Working...working....working

Last weekend we spent...well - working.

Painting and staining and painting and fuming. We wore masks and I think I got deoxyginated (my OWN word - hope you like it) and I was really tired by the second day. I felt a lot like this:


Seriously. I felt that tired. Like my cheeks were going to slide off my face. Why was I working so hard? I wanna have a li'l baby. And I don't want to have paint fumes in the house during that time. Anyway, this led to the comment that I told my husband: "I don't wanna have a baby anymore. If it's this hard to get ready - I don't think I'm up for it. In fact, I wish I had never been born." Thankfully, he finds me really cute and funny...reassured me that we were just "paying the piper" for living in this house for 3 years without finishing what we've started. OK, OK!!!

Here's the progress so far:

Before

(It was a lovely, mustard color before.)

After

(Light tan - so fresh - so clean.)

The linoleum will be removed - but that's a project for another day and another person...

Here's the hubband working on the ceiling. He worked on it for two days. Yes, two whole days. There was a large crack going the length (well, actually the width) of the ceiling. And our ceiling is plaster. He patched and sanded and handpainted the ceiling for fear that the paint/paper would peel. (The brainiacs before us wallpapered the ceiling and it doesn't take to paint very well. This happened to us in another room we did earlier this year.) The end result from all his work is that the ceiling looks perfect. And he started painting the room. (It's his computer/guitar/whatever room.) Exciting! Another room for us to live in. I will be buying something for it...maybe a couch or something...do I hear a trip to Ikea coming up??? Gnightgirl?

I will take more pics of the hubband's beautiful new room soon. Oh, the best thing about that room is that the previous owner's son lived in there and the ceiling fan-pully-thingy says "Mac Daddy." I might just have to keep that...

Here's my new hallway upstairs. Let me just say that I think I'm purty good at getting this wood thing done w/o sanding anything. Have I ever mentioned that I'm lazy??? Well, I almost destroyed this floor for good. Used the wrong product on it - got done staining it at 11:30 Sat. night. We slept in the living room to let it dry. Woke up and it was sticky-icky. I knew - just knew when I was applying it that something wasn't right. But, it was late. I wanted to knock that sucker out! And Mike told me to be careful - not to make a silly mistake because I was tired. Well, obviously I did. And I was very disappointed with the results. Long story a wee bit shorter - I ended up slathering something else on top of it and VOILA!! It's all good! I'm still wondering if I have the energy to do the rest of the upstairs floors...time will tell.

Before

After

Notice Mike's wittle dusty footprints. They brush right off. It was dry before we walked on it.
Oh, BTW, never - never - never use a stain with a poly all-in-one product. Take it one at a time. It will save you lots of time later. ;0)

STL (parents)

When went down for the Keneally concert, we stayed with my parents. It was sooooo nice of them to let us stay with them for a few days. We didn't get to see them very much, but it was nice to be home for a bit.

Da Parents "acting" like they love each other.
(Something they would say...I learned it from them.
But, I'm pretty sure they might like each other.)

Alex (our very wonderful neighbors' son.
He happens to share my birthday.
He's exactly 20 years younger than me.)
Alex with Archie and Mother.

Dad dropped his dinner. It landed flat on the kitchen table.
(With a LOUD bang.)
He really lamented that he lost his baked potato.
He'd loaded it up and there weren't any potatoes left!!!

He was in luck though. His food was molded to the table.

His potato, on the other hand, stayed glued to his plate. Woohoo!!!

Archie and me.

When I'm at my parents,
I love to walk around screeching "Arrrrrrchie. Arrrrrrchie. "
Like whatsherface from All in the Family.

OK. The best part of the trip. What you've all be waiting for. (I'm sure!)

CAT VIDEOS!!

Dad shows how Archie likes his teeth brushed:



I give it a shot:

STL (Keneally concert)

So....last week I took off work early on Thursday (can I get a hell ya?) and headed down to the St. Louis area where my family is from. Looooong weekend! I love it! I only dread going back to work all that more...but - it's always nice to get away.

We went to see our favorite musicians: Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller with Eric Slick on drums. I really can't write too much for fear that I'm already a gushing lunatic - let me just say that it was fab-a-lous. If only they toured more often...

First stop, Edwardsville, IL - for a Taylor Guitar Clinic:



And our own mini-concert. I like to think of it as a serenade...



While we waited for the concert to start - we ducked into this little Irish pub:


Where I found this little guy! I thought it was so cute that they let him (her?) walk around. I got to pet her (him?), but I didn't ask any questions. (What's that???? Marcy-Darcy-the-story-telling-bimbo-a-go-go didn't blather her head off? Not this time.)

(Hubband waits for me.)

On to the concert - the MAIN EVENT. The concert rocked my friggin' socks off. I don't know what else to say. I had many fine beers and rocked out to the beautiful music. Oh, there was THIS dancing guy in the audience that I really wanted to emulate (and thought that I might) but I never got up the nerve.




Sound quality is not the best on my li'l camera. But the band playing is Fattback and they opened for Keneally. They seemed talented to me and their songs were so upbeat and happy! We're going to buy their album when it comes out. I even bought one of their t-shirts. (For $10. Cheap! Cheap! Fun! Fun! Plus, I'm a consumer - I need things!!) Anyway, they have some of their songs on their Myspace page - you should listen! "Shopping for Pink" is a good one. When I heard that in concert I was singing along. Only I was singing "Shoopy Poopy." What do I know?

