Kiefers Favorite Day.....

....Is Laundry Day!


we throw all the laundry - fresh out of the dryer- onto the bed and Kiefer runs up and jumps in the middle and we bury him. He makes a nice nest and snuggles up with the warm clothes.
All the warm clothes make him very sleepy so he lets out a few large yawns as we make sure to cover him up completely.
He does, however, get very angry when we start folding. He stays cuddled up until the last article of clothing has been folded and then he just glares at us. I think he would like to take a nap in the dryer.
(don't freak out PETA, I won't let him sleep in the dryer...)

Domestic Danae?!

Saaayyy Whaaattt!?! But its true I tell ya!
I'm sure all of you have heard me rant about the price of curtains before...But here I go again...
When we bought this house, I was excited about all the windows, soon after Andrew and I moved in the new house Rachel and I went shopping for curtains. I budgeted $400 for window treatments for the 21 windows in my house. We made our way over to Home Depot and I picked out some lovely blinds and the Home Depot lady sized them out and informed me that they would be $280 per panel! HA! So, we have gone the last four months with only curtains in our bedroom. Tonight I decided enough is enough. I was going to get crafty. I stopped by Target and bought 4 plastic curtain rods for $2.99 each. Then on my way though Ross I found two drapery holders on clearance for $1.49 each. Then I made my way to JoAnn Fabrics where I spent an hour wandering aimlessly around the store as I tried to picture each pattern and style of fabric in the shape of a curtain. It was a frustrating process since you can't return the fabric if the pattern/color doesn't work or if you mess up and don't get enough fabric. My head was throbbing by the time I got up to the cutting table and she asked me how much of each fabric I wanted. Thats a hard question. I finally left the store with 3 different fabrics totalling 7 yards and one roll of Stitch Witchery - (come on you didn't really think I was going to SEW did you!?)- I spent $43.78 all together at JoAnn's. Anyways, I got home and after spending a mear 2.5 hours of cutting, ironing and stitch witchery-ing, I ended up with 5 window treatments. YAY! I had enough fabric with not even a thread of left over- guess my math doesn't suck after all... =)

5 Windows
4 hours of work including shopping
$58.72 spent.


Now don't expect me to start dusting on a daily basis, or even doing dishes on a daily basis...but it felt good to stick it to the Home Depot lady and make my own curtains!

Florida Day Four

On day four we went back to Destin to spend the whole day 9-4 laying on the white sand beaches and snorkeling.
This is a big hotel and board walk right on the marina.
Kayaking in The Gulf.
Mom snorkeling with the beach in the back ground. We rented one of those umbrellas and 2 chairs for the day. Even with the umbrella and tons of sunblock I still managed to get burnt to a crisp. I'm still peeling till this day.
At one point while snorkeling I poked my head out of the water and informed mom "I hear the ice cream man" - I was totally kidding, but we turned around and sure enough, there was a motorboat ice cream man! playing ice cream man music in the middle of the ocean! One thing you don't find on the Oregon coast.






For some reason I can't find any of my New Orleans photos right now...I'll I look for them and post some of those later.

Florida Day Three

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to finishing vacation blogging...
Its a pretty cush life when you can float around in the ocean at sunset in warm water!

This Alligator was at a big crazy treehouse of a restaurant in Destin, FL. They had Alligator swamps under the restaurant.
Some hermit crabs chowing down on a dead something in Destin, Fl bay.
Mom and I got a late dinner of crab legs and Bushwackers. Mmmm
'Our dock' at night...

Unhappy lobster...

Today was fun, we went snorkeling and sunbathing. Well...mom went sunbathing...turns out I went sunbaking...I was trying to find a photo of an unhappy lobster to show you how I feel, but it turns out lobsters facial expressions are hard to read in photos, so I couldn't find one that really looked sad. But I found this sad lobster instead.
He he he...Anyways, all that to say, I scorched my skin to the point of misery. and when I can think straight I'll post all the photos of today and yesterday. Tomorrow morning we leave for New Orleans...

Oh yeah, Our room

This is our little room. Its small but we like it. The beds are comfy and we sleep well. The door to mom's right is the little bathroom. The door you see on the left of the photo is actually the back door...The main door is on the right side out of frame. On yeah and see the black thing that is cut off above the bathroom door? thats the TV mount! The TV is at the very top of the super tall celing...you would have to crane your neck to see it...good thing we didn't come here to watch TV! =)

Florida Day Two

Today we got a massage in Gulf Breeze and enjoyed a relaxing day. When we sat down for an amazing lunch of Tri-Fin, some awesome local fish, we realized it was actually 4pm! After lunch we went to a very populated beach on the Gulf of Mexico. We both ended up falling asleep for like an hour. When we woke up we took a little swim in the ocean. Very refreshing and warm. These photos are out of order so good luck...
I was trying to body surf without loosing my glasses...I succeeded...but all the photos of me ended up being a little floating head!


