Author: Jo

Our Furry Babies

Yesterday I went a little camera happy with my Sigma lens and took several pictures of my furbabies.  There’s just something about this lens that I LOVE!  It takes such wonderful pictures, even though it doesn’t have a zoom on it, which can be a little inconvenient at times.  But it’s definitely a favorite lens for portraits.

It all started when I saw Lazarus laying inside this water bottle wrapping.  I thought to myself, “That would make a cute picture.”  And since I already had my camera in my hand from taking Steve’s picture yesterday, it made my decision very easy.

He’s such a cutie.

Then he saw Fancy hiding under the kitchen table and started stalking her behind Steve’s shoes.

And then……POUNCE!!!  He’s always doing that, but he’s so much slower than the other kitties that it’s pretty funny to watch.

When he couldn’t catch her, he came back and laid by the water bottle wrapper again and said, “What?  I wasn’t doing anything.  I was just laying here the whole time.”  Ok, he didn’t say that, but he is probably the easiest of our cats to tell what he is thinking.  He’s definitely a talker and complains a lot.

Then I saw pretty Lacey laying on the Sprite on top of the counter.  The light was hitting her in such a way that she just begged to have her picture taken.

Look at this gorgeous girl with her baby blue eyes!

Oh yah, that’s the spot!

Here’s a lovely shot of Fancy, who’s usually not very photogenic.  She can be looking at me completely fine, but the second I point a camera at her she turns away, so this shot was really exciting to get!  Such a pretty petite little thing.  Fance only weighs about 7 pounds on a good day.

Can’t forget about the doggies!  Here’s our sweet Kaylee.  Another non-photogenic baby.  She does not like having her picture taken and always refuses to look at the camera.

So if she ever does look at me, I have to have a very quick trigger finger and snap the photo with lightning speed!

“Don’t I have a pretty nose, Mommy?!  And how about those teeth?  I don’t know how to use my teeth to their full potential, but they sure do look pretty!”

And of course there’s Camelot, who recently made a trip to the groomers where he received his summer shave down.  I planned it so that he would be at the groomers during Elizabeth’s bridal shower.  Pretty sure everyone didn’t want to listen to Camelot bark during the entire shower.

Whenever I go outside with them, the dogs seem to get a sudden burst of energy and start playing chase.  Loving those ears, Camelot!  You can see his summer cut pretty good in this picture compared to Kaylee’s long coat.

I think it’s funny that I caught Camelot’s ears in the “up” position in each of these photos. 🙂  This one of him makes me smile.  He just looks like he’s having such a good time, doesn’t he?

Bite that butt!

Aww, little big buddies.  Thanks for sharing my babies with me!

Just had to see this one of Fancy one more time. 🙂

The Smokey House Rehab (Part 4)

We’ve made some good progress on the Smokey House rehab.  For the past few days we’ve been concentrating on painting the ceilings and some of the trim.  Boy has that been a painful task!  Painting ceilings is super hard on the neck, shoulders, and arms.  But the transformation has been incredible!  See for yourself!

It’s a little hard to see in this picture, but Steve painted the ceiling on the left, which is above the living room, and the ceiling on the right (over the dining room) is unpainted.  You can tell that the ceiling on the right has more of a yellow tinge to it.

This might be a better picture to show you just how yellow the ceilings were.  See that area around the base of the ceiling fan that’s really brownish yellow?  That’s what the entire ceiling looked like!  It’s amazing what some paint can do.

Here’s what Steve’s face looked like after a day of painting ceilings. 🙂

And here’s what Steve looks like after a day of painting ceilings, while holding Lazarus, and without a shirt on. 🙂

He also painted this door.  You don’t realize just how yellow all the doors are until you paint one of them white.  Incredible.

Here I am painting the trim, which also had a yellow tinge.  Maybe I should have named this house the Yellow Tinge House instead of the Smokey House.

(Holy Cow!  After seeing this picture I can tell how badly my roots have grown out!  I need to make a hair appointment quick!)

