Africa Hot!

Well, it has been Africa hot here! With that and the kids going back to school I've got a lot done in the past week. In my quest to rid this house of the typical surburban white fireplace that everyother house in any subdivision has, that has been fullfilled. I asked Scotty in California to make me a little bit larger mantal to fit on top of the one we have. His reply, "Let me see if I have a tree big enough." I kid you not! :-) He did not, and had to succumb to the lumber yard at Lowes. But he prevailed, he cut it and put a beautiful bevel on it, and stained it walnut and it looks great! I painted the white, cream and brown glazed like the kitchen cabinets. Painted over the gold on the gas fireplace, and Brian and I retiled over the old stuff. We in turn vowed never to tile again and decided those tile guys are severly under paid!
Heres a pic, click on it to make it bigger, sort of like me opening the pantry door.........

I also just wrapped up the website I was making for author Nancy Turner. She is just wonderful to email with, and it's nice to enjoy the author as much as the stories she tells. I contacted her out of the blue because I loved the cover on her second book "Sarah's Quilt" and thought it would make a neat webpage. :-) It turns out that it is the quilt of her great great grandmother in the story and she couldn't be happier that the website graphics are made from it.
Heres her site...
http://www.nancyeturner.net/

I told her she must be famous because somebody bought the domain nancyeturner.com and wanted to make some money off of her to have it, so we went the .net route. :-)
Kids are back in school, and back in their old routine of getting up in the ungodly hours of the morning. Went to Collins classes last night and he has a pretty good crop of teachers. Ian's open house is next week. Had Ian's Sr. picture taken last week, when I get the proofs I will share some on here.

No news in the Brian dept. with the exception of Mim sending a video of movies of his first year. I will try and put some on youtube and share him (and Brenda thinking he is a huge doll) with the world. They put the movies to music, just the melodys and the first one is.....I feel like a woman by Faith Hill. Too funny! Thanks Mim that was an incredibly nice thing to do!

That's about it...stay cool!
M

Hot Weekend!

Last Tuesday we went on a campus tour of Purdue University in Lafeyette (I will learn how to spell that if hes accepted *grin*) with Ian. Went to the little regular college speal and then we went to a special meeting for the engineering dept. Brian was really impressed and wanted to go back to school! :-) They bring all engineering students into the same program and one class is just different engineers discussing their careers, so the students dont have to pick an engineering field until they are sophmores. The college is huge, but the campus seems smaller. Anyway.....thats one of the places Ian will be applying. You usually find out pretty quick if you are accepted, and we plan on getting the app. in by Wed.

Last Thursday Brian and I left for Niagara Falls. We got there around eighty thirty and went to view the American side at night. They light it up at night. The next morning, we paid a visit to the jewelers that are making the "Claire's rings" and they surprised me with a beautiful bracelet to match the rings. Then they offered one for Diana, and I asked for one for Janet who helped, one for the designer, and I asked for one for Diana's asst because she would remind Diana when we needed stuff. :-) Marie who I worked with a lot when I was making the first orders was as wonderful in person as she was on the phone.

Heres a pic...


After that great visit we crossed the border into Canada and saw the falls on the Canada side. You know me and pictures.....I took only a couple. But here they are...

Niagara Slide Show.

Everyone says the Canadian side is better.......and everyone is right! Not only with the views, but the landscaping around the falls is beautiful. Brian said the Canadian side reminded him of Disney World, and the American side was like the Wisconsin Dells! :-) Oh and special message to Gretchen...they had a Hershey Store there and yeah I got ya a wee something.

After the falls, we headed toward Fergus, Ontario and met up with a bunch of friends from my net reading group at a Highland Games, went to a cocktail party given by Diana and Doug, and then a dinner with the group. It was fun.....but it was Africa hot! I didnt take one picture but I have a feeling there will be a ton of them of me out there to showcase just how bad a picture subject I am!

The van got hit in a Tim Hortons donut shop, and Brian got the guys name, but not the insurance info. Took it to the shop today and the small (in Brians words) dent that the guy( who owned a body shop) hit us said would be around 250 to fix, is in reality 800 to fix. Brian got his name and number, but not insurance crapola. Needless to say Brian and I are in "discussions" of his habit of thinking things are no big deal! In my forty-four years of living, I have found when I person says one of their boo boos is "no big deal" it really means "I'm incredibly stupid sometimes!" :-)

Kids start school on Wednesday.....how they will catch the bus at 6:58 I have no idea!

M

Another Month Bites the Dust!

As usual summer is going way too fast!

Last week Soncerae and 3/4 of her family came to visit on her way to visit old friends in Granger. She's skinny now and I hate her! :-) I haven't seen her in a couple of years and the visit made me realize how much fun we have when we are together.

On Wednesday last week, the boys and I met up with the Simpsons, non-yellow variety, for their annual boating on Lake James day. We got a lot of fun in before the rain started and didn't end. Thank goodness another friend of ours lives on the lake and we had a nice dry place to pass the time. Thanks Betsy! Highlight of the trip was Daniel falling into the dirty channel in a downpour. Just wish I saw it. :-) Thanks for the wonderful day Simpsons!


I finished a webpage/graphics I was making for a friends new candle business. It turned out rather pretty. It really was a joint project, I made the page and graphics, and Angela did all the text and the fantastic pics she took of her candles.
Here's the site...
Tartan Candle Company

Next, Im working on a site for her horse hair bracelets. Which I cant wait for her to sell because I think they are the coolest things!

The kids...they are just enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer. They did have to clean the garage today though. We all saw The Simpsons Movie today, if you are a fan...go see it!
Simpsonize yourself at this site: Simpsonize Me!

Here we are. Im thinking I look better as a Simpson! :-)



As usual Ive been playing on here way too much and laundry is stacking up!

Hope all is well on your end!

M