Tuesday Tales

Another day of sheet rock dust. Thankfully I was gone most of the day and the rest of it I was in Mom and Dad's apartment doing stuff. They are coming home on Sunday so there are things to be cleared out so that they can get in! It is so clean over there, I hate to leave. I keep the door shut between our house and their house so the dust hasn't permeated that area.

Things are coming along though. The sheet rock is just about all mudded (if that's what they call it) and the cabinets should be in sometime this week. My keyboard is kicking up dust as I type so I am sneezing my head off, my computer room is right off the kitchen and even with the door closed the dust gets in here. Snuff Snuff....

Today I went to Tar*get for some Easter basket stuff for T, D and Cousin K. They had lots to pick from but I like to get some things that aren't particularly for Easter. Found some ADORABLE beach towels. For the boys I got the ones with pirates on them and for Miss T I found one that has flip flops on it. You can't beat Tar*get for fun funky things.

Last week we had spring shots day at the stable. With the owner still out of commission and the other three horse owners at work I was on duty to hold horses for the vet. They all were soooooo good. The size of those needles make my knees weak but the horses don't seem to mind them at all. The one thing they don't like is the strangles vaccine that is blown up their noses. I can't say that I blame them much. I held the leads, put one hand over one of their eyes and Stu shot that stuff up there before they could blink. After the strangles outbreak we had several years ago we always have them treated for it. All of you horse owners know the nightmare of strangles and the long time it takes for everyone to get over it. We had 12 horses in the stable at the time and 11 of them got it and it was about 8 weeks before it was gone. All five of mine got it with Buddy being the worst due to his age. Thankfully everyone survived with only minimal scaring. I could put in some pictures but out of courtesy of the nonhorse people I won't, suffice to say that it's nasty stuff.

When our son was in jr. high and high school he participated in weight lifting as a sport (not body building). It helped with his football career and more importantly his confidence and healthy lifestyle. He participated in drug free meets only and they tested regularly so we traveled all over to find these meets. Now Cousin K is at an age where he has become interested in lifting and this weekend was his first meet. He has been training with Son as his coach, taking it very seriously and working hard.

Here he is with one of the meet organizers.


This was his squat lift which he got.

This last picture is my favorite as he had just completed his deadlift and was just sooooooo excited! The adult lifters are so supportive of the younger ones and really look out for them. Many of our family members were there to cheer him on and he was thrilled to receive a medal which he wore proudly to church the next day to show everyone.

I like the Extreme Make Over show that is on Sunday evenings. I find that the families they pick to redo their homes are well chosen. This last week was a family that rescues tigers, lions and other exotic animals that people have stupidly bought as pets and then can't properly take care of them. Some of the stories where the different animals came from were hard to listen to and I give so much credit to these folks that try so hard to make a difference.

Anyhow with all that said I couldn't wait to see the make over. I was glued to the set but also was really tired and trying not to doze off. It seemed like there were more commercials then ever and at each one I closed my eyes to just rest them a bit. You know where this is going don't you???

As those of you that watch the show know they always have a big bus in front of the new home and the people all yell MOVE THAT BUS! and the bus pulls away to show what has been done. Well guess what? The last words I remember were MOVE THAT BUS! and I was out like a light and didn't wake up till much later that night!! I was so mad, I wanted to see the house but also wanted to see all the improvements that they made to the animal habitats. They even had Jeff Corwin there from Animal Planet to supervise the remodel of the enclosures. Well I missed it all. All of it. Good grief! Gonna have to wait for summer reruns I guess! Sigh.....

Kitchen redo, The Early Years

Some of you have been asking about my kitchen remodel so I thought I would put in some pictures that I have been taking. There really isn't much to see yet except a big mess but here we go.

Who in their right mind would take a perfectly good kitchen (with some working issues too long to list) and tear it apart and live in sheetrock dust (with asthma) for a month? You guessed it.........me.

The contents of the kitchen are in my dining room, living room, foyer and Mom and Dad's apartment. Needless to say I can't find anything!




The whole kitchen is gone now.




Removing the old floor to put down the new subfloor.



New floor is down except for the grout which they did the next day.

The cupboards and appliances Have Left The Building. No, that's not Elvis. Guess you wouldn't get the previous statment unless you are an Elvis fan.

Starting the sheetrock and the plastic they have put up to help keep the dust out of the rest of the house. Well Blogger wouldn't upload that last picture. Go figure.