OK, while I'm talking about Fattback - here's a pic of them:

OK, while I'm talking about opening bands - let me mention Spyder Monkey from Chicago. They are amazingly talented and their lead singer is a beautiful woman named Susie. They were really nice people and we hope to see them in Champaign sometime soon. (At Cowboy Monkey, maybe?)

(Spyder Monkey)

I didn't get any really great pics of the concert. But, a good time was had by all. And by all I mean ME. And my Mike. And anyone who was there!

(Sound check. Bryan Beller in foreground - Mike Keneally in back.)

(dancing guy dances to Mike Keneally too. Who wouldn't?)


(uh, he's really fast - I couldn't get a good picture of him.)

As I said, I can't wait for the next show that's within 300 miles of us (or any amount of reasonable driving distance). We'll be there!!

I had a lot to write about here...the family part of the STL trip is still to come. With more hilarious cat videos than you can shake a stick at!

Fetch

Our kitty, Lucky, loves - absolutely loves my hairbands. He's obsessed. And he fetches - just like a dog.

Tagged!

By my friend, gnightgirl!

An unobstructed view of my face:


Ha!! Just kidding! That's Bette Davis...

Here I am:

Toys

Anyone who knows us, probably knows our cats are spoiled. Best food, filtered water, all the love they can handle. So, of course, we buy them toys....

Toys that get lost...I've bought bags and bags of catnip mice...and not even a day later it's...

"Where the hell are ALL THE MICE???????"

Sometimes I find a pile of toys under the couch. Still...I'm sure there must be more missing mice out there somewhere...

Fast forward to a few nights ago. Mike dropped a Pringles lid in the kitchen. Immediately, a kitty pounced on it and knocked it under the stove. "Crap!" I thought - that's gone under there forever... then I decided to pull out the broiler thingy and...

BAM!! There were at least 13 little mice were under there...

Story from an eating place

Last Sunday we went out to eat at a cozy, local, tasty restaurant, Thara Thai. This restaurant is special. For one thing, my good friends Ilaiy and Gnightgirl introduced us to it. The owner is a wonderful, friendly woman. There is something about this place that makes you feel calm and friendly and you just know the everything is right with the world.

As we were sitting there, an older couple walked in. They sat at a table adjacent to us. He had a ball cap on with teeny, tiny flags sticking out of it. They were so cute! They started talking to us right away.

"What is that you're having?" The man asked.

My husband replied that he was having Pad Thai.

"That's what I want." The man said.

I asked him if he liked spicy food and he said that he did. As he ordered, I piped up - suggesting that he only order mild - - her food is extra spicy. [Ilaiy and Lori would order "Thai Hot" - I'm sure that would literally kill me.]

Our little man told us that they'd just gotten back from a WWII reunion thing in Tennessee. They live in Michigan and were staying over at the Day's Inn. Wanted to rest a while so they stopped over. Walked over to Thara Thai...he'd had Chinese food once and he liked it. His Captain served for 40 years. Was in WWII and Korea. Mike nods. Mike was in the military (three branches). He's a WWII buff.

Mike asks our guy what he did in WWII...

"I was a duck driver. I was at Normandy. Utah beach...."
My eyes immediately burned and got misty. Wow! He made it out alive! Here's a man who fought for our freedom...

He enjoyed his Pad Thai. We ate in silence for a while. He got up a few times and went to bathroom. Said he was eating to fast...he liked it too much! I felt bad for him. I told Mike he better come outta the bathroom soon or...or...I just might barge in there and give him the Heimlich or something...

I told Mike that when he said he was at Normandy - I started to cry.

He said: "Me too!"

We finished eating. Told them to have a safe trip home. Went up to the counter to pay our bill.

"Do you want to get theirs?" Mike asked.

I nodded. And my eyes filled with tears for the second time that night.

Dad's Flowers

As Fall nears, and since today's my dad's birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!), I thought I would post some photos of my dad's flowers that I took this summer while visiting my parents.

My dad has always seemed to enjoy yardwork and such and we had a good time looking at all of his flowers before we left. It postponed our leaving for quite a while. Which, I must admit, I kinda liked postponing. :0)

Dad didn't think his impatiens were doing very well this year.

I'd say they are thriving, wouldn't you?

He called these "paper flowers". They really do feel like a stiff piece of paper.

I liked these little daisies (even though some had died).

Purple "things". My favorite color!



The most important plant! And it's dead!

(dead cat grass)

We'll take more pictures next year, Dad!

Mattoon

Mike's brother had a party at his house this weekend. So, we headed down south:



Here are two sets of brothers jumping on the trampoline. Sweaty, silly, slimy, sexy(?) brothas...

Neil, Brian, Mike, John

Check out this video - it's audio only - but entertaining nonetheless:



A good time was had by all. And everyone got a chance to catch up. On old times and new. We got home around 4:00 a.m. So, yeah - I'd say we had a good time.

When's the next one?

Labor Day Trip

My husband's parents recently moved to Tennessee. They've been asking (and asking) us to come down to their new home...so, we finally went this past weekend.

It's obvious that we love cats and I'm always thankful that I have a husband that's as crazy about kitties as I am. Maybe he gets it from his parents...his parents have five indoor cats (hmmm...that number sounds familiar for some reason...) and many more outside kitties.

Here's a sampling of their kitties:

Mike's niece, Haley (the mini-cat whisperer) and Goldie

Pepper

Tommy

And - last, but not least - the incorrigible but ever cute Tiger: