I did
something today, that for some reason, I have put off for 3 months! 
The cabinets we bought a
couple of months ago for the dining room have now been shimmed *200 year
old wood floors are NOT level....whoda thunk it?* and I have filled the
top three of the four shelves with china and crystal. It looks pretty! I
elected to NOT put anything breakable on the lower shelves because of the
rugrat factor. ;o) Most of my friends have very young kiddoes, and to
alleviate the temptation I am not putting anything breakable down there. I
think I will buy some silk ivy and put them in a cool Indian style
container of some sort and fill the space up. The green will add a nice
touch to the cabinets too. The cabinets flank a window that overlooks a 30
x 50 area that will one day be my cottage garden with a fountain, wisteria
arbor, and roses.


       

And yes, the ceiling in this room IS metallic gold. ;o)

  
The china was all wedding gifts. Its a Noritake pattern, Stanford Court...
that is no longer being made so if I want more than 8 places settings it
is going to cost a blue fortune. ( Hate that! It is available on eBay
and vendors like Replacements, LTD but man can it be expensive.

 Our
dining room is slowly coming together. Next month I am going to buy saris
to make into curtains for the windows. I also want to put all my plants in
pots that match the dining room *or paint/decorate the pots to match the
room*. Gee, it only took being married for 14 years to buy our first real
furniture! Lol

   
Here is the table we
bought at a local outlet center, which is the same place we bought the
cabinets from. It is absolutely gor-ge-ose let me tell ya! I lightened the
image to try and show more detail on the table but it still isn't showing
up because of the glare from the windows. It is a marquetry style wood
veneer in diamond patterns.

 

The saris
will probably be a purple with gold on them to add another bright color to
the room. We found the cabinet we want to replace the pie safe. The
pie safe is was my husband's great great grandmother's and is an antique.
I am going to put that in my guest bedroom and use it as a TV cabinet. It
will fit great with the "shabby chic" style I plan to do in there. 

 
This cabinet
is from Pier One and will match wonderfully with the rest of the dining
room furniture.. I love Pier One. LOVE IT.

 <--This
is the cabinet we are going to get from Pier One. I am going to take some
of the sari fabric and line the inside of the cabinet doors so I can store
*schtuff* inside and it can’t be seen.  This is the perfect last piece for
the room!

 
Well, we are
getting a mirror from Pier One for the room too, and chairs of course,
eventually. The chairs that are in there are inexpensive ones from the
dinette set we bought when we first moved in the house. They are barely 3
years old and are starting to break already. Its a shame because they
really ARE pretty chairs.

  
This is the
mirror we plan to get.from Pier One for the dining room.

I found chairs I like…

<---I like the shape and iron in the chair, but I don’t know if the color
will match the rest of the furniture and they probably aren't “dressy”
enough though. I wish I had somewhere else to use them, but I don't. Ah
well.

 
The other chairs we REALLY like are by American Drew, and were designed by
Jessica McClintock:

 
Yep...totally different style, much more expensive but MAN are they
gorgeous. GORGEOUS. One can dream… ) Ya never know…these may be the ones
we wind up with. One a year for 8 years…lol But we could get them! I don't
know if those are TOO fancy for the room. I need to find a middle one that
I will fall in love with I guess.

Another recent purchase is chairs for the library table in the family
room. We bought four of these.
I have to make cushions for the seats, but they are surprisingly
comfortable even without cushions. Just skip the shorts or miniskirts til
I make cushions. *G* I will make cushions after we get the new loveseats
for the room and that will give me a better idea of what color to get,
between the sofas and curtains, etc.

Yes...more Pier
One! I
love
Pier One.

Did I mention that
?

Since I rearranged
items to the
dining
room cabinets, I also put the sets of Japanese and Chinese dishes we have
into my breakfast room corner cabinet. Doesn't that cabinet match the room
wonderfully? Would you believe it was given to me from friends? It was
Jack's mom's cabinet that his dad had given her. They no longer had room
for it and gifted it to me. It is a cedar cabinet and Jan had painted it
quite a while ago. It looks like it was planned to match my breakfast
room!

Here
is a picture of the other cabinet in the room that shows the wall color.

Other than
putzing about doing regular housework, taking care of website stuff for
our homeschool group ---



http://www.gracechristianacademybelair.com 
and watching the radar to see what Charley would do, that was my day.
Charley just brought light rain and cloudy skies through for us, thank the
Lord. We actually had more and harder rain from Bonnie when it broke up
the other night! I can't say that the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the
coastal areas are faring so well. We should know soon as the storm is more
than half the way past us. I pray that everyone that was in Charley's path
has found safety and a dry place to lay their heads.

