Here Kitty Kitty

This is Moo. Moo is not my cat, but it's one that I've taken a keen interest in because of it's fun Cat Gymnastics. Moo is Katie's Cat from the blog Color Me Katie. When you click over to see the cat gymnastics, be sure and click on the shower gymnastics link that she has as well. I am totally in love with her cat.


I'm totally in love with mine, too. Mocha wasn't very happy with me in this photo, as you can probably guess. She has been drinking A LOT of water lately. Some nights she drains the entire bowl of water. It's been going on a few months but has been very consistent the past few weeks, so I finally made an appointment at the vets.
Mocha-darling, as I call her most of the time, made it known to the world that she was very very upset about traveling in the car today and not at home on the couch. She's got some lungs on her.

However, once we got into the room, she never made a sound. Even before anyone saw us, she was totally silent.



She is nearly impossible to get out of the carrier though. She finds all sorts of places to hold onto inside there, but eventually she was freed from the cage she so desperately wanted to get out of just moments ago.

She was weighed, had blood drawn, had urine drawn, had vaccines and possibly had her temperature taken. The vet looked at her teeth, inside her ears and felt the entire length of her belly. She was very good and let them do whatever they needed to do. The Dr. commented at how well behaved she was. I was so proud. After paying my nearly $500 vet bill we were sent home.

Today I spoke with the doctor and so far it looks like she is just thirsty. She doesn't have Kitty Diabetes or Kidney troubles. She may have hyperthyroid issues, but those lab results were not back yet. I changed her food several months back from half regular food, half mature food to 100% mature formula. This might be the reason for the increase in water and the weight loss. She has lost 3 pounds in 6 months. She was 15.5 pounds and is now 12.1 pounds. I really didn't think that taking out the regular food would make such a giant difference in her eating and drinking habits and her weight.

I will know more on Monday when the thyroid results come back, but right now I'm quite relieved. She's much happier with me today, too, so that's nice. She's no gymnastics kitty, but she's mine. :)

Have a great day!
Kristin

Adios!

This is George. He's My Neighbor that I spoke of exactly a month ago. We had a luncheon with him a few days ago - Tom and I and 7 other neighbors from our building. It was very nice.

One of the guests, Jim, got up and gave a speech about the type of man that George is and how much we have all learned from him. He talked of his love for the United States and how George is probably one of the most patriotic men he's ever met. Jim knows about patriotism - he was in the Navy and then was in the Army. He was some sort of "brass" as my husband says.

Then the men all stood up and sang a song that Jim said was an Army song.

We hate to see you go
We hate to see you go
We hope to heck you never come back
We hate to see you go

When the men were singing the whole restaurant stopped to listen. It was so funny. George was pleased and laughed at the "never come back" part.

George and I took this photo a few weeks back in front of the elevator. It's not our best photo, but it is the only one of us, so I love it.

Yesterday the movers came.

Usually George buys top shelf stuff, but he was off his rocker the day he contracted with these yahoos. They were supposed to take two days. One day to pack all of the things that George didn't already pack and the second day to load the truck. Well, they didn't do that. They packed up only about half the stuff. Even though I tried to step in have them pack more, they just wouldn't do it.

"I do it right for George" they'd say.

Well, I'd like to see how'd they do better by him, instead of just right.

So, they convinced George that they could get the whole truck loaded in just one day and George agreed that they could start loading the truck. This was the wrong thing to say. The movers completely underestimated the time it was going to take to pack up the truck. They kept saying - 3 hours.


It started pouring rain last night around 6pm. The movers were moving his stuff in the pouring rain, George was now incredibly tired and getting confused. Tom and I "parked" ourselves in the garage (it's the covered garage area for our building) and decided to just stay with George and try to keep him calm. Around 9pm George was so tired we decided to send him to the hotel where he was staying.

I told George that I would make sure that everything got on the truck. This was at 9pm, approx. 6 hours after the 3 hour estimate. Thankfully, George left and got to sleep.

Tom and I however, were in for a long night.

The movers finally got the doors shut on the truck at 1:30am.

George came over today to say goodbye and Thanks, but to also tell us that they movers haven't made it to their destination yet. They got stopped at a truck inspection station for bad tires. They have to get new tires installed before they can continue.

