Saturday, December 6, 2008

It's Photopalooza!!

Well, apparently I didn't take into account the fact that EVERY time I post more than one photo in a post here, I feel like I'd rather be having a root canal. Because I got this crazy idea that since I was camera crazy the past 36 hours, I'd kind of do a pictorial blog, if you will. So here...we...go.

Ok, technically this was more than 36 hours ago...it was a few days ago...but Megan was waiting for her friend to pick her up to go to youth group on Wednesday and she wanted to wait outside. So she sat in the middle of our little Christmas decorations and I had to take a picture.



Yesterday (as you are well aware if you read my blog from yesterday) was Alli's birthday. Since it was a school day on her birthday I let her open presents in the morning. She chose to open two but save two for after school. Here are her bright and bushy-tailed morning present pictures...






And while we're on the present kick, let's go ahead with the pictures we took in the evening...a present from Grandma...and her so pathetic-looking birthday cupcake. Notice the crazy woman look in her eye in this next photo. It's because she was TOTALLY surprised. She wanted that doll SOOOO bad and thought she had to wait until Christmas for it. And Christmas is a whole 20 days after her birthday! Her big sister has a Bitty Baby from American Girl dolls that she got when Allison was born. Meg named her doll "Baby Allison." So she had a baby Alli and so did I. Baby Allison is sacred and little sister fingers are very very seldom allowed to touch her. So getting this baby TOTALLY rocked in Alli's opinion. She has been named "Abby."






Now we can back up a little. Right after school, Megan had a performance in the school choir at Saks 5th Avenue. That place is so far out of my league I don't even know if I spell it right.










Before the show, the makeup people in Saks were putting makeup on the girls. They ran out of time before the show began (because only one of the ladies was doing it...the others were busy standing around and chatting...not to be criticizing or anything, but they missed out on the fun. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever and you could see the "magic" in their eyes.) Meg was one who didn't get hers done, so after they sang I took her back over and asked if she could still have it done and the lady was very sweet to oblige. Meg loved it!





"Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."


...so I took the girls photo in front of the window... (I love Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken.")



We went home after that... in a round-about way and settled into some nice vegging...taking breaks to open that fabulous baby doll and blow out the trick candles (mwahahaha). And while we vegged, watching tv, playing on the computer...what did my 10-year-old do? Sometimes a picture tells it best...especially when words seriously fail...




You're not alone if you said, "What on earth?" Meg likes to glue things. This time it was cotton swabs, pinto beans and glitter glue. Welcome to my world. :D

And sometime in the midst of all that fun, I went into the kitchen. I went to get something from under the sink when I noticed that the floor of the cabinet was sloping way down back by the wall. I glanced up and saw that the pipes had come unconnected. Not broken...just unconnected. Apparently one of those little compression ring thingies just kind of gave up without telling me. And for who knows HOW long and HOW many garbage disposal runnings...all that water and "stuff" has been draining down and soaking into the particle board. I KNEW I smelled something but couldn't imagine what or where it was. NOW I know.

I rent. I COULD have called the land lord. But ummm...I was a little behind on doing my dishes and thought I could pass on the mortification of a repairman coming into my house when I couldn't use the sink. (I thought the pipe was broken broken, not just...undone.) So I decided I could soooooooooooo do it myself. And well...I wouldn't recommend my work to others, but I did it...and it's functional...and...and...and...well...I took photos.
The disaster...
The gathering of supplies...
Made these little T thingies for support under the bottom of the cabinet...

Put them in and put the first sheet of plywood in....all the way back into one of those spooky, hard-to-reach corners that no one likes to use because no matter what you put back there, you'll NEVER want to dig it out...

And voila! It's done and full of junk again!! Okay, I could easily get by with only about 4 or 5 of the products under there, but well....... Yes I should either paint the plywood or maybe line it with contact paper or something but am I going to? Well....not anytime soon.

It really wasn't a bad job. The worst thing was dealing with one of the workers at Home Depot. He was wanting to make sure I got the right sizes of plywood before he cut it, so he was asking all these questions. Well I had done the measuring and was confident before I left home. Then he started firing questions at me. After he asked one of his questions, I answered and along the very same lines tried to tell him another detail about the cabinet and he INTERRUPTED me and said, "Let ME ask the questions." I almost said, "Let ME take my business to Lowe's." But I didn't. I ended up going home and checking it AGAIN, (I was right to begin with! Yay!) When I went back, a different man who was VERY friendly came and helped me. So all in all, not a big deal. Not that I want to do it AGAIN, but not a big deal.

Happy Weekend everyone....

5 comments:

Jayne said...

Oooh I loved all the photos Hill!! Thank you so much! I'm still in awe at your repais job! Just fantastic!

Hillary said...

Thanks, Jayne. I love it when I can do the job myself. I get frustrated and really upset when it's something out of my league. I shouldn't but that's one of the times when being single really bothers me.

Dee said...

Wow, a photo bonanza. Your girls are beautiful! And talented.
Your cabinet work is amazing too... "can Hill fix it.. yes she can!" Wow. And that home depot guy needs some fixing himself - I hate it when that happens - making you second guess yourself.

Sunshine said...

Oh my gosh! I've just added that baby doll to *my* Christmas list!

And those cupcakes were *awesome*! My bday is in May, Hill. I love the chocolate.

And I am so proud of you for "doing it yourself". I.would.never. I almost started crying when I saw that first picture of the board all caved in. You know what I did when our GD was leaking? Put a tupperware bowl under it. Yeah--it's still there. You rock. So much. It looks better than what I imagined it to be before.

And how are you so nice? How were you so collected to go home and actually measure a-flipping-gain? Iwouldbesopeeved and that guy would have known it. GOOD NITE! I'm getting worked up just thinking about it. Though I get dizzy in Home Depot. It's a little too much for me. Did I mention you're awesome?

Hillary said...

::jotting down Sunshine's birthday and love of chocolate::


Thanks @ the whole kitchen project. If I didn't feel like I "have to" I'd just shove the tupperware bowl in there, too. lol

And I'm not always as nice as I'd like to be. I think I try harder when my girls are there hanging on every word. But usually...with complete strangers it takes a bit more before I'll bother telling them how I feel about their rudeness. Most times it's just not worth it.

Thanks for the comments, chickadee. ;)