Meme

Susan at Love, Life and Labradors posted this meme this week and I thought it was one of the better ones I have seen. That, combined with my recent laziness, means that you get to read ridiculous nonsense about me! Yay for you!

1. What kind of SOAP is in your bathtub right now? Bath and Body Works Island Sea Cotton and Lever 2000. For my 2000 parts. (Remember those commercials?)

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? No.

3. What would you change about your living room? I would like a new rug.

4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Clean. Yes, I know I should just empty it but it's my life's mission to make Amy do that each and every night after dinner. And since I only get to take advantage of that for 40+/- days I am going to milk it for all it's worth.

5. What is in your fridge? Plain low fat yogurt, 2% milk, black and red plums, pudding cups, hot dogs, cherries, limp celery and cheese. And leftover chicken pot pie.

6. White or wheat bread? Both!

7. What is on top of your refrigerator? A bag of potato chips, 1/2 a bag of tortilla chips, a Costco-sized box of hot chocolate and a 5 lb. bag of sugar. I hate that I have so little cupboard space in my house that things have to be on top of my fridge.

8. What color or design is on your shower curtain? Yellow, blue red and white stripes.

9. How many plants are in your home? Only one. The rooms where I have light I don't have flat surfaces for placing plants on.

10. Is your bed made right now? My "made" do you mean dogs laying all over it? Then no.

11. Comet or Soft Scrub? Comet.

12. Is your closet organized? Which closet? My bedroom closet is not a pit but I wouldn't call it organized either.

13. Can you describe your flashlight? Large, blue and metal.

14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Plastic for cold drinks, glass for coffee.

15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No.

16. If you have a garage, is it cluttered? The edges are a little cluttered but I can fit my car in there.

17. Curtains or blinds? Most of my rooms have warm window roman shades. Except my living room which has blinds for the time being.

18. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two, one for my head and one for my knees.

19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? No it has to be absolutely dark.

20. How often do you vacuum? Only about once a week. I only have one area rug. Now if you ask how often I sweep it's more like every other day.

21. Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard.

22. What color is your toothbrush? White with an orange stripe down the back.

23. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? No.

24. What is in your oven right now? A piece of foil that contained the overspill from making chicken pot pie. I actually remembered to put it down first so baking my dinner didn't make my smoke alarm go off!

25. Is there anything under your bed? Two plastic containers for Tim's out of season clothes.

26. Chore you hate doing the most? Scrubbing the shower.

27. What retro items are in your home? My house itself is retro! Built in 1961 it is the epitome of the 60's ranch houses. And I have a 1956 Singer sewing machine.

28. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Yes, the front bedroom.

29. How many mirrors are in your home? Six.

30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? No, just a change jar.

31. What color are your walls? Every room is different! Green, tan, red, blue, yellow and brown.

32. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? No, unless you count my freaky black lab. She'll cut you.

33. What does your home smell like right now? Coffee.

34. Favorite candle scent? Aunt Kooks Apple Cider. Cannot. Get. Enough.

35. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? None. But I would LOVE it if I had some spicy bread and butter pickles.

36. What color is your favorite Bible? Brown.

37. Ever been on your roof? No.

38. Do you own a stereo? Yes.

39. How many TVs do you have? Two.

40. How many house phones? Three.

41. Do you have a housekeeper? No. But I think about it every week!

42. What style do you decorate in? Casual with a touch of country.

43. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? Both. My current living room furniture has a print for the body and solid cushions. I love it!

44. Is there a smoke detector in your home? Three of them actually.

45. In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you'd grab if you only could make one quick trip? My dogs, photo albums and computer. That is assuming the rest of the family is helping with this quest.

Graduation!

Wow! I cannot believe it's been over a month since I posted last. It's been very busy and I have been very lazy. Oh, I have been READING blogs just not creating posts for my own.

Anyway, back to where we left off......

Amy graduated! Aww, yeaaaah!



Graduation was held at Red Rocks Amphitheater and we were hoping that there would be no reason for the park to be closed so that it could go on as planned even if we had to bring umbrellas and ponchos! But the day was perfect, some clouds in the morning and early afternoon gave us enough shade to not roast once the sun poked through.

I must brag on her just a bit and announce that she graduated 7Th in her class of 395 with a GPA of 4.13. I am just a BIT proud I guess!



I cannot say enough nice things about this kid. Even if I were not her mother, I would like to hang out with her because she is so funny, sweet, and clever. And did I mention funny?



Congratulations, Amy! We are SO proud of you!

Happy Mutha's Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a very happy Mother's Day! Mine was pretty low-key but lots of fun.

I ended up ditching church because Amy and I stayed up way too late on Saturday night watching SNL with Justin Timberlake. OMG! He is so funny! Anyway, Tim (my personal alarm clock) was working on Sunday so I didn't get up in time. I went to Michael's to get a few supplies I needed to finish a project I am working on for Amy's graduation and then stopped at Starbucks for an americano and a rhubarb crumb cake on my way home. Yum!

In the afternoon, we went to see "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". It was a pretty good movie and we enjoyed ourselves. Being as it was a chilly/rainy day here, lots of other folks had the same idea!

For dinner we had our leftovers from our Saturday Mother's Day dinner out at Macaroni Grill. After Tim got home I opened up my cards and gifts and was surprised with a really pretty silver ring necklace from Tim and an Amazon gift card from Amy. It was a great day. Oh! I almost forgot! Amy made me a cake. It was a very special cake. Have I mentioned before that she has a really fun sense of humor? One of her favorite blogs to read is Cakewrecks. She was inspired by THIS POST to create me the the most spectacular Mother's Day cake imaginable! In true Cakewreck fashion, I present my Mother's Day cake, 2009 edition, complete with uterus, sprinkles, squished ovary and the famous misspelling of mother. I am so proud!

