Oy! So cute, I could die!

There are only six there because Rohan (the big tan girl that Roxy's owners are keeping) is CONSTANTLY on the move. Well, on the weeble, but she's getting around!



(There are only pictures of these guys because we have someone interested in a black dog. More *many, I'm sure* pictures to follow when it's light out and we don't have to use a flash). Oh, and I don't have the second guy in a headlock, he's just sooo squirmy!

WE MUST STERILIZE THE MASSES.

Scut Farkus and his crummy little toady, Grover Dill. Well. They live on my street. Or near here. Or under a bridge. I don't know where exactly, but I am angry. The child, the one with the ax from a week ago, remember him? Well, I'm going to rig some booby traps. The good old fashioned kind, with tigers in the bottom. I went for a walk before work this morning, and just up the street, like, literally, 2 houses up and on the opposite side, there's a wooded area. And I looked in, and thought, 'Huh. That looks like the pickets we have under our deck. Huh. That looks like several of the pickets that we have under our deck.' Now, I was in a hurry (of course) so I didn't check it out when before I left, but I told Adam about it when I got home, and he went and looked, and from under the deck came the muffled cry of, "That little f#*!er cleaned me out!!" So he took the car across the street, filled the trunk with our pressure treated pickets, while his friend carried home the 10-12 foot pieces of lumber.

No. I'm not kidding.

And no. I'm not impressed.

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm a little impressed, because how long do you think it would take two 11 year olds to STEAL ALL OF THIS??

I filed an incident report, because I don't care how old someone is, stealing is stealing. His mother couldn't care less where he is, or what he's doing, so unfortunately, talking to her about this isn't going to help. Hopefully someone will help though, because I can dig a hole, but I don't know how to go about getting a tiger.

(For the record, Zack Ward, who played Scut Farkus? He grew up quite lovely. Go on. Google him ;D).

So. Much. Dust.

Oh drywall. How I loathe thee. 2 days work. Sanding, painting, hanging the cabinet door, and putting up shelves left to do. Oh, and wallpaper.

Rocco doesn't like change....

I'm gonna make a mess...

I was very tired of looking at this:
I've been away from my books for almost a year!! So: tearout. Boo. This is my least favorite part because you NEVER know what you're opening up... Already, I know that the walls are rocklathe and plaster, which means that you can't just throw on drywall patches, because everything needs to be shimmed. Fantastic. So I'll leave you with this:

Old hardware in a windex bath. Giggity.

12 hours later....

Trust me. I'm a professional... ;D

Now, my mud just needs to dry over night, and things should go fairly smoothly *knock knock*. The tearout went easily, but everything was together with these HUGE spikes, and I won't lie, it was a little challenging to take it apart, since I was trying to save the pieces to re-use. I found this in the ceiling:

I can't get a good picture, because of the reflection off the foil (foil backed insulation; I thought it was just in the exterior walls, but apparently it's between floors as well), but that is eelgrass, a type of seaweed that I've seen used as insulation in houses that were both older than this one, and located in fishing villages. I was a little surprised to see it here.

I found a robin's egg today too. I almost stepped on it, and I picked it up before I realized what it was. The inside appears to be completely liquid though, and there's a crack in a shell.

The windex appears to be working on the old hardware, but I'm not sure what's up with the change in colour:


And now, I am le tired. Bed. More mud in the morning.

I lined my drawers with paper!

See? Oh, I love these! They are just so perfectly aged (obviously, d'uh. Since they're 100 years old, or better), and the finish is just perfectly worn, and crackled. If any one wants tips on how to always make sure you have glare on your still-wet Modge Podge, or how to ensure there's always random STUFF in your pictures, send me a message. I was just so excited I finally did something I wanted a picture right away!

I started working on that little house-shelf as well, but I had a small repair to do to my axe-wielding garden gnome ( I found glue that would stick it!), so I still have a little more painting to do. I worked on a little something for The Hound as well, in honor of him graduating. First I went to the Dollar Store, and got a $1 frame...

and while I was getting paper for the drawer-shelves, I found an awesome dog print paper. I scanned his diploma and shrunk it a little, and made this...

and we hung it here right above his food bowls.

I am so, SO glad that we took him to training. I had him out for a w-a-l-k tonight, and he didn't pull!! Not once!! I cannot express how happy that makes me! Rocco? Well, he's happy about it too, but mostly, he wants to sleep some more...

