Here Kitteh, Kitteh!

Resident Expert.

Do your cats lack entertainment value? Are they lackluster, lazy, crabby? 

How can you have some fun with a fat, humourless & generally caustic cat companion? Hawthorn, our expert, will demonstrate how! 

"How to Enjoy a Caustic Cat."

Suspicious Activity.

Our amateur film producer makes his debut with this gripping story of intrigue. 
Or something. 

It might be a wee bit slow to start, but hang on for the surprise ending!

"Suspicious Activity"

The High Cost of Drama.

Oh, the things that pass you by when you are having drama.

Drama. Who needs it?

A New Blog Has Hatched!

Ironic in light of my lack of posts lately, no?

But this *NEW* blog is not about me, nor is it by me, so maybe it has better odds of getting written, ha! Or not.

We proudly introduce the brainchild of our brainy-child:

Big Mushroom Lab (of a Small Scientist)

The agreement was that we would make this public after he competed several posts. He has to compose & type at least one complete sentence for each post. He usually does all his captions & formatting all by himself, so don't blame me. This is his baby, not mine. 

I let him try out the "dynamic" blog formats which lets you, the reader view the blog in a variety of layouts -- pick your favourite & be sure to "Follow" his blog! It'll make for one happy, small scientist. Enjoy!

Teeny Tiny Apartment Progress Photos: The Clever, Space-saving & Dangerous Bed

Did I miss August?

Wow.

Well, perhaps I can make a post sometime early next year explaining what has kept me from this blog, ha!

Now, when last we left off, we were looking at Daddy's clever, space-saving closet project in the bedroom of the teeny-tiny apartment. Now, let us examine the reason for that mysterious stairway in the last image of that post... where could it be going?

Maybe here?

Ah, yes. The coolest bed EVER. For a kid anyway.

There is a funny story here. And a not-so-funny one too. 

The funny story is that after Daddy determined that the rope available at the home improvement stores was not so desirable, he went to REI. There he had an extensive conversation with the climbing specialist who, among other things, educated him in the finer points of static & dynamic climbing rope. Having been informed of Daddy's dubious intentions for the rope, said specialist was very careful to phrase all her discussion in hypothetical terms... I suppose there is someone out there who just might use the REI climbing rope for something for which it was absolutely unintended & then, after disaster strikes, take them to claims court for product failure. But, at the end, she warmed up a little & said, "Good luck with that!" 

It's like the hot coffee thing. I guess.

Ah, but back to pictures! How we humans love pictures! 

Oh, look! It's the bed that never looked that good again!

 A different couple of views for the scrapbooking type people

and the perceptually challenged folks.

One more wide view just because it captures Daddy's favourite angle.

The not-so-funny story involves the bed's trial-run. Rowan fell off in his sleep. Terribly scary for everyone. So, now the bed is a very elaborate, cool-looking place to pile toys! Good grief! What an epic mess! A guardrail of some sort is in order, something that won't strangle, entangle or behead baby. Any ideas?

Teeny Tiny Apartment Progress Photos.

Lucky you. No, it isn't raining. It is beautiful outside today, but I acquired the plague that Daddy brought back from Kinnickinwickingtlingnikgling. Or whatever that dreary village on stilts was called.


So, I shall do my best to interpret more of Daddy's photos which somehow mysteriously appeared on my laptop & tell a tale of the days before our arrival...


If you missed out on the BEFORE PHOTOS & the MORE BEFORE PHOTOS, you might want to take a peek. Oh, & I should mention that somewhere along the way Daddy painted the entire place, except the bathroom which needs a complete overhaul, before her pulled up all the carpet. This is why the walls have a warmer tone to them. Just in case someone super detail-oriented was wondering. Or something.

May 21: South-ish view, the day following the images in my previous post.
Here we see boxes of bamboo & oooh... bamboo & bouncy stuff on the floor.  

May 21: North-ish. A better view of bamboo & bouncy liner stuff.

May 22: Here is that same floor the following day. Shiny! Oooh, look, beer!

