Happy Late Halloween

The cause of broken fingers.

Remember when I got this?:

and that is was caused by installing this?:




Well here are the before, during and after pictures of my living room.


When I found this house on the market, I knew there would be lots of work involved to getting it how I liked it. The carpet was HIDEOUS. Seriously, it stunk so bad and was stained nastily. Underneath the gross carpet was spots of mold from where water oe pee or whatever it was. It was gross.

These pictures don't show the grossness of it, or the stench. :)

Then my dad and mom came over and helped almost every night to put in the new flooring - which is when i broke my finger.

And here is my living room now. I still need to add curtains and some things on the walls.

 

I'm back.....kinda.

So I mentioned a while ago that I bought a house. An old one. That was gross and needed some love. And I have given it some love. Cuz I love her. I named her Ella.

Here is what she looked like when I bought her:

What you can't see are the million of rotten plumbs,

 apples and apricots that needed to be cleaned up.

And by the way, those are not my cars.

Here is my house as of today.

It still has lots of work to do.

But so far I:

• 
  
  ripped out 3 earwig infested rose bushes
• 
  
  dug out flower beds that line the walkway (and planted flowers
• 
  
  painted my door red (red doors bring happiness apparently)
• 
  
  and dug out flowerbeds under my windows and along the side of the property

Still to do:

• 
  
  Paint the shutters black
• 
  
  Add window boxes under the 3 windows
• 
  
  pant bushes and flowers in the flowerbeds
• 
  
  make a new door frame 

This is only the front yard. The back yard need A LOT of love.....

How it is.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for

God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story:

It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Oh the joy

+

an 11 year old boy

+

being stuck in a mini-van for 13 hours

=

a new found loathing for a toy.

Septic Tank

So.....remember this?

Basically I had serious plumbing issues, and in the process of fixing them, my dad and I unearthed the old septic tank that was used years ago ( my house is 70 yrs old). The boards that were covering the tanks were rotted and my dad almost fell through them, which is why he decided we needed to recover them with weather treated wood, etc.

Well I haven't gotten around to it yet, so I have a huge gaping whole in my back yard. I have to dig out the rest of the rotting wood and frankly, I have much funner things to do. Besides this is in my back yard....so noone sees it.

The other day I was feeling ambitious and decided to bite the bullet and uncover the poo bin. 

Then I lost my balance.

And fell in.

Head first.

Into the poo bin.

Yes, I cried.

Times like these are when I decide I want a husband. So that HE can uncover poo bins and stuff.

Here is a war wound from the fall.

Stop it.

I was at the store today trying to look for a cute shirt. Failed. While I was looking, a dad was telling his daughter "Get out of the lady's way." LADY? When have I become a lady and not just a girl! I mean, I know I'm 29 and not a teenager anymore - but a LADY?? This also goes along with my hatred for people who call me ma'am instead of MISS. There should be rules for these titles, such as only using the title of ma'am to those awesome women who are over 50.

Why does this bother me so? I know not. I don't mind getting older. To be honest, its GREAT. I am able to be independent, have a career and be single - I can do what I want, when I want, with whomever I want, HOW I want. Maybe its the fact that I don't have any children, or a husband or things of that sort, so it makes me jump when I am called Ma'am or Lady. Or maybe its because I give my boyfriend wet-willies and bring whoopie-cusions to work that make me feel more like a MISS and not a MA'AM. I'm still young. I will forever be young - even when I'm 85.

I guess its undeniable. I must accept that I am a Ma'am. The below is what I found on wickipedia:

Usage of "Ma'am" is common in the United States and in Western Canada. In the past the term was in theory to be used only for married women, but it has become common courtesy to use this term for all adult women, rather than to attempt to presume a marital status based on age or other appearances. The term formerly in common usage for unmarried women, "Miss," is now usually reserved only for children and young ladies of school age, for extremely formal usage in which the woman's marital status is known, or if the woman in question has made it known that that she prefers said term.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

I guess there are a few other evidences of me getting older:

• I can't stand MTV anymore.
• MUST HAVE 8 HOURS OF SLEEP
• Don't find any of the below clothing attractive (these were all at a popular young adult store)

• Don't think he is cute at all:

• And I have Arthiritis.

Zoey.

This is one of my first projects, so I didn't take a before picture. But I painted the chair and reupholstered the cushion. This is probably my favorite thing that I've worked on so far.

I named her Zoey.

I did this.

BEFORE:

Painted pink arms and legs and 1980's fabric

AFTER:

 Modernized cuteness

A memory

For those of you who don't know, I have 4 sisters. 5 girls in my family and no boys. Most of the time the reaction to that information is "Whoa - your POOOOOOR dad!!!". When maybe it should have been, "Whoa...you poor sisters that were mean to each other!!"

Girls are mean. Sisters are mean! I love ALL of my sisters so much, but that doesn't mean that we have always been nice to each other. Its kind of like we - as sisters - can be rude to each other. But the second someone outside of the family is rude or has a problem with one of us, then that person better BEWARE!!!!

