Apparently

If You Take an Empty

Water Bottle,

and

Tuck it In Your Bike,

Like So:

It Makes a

SPEEE-LINN-DID

Motor Bike

Sound,

That Your WHOLE Neighborhood Will LOVE.

[You're Welcome]

My Bird Seed Bill

Is Outrageous!

This Doesn't Show

All the Ones

On the Ground

Pecking the Leftovers,

Or the Ones in the Branches

who Swing Down

Now and Then.

I Filled This UP Thursday Evening.

This Picture Was Taken Friday Evening.

Today is Saturday,

And

It is Empty.

I Love it.

The Collection

GROWS

Ew.

Lover's Retreat

August 2010

Fish Haven, Idaho

Bear Lake

For Our 3rd Annual

Lover's Retreat,

We Escaped to this Little Bed & Breakfast

On the Shore of

Bear Lake.

And We Fell In LOVE

With the Turquoise Lake,

The String of Small Towns,

and this View From Our Room:

We Arrived On a Rather

STORMY Day,

But Grabbed Our Bikes,

and Headed for The Beach
Then, Hit Cooper's For Dinner.

--------------------

We Greeted the Next Morning

with a Run on the Beach,

Mingled with the Hosts

and Other Guests

Over a Delightful Breakfast,

And Headed Out for a Sunny Day

On the Lake.

---------------------

We Got Up Early the Next Morning

to Catch the SunRise

Meandered about the Lovely 5 Acre Property

and Made One More Stop

At the Beach

To Stuff Our Pockets with

More Shells.

We Were Absolutely Thrilled

with Our Little

Get Away!

We Had a Wonderful Time,

in a Gorgeous Place!

Thanks for the Retreat, Lover.

[And Thanks G'Ma & G'Pa for Watching the Kiddies]

How'd She Do That?

Do-It-Yourself Fireplace

From This:

To This:

This cost less than $100 to do,

and It made a Huge Difference!

[I'm not counting the flooring,

Because we are putting that throughout the main level]

First,

I Primed the Mantle,

Using a High Hiding Primer-

I Use that on EVERYTHING,

So, its just what I had on hand.

Then I Used Kettle Black by Valspar in Satin finish,

I believe I did Two Coats.

Then I Sanded the Edges,

and Where I wanted More

Depth/Definition.

I Really Need to Put a

Clear Protective Coat on it,

But I haven't Done that Yet.

So just for Future Reference,

I'm going to do it.

In Fact, Pretend I Already Did,

that will save me the time.

Then came the brick.

Which, since it required REMOVING

the Mantle,

I may have done it the

Other Way Around,

Brick First, Then Mantle.

Brick was much cheaper

Than I had Thought,

and Since this was a Small area,

I didn't need many bricks.

I used a THIN-CUT Brick,

It's a full size Brick,

that's been cut to

only abou 1/2 inch Thickness.

I'll summarize the brick process,

and if you want more details,

let me know.

Summary Follows:

Remove Tile,

Repair Drywall damage,

Staple "chicken Wire"

Apply Thin-Set Mortar

Dry 24 hours

Then use Mortar and Stick those Bricks On,

Let Dry,

Fill in Cracks,

Pray Nothing Falls Off.

[Very Important]

Wah-La!

Fireplace:

{I LOVE It!}

DIY Mantle and Fireplace Makeover:

Cost: <$100. 00 for Paint & Bricks.

I'm Not Counting the Flooring-

because We are Putting it

throughout the Main Level,

Nevertheless,

We Did find the Flooring OnLine

For a 1/3 of the Cost

Than We found it

at Local Retail Stores.

[Score-a-Rue-Nee]

08.13.10

So. Stinkin'. Tired.

Starting to Cross-Off

Any Crazy Plans

I had for

Room #2 & Room #3.

07.31.10

Sneak Peak

Of the Fireplace Progress:

The Master Mason,

(The Other Master Mason is Taking the Picture)

The Finished Project

Yet, I will Not Reveal It ALL,

Until the New Floor is In.

[A REAL Edge-of-Your-Seat Moment, No?]

Most Days

My Kitchen Counter is Littered with SEVERAL of These:

Dead Bugs

In Glass Jars.

[Grody]

First Day of School

July 2010

One Awesome

2nd Grader

and

One Spectacular

1st Grader

[Be Still My Heart]

Where Does the Time Go?

The Night Before

School Started,

We Headed Out for Dinner

The Dress Code was Dirt,

and

The Dinner was Slightly Burned,

But the View,

From the Table,

Couldn't Be Beat.

July's Nacho Night

We Had July's Nacho Night,

Sitting Among the Trappings

that come with painting

a Fireplace.

We Watched

an "Old"

Batman.

And Ate.

And Painted Some More.

Projects

Remember THIS?

Here's To A Couple More:

This was an Old Hutch We've Had

For EVER!

It was Pretty Beat Up and Needed Stabilizing.

I Used Bead Board to Help Stabilize it,

Then Painted and Antiqued it

and Put on New Knobs.

My Husband Kept Telling Me

that It was Looking Pretty Grody.

Now?

He Says It May be His FAVORITE Piece of Furniture!

[Hasn't He Learned to Trust My Decorator's Instinct, Yet?]

This Project that I'm about to Show Next,

Is Only Semi Done in These Pictures:

CURRENTLY

Working on Adding

Brick and New Flooring.

Belt Testing

The Boys Earned Their Black Belts

In Their Little Dragon's Program,

So Now They are Moving Up

into the Older Kids' Program,

and Donning Some Preeee-ty

Fine Lookin'

GOLD BELTS

During The Belt Ceremony,

They have the Students who Are Graduating

Out of The Little Dragons Program

Show Off Their Dazzling Moves

Not Too Shabby, Eh?

[We're So Proud of Them!]