Oh geez.

I guess his possessions will arrive tomorrow instead of today.

Thankfully I didn't burst into tears again, but I did kiss George on the cheek and wished him a great life living near his Children and Grandchildren. It will be a great gift to them.

We are going to miss you George,
Kristin

Live Blogging

Leigh from Tales from Bloggeritaville is "live blogging" American Idol.

She's been doing that for a few weeks now and it has always looked like fun.

This week, I finally remembered! so I'm "live commenting" at her place.

So if you have your computer open, while watching American Idol, come on over!

Kristin

Headboards

I love a great idea & Make Do Monday's hosted by Ann Kroeker is a place where you can certainly find some great ideas on how to make do with what you have.

"It’s a carnival you can visit to celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity," says Ann.

This post also goes right along with Thrifty Thursdays from Tales from Bloggeritaville. A fun little time to hunt around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds. Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, too.


This is my bed. I pulled up the covers and gave the pillows a slight fluff. It's not terribly exciting or fancy, but boy is it comfortable. The duvet cover is from Pottery Barn. I found it on sale and we love it. It isn't a true match for our bedroom, but it is just so comfortable that it's perfect!

But that's not what my Make Do Monday is all about! My Make Do is the headboard. I've made three of these and they are so easy. I really like a padded headboard because I tend to sleep with one arm inbetween the bed and the headboard. So I like to make sure my arm isn't on a hard piece of wood or against the wall.

Here's how it works.

Purchase one sheet of plywood (4' x 8' - 1/2"thick)

For a King Size bed, I cut the piece into two pieces - each 3' x 4'

A Queen size bed I cut one piece 3' x 5' (but you could go 4' x 5' but I think I was having trouble finding the fabric I wanted for a 4' width, so I went with 3'.)

I purchased upholstery fabric, a very neutral color that went well with my yellow bedroom. Mine was real inexpensive - I think it was $3.99 a yard.

Also purchase batting. I chose a nice quality batting 1/2" thick I think. Honestly, I can't remember, but I know I folded it over, so it was doubled.

Staple Gun. Mine is a manual.

(I actually had my husband cut the pieces of plywood, but you can also ask the lumberyard to cut it for you for just 50¢ a cut. Well worth it if you don't have the tools.)


I set up my work station on my dining room table (when I had one) I put the fabric down first (right side facing the table) then the batting, then the plywood. I got it all centered and then pulled the fabric around the plywood and rolled the edges under to trap most of the batting and frayed edges of the fabric - then stapled. I did three or four staples in the middle of each side to make sure I got the fabric straight & fairly taught on all sides.

This strange photo is of the back of the headboard looking from the top down. you can see the rolled edges of the fabric. Some of the batting didn't get rolled in, but I just trimmed it afterwards.

EDITED to add: You do need to staple all the way around the headboard, not just a few in the center of each side. I sort of stopped mid instruction up there. Staple a few times in the middle of each side, then finish up all the way around. The corners can get really tricky with so much fabric and batting, so I cut out almost all of the batting in the corners and folded and stapled a lot. :) As long as it looks fine from the front, you can staple as much as you need to.

The headboard can be hung up like it is here (This was my bedroom in Daytona Beach) I wanted to add height to the bed since the room was so large. But in our bedroom here in Jacksonville, the space is small and the whole building was built using metal studs. I was so tired of dealing with those studs that I just stood the headboards on the floor. The headboards on the king size bed stick up two feet, while the one on the queen sized bed is only about a foot above the bed. This was a Make-Do for sure!


I used these fantastic hangers called Hangman Picture Hanging System. you can watch the video - at 2:22 is where he talks about this system, which I used on our headboard. These are just fabulous and sturdy and EASY! oh, and did I mention pretty inexpensive? I think they are $5 - $10 depending on the size you need.

I wanted a nice fabric headboard. I wanted it to be warm and soft and beautiful. I wanted it to be inexpensive and I wanted it NOW. I really wanted a new bed frame with the headboard, too LOL But once I realized I really could make the headboard for a lot less than I could buy one, I made it.

Plywood - $15 - $20
Fabric & Batting - $40 - $50

Less than $70 in my case.

