photoshop restoration

i have stolen this photo from my mother in law to restore, it is so cute! that is my honey and his baby sister on her first birthday. aaaawwww!
below you see after i have restored it, what do you think?

...hades

this is what our stairway looks like (from top looking down) now that we have begun to tear it part. gross. today we take the walls out. i really want that spiral staircase...

stairway to...

i am beginning to think we should replace our stairs with a spiral staircase kit. i kinda like these, but i still have some shopping to do...

now we've done it!

well, it finally happened. something went horribly wrong and forced us to begin the remodel of our kitchen, that we have been planning/putting off for years. just in time for the grand opening of our ikea! our water heater exploded. the worst part about it really is that we had been thinking about replacing it, but were planning to get one of those fancy gas heaters that keeps you in constant hot water... we needed a new one today- so we just got a regular electric one. now we will probably never get the one we really wanted. the best part is, we had to tear out a wall of the kitchen to get to the exploded one! i know, "how can that be the best part?" you ask yourself. well, i have wanted to tear out that wall for as long as we have lived here. and now i did. and now we can continue with the plans we had laid for remodeling the kitchen. around here, everything begins with something dramatic. well the new water heater is installed and working properly, so tomorrow i wont have to go to my BFF's for a shower. and i can finish the laundry. and wash the dishes.

another happy birthday

happy birthday norman (super dad)!p.s. thank you to everyone who showed up at norm's birthday party! we had such a blast and it was so good to have everyone together. also, thank you the wonderful staff at mcshane's, you guy's are great! to everyone who did not end up in the photo, i am sorry- for some reason, we didn't remember to take a lot of photos?!

i know i meant to mention it

...at least a hundred times! the kids got me a new sewing machine for mother's day. actually, gwynneth said "i did not get you that- i wanted to get you gummy bears!" the old one was too heavy for me to get out and put away by myself, which meant that i put off all the sewing projects i have wanted to undertake. i have been very excited about it, but alas have not had a chance to use it. we have been so busy getting ready for, then catching up from our vacation. and i still have a gazillion photos to download/upload and share.miss k. is coming over today to help out around the house in an effort to drudge up extra mall dollars before the weekend, so i think i may get a chance to do some sewing today! i have been planning on recycling the fabric from this great shirt i once bought for a 70's theme party. i think it will make a perfect stuffed toy for baby io. i envision a monkey...

and pretty little maids all in a row

i am not sure what kind of peppers these are, but they sure are prettythis one is growing upside-downand these are my baby roma tomatoes

more than meets the eye

i admit it. i am a bit of a geek. o.k., it is probably more fair to say i am a lot of a geek. i went to see the transformers movie because optimus prime is the other love of my life. next to flint (of g.i. joe fame) and norman (who doesn't seem to mind that i am a geek!). i enjoyed the movie. i was on the edge of my seat the whole time. but really- i was disappointed in it too. the decepticons were hardly anything like i remember. they looked like something out of an arnold schwarzenegger movie, not like the originals. the autobots looked like the originals (for the most part), and they even stayed true to cheesy john wayne-esque optimus prime personality. the action sequences went too fast. and they were too close-up, so it was hard to tell what was happening. i think it was a method of avoiding the complexity of showing the transformers transform in their entirety. there was also some all too blatant advertising. none of the buildings had names on them- except citibank. they spent too much time focussing on the gmc logos on the autobots. and transformed an xbox, and a mountain dew vending machine, and a nokia phone... and the movie was looooong. it seemed like just when you thought it would end, it began again....

independedence day

we had a great 4th of july celebration. sangria, hot dogs, swimming pool, flame dancers, fireworks...
p.j. didn't care much for the fireworks, but came out later with his hard hat and watched from the other side of the fence.