May 22: This is also the same day that Daddy & Uncle Blake
installed the new bedroom closet covered in THIS POST.

May 24: Dark, but done!

May 24: Ah, there's the flash. Ew, how it wahses out those walls!

Hey! Where did the new carpet come from? Was it magic?

Closet. Carpet.

Daddy's favourite shot. :P

Oh ho! It's not a boat! It's a BED! :)

What's this? Stairway to heaven?
No, wait, Winchester Mystery Apartment?

You'll have to tune in again to see. ;)

MORE Teeny Tiny Apartment BEFORE PHOTOS!

Well lookie here, I found more photos of the Teeny Tiny Apartment when Daddy first got his hands on it: 

Southsoutheast view again, this time sans carpet.

North-ish, also sans carpet.

Looking into the bedroom from hallway.
Gee, the bedroom is sans carpet too!

Whoah! Bedroom sans closet!

He really likes this shot. Am I missing something?

Teeny Tiny Apartment BEFORE PHOTOS

Lucky readers, this is one heck of a rainy day. Too rainy to go mushroom hunting! (That means it is very, very rainy.) This is all going to be a bit roundabout, but I am going to try to document the changes here at the Teeny Tiny Apartment. (If there's time, I will also get back to that Kitchen Project). 

When Chris got in there this spring, it looked like this: 

Living Room, looking south, southeast-ish.

Living room, looking northeast-ish. That's the front door there.

Bedroom. Yeah, I didn't take the photos, ok?

Bedroom again, carpet & all.
And LOOK! The boat-bed* is gone! Hooray!

Bedroom closet which was erased in this previous post:
Some People's Other Other Projects. 

These were all the photos Daddy took at this point, so don't gripe to me. What he was thinking, I know not. Good thing there are more to come!

*Funny story about the boat-bed: Very, very shortly after the boat-bed was posted on Craig's List, a young woman can & took it away. She thought it was super cool & had never seen anything like it. Right. Like I said, she was young.

How Some of Us Adapt.

This house is sheer chaos. It is also very, very tiny. For Some, it is very difficult to get a word or meow in edgewise over the din. Everyone must adapt in their own way...

Some of us have been trying to compete, working all the angles:

Look! Look! Look at me! FEED ME!

Look! Look! Look at me! I still fit in the bassinet! That makes ME the baby!

Others, have thrown the baby out with the bathwater...

I'd like none of this. Make it go away please.

Early End of the Season *sigh*

The children are still sleeping. Yep. 11 a.m. This is because I am going to make this post happen, no matter what that consequences. I will be catching up, in Rowan's words, "by degrezes."


With a sentimental & ambivalent heart, our Rowan bid his goodbyes to his teammates -- a bit early in the T-Ball season -- & set his eyes towards the Last Frontier. His ever considerate, thoughtful & organized team organizers made sure he has these before he left. Too bad his Moma was in a hurry & didn't do such a good job of scanning them...

Handsome number 2. :)

The team.

One of the Best!

Little Things Which Make It All Worthwhile...

Let me begin by saying: We have been extraordinarily busy since Daddy arrived in Escalante.

Now for the catch-up.

If you weren't aware, I still volunteer at the elementary school. I guess seven years of low pay wasn't enough for this glutton. I thought I'd make it ten... for free! This spring, the children gave me thank you letters for helping them with their projects for the Science & Social Studies Fair. How I love those kids. It's these little things that make it all worthwhile. :)

I hastily scanned a couple of my favourites just before we left for Alaska. This one, by Charlee, reminds me of something translated from a Japanese schoolbook. It just tickles me to no end.

A nice, nice, thank you note from Charlee.

And you really cannot top this accolade from Titan. Certainly feels nice, nice to be the "best teacher in the world." Well, at least in Titan's world.

"Best Teacher in the World," from Titan, embellished by Hawthorn.

Welcome Home Daddy!

The boys & I made a special welcome home sign for Daddy's homecoming...

Welcome Home!
(made with a little help from the boys & Howard)

...and attached it to his early birthday present:

Happy early birthday (present) Daddy!

So good to have him home. :)