Monday, June 25, 2007

The sky is falling! The sy is falling!

Well, not really the sky. More like the ceiling of the bathroom. One of the joys of owning a home that is twice my age (who's counting, really!), is the fact that the house requires LOTS of upkeep! Wednesday evening, I noticed, while luxuriating in a hot shower, that the ceiling was about to fall down on me. Luxuriating out, panic in. Since it was 9:00ish in the evening, Mark insisted that we climb in the attic and figure out what was going on. So, we climbed up, & realized that there was a leak coming in. Duhhh.... Since I have class, and Mark was working on Thursday and Friday, this was not something that could be addressed in the immediate future. So, we created a contraption which consisted of PVC pipe, 2 boards, duct tape, screws and one paint stirrer (to get that one bit of ceiling that the other boards did not quite get to)that would hold the ceiling until Saturday. Saturday was spent vacuuming out the insulation above the bathroom, pulling down the sections of dry wall that were wet, re-installing the new (WATER RESISTANT) dry wall, and plugging the leak (hopefully). Now, I just need to prime, texture, and paint the new ceiling.

What fun.

I will try to post a couple of pics. Mark has informed me that pictures of this escapade are off limits. I, however, am pretty proud of what we both accomplished on our own. Mark and I were both ready to remodel the entire bathroom. If we had 2 showers, I think that the rest of the room would have been torn out.

Until next time

Sunday, June 17, 2007

The $29.99 Ace Hardware Special!

So, Mark read in the paper that Ace was having a special on Adirondack Chairs. $29.95 each! They were white cedar. The only drawback? They were a kit. Being somewhat handy, that was not that big of a draw back. So, we bought 2.

First, you have to unpack and organize the chair. (In back is one of a set that we bought, completed. There is also one of the kit chairs that I have completed, before I remembered to get my camera.

SO, then you have to put the thing together. Luckily, kits have all of the parts for you. It is like putting a puzzle together, only with instructions for where each part goes.





The next step, since we were painting them, was to prime.


Then, finally, a nice Cerulean Blue color to liven up the backyard.


The finished product:

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Big Visit

So, Mark's Mother, Hester, and his Niece, Brielle, came down to visit. Brielle and Pablo took an immediate liking to each other.

We all played "Adventure Golf" at Congo River



Brielle looking at the Aligators at the entrance. She was able to feed them as well. She got a pole, with string rigged with a plastick clip and a bag of hotdogs cut into 3rds. Hating hotdogs myself I figured that Aligators would have a more discriminating taste. Nope. I was wrong. They went CRAZY for the things. Climbing over each other and snapping at the food. It was fun.


Hester and myself.

We also all went to Universal Islands of Adventure!



Brielle cooling off in the spray from the Jurasic Park Ride. I was with her for a few of the sprays. One cannot get much wetter.

Peace!

Well, Mark's Mother and Niece went home on Sunday. They had been house guests for 10 days. We had a really good time, and it was really nice to see them when they got off of the plane. But, man was it nice to see them get on the plane. I think that the dogs were happy that Mark and I were the only two to walk in the front door. They slept ALL DAY SUNDAY. They even slept through their 3:00 run about. (The time that Pablo gets up to torment Kylie and make her chase him through the house.) They were good sports about everything. I have some pictures that I will post later. Right now, I should be studying for a Chemistry test that I have this evening.

Have a good day!

Monday, June 4, 2007

Surprise of the week

Well, I was watering the plants the other day (refuge from my schedule) and noticed that the clematis that I thought died, was BLOOMING! I had planted this when we first moved into the house, October 2001. It grew for about 1 year, never bloomed, and then disappeared. I was so excited to see the bloom. I did not even realize what it was, when I first saw it.



What a nice surprise!
If anyone knows a good way to get rid of bugs that are terrorizing the Angels Trumpet let me know. The leaves that are in the picture are being eaten alive. I have tried a few different systemics & Malathion to no avail.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Much too busy!



So, I have been crazy busy lately. I have been working full time and taking classes at night. Generally, this has not been too bad. However, I am utilizing, for the last time, the low cost of community college to finalize some prerequisites for the Nursing Program at UT. Right now we are in the summer session. During this session, the school cuts the time, in weeks, of the class in half, and doubles the class time, in hours per day. This would, in theory, allow one to take 2 times the number of classes in the same time period. However, for someone who works full time, this is a NIGHTMARE. I will usually take 1 class during this time frame. In order to make it into the RN program, I needed to take 2 classes this time. Of course, they only offer both of these courses in the first half of the intersession. So, I have the joy of being in class Monday - Thursday until 10:00 in the evening.
Oh, did I mention that I also work 40 hours a week, and I need to be at work at 8:00 AM. Did I also mention that I have 3 dogs? One of which REFUSES to utilize the wonderful back yard that we provide for him to do his business. So, he has to go for a walk. Yep, this would be the snooty English one. So, I get up at 5:30ish AM (depending on how many times I hit the snooze button), shower, wake Mark up, we both walk the dogs, give them there meds (the Scottish one has horrendous allergies), go to work, deal with the criminals that I find, go to school, then go home. Try to unwind, eat, visit with the doggies, talk to my partner, and get in bed early enough that I am not a complete jerk the next day. Needless to say, my blogging has completely gone out of the window. I try to lurk at my favorite blogs, and leave a comment now and then. But, alas, I have no time to really post. So, tonight, I made some time.

What is getting me through this schedule from hell, is that I am planning on quiting my job (YAY!!!!!!!!!), with my last day being the 31st of July. I will be going back to school full time starting in late August at the University of Tampa.

Finnally, please forgive the total irrelevance of the picture. Other than some calming effect, I am using it because I have managed to loose my camera. I am sure that it is in some pocket, somewhere. I have a few pictures that I wanted to upload. The above one, is of an arrangement that Mark made from flowers in our yard. Hope you enjoy it!

Until next time, when I make some more time!