A Long Over-Due Project

I'm not sure who lived in our house before we did, but the landscaping was completely overgrown and we wanted it cleared out. It was like living at the edge of a jungle/forest. And while some people think that looks cool, it's not my idea of a nice backyard. So we enlisted some help from our families and spent about four hours clearing, cutting, weeding, trimming, grunting, and moaning....and maybe swearing. Carter played in his pool the entire time, which allowed us to really get our hands dirty and get the job done quickly.

Right side of the yard, including shed.......

BEFORE:

AFTER:
Left side of the yard, off the patio.....
BEFORE:

AFTER:

We still have quite a bit of work to do, but at least the bulk of the tough stuff is out of the way.

Thanks Mom, Dad, and Bill for your help!!

Time for a New Pool

The time has come. A new pool was on the shopping list today. Not a fancy one....because we still have our hook-up at the country club and I plan to take full advantage of that this summer. So there is no point in us spending a ton of money on a pool.....until we have to. So a $15 beauty at Toys 'r Us will work for this summer.

And trust me, he's perfectly happy with it.

I even bought a blow-up mini basketball hoop. And about passed out while blowing the dang thing up!

He had a fantastic time tonight and I'm sure he will be out in the pool every afternoon after work.

Brrrrr!!!

My sweet, little guy.

(none of these were edited using the new program....I still have to figure out how to save those. One of the many projects for this weekend)

Movie Review: I Could Never Be Your Woman

I gave this movie a chance because of Paul Rudd. I love him. And the movie was ok.......just, ok. Nothing spectacular. But not lame, either. Just so-so and mildly entertaining. Definitely something you want to rent....or even wait until it comes out on TV. Which, it may have already. Michelle Pfeiffer plays a TV show producer who is low on luck when it comes to men. Until Paul Rudd's character enters the picture. He is an actor who auditions for her show and they immediately hit it off. Pfeiffer, however, is a little hesitant because of the age gap, but also loves the relationship because he brings out the kid in her.

No Fear

My mother-in-law, Michelle, has a great post up at her blog today of Eric and Carter having fun this past weekend.

See, http://michellescreativetreasures.blogspot.com/

Random Fact #61

I have a Blackberry Curve.....and I love it.

And I may be a little obsessed with it. It's an amazing phone. A couple of my friends have one, and by way of "power of persuasion", I talked myself into getting one. I've had it for quite a while now and it's the best phone ever. It's a spendy phone, with a spendy bill. But ooohhhhh so worth it!

Announcement

I am now the owner of Photoshop Elements 7. What does that mean?

EVERYTHING, my friends. Everything.


It means more wacky creations like this:




Or this:

Or maybe this:


Stay tuned.

Some People Have No Class

I think I mentioned in a previous post that our new house is right around the corner from a cemetery. And not just any cemetery, but the one where my grandfather is buried. I hope to get over there tonight to take a picture of how beautiful it is right now - there are SOO many flowers from the Memorial Day weekend and it just looks amazing.

However, there always has to be some asshole out there to ruin such a beautiful thing. For years now, my family has taken countless plants and flowers to my grandpa's grave. And there have been several occasions where those plants and/or flowers have been stolen. Seriously. Stolen. Because someone feels compelled to steal stuff from a dead man's grave. And I'm sure this has happened to many other people as well. And this year was no different. I was talking to my mom on the phone last night and she told me how she and my grandmother had both taken some plants over to my grandpa. They had returned to water them, and one was missing. Who is sick enough to do that with a clear conscience?! It absolutely disgusts me that there are people like this in the human race. As my mother said, they deserve to be struck down by lightning as they are sneaking out of the cemetery with a family's gift to their lost loved one.

Movie Review: The Lucky Ones

The only reason I got this movie was for Rachel McAdams because she's one of my favorites.....ever since The Notebook. Because THAT is a good movie. This movie? Not so much. At all. It was extremely anti-climatic and frankly, boring. I wouldn't recommend it at all and I'm quite disappointed that I even wasted my time watching it.

Spoiled

Well, we were spoiled with another weekend at the cabin. We were only planning on spending one night, but we ended up being able to stay for two. And we had a great time! We had some pretty awesome weather.....from sunshine to a great thunder/rain storm. The river was running extremely high - not even the dogs were allowed in. And some brave souls were rafting or kayaking. No thanks!!

When we first arrived, this crazy moth greeted us. I'm not sure what species this is, but it sure was interesting.

And when you tapped on it (I sure didn't - the guys did), its wings opened up to reveal these bright pink sections with "eye" features. Very cool!

After getting all of our stuff unpacked, Carter spent some time relaxing in the hammock with his Grandma Barb. There really isn't anything better than sitting in a hammock on the deck that overlooks the raging river.

Then we started hearing honking geese and went on a hunt to find them. With the river right next to our cabin, it makes noises quite deceiving at times....because of the echo and all. I finally spotted the mama and her little fuzzballs on an island in the middle of the river. She had brought them clear across the wild waters to the safety of the island.

While the rest of us normal people played games, Eric and my dad spent quite a bit of time going over trail maps. What nerds!

