Seeing the Future and the Past

Today was a great day!  It was the last day that I was helping Lisa get her kindergarten classroom ready for the new school year. Creatively, it was a lot of fun helping decorate the room.  She went with an Owl theme which I think is really cute. 

The rug you see is an early birthday present from John and I, and Lisa's Grandma Sue. Lisa said that the kids sit on the floor a lot during the day and that she would love to have one of these rugs...she was really happy when we gave it to her.

Being in this room with Lisa was like seeing the past, present and future all at once.  I got to see where she will be spending her days teaching, and at the same time was remembering 19 years ago when she was in her kindergarten classroom.  Time sure does fly!

Thank you Lisa for allowing me this experience.

2012 - Mrs. Miller (Lisa), Kindergarten Teacher

 

1993 Kindergarten - Lisa & Mrs. Hite

Circle Tree

Lisa told me about this tree she saw online that was made out of circles.  She asked if I thought I could make one of them on a wall in her kindergarten classroom.  I took a look and thought it would be a pretty simple thing to do.  The tree online used construction paper for the trunk of the tree, but I thought I'd use contact paper that looks like wood.  The worst part of the whole thing was cutting out all the circles.  I suggest that you make yourself comfortable on the couch and start cutting cause it's going to take awhile!

Once we were at the school, I cut a tree trunk shape out of the contact paper and applied it to the wall.

Using a repositional spray glue I started adding the circles.  Warning!!! You will end up covered with spray glue!

I started with the largest circles first and then started layering the smaller ones on top.  That's all there was to it!

Barn Star

A few weeks ago I painted our little storage barn red. We had just put new doors on it, that John made himself (he did a good job didn't he?) and since the new doors needed to be painted, I decided to paint the whole thing and change the color to red. I thought I was totally happy with the way it looked...

But, the back of the barn faces the neighbors yard and a neighborhood street and I wasn't happy with how plain it looked...

So one day I bought a big metal star and thought I'd hang that on the back of the barn...

But, then I thought the star looked too plain. So I got out some painters tape and spray paint and got to work.


First some stripes...

Then some stars...

Then I painted it a tan color, removed all the tape and talked John into hanging it...

Now I'm totally happy with the barn!

$chooled by the Roto Rooter Guy

We own a rental property that recently became vacant.  When we went to check the property out we found the bathtub standing full of nasty, stinky water. 

$o we get the plunger.....nothing.  The drain cleaner.....nothing.  A $nake.....nothing.  The phone book.....and called Roto Rooter!

I met the Roto Rooter guy at the hou$e the next day. While he check$ thing$ out, I $tart cleaning the $tove.  A few minute$ later, from the ba$ement I hear "Ma'am, can you come down here?"  I go down$tair$ and he say$ "You have a very old $et up here".  I $tart thinking, here we go. He'$ going to tell me we need to replace all thi$ plumbing and it'$ going to co$t u$ an arm and a leg....   He say$ "$ee thi$" and point$ up to thi$ rubber cap like thing on one of the pipe$.  He pu$he$ on it a few time$ and we hear all the water from the bathtub come ru$hing thru the pipe!  I look at him and $aid "I$ that all it took?" and he $aid "Yeah, but I'm $till going to have to charge you".   He added that at lea$t I would know what to do the next time. 

A $110.00 le$$on....thankfully I had a coupon!

Penn State

Ok, I have to comment on the whole Penn State thing....I believe the University and those involved in any cover up or illegal acts on minors should get every punishment that can be thrown at them. 

Having said that, I feel bad that the students and football players, past and present, who knew nothing about this, are be dragged into the punishment. 

Being a Notre Dame fan, I never liked Penn State, but I want those football players that have had all their wins taken away from them to know, that I still know they won those games...even the ones against ND!  And the players that are there now and want to leave....I hope some of you show up at Notre Dame!

RAIN is a GOOD THING!

