Alert and Oriented (x4)

These are the shoes that I want to be; what I'd like people to think about me. The shoes I can wear for about 3 hours before I'm done: And these are the shoes I usually am. Not that people would think badly, right? Practical, not too stylish, a little clunky and clumsy. But above all comfortable: I'm glad I can be both pairs of shoes... What do your shoes say about you?

Today, I'd like to introduce you to my beautiful green dining room wall: Note that this is the sort of the Before /After of the TRUE Before/After shot. What I mean is, that shortly after this, Ted moved my dining hutch back into place, we put a dark bookshelf in for the kids' homework and books and it obviously hadn't been cleaned up yet. What I'm highlighting here is the trendy green color...it's called "grapevine," and after holding up a real bunch of grapes next to the wall, it really is the color of a grapevine. The hallway wall that abuts is called "allium" and is a very pale green that looks grey-ish depending on how the light hits it. It's hard to see from this picture, but there used to be a wall that extended to the end of the hallway furdown that Ted removed. Ted is wonderful and can do simply anything. He moved light switches and put in all pretty new white baseboard throughout. [ SIDE STORY: I have to be quite careful about think...

Those of you who have been around for a SoulRio retreat or two may recall my “retreat Book.” When retreat planning begins during the summer, I start a binder, complete with tabs. The binder has everything from copies of the contract, registration slips, rooming arrangements, phone logs and email copies to doodled notes that I make throughout. Things are color-coded and I have been compared, not always favorably with the Monica Bing character from Friends for my control freak-ishness. (I know--I don't LOOK like her...I just act like a crazy/mad/control-freak who drives everyone around her insane) In short, without “the Book,” I would be a little lost at best, panic-stricken at worst. After the Leader Link meeting on Sunday (where I had the Book), I had to come home and rush to a closing. Ted and I went to dinner and had a relaxing evening. The Book never crossed my mind until around 9 that evening when I thought I might make some notes and send out a few emails. Hmm….no book. But I...

Surprisingly accurate....what's yours like? (p.s. They didn't have a coffee-type drink...like the Costco Mocha Latte Freeze . I like water, too, tho'...) "> " border="0" alt="" /> p.s. If, as a mom, you have said things that you never thought would come out of your mouth, visit Michelle and see what other moms have said. And if you post one, linky-link back to me--I get a Namesake as a referral)

Plumbing has been moved..... Walls have been removed...... And replaced......(notice the lovely NON view of our toilet!!!). We love having someone go potty and not hearing the musical (or not) details that go along with that. And we can watch a movie in the living room and someone can now flush the toilet without drowning out the dialog. Walls are highly underrated. I feel for those poor women who came west to follow their men and pan for gold who ended up in tents. Forget indoor plumbing (yeah, we lost that for a couple of days, too). Walls were what I would have longed for! All that's left is new vanity, cabinet and linen closet. Can't take too long, right? I know that they are an odd size, so they have to be custom made, but...not too long, right? Humor me, anyway. Perhaps I spoke too soon with my huge praise about the insurance company. Turns out the check they wrote us will not cover the vanity and linen cabinet that had to be replaced because of "the flood." Th...

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer has this great feature called "works-for-me-Wednesday" when all her cool blogging friends post all these cool tips about just about everything. This is my first, so here goes: If you are ever frustrated, as I was, by having your aluminum foil, plastic wrap or press-n-seal rolls come tumbling out of the box as you pull the stuff off the roll, look at the square ends of the box. At each end there is a little press in tab with directions that read something like, "press in to secure," or "push to lock roll." Every single roll of stuff I have has some similar little tabs. They've probably been there for decades, but I just now discovered them. They work GREAT! And if you already know about them, don't tell me you think I'm slow--just be glad for me that I finally caught up with you! Now go over to Rocks In My Dryer and check it out!

Well...the good new is that State Farm insurance RAWKS ! We went from "this has never happened before, not sure if you're covered" (because this wasn't a swamp cooler leak folks--it's from a refrigerated air conditioner!--more on that in another post for my Midwestern friends) on Tuesday to getting the check in the mail yesterday. And oh yeah, "go ahead and purchase whatever school supplies got ruined, too--we'll reimburse you for that. " Now, the bad news. There are 6 people living in this small, 1600' house. And this is one of our two bathrooms (view from the dining room): Yep, folks--that's the toilet, the stool, the crapper, the porcelain potty, the chamber pot that you are seeing, from my dining room . That is one of only 2 showers in my house. I have 3 and 1/2 teens and 2 adults. You do the math.... Even lovelier , here's what you get to look at if you are brave e nough to sit on the toilet and gaze out.....Or from the shower, if ...