Out, damn carpet, out!

Here's the smell of BEN still! All the steam cleaners of GA cannot sweeten this foul floor!!

You would think a relatively short-haired dog wouldn't shed that much, right? Okay, well, *I* thought that a relatively short-haired dog wouldn't shed that much. I have never seen anything like it. It is like he stumbled into some kind of toxic waste, except, somehow, there is still fur all over his body. It is blowing my mind. His crate has been in the corner of the living room all this time, and I have to pull it out about twice a week and vacuum behind it, and you WOULD NOT believe the hair. Well, I'm sure you know that if there is one thing that is purely impossible to keep clean, it is a carpet. From the moment you first set foot on it, it is never *really* clean again. Ben is very dander-y and well, and dang it, I like a clean house (stop making that face!! I try!!)

Anyway, since we moved into this place I have been dreaming about ripping out the carpet in the living room and office, and blending new hardwood into the existing hardwood entryway. Well, Jesse offered to make it a reality, and I jumped at the chance! So here are some pics of the installation of our new floors, which look great.

The view from the kitchen into the office.

The remnants of the old hardwood (which was glued down with enough adhesive to keep tiles on the space shuttle) on its way out!

Jesse also pulled down the old fireplace facade, which was, in my opinion, an extremely unattractive combination of painted white wood and pinkish tile. Ewww. I *love* the stacked stone, and I have to say, I think he did a pretty incredible job, it looks so beautiful and professional.

Hooray! The new wood making it's way toward the other side of the first floor. He also fixed those loose tiles between the kitchen and the living room.

The Notorious B-I-G, keeping a watchful eye. His pterodactyl talons are already doing a number on the floors, we need to get him a puppy pedicure.

And finally, the NEW view from the kitchen to the office. This was before I mopped for the first time. I couldn't have imagined, and it is difficult to describe, the immense satisfaction of running a sweet-smelling orange oil soaked Swiffer over newly installed hardwood floors, and watching every. last. dog hair. disappear, leaving nothing but the welcome scent of orange hanging in the air, and a slightly timid Great Dane to negotiate the veritable ice-skating rink that he now has to contend with on a daily basis. Every see a dog in a cartoon run in one place for about 10 seconds before he gets traction and moves forward? It's even funnier in real life.

The Little Mermaids

So I'm sitting at my desk, editing some new pictures for the website, and this little voice from around the corner says, "Hey Mom, I'm ARIEL!!" And I look up, and I see this:


My 5 year old in my upside-down bra, and a makeshift tail, which she has constructed from a Christmas skirt and a Steeler dress for the "fin" over her feet. Of course, Rooney then had to jump on the bandwagon too, and it was moments before they had torn paper "flowers" in their hair, and a blue blanket "lagoon" to swim in.
Then they brought me another bra and insisted I join the party, so I am walking around with a bra on top of my shirt. But I will spare you a picture of that. You're welcome.

Catch of the Day

Jesse caught a GI-NORMOUS striper in the lake!! I only had 3 pics left on my camera, so this was all I could take. He weighed the thing, it was about 30 pounds. This is by far the biggest fish he's caught in the lake so far. Scroll back through the previous posts and look at the other fish compared to the soda can - this one's a monster.

Run run run as fast as you can!

I got this Gingerbread cookie decorating kit on clearance and I knew these two would have a ball. Sure enough, they decorated into the night, all 10 cookies, and notice their little black lips from eating icing!

James and the Giant Fish

Jim was here and he and Jesse spent all night on the boat. They came home a little sleep deprived, but it was worth it! Check out the giant fish Jim caught, on that tiny little rod he's holding. Big ol' catfish too.

Catch Up, Reprise

A while back, Grandmother sent the girls a box full of goodies, including costumes, puzzles, popcorn, and 3 pairs of these adorable striped tights for dress-up. They spent all afternoon "skating" on the hardwood in the tights, and working the puzzle, over and over, playing and sharing like angels. Some things just don't happen everyday, so I had to snap some pics! ;)

Aunt Joey sent the girls (among other things) a *huge* jar of art supplies for Christmas. Natalie followed me around the house for days holding the jar and saying, "Mom, can we do art supplies? PLEEEEEEEEASE?!" So I finally let them dig in and they had a ball. Natalie usurped both giant fluff balls (which reminded me of Warm Fuzzies when I was in Kindergarten) right from the start, but Madeline didn't seem to mind. Notice her lower lip, puckered in deep concentration, as she tries to squeeze glitter glue onto a button above.
Natalie positioned the glider in front of the TV to watch a movie, and fell fast asleep in this pose. I had to take a picture - but looking at it makes my head hurt! Can you imagine sleeping upside down?! My brain cells are screaming just thinking about it.

Jesse and I saw "I Am Legend" tonight - not bad. We were a little miffed though, that the movie was listed by the theater as having a run-time of 2:10, but 30 of that was commercials and previews. The movie started at 7:00, but the MOVIE didn't start until 7:30, and we were back in the truck on the way home by 9:00. We liked the movie but we wished they'd developed it a little more, maybe done something more with the ending. I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean was 3 hours long, for Pete's sake! Overall though, it was a good movie, if somewhat disturbing. I used to love End-of-the-World thrillers before I had children. Now my stomach does herkies during them, because all I can think about is our girls in a scenario like that. Makes me wish for World Peace. Or want to learn my way around an assault rifle.

The Great Cupcake

Jesse took Big Ben out on his fishing boat the other day. Before they left, Jesse put Ben in one of his long-sleeve thermal shirts, and then a Steeler jersey on top of that. The big weenie was still cold, so by the time they got home, he had him bundled up in his work jacket. Jesse said he was shivering, but then when he put him in the jacket he stopped and started trotting around the boat woofing at birds onshore. Hilarious. He really seemed to enjoy the coat, which is *super* soft and warm. Perfect for a Giant Cupcake.

Miami on my mind

Looks like Jesse is really starting to prepare himself mentally for living in Miami.

Jesse's Fishing Trip

Jesse spent the day on the lake fishing with a guy who grew up around here. This is his catch! That big guy was about 7 pounds. We kept trying to get the girls to stand next to him for scale, but Madeline was a little scared of him - he was huge!

Slow dancing, swaying to the music...

Their evening of slow dancing ended abruptly when Ben made an inappropriate grab for Jesse's rear. Love is in the air...

Had him at the vet last week, and he was around 140 lbs.