I Moved!

I made it to Louisiana last Sunday. It took me over a week to get settled in because my room wasn’t quite finished when I got here. I spent the first few days helping finish that. I primed and painted the walls and hung blinds. The rest has been getting the extra stuff I have in storage and unpacking. Buddy was a good boy on the long drive down. I gave him some medicine from the vet that helps with motion sickness so I think he may have been a little bit tired from that.

This Sunday I went to my friend Paula’s daughter’s cheer competition that was held at the River Center in downtown Baton Rouge. The team got first place in their level. We also went to lunch and did a little bit of sightseeing along the Mississippi Riverfront. I snapped some photos with my iPhone.

View of Mississippi River from Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge Shoreline

USS KIDD rests in a unique docking system designed for the near forty foot rise and fall of the river each season. Half of the year, she rides the currents of the Mississippi; the other half, she sits dry-docked in a cradle where visitors can see her full dimensions.

Buddy…The World’s Greatest Shorkie

My boo boo is growing up {tear}. What can you do? When we last visited the vet in July, he weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and I thought he was getting big then! He was only 3 lbs when I brought him home on May 31st. Now at 6 months old he is tipping the scales at a whopping 11lbs. and a 1/2 oz!

He has the tiniest button nose

For Those About To Rock

Who's The Fairest of Them All?

Toothy grin

 

His favorite thing is just to be by mom, even if it means assisting with a nap

Impromptu Road Trip

I had planned to do an iPhone Post but the WordPress app wouldn’t upload and now I can’t figure out how to delete the draft post. I took some pics with the iPhone camera but the WordPress app gave me an invalid image error when I tried to upload the post. So I don’t know. I am disappointed. What’s the point of the app if I can’t post on the go?

My friend Sue and I drove up to Grafton. Today was one of those days that was sunny, partly cloudy, dark, gray and rainy. Just depended what time it was and where you happened to be.

Halo effect produced using the Camerabag app for iPhone

The weather was fine when we got up to Grafton. This town lies on the river’s edge on a mountain side. Sue wanted to drive through some of the “neighborhoods.” I was a little relunctant. I told her I wasn’t really into the whole Deliverance experience. I said if it starts rockin’ the weird-shit-o-meter we are turnin’ around! Seriously though, it’s a gorgeous. The bluffs along the Mississippi are breathtaking. This area boasts some of the most spectacular views of the river valley.

We stopped for lunch but I won’t say where because it was awful and it tore up my stomach. Suffice it to say, I won’t be going back there. If for some reason I do (like I’m riding Sea-Doos on the river) I’ll make sure I only order one of the frozen appetizers that gets dropped into the fat fryer. Can’t really screw that up. We headed back down towards Alton and that’s when the weather turned stormy.

At first it was just a light sprinkling of rain

Roadside construction gets rained out

That turned into a pretty decent downpour. Apparently flooding this past spring/summer washed out parts of the road bed.

Gray day on the Mississippi

So we headed to Alton. About 8 or 9 years ago, we can’t even remember, Sue and I took a “haunted tour” of Alton and one of the stops was the McPike Mansion. We stopped by today and it looked exactly the same as I remembered it. Right down to the chairs out front.

McPike Mansion - Alton, IL

It was short a road trip. I wanted to get back to Buddy. He just had his neuter surgery on Tuesday so he is still recuperating. Doin’ good though. He is getting so big…11 lbs. and 1/2 oz.

Everybody Needs A Friend

Best Friends

Buddy (Shorkie Tzu) and Xena (German Shorthaired Pointer)

Finally….Baby Pictures!

It has taken me a while to get some pictures up of Buddy because he moves so fast. I can’t catch him with the digital camera. I picked up a cheapy 35mm disposbable and captured some cute moments. He’s pretty cute most of the time so it wasn’t too difficult.

He is almost 5 months old now so he is teething. I managed to rescue one baby molar. I think he must just eat them.

Since we live on the lake I got Buddy this spiffy lifejacket.

I thought it would be good to introduce him to the water. He did not think it was good.

He is usually a pretty good boy. Very well behaved. But sometimes when he wants to do something and I won’t let him, he gets frustrated. And he let’s me know.

My nephew Vincent really likes Buddy, except when he bites (chews) him and tries to hump him.  

All teething babies have to have their binky.

Some times he does things that are so charming. When he crawled in his bed and then peeked out at me I had to get a picture of that.

There have been times when I didn’t get that shot. For example, when I was cleaning the kitchen recently I didn’t realize I had left the bathroom door open. It was so quiet I thought to myself, “I wonder what my little boo boo is doing?” I turned around and the entire living room/dining room floor was COVERED with shredded toilet paper. I went in the bathroom and there was just an empty piece of cardboard on the roll.

I would have taken a picture but I was too busy bitching at the dog about how toilet paper costs money and he’s a bad boy. I know he didn’t understand but it made me feel better while I was cleaning it all up.

Buddy Boy

GOSH! I can’t believe it has been three weeks since I have been able to get on the computer!  Having a baby really changes your life. It has been very rewarding though. Buddy is now sleeping through the night and not having ‘accidents’ in his kennel anymore. He is also going potty on the potty pad. This makes me so happy! We are halfway through our puppy training class and he is doing such a good job.

P.S. It’s my birthday! I’m 29 again for the eighth time!

It’s A Boy!

