Things to do...

Makenna's first second birthday party is this weekend, really it is just a cookout but we have some family coming into town as well so so I've got more than a cookout to get ready for. I still need to pick up the house a bit and finish the laundry, and put sheets on one of the beds. We bought all the food supplies last night while Makenna visited with Mom, thanks again! I also need to mow the lawn, but the grass is still wet from last nights rain..so maybe tonight? The other day I bought a new weedeater at the restore (we had a cheap bump eater, that didn't work well and I got frustrated and apparently bumped it til it broke). Anyway tomorrow morning we have to go pick up Makenna's cake and I got a new battery for the camera (hopefully that fixes the craziness that it has been showing). I'm thinking about taking Makenna to the pool tomorrow before everyone arrives, they are open til Monday, I did not know this.

I'm gonna make a comment about politics now.....McCain picked Paulin for VP. I'm just saying her youngest of 5 is like 4 months old...really you do need to be vice president with that many kids and one of them being that young? I know with feminism being ingrained in girls these days "women can do it all" but I'm not sure about being a wife, involved mother of 5 and a vp. Don't flame me, obviously I choose to stay home and raise Makenna and everyone makes the decision that is right for them....don't flame me.

I'm so CORNY!

Saturday we went to the sweetcorn festival as previously spoken. The corn was gooood, and I would have taken more photos buuuut I forgot the memory card for the camera in the laptop. Dohhh. So I didn't get to take many pictures. The food was good, there was some nice live music (that Makenna enjoyed dancing to), and it wasn't too crowded, plenty of people but not too many.

Sunday we decided to head to the pool as it (one outdoor one we really like) is closing next weekend, so this was our last hurrah or swim in the lazy river. We had a wonderful time as always, so worth it! This weekend we visited Lowes as I wanted to take them up on their 1 year plant guarantee, I returned two plants that had died, that were suppose to be pretty and blooming all fall. I now have pretty live plants again! I also ran to the restore this weekend and it was packed! I kid you not I had to park in the back parking lot b/c the front one was full. We worked a little more on the screen door (installed the strike plate for the latch) and we planted my new flowers, and Makenna helped by playing in the dirt.

With this new autumny layout, you will find at the top a tab that says photos, click that and it will take you to our photos!

Movie Monday

I present to you----THE SIT AND SPIN-----

Rain and wait!

It is raining finally! My plants needed a good soaking. The blog is under construction while I find a new template I like.

All In...

We've done it, we jumped ship, we went all in, we ripped up the carpet out of the foyer and the old living room (still haven't done the dining room yet). It was and is going to be about as much work as expected. Though I didn't expect all the PAINT all over the living room, really people it's called a drop cloth. We have a few holes from old vents that need to be patched (which are currently patched with plywood and plaster). Tonight I'll be going to PACA (where old houses go to be reused, old house store) to see if they have any oak flooring, so I can use that to patch. If they don't have any and I can't find any...I'll have to re-purpose some already in the house. Ie- the nook under the staircase, or something...Anyway they will look beautiful when we refinish them just like the other two rooms we've already done.

The week is halfway over already and is going pretty fast. Tomorrow students move into the dorms, we've already seen an increase of students in the area. This weekend is the Sweet Corn Festival! Woot, yummy midwest sweet corn.

Some new pictures are up.

Wordless friday

Thoughtful Thursday..

Yeah I just thought it was catchy.

So the screen/storm door is getting CLOSER to being done. I've been freaking working on it since last Saturday. Last night I nailed the trim back on the screen insert, let me tell you replacing a screen without the special tool that was suppose to be in the "easy screen replacement kit" isn't EASY! I ended up using a flat head screw driver, the safety guard to my retractable knife and...the pizza cutter (which I broke by the way). Anyway the screen is done, the trim is on. I put the handle to the door on last night (tried to do it earlier in the day but Makenna is apparently afraid of the drill, she started crying whenever I tried to use it). I need grease now for the handle as it sticks a bit. I managed to rummage in the basement and found some trim to make a stop for the door, maybe I'll put that up tonight. And I also found the hinges in the basement we will be using, I just need the metal piece the door latch goes into (I'm sure I'll have to go to the store for that one). So, like I said before I'm closer. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll post a picture of it.