Blessings! 

             
Kathie

     I
am very late in posting about it, but VBS was a hit!  We had over 199 kids
registered and 60 helpers. It’s the biggest VBS our church has had so far.

    Here
are the promised photos. I didn’t take many because I was busy with the
store and helping with other things. We also did the biggest store sales
ever! I think it was almost double what had been in other years! WOO HOO.
That is great because it helps pay for the VBS. Our church’s VBS is free
and is paid for by
donations and through the sale of items in the VBS themed store.

This is the
stage:

  
Here is the tunnel we always put up at the entrance to the sanctuary. The
kids always really enjoy that! We even left it up for Sunday service last
weekend! The 2^nd picture is how we did the halls. It is cloudy
because we had smoke machines running! lol

Was
it worth all the work, lack of sleep and early rising!

DEFINITELY!

Blessings! 

             
Kathie

   
Everything is ready to GO!

Tomorrow, Lava Lava Island
begins! The stage looks great, the tunnel is terrific and the halls are loaded with fun! I have no
idea what the basement looks like but I am sure it looks terrific! I am going to pass on going down there. I just can't risk exposure to the mold spores.

  I really will take my camera tomorrow. In fact...*pause*....

 I just picked up the camera and set it with my purse so I won't forget it! Pictures are on the way...I promise!

Blessings! 

              Kathie

     OK, well I did
feel a little guilty about it. My darling hubby was outside early in the
sweltering July heat and humidity *oh the joy of July weather in Northern
Maryland*. He has been working like mad to get the yard into shape, and I,
unfortunately have been no help at all.  I had strep for the first time
since I was 5 years old that went systemic. Four weeks and 2 courses of
antibiotics later I was finally over the strep, though my energy level was
non-existent. The antibiotics were something new for me too. It had been
almost 9 years since I had taken one. We are big on herbs, homeopathic
remedies, holistic remedies, etc. Pharmaceuticals and I don't get along
well together at all and I do my best to avoid them whenever possible. If
you are looking for a natural antibiotic remedy, Colloidal Silver has
become a staple in our household. For sinus infections, ear infections,
bacterial infections, fungal infections, etc. colloidal silver is
AMAZINGLY effective. I think I could have fought the strep with the CS,
except I didn't have the usual kind I use and the concentration I was
using wasn't great enough. *sigh* I will be getting my own silver wire and
making my own. When I do so I will post instructions, information and
pictures. It can be done simply, cheaply, and effectively! My daughter has
only ever taken 2 antibiotics and she is now 9. If I had known about CS
sooner, she wouldn't even have had those two as a toddler!

  Anyway, back on
track. We are having the house appraised because we are refinancing with a
cash out. The slate roof needs new flashing in several places, and we are
opting for copper.
While the roofers are up there working we are going to have them go ahead
and replace all the flashing on the slate part of the roof, seal the slate
and repair any damaged slate. It will be cheaper to do it now, and barring
any damage by an unexpected source the roof with then be good to go for 50
years or so. I can handle that.

  We are also
going to finish out the garage so I can have a studio. YEAH. When we
bought our house, it was amazing because not only could we afford it, but
God blessed us in that it was
under market. Many of my friends wanted to know " Well, what is wrong with
the house?" NOTHING. Not a thing. I totally believe the Lord saved this
house for us. It is amazing because we have just about everything we
wanted on our ''list" for our dream house. I can honestly say we won't be
moving unless for some reason a huge amount of money rains down on us and
we can build exactly what we want. In the meanwhile, we have over an acre
of land, a house that has 4 bedrooms *really 5 but one is being used as a
closet because old houses didn't have closet space*, 2 full baths, a large
country kitchen, wood floors, a bay window in the dining room, we back to
a meadow, the garage is BIG and has a loft for storage....I could go on
and on. God blessed us abundantly and above what we every thought we could
afford or would ever find. It was a stressful road getting through the
financing and purchase of the house, but we made it!

  Now, back to the garage * boy I do keep rambling...sorry*. The garage is
a free standing building, just 3 steps from the family room door. It is a
cinder block building and it is close to 30 x 30 on outside measure. It
has a full bathroom in it, a sliding door in the back, a door on the side
and a regular garage door on the front, and two windows on the front.
There is a loft for storage and a chimney for installing a wood burning or
pellet stove. The garage is large enough that we can put a wood shop in,
an area for working on cars and storing tools and other auto do-dads,
and my studio! I can teach art classes, sewing classes, quilting,
photography, etc. I am SO excited! God planted this in my heart many years
ago and it will be coming to fruition. I have had people constantly asking
me when I will be teaching my art classes, and if all goes true to form I
may be able to do so by the turn of the year. I am starting to get
psyched!
 

