Yes, Folks...

...THAT IS A DISHWASHER!!!

In my kitchen, hooked up and working! As I'm typing this its whirring away, scrubbing 2 bowls, a plate, a fork and three spoons. I realize that's probably a huge waste of water (although I put it on the Energy Saver mode) but I just coudln't wait to try it out!

I'm not sure whether or not I was more excited about the washer/dryer or the dishwasher. All I can say is that appliances rock!

P.S. This is my 150th post!

Cutesie Curtains

Just a quick post to show off the super-simple but super-cute curtains that I made for the spare/office/craft room. I bought some $5 canvas valances at Target, and some ball-fringe trim at Joann Fabrics - add a couple hours with a needle and thread, and voila! Cute, vintage-looking curtains for a total of $14.

Progress in getting that room done has been slow lately, as has the dishwasher situation, but I have reason to hope that there will be real progress on both fronts this week!

The Living Room

The AC at the museum is out today (and its supposed to be 101 degrees outside), so my boss (i.e. me) is letting us all work from home - yay!! I do fully intend to sit down and work on a huge stack of grant applications today, but I thought I'd take a few minutes to do a blog post first! Bess reminded me some time ago that I never get around to posting pictures of my finished projects or room decor. After I spent hours cleaning my house in preparation for the 4th of July cook-out this weekend, I decided it was a good time to take some photos of the living room - it very rarely looks this put together and organized! Its the first room in the house that I can really consider "done". I still need to come up with another solution for the TV/VCR/cable box/rat's nest of cables and wires, and eventually I want to put up some crown moulding. The rug in this room is also temporary - the color works, but its not big enough and I'd rather have some sort of natural fiber woven thing to go with the bamboo window blinds. Otherwise, I can pretty much check the living room off the "to-do list".

Hopefully by the end of the day today I'll be able to put up some photos of the mostly done spare room/office/crafting room, as well. It's just about done and looking pretty good!

4th Fun-ness!

I had a crowd of people over last night for a backyard cook-out and some fireworks watching. It was the first test-drive of my backyard for entertaining purposes, and all in all I think it did pretty well. It hasn't rained here in, oh, 3 years or something, and its been in the 90s for weeks on end, so sadly my grass and many of my plants are pretty much dead. So, I bought a picnic table and cute twinkly lights to hang in the trees to dress the place up a bit. The lights definitely made the scene - I only wish the photos above could have come out better! Anyway, there was a lot of great food (even my first attempt at grilling kebabs didn't go too horribly!) and good friends, and the fireworks display at the end of the night was pretty great too. This might just become an annual thing!

I HATE SPIDERS!!

So, I get home VERY late last night from the Harry Connick, Jr. concert, and I'm literally ready to fall right into bed. As I was pulling back the covers, I notice Pepper sitting on top of my dresser staring intently up into the curtains over the window (which, by the way are new - I put them up a couple of weeks ago, and I kinda love how they look. But, I digress.) She's not doing her normal "stalking a bug/wiggle butt" thing. She's not meowing loudly as she does when there's a shiny thing or reflected light just out of her reach. No, she's just staring. So, I go over to investigate - AND SCREAMED SO LOUD MY ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD HEARD ME, I'M SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!! There, in one of the the folds of the curtain was literally the biggest spider I have ever seen in person. It was easily 4 inches in diameter. Even as I'm typing this my hands are starting to shake at the memory. It was awful.

I grabbed Pepper and fled the room, racing down the hall to the kitchen, where I cowered for a few second to gather my thoughts. Pepper was ticked that I'd taken her away from what I'm sure she thought was an exciting new play toy and went running right back into the bedroom. After some deep breathing exercises, I decided a wad of Kleenex and a shoe were probably my best weapons, and I ventured back in, too. I'll just make a long story short and say that it turned out that this colossal spider could also jump. And I ended up chasing it allover my bedroom for nearly half an hour. There was no way I could let it go, or even let it out of my sight, because I knew there was no possible way I would ever be able to sleep in my bedroom again if I didn't know that the thing was destroyed. Finally, it made a dash for a tiny space under the baseboard near my closet, and to my astonishment, if managed to fit all 8 of its legs in there. I used a flashlight to look into the crack, and discovered that the floorboards stopped short of the wall under the baseboard, and there was a gap that I'm guessing leads straight down to the crawlspace under the house. EWWWWWW! A completely open access-point for every creepy-crawly in the world to get into my bedroom! The spider squeezed itself into this little gap and disappeared, so I'm guessing that's where it must have come from to begin with. I couldn't very well kill it at that point, so I did the only thing I could think of - stuff tons of Kleenex into the crevice between the floor and the baseboard, and then put duct tape over it to hold it in place. That sucker's not getting back into MY house! At least not that way! Feeling at least somewhat relieved (although, I had the nagging thought that there could be more of these things lurking in other corners of the house) I finally went to bed. Where I laid wide awake for the next 2 hours. I really, really hate spiders.

So, on today's to-do list is a trip to Lowe's to buy some sort of caulk, which I will use to fill every baseboard gap in my entire house before night fall. I need some sleep tonight!

Kitty Wars

I can't explain it, but whenever the temperature and humidity gets ridiculously high, Bailey decides its cuddle time. He's not an overly affectionate cat normally, but all of the sudden he's demanding that I sit on the couch so that he can sit on my lap, or he tries to sidle up next to me while I'm brushing my teeth. My favorite is when I come in from doing yard work, completely sweaty and disgusting, and he climbs allover me. Nothing better than a coating of kitty fur to round out the disgustingness! And its not just me - Bailey suddenly wants to cuddle with his sister, too. Sadly, Pepper does not react to the heat the same way. She likes to stretch out under a fan and generally stays away form everyone. Sometimes their two personalities clash. The clash is demonstrated above. Witness Pepper, happily sleeping on the back of the couch, near an AC vent. Then, witness Bailey moving in on the party and attempting to look comfy while barely clinging to a corner of the couch because Pepper refuses to move over. Also witness Pepper's pissed off expression. What I was not able to catch on film was a few seconds later when the all-out fight for couch-supremacy started. It was a short battle, and Pepper won. But that's okay, Bailey just moved over to my lap, where he's now happily generating heat.

Hello, Summer!

So, here it is - the unofficial start to summer! And in grand Virginia style, Memorial Day 2010 is weighing in at 94 degrees, 72% humidity, and possible thunderstorms on the horizon! I got a fairly early start this morning and got my front yard mowed. I would have done the backyard, but by then it was already in the mid-80's and I thought I might pass out. So, the mower is now parked under a tree in the side yard, just in case I want to go back out later this evening and finish up (yeah right). After mowing, I parked myself in the shade and planted (finally) the last of my perennials in the flower bed. They were all looking very sad and bedraggled (and I would too, if my new owner left me sitting in tiny plastic pots for 3 weeks on a hot deck) but I have to say, after I got them planted, mulched and watered they really perked up, so maybe they'll make it!

Among the items I planted was a GORGEOUS hydrangea that my friend Cathy gave me (and also one to G) as a thank you for hosting her bridal shower on Saturday. Cathy, it looks awesome already - thank you!! The shower went off without a hitch, and I think everyone had a good time. It was a very nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon! The photo above is of one of the flower arrangements that G and I put together for it - I don't know, G, I think maybe we should open that florist shop afterall!

Lastly, a decision has been made re: my last post. Stay tuned for results!