After this project is done, I'm eyeballing the floors (removing the carpet in the rest of the downstairs and refinishing them). It's just that I get so nervous right before we tear up the carpet b/c what if there is a HUGE section I'm going to need to patch. Let me tell you oak 100 year old tongue and groove flooring is not easy to come by, even at the old house store. One of these days I'll have the balls to rip it up though, but maybe after Makenna's birthday party, just a few more weeks of dirty carpet. After the floors then the upstairs laundry station, which I need to insulate before it gets cold.

Anyway, I hope part of that post was thoughtful.

The Start Of A New Week

This weekend was a fun one. Thursday we went to dinner with Dad & Patty since it had been a while, Famous Daves was on the menu, or should I say was the menu we ordered from, ha. Friday night Mom was nice enough to babysit for us so we could celebrate our anniversary (6 years)a little early. We went to dinner and then bowling at the Union, we've not been bowling in like a year, and my sore butt is reminding me of that fact. Brent won, as always. Afterwards we were going to try to catch a showing of the new Batman movie but there weren't any more showings for that night, instead we rented a movie. Saturday morning we got up bright and early to pick up Ms. Mae as Mom was going to Chicago for the weekend.

After dropping Makenna off at home with Brent to take a nap, I headed over to Paca (the old house store, where old houses that have past...come). Paca is only open two days a week for a few hours, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and I was on a mission. Actually I hadn't been there in a few months and was in search of a screen door handle/knob, the old kind, to go with the screen door I bought from them last year, that I hadn't done anything with yet. After searching for said handle I didn't find anything, I was about to give up when I looked in the "expensive, locked up, pretty stuff display. There in that display were three! Ten bucks and I was on my way. Back home I removed the casing for the old handle (which was gone) and managed to nail polish remover the paint off the screws for the hinges, removed those, measured the door & the front door, snapped my chalk line (I'm wearing white pants, too) and soon I had the door cut to size. We planed it a little, cause, well the house isn't level at all. After all that I ran to HomerDepo for some wood filler (everything has to go on the opposite side) and screen. So the door is just waiting to be sanded and painted now. I'll take some pictures a bit later. Ohhh and I got Brent to finish the molding outside and put the front gutter back up...whoot. At some point during Saturday we also ordered Makenna's birthday cakesssssssssssssssssss, yes two, one for the first birthday party and one for the weekend after the first one. We settled on a couple of cute designs!

Take 2..Sunday we drive over to Galesburg to attend the West family reunion. We had fun, Makenna got to run around, even went down a slide by herself! We came home with more than we left with, as we invested a little money in the white elephant auction. We brought Darrell back with us (Chris & Lara brought him to Galesburg)to Champaign as he had parked his truck there earlier this weekend. Needless to say Makenna slept in until 10am this morning...

Now it's the start of a new week...

Movie Monday

As promised....

Woot Woot

Woot, Shampoo Banana is getting some Zipcars in the near future. It is basicly a car share program. When it gets up and running we will be looking to get rid of our car and just using that. Honestly the last time I used the car was Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours to get groceries, it has been sitting in the driveway ever since. Really, if you could save money by not having a car, and when you need one get to choose between a truck for hauling or a bmw for...looking cool or a prius for your green self wouldn't you? No car maintenance or depreciation. Gas is included in the rental, along with 180 miles a day, and insurance, rentals are usually $10 an hour to $70 for a 24 hour period. Reservations are made online or over the phone, your rental is guaranteed, you walk up to the car and put your membership card to the window, it unlocks the ignition and doors for you. Now the question is which location will be closer for us, campus or downtown. Did I mention I LOVE our house location?

Check it out http://www.zipcar.com

All Hands On Deck...

My rower arrived today, wooohooo. Now if I can just get Brent to drag it out to the chapel and assemble it for me, haha.