A Square A Day

Setting: A while ago we took Klay to the Texas Safari. A drive through zoo with many exotic animals. They give visitors bags of feed to attract the animals, and then send them on their merry way to see all there is to see. Toward the end of our day we were passing all the large birds, and an ostrich was in the road going from car to car begging for foods. When it came to ours it stuck its head an neck through my window, and when I didn’t have any food to offer it tried Klay’s window. He shrieked and ran to the other side of the truck…

“That ostrich almost ate my face off!”

Today’s Exploit:

I think I mentioned that I am trying to make a quilt from pieces that my second mom gave me a while ago. I finally dragged it out and started working on it again. I have finished 2 squares and have 15 left. 

So I have a goal: to complete 1 square each day for the next 2 weeks. Then I should be DONE with the first stage of this quilt. 

The next stage will be deciding how to put the pieces together. Should it just be the girlies? Or should it have spacers? If so what colors should the spacers be? How big is this crazy thing going to be? How fancy should I make it? 

Never ending questions.

In the mean time, I am focusing on getting the squares done. A square a day. 

Whew. 

Poppies

Group Laziness

H. and Chuk were there for the fire, Stella was there for the pets.

Pull-Ups

A Klay Quote:

Setting: H. and Klay coming home for the weekend. H. called me to ask a question, but got a voice mail recording.

“How did she do the voice mail message if she couldn’t get to her phone?”

Today’s Exploit:

I can do pull-ups now, and I am very proud of myself.

I still struggle to do them with out a little momentum, but I’m getting there.

I do a “kipping” pull-up. Which means that I do a little swing and kick to get my chin over the bar, but I can do them. I am up to 6 in a row, mostly limited by he fact that the bar HURTS my hands. Right now my record is 50 in about 5 minutes. I had a partner, and together we had to do 100.

After doing those 50, the coach decided that I need to do “gymnastics homework” to do a new kind of pull-up. It’s called a butterfly, and it is slightly scary and magical and weird. You can find an example of the butterfly pull-ups here.

A New Year

This week’s recommended reading:

Image from here.

Today’s Exploit:

I have suddenly come into a profusion of books. I was showered with them for Thanksmas and Christmas. My family finally listened to me… They never get me books anymore, so it was quite exciting. I am working on number 4 right now. Yay.

This one comes with high recommendations. H has read one book since we met, and it’s this one. Not only that, he’s read it twice.

So I am delighted to enter a new year with so many new books to read, to distract me from my continued joblessness (and the fact that I haven’t heard anything about a recent interview), and that H. is back at work on a schedule that I don’t particularly like.

Happy Belated New Year. (You can hear the noisemakers, right? And the 73025 fireworks that had Stella and Chuk driving me nuts with their shivers and need to be ON my lap.) 

... A POOL!

I did 42 kipping pull-ups today.

Hands hurt now.

Today’s Exploit:

My parents came to visit this spring. They have really awesome luck when they come down, in that it always rains. They came down for Thanksmas one year and it had been beautiful and 70-75 degrees for the week before they arrived. It was rainy, sleety, windy and nasty the whole time they were here.

This time was the same. We got gallons and gallons of rain. I think we saw sunshine for 23.6 minutes the whole week. And that time was so humid it hurt.

Anyway, while they were here we took my dad to watch Klay be a Little Beast at my gym while Cupcake and I danced around and did choreographed kickboxing, or something. On the way to the gym we saw a skeleton of a house. No walls, no roof, just framing. 

My dad tried to make a comment on it, but was interrupted in a most hilarious way by Klay.

Dad: That house doesn’t have…

Klay: …A POOL!

It is now one of my favorite quotes of all time and I think of it every time I drive by that house, which is pretty darn often.

Painting Some More

 This week’s recommended reading:

Today’s Exploit:

I have finally gotten back to painting my house. I have been neglecting it for about 5 months, give or take.

We had someone come and do the main living area of the house last November, but I had only done the upstairs bedrooms and part of our bedroom. So I had a half done bathroom for months and months.

Well, I finished the bathroom, and took down the light fixtures. So now I have a fresh painted, albeit, dark bathroom. It is nice during the day when you can see what you’re tripping over.

Next I started working on the media room. It is basically a bedroom, but has some recessed lighting. At least that’s why I think they called it that. It was a charming yellow, like my kitchen and dining rooms. But I wanted it white to be better for watching movies with the projector, and H. goes with it because it’s easier than arguing. Also, the furniture will be gray, not brown. Also, because it is easier to agree than argue.

While I was at it, I decided to paint my kitchen since the removal of the nasty plastic backsplash left a mismatch of yellow and tan in addition to some charming gashes. They were kind enough to use foam glue to secure the plastic stuff. Naturally it tore the layers of paint and speckling off when I took it down.

Now I just need to paint some cabinets and vanities and we’ll be off to the next project.

Yay.

Chukie Has Hiccups

Frio Weekend

Q: What did one wall say to the other wall? 

A: I'll meet you at the corner. 

Today’s Exploit:

We went to the Frio River last weekend. It was lovely and chaotic.

We stayed in a house with 12.2 people. 7 Adults (They claim), 1 Almost Adult, 5 Kids and 1 newborn (hence the .2). Plus two crazy dogs that thought 5 kids was AMAZING.

The weekend was a waterlogged adventure of too much alcohol, too much food and manic kids on a Tarzan swing. 

Friday night was beer pong and lots of drunken hugs and “I love you”s. Letting kids stay up too late and eating too many cookies.

Saturday was enough food to feed 87, an afternoon at the Frio itself and a bazillion tubers. 

Saturday evening was spent at the creek by the house with kids on the Tarzan swing. I went to the pool with them to make sure no one drowned. H. went with me and a couple others came for a while. I managed to be in the water when one of the kiddies let go at the wrong time and got a knee stuck between a rock and a pretty big root, shrieking his head off making people think he severed his leg rather than being stuck. Later on, when all the adults deserted me, another kiddie decided not to let go at all and smacked into the tree with the back of his head.

But overall it was a good weekend and everyone had fun and no one got seriously hurt.

Supposedly we’re supposed to go on a cruise next year…