I wish this came out clearer..

I would like to thank Auds, and Joanne for sending this one my way. It lives behind the mailbox right next to my front door. Not as big as theirs, but perhaps it is the spawn of the satan spider... ewwwww.

Whats that smell????

Ever since we moved into this house, we can't seem to shake the smell of cat pee. Now, my mother had many cats over the past 30 some years and our Gemma has been known to have an accident now and again. When we came back from England, we smelled and overwhelming scent of cat pee. It was horrible. Emmas room absolutely stunk of it. It still does- to the point I have to keep her window shut at times. This really sucks since we've had a bit of a cool down the past few days and can get away without the air conditioners running! So here we were, really pissed off (no pun intended) that our cats have been pissing, and that my mom let them whilst we were away. Then something came to me... back at the townhouse I had some juniper bushes removed because they stunk of pee.. then low and behold, I discovered that the house is surrounded by boxwood and juniper bushes.. Check this out from a realestate site


http://crosslandteam.com/blog/2006/04/04/boxwood-shrub-can-stink-up-your-sale/


"We have a listing with an odor problem at the front porch. The seller assumed it was the neighbor’s cats coming around and spraying her front porch, and she’s been putting up with it for years. We’ve taken steps to mitigate the smell, but when I showed up this morning to open the home for a Keller Williams Realtor tour, it reeked at the front entry. “Darn” I thought. “Those blasted cats are back again”.
With no time to do anything about it, I made the best of it and hoped the smell would not overshadow the fact that the home is spic and span, staged well, and ready for move-in. Sure enough though, one of the agents walked in and said “pew! It smells like cat pee out there!” Another responded with, “that’s not cat odor, it’s the boxwoods”. Huh? She took me out and showed me the nice hedge that runs the length of the sidewalk leading to the entry and told me they are Boxwood shrubs and that they are known to emit an odor that is often mistaken for the urine of a male cat.
I stuck my nose down and took a good sniff and she was right, that shrub stinks! “How do you know the cats haven’t sprayed the shrub and that’s why it stinks?” I asked. She said she knows a lot about plants, and that the smell is the boxwood plant itself, not cats. A bit of internet research confirms this.


Now we know what the stench is, and John is armed with his new chainsaw. They will be the first to go!!!!




Here's the culprit.. one of 4!

ugh

What is causing all of this?? I put her down for a second to massage my arm since it felt like it was going to fall off. All day... allday. I counted the hours till I put her to bed. nuff said.

dinner party..

I'm confused.. but I'll let you know what this is when I know!


if you haven't read barking mad, do so. YOu'll have a great laugh at 99.999% of the posts!

I need it to be autumn...

Every year at this time, I get the "summer blues". I am over the hot weather, humidity, and the sounds of thousands of crickets/locusts (whatever they are) at night. I don't enjoy the sun. Never have.. Let me rephrase that.. I don't like the HOT summer sun.
I only have 3 weeks left until I go back to work, Emma goes to her nursery class (as a "duckling"), and things can get back to normal to me.
In these 3 weeks, we need to empty out the townhouse, paint the posts and garage border, cut up the ugly china closet that I couldn't even give away on craigs list, and yet there hasn't been anything happening at this house. That totally has me bummed out.

My mother believed in painting everything white.. not a cream or eggshell, but ARTIC WHITE. None of these rooms in this house feel like home to me. They feel like my stuff in my mothers drab, white house. Her feelings were that because there are so many freakin trees around (which she would NEVER let my dad cut down when they were manageable), she would paint the house white to "brighten it up". This house is so white, its grey. The kitchen is WHITE. Countertops, sink, dishwasher, stove, and microwave. The cabinets are a pine color. wow. OH- I forgot to add that there is a blue rug in the living room.. lets add another color to make the house look grey.
I want nothing more than to grab a tin of paint.. something like a bright sage, or pastel yellow, or even a peach.. to at least do Emma's room.
I digress. I am ready for autumn.Ready for no airconditioning. Ready for the oranges, yellows and crisp weather. I am ready to be able to make chili, stews, and bake stuff (although you know how I cook- not bad for normal people, but to a chef- I am bad). I am ready to take Emma to the park without her coming home with a sweat soaked head. I am just ready to be me again.. as soon as I can make this house "our house".

some firsts- and a video

Emma is not much of a talker. Well, let me rephrase that- not much of a "people words" talker. She can babble with the best of them. Well, today during her bath, she added a new word to her vocab. It was "Hi Duck". She said it 2 times, and that was it. I can't get her to say it again. So far we have: Hi Cat, Hi Duck bear ba ba (baby) dada mmmmamamama Second on the "firsts" list would be her first somersault. Yes- started to do her "downward dog" position and then rolled straight on her back. She loved it, I freaked. Third on the list.. and I am not going crazy on this one.. When playing with her fisher price house (so different from the cool one I had), she rang the door bell and then SANG "da da" on the SAME pitches. Gifted. Well, maybe not.. LOL I won't go crazy on that one since I truly think parents who make their kids sing etc, are committing a form of child abuse. You know the little kids who really suck on "America's got talent" and the parents act like they are the best ever? More on this later... battery is about to die! Here's my little dancing queen

fingers crossed!

I've accepted an offer on my house, which many of you know. THe home inspection is Friday morning. Its not the price I want, but in this market, its the best I will get, I think.
Did I tell you all that my oaf of a neighbor had workmen park in my driveway to do all the work? two trucks, power tools, debris, and cigarette butts everywhere.what a mess. John went over there and told them to move, they did for the day. Then they kept it up. It took my realtor to call them, TWICE, to tell them to move out of my driveway, or the police would be called. They actually had the nerve to ask how she knew they were there- and she told them that their neighbors had told me. There hasn't been a recurrance, and hopefully now that a "under contract" sign is up, they will straighten their act up.
So, all I have to do is empty out the few things that are still in there (most of which I will sell at a huge community yard sale- at my sisters), and paint the front posts and garage door frame.