was super funny (when she was in those moods) during this visit -- she kept wanting to watch the "Lizard of Oz"... so cute!
And she and Nana (my mom) were playing "Lizard of Oz" with the broom and dancing and going on the yellow brick road -- it was hilarious.
She really liked coming over to visit with the kitties too -- and play the "pianano" -- also I have a box of stuffed animals that she calls my toys -- and she gets all excited about coming over to see the kitties and play toys. It's also amazing what she remembers! The last time she was at my house, it was in February, and I have this turtle (that I got from the folks who sell things at the library in Cheshire-- you place an order with them and then they drop the things off a few weeks later) and it's a momma turtle with three baby turtles, the momma has three magnets in her shell and the babies all have a magnet underneath (all the magnets are inside them) and the babies are all on a little plastic tether line -- and you can put them on her back and the magnets hold them there. This time when we started to ask Mia if she wanted to come see Kristen's house and pet the kitties and play toys and the piano, she said "And the turtles?"
I was floored. It was hilarious. She was less than 2 then, she's less than 2 1/2 now... and she remembers the turtles? Yikes.
Ali and Mia came last Monday (the 20th Nov) and were due to fly out on Monday the 27th -- but their flight was delayed, so we got to enjoy them another day!! They ended up coming back to Mom & Dad's house and rescheduling for a flight Tuesday eve at the same time (6:50ish).
Well all did not go well and a big silly thing happened and they missed that flight so had to stay overnight again and fly out this morning -- poor things. Mia was pretty much exhausted yesterday and I can only imagine what she was like today. I can only hope for Ali's sake that she was so sleepy that she slept on the plane! They should be arriving in Minnesota in about 15 minutes or so -- and I miss Ali!
We had a really wonderful time together on several days -- we were able to sneak away for a Starbucks or even just sitting around the house talking -- it was fantastic.
Ali -- MOVE TO OHIO!!!! please!!!!!
:)
whatever that means!!
I'm supposedly back to it! Andy's folks flew out Sunday afternoon -- we dropped them off after church. My brother Brian flew back to Minnesota on Sunday morning too. Ali & Mia were supposed to fly back on Monday at about 6:50pm but that's a whole 'nother story! (Poor Ali!)
So I've decided to finish the plan I began in anticipation of Andy's folks coming -- I didn't get finished with many of the projects. I got to a point where there wasn't any more I could do without starting a huge mess, and stopped and the visit was fun -- very enjoyable!
I got a little stressed out about halfway through, but after a couple of cranky-Kristen days, we were back to having a good time.
So I'm putting things back to where they belong today, and starting up another big pile of laundry (although not as big as the pile I did before Andy's folks arrived!! I wish I'd taken a picture -- it was about thigh-high and at least six feet across!!). I did take other "before" pictures, and once I get to the "after" stage, I'll post the befores and the afters. It's funny because I was giving Andy's mum a little slideshow on the pc of all the photos we'd taken in the last year or so, and seeing pictures of how the house looked when we first moved in (bare and nekkid) and how it looks now (cluttered and full).
The cats have been good -- although I was surprised they didn't interact with Andy's folks more -- usually when we have people over, within an hour or so, Frankie is waiting patiently by someone's knee for a cuddle, and within another hour, Winston is just plain climbing into someone's lap whether they want him or not! But nope -- not the entire time, that I saw anyhow... Mind you they would pet the cats, but the cats would be sat on the ottoman, or the top of the couch, or the arm of the couch/chair -- and it seemed to be the humans doing the initiating. It was a bit weird.
It was nice to visit with them -- thanks for coming Mum & Dad!!!
At some point in the summer, we purchased a bread maker at a garage sale. I remember the day pretty vividly -- we were out 'sailing with Adam & Steph & Adelyn and Jon & Nikki -- and I was due to work at 3pm, but ended up getting called in earlier than that because of another co-worker needing to go out of town for a funeral.
Andy was wanting to buy these computer cords and I had my eye on the bread maker for $5. As I was using the restroom at the house (which was terribly embarrassing because I know how weird it must be having a total stranger inside your house), he was going to make an offer for the cords. I was feeling cheeky and told him to offer $3 for the bread maker. The very generous lady decided to just throw it in for free basically -- the cords were $5 and the breadmaker $5 and he only paid $5!