My Make Do is a Make and Use! We've had the headboards for 5 years now, so it's been a long lasting Make Do, too.

Have a fabulous Monday!
Kristin

*The Daytona Beach bedroom - The whole bedding thing didn't work. I just want you to know that I'm not oblivious. I was trying to get a nicer looking cover on the bed so I started layering things. The house was for sale when this photo was taken, Tom was getting listed for his transplant, so bed-scaping was not high on my list LOL

The cat on the bench is Maggie. Mocha's sister.

Easter Sunday 1995

On Easter Sunday 1995 I taught my sister how to drive my car. She was 16 years old. She needed a car and I had one, but mine was a stick. It was a 1988 Chevy Sprint, manual transmission, AM radio, hatch back and would get about 50 miles to the gallon on the highway. I used to fill it up for $7 (at 99¢ a gallon) and that fill up would last me at least a week for normal city driving.

In 1995 I was dating Tom and he had an extra car, so he told me that I could use his car and give mine to Hillary.

Downtown Lansing Michigan is a ghost town on holidays and Easter Sunday was the perfect day to teach her how to drive the car on real roads with stop lights and stop signs without worrying about traffic.

I started her off in a rather large parking lot that was next to my apartment. I think we ran around in circles there for about an hour until she got the hang of shifting and starting and stopping. Then we ventured out onto the streets. She did a real good job. I was so proud of her. I can't remember if I followed her home or not, but she took the car that day after our lesson.

I just thought it was interesting that we did this on Easter Sunday. I talked to her just a few hours ago and she and I had a good laugh over the events of that day 14 years ago. She just closed on her first home a few days ago. It's so much fun watching her grow up.

Wall of Dishes

Oh my goodness, I just saw this picture over at b-chic-b-simple, which I found through Desire to Inspire.

I love dishes. I like to hold them, touch them, look at them and even eat off of them. I am a fan of bowls. Most of the dishes in my cupboard are bowls and I pretty much eat several meals a day out of a bowl.

I used to buy dishes, lots and lots of dishes, when my husband and I went to auctions and flea markets. I would fall head over heels for them and HAVE TO HAVE THEM. If I'd had the space, this is what ultimately would have happened to my dish collection - it would have consumed an entire wall. Now that I see this gorgeous space, I'm kind of wishing that I hadn't sold most of my stash. only kind of.

That sink area is fabulous, too - I love the restaurant style sprayer. We used to have one at The Goat (our family run coffeehouse in Lansing, MI) and I have always loved stainless steel sinks and still don't have one.

The colors of the dishes in this photo are a bit muted. I tend more towards reds, purples and blues in my pottery dishes, but I'd gladly enjoy this kitchen.

Today I have just the right amount of dishes. I don't need any more. but.... goodness, that photo!

Tulips for Hillary

I found this LiteBrite toy, game, online time waster lol HERE Boy did I have a nice time playing with it.

But it was because of Black*Eiffel that I even found out about the LiteBrite. Black*Eiffel is a neat website where they talk about people, places, things and ideas that are interesting. I guess any place is like that really - but Black*Eiffel is more of a design blog.

Did you ever have a LiteBrite as a kid? I didn't. I think it's because it had small parts. My mother was not a fan of toys with small parts. I think my sister Alison (who is 6 years younger than me) had one. But it might have been Hillary (13 years younger than me.) I can't exactly remember when the small parts were allowed into the house, but at some point I remember seeing the LiteBrite in the girls closet.


The picture above is a scaled down version of the one online - but that is my picture. I made it. They are tulips. My baby sister's favorite flowers are tulips and I was thinking of her when I was putting my LiteBrite pegs into the screen. I thought about how I'd like to send her some tulips.

Last month I talked about a Cute House and that Cute House is now Hillary's House. She signed the papers & got the keys. I'm so proud of her.

Happy Housewarming to you, Hillary!! Hope you like the Tulips!

We've got all day!

The computer guy, Steve, was baffled, befuddled, totally perplexed and puzzled. He brought out his books. He tried a few million things. Then he said - ooooooh, I think I know what it is!

and then he spent an hour trying to figure it out after that point.

and now we have internet. All the time. I haven't had to restart the router or the modem or anything since he left.

