Catching Up

I picked up another shift at work.
An evening shift.
I go to work in the daylight.
Like some common day-walker.
Some days I like to pretend I'm Blade.

As a result of the partial shift change, I'm working a few nights, then a few evenings and back to nights again, I am missing out on a lot of interesting tidbits.
For starters,
Miley Cyrus.
Apparently she did this thing at the video awards and caused a lot of people, mainly women from all the posts I keep reading, to clutch their pearls and tsk tsk.
I watched the video.
I don't really see the big deal.
I'm reminded of Madonna.
Remember that book she put out a little while that caused everyone to talk.
It was wrapped up in tin foil and called risky art.
Lady Gaga is another female that raises eyebrows.
Something about Spiritual Totatema.
Careful. There is a lot of see through mesh ensembles if you happen to google that phrase.
Then there are all the "accidental" sex tapes being leaked.
I guess the difference is Cyrus did not pretend to leak her moves.
At least she did not bite the head off of a bat.

Personal stuff,
We had the first day of school last week.
Someone was so happy to go back he was awake at 0600, dressed, back pack on and waiting eagerly for the bus.
I do not remember being that happy to go to school ever.
Mom was a difficult negotiator so I hardly missed any days when I was in elementary school.
I think I finally wore her down when I started high school.
As long as I did not miss anything important like exams, projects etc. and not make my absences too obvious, I was ok.
Reno was very confused about this whole school concept.


I am still working on my OpArt Blanket.


While I'm working on my blanket, I started watching the first season of Game of Thrones.
I was right.
This show makes my eyes water in a few scenes, just like the books.

I also made a blueberry dessert for someone's birthday.


In Hubs defense it was quite early.


I just thought of another person that likes to makes headlines.
Kesha

Careful folks.
You might see nipples.

Things To Do While on Holiday

Discover interesting things about your home.
We have learned that most of these walls have three layers of drywall.

That is a picture of the living room wall and ceiling.
Hubs decided to tackle the big task of fixing all the wiring.
When he opened up some of the walls and ceilings, he found there were a lot of old wires that were so dry they just disintegrate as you touch them. In other situations there is just a bundle of wires that go absolutely no where.
Rebel was very interested in the wiring phase.


We also decided to replace the ugly carpet in the bedroom.

Good by ugly carpet!


This is that Styrofoam type matting that goes down on the old floor and under the new floor.


First piece of new floor!


Halfway there!


Good bye ugly carpet, hello new shiny floor!!!!!

Besides being all Do-It-Yourself Home reno edition, I've been knitting and watching a lot of television.

I've started my OpArt Blanket for a friend.

I love this blanket! It does not take much brain power. I can watch Revenge and Breaking Bad and not worry about missing anything important by concentrating on the stitches.
Little Man chose the colours. He has taken quite the shine to this blanket. I will most likely knit one for him as well.

I was reading the posts on facebook and it said something about a blue moon last night.
Well, I waited and waited and then waited some more.

It does not look blue to me.

I am going to continue to work on my blanket and watch Pretty Little Liars.
I will see you all later!

Two Days Later

We scrubbed and sprayed and then scrubbed some more. We have finally completed battle of the fleas 2013.
For Now....
Two weeks from now, we do more scrubbing.
Friday, early afternoon, my patio furniture arrived.
I am thrilled.
It looks like something out of a magazine.
Friday we went to the pet shop where there is a guru for all things in the pet department.
We brought home our arsenal.
We have used the products from Zodiac before and found them quite effective.
So as I said before, Friday night, we vacuumed and bleached everything and everywhere the cats tread.
They manage to explore a lot of places.

We thought we would try the spray this time around because it does sound easier.
Napoleon we bathed first, then sprayed.

Napoleon actually tolerated the bath really well. Usually it sounds like we are ripping off his little arms.

Reno was the most receptive to the spray.

My only complaint is that the spray takes a lot longer than the shampoo. This is no problem if you animals like Reno that will sit there for as long as needed, but, when you have an animal like Rebel, that is another story altogether.

He tolerated the spray treatment for all of a minute.
Then he makes really scary sounds and our little photographer went outside to hang out on the patio.

