A BOY AND A CHAINSAW.....

You may remember my tree that came down around my little house. Well, in the continuing saga of maintaining this old house....we had it removed.

BACKYARD SOLUTIONS came in and cut it up and hauled it away.

An efficient man, he his with an assistant this time.

They made quick work of that tree, and now... there's a void,

and a field that I can see from my kitchen window.  Ugh.

Well when the little house returns to it's place and the fence is in, it'll block some.  But, on the upside, the sun will shine in.  Maybe I'll take up gardening...


Nah.

Cute isn't he? This mother was nervous.

GARAGE SALE....

We had one.

Oh my.

I remember now why I don't do it more often. First of all, I just couldn't get my heart into it. Digging through all that junk... (and believe me there was a lot). And deciding what was worth putting out, and what is better just thrown out, and then there are the things that for some unknown reason, you MUST keep.

So I worked at it, cleaning stuff up, and pricing it, and dragging it out to the garage.

So, with all that said, was it worth it? No. Well, maybe, I did get rid of a ton of stuff one way or another. I am still in a pitch it out mood... and I am 'up' a couple hundred bucks...so yes, I guess it was. However, there was one thing that the vast majority of 'shoppers' needed that we didn't have...

teeth.

It seemed to be a day of snaggle toothed people. I'm not being critical, just stating a fact.

After the adventure of the day's sale, we headed out to our friends' the Wrights house for dinner. Our other friends, the Wrights were there too...(yeah, it's like Darrell and my other brother Darrell). Typical fun time. Maybe too much fun!! Is that possible?!

The guys, once again flew a hot air balloon...this time with success!!

Yesterday Mark and I headed to the boat.

 Had a delightful time. We've been extremely selfish this year and haven't had anyone on it...except Corbin.

I sailed for a while, so Mark could putter.. he seems to find things to do wherever he is.

I should probably give him lessons in being a slacker...I'm a pro at it. As a matter of fact, it's time for me to rest...just for a minute... the porch swing calls.

ARTS AND CRAFTS....

I should be getting ready for the stupid community garage sale, that I must have been drunk when I signed up for.  But, other than a cabinet and drawer, I'm not so inclined.  Lord knows I need to be, I've got enough crap around here...maybe I'll just open the doors and post a sign...make me an offer...hum...

I've been busy. I HAD to do a lovely triptych of an ugly dinosaur for my youngest nephew's room. It's not MY design, it looks just like the comforter

 (so no, I'm not that bad at painting)...well, maybe I am.

Anyway, it's done.

And, then just because I love torture, we are reupholstering another chair.

This is just a side chair, that belonged to my grandmother Nash.

 It's seen better days.....

See, I gave my sister 6 of my dining room chairs, and now find that I'm in need.  I'm cool with this, as I wanted a different look, and this most certainly will be.  Stay tuned for the finished product.

Henceforth and hereafter, you may just call me Martha Stewart.... check out my roses.... I'm also a master gardener.

(okay, I lied about that too).  But, Grandma and Hallie would be proud!!

Whew....

My life seems to be crazy busy lately..

Last weekend, we had a 'Retirement party' for my mom. She's been helping kids get through Jr. High forever!! And although she was strict and they were respectfully in awe of her...they also really, really liked her.  Some even felt that her retirement meant the end of their Jr. High careers!!!

Interesting thing about mom, she is smart. Very SMART; sometimes annoyingly smart. Not sure what happened with my sister and I...   Once when she had a little heath scare, she had a scan of her head, and the Dr. said 'you have a LOT of brain in there'... ah yeah.

Anyway, Melissa and I jumped in on the planning, as originally two of her coworkers were planning it.  Of course we wanted to help, and so we butted in. Sorry Scott and Sandy!! It all turned out great. Scott had orchestrated the back room at one of our local 'watering holes' here in town. They did a lovely job with food, and flowers~ really everything, we were very pleased, and most importantly, so was she. She enjoyed seeing all the former coworkers and students that came. It was a great time.

Of course, Mark and I enjoyed having our kids and their boy/girl friends all together! Always a fun time.

Also, last weekend, we made the switch to iphones from our lame nextel/sprint ones that we'd been suffering with. The dropped calls were really on MY NERVES. Ugh, and the pompous little jerk with whom I last spoke with on this issue was the deciding factor. So we bit the bullet, paid the early termination fees and moved into the happy world of Apple. Mark and Jessica already had one, but Scarlett, Corbin and I are LOVING it.

On Sunday, we took Scarlett and Dan back to Chicago, so they could head off to work and Mark and I spent the day on the boat... it was a lovely day, a bit cool, but sunny and delightful.

  So much so, I felt compelled to take a nap!

On Monday, I headed out with 3 friends to a delightful cabin in Michigan. It belongs to the brother of one of these ladies. It's become an 'after school is out' tradition, as everyone (but me) is employed at the school.  It's only a little over a 3 hour drive and we always have so much fun. Eating, shopping, pontificating... and all over again the next day. It's right on Lake Michigan, and what's not to love about that?? When I say cabin, is use the term loosely, it's really an extremely nice house.

This year we broke a little from tradition and decided to charter a sailboat (NO it wasn't my boat). It was a 38 ft. boat, and the Capt. and his 1st mate were very nice men. We all really enjoyed it...well, until it hit... one of us (not me) got sea sick... and bless her heart, and she stayed sea sick the rest of the night.

We all felt really bad, she pretty much came home and went to bed. Like the wonderful mother's we are....... we checked on her.... when we got back from the restaurant.

Just got home to flooded Illinois, and the remnants of serious deck/hot tub entertaining.. Corbin, can you pick anything up??? REALLY????

Most serious, however, is the tree above my darling playhouse, that obviously had someone (dad) watching out for it from above, as a huge branch came down and by some miracle didn't hurt it. Whew... that would have broken my heart.

Must advertise my daughter's new blog... go here to check it out... she got her cheekiness from me... just sayin'