Dishwasher, stolen 4-wheeler and more waxing poetic.

Photo credit: flickr.com
Here's a little bit of journaling / catch up that i wanted to document before it all slipped my mind, might not be too interesting...then again...I'm feeling rhymey.

Twas the week of Thanksgiving when all through the house, a horrible grinding disturbed the dead mouse(s). The dishwasher had died, a most long miserable death, the husband removed it with only two days left! In the big hole we found mice, long passed their due. Skeletons in nests of a yellowish hue. ON BLEACH! ON SOAP! ON HOT HOT HOT WATER! I must Clean out the kitchen from this horrible Fodder! Twas now Wednesday that the new model came. More than 6 hours installation, faulty directions to blame. Thank goodness for the Internet with the correct way to do it. A Thanksgiving miracle! That's how I view it.

This Week:

Rawlins Trip: Tuesday Morning Shane calls and says: Do you want to go to Rawlins with me to get a car? I say Sure! Rawlins doesn't seem to be too Far...So long as I sleep on the way there! And I did, making a wreck of my hair. We checked the weather before we left, Dry roads were predicted and sunshine too....but when we started home it would show that a snowy blizzard blew. All the way from Muddy Gap did we stare, at the road with the lines that were barely there. Scary by the time we got back to Lander, several inches had fallen where before there had been sun-a-pander. (okay, that's a stretch.) The next day to compensate from my prolonged house absence, I did too much bending, twisting, lifting and suffered pain and contractions!

Thursday: By now I have put myself on Bed Rest. Little did I know that Shane was having Autoplex Cop Fest! It would seem that at 1 in the morning on Tuesday, someone thought that they would pick a new 4-wheeler and head Riverton-way. Shane hadn't noticed until someone came to buy, to the camera's he went, looking to spy. Spy for the the criminal who had picked it up. We saw many instances of a person walking the lot and his 4x4 pickup truck. Anyway, Shane and the cops are now on the look-out. When found, at this snake will Shane want to Shout! At work until 8, and up and back again this morning, we hope to see him sometime soon, life with out Daddy is boring.

Nathan has gotten into the Christmas spirit, this morning he brought me candy, with Christmas Salutations did he Cheer it! "Here's some Candy Momma! Merry Christmas to You!" He's been singing jingle bells about the home, mostly he hums, but he does know the tune. Yesterday he saw that during his nap that presents had been placed under the tree, he said "look at those presents!" to himself, and he didn't notify me.

Okay that's enough rhyme. Also cute today, Nathan wanted some popcorn with his breakfast, after the eggs and muffin were gone, I obliged, since I had some on the counter. Then I got him singing "my pop-pop-pop-pop- my pop-popcorn face." It was pretty adorable.

The Rivers of Rain!

Also at the end of July we had amazing rain! I mean coastal rains. Buckets and Buckets of rain. Shane said it was just like Alabama rain. I compare it to the time I was in Washington D.C. with Kathyness and Cody and we were in our wedding wear and soon were wading in water up to our knees in the gutters of the Mall. Anyway, it was serious rain. Our windows and door jams were all just running with water. We had towels out, bowls and buckets catching the floods. We had to take pictures off the walls so they wouldn't get ruined (or washed off.) Shane took care of the downstairs which tends to get damp, even in less torrential water events. The water washed away parts of the 'lawn.' The photos I have don't give it justice, but here is what the water rush looked like:

more tid bits

Going to put things down before I forget them:

Went for a prenatal check up today. Heart beat was 160. I'll go in for an ultrasound next month!

Nathan climbed the ladder, walked to the edge and jumped off the low board this week, ALL by himself!! His swim teacher was in the water to catch him. Awesome!

Nathan also got in trouble in swim this week because he keeps getting into the water and doing bobs instead of sitting on the edge of the pool waiting for his next turn in the next activity.

We've had SUPER cool, rainy weather. I've loved it. Had the electric blanket going again this week. Love the thunderstorms, love the smell of rain, love not watering my flowers. Think it's a little funny that my tomato plants may have gotten too cold.

We had such a violent storm one day that the lawn was washing away down the street (no kidding) in a torrent of mud. We're hoping our house has a 'firm foundation.' The pool got so full we had to siphon out the water with a hose. Shane struggled with it until I came up with the idea to have the hose filled with running water, then unhook it and let it keep sucking out. It finally worked....Shane gave me ingenuity credit...take it when I can. The windows and downstairs all flooded too, luckily we were here to catch it all in bowls, towels and buckets!! Still need to do that wet laundry....

Shane finished washing the windows by pulling out the scaffolding...this made me much happier. It was better to see him on something solid, rather than a little wimpy aluminum ladder. He is my HERO!

I have decided that it's okay for me to publicly announce that I don't like pioneer days. While our stake was going through the "Willy's Second Rescue" some 16 years ago, and doing work for the pioneers that died in Wyoming (See any LDS publication on this event) I was being surrounded by the actual trials and death of my wonderful mother. So for the years everyone was telling pioneers stories, at meetings, at conferences, at special gatherings, at youth parties, at trek organizational meetings and talking about all of the great things going on with the church and the discoveries, I was pretty much uninterested and/or effected by it. So now when I hear about the second rescue stuff, YEAR after YEAR, all it does it bring me back to the end of my childhood, then end of my family as I knew it (for now) and a whole bunch of loss and sadness. (Yes, Yes, I know I have tremendous blessings and all that good stuff...but it doesn't change how those stories make ME feel.) There...now you know why I don't frequent Rock Creek.

