Mary & I

This is my little sister, Mary and her new puppy, Rico. Rico is a Coton de Tulear and is an adorable little fluff ball. Don't let the picture fool you, he only weighs 3 pounds! Stella played nicely with him and wasn't even jealous when I held him :)

1,471 Miles

Mom, Stella and I got back from our trip this afternoon. We spent two nights in Fargo and then went on to Fremont, NB and stayed with my sister and her husband for 3 nights. Back to Fargo yesterday and on home today. Driving 1,471 miles is not fun but Stella and Mom were both good as gold in the car :)

K's Custom Chroming

Looks like Karter and I are in business. We met with a lawyer yesterday, I arranged insurance today and we ordered and paid for all the equipment. We still need to get estimate forms and business cards but with luck, the equipment will be here in a week and Karter can get to work! My car is first on the agenda and it'll be all tricked out when he's through :) After that, we're hoping to get paying customers!

Now that's what I call a Dog Sitter!!

My Mom babysat Stella today while I attended a day long scrapbooking event. When I got home, not only did my house look just like it had when I left, she didn't let Stella go downstairs, didn't steal any of my clothing, didn't drive my car or lose my car keys, didn't pen Stella up for hours at a time and she didn't even drink all my booze! In fact, she didn't drink any of it :)
AND the best part was that she baked 58 homemade buns and she left them all for me.
In return, she wanted one egg! Hell, I would've bought her 12 dozen eggs for those yummy buns!

Last Minute Changes

Mike started painting my great room last Tuesday morning. I was leaving for Tampa at 4:45PM that afternoon but at 2:00PM I was at Menard's buying purple piant to have him paint the walls around my front closet. I love the contrast of color and am so glad my friend suggested it.

Now when someone walks in my door, they'll know without a doubt that a woman lives here :)

Freezer Pickles

Marty grows the cucumbers, Jane delivers them to me and I make pickles for all of us. I just finished putting 12 containers of them in the freezer. Yeah, I know, freezer??! But they are so good and they even retain their crispness! We all love them.

Freezer Bread & Butter Pickles
7 cups cucumbers sliced thin
1 cup purple onion sliced
1/4 cup canning salt
*Let stand one hour and rinse with water and drain.
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
* Mix and pour over drained cucumbers and onions. Let sit on counter overnight. In the morning, put into containers and freeze. Enjoy all winter if you can keep them that long :)

Learning the Tricks of the Trade

Off To Tampa

Karter and I are going to Tampa later this afternoon to look into starting a new business. We're planning to chrome the world... or at least North Dakota! Wish us luck!

Another Date

Bruce took me out to dinner last night. I like him. He makes me laugh :)

Friday Morning

I'm having Allison's gang over for dinner tonight. I just finished making a big bowl of chicken salad, and took a bag of my Mom's homemade buns out of the freezer (someday I need to learn how to make them myself but every time I ask her to show me how, she just says, "I'll make you a batch." Who can argue with that??) I also made a pan of rice krispie bars and plan to make a big pot of homemade cream of potato soup later this afternoon and that's all folks :)
Lucky for me, they aren't picky eaters.

Or maybe it's lucky them because if they were picky, I probably wouldn't have them over so often.

Thursday's Aching Back

I spent the afternoon yesterday removing the wallpaper border from my kitchen and entryway walls. See the before and after pictures. I'm having the great room painted and although I still like the border, I decided that if I was ever going to remove it, now would be the time. Ugh, what a job!

I had to pull out the refrigerator to reach the border behind it. Stella walked around it three times and then looked at me like, "What the HELL are you doing here?"
Well, of course, one thing led to another and now the walls are clean, it's clean behind the refrigerator, the floors are clean, the cabinets are clean and I'm just waiting for Karter to come over tomorrow so I can ask him to move the stove. Seeing as how it's my girlfriend's husband who's doing the painting, I sure don't want him to go home and report to his wife what a slob I am.

Now, all I have to do is remove pictures from the rest of the great room and I'm ready for the big paint job. I'm having it painted turquoise and not just a wimpy turquoise. It'll be a big, bold turquoise and I'm a little apprehensive about the color choice. Don't get me wrong, I love the color, I've just always been such a white/beige person that it'll be a huge change. I hope I like it! :)

I want people to walk in my house and know a woman lives here! :)

Oh, the color is "schooner" from Pittsburgh Paints in case you want to see it.

I will never again wallpaper any surface in my home. I like the looks of wallpaper but it's a bitch when you decide to get rid of it.

Grandma to the Rescue

I got a call today that Gage was in the school office puking. Allison and Karter were both working so I drove out to get him. I got him home and on the couch with a pillow, blanket and a puke bucket. Evidently, it was a quick flu because later in the afternoon, after he'd played cars, eaten a pudding cup, a cup of mixed fruit, a pack of gummy lifesavers and a couple strips of bell pepper, he found that if he stood in the puke bucket, held the handle and jumped, he could jump across the living room.

Oh, to be young again with a healthy immune system!

Tuesday

What? Is it Tuesday already?? Yawn!