can you see me now?

and speaking of setting your own work hours, i decided to work late this week and spend part of the days finishing up some yard work. we thought it might be nice to actually *see* our house. it's definitely different! we took out trees and bushes and gained a few windows! and we got some landscaping rocks to get control of the ground cover. i'm not sure if we're about finished with it all, but i'm sure tired!! the before and after pics are below.

self-employed comics - sad, but oh so true

these are great comics and way to relevant to me! both are completely true. :)

gotta love photoshop comics!

whattheduck.net has some great photography and photoshop comics. maybe it's only funny if you're a true photoshop geek, but i am, and it is! :)

Memorial Day

Just had to say THANK YOU today to the two best men in my life, my dad and my husband. They're also my two favorite veterans. Dad served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and Allen served in the Army during Desert Storm.
Enjoy the holiday and your day off today, but don't forget what Memorial Day is all about. Take time to thank a veteran!

Margie's Celebrity Look-Alikes?

This was interesting. I guess I must have different looks depending on which way I turn. :) Although I think I agree with this about as much as I do with Al Gore about global warming. :) Click here to see who you look like.

Another Bike Ride

We sure love the bike trails around Troy! We took another bike ride today on the Great Miami River Recreational Trail from the park past the golf course. Well, we had to stop at the golf course because the bridge was flooded as usual after a big rain. We also had to bypass the new section under the Adams St. bridge due to flooding. It wasn't easy pushing the bikes up the levy hill to go around either! I let Matt try out the little camera (seeing that it's waterproof and shockproof and all) while he rode in the bike cart and he took 72 pictures. Just like his mom! :)

Tunes in the Trees at Bruckner Nature Center

We went to Tunes in the Trees at Bruckner Nature Center on Saturday and listened to a little bluegrass (Allen's choice, not mine), had lunch, checked out the 1807 log cabin, visited the rescued animals (owls, an eagle, a bobcat, a fox, etc.), and explored the trails. The kids had a ball of course. As usual, Allen had to tempt them by crossing any log across a creek he could find! Then they ran little kayaks (sticks) through some whitewater. We also ran into Keith and Erin and got to meet little Ella! It was great to see them again. We sure miss our old group from Ginghamsburg Church.

Lizzy's new haircut

We finally did it, chopped off Lizzy's beautiful long hair! She's excited to have a new summer soccer hairdo. And she sure is lucky she's cute enough to pull off any style and still look good!

I snuck photos on Ashton Kutcher's camera!

I ran into Ashton Kutcher recently and snuck some pics on his camera! Everyone's been messing with his head, trying to get their pics on his sleek and stylish new Nikon COOLPIX camera.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO of Ashton finding the pictures I put on his camera. Then sneak some of yours on there, it drives him crazy! :)

New driveway!

5/2 - it's completely finished! we now have a concrete driveway with parking for eight to ten cars, so come see us soon! you won't have to walk through the mud anymore. :) the kids get to bring out the bikes, scooters, skateboards, and skates tomorrow. i'm sure they'll find the sidewalk chalk soon and fancy it up. and we'll probably have basketball lines down soon too, full court even! and now, we just need to figure out how to redo all the landscaping we finally finished up. :)

5/1 - almost finished! it's all poured and they're just fine tuning tomorrow and we'll have a complete driveway! the kids are very excited and got to walk on part of it today. to allen's dismay, a cat decided to walk on a corner of it while it was still wet! and no, we don't have a cat. at least it wasn't our 70 lb boxer! :)

4/29 - two sections are finished! and we added the kids' hand prints close to josh's hand prints from 2005 (on the left). they were so small!


4/28 - we've been saving up and it's finally time to get the driveway started! the kids can't wait to play basketball, skateboards, scooters, bikes... and we can't wait to not have a river of mud out back every time it rains! :) should be finished this week!