This Old House



So.... I have been neglectful in posting pictures, so I am gunna begin to go a little photo crazy... I will introduce our FIRST House!!

Mike and I bought our first house when I was 20 and Mike was 21! Crazy eh? Hard to believe having a mortgage that young, but we did and we survived and it was great! We started off small and I mean SMALL, quaint, miny, midget, little, modest... get the idea? Well if not, I will help you PICTURE it.


I will note that we lived in our first house for 4 years, we had 2 dogs there for the most part, but sometimes 4 and we had 2 cats, plus hubby that is 6'4'' and myself 5'11''.

Street View

Side View

Back Deck

Pond/Waterfall that hubby made for me... totally miss it!

Mudroom/Laundry Room

Mike's Games Room... or 2nd bedroom (that never had a bed)

Looking into the kitchen from the mudroom... Please note that the kitchen pictures were taken after I had moved out, not my decor, just my paint!



Kitchen



Other side of kitchen

Living Room

Other side of Living Room... note the hardwood floors... LOVED them!

Part of Master bedroom

Other part of Master Bedroom... wall hand painted... by ME

Had to add this one too, so you could see the above closet storage!!

Bathroom, naked... after we moved out, so minus my decor, just my paint... looks soo bland now!

Bathroom vanity... minus mirror and decor!

 And well that is it folks! Yes, the tour only took 5 minutes... if that! But it was a good first house! I loved the hardwood floors in the Living Room, that we I refinished and yes there were a few light shows going on when I zapped the cord with the disk sander... Mike's mom actually verathaned them and they turned out PERFECT! They had 6 coats of paint, with the top couple being chocolate brown... they were even red at one point! We wanted to do the bedroom too, but they were not in good shape when we pulled up the carpet! However the carpet HAD to go... she had 6 cats... and I am sure that more than one of them had used it as a litter box... enough said... the carpet was gone and we put down laminate. We also put laminate in Mike's room and eventually the kitchen. We had to paint EVERY room, except for the master, but it was bland and taupe, so I hand painted my accent wall! We took 2 to 3 weeks to paint and redo the floors before we moved in. We then poked away at landscaping projects and decks! It was a great first home! A lot of memories were made there, but I don't miss it, as we outgrew it 1 year earlier then planned. It was supposed to be a 5 year house and we made it to 4 years!


I think I have posted enough pictures today, so I will leave the new house update for a little while, and that way I have time to photograph the rooms now that they are all done and maybe I will have time to paint the master!


Enjoy!!

Cats

Has anyone really wondered what it would be like to be a cat? I mean maybe I am the only one, but I doubt it! I have had 3 cats in my life time and I grew up with cats at my Grandma's.

We all think that we choose cats, but really when it comes down to the truth... cats choose us. Lucky for them, they choose who they like and don't like and it is just accepted. Actually, you can't really make a cat do anything! They have this attitude about them.

I look at Jazz, who is my baby... she does not really like anyone else, I think she just tolerates other peoples presence. She is lovey-dovey with me, but she hates Mike, Mike or the dogs ( and she does not mind the dogs) can just walk in the room and she will growl at them. I personally think it is funny. If you even so much as look at her the wrong way, she will growl. But with me, she just purrs and cuddles in. I come home and she greets me. She is not the most playful cat in the world and never was... I think that is why I picked her , but wait, I didn't pick her, (don't ever tell her that) Mike picked her. If I had my way I would have picked the long-haired grey and white one. But Mike didn't fall in love with her, he did with Jazz.. but I say it was just lust, because they clearly can't possibly LOVE each other or maybe it is a secret affair, if I am not around then she will warm up to him.

Jazz with the only girl in her litter and her brothers were all striped brown and black tabbies. Jazzy is solid grey... with a white blotch on her belly. She is beautiful! A little over-weight in a healthy fashion, but beautiful. She would not play in her cage with her brothers or the toys, she actually just sat there and Mike felt bad for her, so he wanted to hold her and she bit him. She bit his ear to be exact. That is why Mike chose her and I still haunt him with his comment "We will get this one because she has SPUNK". Well that spunk stuck around.

I think I love Jazz sooo much, because it is like she chose me and she still chooses me. Even when she is in trouble for something... she still only listens to me, I have to be the one to give her crap... because she chooses to listen to me.

Jazz is one of those cats who will go up to anyone and say Hi, but it is on her terms, if she chooses to continue to get love. She will rub up to the dogs and they won't move because she is unpredictable. It is kinda funny... she may or may not have a bit of a personality disorder.

With Copper... he didn't choose us. We were just the next best thing, we were his heroes, but whether or not he cared is unknown. We chose him, brought him home, brought him back to health.. paid for vet visit after vet visit, spent hours trying to get him to choose us or even just to choose to live. We NEVER understood that cat, never really knew him really, but he knew us and he tolerated us. I remember the first time he purred after we had him for like 6 months, it was like an old engine trying to start. I think that he was trying to be cautious about choosing us, because no one had ever chose him, but they got rid of him and that would hurt.

