An homage to Sasha on her birthday!

My bowling team rocks!

Oh, lovely bowling team, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...



1) There are always adventurous stories of second graders, golf games and band excursions to hear at length.



2) The chance to keep up with old friends on a weekly basis is always a good thing.



3) Despite my lust for blood of the other team (read: need to win), you still love me and invite me back every year.



4) When I suggested we all pay a small fee (just 25 cents) for those games when we don't measure up, you didn't scoff at me and instead played along.



5) Every week when I arrive, I am showered with your generous donations of the pennies that you have gathered with me in mind! (This week was 450+ pennies! Sweet!)



but most of all....



I love you because..



for the first time in 7 years......



we are in FIRST PLACE!!!!!! Waaahooooooooo!

Fine art and french fries? NO!

Recently I was watching TV and saw a story that said they are planning to put a McDonald's restaurant inside of the Louvre. WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me?

Don't get me wrong. I've occasionally been in the mood for a filet o'fish. I'm even a big fan of their french fries...unfortunately. But, how about we NOT taint all that is good and right in the world in terms of the great art and majesty contained in the Louvre with our filthy American food choices? France is about fine dining and delicate palates, right? Shouldn't there be a line where capitalism and our growing rears not have a place?

What's next? The golden arches above the Great Wall? How about one in the tower of London? Oh, I know. I'm sure SOME wing of the White House needs a fast food selection. Perhaps the chefs would enjoy a night off.

Sheesh!

The Motorcycle Bench Redesign

As promised yesterday, I have returned with pictures of the bench that I redid. I hate to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I must say I really like the way it turned out and it's about 1000 times better than it previously looked. It was a bench that was previously at my parents house (about 100 years ago when I moved into my own place). I tried a long time ago to redo it and, as you can see in the befores, it did NOT turn out well.

I house most of my motorcycle gear in this little bench, which works out perfectly. (I just better not buy any more gear!) It sits in my bedroom, which is pretty much the only room in the house that I haven't completely redone. I wanted it to fit into the decor in there, which is very ....tan... blah. (I swear I will do something about that at some point, but for now it is tan.) I also wanted to make sure that if I was going to move the bench into another room, it would work anywhere else in my house as well, so I went with the tan paint color.

I love spray paint. I discovered it about 6 months when I used some rustoleum on my front and back screen doors. Hmm... $3 for a can of paint or $300 for a new door. THAT was an easy decision.

I was going to use some fabric I already had around the house, but I spotted this really great brownish-red vinyl on the clearance table at Jo-Ann's and I knew it would be perfect! A few decorative upholstery tacks on the front and viola! A new bench. I really like it....a LOT!

I would like to thank Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick for inspiring me to start fixing some of my decorating issues around my house!

Weekend recap

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I certainly did.

Saturday morning, Sasha and I went for a 1 1/2 hour walk (9000+ steps! yeah). We visited a couple of garage sales where I picked up a few picture frames for #1 on my list. This is the third time I've found some like this and I think I'm liking the idea of a kind of hodgepodge of frames on the wall when I'm done. Well, I'm liking it in theory. Let's hope my perfectionistic tendencies don't get the best of me and make me think of it as looking cluttered when it's done.

After our walk, we ran some errands. I headed to Lowe's. I've been reading some of Sarah's posts over at Thrifty Decor Chick and so I've been feeling the need to do some home improving. The two projects I had in mind to start right now were: the kitty box closet and an old bench that I have.

The kitty litter box(es) are in a small closet that has a wood floor. Read: kitty box + wood floor = bad for the wood floor! So, I decided to get a small hand sander, sand down the floor, refinish it and then cover it with some vinyl flooring so that when the kitties "color outside the lines", it will no longer ruin the floor. When I went to the flooring department at Lowe's and asked for some remnants, the sales guy showed them to me. I hemmed and hawwed because they were marked $25 and were way more than I needed. I wasn't THAT concerned about the $25, but I will thrilled when he said, "These aren't doing me any good here. How about you take it for $5?" SOLD! Sweet! I'll post pictures when I've completed it.