I don't normally get that excited about the rain, but if you are from around here, northern Indiana, you will know why I'm posting this video.  After weeks of high temps and no rain, this was a very welcome sight and I just had to grab my camera and record it. 

As I watch the rain come down, I hope and pray that it's also raining on my cousin Kevin's corn fields. 

Like the song says: Where we come from, RAIN  is a GOOD THING!

The Box

Today the big brown truck pulled up to our house and the man came to our door and I heard that ding dong sound. My Carole opened the door and brought something amazing inside...just for me!

 

Will You Tie My Shoe?

Just finished a craft project that my daughter Lisa had requested.  Lisa is a kindergarten teacher and she is gearing up for another year to start.  She says that all day long she hears "Mrs. Miller, will you tie my shoe? So this year she wants something to help them learn to do it themselves.  She asked if I could make something and this is what I came up with:

I got on the internet and printed off a simple shoe shape.

Then I drew in a sneaker design (Red):

I looked around John's scrap wood pile and found 2 nice pieces that I wanted to use.  Using the plain simple pattern, I was able to trace out 4 shoes on the wood.

At this point John was nosing around wanting to know what I was using "his" wood for, so I asked him if he wanted to cut them out?  I can use a saw, but thought if he will do it, why not?  So as he got each one cut out, I drilled the holes for the laces.

Then I gathered supplies, craft paint, paint markers, spray sealer and laces:

Keeping my sneaker pattern in mind, I started to paint.  I wanted to make 2 that were more boyish and 2 that were more girly. 

After the paint was dry, I sprayed them with a sealer and added the laces.

I think they turned out pretty good.  I hope Lisa and the kids like them!

Not Homeless, but...

When I saw this in the news, I had one of my "Gee, Why Didn't I Think of That" moments! This woman was panhandling for a boob job!

Although I don't need boobs, I'm not past stealing someone elses idea...minus the bikini ! ! !

Maybe I need to find a street with more traffic!

Luckie on Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th but I'm not worried.  I have a good luck charm that follows me around all day long. 

If I'm going to trip and fall today, it won't be because of the date, it will be because she is under my feet!

"She" is my 12 year old black cat, appropriately named Luckie.  By my side, under my feet or on my lap, night and day...even as I'm blogging on Friday the 13th!

A Little Privacy Please!

The past few days I've noticed that my tan was fading, so this morning I decided to put my swimsuit on and go lay out on our deck. It was around 10:00 am, so I figured that it was pretty safe that no one would see me (I don't look cute in a swimsuit) because all my neighbors would be at work.

So I set up all my stuff...a blanket, chair, ice water, radio, etc. 

Looks pretty nice, but doesn't compare to the beach!

Anyway, I was laying out, enjoying the warm sunshine and light breeze. After awhile, I decide I better lay on my stomach to get by backside (not my best look) but, nobody is around so who cares?  But wouldn't you know, no more than 2 minutes later I hear something so I open my eyes and see this young man walking into our yard!  He is heading right towards our deck!  What can I do at this point?  So, as he walks right past our deck, I lay there, with the breeze blowing up the skirt of my suit, like I don't even notice he's there....................ok, he's gone. Damn breeze needs to get better timing!

Now doesn't it firgure the one day out of the whole summer that I decide to lay out, they send the meter reader around?  And since when did they become so young and good looking??

Reality TV Junkie

I'm coming out of the closet....I'm a Reality TV Junkie!  They say the first step to recovery is admitting it right?  The thing is, I don't think I want to recover.  I'm hooked.  I won't say love, but I'm deeply "in like" with these shows.  Thankfully they aren't all on at the same time of the year, or I wouldn't get anything done!

Ever heard of Bill & Jen?  Come on! They are the "Little Couple"!  I wish they lived by us so Jen and I could be friends!

How about Giuliana & Bill? Bethenny? Or Tori & Dean??  I feel like I know these people. I want to hang out with these people!