Binx is just Binx, she is wild and crazy, but we chose her and I think she has chose us... hard to say she is still young...

Could you imagine, if we, as humans, could just drop each other off on the side of the road? If we could just pretend not to have feelings, or even if we could not freely express our feelings? What if no one out there cared? What if no one chose us? Just simply imagine being out in this crazy place we call our world alone... I wouldn't make it without the people and animals around me. They are what makes me ME! They encourage me to be ME and you to be YOU... who would you be today if your parents just abandoned you and you had no one... you may have picked up some friends along the way... but I am sure you would have encountered some problems too...

I guess what I am saying is that being a cat is full of choices and choices that you and I would sometimes never get the opportunity to make because of how we were raised... cats raise themselves. Put yourself in a cats paws...

A Picture Update :)

Mike and I at a wedding last weekend!!

Peoni Bush in Stratford

Picture I took of Hannah in June! One of my favs!!

Just thought you would enjoy a photo memory!

Soooooo Sick :(

I have really been lucky this year! I will start this post out on the positive side! My allergies have been pretty calm this spring/summer. However... I have hit the road block! Or should I say nose block!

I guess I have never really went into my allergies before... but I am allergic to EVERYTHING outside, along with dust and mold.

The dust and mold was encountered while moving my mom out of her house, and that is what started all of this so it seems! I don't think I have slept in over 2 weeks properly! Oh how I miss sleep! I am like a walking zombi, that cannot breathe! The humidity is supposed to break this weekend, so here is to hoping things clear up for me! We had plans to head down to the lake for the weekend, but if I don't feel any better, then it will be a no-go! Here is hoping that I get better!

On a side note... next summer is going to be a BIG wedding season!! Matt & Jenn will be at the end of July and Mike is in the wedding party and Nicole and Mike will be August 13/11 and I am in the wedding party, and my cousin just got engaged and they are thinking a July wedding as well! Geez! Looks like next summer will be a write off too!

1 more month and we are moving Mom into her appartment and we might get possession of our hobby shop back!

Oh and I don't know if I mentioned before, but Lily was diagnosed with hypothyroid :( Lucky for us, it is the best disease for a dog to get, because it is affordable and easy to treat... the downside being if is something she will have forever :(. We have started her on Thyro and she is doing great now! She has sooo much more energy and her hair is starting to shine again! She had gained 10 pounds in a year, which Lily is a big dog to begin with and she should on average be about 85 pounds to 90 pounds... she weighed in at 104 pounds! Crazy! But that should all disappear within 6 months or so if we keep her going on our active lifestyle!

3 Boxes Later!

So.... I must say brunettes really do have more fun!! I got this crazy idea to dye my hair blonde.... and being frugal, I thought it would be a good idea to buy box color, instead of paying for it at a salon....BAD IDEA... Although still cheaper!~

Mike was my hairdresser (lucky him)! I got into my towel and clothespin (real classy) and let him dye my hair! The first box had 2 colors in it (so I thought), so we put the first color on and it went almost like a strawberry blonde, but more coppery color and I was not fussy on it! But, Mike convinced me to do the next color, so I did, but I was really hesitant, especially since we had company coming over later.

Well it turned out that the second color was not a color at all!! It was bleach and it was stripping my hair of all color! Mike managed to get all my roots done plus some, until I noticed what was happening and I freaked out! I was sure that I was not meant to be a blonde and hopped in the shower right away! It was too late! I was washing out this concoction and yelling at Mike to go into town and get me hair color... BROWN hair color! I was not laughing... was freaking out... and well I was mortified! I looked like a glow in the dark troll! I made fun of people with this hair color!

I ended up delaying our company, had Mike color my hair AGAIN (2nd box) and was then a little more confident in the new color, although it was still reddish/orangish brown... but it was better than it was! Our company came over, and laughs were had!

Did I mention that was the Friday of the long weekend....
Saturday I took Hannah and Amy to African Lion Safari for the day, and Sunday and Monday, we spent down at the lake, Sunday at Nicole's cottage in Port Burwell and Monday at the boat! Where it was sunny... and I didnt where a hat and the sun lightened my roots a little more and the color was not so nice. So today being Wednesday... before baseball... I am box #3 and I have high hopes! I bought dark brown... with NO RED~!

Also I will note that friends of ours Jeff and Sarah had thier baby on Monday! Baby Girl - 7lbs 11 oz - Natalie Claire!! Mike has been best friends with Jeff forever, infact they were each others best man at both our weddings!

Sorry to have not blogged for a month... life has been busy and I have been meaning to, but just hadn't found time!

During the last month, I had a few hard days, Diamond's Birthday (although she is passed away), the day we put Dimey down was especially hard... I spoke a lot of her memories this past month, not really realizing it, but come to think of it later. I really do miss her!

Oh PS.. just rinsed Box 3 and it appears to be a hit!!

My mom potentially sold her house FINALLY! 2 years later.... just pending on financing and a house inspection! Which means August just got busier!!

I am taking Mike on a suprise trip this weekend!! He has ne clue where we are going!! He took me last year to Niagra Falls, where I had never been!

More to come later!!