When life hands you lemons...

I just got a reminder from Sometimes Saintly Nick that I hadn't done a post since May. Dang, it's July already. Well, I got this from my seestor, Bucky, and felt it needed to be shared.

I can't find a way to embed it, but please follow the link. You won't be disappointed.

Cute squirrel video

First step

Well, I got the walls painted. I like yellow, but was tired of it in the living room. I picked Navajo White. The yellow paint had been a higher gloss than normal for a living room so it was a pain to cover it; it seemed like the new paint just slid around on top of it. But, I've got it as good as I plan to. Next step is to paint the woodwork, but I'm just not ready for that yet.

A couple of pictures.

In which Annie helps with the living room renovation

Last weekend we ripped up the carpet from the living room and the area that used to be a front porch. This is what it looked like before we moved in.



The day we moved it rained. That off-white carpet started getting filthy that day and we never seemed to be able to get clean again. The previous owners had also had a cat. Ichabod's extremely allergic to cats. No matter how many times we cleaned the carpet it never seemed to completely come out.

That's why the ripping and tearing of carpet and pad last weekend. I kept busy, off and on, over the past week pulling up the staples that were still in the floor from the pad. I'm not used to physical work at all, but it felt rewarding to have it done.

We were very happy to see oak floor in the living room part.




Unfortunately, whoever planned to carpet figured there was no use in having a drop cloth while painting the ceiling, so there's paint all over. And we're not sure what the front porch area had before they made it part of the living room. But now it's particle board, including a rectangular patch in the living room where the door probably was.





I'm thinking about just getting that rectangle patched with more oak, then having the front porch area carpeted. Seems easiest and cheapest. Should look fine, too. So, since the flooring is all going to be changed I figured it was time to paint the living room. This is the only room on the main floor that we haven't painted. I don't mind yellow, but I'm thinking of something more like a creamy tan. It looks like I should repaint the baseboards, too, because they never finished them down to the floor. I know I'm going to like the outcome, but man, I'm just not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I'm more of a sit around and read, blog, tweet, and play at the garden type of person. But, it will be worth it.

Oh yeah, and while we're at it, we're going to strip the floor of the master bedroom and stain it the same color as the other bedroom. What have I gotten myself into???

But, Annie came this weekend to do some consulting on the work for us. Can you see the doubt in her eyes that we'll be able to do all this?


She also supervised Ichabod making Seven Layer Salad for the Mother's Day get-together at his folks'.





Here's Annie trying to figure out what to do with a large green olive that Ichabod gave her.


We'll be leaving in about a half hour to take Annie home and have burgers on the grill. Hope all y'all have a great Mother's Day!

Earth Day

Wednesday is Earth Day. Even though every day is really Earth day I guess it takes kick in the pants every year to remind some folks. :-)

This year I'd like honor it by linking to a post by Ian Lawton. He's the minister at Christ Community Church that's in the city next to mine. His site is Spiritual But Not Religious, SBNR. I really love to read it. This week's is titled Eating, Living, and Sleeping Green. In it you'll find his sense of humor and his sense of caring. Enjoy!

Maybe Spring is here

I leave for work around 5:40 in the morning. With Michigan being on Eastern time I can count on driving to work in the dark most of the year. But today was the first time this season that I've seen that faint glow of light at the horizon while driving in. It made me smile.

Thank you

My thanks to everyone for stopping by with kind words. I'm feeling better already. But I need to move the post down one as that kitty makes me sad just to look at it. :-)

Here's a picture from Five Mile Hill in the city where I live. It's not five miles high, but you're supposed to be able to see for five miles on a clear day.

I has a sad

I usually try to keep this site upbeat, but sometimes I just can't. Ichabod and I used to work for the same company. So when we moved from downtown GR to the lakeshore it was no big deal.

Well, Ichabod's talents weren't being utilized well at this company and he had the chance to move to another one. He has more creative freedom and is doing very well there. The only problem is that his drive time is doubled now. And that's only if the traffic and weather are good.

He's been talking about getting a place in that city for during the week so he can work more and won't be so darned tired from the drive. I know that the drive's been wearing on him, it hurts his back, it's putting lots of miles on his car, and it's costing extra for gas. Getting another place sounded like a good idea. Until last night when he told me found one and will be going there starting Monday.

I was surprised by my reaction. I cried before going to sleep. I cried in the shower. I'm crying as I write this. Not what I expected. I know that I will get used to it. We'll both get caught up on our reading. It's also a good thing that we're both on the same cell phone plan because there's no way we can just instant message. We'll be talking every day.

But, in the meantime, I has a sad.

And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden (and celebrating my fourth blogoversary)

It's that time of year again when the Frederick Meijer Garden has its "Butterflies are Blooming" program. The butterflies aren't easy to photograph so I usually see it as a chance to take pictures of flowers. This year was a nice surprise for me in that I got the best butterfly pictures I ever have. Here is the entire set.

This was over by the coat room.


So was this.


We have one that's similar to this. It's really dangerous. Those spikes can puncture skin very easily.


This is one of the pitcher plants. It thought it was cool.


This is just the beginning of the many orchids.




They also have some springtime plants.






I liked this fountain.


This devil's tongue plant was really interesting.


They're huge.




If you look at this on Flickr in the large size you can see the detail.


More orchids.


This one has a face.






The birds are constantly on the move, so the picture's slightly blurred.


If you look at this one in the large size you can see the brightly colored birds at the feeding dish. One of these days I'm going to get a camera that does better with zoom.


Another butterfly that has good detail.


This one worked fairly well, too.


Golden shrimp plant to the left in this one.


This is the very best butterfly picture I've ever taken. I'm proud of this one.


I just realized, as I looked at the date on this post, that this is my fourth blogoversary. How appropriate that I'd be posting pictures of flowers.

Que Sera Sera

I found this quiz over at Courtney's. She's a Bette Davis. I thought it would be fun to take it, and wasn't thrilled when I saw Doris Day's picture staring at me over my results.

But, I have to say that it's pretty darned close. I have been working a lot on ridding myself of the "hard to be Doris" traits. Anyway, let me know if you try it.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Doris!

You are a Doris -- "I must help others."

Dorises are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.


• * Share fun times with me.


• * Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.


• * Let me know that I am important and special to you.


• * Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships

• * Reassure me that I am interesting to you.


• * Reassure me often that you love me.


• * Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Doris

• * being able to relate easily to people and to make friends


• * knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better


• * being generous, caring, and warm


• * being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings


• * being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What's Hard About Being a Doris

• * not being able to say no


• * having low self-esteem


• * feeling drained from overdoing for others


• * not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish


• * criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should


• * being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them


• * working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Dorises as Children Often

• * are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism


• * try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding


• * are outwardly compliant


• * are popular or try to be popular with other children


• * act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention


• * are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Dorises), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Dorises)

Dorises as Parents

• * are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't)


• * are often playful with their children


• * wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?"


• * can become fiercely protective

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Pizza Night

Ichabod has gotten really good at making pizza. He makes the dough from scratch. Tonight he thought he'd try something different. He decided to precook the dough in the waffle iron.



The paperclip has nothing to do with making pizza. Not sure why it's in the picture.



We wondered if it would stick, but with the help of a little olive oil spray it came right out.



Then he put the toppings on and baked them for about 20 minutes. Here's the end result.



They were good and now I'm full. BTW, the music for the pizza making was the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. Everybody have a great weekend.