Case in point:
(I don't really know what 'case in point' means, but i feel like it fits here)

Sisters involved: Staci(moi) and youngest sister Anne-Marie
Ages at time of incident: I was 8, she was 6 (roughly)
Location: playhouse in the backyard of our home

Incident: Anne-Marie and Staci playing on the swings on the playhouse built by our dad. Staci is pushing Anne-Marie. Suddenly Staci gets a sinister smile as an idea pops in her head. Staci tells Anne-Marie, who is on the swing twisted up so high that she can barely move, to lean her head back, close her eyes and open her mouth. Anne-Marie pleads NO! Staci replies 'Fine, then I won't be your friend.' Anne-Marie wants to be friends with Staci. Anne-Marie reluctanly agrees to comply with demands from sinster older sister Staci. Anne-Marie closes her eyes and leans her head back while opening her mouth. Staci promptly spits a loogie directly into open mouth, then lets go of swing so that it untwists and Anne-Marie can't do anything about the loogie in her mouth. Staci runs off laughing. 21 years later, Staci STILL feels guilt for that moment.

Why am I admitting this rudeness on the internet?? I know not.

All this being said, my sisters are my Best Friends!! It is so fun to always have someone to be able to turn to or hang out with. Their happiness equals the rest of our happiness. 

Love you girlies.

FAcebook

I deleted my facebook account. If anyone wants to know my status', just know that I'm most likey annoyed with the sound effects from my cubicle neighbors. :)

Or you can email me at staci mckinnon (at) hotmail (dot) com

Nothin' Better

I was born in 1981. My childhood was fun. I feel bad for the kids these days, everything is electronic and technological.....

We had the best neighborhood. In the summer, all the neighborhood kids would get together to play night games,lost in the wilderness or go toilet papering and other things like that.

My sisters and our neighbors - the Knight's would all get together and set up all our barbie stuff outside to play. We would make barbie houses out of random stuff and by the time we got everything set up just right, it was time to pack it in.

There was a neighborhood "club" at a ditch that was covered by a cool tree. Everyone would go hang out there and pass the summer days away.

Poor kids these days don't have it near as cool.

Here are some fun stuff that is totally from my era!!

Slouch socks.

Slap bracelets

(now these aren't allowed cuz they can be used as weapons)

Trapper Keepers!

These were the coolest. Ever.

Shera dolls

(I think I had every single one)

T-shirt clips

Pound puppies

Whatever these were called

Zoobilee Zoo

Today's Special

Oh. and ME.

Jenny.

Time is a strange thing.

13 years ago today,I was a sophomore in highschool. 4 of my highschool buddies and I decided to sluff our first class of the day.  One of those buddies was my best friend Jenny. She has just broke up with some guy the night before and came to school crying that morning. So we decided to sluff. We were just planning to sluff at the school library because neither of us had cars since I had just turned 16 and Jenny was still 15. Then we decided to leave and hunted down someone who did have a car which is how we got 3 other people to come.

Its funny how a day from 14 years ago in my life still can seem like yesterday and I can remember every event that happened.

When I was in Jr. High, I was a very shy, awkward girl that had very nerdy tendencies and only opened up to a few people. I've never been someone that is surrounded by lots of girlfriends. I've always just had one or two good close friends. Jenny was the opposite of me. She was social, athletic, outgoing and so friendly. She kind of took me under her wing and I was able to open up to her and be my weird self. :) We were best friends. Inseparable for the next few years. We would talk on the phone every night for hours - about what? Stupid stuff!!

We used to talk about what if one of us died and what we would do. We'd end up crying on the phone saying that we'd miss each other. Little did we know that those talks were our goodbye.

The morning we decided to sluff, the 5 of us crammed ourselves into a 1990 Geo Prizm, went and gorged ourselves with scones and chatted. When it was time to leave, we all crammed ourselves into the car again - Jenny made me switch places with her in the car for some reason. My friend who was driving,  started the car, we were all laughing and teasing each other, when we pulled out in front of a Semi which broadsided us going 45 mph. My best friend Jenny and really good other friend Sarah died. The two others were lifelighted to hospitals and in comas. I simply walked away with a broken collarbone. And a broken heart.

Although its been so long, and my heart has healed, I still think of my Jenny everyday. She has always played a prominent role in my life. I always have tried to make my life worth it. Because she switched me seats. If she hadn't, she would be alive and I would be dead. So I better make my life worth it. Right? :)

I have a lot of dreams with her. Where we are just sitting and talking. I tell her about my life and she tells me about why she had to go. Isn't it weird kinda that I still have dreams like this?

She is more present in my life when I am facing certain challenges. Whether it is really her or not - she still brings me peace. The thought of her and who she was, who she is and what she teaches me reminds me that even on my most crappy day, I'm never really alone.

One of the last things Jenny said before she died was "I seriously wish that song Secret Garden comes on the radio..."

"Secret Garden"

-Bruce Springstein

She'll let you in her house

If you come knockin' late at night

She'll let you in her mouth

If the words you say are right

If you pay the price

She'll let you deep inside

But there's a secret garden she hides

She'll let you in her car

To go drivin' 'round

She'll let you into the parts of herself

That'll bring you down

She'll let you in her heart

If you got a hammer and a vise

But into her secret garden, don't think twice

You've gone a million miles

How far'd you get

To that place where you can't remember

And you can't forget

She'll lead you down a path

There'll be tenderness in the air

She'll let you come just far enough

So you know she's really there

Then she'll look at you and smile

And her eyes will say

She's got a secret garden

Where everything you want

Where everything you need

Will always stay

A million miles away

Sarah was also a very loving, carefree, happy friend who taught me a lot.

Happy Friday

These pictures makes me smile.