There were several problems. The PC that wasn't working properly had a private IP address instead of a public one (or vice versa) and when he tried to change it, it wouldn't stick. The router needed to have an update and he needed to get it accomplished in less than 7 minutes before he got kicked off our internet. Which couldn't be done, so he used our neighbors wireless signal for about 15 minutes (shhhhh) to get the update. which fixed the router. which made the modem happy. which made all of our computers work.

One of the reasons my PC is running so incredibly slow is that there isn't enough memory. ahhhh. It needs more. Lots more according to Steve the computer guy. He suggested that I get a new computer because mine is going to be woefully out of date shortly. Gaaads no! not another computer! He says that he normally doesn't recommend new computers to people but in my case, I need one. (I'm going to get a little more memory and keep it and use my MAC most of the time like I have for the past year or so.)

I counted the number of computers I have in three rooms of this house... 7.
Computers total in my possession, including Tom's... 14.
The number of computers that we use... 3.
Computers that work...5 or 6.
That means that the remaining computers are trash.

I think Steve the computer guy is going to help me (Tom) get rid of the computers we don't need, don't use and are broken. I think Tom is afraid of his data being stolen or compromised or something. I hope Steve can help him get the data out and successfully destroyed :)

So there's my update. We've got all day (and night!) to be online. That's good because I'm terribly behind on my blog reading. and email. and and and

Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Kristin

We've only got 5 minutes

I need to hurry and get this written and posted in 5 minutes or less. I thought that our router was booting us off the internet every few minutes, but now that I have my husbands computer directly connected to the modem without any router involvement at all and I still get booted, I know it's something else. (wow, that was a run-on sentence!)

What else could it be? No one else in our condo building is having any trouble, it seems to be just us. AND if that wasn't ridiculous enough, the Kicking Off event only seems to happen from 8-5. I thought that maybe it was because someone was stealing our wireless router signal (because I don't have it secure, I know, I know) but once again, I'm not connected to the router and it is still happening.

The computer guy is coming in about an hour, so I need to scoot. Hopefully he can get my PC up and running again and hopefully he can figure out what's going on with our connection to my life blood - The Internet!

Kristin

Old Tile, New Style

Ahhh, Thrifty Thursdays. A fun little time to hunt around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Leigh over at Tales from Bloggeritaville started this fun carnival and I have truly enjoyed the great finds that others have featured. So be sure and check the other participants as well.

My Thrifty Thursday is not in my home. It's in a house that my husband and I toured on one of our many open house weekends. I am featuring this because it's a really thrifty idea, instead of redoing an entire bathroom full of tile.

The reason I know that the tile is original is because it's in a million older homes, there were a few cracks in the shower tiles and because I saw the tell-tale signs of the pencil marks on the tiles (for the tile saw.)

As you can see, when you walk into this bathroom it's stunning. The cabinets are new, the bathtub is new and the inset tiles are new, but the white tiles are original. The tiles in the shower were also original, except there was an inset in the shower floor. (The shower was off to the left side of the photo)

The "rug" was cut into the original tile floor. I am not quite sure if the tile that surrounds the rug area is new tile or if it was recycled from the one removed from the floor or from under the original cabinet. Usually the old tile is very difficult to salvage. In my previous home we needed to salvage a few squares and it was tough to get them without a chip or a crack. The color of the tiles though are identical, so I'm leaning towards recycle.

In the Springfield house flip that still hasn't sold (insert sarcastic smile) I saved the tile that surrounded the shower. To make it fresh, I just had the grout redone. It was a few hour project and made those tiles and the entire shower area just sparkle. This is what I believe was done in this bathroom. The floor was totally grouted a new fresh color and it makes the whole room look brand new.

I hope you liked my submission to Thrifty Thursday and I hope at some point you might be able to make a thrifty, yet stylish decorating decision when you update your space.

Kristin

Forced Organization

Make a list, do stuff on each line, move to the next line.

Don't procrastinate, do what's on the next line.

Great advice!!



I'm going away and I'm going crazy with the details.

I tend more towards last minute panic than a smooth relaxed way of getting things done.