The bench that I wanted to redo holds all of my motorcycle stuff. It's a LOT of stuff. How did Troy end up with an entire motorcycle closet (that I organized and made for him) and I have a bench? hmmmm... I digress..... Anyway, the bench... It's a bench I remember having at my parents house when i was younger. It was an ugly dark brown and I tried (miserably) to repaint it about 5 years ago. I've been disgusted with the way it looked since then and so I decided to give it another go. This time I got some tan paint and I'm going to upholster the seat with some fabric that I already have at the house. So, the total cost of the "new" bench should be less than $5. Nice! I'm hoping to finish it this week and I'll show you how it turns out.

Saturday evening I joined my girls at Elaine's house for a Chick Flick Film Festival where we enjoyed "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (nothing like the book, but very cute), "Atonement" (what a complete downer! and how thin is Kiera Knightly?!?!) and "Chocolat" (who doesn't love Johnny Depp and chocolate on the same screen?) We enjoyed lots of chocolate goodies and I even made a fruit bouquet! (pictures to come, I promise) After all, SOMEONE has to bring something healthy, right?

I didn't get in until late Saturday night, so I slept in a bit on Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon Sasha and I went to see Troy before he headed off to work. It's nice to get to see him for a little bit and Sasha does LOVE her Troy!

When we were done at Troy's we headed over to the dog park so she could get some exercise. It was a gorgeous day and the park was packed wit probably 40 dogs and their owners. Sasha usually runs off to play and forgets that I am even there. This time I decided to wander around and see if she would notice. The park is a HUGE fenced in area. I had made it about 1/2 way around when she looked up from playing to see where I was. She scanned the park and eventually found me. She came RUNNING at me. (I love that). A few minutes later she went back to playing and I made it back around to the entrance. This time when she looked up to see where I had was, she had a hard time finding me and I saw what it must be like when a child loses their parent in the store. If a dog can panic, she was. She even went to the gates and looked out. I wonder if she thought I had left her. With my heart breaking for her, I called her name and once again she came RUNNING for me. This time she went to play again, but she started checking on me a lot more often. Apparently she didn't want to lose me again. I'm horrible, huh? Of course, I would never leave her. She is the best dog in the world, after all.

The funniest thing to watch was when this miniature greyhound would approach a big group of BIG dogs (including Sasha who just thinks she's big), bark a couple of times to get their attention and then RUN away with all of the dogs chasing her. Let's just say most of the dogs didn't stand a chance of catching her. It was funny the first time, but hilarious the second time. I guess if you're a mini greyhound, it FUN to be chased.

I left the park with a (gloriously) pooped puppy and we enjoyed the rest of the weekend curled up on the couch watching some TV.

It was a very good weekend.

Fabulous Friday Finds - Lolita Margarita Glasses

Last week's inaugural Fabulous Friday Find was all about my inquisitive nature and my desire to enjoy the great outdoors in the form of Ken Burns' documentary on the National Parks.

This week, I'm thinking ahead to my girls' day coming up on Saturday and all the fun we have.

Each month a group of my girlfriends and I get together for a book club. Reading the book is optional. It's simply an excuse for us to all get together and enjoy each other's company. Every fall some of those same girls and I take a trip together. We've gone on a cruise, to a delightful 3 bedroom "cabin" in southern Indiana and last year we decided to fly out to Dallas to catch up with some old friends.

Twice a year we try to expand the group and invite our extended group of girlfriends to a "Chick Flick Film Festival". We wear very comfy clothes, bring our crafts, stuff ourselves with all sorts of wonderfully prepared foods and adults beverages and pass around tissues as we watch cheesy chick flicks. This is just the sort of places where the Lolita Margarita Glasses would fit in perfectly.

While we were vacationing in Dallas last year, I happened upon these margarita glasses and fell in love with them! There are also martini glasses if that is more to your liking. They are each hand-painted in all sorts of designs to fit any occasion from a birthday bash to a wedding day to ringing in the new year with style! Each glass also comes complete with a different drink recipe painted on the bottom. Just make sure to write it down before you start pouring the drinks!

While, in my opinion, they are a bit pricey at $24 each, I think they are a perfect splurge for a present for one of your BFFs. It's a great way to tell her you thinks she great fun to be around!

A conversation overheard....

I don't mean to impugn anyone's character, however.....an actual conversation I heard while walking in front of the city/county building on my way from my office to my car:

"Yeah, I was up on 6 counts of battery, but I beat 'em. I beat those m*#*er f*^#*ers."

Perhaps if you have to phrase your comment about your innocence in terms of "beating" the rap, your innocence should be further questioned.

It's just a thought. I could be wrong.