Bungalow Changes

April has been a month for changes around the bungalow. Unforunately they haven't been all about the kitchen remodel which is on my list.
One of them was we got a new dishwasher - called Quiet Partner it's super fancy and has all kinds of settings I don't know about. As an added bonus we also got a new circuit for the breaker box too! :D No photos sorry.
We did some spring planting, in addition we shoved all the gravel from the flowerbeds seriously who knew that was such hard work - I'm still looking for someone who wants like a truckload of cleanfill. We mulched and put in some tiles. Here's a peek at things...
We have the worlds greenest grass and that saab there is probably the worlds cleanest saab.

Here's the side yard - obviously nothing has grown yet but we did discover that we have a water spicket on the side of the house we didn't know about.
I planted veggies in most of the flowerbeds - see here we have onions, garlic and herbs (check out the annoying neighbors dogs who like to watch the whole process).
And some of the the back - the wildflowers have already sprouted although not in this picture but we do love the tiles under the hose keeps you from standing in mud or mulch. That little bird house is really a butterfly house dad gave me. Again note the greenest grass ever!
Joe came and got his sofa and since my other sofa was given to someone else I took the "naked" living room as an opportunity to get rid of the worlds nastiest carpet ever! I have been wanting to do this project since I bought the house as I only bought house because of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 3/4" thick hardwoods (well that's what I'm telling myself). Everyone got their very own Stanley crowbar and we said goodbye & I HATE you.
Safety first! goggles and masks are always a must
Everyone got involved - big kudos to Jono who continues to be lead worker in all my home improvement projects - he even got up early on a Sunday to haul gravel (now that's commitment!). And this week he is the best staple getter seen all week!
Here's another view of the wood isn't it pretty? I'm in love with it already and my living room is still naked.
Schreve and Max came to help too and grill us supper and stuff.
Oh and Chris also stopped by to help with the changes we tasked him with trying to fix the ornery ceiling fan we installed last year - which I'm sad to report will not be fixed despite all the wiring combinations, switch changes and whatnot.
Stay tuned for more changes as we aren't really done yet...

Happy Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Today is my sweet friend Stephanie's Birthday! I hope it's marvelous!

Random

Stormtroopers

Stig is on the Move.

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful

Brand New Banksy

Worcester in April

So on my list this year is to share more stories on my blog #51. And I think is one just waiting to be told...

Once upon a time in a land not so far away called Worcester went out to supper with Tracy at this seafood place that's supposed to be like one of the best seafood restaurants in the world - Sole Proprietor. Anyhow I don't so much like seafood but Tracy loves loves loves it. And I'm a good friend who also happens to drag her all over creation to visit this person or that person (sharing a car with me must suck). Anyhow I had the chicken tacos and a vodka mai tai and Tracy got shrimp with an entree of stuffed shrimp and shrimp soup (it's shrimpfest). Mine was so so - Tracy's was apparently FABULOUS and the place was very affordable who knew. This story is not just about out adventure at Sole so I'll move on...
We headed out to the car getting ready to head back to the hotel and Tracy spies a manicurist and she desperately needs to have her nails done. Well me I do not like to be touched by strangers so I just do my nails at home. Well she mentions going and I feel like I should go with her since she's had a rotten day (and her nails need at least a coat of polish). So in we go - they are literally about to close it's 6:30 and they close at seven and in march the Tracy and Katie show and we have decided to get Mani/Pedis which apparently at this little place also come with foot massages and take around 2 hours (no joke).
So up in the massage chair/foot bath I go and here comes my soon to be newest friend Coco; however mind you at this point I'm not really wanting him to touch me but instead I'm kind of disgusted at the thought he probably touched like at least 20 other peoples feet that day (ick). But I bite my lip and suck it up as I can see Tracy who is well under way with a massage from Coco's brother who speak NO English is thoroughly enjoying herself.
Coco is pleased to learn we like to talk as he's trying to learn more English himself and he is delighted to learn about us. We quickly learn that he is Vietnamese and has four children the oldest being 20 and the youngest being 2 months. He also tells me he wants to have 10 kids (his wife who is working on the girl in the next chair is not amused by this thought). Anyhow he and I proceed to chat it up about Vietnam and different places he and I have both traveled (meanwhile there is some nail filing and I am also not a fan of the filing of nails another thing that just makes me nutty - ewe) .
It seems he has been to Indianapolis however it did not really make much of an impression on him. I proceeded to change the color of my nails like 4 times in our conversation - from gray, to purple, to pink to pink purple. I'm all sorts of all over the place and coco is trying to talk me into getting a map of Vietnam on my toes - yes that's right a map of Vietnam. Tracy and Coco's wife Judy are laughing at this debate over what should be the design on my toe for at least ten minutes. Finally we decide that he can make a Vietnamese butterfly.
He continues to be intrigued about learning English and I taught him some expressions about things to say about cute babies after he shared a picture with me of his baby girl- "Cute as a button" and "so adorable you just want to eat her up" all the while I'm feeling like a speech teacher helping him perfect his English - he is loving it and repeating back everything I say.
Somehow we got on a discussion about disco dancing and drinking (did you know in Vietnam you can be 10 and drink - who knew). Oh I think we got onto it from our discussion about things Coco likes to do in spare time which is kung fu - and I was like really you are all jackie chan and and he was like for $7/hour I will be your body guard and you can go out disco dancing - isn't that hilarious? He wanted to be my body guard at disco dancing. I'm envisioning it now my 4'9" kung fu fighting body guard at a dance club that would be a sight for sore eyes. LOL.
As we left the shop Tracy and I can't stop laughing as Coco is jumping up and down waving us goodbye and telling me he loves me. Just another adventure

Tuesday Tutorial - How to Gatsby

So I didn't write this one. But you know my camera with my tutorial is at home and I'm at the Hilton in Worcester, MA so you know it happens. Anyhow I thought I would share this delightfulness because you know everyone should know how to gatsby. Literally how fabulous is that? I wonder if my great grandma's wore Gay Washable Frocks? Surely they must have.