My router has been kicking me offline about every 3 minutes - so that has become A#1 important because well... it's the INTERNET! Goodness, how can I live without it.

I canceled my hair appointment in November and haven't rescheduled. I was going every 8 weeks for the past two years and I haven't been back since my last appointment in September. I look a bit ragged, my highlights are now about 4" lower than they should be.

My vet has been mailing me appointment cards for months now --I need to get Mocha-darling in for her checkup.

I have a doctors appointment for myself scheduled for 8am the day we come home from Ireland. That has to be changed.

There is a speech that I have heard several times given by Zig Ziglar. When I googled it, I found this version from The Life of a Publisher.

The Life of a Publisher. He (Zig Ziglar) talks about the "Day before vacation task list." You do know what that is, right?

Okay, on the day before vacation, we make a list of things that need to be taken care of before we leave. If you're like most people, you actually get more done on that day than just about any other day. Your productivity skyrockets and you somehow manage to get everything done. It's inspiring! And the best part is that it was easy.

Think about it. If you did that every day, how great would your life be? You don't need to sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, you can jump right into it and get it all done with ease.

I am like a machine the day before vacation. I have a million things to do & I do them all plus the few hundred things that I forgot to put on the list. I then crawl into bed and sleep a few meager hours, before the flight or the trip or whatever I'm doing and I'm exhausted that whole day. I'm also pretty cranky.

This time I don't want to be exhausted getting on the plane. I want to be well rested and stress free because airline travel is hectic enough without my nerves being worn thin before I even arrive at the airport.

So I made my list last night before I went to bed and today I have been checking off the items on the list. I changed the doctors appointment, made the vet appointment, made the hair appointment. I'm having a lunch with my neighbor on Friday (George, who is moving away) - the whole 5th floor is going on Friday. I had the internet guy coming out at 2pm, but that's when the group decided to have the lunch - so I reworked the schedule and he's coming earlier to work on the computer.

I bought a luggage scale a few months ago because I'm an over-packer. I barely make it under the 50# bag weight. (For no additional fee) but on our trip overseas, one of our flights allows us to only take 33# or maybe it's 35# - whatever it is, it's been stressing me out. So much so, that I've been having dreams about packing my suitcase. It's a loop. I pack and repack and pack and repack. Over and over.

Today I got my luggage and decided to weigh it and see what the starting weight would be. OMGoodness! The suitcase I was planning on taking weighed 13# empty. It's staying home.

I have another suitcase - sort of a dufflebag on wheels - it weighs 4#. It's going to Ireland!

I packed the bag with my clothing - about 5 days worth. It weighed #15. I didn't get my blanket, pillow or toiletries in there but I'm pleased with the weight so far. I think maybe this activity today will help with the packing dreams. I'm sure TOm won't use up his 35# limit, so he's going to end up taking my second pair of shoes :) I'm taking white tennis shoes for day and black tennis shoes for night.

I give other people this type of advice all the time it's about time I followed it.

Make a list, put everything on the list, get it out of your brain so you don't have to constantly try to remember everything. Then work on reducing the items on the list.

Amazing.

Oh, and did I mention that I got my passport in the mail the other day? So now I'm really able to go.

Have a great day!
Kristin

WFMW - Post-It Pockets

It's another Works For Me Wednesday. This is a blog carnival where hundreds of folks gather to share their tips for better living.

It can be tips about kids, meals, laundry, or the best place to stay when you go to Memphis. You just never know what fantastic tips you will find. So when you finish reading my fabulous tip, please go visit all the other folks at the new host for WFMW -We Are THAT Family.

These pocket Post-its are great. There are three sizes in this package. I got three sets the other day at OfficeDepot @ 3 for $20. They aren't cheap. However, they have the removable sticky back adhesive just like command strips on those removable hangers. (I'm going to take a few of the pockets over to my rental condos for their fridges)
There are two sticky backed strips on the back of each envelope and the envelopes themselves are a flexible thin plastic.
The side of our fridge is where we keep all of my husband's schedules for his doctors appointments and other assorted medical stuff. If I filed it anywhere it would get lost, guaranteed. So it needs to be in plain sight and reached easily. These Post-It Pockets are really great!