It has been sitting on our dining area floor ever since we got home that day. In my many cleaning adventures, I have looked at it and thought, "you know, we really need to try it some day to see if it's any good! If not, we'll try using it for just the dough making, and if it's rubbish at that, it'll just go in the bin!!"
So today's the day -- I take it off the floor, give it a good wiping down and set it on the counter. Inside was the instruction manual, so I head for the recipes section -- see the ingredients list, I have all but the one ingredient (powdered skim milk) -- so while I was out and about I stopped at a store to buy some -- no luck -- they don't sell it -- so I bought a box mix -- that you basically empty into your breadmaker with water and some oil (I proofed the yeast first, to give the maker a fighting chance) and turn it on and off it goes!!
Our bread maker in the UK (which we paid $60 for) was rubbish -- the loaves we got from it were always so stodgy -- heavy like doorstops! It never seemed to rise long enough or it fell somehow after rising -- the loaves were always shorter than the actual pan they were in.
Anyhow -- once this maker was done, I took the loaf out -- it looked amazing actually -- nice and golden brown and the outside was crispy. We had half of the loaf with dinner tonight (the shrimp from Sam's with alfredo sauce from a jar! over angelhair aka capellini pasta) and it was perfect -- just the right consistency, flavor was good -- I was super impressed with this FREE breadmaker!! It's not even a major recognizable brand name or anything!
Today I called around to the local hardware stores to find out if they sell "sisal" rope -- the rope that is what cat's scratching posts are made of.
After a pretty funny phone call with Manuel (Faulty Towers style) from Home Depot, I discovered that they do indeed sell it -- for $6.44 (a 50ft. coil) -- Lowe's would have been cheaper ($5.97 per 50ft. coil) but we have to get rid of this Home Depot gift card, and that was enough to take care of it!
Andy and I had my parents over for dinner tonight (another funny story about purchasing "partially frozen" shrimp at Sam's club and then learning that I can't re-freeze it -- so had to come up with a different dinner plan!! it was actually delicious) -- anyhoo -- after my folks left at 8:45, we decided to tackle the cat stand re-sisaling.
I had purchased some roofing nails to attach the sisal with, and began by attaching the end and wrapping it from the bottom upwards. We discovered that 50 feet is just shy of what you need to cover the particular stand that we have -- so we re-used some of the old sisal that was in decent shape. Hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is -- we realized that we should have begun with the new sisal at the top of the stand and then finished with the older sisal at the bottom (because of the way the cats stand and scratch, the top half of the post is always taking the worst of the beating). Nevermind... I'm sure there will be other re-sisaling of this stand... and if not, then we'll be building our own stands next time -- no more pre-made, el cheapo, $50 cat scratching stands for us!!!!
GO us!!
The funniest part was when the stand was done and the mess cleaned up, we called the cats over and they all immediately went at the stand vigorously -- they obviously have missed it!! Frankie and Winston especially -- they were very very very happy to have the stand back!
Who I haven't seen for a very long time but I hope you two have a wonderful day today!!!
I miss you!!!!!
love you.
So we've established the fact that I'm FREE!!! whohooooo!!!! YEAH!
But now the goal is to clean/organize/decorate the house because Andy's parents arrive for their first visit to our home in T-minus 7 days...
(insert freaking out shreak here)
No worries -- I'm on it!!
I have a plan -- I have a strategy -- I'm attacking the rooms one-by-one... one room per day... and it's going pretty well!!
Today is bathrooms day -- I'm going to try and get both bathrooms blitzed and sparkling from ceiling to floor. They are both in pretty bad shape right now -- so it will make a very welcome improvement!!
But first, I need to make a trip to Sam's club to buy some vinegar and sponges!! And they don't open until 10... and right now it's 8:30. So I'm gonna grab some brekkie and then make a list for shopping at Sams and then head out.
Can't wait to see his parents -- it's been a year and a half since we saw them last!!
Waayyyyy back in oh, June of last year we started going to Fellowship Baptist Church in Dublin -- and not long after we began to attend there, they had an announcement that there was a piano in the multipurpose room that they were getting rid of --- for FREE.