  I have a name all
picked out: Frog Town Studios. See, our house was built in 4 or 5 stages,
like all old farmhouses. The oldest part is dated at approximately 1774.
The kitchen section is 100 years old, and the bay window off the dining
room was added on then. A porch was put on sometime in that 100 year time
frame or so, but then it was enclosed and a room added above it. Then
approximately 5 years ago the last section was added on. That section
gives us a large (16 x 28 ) family room, our bedroom *same size*, the
laundry room and the master bathroom, and the stairs going down to the
family room. It is unique but attractive in the style of a rambling farm
house. Many friends have gotten lost in my house on their first few
visits. *G* So, back to Frogtown...

  Our back yard is approximately 1/2 acre, and we have two 100 year old
apple trees that sit just our side of the meadow to which our property
backs up. It is Chesapeake Bay Preserve land and cannot be developed!  One
of the main creeks in the country runs through the meadow (I am not sure
where its source is...I need to look into that) and ends on the Chesapeake
Bay. Every spring we are greeted when the weather starts warming by the
sounds of thousands of Spring Peepers...
Let me tell ya..for one inch long little guys they are LOUD. But the sound
is soothing and familiar and every time I hear one sing it makes me smile.
I found out last year that the original name of the exact area where our
house is was Frogtown. No surprise in that. I am more surprised that the
name was lost somewhere along the line. When I was watching the weather on
the local news out of Baltimore one evening last fall, the map showed
Frogtown! Inspiration struck and I am working on a logo for
the end of the driveway. My plan is to make a sign that says "Frogtown
Circa 1774" with a frog of some sort on it. Our house qualifies to be in
the National
Registry of Historic homes, but that would mean for any work, enlarging,
etc. we
would chose to do on the house the Historic Registry would have to approve
the
construction. No thanks.  I waited 35 years to live in a house * I grew up

in an apartment* and my husband and I will be the ones to decide what is
done to
our home. Well, within the bounds of dealing with the local codes and
ordnances.
p~~

   So while hubby has been working outside to insure the landscaping looks
maaahhvelous for the house appraiser, I have been working inside.
Today
I didn't
work
on the house, I worked on the furgirls. Furry dogs require pampering,
pawdecures and scissored coats. Tomorrow I will bathe them and put
Frontline drops on them to protect them from the deerticks and dogticks
that have been so terrible in our area the last few years due to the
amount of rain we have been having. They look so beautiful when they are
all groomed, even before being bathed.

 I hate
cutting their black nails. I am terrified of cutting the quick and hurting
them. It wouldn't be so bad if I was more consistent about cutting their
nails so the quick pulled back more. I did great today though. Two dogs, a
total of 37 nails, and I only had one bleeder. I hate that I had even one,
but I think that is pretty good!

  Oh by
the way, if you wonder where 37 comes from, 20 toes on Shia, only 17 on
Kylea. She has no dew claws and had a toe removed due to a tumor on it
some 6 years ago or so now.

Blessings! 

              Kathie

The
Blood 

  The new moon
allowed no light to complete the task. No street lights, house lights, or
vehicle lights were available to help. This she had to do alone. A dreaded
task. There was no choice. The blood. The blood was all she could think
about.

  It had been a full day since the drive out of state. The body parts  in
the back of the van were properly bagged upon arrival. There would be no
further problems.

 But the blood remained.
Blood was in the carpet. One large spot that continued to spread the
longer it sat. It just wouldn't do, so work in the dark she must. She had
thought the extra thick bag was enough, but the blood still found its way
out. It left its mark. Someone would ask questions. Someone would notice
the smell. After all, it was July in Maryland. In the heat of the sun, the
blood had begun its inevitable decay. When she opened the driver's door
the next morning, the smell of corruption assaulted her. The foul stench
drove her back from the vehicle, but she she had to be THERE in 15
minutes. If she was late, questions would be asked. She couldn't be late.
Taking a deep breath she alighted to the driver's seat, opened up every
window and turned the air conditioning on full. The fresh air blowing in
her face almost made the smell bearable.

  Now it was night, and
the lack of light from the moon and stars couldn't stop her. The blood had
to go. With gloves, scrub brush, a bucket with water, and detergent in
hand she proceeded to scrub every...last....trace...Even in the semi-dark
she could see the blood. It stood out like a beacon.

 The task done, she
emptied the bucket of fouled water and threw away the gloves and scrub
brush. She wouldn't be using that again. She only hoped it was good
enough...would the smell be gone? Would anyone ask about it? Would they
find out about the bloodied bag?

