Cutie Patootie

I think we all appreciate simple pleasures. There are a few things in my every day that I consider a simple pleasure. My first sip of coffee in the morning, a surprise "I love you" text message from Mark, an unexpected email from a friend, a card or letter waiting in the mailbox. These are just a few simple pleasures that I enjoy.

Ever since I can remember I've looked forward to walking to the mailbox anticipating what treasures lie within. As a kid, I loved having pen pals and each day I would hope for a new letter to arrive. I think my first pen pal was Jamie Cunningham. She and I were best pals from 1st grade through 5th but then she moved away. We wrote each other until we went off to college and then lost touch. I had other pen pals along the way, even one from France. As an adult, I still look forward to the mail each day. Many days I'm disappointed finding only bills and junk mail, but every once in awhile there is that shiny treasure waiting for me. Last week I had a fun little card from my sister-in-law, Ashli, and yesterday we received a thank you card from our niece, Avery. The card yesterday held this little gem, a picture of the cutest 3 year old ever! :)

Comment Prompt: What is one of your favorite simple pleasures?

Hooray!

My loyal followers are probably getting bored when they check in and see I have not updated all week. To keep you coming back, here's a photo of my latest sale. We closed this past Wednesday. Yippee!!!


We are planning to drive south to Brown County this Sunday. Hopefully we'll have some pretty fall photos to share next week. Have a great weekend!

Composting 101

Fall is here and with it comes our dilemma of what to do with all of our leaves. Last year, we bagged and let the city figure it out.

I have been thinking about our landfills more and more often and it seems silly to put all those leaves in plastic bags and let them sit in a landfill. I just read that plastic bags may take 100+ years to completely degrade. So, why are we filling them with leaves that can naturally decompose and become dirt?

Yep, we're making our own dirt now. Saturday afternoon, Mark put up a fenced area and raked all the leaves into the bin. Slowly, we'll add other organic matter (like kitchen scraps) and we'll get dirt in about a year. This is just one small way we can do our part to slow down the rate in which landfills are filling up. From the EPA: "Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That's a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead!"



I may even look into biodegradable kitchen trash bags so I won't feel as guilty about my trash. No promises, just a thought. ;)

Sheba's Root Canal

**WARNING**

I'm about to post photos from Sheba's root canal. I don't think they are too gross though. It's just a tooth. :)

Sheba broke her canine tooth earlier in September while at the kennel. Once we had it checked by the vet we found that the nerve was exposed and she would either need the tooth extracted or have a root canal. We opted for the root canal so her tooth could be saved. My understanding of a root canal is that they remove the pulp from the root canal and then fill it in with some kind of dental filling. Then the vet filed down the tooth so it did not have any sharp edges.

Left: broken tooth with nerve exposed

Right: Vet drilling hole in tooth

Left: vet suturing
Right: X-ray of completed root canal

She's doing just fine now. Currently, she's napping after enjoying the fall cool air out on the deck all morning.

On a roll...

Wow, two layouts in one week! Yep, I had some time to scrap another page. I took these photos in July at the family reunion and right away knew how I wanted to scrap them. It just took me awhile to follow through. ;)

The edges say: mother. daughter. teacher. I know Ashli isn't officially a teacher, but she has the heart of a teacher and a teaching certificate so to me she has teacher status. ;)

Better late than never

I don't think I ever showed a photo of my first home sale. This closing was in early August.

I really just wanted to play around with a photo and this neat folded paper look. Pretty cool, eh? :)

Free time

A few hours free and see how I spend it. Sure, I could have vacuumed or scrubbed the tub but neither sound much fun. It's nice to have a creative outlet.

Besides, I steam cleaned the basement carpet last night. ;) I borrowed the Bissell ProHeat from a friend and it is awesome! I would love one of those guys for myself.