The new carpet

So, I've been looking for a cheap but beautiful carpet for our TV area, mainly to anchor the couches in place to keep the one from scooting back into the curtains and over the furnace vent.  We tried carpet grip stuff under the legs, but it didn't work for long. The Liquidation Team had this 8 by 10 that was EXACTLY what I had in mind, and if you don't think it's beautiful, you can word it carefully, but I won't believe you. 

Anyway, I muscled it home, wrestled it around by my lonesome with Ethan and Toby dancing around making me all frazzled.  It took awhile to get it all moved around and lined up and I was pretty sweaty, but happy with how it looked. 

Then.............. dun dun dun. 

I decided to water the plants, and put some miracle-gro in the water, cuz, well, it was just time to do that, and as I walked to the corner to water that Dr. Suess plant I've got there in the corner, I thought "huh, that coffee table is just a little crooked, bent over, and SPLOOSH, there went 2 quarts of blue liquid over the new carpet.  It had been in place all of 30 minutes!!!!!!!!  Yep. 

I hauled it out to the driveway, scrubbed it out and hosed it off.  It washed out fine, and Roger came home to wet carpet drying over the stair railing.  Ethan didn't hear a single one of the dirty words I furiously muttered to myself, so I'm counting this one as a win. 

This all happened early in the month, but such is my camera cycle.  You know, the taking of pictures, the downloading of pictures, the naming of the file, then the cursed searching and searching for the bleeping file.  You gotta want it.

Yes, something needs to be done about the coffee table I bought at Salvation Army 20 years ago, but my gumption for projects is missing, and my money for new is sitting on the floor there. 

Doesn't this look like he's got Dr. Oct legs coming out of his back?

 

Ethan, Aislynn, and Eli had all earned free Utah State fair tickets (plus one free ride and a free drink) this summer by reading books and filling out a form, so we went and had a dang good time, if you don't count the $6 corn dogs.  The kids were most excited by far by this bungee/gymnastic contraption, but the art and craft displays were pretty popular with them too. 

homework, money and crappy plastic toys

The routines of the schoolyear have started up again, and I find myself deluged with making sure one single 2nd grader does his reading, spelling and math pages EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Sunday) and recording it on the form that must be signed and turned in every week. I got a personalized note about checking his math more carefully please. (ok, that was last year, but still! I know the teacher is watching) His piano lessons have homework FOR ME!!!! I could darn near be homeschooling. It was NOT this complicated with my first 2. Sheesh. One thing about having assigned reading every day (20 min) is he only does that, and hardly ever reads for pleasure. (Well, I'm sure having netflix and computers handy affect that situation also. Well, and Roger reads great books nightly to him. Well, and he's young.)



I've gotten really really intolerant of crappy plastic toys, and laid down the law last spring that he couldn't buy anything under $40. Just can't do it. He needed to set a goal for something big that he wants and then save up for it, cuz there are just too many stupid little (..................insert all the things you've ever thought or said about wasteful, expensive, breakable, piece losing, crappy little plastic toys......................) in our house. So he got all motivated to earn money and buy a nintendo DS (gameboy) like Ava has. I thought that was great then found out they cost $180. gulp. I agreed then that we could buy it when he saved up $100, so he piled at least 1/2 his toys in boxes for a garage sale and bugged me weekly about when could we have a garage sale. I should have just let him have his own, but of course I thought I should declutter the whole house and have a GOOD garage sale while we were at it. Which of course I never did, and a friend in our ward just got cancer, and his friends were throwing him a fundraising garage sale, so I gave Ethan $20, and gave the stuff for the garage sale, and got that monkey off my back. The kid's up to $63. Now he's angling to sell me his sack of Halloween candy for $20.


Ok, here's the other thing. If he does all his homework and reading WHICH I AM SUPPOSED TO HELP HIM DO, he can pick a crappy little plastic toy out of the treasure box from his teacher. Same at Piano! 2 crappy little plastic toys per week added to my house!!!! It is a cruel, cruel joke. Especially because he is insanely motivated by these treasure boxes, and the mere mention of these boxes existence wins willing cooperation every time. Do you see my dilemma?

Pictures for your enjoyment.

Paris Hilton's got nothin on us.

A sweater for Abigail Hope Butler. 
yarn: Knitpicks Main Line, Dusty Lavender,
Needle: 7
Pattern: Eloise Eyelet cardi, Lion Brand free pattern, sz 12 mo. 

The yoke detail and snazzy buttons.

Head to Toe new Sunday duds.  Worth gussy-in' up yer hair for.  I wish that closet door handle would stay on.

Ethan almost feels about Toby as he would a sibling, which probably explains the hands around his throat, and the mischeivious glint in his eye.

The beautiful girl in pearls is Breanne being a cashier at her job at The Incredible Pizza Company.  We went there on Labor Day and had much fun and much to eat. 

I forgot I had a blog!

Really!  It was such a surprise (and not in a good way) when I remembered.  Same here when I came home one day from work and found the back door wide open, (open, as in - the dog and the flies and the air conditioning going in and out for 6 hours)  and then the 2 times I found the front door unlocked in the morning. 

I know just what's going on too.  It's the Ambien. Memory loss is one of the side effects, and this happened to an (opinionated) friend of mine.   I cut down to 1/2 pill a night, but it's so good, so very, very good to get 8 full, mostly uninterrupted hours of sleep a night.  Gooooooooooooood. 

But if that's not the problem, then I'm just losing my mind.

So............. when my dog shakes his head violently, as dogs and cats are known to do, his face is so loose the whites of his eyes show on the apex of each shake.   Pause for a second to see this in your minds eye and crack up. 

Roger bought an enormous stand alone basketball hoop at a garage sale, and set it up by the side of the driveway.  It gives me a start each and every time I back up and see it out of the corner of my eye.  Yes, this IS after I look around to see if the driveway is clear of children running over to be run over.