Name: Buddy

DOB: 4/7/2008

Breed: Shorkie Tzu   (A Yorkie and Shih Tzu hybrid)

Personality: Mellow and laid back

Lifeplan: Wrap mommy around my paw (so far this plan is working flawlessly)

Bathroom Shower Project

I have been trying to figure out a way to get my hot water to go further in the shower. I have hard water where I live so I can’t turn the water heater up to the highest setting. The hard water is fairly abusive to the elements in the water heater. One thing that I noticed was that my showerhead released a lot of water. The pressure seemed good but only because so much water was coming out. It wasn’t actually that the water was coming out at a high pressure.

I decided to check out some ”green” eco-friendly water conserving showerheads. I knew if less water came out then I could extend the amount of time I would have hot water. As it was I really didn’t have enough time to shave in the shower before the water ran cold. Electric trimmers will work in a pinch but you just don’t get the clean, close shave that makes for soft silky legs.

I ordered an Oxygenics® SkinCare Shower. It looked so sharp after I installed it. I’m really getting pretty handy around the house!

I purchased the low end model because I wanted to really make sure it was going to release the least amount of water. They do have some very nice adjustable stream showerheads for only ten to fifteen dollars more than I spent. Also, I purchased my showerhead through a resaler online that is located in Kansas City because I like to try to buy as local as I can. I am happy to report that I now have all the hot water I can handle. I have tried to stay in the shower just to see how long it will take for the water to run out but I start to prune up.

I only spent about $30.00 and it completely solved my problem and it’s good for the environment. Additionally, my skin and hair feel healthier. I’m not sure if it is because of the extra oxygen or what. All I know is that this project has turned out “all good.”

Weekend Project – Part 2

Holly came over yesterday and helped me finish painting the living room area.  It looks much better now. The lighting on my pictures isn’t the best so it almost looks like I painted it the same color. It is cleaner now and I have patched all the holes.

They painted all of the air return grilles in the house so this one also had to be replaced. I just looks dirty to me.

I love all the sliders and windows I have overlooking the lake. But when you are painting it is a lot to trim out.

In this area Valspar SR1114  Dusty Spruce in a flat texture was used. 

I used a professionally prepared color palette from Valspar’s Seaside Retreat collection. The number of the palette is SR1603. It includes the two warm browns I used in the kitchen dining area, the Dusty Spruce and also a lighter blue (SR1010 Porch Swing). I chose not to use that color because I really didn’t have anywhere to go with a fourth color.

 

Next up is the conquering the orange bedroom. I am looking at warm yellow golds for that room. I have been quite pleased with the Valspar paints so far so I will most likely stick with it for the bedroom. No date set for that adventure. I plan to do it in the next month or two, before summer.

Weekend Project

I spent last weekend painting my kitchen and dining room. I use the terms loosely because I live in a very small house so the living room is also in the same room. They are more like “areas.” When I moved in I followed a heavy smoker with two dogs and a penchant for hanging things up on the walls.

I have had my work cut out for me. The walls were washed before I moved in which is a saving grace alone. One less thing I have to do. But you could still see the smoke stains…not to mention all the holes in the walls. I patched and sanded all of those and then went to Lowes and picked up some paint.

 

I took my time picking out the paint colors I finally chose. I have had numerous color swatches hanging up for the last two months.

I don’t even know what to say about that shiny blue door. It just looked bad.

Then I had this gross color that I can’t even name. It doesn’t even match the blue or look good. Obviously there was a fire sale.

And then there was light.

I decide to go with a lighter more neutral color. The wall that is adjoining will be a dark blue/green color called Dusty Spruce. That’s next weekend’s project. But you can tell by the current color that the spaces will be delineated very dramatically. I can’t wait! I wanted to use very different colors that still go together to differentiate between the dining room and living room.

My kitchen now looks bigger and cleaner. I love the darker brown on the door.  I also chose a flat finish so nothing would look shiny.

The lighter brown on the walls is: Valspar SR410 Cottage Timber
The darker brown on the door is: Valspar SR413 Picnic Basket

I used the darker brown Picnic Basket on the formerly ugly colored wall. It now looks cleaner and ties in with the door. I also bought a new air return grill because whoever painted before painted it! Gross. You can’t do that unless you paint the walls white or alabaster or something. It looked dirty!! EEWWW! Best $8.00 I ever spent.

Well the warm browns actually give off a bit of a southwestern feel but since I have all floor length windows and sliding glass doors surrounding me with a view out to the lake I won’t be hanging anything up on the walls! The view is the picture. The former tenant didn’t get the picture.

I also needed to get some patio furniture for my deck so I can enjoy my Charbroil this summer. I actually grilled out three times this winter when the weather was mild. I’ve been looking at furniture and since my deck is not covered my main concern was forking out a bunch of dough for something nice that the elements are just going to trash.

Holly and I went up to Lowes and I showed her the cheap table I was thinking of getting. It was marked down since last weekend. So were the chairs. It was so cheap we were like “Let’s just get this! If it gets trashed I can throw it in the dumpster and buy something new.” It looks cheap but you get what you pay for and I didn’t spend much. It’ll do just fine. I’m happy with it. The money I saved I can now consider getting the covered bar with the two bar stools.

It’s not too hideous and it was actually pretty easy to put together. I did it myself. It took me a little longer than if I’d had help but it wasn’t hard to do.

I also did the painting job by myself because the only thing big I had to move was the refrigerator and it’s on wheels and has a long cord. I just pulled it out in front of the dishwasher and left it there until I was done.

With the warm weather coming it’s time to spray so those pesky bugs know they are not welcome! Bring it bugs! It’s your ass! Also on the agenda for next weekend: Holly is going to help me paint the living room because I need helping taking the vertical blinds down and moving the television. Once I get that done then it will be time to move on to the bedroom. It is currently orange. Oh yes, pumpkin orange!