We don't even have photos of Tom because we were covered in too much fur to touch anything let alone a camera.
We were lucky with the ferret.
Not one itty bitty flea on the little girl.

After everyone is treated, we all go outside with Hubs uses the flea spray to kill off the rest of the nuisances.
It must have looked funny to the neighbours. We were eating outside to kill some time and even had the fish out there.
We take eating together as a family really seriously.

Bluette the Beta is behind one of the chairs in a shady spot.
I learned in another lifetime that Betas are not supposed to be in direct sunlight.

That is Bleutte in his actual habitat.
I swear he really is in there.... somewhere...

Sunday we applied a topical applicator that goes just at the base of their skull, back of their head. It makes their hair all spikey, but it is really effective.
In two weeks from now, we will vacuum, bleach and put that topical applicator all over again.
Right now we are all going to relax in a nice cool corner, watch a little tele, knit and veg!

Waiting

I recently celebrated another birthday.
I had a great day. Someone special made the meals.
Everyone cleaned up, except me!!
I was even able to get adequate rest before going into work that night.
Overall, a pretty good day.
Tuesday, I decided to give myself a birthday gift.
I bought some pretty cool patio furniture.
The idea is that since we spend so much time outside, we might as well make our patio into that extra living space about which designers on television preach.
It is supposed to be delivered today. When it is all set up, I will be sure to take a few photos.
At the moment I'm killing time by brushing all the cats and making a list of things that need to be thoroughly cleaned tomorrow morning.
You see, Napoleon

has decided to give the gift that just keeps on giving and giving and giving.....
FLEAS
AGAIN!!!
Napoleon excels at this particular task.
Every time he plans his elaborate escape, he seems to always bring his fuzzy brothers a little surprise.
So as has become a tradition in our little household,
tomorrow we will clean, bathe, bleach, fumigate and once again try and conquer Napoleon's gift.
At least this year we will have pretty cool furniture to hang out on!

For Those of You Not Working....

Happy Weekend!
I do have the opportunity to work.
I'm actually glad for this chance because I know there are a lot of people that for whatever reasons are not able to find gainful employment.
I'm also glad for Mr. Rogers.
I was reading the other day that Mr Rogers supported the manufacturing of the VCR.
His main point was that with the invention of the VCR, families would be able to watch programs together when Moms and Dads arrived home from work. They would be able to talk about what they were watching. I like the bit that stated, "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions. Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important." I think we lose sight of this at times.
Well thank you to Mr. Rogers, because now I can catch up on all of my television programs that I would not be able to watch because I work weird hours.
My little garden gnome arrived in the mail yesterday.

I found him a lovely spot in the garden.

I found him on Sooke Sculptures.
I'm going to continue to knit and watch Pretty Little Liars.
Have a great day!

We Almost Felt Like Pirates

Hubs has that personality where he just cannot sit still.
Me? I have a drink, a book or some sort of project like knitting or cross stitch, and I am good for an afternoon.
The other day we were sitting on the back deck, I was knitting,

Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks,

and Hubs is staring at the random stones that make up the walkway.

This picture was taken last year around March.

Hubs gets off his chair, finds his shovel and starts uncovering the rocks.


It turns the previous owner had actually buried boulders to make up his walkway. He chose the flattest side of the rock and only exposed that portion.


Hubs and the Little man dug up all the boulders,
Used the Roto-tiler to flatten out the giant holes,


Then seeded the ground.


During this process he found a garden tool buried under all those rocks.


I am not sure of the proper name for this tool.

I've used it to dig out Dandelions.

Now for the fun part.
What sort of walkway will replace the giant boulders.
I would love for the walkway to have an interesting pattern and stretch from the lowest stop on the back deck to the garden trellis that acts as an entrance to the back of the property.
Off to Pinterest I go!
Catch you all later.

Outside For St. Jean Baptiste Day

Yesterday we just had a nice quiet afternoon outside.
Lovely BBQ with veggies and pork chops.
I can sit outside all day and do absolutely nothing.
It must be an art form.
Hubs does not have that ability.
He decided to rip up all the old mismatched patio stones that placed in no real particular pattern.
What resulted was the Boy's first documentary on Ant Life.


We also were visited by a very curious Dragonfly.


Then a Robin stopped by.