New windows tomorrow!

I rushed home from work today to let the window man into my place. I decided on new windows before my accident and got a really good deal. I was able to get all new windows in the house, including a bay window in the front, for a fraction of the price. Yeah, down economy!

According to the strange man, my windows will be ordered tomorrow and installed in a couple weeks. The previous windows were really bad. I was watching tv a couple days ago and the window just blew right open. I am so excited to have window that are actually energy effience and look good. *Yeah new windows!*

I plan on having a party to celebrate the new windows, but don't know what the theme will be. Something regarding windows, but what?

"Homer, save me!"

Another benefit from my accident is the time I have spent with my father, Patricia (he told me I could call him what every I wanted, so I picked Patricia).

Patricia came over to fix my front stairs, which have looked confused since I bought the place. Thankfully, my dad has devoted one of his days to helping me with the house and the stairs were first on his list.

I found a lot of gumby Simpson toys at Goodwill so I gave him the 'Special Homer' because it was Homer working in the Spring Field Nuclear Power Plant. I really just wanted to give my dad 'special homer'.

So we jacked the stairs up so they would no longer hurt me (I fell on them earlier in the summer). All the time Patricia kept saying, "give me strength, special Homer."

Things I shouldn't be doing

I moved into my craft room and made the master bedroom into my craft room for more room. More space didn't change much. The place is still a disaster. The fact that I really couldn't sew in my craft room didn't stop me from buying a new, improved dress form for more design projects. However, space did. I ended up having to move my tools out to the living room and work on this dress. I think it turned out kind of ok after some tweaking and tailoring. The two lessons I learned was I need to stand up more and my new dress form comes with a hem gauge, but it doesn't tell you how short it will be.

Unexpected yard work

My yard has gone to hell. Really, just gone to hell. My yard is sitting down there with Hitler, Satan and Barney talking about the weather. The reason: I can't spend a lot of time outside without making my scar even more noticeable. This has lead to my co-workers telling people I am a vampire (when asked, it is not a new development. Rather, it happened about 300 years ago, so I guess it is a new development in vampire years).

I woke up super early to people working outside. I was pissed and going to egg the neighbor responsible. However, I was lazy so I just got ready for work. Later that day, Holly texted me to tell me CenterPoint came to the door, asking to come in. They were working on the gas line and didn't bother to tell me before hand. Holly told them the owner was at work and she was the roommate.

I called and called and called, but didn't get an answer. The next day I stayed home for a while to see if they would come. They did not. Finally I got a hold of the foreman’s number and told him I was the owner and wanted to know what was going on. He called back and said he couldn't give me any information until he could talk to the owner. He said, "I would be happy to talk to him, but he needs to call me." That is when I reminded him that I was the owner and he got all flustered. Oh memories. Memories of buying the house and all the people telling me they could wait until my husband showed up.

It turned out my address just turned up as being next on the block for new pipes. They were old and needed to be replaced.

Tile job

My back hall was is done, but it might be the most expensive tile job in the history of tile jobs due to the medical bills. It started off as a simple project that turned into something so much more.

I started using tile I bought for the bathroom. My dad talked me out of putting tile down because we would probably have to gut the entire room before I sell the place. I measured and had enough for the space. However, I did not account for me getting mad and going 'smashy smashy' when I could not get a cut right.

The first attempt was a total fail. I ran out of tile and they no longer carried it at Home Depot. I tried to match it, but the difference in color would kill me, even though it is in the closet.

Attempt two started off good. I bought new tile that I liked and there was a large stock at Menards (I got mad at Home Depot. They pay their employees less and Menards offers health insurance to all full-time employees.) Then I ran into the corners that needed a special cut. The cutting thingy (technical term) I bought sucked and I was running into the same 'smashy smashy' problem from before.

To avoid going back to the hospital from this project, I called my mom and she brought over all her tools. It made the project so much easier, but she also brought over a bottle of booze so we got very little done. One more weekend of work and I was finished. It looks so pretty and I literally put my blood, sweat and tears into it.

Day one

Growing up, I remember my Aunt Shelly being a person of authority. She would yell at me for simple things like trying to ride her Doberman like a horse. Crazy, I know.

The first thing we had to do was weed. So much weeding. The first day consisted of weeding a small spot and planting two large plants. That was easy. Then we had a day off and I was suppose to weed the large wall. I worked for about an hour and then went to the beach. Shelly was not very happy with me after that, and she had every right.