Saturday was a great day for a 4 wheeler ride. We decided to take Carter with us and he had such a great time! He rode with me and squealed and chatted the whole time. I'm so glad he wasn't scared.

Feeling like a big boy.

Let's go, mommy!


I have been wanting to get a picture of this bridge for years. It's a huge fallen tree that someone built into a bridge. It crosses over Ten Mile Creek, which pours into the South Fork of the Payette River.

Eric and Carter on the bridge.

Me, Eric and Carter on the bridge. (our friends Rob and Nicole were with us and were able to snap a picture)
Like I said before, the water was running REALLY high. So below is a picture of Ten Mile Creek....which is usually a very calm creek that you can walk through because it's so shallow. As you can see, it's no longer a calm creek. It's virtually a river of its own now! Where it pours into the Payette, there is so much water, that it floods out and blocks off much of the river, causing it to back up and flood some of the woods. It's awesome to see the water running that high.

Another view of the bridge.

Carter on his daddy's shoulders for some of the hike.

Solitude

Kicking Off the Long Weekend......RELAXED

But clearly not as relaxed as some other members of the household.

Seriously? What a life!!


However, WE are headed up to the cabin again....for the second weekend in a row and I'm quite pleased about that. Have a great, LONG weekend!!

Double Standards Are Not Impressive

When we first moved into our new house, we were handed a copy of the subdivision covenants, which I read thoroughly. I knew we were going to run into a problem with Eric's work truck and trailer. But we took a shot anyway and kept it parked on the street, in front of our house. Of course, it didn't take long for the neighbors to take a convenient walk by our house and ask us if we had had a chance to read the covenants. And to provide us with an extra copy. So nice, these people are. So we took the truck and trailer off the street and parked them on the side of our house - there was plenty of room. Parking them behind the fence was not an option, as we have a boat already parked back there. Again, I knew we were pushing the rules since neither the truck nor trailer were behind a fence. But we were running out of options. It wasn't yet approved for Eric to leave the trailer at the jobsite, and he wasn't going to leave it parked out on some busy street for someone to break into.

We finally received, via letter, a formal complaint from the HOA(ssholes), setting forth that we had 10 days to remove the truck and trailer (from our own property, no less) or an injunction would be filed with the court.

Checkmate.

So Eric finally cleared it through his company to have one of the other guys take the truck and trailer and drive it until the next job, where they could be left at the jobsite, if Eric buys a hitch lock. Which we can do. Fine. Problem solved.

Until this last weekend, that is.

Now, we drive down the street and see this:

and this:

neither of which, as we so clearly know, are allowed.



So what's the catch? Why are these allowed to be parked for a week straight with no action?


Double standards drive me nuts! I'm all for rules; but they need to be applied across the board.





(excuse the poor quality pictures - I only had the phone camera on me)

Organization Turns on the Nerd in Me

Do you see the mess below?

It's my scrapbooking mess. MESS being the operative word. I wasn't able to get the BIG table that I wanted, so I am quite cramped with my small table. And the small table would be sufficient IF I could get all the stuff off of it.

So I asked the hubby if he could build me some shelves. But that would require actually going to pick out wood, sanding, painting, installing, etc. And I was wanting some immediate results. And I remembered some white, metal shelving that came with the house. So I marched out to the garage and found my treasure. And then set the hubby to work.

Then I took all the stuff off my table and gave it a new, more organized, spiffy home. And I LOVE it.

It's so neat and orderly......and that makes me a happy gal.....who is now off to scrapbook!

Random Fact #60

The thought of white water rafting scares the bejeezus out of me! I'm sure it's a thrill of a ride, but the fear of falling out, hitting a rock, and bleeding to death and/or drowning is enough to keep me out of that raft. I'm more of a calm-river floater, where I can float at a slow pace and take in the scenery......while sipping on an adult beverage.

An R&R Weekend

So, as you all know, this weekend was our much-needed girls-only weekend at the cabin. I invited some close friends....pictured below.....Nicole, Jacque, Abby, Steven (I know he's not a girl, but I made the guest list and he was allowed), me, and Tracy. We had a great weekend and I hope everyone is refreshed and rehydrated with NONalcoholic beverages. Because let me tell ya, we stayed up until 4 am both nights partying away. It was so much fun!!

On Saturday, we decided to go on a little hike/walk. We probably went back into the mountains a couple miles and the dogs had a really good time too.

On one of our stops, we noticed way high up in the tree, an osprey nest. It was massive! The picture doesn't even do it justice.....but it was pretty high up. And the mama was NOT pleased that we were hanging around.

She started circling the nest and squawking (or whatever noise they make).

She wanted to make sure we stayed as far away as possible.

And eventually, she started bringing in twigs to add to the nest. It was very cool to watch.

So then we started back....but not before arranging for a group photo!

Once we got back to the cabin, it was time for dinner. Jacque brought all the ingredients for an authentic mexican dish. It was A-mazing!

Then we built a fire out at the fire pit and the drinking began again. There was an obvious theme to the weekend activities.

And today, before we headed out, I took the troops down to the swimming hole, a/k/a heaven on earth. The water was running really high.

But that didn't stop two members of the troops.