  This was never going
to happen again. She WOULD be more careful next time. It happened every
month...the drive out of state, the bloodied bag, the chance for stains on
the carpet. If she was going to keep this up she really needed to consider
getting a pickup. Things would be so much easier if there were no carpet
to worry about. Or maybe a cooler? Would a cooler work? Then there would
be no need for bags. No worries about dripping blood or stains. She hoped
they appreciated this. All this work. The smell .The blood. She did this
all for them.

  This was the 4th time
in 6 months she had made the trip. The 4th time with the bag, but this had
never happened before. There had never been this much blood. She had never
been this careless, and now she was paying the price for her carelessness.
She had to be more careful. The smell of the blood wouldn't leave her
nostrils. The scent of it clung to her skin, her hair, her clothes. Now
that she had erased the evidence of her doings, she went inside the house
to her family.

 "Mom, mom...are you
done?" her little one asks.

 "Yes sweetie I'm
done. What a nasty job. I need to take a shower now, I can still smell
it."

 "Ugh...I am glad that I
didn't have to do that, " the husband grimaces.

 "So the smell is gone?"
asks the little one again...so curious, " Man that was nasty. Who would
have thought that chicken blood could smell so bad! I guess from now on
when we buy a 50lb case of chicken for the dogs we need to take coolers.
The ice and plastic bag aren't enough, especially in the summer. YUCK"

  Yep...next time I get
food for the dogs from the farmer's market in Lancaster, I will be taking
a couple of coolers. There is little appeal to a Chevy Astro van that
smells like one of Frank Purdue's slaughterhouses.

  Yes indeed friends,
truth is stranger than fiction.

  Try living my
life for a day....

Blessings! 

             
Kathie

  And yes, I left my
camera at home...again. / I will have a chance to take pics tomorrow or
Sunday, and I will be sure to do so. We put the backdrop up today and it
looks AWESOME with the big volcano in front of it! I can't wait to see
what it is going to look like once we get the rest of the decorations up.

 *****************************

 
On an aside, can I just
tell ya...I am too just way too white to work outside in July in 95 degree
heat? My ancestors didn't plan for this when they met with the red headed
Vikings and other Norsemen with pale skin and blue eyes. They were more at
home gutting fish on the shores of a windy lake in weak sunlight. There is
just NOT enough melanin in my skin to fair well in this July sun in the
Southern US sun. Think "puddled  melted wax". Yep me...add a blob of
red hair on top. Fewf.

  I was painting the
volcanoes outside to prevent the aforementioned fluorocarbon high.
Instead, I wound up near passing out from the heat of the sun. There was a
breeze blowing, but the air that was in the wind felt like a fan blowing
from a furnace. No coolness or relief from it at all. I was bending spray
painting the volcanoes and counting down as I did so.."OK..10 more to go.
Well maybe I can make 20 more instead"

 
Sweat...sweat...drip..drip...until I can't see through my glasses...

 "OK...ten more
to go...20 is um, too many ..we don't need that many " then mutters "I am
too freakin' white for this...I see heatstroke in my future. I would
rather see Rita's Frozen Custard than the inside of Upper Chesapeake's
ER....I am getting out of this heat."

  While I
like summer and love the sun-shiney days, the sun beating down on this
red-headed, white-skinned chick is not a good thing.I think I would have
fit right in with those Southern Belles that would stand around with
umbrellas and fans, sippin' mint Juleps. *G*

 
Without the rum. I will save the rum for making a rum sauce for a creme
brulee.

 
Blessings! 

             
Kathie

 
Today I went over
to church about 1:30 expecting to paint the volcano and possibly put up
the backdrop on the stage. Oops...Jeff was finishing painting the volcano
when I got there *today is his day off, I didn't even know he would be
there...he just must have been really eager to finish painting it and see
what it would look like. I hope he didn't think he had to come in to help
me...I was going to do it myself
( He needs to take his day off and spend some time on himself and Beth
and the kids *. He did leave soon after I arrived though, since Beth had
to work. I helped him clean up and I finished cleaning up the Friendship
Hall where we were painting the backdrop yesterday. I am so proud of us !
We didn't get ANY paint on the carpet in the Friendship Hall. Greatly in
part to the fact that I was super anal about the handling and use of the
paint in the carpeted room. By putting down three large plastic drop
cloths, surrounding the backdrop with a double layer of newsprint, and
putting down plastic garbage bags where every drop of paint and paint
brush resided, we kept the floor clean! Yeah! I would much rather have
been able to paint on the parking lot or in a room with a tiled floor. The
threat of rain was imminent so the parking lot was out. There are no large
rooms with tiled floor inside the church, so painting inside anywhere
other than the Friendship Hall, which is the largest room in the building
outside of the sanctuary, was out. We done good!
  