This is my calendar that I made. I cannot for the life of me get the day straight - so I made a Post-It that says TODAY on it... and point it at the correct day. I now routinely go into the kitchen and move the post-it each morning. I always know what day it is. Why am I telling you this??

Because I saw that as I was flipping to the front of my homemade calendar where I have placed the post-it pocket that holds the receipts or coupons that I want to keep track of. I thought I'd add in the "today" post-it as a bonus.

Pocket Post-Its work for me!

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Calling Cards

Ask and you shall receive.

I asked last week about free printables - I know, I know, it's all I've been talking about.

Today I found another one!

This one is for calling cards & it's exactly what I would like to take with me on my vacation to Ireland and the Isle of Man - I just wanted my name and my email address, but I didn't want to buy new business cards or spend a lot of effort printing up my own version.
I don't have photoshop or anything, so my cards would have been real lame! I'm clever, but not that clever.

So! Today I found these awesome calling cards on the Cottage Industrialist blog. She has an ETSY shop, but she decided to give away a free download today on her blog. The PDFs are editable, so you can put your own info on it (makes it a real calling card, huh? haha) and you can make each page different. You could have Marcy's Mom and phone number on one set and Karen's Tailoring and email address on another batch. In my case, I'm going to just have my name and email address.

I am so excited.

I think I need to go get another box of ink for the printer.

Kristin

Tropical stamps

These are the postcard stamps that my husband picked up at the post office today. He actually picked up 2 rolls of stamps. He told the clerk he was mailing postcards, so the clerk gave him postcard stamps. The problem is, these are oversized postcards, so they are actually First Class stamps. He has just under 200 of these "postcards" to mail out.

I opened my roll, so we can't return those - but he didn't get his opened all the way. He took the shrink wrap off, but not the barcode wrap. Let's hope he can return those.

I think the tropical fruit stamps are so bright and cheerful. Good thing - we've got 100 of them and possibly 200!

Did you know that First Class stamps are officially going up in price 2¢ on May 11, 2009? Post Card stamps will go up a penny. Here is the rate chart at the USPS.

I would start buying the FOREVER stamps so that you won't have to buy a bunch of 2¢ stamps to mail off those precious letters.

Anyone need any postcard stamps? I know a place you can get some!

This is just a friendly Public Service Announcement.
Kristin


Edited to add: We actually have 4 rolls of the 27¢ stamps. Something good happened though - I was able to purchase 17¢ stamps (4 rolls) and together those two stamps add up to the new First Class rate - 44¢ ! I can't use them until the new rates, but at least I don't have to put on an assortment of stamps, just two.

It's birthday month

Today is my sister's birthday.

She's the middle one and she's the one with the children Zora and Stella, who were also born in April.

My friend Steve had a birthday on the 3rd, my Uncle Matthew had a birthday on the 2nd.

My Aunt Marg's birthday was just a few days before Matthew's at the end of March.

I sent Birthday greetings to three people on Facebook who had birthdays yesterday and my Aunt Jane named off half a dozen more people that we knew with birthdays in April.

Goodness!

I guess there's something about August that is conducive to baby making!

Happy Birthday to everyone having one of those fabulous days in April.

Make it a great day!
Kristin

Printable Blocks

I love a great idea & Make Do Monday's hosted by Ann Kroeker is a place where you can certainly find some great ideas on how to make do with what you have. "It’s a carnival you can visit to celebrate creative problem-solving, contentment, patience and ingenuity," says Ann.


I talked about Free Printables on my Works for Me Wednesday post the other day (ummm, that would be Wednesday!) but I found a few more things that are a bunch of fun and they are also Make-Do artwork, joy and fun. The only thing you do need to pay for is the ink and the paper.

I love Paloma's Nest on Etsy. I purchased one of these little blocks for my mother for Christmas. I actually wanted to buy her several of them to make a little display, but for the price, one was perfect. I wanted one too - but once again, at $12 a piece, I really didn't need to spend that money. I kept thinking about those little blocks though. I still wanted one. (or a whole bowl full)

Yesterday I found a a blog that had a free download for these cute little paper blocks that you can print out, cut out, fold and use. FREE. I printed them out and that's when I realized that there were four blocks per page. So for the price of two pieces of cardstock and ink, I printed out these Printable Blocks from Kind Over Matter. I haven't cut them all out yet, since I just found them, so I'll be sure and post the picture of them when I do. (edited 4/6/09 - here is the photo!)