Funny story: while we were weeding, the neighbor had a guest in town. He was a very attractive hippy-man with bright blue eyes. He stopped by to let us know the weeds we were pulling actually were a plant he uses for hippy-style salads. However, he did not help, he just grazed on the 'weed'.

In the end, the part of the wall looks amazing. I could not have done it without the help of my super fantastic aunt. The problem is, I kind of hate her because she looks a billion times better than me, yet is a few years older. Grrr.

Opps! Down I go

A little over a month ago, I was heading out the back door with crap in my hands. Holly was sitting on the stairs and the light was burnt out. I turned around to keep Dandy from getting out, but when I turned back around, my flip-flop slipped and I fell off the stair and down I went.

Everything would have been just fine, if days earlier I wasn't tiling the back hall way. I had a container full of cement that dried and was too lazy to get up and toss it in the garbage. I toss it out the back door. Bad, bad idea. That is what I landed on...

Right when I fell I knew I as in trouble. (The picture is of what I fell on). I could tell my lip was cut, but I didn't know the extent. Fast forwarded to the emergency room. They thought they could just sew it up right there and everything would be fine. Nope. It was far too extensive and I had to have surgery.

Not realizing how bad it really was, I kept asking if I would be out in time to see Rod Stewart. I don't like him, but I got free tickets and my aunt wanted to go. The nurse just laughed and fed me more morphine. I laughed too.

After over 14 hours of sitting there with my face split open, I went in to surgery. Within an hour (I think) they put over 200 stitches in my face.

It wasn't all bad, I got to stay with my dad for a few days. He waited on me hand and foot while we came up with scenarios to tell people. We had a lot of fun watching PBS and just talking. After only 10 days I was able to return to work with my new scar and teeth (I damaged two of them).

A short list of the really funny things that happened:
-My dad telling me to quit ultimate fighting in a crowed elevator
-Calling my co-workers out for calling me Nettenstein in a group meeting, even though I was the one that came up with the name
-Seeing people's look when I tell them I 'broke my face'
-Catching up on 90's cult movies

All in all, it sucked and hurt a lot, but it could have been worse. That is why I haven't updated my blog, cause I know the two readers (Shelly and Margi) are concerned.

Da yard

My mom was suppose to do the front retaining wall as my 'house warming present'. That didn't happen. Then Holly was going to take it over, but nearly 200 feet of weeds and unsettled soil hindered her. However, the wall needed to be done. Knowing it would take a few years for the plants to add curb appeal, I had to start this year.

This lead me to think: who do I know that knows enough about plants, but can keep me in line. Auntie Shelly! Shelly has an amazing way of keeping me in line. She has this strange thing where she makes me clean up after a project is over. I fight, but in the end, I feel a lot better.

It was a big task, but Shelly had a couple days off. This was the start:

Hotdog!

Holly and I were sitting in the back yard when we say a small bunny. He was eating a small daisy. It was super cute.

He was a very small bunny. His mother probably died and left him to fend for himself. He sat in the back yard and ate daisys. He would start at the stem and nom until the flower hit his mouth, then he stopped.

This week in Art

With the new room, I had to find things to put on the walls. I believe that the art on a wall makes the room complete.

I already put most of the pictures I already owned on the walls in my house so I had to find new pictures. It was late and I knew I wouldn't find what I really wanted. On one of the walls I put my dad's first violin. It looks antique, but it is not. He bought it at a garage sale and still had nail polish marks for finger placements.

I just needed something for above my bed. I always have more fabric then the average bear so I used it as a canvas. Yes, it is not high art, but it adds the balance needed for the bedroom.

I moved

I got really sick of my bedroom. When I moved in I took the master bedroom as my bedroom. I removed the closet thinking I would replace it in a timely manner. Then I thought I would put in new flooring and molding. However, I failed to do any of that. I wanted to, but then I came up with new ideas for the room. A master bedroom is a selling point and I don't want it to be a room I would just like.

I bit the bullet and moved. I decided on the smaller craftroom because it had a closet and finished floors. It was a great idea!

First, I had to repaint. I thought it would look good to paint vertical strips on the far wall. That ended up looking very bad. The only other thing I had to do was move everything from the old room to the new. It sucked, but when it was done, the room ended up looking great!

I love my new room! It is great! Small, but great.

Graceful

I thought cats were graceful. I thought that I just managed to adopt the most ungraceful cat with Mandy. She will walk on a blanket and her nails get caught. She will walk on the couch and her nails will get caught. She will kneed something and her nails get caught.

