Attention Readers

The title of our blog will officially change at the end of Summer 2010.

Krogs, Critter, and Choobs will have a new sibling, whose nickname is yet to be determined.

Here is a picture of our new little friend a couple of weeks ago:

It's going to be another long, hot summer . . .

Greetings from the Couch

Despite the cuteness, I am sad to report that she did not get a treat. We are sugared out at our house after Valentine's Day. She gets an "E" for effort, though.

We opted for these (semi) healthy snacks instead.

Frugality at Its Finest: the Bathrooms

I would like to introduce the newest addition to our home:

I have wanted a new shower curtain ever since a certain special someone accidentally bleached our other one a couple of years ago. Not able to bring myself to spend $30 or more on one I don't really like, I decided to make one myself.

Thinking it would be an easy project, I did not put up an outer shower curtain in the bathroom when we moved here, hoping to motivate myself to get it done! And a couple of weeks ago . . . after five months of procrastination . . . I vowed to "not take another shower" until I had finished.

Ahem. Two greasy days later . . . and now it is HERE! I would like to thank Down East Home for providing me with a cheapy West Elm discontinued duvet cover for the fabric. I have a bunch left if anyone wants some.

My next picture shows part of the girls' bathroom (aka "Choobs' Bedroom). This part was furnished on a dime from a great garage sale, without the aforementioned self-sacrifice. We've got:

Toile Picture: $1.00

French Plaque: $3.00 (total rip-off)

Pink Linen Shower Curtain: $3.00

(Glass Hooks: $10.00 from Target)

Is anyone else excited for garage sale season to start???

My Other Valentines

My Valentine

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'”

No mushy post. But I just love this boy! And I love this poem by Robert Browning.

DO NOT Do This Outside

Back in yonder days when our family lived at the old (newly built) house in Rockspray subdivision, my friend Kara "The Maniac" Szczepaniec and I were spending a lazy Saturday or Summer day (can't remember which) at my house. It must've been pretty boring because we went with my dad to the grand opening of Peachtree National Bank. FOR FUN. And I'm pretty sure it was the first real bank in our town. It was on the corner of Crosstown Road and Peachtree Parkway, and I think another bank now takes its place.

We got a bunch of balloons.

A bunch.

And I got this crazy creative idea to make "hot air balloons" for my brother Jess' hamsters.

Which we did. We fastened the balloon strings to plastic cups and spent a heckuva long time trying to distribute the pull of the balloons evenly on all sides. (Because one of the hamsters took a little sideways spill on the first attempted launch.)

Then came the actual launch. 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . .

And then we had hamsters . . . floating V-E-R-Y slowly . . . around the living room.

I can't remember if they ever made it all the way up to the top of the high ceiling, but I remember they went above the fireplace and floated all around the room. V-E-R-Y slowly.

We were in awe. Those hamsters must've been having the time of their lives.

When I went for a hot air balloon ride in college, it was the time of MY life. But I'll save that story for another day.