The Other Carpenter Here

The contractors aren't the only ones around here doing my bidding. I asked Jason to put up some shelves for me the other day to store some of my small kitchen appliances. He was happy to do the shelves. Pictures on the other hand; not so much.

He has a work bench in the basement now. He is usually looking for an excuse to go down there and get out his tools. Getting out ones tools gives them an excuse to drink beer. If drinking beer is motivation to put up shelves for me, so be it. Just don't cut off anything important.
And here they are finished. Go Jason!!

Finally I am taking a survey today. The shelves went in to the mud room. The mud room has this horrid wood paneling. Jason kind of likes it. My survey question is what do you think? Should we paint? Are you with Jason and it's not that bad? Or are you sane and think it is awful and should have been painted years ago when wood paneling went out in the 80s? And if you think it should be painted; what color do you like for a mud room?

Pictures

I went through my August picture folder this morning and picked out a few previously unpublished photos. Hope you enjoy them.
This goat loved Mark. He followed us all over his enclosure. All he wanted was a good pat. Mark obliged him of course.

Doesn't she look guilty.


A quiet moment spent reading one of our favorite books.

Don't let them fool you. It was a truce. You don't play with my toy and I won't touch your toy.....much.

I found a leprechaun in the yard the other day.

Don't you just hate nosy neighbors.

This Old House

As some of you know we are having some work done on our house over the next couple of weeks. They came yesterday and started with our kitchen. We are having some updating done. We aren't going into any major renovations just a dishwasher, a new hood over the stove and some brighter lighting overhead. Over the next couple of weeks I will take you through the process. Doesn't that sound fun.
Yesterday, they did the dishwasher.
It went from this


to this (Isn't this lovely. There was a time when the whole kitchen was done in this wallpaper. Who thought this was a good idea, I ask you? I am so glad the 70s a dead.)


to this.


Presto chango right? Wrong. There was much banging and pounding and drilling and swearing and more banging and pounding and drilling and swearing. It was kind of like when Jason does stuff around the house. I have to give the contractors credit in that they saved their most colorful swear words for when the kids were sleeping.

The hood went from this (I forgot to take a picture while it was still up. Just imagine this hideous thing over the stove. On second thought; don't. It went really well with the the wallpaper.)


to this. (It even vents outside where it should. Before it blew all the smoke back into the kitchen. Not that I was smoking up the kitchen, because I don't do that. Much)



And finally they did the kitchen light.
This woefully under powered thing had to go.

Now this one lights up my not at all smokey kitchen. I love love love it.


That concludes today episode of This Old House. Hope you had fun.

The Zoo

The other day, we decided to have a fun family day. We haven't had a lot of that this year. We have been constantly working on making our house a home.
Our special day was a trip to the zoo. We have a small zoo in a town close to us. So we headed there.
We played hide and seek with the animals for most of the morning. They were hiding; we were seeking. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to show a toddler an animal that doesn't really want to be seen. This conversation took place at almost all of the enclosures.
Me: Mark, look. Do you see the wolf?
Mark: No.
Me: Look under the bush.
Mark: What bush?
Me: The bush I am pointing to. See it?
Mark: No.
Me: Look where I am pointing. It isn't back there. That is where they keep the snow owl. Look under that bush. Do you see it?
Mark: No.
Me: Fine. Let's go look at the next animal.

He has the attention span of a gnat. He had fun even though he only saw about half the animals there.

Here was the highlight of our day. This bear was so cool. I took tons of pictures but will only bore your with this one. Mark was so fascinated to be able to see it so close. The bear kept looking up at us too, like we were disturbing his nap.

These two look like they are having a blast don't they? Lighten up you guys. We are having fun. I have to tell him everything.

We climbed to the top to the town's old fire tower. There is nothing like going 55 ft up on steep little bitty stairs with two little kids. But we can say we did it. Really up was easy; down was much harder. Mark thought he would rather stay up than try to navigate the stairs back down. He is a brave one though. And we talked him down.

Our final stop was the reptile house. Look at this really creepy albino snapping turtle. Isn't that weird. Mark was more afraid to go in here than to the top of the fire tower.

So that was our trip in a nut shell. We had a fun day. Our trip out in the world was concluded with a stop at Walmarts (that is the way my Great Grandma used to say. I always thought it was so cute.) Really what trip is complete without a stop at Walmarts.
Jason even had time to fix the faucet when we got home. Anna helped.

Another Mommy Blogger

My dear friend Melissa has started a Mommy blog of her very own. She is here. Go on over and say hey. She has further decided to join the world of SAHM hood. Wish her luck/condolences. Kidding, She will love it.

Anna Walks

I am out of time today. So I thought I would fill a request from a few of my readers.


She is such a stinker. She can walk for miles. But will she do it in front of a camera? Nope.

What does Daddy do at work?

Mark did my post for today.

Can you tell he has been interviewed before?

