I love this kid

This got forwarded to me and I had to repost. In about 14 years the clubs won't know what hit them.



By the way, the little girl pretty much looks like me when I'm dancing, only I'm much older and fatter. HOT.

iPod Song Lyrics Shuffle

I'm a sucker for iPod memes!

Here's how this one works:

1. Put your iPod/MP3 player on shuffle
2. Write the first line[ish] to the first 25 songs
3. Put an astrix next to it or cross it out when someone guesses one right
4. Put your guesses in a comment.
5. Looking them up on Google (or any other search engine) is CHEATING [but I don't really care if you do, as a last resort. :D ]

Ready....GO!

1. Well the truth it fell so heavy, like a hammer through the room, that I could choose another over her Ray LaMontagne "Lesson Learned"

2. Worms don't dance, they haven't got the balls, no matter how do you do, it's just you do that's all

3. Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head The Smiths "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

4. I went looking for someone I left behind, yeah but no one, just a stranger did I find

5. I can feel the earth begin to move, I hear my needle hit the groove, and spiral through another day

6. Tarzan wasn't a ladies man, he'd just come along and scoop'em under his arm like that

7. There's strange weather in the back of the room, and she's pretty Jessie's spinning the tunes

8. Been up all night staring at you, wondering what's on your mind

9. My friend and me looking through her red box of memories, faded I'm sure, but love seems to stick in her veins you know

10. I can't help my feelings, I'll go out of my mind, these players come to get me 'cause they'd like my behind Weezer "Hash Pipe"

11. I remember it well, the first time that I saw your head 'round the door, cause mine stopped working

12. Come in, come in, come in to my world I've got to show, show, show you

13. Goodbye, goodbye, every day I look across the office floor, there you were, your hair down to your legs and your legs down to the floor Flight of the Conchords, "Leggy Blonde"

14. Galileo's head was on the block, the crime was looking up the truth Indigo Girls "Galileo"

15. Nothing here to fear, I'm just sitting around being foolish when there is work to be done

16. You know and I've been wondering, you know all the way home, whether the world will see I'm a better man than others by far

17. I don't feel as if I know you, you take up all my time, the days are long and the nights will blow you away cause the sun don't shine

18. Paul is making me nervous, Paul is making me scared

19. Those who are dead are not dead, they're just living in my head

20. Take the sky for example, a canvas of a billion suns, but our local hero shines them out by day The Weepies "Hideaway"

21. You say adjust your heels girl, they stick out like an anchor, and don't touch the flowers cause you can't hear them well

22. My life's like a migrant's, there's not a moment of silence, and so I take up my time with you

23. I guess I'm alright, guess I'm alright, I guess I'm doing fine, guess I'm doing fine

24. On the way home, this car hears my confessions, I think tonight I'll take the long way

25. I'm packed and I'm holding, I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden Third Eye Blind "Semi-Charmed Life" (BTW if you don't know all the lyrics to this song, you probably don't want to.)

Overheard in the Ward

I have a new favorite Mormon blog: Overheard in the Ward . It's like the great Overheard in New York but without all the profanity. Enjoy!

Yard Stuff

One thing we learned quickly is that buying a house with a big yard = doing a lot of yard work. We've been spending a lot of time outside. I love it. I can't seem to keep up with the weeds, but I guess we're going for a "natural" look. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, here are some pictures of what we've been doing.

Here's the front flower bed before:
I wish I had remembered to take a picture before we started weeding, because this whole area was completely covered in weeds. You couldn't even see the brick pavers. We couldn't tell what was a weed and what was a "real" plant, so we decided to start from (almost) scratch. At this point we had ripped out pretty much everything except for the hostas and a large bush. Eric is in the process of cutting down a tree that was blocking the front windows.

Here are the flowers I've put in:
In the forefront are vincas (annuals) and behind those are blanket flowers (perennials.)

I repurposed the off-white planters that were on the stoop - you can see one in the first picture, they were pretty shabby looking. I gave them a good scrubbing and painted them black. Here's a closeup of one, surrounded by my container herbs - sage, thyme, basil and parsley. I moved them out front because that way I remember to water them!

And the front stoop from farther back (I should have taken down that flier in the door, whoops.)


Next steps: Replacing the brass lights and house numbers (that's pretty much the theme of all our decorating in this house!) and get a new welcome mat that won't fade in the sun.

This is a before picture that's prettier than the after, because it's not blooming anymore.
Sawyer watering the giant hosta. It's doing great considering it was neglected for a year. I love its blooms. You can see the black-eyed Susan I tried to plant right in front of him but it doesn't look like it's going to make it.


I hung some geraniums in baskets on the pergola in front of the house. I've loved red geraniums ever since my mission - all the houses in French villages have them in their window boxes in the spring.

And...Indoor Stuff

Our indoor improvements were at a standstill for a while because of illness, travel, changing jobs, and working outside. But no more! The past couple of weeks we've been doing a lot of work. Here's the proof.

