This is fun...

I got this from D'Blogala (It seems to be making the rounds). Bold the things you've done and surprise yourself... I know I did!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

So many of these I’d LOVE to do, SOME I have on my agenda for next year, and some NOT SO MUCH... this list really made me think. What have YOU done?

"Yes, we can!"

Today is the day...

Exercise Your Constitutional Right To Vote Today!

We arrived early and stood in line for an hour to cast our ballots.
It was definitely worth the wait because the feeling is great.
I love being an American on Election Day!

Election Day is coming...

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

A rollicking good time...

Mama Mia!
This movie is a hoot...
We enjoyed every bit of silliness!
Meryl Streep sings...
Who knew!

I am the tortoise, not the hare...

I started the wallpaper project in the bathroom on Friday at the tripping point, the window. It took several hours and lots of sweat equity. Even though the castle is fairly new, nothing is level. Because the pattern is so busy, it took lots of creative paperhanging ingenuity to get the job done at the window and a tub enclosure. Also, it took about three wrong cuts before I figured out the repeat. Now I'm not sure I have enough paper to finish the project without ordering more. Sheesh!

In a small space such as this bathroom there's lots of measuring and cutting around windows and fixtures. It gets more and more difficult for me to go up and down and up and down on the ladder. Scrunching my body into tight spaces, like behind the toilet, is no fun at all... my knees hate it! Large rooms with lots of straight walls are so much easier to paper.

My littlest cub called on Saturday to say she was bored and ended up coming over to help. We've tackled many similar projects together and her help was a godsend. It took us nearly three hours to hang two tricky pieces at the juncture of the door and vanity. We had to cut around the light switch, electrical outlet, door jamb, and vanity. And wouldn't you just know it, one piece ended and the next began right in the middle of the three-inch space between the door jamb and vanity. Who planned this project anyway!

Today I'm on my own and creeping right along. If I've cut it correctly, the piece booking on top of the water tray in the tub will go above the tub to the left of the window. Progress is slow, that's for sure but what's on the wall looks good. I am so the tortoise, never the hare. Slow and steady will win the race.

Fly Lady strikes again...

So, okay, I'll admit it... I'm lost without my little sidekick! I thought I'd enjoy the break while Lil Dragon spent the week with her cousins and Grandma Wanda. But no, I'm moping and walking around the castle like a little lost puppy.

I thought I'd get a lot of projects done around the castle that have been on the waiting list for practically forever. First off, I was planning to wallpaper my bathroom. No problem, right? I've wallpapered a gajillion rooms and know how to do it blindfolded. But again with the no, I'm stuck! The window has me reeling. I just can't figure out how to handle wrapping the paper for window without wood trim. All week long, my need to to it just so has kept me from even starting!

Then today, I opened an e-mail and FlyLady hit me upside the head.

FLYLADY: Afternoon Musing:
Perfectionism + Procrastination = Guilt

Our perfectionism causes us to procrastinate! That procrastination creates clutter and chaos in our lives. Then we look around at all the mess and the guilt comes crashing down on our heads. Why do we do this to ourselves? We don't have to live this way! The problem is our perfectionism will not allow us to jump in where we are and just do something. We think we have to have all our ducks in a row and understand everything fully to take the first step toward a peaceful life. After all, Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family.

I want to eliminate the guilt from your life because guilt is another form of piling on. We don't need any more stress in our lives. When we get overwhelmed we shut down. I am taking my feather duster and absolving you of all guilt. Today is all we have. Do what you can, with what you have, and Do it now! Don't wait, Get things done in 2008!

Thanks, FlyLady, I needed that! Ummmmm... is there any chance you know Jeanine???

A visit from the wizard...

The Wizard pulled out huge wads of lint and even a few dryer sheets.
The whole mess was jammed at the small vent hood on the roof.
He recommends installing a Deflect-O Undereve vent hood to optimize
vent efficiency, reduce lint build-up, and decrease dry time.
That will eliminate one elbow, which has the same effect as 5 feet of vent tube,
and 2.5 feet of tubing, for a total reduction of 7.5 feet.
The new hood will even allow dryer sheets that get sucked up to exit the building.
Maybe I'll find socks and panties on the grass, too!

Jadiepie is bored...

Lil Dragon isn't here to play with her this week!

Words to live by...

A GENTLE REMINDER
POSTED BY TRACEY BUXTON

"Notes from A Cottage Industry"

Happy Fourth of July...

An afternoon at Long's Park...

Play Park
Petting Zoo
Lots of Grass for Running
And Sticks to Pick Up
Lil Dragon Loved It

The Land of Little Horses Farm...

Lil Dragon rode a pony, drove a tractor,
and fed lots of animal friends at the farm.
We had such a good time!

Another movie...

Good v. Evil...
A totally testosterone action flick!

An urban fairy tale...

Much to my surprise, this movie was a delight!

A Day Out with Thomas...

Pa, Lil Dragon, and I had such a good time
when we rode on Thomas the Train!

EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW

Right now I'm reading "The Simple Truth" by David Baldacci.
Chapter Two begins with this intriguing paragraph:

The steps leading up to the United States Supreme Court building were wide and seemingly endless. Trudging up them was akin to laboring toward Mount Olympus to request an audience of Zeus, which in a real sense you were. Engraved in the facade above the main doorway were the words EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. The phrase came from no significant document or court ruling but from Cass Gilbert, the architect who had designed and built the courthouse. It was a matter of spacing: The words fit perfectly into the area designated by Gilbert for a memorable legal phrase.

Who knew! I decided to check it out.

This is what our friends at Wikipedia have to say:

Equal Justice Under Law is a phrase engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. This phrase was apparently first written in 1932 by the architectural firm that designed the building. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes subsequently approved this inscription, as did the United States Supreme Court Building Commission which Hughes chaired.^[1] The architectural firm that authored the phrase was headed by Cass Gilbert.^[2]

The words "Equal Justice Under Law" apparently paraphrase an earlier expression coined by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.^[3] In the case of Caldwell v. Texas in 1891, Fuller wrote about the Fourteenth Amendment as follows:

By the Fourteenth Amendment the powers of the States in dealing with crime within their borders are not limited, but no State can deprive particular persons or classes of persons of equal and impartial justice under the law.^[4]

Neither this entire sentence, nor even the last seven words, would have fit on a pediment or architrave of the U.S. Supreme Court building, which explains why the architects would have wanted to shorten them. In the years since Fuller wrote these words, the Supreme Court has decided that the Fourteenth Amendment, and especially its Due Process Clause, do limit the powers of the states in dealing with crime.

The Greatest Show on Earth...

Grandpa, Lao-Lao, and Lil Dragon went to the circus.
Lil Dragon was spellbound.
The "eldiefants" were her favorite!

Oh, yeah! I remember wearing one of those...