My little helper

Just some cute pictures of my little helper, Dusty aka Tazz Maniac.


Helping me sew. Luckily he didn't get his paw caught under the needle.


He is usually turned around the other direction watching the mouse on the screen. Makes it real difficult to see where I am clicking.


I came downstairs one morning and found Dusty and Paisley in the baby's bed together. This is the closest I had seen them together without Paisley swatting at Dusty.


If I don't pull up the blinds, he just may hang himself one of these days.

A work in progress

So here are some pics of my bathroom. I want to get a black granite for the counter top. I don't know what to get for the floor. I have to have something that will tie the counter and the existing tile in the tub. Although I don't like the tile that is there, the budget doesn't allow to replace it.


What the cabinet looked like before. (Same as what is in the master bath now and next summer I will re-do this one too.)


The Cabinet after I painted it white. Notice the unfinished floor? Any suggestions on the color or style of floor tile?


The giant mirror was replaced with a black framed smaller mirror and the light fixture was changed out with an updated one. I also made floor to ceiling shower curtains in white. The trim is white, the walls are tan (light cocoa). Notice the tile in the bath in the reflection in the mirror?

My week off

This last week, Brent and I took time off from work. I always have plans for my vacation time to accomplish a big project or two but rarely does it happen. This time, my plans were to finish the hall bathroom and clean out the garage. Last year in November, I decided it was time to get rid of the ugly wallpaper in there and paint. I tore off all the wallpaper and did it on my lunch hour. A couple of days later, I had asked Brent to sand down the walls because the original paint was oil based. So, he sanded and then called down to me to come take a look. As I was on my way up the stairs, he said, "you wanted to get rid of the lineoleum didn't you?" He had torn up all the flooring. Yes, it was my intent to eventually put tile down. It was also my intent to get a new countertop. The marble look laminate really needs to go. Needless to say, it's been a year and the only thing finished before this week was the paint. About 4 months ago, I took the oak cabinet apart to sand everything down. It was originally stained a honey oak but I wanted it white. It's been sitting out on the deck all summer waiting for me to have a Sunday to myself to take care of it. Those Sunday's never seemed to come along. This week, I finally finished it. We never did pick out any tile or granite for the countertop. Brent said he wants to call the guy that did the countertops in our basement but he has to find his business card first. That was 5 years ago, I don't think he's going to find the card after all this time. It may be another year before the rest of it gets done.

Another project that I have had in my mind is to make a frame for my bed to go around the box springs. Most people will use a bed skirt to hide the box springs. I can't. I have a dog that rebels when Brent leaves the house and will mark against the bed. Years ago, I covered the box springs with plastic so that "it" wouldn't stain or stink. Pretty smart of me except it's real ugly and to have to put on and take off a bedskirt that often is just too much work...so I came up with this ingenious idea to make a wood frame. This week, we bought three pine boards and I painted them black. I also bought two "feet". As soon as they get nailed together, I will take a picture of it. Now, I am making a coverlet for my bed to match the headboard I made a year ago. The master suite is almost finished. Even though the bathroom isn't finished, I still feel like we accomplished a lot more than I expected.

By the way, Brent got half of the garage cleaned out. He has more time off in November and plans on cleaning out the other half. We have some peg board on one of the walls of the garage and I finally bought some hooks to put on there and he announced to me yesterday that we need more. I finally got him to realize the benefits of organization with his tools.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also made 10 batches of plum jam (that ended up being about 60 jars of various sizes)and another batch of salsa.

Weekly Bowling Scores 10/3-4/08 and Happy Birthday to ME

So Brent and I went bowling twice last week. Since it was my birthday, we decided not to do any work, just play. We went and got a quick bite to eat then went bowling. Then we went to Ikea and bought a new dresser. We attempted to put it together but there was a certain screw missing for one of the drawers. Needless to say, Home Depot doesn't carry that so now we have to see if we can get that one little piece from Ikea.

Friday Scores:
Brent: 126 / 152 / 116
Terrie: 162 / 127 / 147 YES, these scores are RIGHT. My BEST gave ever!

Saturday:
Brent: 147 / 139 / 120 / 174
Terrie: 90 / 128 / 104 / 116
Jenny: 00 / 119 / 114 / 122
Kim and Shawn joined us but when I asked for the score sheet, the attendant only printed our lane and not Kim's. Sorry Kim and Shawn.

Joey

I received the following email from my cousin Marco Wempe in Holland. Congratulations Marco and Patricia. He's very handsome!



Hi Terry, I'm not sure you knew that 'we' were pregnant.
But we have a baby since 2 days now!!!!
He listens to the name Joey.
I attached some photos, so you can compare his face with the other childs in your family.
Maybe there is some comparison.

But how is everybody in the USA?

Everything is fine here. Grandma Pietje still lives, but doesn't speak anymore.
Only mumbling.

I've lost all the email adresses from the family in the States.
This is the only one I could find.

Well, that's all for now, I'm so tired.
The time is 1:10 am now European time, so I go to sleep.

The mother and baby are still in the hospital. Patricia has some bladder problems, but it's not a big problem. Maybe they can get home tomorrow, thursday.

Say hello to everybody and mail the photos to them.