I was immediately thinking "oooh please YES!!!" but needed to bide my time and wait to see if any of the long-time members wanted it first... so I waited for about two weeks and then said to the pastor that if nobody else wanted it, we'd have it!
It took 8 men to get the piano from the church to my parent's house -- and in their actions of moving it into the living room, they kind of scratched the wood floor. Which wasn't an issue really -- because Mom was planning on replacing that floor anyhow -- with tile. Well she decided to go with wood again, and had it replaced last year right before Thanksgiving. It looks beautiful and amazing.
She has been desiring for us to move the piano to our home since we moved in -- she doesn't want it in her living room any more. Fair deal -- I'm thankful she let us keep it there as long as we needed to.
So we talked about splitting the cost for a piano mover (so as to ensure no scratches on the new wood floor!!) -- and I meant to get quotes -- but figured I'd do it on the Monday after my job finished. She called on Sunday to let me know that her new living room furniture is being delivered on Tuesday November 14th and that the piano needs to be moved by then. I kind of freaked, figuring it would take longer to get quotes and find someone available by then. No worries. I remembered the guy who moved our things from England from storage into the house -- he was so careful, precise, polite, fast and he said he moves all kinds of stuff, pianos included!
So I called him Sunday and I got a message that that customer isn't receiving service at this time. No "please try again later" or "leave a message at the tone", nothing. So I went online to try and get some quotes and went into yellow pages to try and find some companies to call on Monday.
Monday arrives -- I try mr. mover again -- his name is Brandon. I get through and he says he would be available -- he just needs to call me back to make arrangements. So he calls about 20 minutes later and lets me know the fee $100 (cheap for a piano move) -- and asks if he can call me the day before they move it, if I can be flexible like that -- and fortunately I can!! Because I'm free!! FREE!!
So he calls back Monday afternoon later on and sets things up for Tuesday. (I should have mentioned to him that it took 8 men to get the piano in!!) I gave him directions and he met me at Mom and Dad's house -- Mom was home and Dad was home on his lunch break. It's raining -- half-spitting, half-raining. Dad (thank you Dad!!) goes and gets several sheets of cardboard out of the garage to cover the wood -- sooooo thankful he did this -- otherwise it would have been a repeat performance of the wood-scratching fiasco!!
From the moment they moved the piano into the hallway by the front door -- it became a dictionary-perfect PALAVER. Oh my word -- I was half expecting to watch the piano bounce down the few steps to the sidewalk like that Laurel and Hardy skit where they have to deliver the piano up all those stairs... Oh my goodness -- I sure did think we were going to have to make a trip to the ER with one or both of these boys.
*deep breath* OK -- so they got the piano out (don't know why they didn't bring more guys -- or proper equipment -- they were using a regular old two-wheel dolly to try and hoist this beast!! Anyhow, they got it out and then up onto their truck (with a lil help from Dad and my brains -- thinking of the best way to get it up there) -- and followed me to my house (nevermind the little detour because I pulled out onto a street and they didn't follow immediately and let 3 cars get in between us!!).
Once here, I had to go inside and not look while they got the piano back DOWN from the truck -- I just can't even picture how that went!! They got it inside, and we put it on those furniture "sliders" and slowly made it to where I wanted it to go -- the piano wheels are very old, and they lock and that's what caused the scratching in the first place -- well on the sliders, they kept just rolling right off!! It was bizarre.
So the piano is finally here, in place, and pretty much doing well (I'm choosing to ignore the way that the dolly completely scratched the blazes out of the wood on the one side!!!!!). The cats think it's pretty interesting -- I was in the other room and heard "plink, plink" and snuck around and there's Frankie sitting on the chair with his paw up on the keys. Very funny. I did try and run for the camera to get a video, should he choose to do a repeat performance... but he doesn't perform on demand.... swine cat.
My last work day was Friday and my last class was Saturday morning -- and now I'm free!!!!
I'm very happy with my decision -- a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders -- and not just because I found out at my impromptu leaving-do (the girls all came over and we got Applebees to go at the store and sat around in the staffroom and chatted after my last shift ended on Friday) -- found out that the manager of the scrapbooking section has made her decision official -- she's not going to come back as manager but only as part time. If the asst. manager wasn't over-the-top stressed out before... she sure is now!!!!!!!!!!!
Nevermind -- not my problem... not anymore!