Dandy makes Mandy look like professional ballet dancer floating across the stage. Dandy will be walking on the edge of the bed and just fall off. Holly said she seen her walking on the piano and she just fell off. The sad thing is, she is going to get bigger, much bigger. I big, clumsy cat is going to break a bunch of things.

My guess is she will break my nose with in 5 years. The problem is she is so cute.

I put baby in a corner

When I was a kid, my mom worked at Target because she wanted to buy a baby grand piano. It was something that she always wanted. I don't really know why, she wasn't any good at playing. It was probably because we had a beautiful bay window that was perfect for a baby grand.

After a year or so she saved enough. I remember when it was delivered. It was a beautiful mahogany baby with hand carving around the base. I was around six so it seemed huge!

For the first year or so we all played. I took lessons from a mean old women on the west side of St. Paul. She sold Mary Kay and smelled funny.

After my mom and dad divorced the lessons stopped. Most things stopped. The only time we would touch the piano was when it was comical and we were pretending to be lounge singers.

At 18 my mom was forced to move out of the house I grew up in. She moved in with her long-term boyfriend. He had a house that could fit in the old house a few time. There was no room so she had to put it in storage.

A few years later, my sister started moving in with boys. They had larger places so she took the piano. I always fought against it because I didn't believe in moving it around as quickly as my sister went through men.

Finally the piano made its way to the house my sister was living in with her husband. They divorced and it was messy. After a few months of back and forth, the decision was made it would live at my house until I moved out. It is so pretty and looks perfect in my living room. Plus it makes me looks super fancy. The place can look like a crap shack and people will just focus on the beautiful baby sitting in the corner. Yes, I did put baby in the corner.

It's a little bitter sweet that the picture is of Mewska sitting on it. She loved the spot because it was full of son.

Orange alert

Ok, so, I am kind of stupid. I like to drink and I have no perception of the world around me. This leads to me leaving the doors unlocked ALL-THE-TIME. Since Holly moved in I have only done it a hand full of times, but still, there was a few good months will every door leading to entering the house unlocked.

I am still here to write this completely necessarily blog post, therefore, I was not murdered. This neighborhood is uber safe. Probably more than Minnetonka or some other 'fancy' neighborhood'.

However, the previous owners did not feel the same way. They must have felt really unsafe. When I moved in there were two alarm systems. One was newer then the other, but I guess they felt safer with two.

I thought for a second to activate one, ya know, being a single lady and all. But it required a land line and that is just to archaic for me. This is 2009 and I have an iPhone. I am far too advanced for a land line.

I couldn't believe that the previous owners kept the old, nonworking alarm system around well after it was used. That is just stupid.

So a year after moving in, I am painting the kitchen and I had the choice to either paint around the main box or take it down. I took it down. Now I am completely unprotected.

Garage 0 - Annette 1

Rewind seven months ago. My dad and I were getting the garage door working because snow was coming. I was excited because I have never been able to park my car in an actual garage! It was fancy in my mind.

My dad brought over some of his old garage door openers and programed it to work. This was our conversation:

Dad - "Ok, let's see if it works." Presses button and the door closes.
Me - "Yeppi! I am so excited! Now I don't have to worry about someone breaking the lock." At this point, I had a small lock that could easily be pulled off protecting the crap in the garage.
Dad - "Well know you don't have to worry about that. Let's make sure this other door can't be opened." He took a metal pipe and jammed it into the door.

Conversation one hour ago:

Me - "So, my garage door won't open."
Dad - "Have you tried pushing the button."
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Did you try again?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "How is the battery?"
Me - "I got a new one."
Dad - "Did you try pushing the button with the new battery?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Maybe you need a new clicker?"
Me - "Just got one. Still doesn't work."
Dad - "Did you press the button?"
Me - "Yes."
Dad - "Well, try to get in the other door. Do you still have the key?"
Me - "Remember when we the garage door working and you stuck that pole in the other door?"
Dad - "Yea, we didn't think that through, now did we?"
Me - "Nope"
Dad - "Next time we should have an exit plan."

After about a an hour, I finally got the door with the pole open just enough for me to squeeze through. I pressed the button for the garage door and it worked perfect. I am waiting until my dad comes over to get the clicker working. I was covered in dirt and needed a bath.

A Dandie Idea

It's been a while since I really enjoyed my friends so I made it a point to hang out with my oldest friend, Margi (oldest that I have known). She works weekends so I can't see her when I am not working and she can't see me when she is not working. It's like friend camouflage.