Gardens Planted and Mulched - Check

well our gardens/flower beds are planted and mulched and all that jazz. I can't wait until things are all growing and stuff. We did most of it except for the front beds by seed so there's some anticipation with that. However we are officially done with the gravel removal project (aside from taking it to the dump) we used 20 bags of mulch, and approximately 16 bags of soil. Big thanks to the best graveler seen all year - Jono who did the majority of the shoveling and wheeling that gravel out.
I found this link after I already seeded my flowerbeds - but isn't this fun.
And I think this yard adorable we talked about moving out the old driveway but I think that is a project for another time. But how adorable would your own chessboard patio be? Jono wanna get that jackhammer now?
Something we didn't plant but could have been fun - Edamame - it would grow great in Indiana soil too. Yum!Anyhow I'll share a few picks of the yard or tomorrow I need to pack and run to walgreens for contact solution.

Tree Stamps

I talked to Amy today and it seems she's out of her stash of birthday cards at the office - we cannot have that. So I looked in my stockpile and somehow I am almost out of birthday cards to give her. We cannot have that!
So after a few hours of yard work I headed out to the studio and cranked out a stack of cards with my new tree stamp. Here is the product.

The 700 Club

Officially this is my 700th post to this blog. Yup that's right who knew I would like blogging so much when I started. I really do enjoy it! I feel a little as though it helps keep me on target/track for life. not that makes any sense but regardless. plan to keep on blogging even if it's only for me who reads it although I know that's not true as I continually talk to friends of mine and they are like "ya I know I read that on your blog" - lol.
Anyhow it seems fitting that my 700th post have a purpose so I wanted to share about Saturday night, which was a good day at the Joneses.
First let's have a photo of neon pancakes... yup that's right we had neon pancakes on Saturday, they were supposed to be rainbow but we forgot a few colors. Next time.
Okay back to Saturday night...
It was a night of firsts for my mom. You may remember she is still midst the nasty divorce that never ends that just seems to want to tear her down and discourage her left and right. But I think it's particularly awesome that she isn't sitting around wallowing in self-pity but instead she's working on living the life she is intended to live and trying to make it action packed and full. So on Saturday we had the opportunity to go to a Pacers game with free tickets from Jono's employer and wouldn't you know as much as momo loves basketball she had never been to an NBA game. So off we went to the game where we saw the Pacers rally back and beat the Nets (nevermind that they are like the worst team in the league). I think she had a swell time - we even got free coupons for the concession.
Here we have momo and some guy who once played at Duke (ick - although in all fairness mom loves duke).

I just love this shot looks like it was taken from TV or something - everyone is so still and perfect.
I put my size 11 shoes in D. Joneses footprint. Makes my big feet look small don't you think.
After the game we wanted to cross something else off mom's list of things to do now that she can chose what she does. On the list was "sit and drink at a bar" - believe it or not momo has been in bars probably less than 10 times in her life and all of those times she didn't sit at a bar. So off to Chatham Tap we went. Momo doesn't really drink much (or ever) and so of course we were SHOCKED when she ordered a glass of wine. There was a toast (#32 on my list) that went a little like this...
To growing new gardens
To NBA basketball games
To drinking in bars
To husbands request for maintenance and attorney fees being denied
To new superhero friends
Here Here
(It was actually longer than that but I have since forgotten).
And look there is mom drinking her wine in a Bar (too cute).
After that we also went to Schreve's new place which was mom's first time there and she got to sit in his fancy new chair and visit and play with max and I think she loved every minute of it. So here's to 700 more posts, and crossing more things off lists.

Tuesday Tutorial - Flower Garden

PS - I am also growing veggies and berries just wait for more photos.
PPS - consider this #20 done.

Tuesday Tutorial - Pin Cushion

credits:
Thanks to Tammy for saving me up random containers - I still do alter things
Thanks to my grandma for the fantastic button and the big fat needles
Thanks to Alicia for taking some of the photos

Recapping Easter

I know today is Tuesday and I'm just about to go finish the tutorial don't worry! But since the memory card is in the laptop and I wanted to blog - so a recap our Easter - the day started out like most Sunday sleeping in and then I did a little cleaning and jono worked in the yard and on his car. We brought in the new dishwasher which we had intended on installing only to discover that the old one is plugged into the drywall and not the outlet - so we need to find another solution to that. So it waited. We went off to mom's for some easterness. It was relatively quiet at mom's Lita was at Grandma's or maybe with some boy or some place. So Jono invited Shannon who you might remember from last fall to join us and she came over and brought the newest edition to her fam - little big cam. Anyhow momo made us coq au vin and we drank some wine and made some merriness. Momo also made us easter baskets she had the funniest time picking out the stuff for us too - wtg momo! Anyhow I would be remiss if I didn't share some snaps...

daffodils from mom's yard

Little Big Cam - any guess how old he is?

Me and the peeps - FYI I don't usually have a habit or running around with super messy hair and a scarf but it was an open windows kind of day in the car.

The cutest wine bottle label

Family dinner - note jono please stop looking like you are stoned.

mom making her coq au vin - in a red pot just like grandma dessie used to make

Jono tried to be studious for a little bit and read his investment books - notice how he can't keep from laughing?

Oh and we took little big cam out for a neighborhood stroll along first street and second street - did you know liberty was even big enough for that? I did but that is because this is my old paper route.

More later I promise.