the drive:

We also passed the exit for Mars....it's off I-79, fyi.....

And for the first time ever in 10 years, Mom's cat made an appearance, did not try to flee when I entered the room, AND let me pet it:
I have never even been able to see this thing - it always hides. I guess it is mellowing with age. The cat is so anti-social, that noone even remembers it's name. Or whether it's male or female. Ha!

New Paint Job in the Basement!

We finally finished painting the basement today. Man, this was a big room! It turned out pretty nice:
Though the color is a little lighter than I was expecting. It's called Almond Paste. It's a beige. I am not good at picking out anything other than beige. But, a fresh coat of paint always makes a room feel clean, and this did the trick!

This is the before:

All I Want For Christmas...

...is a chicken! So close, and yet so far away....

Fun!

Joe came upstairs after exercising this morning and said "Do I want to know why you've been so noisey up here?" I said "No"......:


I got to work on the first side of the closet! Then it was time to tackle the side in the master bedroom. It started like this (Max the Supervisor cleared us to begin):

Breakthrough! Max approves:

By the end of this afternoon, we got it all cleared out and ready for Phase 2:
So the original thought was to just make the closet bigger and wall off the back closet wall. Now we're thinking we like this larger master bedroom! Back to the drawing board to see if there's a way to change around some of these other walls and make a larger master bedroom that makes sense and doesn't look weird....

Project Updates

In addition to eating everything in site that Joe has been making - all in the name of Quality Control, I assure you - we've started on a few projects that have been on my list. The first big one is priming and repainting the basement. Since there is only 1 window, this color of blue is just way too dark (and whoever did it, did a really shitty job):
(Note Max in his supervisory capacity..."Get to work! Woof! Taking pictures is not working!"...

So today, Joe and I rolled up the sleeves and got the primer coat on:
We also started The Closet Project. This project is intended to expand the closet in the master bedroom buy knocking out the wall in between the master bedroom closet and the 5th bedroom closet (which will become a den!) and walling off the den side. The end result will be to double the size of the small and less-than-functional current closet in the master bedroom. So, I took the ugly bi-fold doors down, along with the crap shelving:

Now we start tearing down - weeee! This is my favorite part. Too bad Joe won't let me bring the chainsaw inside.....

The Great Escape

As we were working on our holiday gift packages this morning, we eyed an intruder at the back fence....
There were actually 2 of them. These guys belong to the alpaca farmer, and every now and then, they manage to get up on our fence. After taking a peek around, he started heading towards the house....

Unfortunately, as I got a little closer, they both decided to jump down into the other neighbor's yard....the one with the 2 huskies.

Luckily, the huskies were not outside, or there would have been quite the mess. We alerted the neighbor, who quickly went out and shooed them back into their own yard.

All kinds of things happen during the day here! I wonder what Max would have done if these guys came into our yard.....


In The News

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters at the Asian Games failed a gender test and was stripped of the medal.

There are no compulsory gender tests during events sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations, but athletes may be asked to take a gender test. The medical evaluation panel usually includes a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist and internal medicine specialist.

Ok, if it takes more than 1 person to figure out if it's a he or a she, and more than a simple little "lookie" test, that's a problem....

Ready to go!

Despite the fact that it was over 60-degrees today, I figured out how to attach the snow plow blade to the lawn mower. So bring on the snow!

I also managed to snap a picture of the puppy dogs next door....check out those long legs!

I bet these guys also can't wait for the first snow. And at this rat, I don't think that will be until January.

More Holiday Scenes

When I was coming home on Monday after work, I spotted some new holiday displays down the street. So I made sure to take our camera this morning...
What really caught my eye was the inflatable Grinch. I loved it! I'm sure these people thought I was a freak stopping in front of their house this morning taking pictures. Though I would be very excited if people stopped to take pictures of our display!

The Grinch (the original cartoon version ) is on tonight, appropriately enough. This is my all-time favorite Christmas show, and I watch it every year. I sing along to many of the songs, and pretend I am Boris Karloff..... "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch....!"

I even sing along to the Who-ville song, though I make up the words....Joe tries to leave the room, but I make sure I sing loud enough for him to hear me.

Anyone have a favorite classic they watch every year?

This is....Different!

While we were out and about today, we came across this "unsually decordated" car. And lucky for you, I had our camera with us!


I'm not sure what to make of it....



...or what exactly this is supposed to mean....it's on the roof!

I'm not even sure what the material is all over the car. I was afraid to get too close. I guess if you are going to make a statement, you may as well make a bold one! Any theories?

Meantime, Fluffy (Max) made his own statement in the back yard:

MY ball!

Around Town

I took my camera with me to work today, just so I could take a picture of this on the way home!


I'm dubbing it the Town Tree, because (a) it's on the corner intersection of the 2 main streets - and the only stoplight - in Jefferson, and (b) well, because it's the only big tree decorated. I'm guessing the bank, which is the building on the right, sponsors this festivity. Apologies for the blurry pictures; it was not easy driving and snapping.

Jefferson is indeed a 1-stoplight town. There are 2 banks, 3 churches, a post office, an Archery Shop, a butcher, and a bakery (which is currently for sale). And that's about it. It's also an unincorporated town. We've never lived in an unincorporated town before. It's certainly different. Good in many ways, challenging in others.

I also snapped this one on the way home:

I call it Cows On A Hill. I drive by them every day on the way to work. During the warmer months, there are usually several cats on that tin roof, sunning themselves. Which, of course, I call Cats On A Hot Tin Roof. Haha. Now if I can only get a picture next year....

In Memory - Happy Birthday

Today would have been my brother Pat's 48th birthday. So, I had a few good thoughts today of some of the fun times we had over the years.

Pat was a HUGE Christmas fan. He'd get the biggest tree on the lot, no matter whether it would fit in the house, and would always go overboard with gifts. He used to put lights up on his basketball hoop - the neighbors thought he was crazy, but they always seemed to enjoy it when he was done.

Happy birthday, Pat. Miss you :)

Now That's a Big One!

Cloud, that is....this thing was passing by the house today. Amazing how the view out the back of the house changes so dramatically.

And so much for the nice weather - it was 70+ on Friday, and only in the 40's today. Booo! Is it Spring yet?

We did something very Christmas-y today...but you'll have to wait a few days to find out what....

Meantime, I poked a hole in the closet in the master bedroom. Why? Because it's PROJECT TIME! Almost. I have a plan over Christmas to make our closet a little bigger by taking out a wall between that closet and the closet in the 5th bedroom, and making ours bigger. The 5th bedroom will become a den. So I just *had* to poke a hole in the wall. Hee hee.