There are 2 show's that I am really embarrassed to admit I watch. Even more embarrassed than the fact that I watch the Kardashians (yes I do) and that's "Sister Wives" & "19 Kids and Counting".  I know, I know....does the fact that I can't stand the husbands on both these shows help??  In fact they make me sick...but I keep watching.

I also like the dancing shows like "So You Think You Can Dance", "Dancing With The Has Been Stars" and "Dance Mom's".

I don't see anything wrong with watching these shows. They have made me more aware and accepting of different people and different cultures.  In fact, not only would I like Jen, who is a dwarf, to be my neighbor & friend, but I would like to have a gusband.... and I'd like him to be Nate Berkus. :)

So, to be true to my "coming out", I must confess that there are more reality shows that I watch than I mentioned above, but I don't want to get carried away now, do I?  Because as they say... take one step at a time.

Gotta go, the Bachelorette is on!

Gusband: "gay husband" A womans gay male friend that she is as close to as her real husband, but she can have girl talk with and go shopping with, can be called a gusband.

Faux Painted Rug

One thing I've always wanted to do was to paint large faux rug on our deck. I didn't think John would agree to it, but to my surprise he did....although I don't think he really knew what I meant when I explained it to him!

I had been thinking about this project for a long time, so everytime I set out on the deck I was working out designs in my head...counting boards in the deck, thinking about colors, etc.  I knew I needed to keep the design simple because I didn't want anything too busy to look at all the time.

I decided to use solid color stain that contains a sealant instead of paint because it would be less likely to scratch when scooting furniture across it.  I used Olympic Maximum in Navajo Red, Taupe, Chocolate & Autumn Gray (which looks blue) as my colors and one quart of each did the entire job:

With my design in my head, a tape measure and painters tape, I got started:

I had decided the border of the rug would be 3 boards wide, so I measured and taped the side borders and then got staining.  I cut a star out of cardboard and traced it for the 4 corners.

The inside of the rug would be stripes....
remember by keeping simple, I was able to just use each board as a stripe:

Then I added the finishing touches to really make it look like a rug...trim around the border and then fringe on the 2 ends:

And then it was done!  Other than some knee and back pain, it was really a pretty simple project and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it.

A Hot & Lucky 4th

This July, we are having the heat waves of all heat waves!  With temps in the 100's, burn bans and also private firework bans in effect, all we were left with was our annual trip to the Cove, a local minor baseball league, where we sweated our you know what's off to watch the game and fireworks. The heat was unbearable. Almost to hot to eat! 

But then something happened that made the heat a little more bearable...They were giving away 32" flat screen tv's. One per inning and I won one!  Yep, me, out of over 6,000 people.

Only problem...I didn't have any I.D. with me. Ooops!  Thankfully, they accepted John's I.D. with the same last name and address.  Knew he came in handy for something! 

Thunderstorms

Ok...I know we need the rain.  Like, we REALLY need the rain...but, I have always hated thunderstorms.  And this weekend we've had 2.

Maybe it's the thunder. That loud cracking, rumbling powerful sound.  And being told as a child that thunder was just the "angels bowling" didn't seem to help me feel better about it. 

Maybe it's the lightning. The bright flash that instantly lights up a dark room. The zig zag bolts that reach the ground...because the ground is where we are standing you know! 

Maybe it's the hail.....noooo, I kind of like the hail. :)

Maybe it's the power outages that storms cause?  Being without electricity in the age of electronic devices can be difficult, but being without water...mainly bathroom privileges, is the worst!

Maybe it's the damaging winds or tornados that can come with these storms?  Yeah, I think this one might be it.  The memory of watching our favorite tree breaking off at the trunk and flying away was really a scary sight!  And going outside to look for it after the storm...well, I'll just say it was a shock to find it sticking out of our neighbors house!! 

 Yes, this is our tree and our neighbors house and I believe it is things like this that confirm my fear of thunderstorms!