Greetings from us!! (If you would like Marco's email, please contact Terrie)

Bragging Rights

Just bragging a little but aren't they cute? Of course I can brag, they do have some of my genes. Zach is 5, Aubrey is 4 and Mollie is 3 months.

Weekly Bowling Scores 9/27/08

This weeks excuse... STRESS

Terrie 117 / 96 / 96 / 123
Brent 148 / 125 / 141 / 161

Weekly Bowling Scores 9/13/08

OK, so my excuse for such crappy games this week is this:

We went to our usual bowling spot and while there was more than half of the 36 lanes open, not being used, we were told they didn't have ANY open lanes available and it would be around noon before they had maybe two available. We were there at 10:30 am. So, we went to an OLD rinky dink bowling alley down on State Street, about 80th South. Not the best part of town and I didn't even know this place existed but Brent knew about it. It was called Town and Country Bowl. We pulled into the parking lot and the thoughts that ran through my head... Well, I will summarize; We walked up to the front door and the smell of urine cautioned me NOT to go in but we did. It was very dark inside and it reminded me of the real old bowling alleys where only old men go to get away from their wives. The place even smelled like bowling alleys of long ago, smoke filled etc. We decided to bowl anyway since this is now our Saturday ritual, not to mention our only form of excercise. When we left, I put plenty of hand sanitizer on and made sure I washed my hands (and arms up to my elbows) when we got to the restaurant. I'm looking in the phone book for more "family friendly" atmospheres for the next time we can't get into Sandy Lanes.

Terrie 99 / 118 / 97
Brent 126 / 147 / 146

I miss you MOM

Today marks the 7th anniversary of my mom's death. I am extremely emotional and thought that by sharing this, might help to ease my sadness. I miss my mom horribly. I know she's with me all the time and I even still "talk" to her. I know she sees all the wonderful things going on in my life, like my 4 beautiful grandbabies, but still, it's not the same as having her right here for me to watch her rock them and sing to and tell stories to them. I know every person that has known my mom, misses her as well so here are just a few photos for you to enjoy. Love you mom!

IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEMORY OF MY MOM, PLEASE SHARE IT BY POSTING A COMMENT IN THE LINK BELOW.

Mom and her mother
About 3 or 4 years old
Mom told me that after they got these pictures back, her mother was very mad because the photographer had colored her dress blue but it was acutally yellow.
About 17 years old
January 31st, 1946
Me and Mom in Volendam 1999

Mom's 80th Birthday February 26th, 2001

Week Bowling Scores 9/13/08

Brent 183 / 157 / 140
Terrie 135 / 97 / 133 Jenny came after our first game and JINXED me
Jenny / 122 / 122

Meet Dusty

So after trying many different names: Fritz, Fritzy, Grizz, Grizzer, Baby, Kitty, KC (for Kitty Cat, Ike, Spike and a few others that were too brief to remember, I think I have finally come up with a name.

DUSTY. First off, this came to me because as he was playing under my chair this morning, I noticed he was playing with a hugh dust bunny...the kind left over from the dogs that tends to accummulate under my desk, near the computer. He was having so much fun, flipping and jumping around it. Then it occurred to me that he kind of looks dusty with his smoky gray ears, tails and paws so, unless I change my mind suddenly and find a name that I HAVE to call him, I think it's official; DUSTY it is!

On a side note: This kitty does NOT like to be cuddled however, he hates to be alone. If I feed him, I have to stay with him and watch him or he won't eat. If I leave the house for a while, I come home to a kitty that is scolding me to no end. Now that he's around, Paisley is getting a little jealous. She doesn't care much for him fut will now come to me more often to get a belly rub. She doesn't sit by my computer anymore like she used to. She thinks that space has now been contaminated. When she comes down here, she will let me pick her up and cuddle her for a while. Poor Paisley.

My early Birthday present

Isn't he adorable? Jenny found him on KSL.com and when she showed me the picture of him, I just had to have him. I know, it's a little soon after Spooky but I didn't want Paisly to get too used to being the "one and only". I knew someday I would get another kitty so why wait? He is Jenny's gift to me for an early Birthday.

I need help in naming him! If you have a suggestion, please post it. Jenny thinks it should be something that goes well with Paisley. She likes Payson or Presley. I am not too keen on Presley since I never liked "Elvis". I like unique names but nothing strange.

Week Bowling Scores 9/6/08

Brent 138 / 107 / 158 / 166
Terrie 129 / 134 / 150 / 116
Jenny / 139 / 95 / 86 Not her day
Matt / 105 / 96 Not his either
Jeff / 114 / 123 / 139

Yes, Jeff was here for the weekend. His friend got married so he came down for that. We loved having you here Jeff. Maybe you can come again for Christmas.

My family

Now that I have the disc of pictures that we had taken, I thought I would share two of my favorite pictures. I had both of these printed in a 20x16 size from Costco.com for $9.95 each. They turned out beautifully and it only took three days to get them.

Week Bowling Scores 8/30/08

Again, not worth mentioning but I'm posting anyway.

Jenny 116 / 112 / 124
Brent 171 / 170 / 157 Actually, his are worth mentioning
Terrie 91 / 144 / 109
Shawn 126 / 138 / 169 His aren't too bad either
Kim 90 / 61 / 133 The only reason she got 133 on her last game is because Shawn bowled more than half of it for her while she fed the baby. :)