So this is where we stand at the moment. Being a little OCD by nature the mess is like running your nails down a chalk board but we shall prevail and it will be worth it in the end. That is my mantra now, it will be worth it. it will be worth it, it will be worth it! :o)

Puerto Rico Day Deux

The next day of the conference Hubby again had classes all morning so I took the time to just wander around after breakfast and see the sights. Of course I checked out the shops first and came away with some cute bathing suits for T and some wonderful t-shirts with pirates on them for D. He is in his pirate stage and anything remotely associated to Jack Sparrow just makes his day.

There were beautiful birds near the foyer that were screeching back and forth. They were just gorgeous and some of them would say words for you.

Out in one of the many fountains around the complex were numerous birds taking a bath every time we went by. It must be their favorite fountain as I didn't see them in any of the others. They were just having a grand 'ole time.

After lunch we decided to go over to the island that belongs to the resort. It was a pretty trip over and we saw lots of boats and beautiful ocean.

The water was just as warm as bath water and we enjoyed splashing around in it. I noticed when I was changing into my bathing suit that I had grabbed one that had a big hole in the back. Great. At least it wasn't in the be-hind thankfully... That bathing suit stayed in Puerto Rico in the trash can in the bathroom never to be seen or worn again. Amen.

That night we went back to the island for a pirate themed function. We had gone back to our room to shower and change and just about made it in time. There were pirate characters waiting for us at the boat landing and we had a lot of fun with them.

When we arrived at the island there were lots of questionable characters wandering around.

I don't think this guy had brushed his teeth in a while......



Some didn't quite make it to the party!



I think Hubby liked this one the best.....ahem.......

There was a guy blowing fire out of his mouth! Yikes!

And there were birds! I LOVED the birds!!

Really liked the little piggy that chewed on my sandal. This little piggy went to market...this little piggy stayed home...this little piggy had roast beef....this little piggy had none! Haven't thought of that in a long time. :o)

Well guess that's it for tonight. American Idol is on so I will finish this plus put in the pics of the kitchen redo next time!!

Horses, horses and more horses in Puerto Rico

We arrived home yesterday to a balmy 42* and windy conditions. The pilot of the plane did a wonderful job bringing us in safely with not much bouncing around. We did sway in the wind a bit but that doesn't both me, I just know I am almost home and it makes it worth it. There is just something about coming home even though we had a fabulous time in Puerto Rico.

It is a beautiful country with blue, blue ocean water, palm trees and lush foliage. It is also a country with much poverty as we witnessed while coming in on the hour long ride from the airport to the resort. Everyone has bars on their windows, that would be a good business to be in there. The small houses that we saw on this route were very modest at best withminimal unkempt yards. I'm sure there are nicer areas but this is the way we came in so this is what we saw in contrast to the beautiful resort where we stayed.

The resort was a whole different world. It sat 300 feet above the ocean and was lovely. Our room was on the third floor which was still two floors below the lobby as we were right in the side of the landscape. This is looking down from our balcony.

The first night we had a buffet with lots of local dishes to chose from. Different kinds of fish, meats, cheeses, fruits, salads etc. Of course I left my camera in the room (DUH!) and missed out on taking pictures of the dancers in their strange but colorful costumes and men on TALL stilts walking around entertaining everyone.

The next day after Hubby got out of classes at noon we had lunch and then headed off to go horseback riding in the rainforest. I was really excited about this excursion and was not one bit disappointed! Hubby had a nice little gelding that was more interested in walking then cantering but had nice smooth gaits.

They put me on a rather nondescript mare named Bebe that I argued was too small for a BMW-----Big Maine Woman but they assured me she was fine. She was a good girl and did have some nice get up and go which we put to use several times on the ride. Usually on this type of group trail ride they just walk but our guide was fun and when we told him we'd like to step it up a bit he was more then willing.

There was a lot of overgrowth as we headed into the rainforest. It covered everything in it's path even some heavy equipment.

We ran into some of the wildlife there on the island which we found very interesting as Son used to have iguanas when he was in high school here at home. This one would have considered ours a snack as he was so much bigger then anything we had ever seen!!!! The young man that was helping our guide actually caught this thing with his bare hands so that we could get some pictures!!

After our ride the horses were all taken for a good hose down. This wasn't your little garden hose, it was more like a fire truck hose and the horses seemed to really like it. I'm sure it felt good after the long ride. We did stop half way so that the horses could rest and they sent someone on a 4-wheeler with cold drinks for us. I was very pleased at how well the horses all looked. Didn't see any sores, or signs of maltreatment which pleased me to no end. All the horses were good weight, fit and had good attitudes. We've gone on these rides in other places where the horses just were so downtrodden in spirit and would just walk nose to tail the whole ride.


My next post will continue with all the fun we had and some more beautiful photos of the area plus one of Hubby with a gorgeous mermaid!!!!!!