I'll leave you with this jem and the question: How has no one claimed this prize yet?? Wheee.

Blog fog?

Last weekend, we went to the beach when we were home. It was really nice when we left my house, we drove about 2 minutes, and we could see this fog bank just off shore. Creepy, non? If anyone out there can photoshop some zombies in there, I'll love you forever.

OHMYGODPUPPIES!!! How did I forget?? Roxy has Rocco's puppies last Friday. Unfortunately one didn't make it, but there are 7 gorgeous wee dogs that are getting very big already. At a few hours old:


Yesterday was free day around our street, meaning people put out piles of things that they don't want, but are too good to throw away. I resisted the urge to rifle through every pile, but I saw a door when I drove by one spot, and hounded the boy until he walked down to see if it was any good. Oh, free stuff! I love you!!

Also, Kijiji is good to me. I've been trying to get one of these since we moved here, and after 11 months of perseverance, the kitchen looks HUGE!! This is almost identical to the one we were looking at for $200 last weekend, and this was $125 cheaper. What was that? You want to see a very bad picture that you can't compare to to a before, because I don't have a before, and there's nothing in the picture that shows any kind of scale? OKAY!!

Maybe next weekend I'll actually get to make something...

Sun?!? Again?? Giggity

Today was a very nice day. Finally. We have movement in the garden ...and finally it's not just some random cat's bowel movements. For the record, what works to keep then out of there is a mixture of 5 parts flour, 3 parts dry mustard and 2 parts cayenne pepper. Way better than Critter Ridder. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep kids away (but stay tuned for more on that). More importantly, I bought a toaster! Yay!!
So shiny and so red. Clean kitchen is courtesy of Adam. Tree in the driveway?
Also courtesy of Adam. Guess I can't win them all. However, it's out of the backyard, and will (theoretically, at least) be cut up tomorrow (when the huge, sap-spewing, sun-sucking, entangled-in-the-power-lines tree will also be going). Now please excuse me while I ramble about Idiots Who Procreate. Are you an idiot? If you answered yes to this question, please go have yourself spayed or neutered. Go on, we'll wait....

(chirp chirp)



Okay, now that the idiots have left the room, OMFG. First it was the kid who kept coming into the yard, up on the deck, and would then be taken out by the dog, who STILL COMES AROUND even tho we keep telling her to go home. Next up: SUPER SOAKER. But then tonight, I'm getting my supper, and I happen to look out the window, and picture this: one small child playing in the dirt, while the other kid is standing a very small distance away, swinging an ax into the dirt. Oh yes. I am serious. These kids are maybe 10. Do they have a mother? I assume so, yes. Somewhere. Clearly she is insane/stupid/unconcerned. So I run out on the deck and promptly lose my f*#@ing s#!t. Again, they don't care. Should I find these urchins in my yard again, I'm letting the dog out. If he eats them, well, I guess I don't have to worry about witnessing a decapitation in my yard. What the hell, people? Srsly. sigh. I could go on and on, but I won't...


So. First, let me say that in my defense, this was a quick-fix and was not there all the time. However, I finally got sick of looking at this when we wanted to let Rocco out on the deck:

(cue Elvis singing In the Ghettoooo) and replaced it with this:

(Please ignore the cord and the shirt and all the other random crap you can see. Or can't see for that matter. I cleaned it all up. Come see if you don't believe me). I also (finally! My god, I'm so slack!!) installed a door closer on the screen door, which Rocco finds very handy, as he doesn't have thumbs.

OH!! Since I'm old now, I get up at 6am to go through the trash. Last Thursday, someone up the street was throwing out the cabinet from an old Singer treadle machine (I'm sure one of you out there just fainted, and I'm sorry). Of course, I didn't have a picture, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looked like it had fallen from the back of a truck. Since I had the dog with me, and I had about 15 minutes to make it to work (see slack comment above), I quickly nabbed the 4 drawers and went on my way. Awkwardly. I had a dog, a bag of "daily dog deposit", and 4 wooden drawers. It was bordering on that riddle with the sheep, the oats and the wolf. Moral being, we made it home, I've sprayed the poo out of them with bug killer *cause yes, I am that paranoid*and they will shortly be made into something cool.
Tomorrow: I get a new kitchen table, Rocco graduates, and maybe, just maybe, I'll make something. Stay tuned!!