This is my best baywatch pose....It could use some work...
Where we fell asleep for a long time.


View from where I spent the late afternoon...All of a sudden black clouds blew over and thunder started cracking. The loud speaker announced "Conditions have become dangerous. Lifeguards will now leave the beaches" and all the lifeguards closed up and left...They never suggested that people get out of the water or closed the beach down...they lifeguards just took off (i'm assuming so that they were not liable in a storm) The bummer in they canceled all the live music on the island for the night =( We are in our room now and its storming outside...we might go sit on the beach under an umbrella and get some late dinner later on... We'll see.

Pensacola Beach

We are staying at a cute little hotel on Pensacola Beach. It is an island of the Florida coast. We have our own little beach. Our own little grill/bar and a live band every night. Pretty cush. Before I get too far into talking about Pensacola Beach, let me show you one photo I took in Fairhope, Al. It made me giggle...
okay...On to our day in Pensacola Beach...mostly we just relaxed, swam, drank Bushwackers (delicious! make one at home today!) did laundry, listened to live music, ate crab and fish and chilled. Oh guess what...the water is 80 degrees! Here are photos from the day...
Our hotel is the little yellow one surrounded by palm trees above mom's knee...well, at least that's the bar part of it...
This shot is from mom to rachel...evidently rachel has a strange obsession with feet??
This was lunch...Blue crab claws...MMMM
Me at lunch. There boat docks so you can pull your boat up to the restaurant and eat if you like...neato.
Walking to the store...
Mom outside 'our' bar
Slightly askew panorama from the end of our dock
view from my beach chair this afternoon...
Blackened fish. possibly the best fish I've ever eaten...
Cheers with some Bushwackers!

Bama! Bama!

I woke up yesterday at 8am in south eastern Oregon. Left there at 3pm and drove to PDX. We flew out PDX at midnight. Arived in Houston at 6:30am (houston time) and then took a puddle jumper from Houston to Pensacola, Fl ariving at 8:30am. The only time I've slept so far is on the 1hr houston-pensacola flight. Got our rental car in Pensacola (a shiney blue PT Cruiser) and drive to some town in Alabama where I now sit. I forget the name- thats how lost I am right now. My mom is in a wedding and had a brunch to go to so I dropped her off and decided to call our hotel (in some other town) to see if there was any way I could check in as I'd been in my current clothes for 24 hours, no shower, no tooth brushing and its super muggy here- basically...I stink! They told me I could check in early---at 2pm. Great its 11am. I drove to the beach and changed clothes in a scary bathroom stall without a real door. Then I found the 'town' and tried to find something to eat. Evidentally the whole place shuts down on Sunday. I drove every street and finally found an Oyster Bar that said it was open, but after waiting at the front desk for 10 minutes, and seeing no one, I left. I now sit eating an old sandwhich in a super market deli- which to my delight has internet!!
A couple just walked up to me and said "hey, we are visiting, we can't find anyone serving alcohol, do they not serve alcohol on sunday?" I replied that I was visiting myself and didn't even know the name of the town I'm in, but I sure hope I can find a beer! and soon! What a strange state, every single business sign is hand painted! the speed limit is 45mph everywhere, and people drive 35. So here I sit...waiting for 2pm so I can wash all the travel stank off me. I find everything hysterically funny...Its like another country. But that could also be due to the fact I havn't slept in 24 hours...
At the deli, where we would normally see Jo Joes, Mac and Cheese and Mashed potatos at home...They have Lima Beans, Biscuts, Grits and piles of who knows what else in huge skillets. =) stay tuned for more of my adventures of the lost girl...

Goodbye sweet Oregon...

Mom and I at the Portland airport waiting for our flight. I'm chronically early, we have an hour and a half to wait...whooopie!

UFO?

The ISS is particularly bright this week over Oregon...I'm assuming that it has something to do with the position of the sun vs. the position of the ISS. Andrew and I sat outside last night and watched it. Its pretty cool. I didn't sleep well last night so I spent a lot of time thinking about what a cool view the astronauts have from up there... lucky ducks. Anyways, its fun and relaxing to lay outside and watch for Identified Flying Objects. Check out the times for the rest of the week...spaceweather.com/flybys I hear if you have binoculars you can see detail...

The stress of wedding season...

...must be taking a toll on Kirk.

This is a snapshot of my friend/coworker/boss man Kirk, quite possibly expressing his detest for a recent mother of the groom...