Shameless Bragging

Tonight was a bittersweet night for us. It was the last high school band event for Amy. She has been in the music programs at school since she was in fifth grade and is quite an accomplished flutist. But tonight she received a HUGE honor! Presenting the 2009 GMHS recipient of the John Phillip Sousa Award!



"The John Phillip Sousa award is the pinnacle of achievement for high school band students. The award honors the top student in a high school band and recognizes superior musicianship and outstanding dedication." And my little baby won! Congratulations, Amy! We are so proud of you!

Wow! Thanks!

My first blog award! I feel like Steve Martin's character in "The Jerk". "The new phonebooks are here! I'm SOMEBODY now!"




Thank you to Lisa from Yeah, I'm Still Here for my very first blog award! Even though I mainly blog for myself, it's so fun when others read and comment.

So now, I need to award this same award to 15 recently discovered bloggers. Now, I hope they mean blogs that I have recently discovered because I'm sure that several of these have been out there for awhile. But here are some of my favorite discoveries from the recent past.

Vivienne at The V Spot

Jamie at Something To Do

Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick

Tim at The Remodeling Guy Do guys like blog bling?

Sarah at Create Studio

Jennifer at The Craft Patch


Okay, now this is getting ridiculous! I have over ninety blogs on my Google reader and for good reason. It's because they are my favorites and they are other people's favorites too. And either they already HAVE this award or have already been named by other award recipients. And I am reluctant to tag them again because then it's kind of like when you host a Pampered Chef party. All of your friends are excited about it and you swear to them that if they host a party of their own (to get free stuff because they really do have the best hostess program, but I digress) you will come! To support them! And buy stuff! And so they have the party. Several of them have parties. And you go to all of them because that's what friends do. But now you have WAY too much Pampered Chef stuff and you run out of things to buy. Then what?

Where was I? Oh yeah. Anyway, this is all I am able to name because I am sure that Jill from Controlling My Chaos and Lisa from Yeah, I'm Still Here do not really want to do this again. And I want to read more of their good blog posts!

Upon further consideration because I was clearly not awake yesterday, I have added more blogs below because even if they don't want to accept it I still want to give it in the spirit it was intended. So without further adieu:

Lisa from Yeah, I'm Still Here

Jill at Controlling My Chaos

Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee

Liz at Mabel's House

Susan at Love, Life and Labradors

Kim at Petroville

Laura at The Wooters Family

Leigh Anne at Your Homebased Mom

Melissa at 320*Sycamore

Chickadee at A Familiar Path

Thanks for the award, Lisa! And I hope you all enjoy these blogs as much as I do.

The Furniture Is Here! The Furniture Is Here!

I am so excited! I finally have my living room back! Even though it has not taken nearly as long as it FELT like it took (no, Amy, it wasn't four months) it is so nice to have it done. Wanna see some pictures? Even more than you bargained for? If you make it through to the end you can even give me your opinions!

First we have a full on view of the sofa. The body is the diamond pattern and the cushions are solid velvet.

Here is a kinda side view. In real life there is just a very subtle sheen to all three fabrics, but when I took pictures all of a sudden there was this LIGHT everywhere! It's crazy!

Here is the best chair in the world. When it finally wears out and can't be revived with any more batting or slipcovers I don't know what I will do. Seriously it is the best thing ever. It's so deep and wide and my very favorite place to sit in the whole house. Everybody likes it, including my dog, Molly. We have to puppy-proof it when we leave so she doesn't get up on it. This involves putting the back cushion sideways on the seat cushion and putting hardback books on both the chair and the ottoman. She's a little thick and can't get it through her skull that just because we aren't here doesn't mean she gets free reign of the furniture. Goof.

Here is a closer shot of the arm of my favorite chair.

A different angle which includes a book and my glasses. Stupid over 40 eyes.

Here is a close up of the ottoman fabric. It's the same fabric as the cording on the cushions. And the cording of the ottoman is the diamond pattern.

Here's a shot from the doorway of the dining room. My entertainment center needs to stay on that wall because it's about the only place it will fit. But if you have any suggestions on other furniture placement, I'm all ears.

A couple from the front door area.

And here's one from the corner looking towards the dining room.

And here's one of the whole wall where the couch is. I would love to do THIS behind my couch but it would make it come too far out in the room and would block my access to the bookcase in the corner. Unless I figured out a different place for the bookcase or moved the couch down toward the dining room doorway a bit. Or moved the couch to a completely different area. I also notice that the green(s) of my walls look so much different in real life. Do they "go"? Should I paint them more of a neutral?

Thanks for looking and visiting me in my home!

Paper Clutter!

OMG! I am buried under paper clutter and don't know how to get out. Well, okay, I know how but I don't take my own advice to throw stuff out. I mean, what if for some reason I need to see my check stub from January 2008?

Today is my day to sort through stuff that has been sitting on my desk for a few months. And, honestly, I bet I could shred the whole stack of stuff and never even miss is. But instead, I am going though it piece by piece and deciding what should happen to it. Ugh.

I need to remind myself that going through my files at the end of each month would solve most of this problem. But old habits die hard! And the fact that I love all the file folders, staples, cute paperclips and other "file organization" ephemera doesn't help me. At. All. I would much rather make labels, file folders and filing systems with all the cool toys than to actually file stuff away.

Do you share this sickness?