Here’s a great before and after picture.  The door frame on the right has been painted, the one on the left…..obviously has not.

It’s just amazing that this is what smoking in your house does.  If that’s not a reason to quit smoking, or at least to smoke outside, I don’t know what is!

We discovered a leak in the laundry room.

It started out as just a tiny bit of water around the wall below the hot and cold water pipes that the washing machine connects to.  We didn’t think much of it because a little water had dripped out when we removed the washer, so we thought that was what it was from.

But when we returned a couple days later, it had gotten much worse.  Luckily we found a plumber at a VERY reasonable price that will be fixing a leaky toilet, sink, and this leak in the laundry room.

It’s been a very tiring and painful couple weeks….

But at least I have this handsome man to keep me company.

The Smokey House Rehab (Part 3)

This past weekend after all the bridal shower festivities Steve and I got back to work on the Smokey House rehab.  Luckily it’s starting to smell a lot better in there after we ripped out the carpet.  We’re enjoying doing the work ourselves, even though it can get really tiring.

This lovely lady gave us a stare down as we stopped to admire her on the way to Home Depot.  I hope we can have at least one cow someday!  They just look so cuddly!

Steve went CRAZY here!  We had a 10% off entire purchase coupon up to $2000, and Steve was determined to utilize it to it’s full potential!  We bought a table saw, circular saw, chop saw, saw blades, large level, rubber mallet, paint for ceiling and trim, paint brushes, paint rollers, air compressor with nail gun, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  Steve justified all the new tools because we were not paying someone to do all the work, so we might as well use that money for new tools that we can use over and over again.  Men.

When we arrived, the tree clearing guys were almost done clearing the two gigantic cedar trees that took up almost the entire backyard.  Before, you couldn’t see anything beyond where that guy is standing.  Now you can tell how large the yard is!  It looks 100x better!  The forest behind that fence was starting to make it’s way into the yard, and these guys were able to clear all that too.

And the best part was…..they threw all the trees into a chipper and hauled it all away!

I had the fun job of removing the nasty vinyl from the kitchen and bathrooms.

The smell was so gross.  The heat gun would literally cook the disgusting stains and spills on the vinyl and I had to breathe it in.  After I was completely finished I talked to my dad about it and he said, “I hope you were wearing a mask.”  Duh……a mask.  Ya think that might have helped?  Sheesh, I can be a real blonde sometimes.

But I didn’t complain!  I was accomplishing something I had never done before all by myself!

Here’s a close up of me using the heat gun to remove the vinyl.

And here’s the finished product!  That large wood area in the middle was super easy to remove.  I didn’t even have to use the heat gun there.  He must have spilled something that somehow soaked into the vinyl and loosened the adhesive, because there was a large orange stain there.

Here’s another view of the kitchen, and Steve taking out the trash.

Here’s the living room.  Steve removed all the baseboards to get ready to paint and put the laminate floors in.  The floors will probably be the last thing we do.

Here’s the front entryway.  Steve did an amazing job removing the wood floors that were there.  They were glued down over every square inch, and it was really difficult to remove, but he did it!

Bedroom #1 is ready to be painted!

So is Bedroom #2!

The Master Bedroom is ready for paint too!  See that small square of tan paint on the left under the window?  That’s the color all the walls will be, except for the kitchen and possibly bathrooms, which will be white.

Here’s the master bathroom without the vinyl floors.

Ever since we started this rehab project, this little nest with 5 baby birds has been sitting here next to the front walkway.  They must have just hatched right before we started because they were TINY a couple weeks ago.

Look at that little guy!  They’re definitely a lot bigger now.  I don’t know how 5 of them can fit in there!

Mama and Papa bird are very diligent parents.  Every time someone walks by the nest, or even opens the front door, they sit on the roof watching to make sure their babies don’t get harmed.

Don’t worry guys, we won’t hurt your babies!  We made sure to tell the tree clearing crew to be careful around the nest and not to knock it down while they were clearing some of the trees and bushes in the front yard.  I can’t wait to see when they’ll fly away!