I'm still here

Hamburger Bun - he is quite bold and unapologetic about it. I heart him for that. He is also a little piggy and hugely curious all the time. He wouldn't get out of the way so I could take shots of the rest of the dudes.

Hamburger Bun - me scolding him to quit hogging the lime light.

Pork Chop - isn't she pretty? That's Hoho in the background. He is the runt of the tank.


Starvin' Marvin - he is a little grumpy now because he thinks this shot makes his butt look big and poor little Ho Ho, he just looks anemic.

Pork Chop - still unsure what this is all about but happy as a pig in a poke to be in a nice large tank and to have a family of her own now.



Twinky died about a week ago. Apparently Hostess products DO have a shelf life. We were a little sad at his demise but the newest addition to our family has helped fill the gaping hole Twinky left behind in our hearts. Please meet Pork Chop! Isn't she beautiful? It's really hard to get a good shot of goldfish for a hack photographer like me and I'm afraid I didn't capture her best side but still.....she is a beauty. I think Hamburger Bun (who is a major camera whore) has a crush on her. Starvin' Marvin is a little leery of her and Hoho is too little to think much one way or the other - he doesn't like girls yet.


Next up, I spent two days repainting this chest. It was green with gold hardware. I painted it to match this extremely cool table we got for Tad's bedroom. The table has a stainless steel top and black legs. Yes, another piece that weighs a blinking ton and that Andy had to repair some and then disassemble to get through the bedroom door. Don't tell him, but I do this on purpose. This chest has been in my family's home for well over 30 years. It's been resurrected in a rainbow of colors. It might not be worth a dime and look a little time-worn but you couldn't pay me to give it up. It's a piece of my home, my history. Now it's a piece of Tad's. That makes me smile in these days when it seems like there is precious little to smile about.





We had a visitor on the back deck last night. A giant disgusting possum. Lord how I hate those creatures. They are like rats on 'roids. Gross factor of a bazillion. So of course I had to snap a picture of it and then try to figure out how to kill it. Because it's disgusting. I decided, when it was off in the far corner of the deck that I would open the sliding glass door and get a better picture of it. I figured I would be about 12 or so feet from it and ready to slam the door shut should it attack as Andy kept telling me it surely would. I figured, hell...where is it going to go off in that corner? The stairs were on the opposite side of the deck. I opened the door, the ginormous bundle of disgusting grossness turned, saw me, and jumped off the deck! I quickly announced that I hope it died from the fall and slammed the door closed. I'm still plotting how to ensure its untimely death.

I have finally finished the bathroom in our bedroom. I stripped the wall paper. That was fun! Not! It had to go though. There were light houses for crying out loud. On my wall. Lighthouses on my bathroom walls. Next I painted the popcorn ceiling. Naked as proven by Andy's post and photo. I loathe painting popcorn ceilings. I've painted a ton of them in my time. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to just scrape the popcorn off but it didn't, at least not until it was too late. Then the fun part! Painting the walls in this very cool treatment that makes the walls look like they are covered in suede. I could use a little more practice but they turned out pretty nice. A drastic improvement over what was. We also picked out a new light fixture to replace the Hollywood glamour lights over the mirror. Andy installed that. All that is left is to con his father into making us a shelf for one wall and to pick out and install some towel bars.





I think that about covers it for now. Sorry my pictures aren't nearly as good as Andy's. I could blame it on my incredibly cheap camera equipment in comparison to his but I could shoot with his equipment and still not come close to getting the results that he does. We all have talents I suppose. Fortunate or otherwise, one of mine seems to be an ability to ramble. Enough of that.

Take gentle care, people that I love.