Recently.

I finished working a five day stretch. The good news is I think they are finally going to change my schedule. Which means only two more long stretches and I can kiss working five twelves in a row good-bye! That is super exciting for me! 

Also I've been

... trying to squeeze in as much fall stuff as I can before winter gets here.

... drinking hot tea, hot coffee, and fresh apple cider from Greenbluff.

... to Walter's to pick out a pumpkin.

... taking walks in the park.

... watching all the poor kids running their cross country races accross the street at the park.

... putting Cholula Chili Lime on everything.

... to visit Joe at work and hung out in the shop.

... making lots of chocolate chip cookies for the college kids.

... dreaming about finishing some projects.

... hanging out my cat, he's been around more since it's getting cold outside.

... excited about my "Mister Malcolm" book that finally showed up!

Back to the Humdrum

Bicycle on the Canal - Annecy, France

It is nice to be home. Spending time with Mal, getting the laundry done, grocery shopping, trying to get over jet lag. Sorting mail, paying bills, putting stuff away. Sounds so glamorous... not. But really, its been nice to have some down time before heading back to work on Wednesday. Time to get things in order, get back into a routine. Europe was lovely, and my most epic adventure to date! (more pictures and such to come) but it sure is nice to have a cup of coffee in my pjs in the morning while hanging out with my cat. I missed that among other things like "regular" toilets, drinking tap water, sleeping in my own bed. Ahhh... it is good to be home.

Two Thumbs Up!

Today was a good day! My guy came home which was great, so nice to have him back after the long weekend by myself. Even though I slept in, today ended up being super productive!! I went swimming again today, 45 minutes yesterday and 35 minutes today. *Fingers crossed* I think I've finally found a way to exercise that doesn't make my back go crazy! I finished up two projects, plus we got a ton of cleaning done! Not the usual around here, nothing like some company coming to get me motivated! I'm super excited for this weekend!

First "harvest" from the garden - multi colored carrots!

Coffee date with Joe at Indaba

Strawberry-Nectarine-Lemonade Smoothies

Guest room all cleaned up and ready for J&E on Thursday!

The *other* side, not glam but clean. Good enough.

Mal's chair got a new cover - finally. That was long overdue.

He's definitely the *star* of the show around here!

Will share the other finished project tomorrow :)

Befores & Afters (and some in between)

I've been making some progress on the frame wall! Yay! Have been doing alot of frame painting. Here's some befores...



Here are some "Afters" and "In Progress" shots. Still need to fill some of the frames.

This was being poorly used, so got moved to the frame wall and has the equivalent of "fridge pics" on it. Joe doesn't like the fridge all covered with stuff.

The old lady got replaced by a picture of Mal as a kitten.

Have had this "K" hanging around for awhile, was plain white. It's actually a dark teal color.

Painted frames that need to be filled. They are painted "Bleached Sand" and it actually looks pretty nice against the greenish wall in the hallway.

Having fun with my fabric pen! Any guesses which baby this is for? :)

Another before frame. This one got a new life in my room though.

And I finally figured out what to do with my old key from the Farm Chicks show!

And last, because I'm training for the Krazy Kat Lady description later in life, here is a picture of "our cats". Jackson is a neighborhood kitty that eats at our house frequently, he seems to be doing better these days. He's gaining weight and his fur is looking better. ...and of course Mal you already know. :)

In a Nutshell

I was dropping off 3 bags at the thrift store when I found this little frame. The lady at the desk let me have it for a dollar! Woot! I love the little flowery scroll detail at the top. Joe thinks the lady is creepy, so she has to go. I personally don't think so, but I have other plans for the frame anyhow. If anybody wants the old photo, let me know.
Otherwise, just having an average evening at home. Had chicken, rice and pot stickers for dinner. Played with the cat, went to the gym (that is actually unusual). Now having a cup of tea and muddling through the mess at my desk, while making a bigger mess by taking the frame apart. It drives Joe nuts that I usually have a half dozen or so projects going at once. Anyone else have that issue? The cat is taking a nap and Joe is playing video games. Our evening in a nutshell.



Mal has his own dedicated chair in the "studio", its the now not completely yellow bentwood chair that needs the cushion bettered secured (another project) :)

Get 'er Done

I'm on a "stay-cation" this week and don't just want to sit around like last time so I made a to do list, inspired by my friend Amy. Joe and I have also been like having lots of fun together! Last night we had a random date involving, froyo + walmart + value village.

- Do the Dishes. Done
- Get caught up with reading schedule. Done
- Cook/Bake for home meeting Friday. Done
- XC Ski Tuesday with Joe. Done
- Write weekly menu plan. Done
- Cover Clipboards. Done
- Finish cleaning/purging/organizing studio. Done.
- Go for a walk
- Write a couple blog posts. Done
- Hem curtains
- Make a double batch of laundry soap. Done
- Download CDs onto computer, then to Ipod.
- Check out livingtohim website. Done
*** Dog sweater found at Walmart. He hated it. ***



*** Blackberries for breakfast ***

And here is my "studio", really messy, this is to inspire me to finish cleaning!