I also like to write letters and one of the things I liked so much as a kid were those cards that when folded turned into the envelope. You can write on one side and fold and tape it up and mail it out. I found an adorable printable agenda that has those envelope letters, ToDo lists, cards and all sorts of great items to print. Well, all of the words are in French, but that's half the fun! I have no idea what this blog says, but I look through it quite a bit. It's called Cachemire & Soie. Just moments ago I realized that I can translate the page into English. Well, I may keep it in French, it was more fun that way.

Please go visit these places to find your own fun printables but also be sure to head back over to Ann Kroeker's place to see what other folks have posted for their Make Do Monday.

Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

Do-re-mi

You will need to have the volume on to really enjoy this. 4 minutes.

It made me cry. I'm still not sure why, but I had tears streaming down my face for the entire time. Most of you will just watch and enjoy and not cry LOL

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Dr. Seuss

My Mother-in-law, Joan, really likes Dr. Seuss. I have purchased a few Seuss sticker sheets and when I send out a card or letter to her, I try real hard to remember to put one on - just to make her smile.

A few weekends ago when Tom and I were going to some open houses, we happened upon this really great house. Actually, it was superbly decorated more than it was a great house. The bedrooms were teeeeny tiny as I recall - yet the master bedroom was gigantic.

So this fabulously decorated house had this fabulous Dr. Seuss print. I tried to get a photo of it without all of the extraneous lighting reflecting of of the glass but that didn't seem to work.

I don't think I had ever seen this piece before - and I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago that the gown she is wearing is see-through!

How scandalous!

The little creature child looks like one of my favorite characters that he drew - the little bear looking characters with the pointed ears.

I love the red striped socks the woman has on her feet, too.

My very favorite Dr. Seuss character was Horton. I can still hear the song (from the original show)

...boil that dust speck, boil that dust speck.

Do you have a favorite Dr. Seuss book or character?

I'm also pretty fond of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin


EDITED to add:

My friend Rachel looked up this piece online and this is what she found out about it.

This piece is called Martini Bird and it sells (unframed) for $1695
it's a limited edition.....looks like only 1000 made.

"In addition to being unveiled to the public for the first time through the Art of Dr. Seuss Retrospective and International Touring Exhibition, four rare works from the Dr. Seuss Estate were created as special Tour Editions. These pieces are available as a matched number set of five Tour Editions, and include the Horton Line Drawing."

The unveiling

This package arrived in the mail the other day and as soon as I started opening it, I knew I needed to take photos.

I pulled the tear strip on the outside of the package to reveal this.

Black interior with glossy black letters flying across the background.
The cover around the interior package was like this -- although not as blurry! I almost want to frame it or use it as a craft project or something. It was truly lovely.

The paper feels wonderful too.

Then as I was trying to figure out how to open this package, I see this.
It's the beginning.

Once upon a time...

I carefully pulled the tab and opened up a whole new world.

Here's what was inside.

The Kindle2 - a little bit of heaven weighing less than a pound (with the cover that that I purchased as well) I personally love the FLASH in the middle of the screen. I'm such an amateur photographer, thanks for putting up with me.

I immediately spent the next few hours reading the instructions, turning it on and off, turning the pages, playing with the menu, highlighting text, bookmarking pages and so many other fun things.

Later that night and the next day, I purchased about 12 books that were immediately downloaded into my Kindle2. The book with the greatest number of pages took less than 30 seconds to download.

30 seconds!

It was probably a full minute if I include picking out the book, clicking on the pay button (one click payment) and the download.

Oh My Goodness! This is a lot of fun.

I told my mother today that I paid about the cost of my plane ticket for this but I can see from the few days that I have been playing with it, that it is worth it.

I know I've spent three posts on this subject, but I had to show you the reveal!!

and tell you that I am completely, totally, head-over-heels, in love with this product.

I'm trying so hard not to read any of the new books I downloaded before I get on the airplane (in a month!) but I purchased a few of my books that I read sections of, over and over, that would be convenient to have on the Kindle2.