I also believe the best decisions are made when you are drunk. But only when those decisions are remembered. We went to Mayslacks for a couple beers and dinner. Half way through the night we got on the conversation of cats. She knew the Mewska situation only because she reads this blog (one of three readers).

Me - "So, I think I should get another cat. You saw Mandy, she was super friendly."
Margi - "Yeah, she wasn't like that the last time I was over."

Why, for some reason, is Mandy being social a bad thing? Well because she farts when she is under pressure (ha) and gets all sorts of gassy when people are around. That leads me to think she doesn't really like people, but is out because some cat needs to know what is going on.

Me - "I want to adopt another, I just haven't."
Margi - "Let's go tomorrow."

It was so simple. The reason why I have not gotten a cat is because I have not gone to the humane society to pick one out. I have been so consumed with other things, I forgot how simple successfully acquiring this end result could be.

So we went back to my house and talked more about getting a new cat. Everything was interrupted by a game a Trivial Pursuit so I thought she forgot. Nope. The next morning she came in my room and said, "Let's go buy a cat!"

I was a little pissed at her energy. One, we had to walk 981,098,banana,298,948 to get to my car. Two, I was feeling the booze the day after and happiness is not the cure.

When we first saw Dandy (her real name was something stupid so I don't remember it) I fell in love. We brought her into a 'holding room' and I knew I had to get her. I actually made the step when I saw another family looking at her and got all sorts of pissy because they were touching my cat.

My mortal ememy

I have a gas lawn mower in my garage. I bet it works great, but the problem is I can't actually get it up the stairs. That and it is totally bad for the environment, but what eves.

I bought a push mower thinking, 'yeah, it will be more difficult to mow, but it is a good workout and better for Mother Nature.' By the end I wanted to die. A push mower is like Flinstoning out your car with the emergency brake on. It is like trying to eat tomato soup with a fork. What I am trying to say is that it is not fun.

Tile - what to do?

After stripping the paint from the tile, I realized that it was the same tile as the bathroom. A nice white tile with gold speckles. I can paint the bathroom because it will never stick due to the heat and water. The bathroom was easy because I could take attention away from the tile with the cool shower curtain, plants and textured window treatment.

I obviously could paint the tile in the kitchen because it was painted before and I never knew. Even Holly didn't know and she is a perfectionist! She has been painting her headboard for about two weeks now because she keeps seeing different colors and brush strokes.

At first I thought I could do some cool tile work. Above the sink I tried to add a pattern between the red and grey. The problem was that I like to drink beer while doing work house work. Straight lines don't mix well with beer.

I LOVE APPLES!!!!

I like apples just as much as the next person. They are great for the teeth and yummy. However, I don't love them as much as the person that designed the kitchen. They used apple wall paper, apple drapes and apple tiles....Or so I thought.

The apple tiles looked DIY mainly because they were covered with this yellow film-y stuff. I first tried scraping them off and that didn't work. Then I tried putting hot water on them to sofen the film up. Fail again. Finally I went to find something in the cleaning box I recieved from my mother.

My mom likes to steal. It doesn't really matter what it is, she just likes to steal things. I still have over half a roll of trash bags she stole (this after using them to bag leafs, gutting the basement and all other rooms in the house.) She also stole industrial cleaning supplise. I figured something in that stock would be strong enough to take off the film.

I found some extrememly toxic film meant to clean foorboards that could take a smile off of Jesus. After opening up all the windows and putting on a gas-mask, I started stripping. Not fun. It took a lot, but after many hours, I started picking the apples.

In the process I also realized they painted the tile so, yeah, double the work!

I'm a bad roommate

I text Holly asking when we were going to drop off the car she was test driving. She text back, "Heading to HCMC. Bus in accident." I write back, "I'm getting off around 6."

In my defense, I really didn't read the text. I just saw the 'bus in accident' and assumed it was more of a hassle then actually being hit. It's a bus, those things are huge! Later I found out she was actually hurt.

I feel bad because we had so many great plans for this weekend in the yard. Now is is hurt and I don't have my partner. Let's face it, this is all about me.

For starters

I started by taking all the cabinets off and began prepping them. Due to the crap-shape they are in, I first had to fill the grooves with wood putty. Then I had to sand. Then I had to prime. Then I had to putty again. Sand again. Prime again. And after that short process, I could paint.

That is a shit load of work! I couldn't use a power sander because I don't have any electrical outlets outside and I didn't want to get the kitchen all dusty because I didn't want to clean out the cabinets.

