Entries from August 2009 ↓

  I often get jealous of people that blog about great flea market or thrift store finds. Flea markets? Not within two hours of here. Thrift stores? Well, there’s a really, really crappy one an hour away. But it’s like the most digusting over-priced thing ever. And I am not thrift store stupid, I know that you have to really search for treasures at any thrift store but this one is just a cut below, I’m afraid.

   A few months ago there was this Rummage Sale in town at the Catholic Church. I happened to only have one kid that day (Fancy) and I decided to go down and take a peek. Everything was a little price to me, it seemed, but there was this table of games and they were all marked $1. I picked up a Boggle Jr. game. Love me some Boggle and would love to train up a playing partner. Besides, that’s educational, right?! And then I came across this old looking game of Clue.

I opened it up an seriously, the thing was mint! The peices were still in the plastic wrappers!! Amazing! And the rope was actually made of rope rather than plastic.  

There were actually two of the games but I only got the one. I got it home and saw that it was copyrighted from the 1950’s. Made me wish I’d bought both!

I had to brag; it’s not everyday that I am able to find something good like that and for so cheap! (It’s almost as good as finding the Blue Advantage!) I’m almost afraid to play it but not too afraid; one night soon, we’re going to play us a game of Clue!

  Speaking of Clue, congratulations Tom the Detective! (Not that he will read this but, ya know…)

Ok, maybe a little but not half as much! Great news… this weekend I feel like I’m finally on top of things. I have everything vacuumed. 95% of the stuff that goes up is up and down is down. I have the school room, formerly the boy’s bedroom, 95% cleaned out. Today I cleaned out the closet, emptied Fancy’s dresser and took her clothes upstairs, organized Forest’s dresser, hung up my posters and calendars and put some odds and ends away. It doesn’t sound like much but it took hours for some reason. I still have this week to organize my schooling ideas. But thank God that I don’t feel like I’m breathing in some sort of plague like Asbestosis & Lung Cancer any longer. Only regular allergies to deal with.

Oh, and I did this fabulous re-finishing project this weekend that I am dying to show you! Only in true Carrie fashion I don’t have the greatest photos to go with the whole process since I only took an after photo, not any befores.

 
Hello. Hello. *room quiets down as all eyes gaze expectantly at me to see what horrible vice has brought me here* My name is Carrie, and I…. well, uh, I’m addicted to Webkinz. I’m aware that it’s meant for children. But can it really be? I mean, the games are hard. So hard that I can’t always beat them. OK, I’ve never beat them. But I get pretty far on some of the games and I think I play as good as a ten year old. Or an eight year old. Or something… And I learn great skills, like typing on Lunch Letters. Except I hate gardening and my garden withered and died years ago. Erm, I mean… I was trying to explain my vice and I got a little side tracked there, didn’t I? Well, you see… I started this like two years ago. Or less. Probably a year ago. When the baby was born. I needed something productive to do while I nursed that sweet thing. Maybe it’s why I’m still nursing her, 15 months later. If I stop, I have to stop playing Webkinz games, right? And sometimes I start to feel stupid about it and then I come across items like this bookexplaining how to make the most of Webkinz world and suddenly I feel like I have something to offer society. I mean, I could totally write a Webkinz guide book and get rich. Really rich. Take this book for example, it offers to teach you the ins and the outs of Webkinz World. If you don’t know about your Webkinz, you could prop it up beside you while you bathe your little furry pony. No wait, I do let the kids do that part, I swear. Our animals always have very clean teeth. They always beg me to buy them Webkinz but I only do it when I find them on sale. One can have too many pets I think, and then you dont’ care for them all properly.

  All kidding aside, I just like to play Solitaire. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? Oh and Tile Towers. Um, and a little Cash Cow sometimes. It’s all mental stimulation.

  Some people’s photography is absolutely stunning to behold. Now days though, a lot of that photography doesn’t come straight from the lens looking that great. However, thanks to Photoshop, it can. Granted, a photograph has to come out looking pretty great to be amazing but even mediocre photos can really look good with Photoshop.

   I have Adobe Photoshop Elements. It’s a less expensive version of Photoshop, yet still has a lot of features. Photoshop is so deep, I have no idea how I’d ever use it all. As it is, Elements has more than I think I’ll ever use. I have discovered so many great features, however I have no idea how to use so much of it. I feel like I’ve only hit the surface; darkening, lightening, cropping, etc. I know there is so much more I could do! I was thinking of taking a class but I haven’t really had time to do that. I did find this book  on sale  and was thinking that I definitely need something like this to teach me on my own turf. I get excited to think of how awesome I could make some of my photographs if I only knew how!

   Now, what would a post talking about photography be if I didn’t include one of my recent favorite photographs of my favorite man and princess?!

   We moved our beds upstairs this past weekend. I wish I had pictures to share but to tell the truth, I was so concerned about just getting up there that I didn’t even think to snap any.

   So our house is in chaos of course; it’s like moving except it’s within a house not to another house. I feel like nothing has a home — I need to find new homes for everything! And I feel pressed for time — DH starts school on Tuesday and Forest starts school on Monday. Oh, and I’m teaching him so it’s not like I’m going to get a break once he starts school. You’re looking at his teacher. But I guess you’re not actually looking at me, so…

   Anyway, back to my point… we moved everything around. And the dust! And the dust! (Yes, I meant to repeat myself.) I am so allergic to dust it’s not even funny. So downstairs it’s bad enough — dust under the beds, under the dressers, etc. Places I just couldn’t get when there was furniture down. And now it’s all exposed and stirred up. Not good. But upstairs… oh, upstairs! we moved stuff around up there and it’s not just ‘regular’ dust. It’s drywall dust and tiny pieces of the cellulose insulation we blew, etc. I’ve vacuumed but I can’t get it all with one whirl and I stir it up and it floats in the air.

   We need to put a door on the closet (right now I have just hung a curtain in front of it) that goes into the knee-walls where the insulation is. Also, tonight my husband realizes that the board that covers the attic did not fit in snugly and there is mega loads of dust over there. The attic hole is right over our bed! Tonight he taped a piece of plastic over the doorway and made a new temporary board for the attic hole. All this in hopes that his wife will not have to sleep on the couch tonight. (I had an asthma attack last night up there!) Hopefully tomorrow it will be fixed permanently (we bought a door).

   So hopefully when these things are fixed, it will ease up a lot of the problem. Another thing we want to do is buy a new filter for our purifier. Seriously, I am amazed at how wonderful those purifiers are! They really helped downstairs with the dust. We live next to a dirt drive and the dust it picks up is incredible. Filters can get pricey but it’s worth it, especially if you can find them on sale.