Breakfast Room: To refresh your memory, here's the before before:
After:
And after with drapes:
It's a subtle change but it makes a huge difference in how cool the room stays during the day. All those windows can really make it heat up. We kept the custom fabric blinds that came with the house - it's nice to be able to open the drapes and let some light in and still have privacy. Our table looks smaller in the last picture because it is - that's what it looks like without the leaves in.

I also put up some art and a new entry rug by the back door. That's Penny's bowl on the floor, it's not usually there but I had to move it temporarily because my soapmaking oil buckets are blocking the usual spot in the kitchen.

Our next big project was changing the sewing/craft room upstairs into a bedroom. The previous owners had cabinets and counters installed on two walls. We'd like it to be Sawyer's room (it's the biggest room other than the master) so we can use the two additional rooms as guest rooms and an office.

Before:

And after, but obviously still incomplete:
Eric and I took down the cabinets and managed to keep them in pretty good shape so we can sell them on Craigslist, although so far they're just sitting in the basement. A few days ago I took down the track lighting and filled in the holes in the drywall left by the cabinets (dozens of them on 2 walls and the ceiling.) Today I sanded and discovered 1) I don't look all that bad with gray hair and 2) duct taping a piece of sandpaper to a Swiffer actually works pretty well when sanding the ceiling.

A project I did a while ago but is still incomplete: replacing all the doorknobs in the house. They were all bright brass and we're swapping them out for oil-rubbed bronze.

Before:
After:
All the closet/pass-through doors have levers and the privacy doors have knobs:

The bathrooms have brushed nickel.
I'm now realizing that changing the knobs was the easy part - now I have to change all the hinges, one by one. Ugh. It's taking longer than I expected.

I've halfway through changing hardware in the bathrooms to match the doorknobs - previously all the drawer pulls were the same brass ones as in the kitchen.
Oh, how I hated those! Especially next to the chrome fixtures (which we're also changing, but that's a bit further down the list.) This is in Sawyer's bathroom. Before:
After:
And our most recent change, taking down the brass light fixtures upstairs and putting up oil-rubbed bronze ones. We've had them for months but just got around to installing them.

Before/in progress:
After:
Still to do upstairs: Paint everything, get new carpet in Sawyer's room and the tiled room (photos forthcoming), replace the ceiling fans (they are HIDEOUS), change bathroom mirrors and fixtures, finish replacing all those hinges (ugh), and get new furniture for Sawyer's room, guest rooms and office.

In progress downstairs: Replace carpet in family room with hardwood, paint foyer (we'll have to hire someone for that because it's 2 stories), install new chandelier in foyer (ditto), paint living room and dining room, move piano from my grandfather's house into living room, repurpose chandelier in dining room (I'm going to try painting it), mount TV over fireplace and install in-wall home theater system, install built-in bookshelves in living room/dining room, buy new couches for family room, change fixtures and mirror in powder room.

And that's just off the top of my head.

Long Overdue...Our Trip to Utah

Back in July (was that really over a month ago??) Sawyer and I traveled to Utah to visit SueSue and Grandad. Here's what we did.

[Edited to remove the embedded slide show, because the automatic music is super annoying. Here's a link instead.]

Slide Show

Tantrum Time

Sawyer is currently throwing a tantrum because I turned off the TV. When this happens I usually ignore him and he stops pretty quickly. This time though he is persisting, and little does he know that I'm typing everything he says, for posterity, of course. I stopped short of getting out the video camera - this is slightly less cruel, right?

Sawyer, while rolling on the floor and wailing hysterically:

I soooo sad! Look at my face! Look at my eyes! Soooo sad! What happened? Are you OK? [I think that part is what he thinks I'm supposed to be saying to him.] I'm rolling! I'm rolling! Uh-oh! I too sad! [lots of heaving of breath and artificial wailing.] I too tired! I too sad! I need 'yardigans! Ahhhh! Oh no! I hurt myself! [He didn't.] He's crying! Sawyer is crying! Look at meeeee!

Ah, the joyous times.

My Life According to Tori Amos

This is a fun tag. Thanks for the idea Tiburon!

My Life According to...

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)" There were so many good options for some I couldn't pick just one.


Pick your Artist:
Tori Amos

Describe yourself:
Cornflake Girl
Playboy Mommy (um, no.)

How do you feel:
Strange
Crazy

Describe where you currently live:
Barons of Suburbia
Virginia (too easy!)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Cool On Your Island
Ireland

Your favorite form of transportation:
Cars and Guitars
Take to the Sky

Your best friend:
Hoochie Woman (hee hee!)

You and your best friend are:
Purple People

What's the weather like:
Cloud on My Tongue

Favorite time of day:
Sweet Dreams

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Here, In My Head

What is life to you:
A Sorta Fairytale

Your relationship:
Song for Eric

Your fear:
Professional Widow

What is the best advice you have to give:
The Power of Orange Knickers

Thought for the Day:
Mother Revolution

How I would like to die:
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Happy Phantom

My soul's present condition:
Little Earthquakes

My motto:
Pretty Good Year