What's messed up house doesn't have an electrical outlet on the side of the house. That just seems like it should be required! I was going to go into the garage, but Holly still has a bunch of stuff still in there and I think she would be pissed if the next time she went to grab something and it was covered in dust.

Man, sanding things by hand sucks. The cabinets are gonna look like ass.

Where to start?

Again, there are so many things wrong with the kitchen, it is difficult to know where to start. The kitchen is very small and the cabinets are a very dark brown. I knew the wood was too old to re-finish. Plus I don't think it is real wood. After watching HGTV I learned how to paint the cabinets so I figured I would start there.

The second big thing was the floor. No matter how much I cleaned it, it still looked dirty. I plan on actually gutting the kitchen in a couple years so I don't want to spend too much time/money on it. Sticky floor is the way to go.

Budget update:
Cabinet paint - large: 24
Cabinet paint - small: 13
Paint scraper: 8
Wood puddy: 8
Spreader thingy: 3
Foam roller: 4
Floor - two boxes: 64

Total - $124

Amount left: $376

Kitchen challenge

Last week I arrived in Raleigh NC with a hangover and time to kill. The best thing about traveling for work is the hotels have cable and cable has HGTV...and I love HGTV!

I just did my taxes and Obama is giving me $7,500 for buying a house last year. I have decided to spend that money on fixing up the house. I know that all the home improvement projects would cost 10 times that, but it is a start.

On of the most horrendous rooms in the house is the kitchen. It is all sorts of bad. So bad that it needs to be 100% gutted. New everything. It is so bad that I would need new, new everything to make it nice.

Some of the money is already dedicated to other projects, but I am saving $500 for the kitchen. Yes, that is not nearly enough for a re-model. I need a new stove, floor, coubbords...well, everything. This is a 'face-lift' so it looks less horrible.

Dispite all my rage, I am still just a cat in a bag

So the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins is dating that slutty midget, but I still love their music. It reminds of a really angry middle-school kid, oh, the good ole days.

Mewska loved her food, but, unlike my apartment, I didn't have a good place to keep it. Before I kept it in a cabinet, far, far away from the cats. However, the cabinet space in the house is lacking. There is a total of three. Seriously, I moved into a house 10 times my apartment, and the cabinet space is maybe a quarter of the apartment.

I digress...There is no space for the cat food so it has to be kept in the open. When the chow is low, they could get in the bag. Because Mewska was so small, she almost fit in the whole bag.

Pergola

I am still recovering from the death of Mewska, but I think I should add some house stuff. One thing Mewska really loved was being outside. I was excited, and even got her leash out, so she could play outside with Holly and I as we fix up the yard.

One thing we want to do is add a nice sitting area in the back yard. Holly kept calling it a Per-go-la because that is the way that it is spelled. However, when I asked my construction buddies, Thom with a H and Tall Paul, they said it is actually Per-gu-la. According to Wikipedia because it is Latin. Yes, I did make fun of her over and over and over and over and...well I like to make her realize she doesn't have all words in the English dictionary down.

Anywho, I am getting a boat-load of cash back from my taxes so I am putting some towards the yard. I am happy because I get to remind Holly she pronounced it wrong at first.

"I'm just holding it for a friend"

Mandy had a thing for catnip. I guess it was more like Kate Moss' 'thing' for coke, and not the soda kind *zing*. Mewska would act like she really didn't care when the nip came out. Mandy, on the other hand, would do what ever it took to get to the nip.

Mewska would be all like, "trying to get me on the nip just enforces the stereotype, created by the dog organization, that all cats like nip. It's not true, man." She was a strong-minded cat.

However, I came home one day and found both Mandy and Mewska got in the nip. Mandy was no where to be seen, but Mewska showed her true colors.

Killmouski, Mewska Killmouski

I don’t remember her given name, I just remember it did not fit. I think it was something like 'Flower', or 'Hope'. It proved to me that teen aged volunteers should never be able to name the cats....ever...

She was found in St. Cloud and was transferred to St. Paul with her sisters. Her sisters were not in the same room so either they were adopted or, well, taken care of.

Mandy had a new sister, but she hated her. When I brought her home I found out a funny little tidbit about Mandy, she snorts when she hisses. However, it took only a couple days until they were playing together.

The next big problem was the name. She reminded me of a Russian spy and I wanted something with Mew in the name. Her fur pattern looked as if she was a white cat that had a black cloak draped over her. There was even a spot on her chest for a button. To me, that meant Russian spy.

