All Rise!

Gary is doing bailiff duty.

It's pretty interesting. He can't talk about the case but he talked about what he had to do. He has to be at court earlier than everybody. The judge briefed him on what she expects from him.

She doesn't want any disturbance outside the door so if it does happen, he has to go outside and tell the culprit, court is in session. Hahaha! She's strict with what you can't have inside the courtroom, if anybody does have something, Gary has the judge's blessing to stare them down. Another hahahaha!

His bigger responsibility is to know where everybody is at during recess, the defendant, the witnesses, and the members (jurors). When court is about to start, he tells the judge the members are ready, then he tells the members the judge is ready to come out. He goes inside the courtroom, call "All rise!", everybody rises, the members comes in, then the judge comes in.

The rest of the time he just sits there, pretending to be awake.

Birthday Wish

One of our favorite TV show is Animal Planet's Backyard Habitat. It's all about transforming backyards into a wildlife habitat and that is my birthday wish: to turn my backyard into a wildlife habitat.

I've done my research and this is just plain silly but you can get your backyard certified by National Wildlife Federation (hopefully, I'll get ours certified by next year, I don't care if it's silly!). I've created my habitat planner and I've talked this over with Gary and he's all for it. Megan is just so excited.

We went to Arbor Day Farm today and did more research plus we got 3 free tree sapling. We didn't get to plant it, it started raining when we got home.

Links
Backyard Habitat
National Wildlife Habitat
m3nch13's Habitat Planner
Arbor Day Farm

As you walk in the front door, you see everything, except the bedrooms. I wanted to paint the walls but since it's so open, I couldn't commit to one color. One thing is for sure, I will definitely rip out the carpet, kapoy mag-vacuum!


Downstairs, our family room. The other half is still a mess, so let's not post a photo. =)


Upstairs, the living room. I don't like that vertical blinds so I'll be changing it to something softer. I just couldn't find the right fabric.


The dining room. We're thinking of extending the hardwood floor in the kitchen all the way to the dining room. I want to change the light fixture here. It has a ceiling fan. G says that getting rid of the ceiling fan will make the house too hot. My solution, put a ceiling fan in the living room instead. The sliding door leads to the backyard.



The kitchen. Things that we're thinking of doing here. Change the countertop, put a tile back splash, and better lighting.

Buddy is always mistaken as a long-haired chihuahua.

He does look like one. We have to explain that he is actually a cross between a pomeranian and a toy fox terrier. Explaining it over and over again finally made me doubt myself and I decided to google it.

It does exist! His breed is called a pom terrier. Buddy looks more like a toy fox terrier (the big triangular ears and the short tail) than a pomeranian.

Click here for toy fox terrier photos.

Blame it on Aymone.

She got me hooked (in a good way, I think). Project Runway. I am so inspired with what these people can do with a yard of fabric. Well, maybe more than a yard but you get my drift.

I've been sewing since maybe college but it was mostly drapes, throw pillows and lately bed skirts. They're cost effective and I get exactly what I want. I've never tried sewing clothes though it seems too daunting. All that changed when I started watching Project Runway. I started thinking maybe I should try it. I have to start simple though.

Not too long after, an opportunity presented itself. The local fabric store had a sale on patterns, 99 cents per pattern. I figured, if I mess this up I didn't waste a lot of money. I choose a very simple pattern for Megan. It was for a sundress but I intended it to be a night dress for her.

It's not much, but she likes it. I made 3. I chose fabrics that are soft. This is actually a size bigger. I'm happy with how it came out, I'll try sewing skirts next.

I made this one, too. I like the pattern and the colors (this is the inspiration for the blog's colors). I decided to sew a messenger bag for Megan. She uses it for school.

What are you gonna do with your days now?

Gary asked me that question the other night now that Megan is back at school. I really don't know what I will be doing with my days. I planned on going back to work when Meg goes back to school but now that we're planning to go to Davao for Christmas, going back to work just to quit in 3 months time seems pointless.

On the other hand, I can't bear to think that I'd be idle all day! I need something to do, something productive. I have volunteered to help at the school library but I need more.

I don't know...

Our first project: tiling the entry.

1. Pull out old flooring.
2. Lay-out tiles.
3. Cut tiles.
4. Grout.
5. Clean.
6. Enjoy.

We're happy with how it looks and now we don't have that strip of carpet that was catching all the dirt. It's so much easier to clean tiles.

I have a change of heart.

After working however many hours on a new layout, I didn't like it. For now, while I work on a new layout, I'll just use this one.

Summer is the season for thunderstorms.

We've experienced some thunderstorms here. It could be nice and sunny outside then all of a sudden these massive dark clouds come heading towards you. Thunder rolls and lightning flashes, soon a heavy downpour will follow. After a few minutes, it passes. Megan is very concerned with thunderstorms.

The other day, at around 5 in the morning, I woke up to a very loud thunder. Megan is in my bed. She said, the thunderstorm is really freaking her out. I couldn't blame her. Now, this is a thunderstorm. It was just really loud and bright. Buddy then woke up and started whimpering. We came to get him and he was trembling.

Megan will not go back to her bedroom. Buddy's too agitated. We all ended up sleeping together. Times like this, I wish I listened to Gary and bought a king size bed.

PS

Happy Birthday, Mommy! We hope we could be there to celebrate it with you!

These past few weeks I've been busy with sewing projects and slowly sorting and organizing. Our bedroom is almost done just a few more things to sort. We've organized our closets and it looks really nice! Megan's bedroom is still such a mess. She just have way too many toys. I don't know what to do with them. The guest bedroom also houses my arts & crafts center. The whole closet in that bedroom has been designated as arts & crafts center and I still have to sort and organize that.

The living areas are done. Yes, we are company-ready, too bad we're not expecting anybody. The basement which is also our family room needs a lot of work. It became the dumping ground. Anything that doesn't have a place is in here. The computer, the keyboard, the dollhouse (which is still unpacked), the futon, the lounge chairs, on top of the new couch and the new chair with the ottoman, TV. This is where we do everything. Watching movies, playstation, computing, magic-singing, and this is also where Buddy sleeps. I am overwhelmed when it comes to making some sense in this room, just like I don't know what to do with Megan's room.

At the end of the day, when I've crossed something off my never-ending to-do list, I'm satisfied. After I've finished organizing then maybe we can move on to upgrades. That's another long list, it's mostly kitchen & bathrooms. Change countertops for the kitchen, while we're at it, change the sink and add back splash. For the bathrooms just tile the floor and change the light fixtures. We also want to extend the hardwood floor from the kitchen to the dining room. The entry is also hardwood floor so we want to do the same for the stair steps and the landing leading to the garage. Another thing, almost all rooms have ceiling fans which is fine, I just don't like them that much, so those will go as soon as possible.

Whew! Just blogging about them is overwhelming! Wish me luck!