I have discovered that Potty Training is much harder than I anticipated.

I have thrown up only once this whole month!! (this is really good news.)

And over all I'm feeling good, ready to have all the 2nd trimester energy put to good use!

I can't get the lap top to work, or I'd have some pictures to put up! I'll try to put some of my energy into that.

Coolest thing I've seen on HGTV.

Last night on HGTV, they were doing a remodel (isn't the whole idea of HGTV?) and they did the coolest thing I've ever seen. It was an apartment that needed more room, especially in the kitchen. So the designers painted a Magnetic Primer on the walls, and over primer they painted on chalkboard paint. SOOO the WALL is a Magnetic Chalkboard!!! HOW AWESOME IS THIS IDEA?? In the kitchen they had spices in magnetic cans with a chalk written label next to it. Plus there were menu's, shopping lists, notes, whatever chalked or with a magnet ON THE WALL! Amazing. And, being a mom....how great would this be in a kid area?!!! Here you go kids, here's you magnetic letters and some chalk, get to coloring your walls! I told Shane about it, and he said, "I know. You can make Magnetic dry erase walls too." Men. HIDING THEIR USEFUL KNOWLEDGE!! Anyhow, now you know the delights of this idea too

p.s. I borrowed this photo from Flickr...I don't know who's wall this is, but it gives you the main idea. (I liked the one they did in the remodel better, but this one is good too.)

Wii enjoy our Free Wii Fit

Wii Did it. Wii got the Wii Fit package to go with our Wii. In fact Wii didn't have to pay a single penny for it. What?! How can this be?! How did you get a FREE Wii Fit? Did Wii steal it? Borrow it? Find it in a car? Trade something? Use some sort of fraud? Get it with our good looks? Rent out the child? No! Wii used our Credit Card "rewards Points" to get it! YEAH for using our card and reaping the rewards!

I've used it once, and so far...I LOVE IT! I'm excited to use it more!

Anyhow...Shane read in the paper and heard on-line that credit cards were starting to 'change' their points policies...and that some were dropping them altogether. The report advised to use up the points ASAP before they disappeared. So Wii logged on and it's like Christmas at the Petty's. We are looking forward to using the FREE Tricycle for NQ, the Mitre Saw, laser level and, the crown jewel of point redemption, the Wii Fit!

I Love the Cleaning Club

Mary P. had this great idea to start a cleaning club. What is a cleaning club you ask? It is where there are three (or four) ladies, who once a week, take turns cleaning at each other's house. This is a FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC way to get a LOT of cleaning done in a relatively short amount of time! Multiply what you can do by yourself in two hours TIMES three. Plus you have someone to talk to! Yesterday was Marys Yard Day. I loved it. With three of us working we perfected the porch, divined the drive, groomed the grass and slaughtered the sticks. I mean it was a TRANSFORMATION! Anyhow, I suggest that you get a couple of friends together, take turn, take charge and CLEAN! I'm SO glad Holly and Mary and I have a club that accomplishes some greater good.

Best Seat in the House

It's New and Improved! My bathroom work has paid off! After laboriously 'painting' the grout, sanding dirty tiles, sealing said tiles and grout...the wall painting began. I went with a light blue-green color and then a rich walnut brown for accents. The shower curtain and rugs are also all new as the blue shower curtain never went with the forest green towels and the place, until now all looked a jumble.

Before Painting




After Painting



Nice new accents above the shower

New Shrubs at the sink...I'm still working on a "frame" for the mirror. My friend Holly suggested that I continue the leaf-vine pattern in the brown paint around the mirror. I like this idea and may look into it further.

I Did use the Paint 'n Point system to paint the walls. It works great, but not as flawlessly as they would have you believe! Easier to clean than a roller. I also used some edging pads and a corner painter. However, you do still need to tape things up a bit.

Besides a little touch up work and pulling down the painters tape...this place is 'back in business' as they say! Please, Come, Sit and Enjoy the new view. I also have delightfully outdated reading material to look at.

H.I. Part 2! GROUT WHITE

The OTHER thing I have been doing is grouting all of the places where there was no grout (around ALL of the edges of the kitchen) AND I have been Whiting the grout with "Tile Perfect" GROUT WHITE. Basically a paint you put over the dirty unsealed grout to make it white again!

See HERE:

The Dirty Grout, except for the one nice square

The newly WHITENED grout, awaiting it's sealing!

GROUT WHITE can be purchased ONLY at Ace Hardware in our County. When they are out it takes a week to reorder more. You should be aware of this because it can casue a kink in your whitening to sealing timeline. It can also be purchased on-line at Acehardware.com, but only in orders of six at a time. This would be a LOT of GROUT WHITE.

Up Next in my Home Improvement Schedule: Painting the Bathroom!

Home Improvement!

When we purchased our house some two and a half years ago, we purchased it with 'finishing' work that needed to be done.

It never got done.

Until now!

We had some tile that needed to be glued down and sealant that needed (and still needs) to be done. (Due to manufacturer's instructions, the grout needs to set for a few days before we seal. But here's what's been going on:

Shane, the mighty "Old grout and Adhesive Remover MAN!"

Working hard to remove the old gunk.

AHHH the nice, NEW adhesive, STICKING tile to the floor. Just as it should be.

TA DA! THE FIXED TILE PIECES!