Her fur markings made her a spy, but her attitude helped a lot. There were many times I would turn around and almost step on her. She was sneaky! Hence, Mewska was born. The Killmouski came later after a friend told me about a friend with a Killmouski.

When Annette met Mewska

I started writing the story of Mewska, but realized it takes more than just one post. This is Mewska part I.

I got my Dotty when I was 7 years old. She was a ‘I’m sorry your Dad and I are getting a divorce, so here’s a cat!’ present. I picked her because she was different from the other cats. She really didn’t care to impress me, she was just herself.

It took me days to finally pick her name. I remember talking to my Dad about her and he asked what she looked like. I said, “she has a lot of dots.” There after she was named Dotty Linda (her given name) Buttons (what my sister wanted to name her) Hanley.

Dotty was never spayed. We didn’t have the money and she was an indoor cat. She died in 2006 from cancer. Cancer, that was 80% more likely because she was never spayed. From that point on I vowed to take better care of my pets.

It took me a couple months to adopt Mandy. I walked around for hours until I found her. She was cowered in the back of her cage, but the second I put my hand in there, she came out. Her previous owner abused her and kept her in a closet and she had nothing better to do then rub her hair off. She was gross.

I never intended on getting a second cat, but Mandy would keep me up at night wanting to play. I had to give her a friend because I was going to be a better cat owner.

When I went back to the humane society, I had an idea of what I wanted. I needed a cat a couple years old and she had to be small. I wanted someone Mandy would play with, but wouldn’t get too big.

I was just about to give up when I went back into a communal cat room. I accidently kicked the top of a cat box that was detached and I realized something was in there. Inside I found a little tuxedo mew. I picked her up and fell in love.

Bathroom...part 2

The bathroom was one of the things that made me not want to buy the house. It was gross. Gross-a-la-gross. The sink was lop-sided because it molded out. And it smelled like pee. Only when we pulled the floor up did the pee smell go away (I am guessing Fernando and his friends did pee in the sink.)

After a lot of work I finally finished the bathroom. Now it is very nice. Not perfect, but nice. The tub is too shallow and I don't like the layout. However, I am happy with it not looking like a 3rd world-country bathroom.

I had to do a lot to make it some place people would want to pee:
- New sink
- Remove glass shower doors
- New floor (since the sub-floor is pretty bad we went with cheap tile)
- Paint storage area
- New storage area above the toilet
- Paint vanity.

My neighbors will hate me...

Right after one of the biggest snow storms, we decided to go out. Beth was at a bar near the house so Mike, Kari and Kassi bit at the idea of hanging out in NE MPLS. When Holly came home from work, she was interested in coming, but still needed to get ready. That meant that we had some time between her getting ready and my friends coming over.

Upon learning that Holly was coming, Kari needed to clean out her back seat. The day before they went sledding and had sleds in the back seat. The natural reaction was to sled down the large hill in front of my house....at 10 at night...

Long story short, we ended up drinking way too much at the bar. At some point we were shoving ice-cubes down each other's shirts. Then I made out with a 22 year old. Good times, good times...

THEY...ARE...GONE..

I don't 100% know how I feel about this. The economy is crap and so many people are losing their homes. It is really sad, especially when there are children involved.

I have been complaining about my neighbors across the street since I moved in. They would hangout on the street until all hours of the night during the summer. They had two dogs, one pit bull in the back and a small yappi dog in the front. When they would get picked up, they would honk the horn over and over and over and over.

I came home a couple days ago and say a for-sale sign in the front. I was super excited because I thought it would only be a couple more months of them. They would probably sell by the summer! Then I realized that the lights were out and no one shoveled for days. Then I was sad again. They got foreclosed on and had three children.

Once I got over feeling bad, I checked to see if it was already listed. It was! I could not believe they actually were asking 150K for the place. Plus, the place looks really small, but is 4 bedroom and 2 bath.

It said "Great neighborhood! A block from St. Anthony and many parks. Place needs many updates". Yeah, I live in a good neighborhood! Now even better.

A few days later I came home and the neighbor was shoveling. I asked about the place. I guess the people living there were renting and couldn't make the rent so the owner was going into short sale. That made me feel a little better.

71 visitors!

I checked my Google analytics and there has be 71 visits. I am guessing 20 of those have been my pseudo mom, auntie Shelly. That still leaves about 50 people. Wow, people area actually reading this blog.

So some people warm their socks up against the heater. Not me, I warm my cats so when I want to pet them, they are warm.