  
Oh, did I mention that I also sternly warned the 16 year old and 10 and 9
year olds helping me that that had to STAY On the paper. DON'T step in
PAINT. DON'T walk off the newsprint for ANY REASON without getting me to
come over to them. If they got primer or paint on the carpet, it wasn't
coming out, then I would get in trouble and I wasn't going to have that.
NOW HAVE FUN! lol Actually, I wasn't as mean as it sounded but dealing
with 8 gallons of latex paint on a carpeted surface with kids can be a
nail biting experience. They did great and I am proud of them. THANKS
GIRLS AND THUMBS UP!

  I
will take pictures of the backdrop and painted volcano tomorrow. It is
hard to photograph a 10 foot by 30 foot piece of canvas that is lying on
the floor. )

  So, other than
clean up, what was it I did all day you may ask? Well since you ask I will
tell you...I made volcanoes. Well I made volcanoes after I made a run to
Home Depot for spray paint, rope and 13 rolls of packing tape.

 
Johnny *youth pastor* bought a BIG OLE four foot wide roll of brown paper
to line all the hallways with. Over that we will be hanging palm trees,
the Bible characters for the VBS, leaves, other tropical decorations, etc.
Before I left for Home Depot he asked me if I could draw volcanoes on the
brown paper in the hallways in the basement. No problem...but I came up
with a better way to make the volcanoes: make them 3D and big and by using
materials that we had. I picked up more spray paint at Home Depot while I
was out.

  I
took pieces of the brown craft paper and spray painted in brown a rough
volcano shape *just a triangle with the top cut off *. At the top I spray
painted in red lava flowing down the top and sides. I cut the volcanoes
out and then taped one side to the craft paper on the walls. I then took
newsprint and crumpled it up and taped it to the wall under the volcano
towards the top, and then taped the other side down. The result is a 3D
volcano! After Sunday services when we put the tunnel up going into the
sanctuary and set up everything else, I am going to take yellow, red and
orange tissue paper and make *flames* coming out of the volcanoes.
Tomorrow I have to make another, oh, *counting*, 25 or 30 more volcanoes.
It won't take me too terribly long to make them and cut them out. Once I
do that I can hand out the volcanoes to have someone else put them up in
the basement. I can't go in the basement because one of the rooms has a
problem with a leak. We have had torrential downpours over the last month
and mold has grown on the wall. They are cleaning it up and are going to
paint it on Saturday, but I am deathly allergic to mold *deathly not being
an exaggeration as my throat closes up when I am around it for any length
of time*. The problems with mold were much worse last year before they had
the property regraded, and I got sick from being upstairs with the kids
coming up and down out of the basement with the mold on their clothing and
shoes. I had to leave the church after Tuesday afternoon and couldn't go
back to do the video the rest of the week. Tuesday I just kept getting
progressively worse even with meds in my system, and I knew I was
approaching getting wicked sick.

  This year I am
going to stay away from the kids where possible, and the basement
completely, take allergy meds and a B complex every morning, and leave the
building if necessary after I do registration and set up and run the
store. I was sick for two weeks last year from exposure to the mold, I
missed Worship Team practice and the Sunday we were up for worship. I felt
terrible, had trouble breathing, etc. I don't want to go that round again.
I get the feeling sometimes that people think I am a little nuts about
this, but if you have never had your chest close up to the point where you
can't breath, just from walking into a room or being around people who
have walked in that room, you wouldn't understand. It is scary to
experience and that was the worst reaction to an inhalant allergen I have
ever had. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that. I will be making sure
Brenna is loaded up on antihistamines and B vitamins too. Her allergies to
mold aren't as severe as mine, but I don't want her feeling nasty from
exposure to it either.

  So tomorrow
preparations continue. I really enjoy being able to get *artsy* when the
occasion arises! The holidays, special programs and VBS give me a chance
to be creative and I look forward to being able to do something different
every time we do a new program. VBS has really become something that we
all that are involved in *kids and adults* look to and enjoy. I think this
being the first year it is completely on his shoulders, Johnny is a wee
bit stressed. Prayers for peace for him and that everything would go
smoothly would be appreciated! I think we are doing GREAT so far...we have
the bulk of the decorating done, and that is by far the most time
consuming of the preparations the week before the actually VBS.

  I will take
pics tomorrow and Sunday when everything is completely decorated.

 

  If I
remember to take my camera, that is.... ;oD

Blessings! 

             
Kathie