*** Selkirk lodge at Mt. Spokane ***

Malcolm Up a Tree

We finally went looking for our cat this afternoon, since he had been out early this morning and hadn't been home, which is very unusual for him. This is where we found him, two houses down, very high up in a tree. I think he was about 50 feet up. With all the snow on the ground, we could see that a large dog (or a dog with large paws) had been through our yard, and my deductive sleuthing says that the same dog chased him up the tree. The same dog prints were around the tree, plus some lovely yellow snow at the base of the tree. Needless to say, I am rather irritated with all dogs in general right now, and more so with dog owners who are irresponsible. We tried and tried to coax him out of the tree but he was up there fairly high and perched rather precariously. I don't doubt that he would have come down eventually but it's been so cold here and he sounded so pathetic meowing at us that it would have killed me to let him stay up there all night. But the story has a happy ending. My cousin Steven is a firefighter (and it's true, they will no longer come get cats out of trees) but he did know of a guy who rescues cats. We finally got in touch with him, and he came to the rescue with all his tree climbing gear and got Mal down safe!


Here is a closer view, so there is no doubt that the dot is my cat.

Conversation Between a Girl and Her Cat Malcolm

This is how I imagine my conversation with my cat went this evening - that is if he could talk.

Malcolm: Hey you, hey you, hello? are you listening?

Girl: What?

Malcolm: I'm bored. Come play with me.

Narrator: Girl walks over to the carpet, and throws one of the cat's mice for him to play with. Cat looks   

   indifferently at the mouse...

Malcolm: Hey you, you're boring. I wanna go outside and play.

Narrator: Cat walks over to the door. 

Malcolm: Hey, let me out. Hey. Come on, let me out already.

Girl: Alright, fine go outside. Be safe. Look both ways for cars. Don't stay out all night like you did 

   last night. Love you.

Narrator: Girl gives cat a hug and lets him outside.

Brief Intermission:  It's cold outside and the ground is covered with snow. Girl is inside cleaning the kitchen. Eventually cat comes back to the window

Malcolm:  Hey you! Hey you, will you let me in? It's COLD out here! Please!!

Girl: So you want back in huh?

Malcolm: Come play, come play!

Narrator: Cat walks back over to the rug, meowing annoyingly. Girl finally stops cleaning and walks over.

Girl: What do you want?

Malcolm: Obviously, I want to play! Duh... That's why I'm rolling around on the carpet and trying to attack your hand.

Girl: Alright, alright.

Narrator: Girl picks up the cat's new favorite toy, a fake fishing pole with sparkly fish on the end and waves it about, the cat goes crazy trying to catch it.

The End.

Birthday Present from Mr. Kitty

So Mr. Kitty is now bringing his "presents" for us inside. He brought us this dragonfly the other day. Thankfully, this present wasn't alive. I was really surprised how intact it was. The dragonfly was kind of cool but I'm dreading the day he brings something furry inside. I remember oh-so-clearly the day I learned that cats like to show off by bringing in their presents. I had spent the night at my grandma's and was going out to pick up the paper. I slipped my foot into her slipper and screamed bloody murder as my foot touched something cold and furry. Boots had left a mouse in her slipper... I was not pleased. But I'm sure he was.

Some Progress in the Office

Yay! Making some progress in the "Office". Since the days of less light are fast approaching, I decided since I was going to organize I might as well rearrange while I was at it to make it fit our needs better. I wanted a reading area and a more comfortable chair. So I ended up rearranging the entire room. (Sound familiar anyone who knows me?) Half the room, well a third of the room is clean, so I decided to post some pictures to keep me motivated to finish the other half. Kinda hard to get decent pics when it's this dark but here goes...


I really wanted to paint the back of the bookcase but couldn't settle on a color. So I cut some burlap-ish fabric to cover the back instead. Doesn't show up well in the picture. Brought in the rocking chair that was needing a good home. I love it, have the rocker from one grandma right next to my sewing machine from my other grandma.


DIY'd myself some free art. Found the picture in a magazine and threw it in a frame that was repainted after a second thought about what needed to go to Goodwill. Makes me smile :)


Kitty in his personal chair overseeing the progress.


I finally "de-blinged" the free chandelier I found on the side of the road. My gray candlestick got some free jewelry!

Hanging out with my kitty

New Tricks

They say old dogs can't learn new tricks... I can't really speak to that. Malcolm on the other hand, is finally figuring out a few things around here. He has finally learned how to use his kitty window, which is great since he no longer whines incessantly when he wants to go out. It took him awhile to understand he could open it by himself. 

The other thing he has learned recently is how to climb the hawthorne tree,which is kind of cute and funny (because it's short and would be easy to get him down if he got stuck). Hopefully, this doesn't translate into climbing bigger, taller trees soon (fingers crossed)!

In other news, summer is finally trying to get started here, we've been getting lots of yard work done, garden post coming soon. We're gearing up for a garage sale at my folk's this weekend. Yesterday, I got "fitted" for a bike and Joe's been looking for a good deal for me, hoping to get a lot of single track riding in this summer. 

Playing with Picasa ... and lady bugs

Caught Malcolm mezmerized by a lady bug this morning. He has been chasing a ton of bugs outside recently, its pretty funny to watch. From a distance you can't tell why he's doing all these crazy little antics. I decided to play around with the picture in Picasa and try out a couple different effects.

 Original

 The "Tint" effect with partial color preservation. Left the tint unchanged.

This is the "Focal Black & White" option, I put the focus over the ladybug.

Any favorites?