Homework

We enjoyed a beautiful and mild fall weekend here in the northeast. I took a break from all my home work to shoot the late afternoon sun lighting up these deep red mums. Don't you just love that color?

One big task I got done at home this weekend was putting my youngest daughter's bedroom back together, now that her older sister officially resides in her own room on the lower level. There used to be bunk beds against the far wall and she took the one large dresser with her, so we commandeered the TV armoire from our family room and moved it up into the corner. We've been repurposing a lot of stuff around the house lately. It's cheaper and easier than trying to sell used pieces and find good quality yet not too expensive new ones. It just requires imagination, time, and muscles for moving everything around! (It also helps if you have a cooperative hardworking husband with a sense of humor!) Her new room looks clean, neat, and spacious! I hope it lasts!

This afternoon, I also took on the task of crushing up cardboard boxes for recycling. We had accumulated quite a collection, with all the new purchases for the hall bathroom. I still can't get the car in the garage, but at least now I can walk from one side to the other without climbing over a mess of boxes!

Here is Cassie "helping" me with the cardboard. Little stinker.

Pictured above is one of our cats, Tigger, also known as "the tumbleweed." She has fur that just seems to attract and trap all kinds of debris, from stick-tight seeds, to leaves and twigs (last year I even found a slug stuck in her fur! Ew!). This weekend I've been combing through her fur and removed about 18 ticks! Between her, the other cat, and Cassie, I've probably killed 25 ticks this weekend. I also dosed her and her sister with Frontline to help in the tick battle. They seem to be in exceptionally high numbers this year.

All my weekend homework wasn't unpleasant, though. This afternoon I baked some yummy double chocolate oatmeal cookies! These should get us through a good portion of the week. I'll try not to eat too many!

A parting chuckle: Here is a photo of the new commode in our updated hall bathroom. While we were in our local home improvement store checking out the different models available, we noticed a numerical flush rating given to each toilet. Most were an 8 or 10. Curious about what criteria the manufacturers use to rate the toilets, we questioned a clerk. It turns out the number stands for how many golf balls a toilet can handle in one flush! One model claimed it could swallow an entire bucket of balls! This one was rated an 8. (So far so good). But it seems like a more appropriate testing instrument would be yams or baked potatoes, no?