rainy day run

spider webs

ant wars - we win

snail

Dandelion Wars

look what i found

Looks like the flowers in the front bed are making a comeback.

yeah for sleeping in

and sleeping in my own bed. 

and trying new things.

it's cleaning day!

got up early, specifically so I could clean. it's going great. clean, clean, clean. exactly what I wanted.

speaking of cleaning. I got this email from susie today:

i didn't have enough space to load up all of my new program, and i moved all my videos to an external hard drive, then i was looking for programs to delete. and then . . . by chance? (the angels were yelling at me?)  . . . i emptied my trash.  and voila i had 57 extra gb! a good lesson for me. (i think i'll go clean out my closet now.)

For some reason I empty my trash all the time (at least on the computer, lol). Daily I'm sure. Somtimes more than once.

rain, rain, lots of rain

It sounds nice outside

note to self...

Do not attempt to do the following things at the same time:

• Work (computer is on)
• Be warm (heater in office is on)
• Pre-warm bedroom (heater in bedroom is on)
• Make popcorn (microwave is on)

This trips the circuit breaker at which point 3 out of 4 of the above items stop. Oddly enough the microwave is still popping. This is good because you can eat it while you're waiting for your computer to boot up again. 

That is after you've made your way through the dark (because the circuit it trips turns off all the lights in the entire house while the appliances and furnace stay on) to feel your way around the breaker box and flip all the random switches since you can't actually see anything. 

I should find that flashlight I have somewhere around here.

My guess is that the furnace was the culprit. It probably got cold and it turned on and then *poof* everything else goes off.  

Oooh, it's 26 degrees outside! Brrr.

before / after

Despite the fact that it was 40 degrees out, I washed the car!

That's pretty impressive I think.

It really needed it huh.

There was actually several tablespoons of grime stuck
in the corners of the wheels... each one!

anybody wanna roll?

By request, here's a picture of the mats (above)
and my other toys (below).

I usually call this the "Big Room"... cause it's big... but I was thinking today I should call it the Toy Room cause it's got all my toys in it. Except the car which is parked right on the other side of the wall to the left there.

And here are some pics of me playing on the mats.

mats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got home and there were mats! I never got a tracking number or anything so I didn't know when they were coming. Plus with the holidays it might have been even slower. Could have been another two weeks. But no. THEY'RE HERE! And the FedEx guy left them in my "carport" instead of just sticking a note on my door.

I haven't been this excited since I moved up here and got to drive my car the first day I was here, thanks to the fact that my mom got a temporary registration for it. 

SWEET!!!

(there will be pics once I finish rearranging everything to fit them in there)

www.dollamur.com

Miniature Air Show

There was a miniature air show in my back yard this morning. There were 30 or 40 little birds, a little smaller than the size of your fist, flying around and picking at things. They were hopping around on their own at first but then one of them must have sounded some sort of alarm because they started flying up in groups for the fence or the tree above, sometimes with a few acrobatic loops on the way.

the big room

really appreciating the newly cleaned & redecorated big room. not that much has really changed besides removing the pvc furniture and moving the weight bench. but it's made for a much more open feeling. i can walk to the projector without having to squeeze between my bike and the weight bench. i can walk behind the couch all the way to the other side of the room. less clutter.

success

MUCH better

I finally got around to replacing the entertainment center (and I use the term loosely) that I've had for the past year and a half. It was constructed of PVC pipe, plywood and a blanket that was draped over the top. I really should have had a before picture but I didn't think of it. Anyway, here's the after shots...



Way cleaner, much more space and not ugly ;-)

Oh, oh, oh... and as I was adjusting the display for the projector I came across the setting to reset the "please clean filter" notice that kept coming up when you first turned it on!

I conquered the refrigerator!

I kind of just happened onto it. The cleaning, not the refrigerator itself.

My intention was just to redistribute some stuff on the door, so that I could fit a few things that were sitting on the shelves, onto the door - where they belong. It's not segregation, I just thought the other condiments would be happier with their own kind.

Anyway, I was moving stuff around when I suddenly found myself removing items from the top shelf and reaching for a sponge. Puzzled by my own actions I figured I would just be cleaning one shelf. Surely I wouldn't go any further. That was so far from my mind that I didn't even contemplate it. Which is probably what, in the end, enabled me go through with it.

You see, one thing just kind of led to another. A reprehensible excuse I know. But that's just the way it went down. What can I say now? I'll be more careful next time, I assure you. In my own defense I can say that this is only the 2nd time I've ever cleaned a refrigerator, in almost 32 years. I think that's a pretty good record.

But you see the sponge was dripping gross, dirty refrigerator water onto the items on the shelves below so I quickly removed them. In doing so I unintentionally set the stage for cleaning those shelves as well.

The middle shelf was easy.

The bottom shelf was, unbeknownst to me, a mass grave for a colony of ants (ok, there were probably only 20 carcasses). I'm not really sure when they appeared (several months ago), but they didn't last long. I'm not even sure how they got in there. Or better yet, why? I've never seen ants filing into a refrigerator before.

Naturally I'm assuming they were part of some cult and they choose my refrigerator for their mass suicide. They didn't leave a note so we'll never know. RIP.

This has really been a three step process. For those of you wondering if you will ever be able to accomplish this same feet I'm including a step by step tutorial, with photos, for your benefit.

Step 1: Accept you have a problem.

If you feel up to it you can click on the image for a larger view. Caution is advised.

Step 2: Remove the inedible items.

Tip: things that have an expiration date of over 4 months ago should be throw out ;-)

Step 3: Clean shelves and restock.

Tip: Do not place items that you do not plan to consume back into the the refrigerator. That's not what it's for. There's another receptacle called a "trash can" that can be used for those items. Alternatively you may opt to compost food that is "past fresh". This should not be done in the refrigerator.

unearthed while weeding

Various treasures found while weeding in front today:

And in the back yard last week I found this...

I wonder what else is hiding in my yard!

watering the trees

It's so nice out this morning!