Front/Back Door Meme

My mom over at Dlyn hosts this neato Front/Back Door Meme. Go check it out.

This month I am trying a different approach to my meme. I usually take my pictures in the the middle of the day while the kids are down for naps. This is a nice time of day but not my favorite time to enjoy the outdoors. I took these pictures in the early morning. OK, so not early morning; 7:15. That is still pretty early. I had to swill down a cup of coffee first or the camera would shake and it wouldn't matter what time of day it was. The pictures would have been fuzzy.
Anyhoo, here is my meme. We live on a pretty quiet street but first thing in the morning there are a lot of commuters going by. I had to stand there for quite a while waiting for a moment when no cars would be in my shot.


I love the back yard first thing in the morning. The shadows are long and the colors are soft. My favorite begonia weaseled in to this photo too. It is part of my backyard. I can't look out there without seeing it and that makes me happy.

Sky Watch Friday

Here is my offering for this week.



Want to see what the sky looks like all over the planet. Go toSkyWatch Friday and enjoy.
I am off to take my weekly tour around the world. Have a great weekend!!

Jason

Last night while reading my blog Jason mentioned he wasn't getting enough air time here. So today is dedicated completely to him. He, of course, wouldn't let me take any fresh pictures so I must dive into my archives.
He really loves those Packers. He must if he is willing to put those pants on. Sorry Packer fans, who read here, but those are not cool.

He has this thing for that rubber chicken. It is a little weird.

He was pregnant with me.

This was Photoshopped by my mom over at dlyn. Isn't it cool that we weren't even in the same picture or her house and she put us all together. Sorry, I don't get out much.


He always loved to play with his babies like this. Look at Mark's face. Isn't that priceless. So funny. Oh, wait this is about Jason. This isn't easy. It is really stifling my creative process.


He is very patriotic. And he had some sort of growth on his mouth there. Don't know why he was making that face.

I don't know why I am including this picture except that I think it is funny.

There I guess next time he wants to be on my blog he will let me take some stinking pictures of him. Jeesh.

Pickles and Ice Cream

As in not all pickles and ice cream.
I wouldn't take her picture if she weren't so darn cute when she cries.

Oh it looks like she is going to come out of it and be OK.

Oh no. More crying. I thought about taking a video of the noise that goes with this face. But I want you to come back.

Just so you know, I am not comepletely horrible. I usually don't take pictures of my crying baby. She has taken up biting. I don't like it. I am hoping soon we can come to an agreement where she doesn't bite me and I won't yelp and plunk her on the floor.
I will leave you with this one.

A Walk in the Park

We had an outing to the park yesterday. Here are a few pictures.
Mark is so brave. He will try anything. He makes me cringe thinking about a trip to the ER. But he has the most fun.




Anna loves loves loves this tunnel. This is always the first place she wants to go when we get there.
Inside

Outside. She is such a ham.



A little swing with her Dad and she was good to go.

Here is the best thing about spending the morning at the park; wonderful naps.

The Winds of Change

While most of the leaves on our trees still look like this;

there is a change coming.

Actual Fish

Our fishy tale starts here and continues here if you want to catch up.

Meet Actual Fish II.
He isn't this fuzzy in real life. I swear I took 50 pictures of this fish. This is the best. My camera kept focusing on the plant. So if you want a picture of a good fake aquairium plant, I have tons of them. Just let me know.
Anyhoo, we aren't making too big of a deal about A.F the second. I think that is what killed the last one. He couldn't handle the social pressure.
A few people asked me how Mark took the death of A.F.the first. Truth be told he never noticed. He is after all a man in training and not overly observant. (I hope this doesn't offend my one male reader.) He came down the stairs like always and said "Hi, Actual Fish." He never took note that A.F. was residing in a place far less cheery than his fish bowl. After trying yet another church on Sunday, we took a drive to the pet store. I ran inside grabbed the goods. When I got back in the van, I just never mentioned what was in the bag. We came home and I just acted like I was changing A.F.s water. I love men in training.
I do have high hopes for new Acual Fish. I got a different kind of water purifier. (A couple of people suggested to let the water just sit out. Thanks guys but I am afraid. What if I don't wait long enough or all the chemicals don't come out. I will put A.F. in there and he will go belly up. That would be rather disconcerting.) He is a half moon betta. They are supposed to be very robust and hearty. He will have to be to deal with me.
BTW is it bad that when I walked in to the pet store, all the fish swam the the back of the aquariums and quivered? Just wondering.

Dolts

Skywatch below.

I have a picture story for you.
See this:

Ok, Now see this:

Lets look at this again:

OK, now this again:

Wow, now look:

Took us a month and a half to figure out what that switch was for. All that time that light shown all night into Mark window. Poor Mark for having been born to dumb parents. In our defense though, the switch is in the scary, spider infested part of the basement. Makes no sense to have it where it is. I love hundred year old houses. A hundred years of other home owners bad decision making left for us to figure out. Fun!!