I've had to wait in a doctors waiting room, I pulled out the Kindle2 and chose a book to read. I had to wait in a restaurant for the rest of my group to arrive. I ordered my water and pulled out my Kindle2 to read while waiting. My husband dominated the TV the other night - I curled up in bed with the Kindle2 and read a few chapters.

Complete Love.

Here's the link to Amazon's site about the Kindle2.

Childrens Book Day

I wrote out all of the weird, unofficial, fun and plain old bizarre holidays for the months of March and April onto a calendar. I've been trying to celebrate some of them, because they are just fun. Last weekend was the official "Stuff on a Stick Day." Now that was exciting!

Well, I hadn't looked at the calendar in a few days and I just looked and you'll never guess what today is...

It is "Children's Book Day"

and the last post I wrote was about a children's book that I bought for Stella.

It is just so funny how stuff like this works out.

I don't think I have ever written about a children's book - I don't think I have purchased one in many many years and today, on Children's book day I received and blogged about a child's book. Just awesome. It's the Law of Attraction.


Here is the schedule for the upcoming week, in case you were curious or wanted to celebrate obscure holidays just for the fun of it!

April
2
*Children's Book Day
*Reconciliation Day

3
*Nat'l Walk to Work Day
*Find a Rainbow Day

4
*Walk Around Things Day

5
*Go For Broke Day
*Read a Roadmap Day

6
*Sorry Charlie Day
*North Pole Discovered

7
*No Housework Day
*World Health Day

8
*Ponce deLeon discovered the Fountain of Youth
*All is Ours Day

9
*Name Yourself Day

10
* Golfers Day & Siblings Day

11
*8 Track Tape Day
*Barbershop Quartet Day

In a Blue Room

This book arrived in my mailbox today. I haven't given a gift to my lovely baby Stella since she's been born. Well, not a specific "I've picked this out for you" type of gift. I gave my sister a few gift cards to Target and told her to go wild :) So I know that Stella and Zora got some clothes and fun stuff in the go wild sprees.

I thought that In a Blue Room would be a lovely gift for Stella. I think Zora will enjoy it, too. I saw this book on someones blog -- It may have been here, at Design Mom's blog, and I just loved it.

I really like the illustrations because it reminds me of Michigan. One of my favorite things about Michigan is the way the sky looks at night (in the winter) with the moonshine lighting up the landscape with the beautiful blue light. This only happens when there is snow on the ground and because I don't go home anymore in the winter, this book made me think of it.

And when something makes me happy and gives me memories, I love to give it away.

Stella and Zora both have birthdays in April (and so does their Momma, Alison) so I'm on the lookout for a good gift for Zora too. But this book is Stella's gift. She'll be one soon. One. What a joy she is. Zora will be five. Five! She is also a joy - a jumping off the walls joy, but a joy nonetheless.

Alison, if you read this -- shhhh, don't tell Stella.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Chicken Scallopine

I made this

Chicken Scallopine

from the Pioneer Woman's website.


It was so gooooood!
and I was so excited that I could follow the recipe exactly, with just a few variations.


I didn't have capers

or parsley

or a lemon (but I had lemon juice in a bottle)

and I added in 4 green onions sliced in one inch segments

and I used chicken broth instead of wine.

and I used no yolk noodles


But it still turned out great!

and Tom really enjoyed it, too.

and he didn't even know that I changed anything!


OK, so it isn't really Scallopine, but it was awfully good.
Kristin

No Foolin'

No Foolin' here -- these are my relatives.

Dot and Dimple Doyle.

Just saying their names makes me happy.

Dot and Dimple Doyle.

They were a few years older than my grandmother.



This is my grandmother. Mildred Corlett.

Taken in 1908 -- she was 3.

I am built just like her, I have the same mouth as her - but I was never this cute as a child. I think she took the cake on cute.

Dot and Dimple take a real close second to grandma in the cute factor.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Thanks Mom for scanning these photos!

Edited: 6 April 2009
I just found out today that Dot and Dimple Doyle were born 11/11/1903
If you know anything about me, I celebrate 11:11, the time of day and I had major celebrations at 11:11 on 11/11. How very cool that they were born on this date.