Ball Point Pen + Full Dryer =

...an extremely annoyed MiniKat!

I've spent the last three days trying to get the ink stains out of the dryer itself and on the load of clothes that was affected. Right now I'm concentrating on the dryer itself since I think the clothes are either going to take more time or are totally ruined, depending on fabric. I'm to the point where I'm going to throw a load of wet towels that we use for the bunnies into the dryer and see if any blue comes off on them. If it does, then I clean some more. Ugh.

I did go shopping today to replace the un-savable pants from the dryer. Note that all but two pair of my summer pants (that still fit) were in that load of wash. *sigh*

FH is slowly mending, but he can't go much further without some physical therapy and maybe some injections of cortisone and/or steroids. We're going to the neurologist Thursday and if she thinks he will need injections she will send us to a neurosurgeon that she likes.

Minis? What minis? I was going to work on minis this Sunday? Hmm... well. Yeah. That was before the dryer incident.

I do have some pictures of the front garden though. At least the flowers seem to be cooperating.








I am hoping to actually make it to the post office in the morning. I have several packages to mail and I need to buy more stamps.

That's all for now. I am going to go wrestle the laundry and get ready to flee to my friend's house to vent and whatnot. Some days you just need to hang with your girl-friends... and other days you need your girl-friends AND the homemade mint chocolate brownies that one of them is famous for. ;-)

More Spring: Plants, Decor, and Cleaning

I've been doing chores today and trying to declutter a bit more. I think I'm winning, but I can never tell until FH comes home, glances around, and says, "wow!" That's how I know things have improved. The fact that he bothers to pay attention to the amount of housework I do in a day makes me feel good too.

For anyone who wondered about the strange posts sticking out behind the hedge in this picture, those are stakes ringed in clothesline that are protecting this little beauty:
We planted this baby redbud tree last fall before the frost set in. I wasn't entirely sure it would survive the bitter cold here given the late planting, but it has! I'm so excited!

As you can see it's barely taller than my hand, but it will grow quite a bit this season I'm sure. I was outside today with utility shears cutting away all the grass to the leaves could get light. I don't want the maintenance men to run over it with a lawn mower or decapitate the poor thing with a weed whacker. Hence the ugly stakes. I'm hoping to get some decorative fencing this weekend to replace the stakes with.

Part of the decluttering project was actually getting some craft projects either finished to a stopping point. I cut the rest of the mattresses from the foam piece and covered as many as I could with felt yesterday. I was able to store them in a zip-top bag that takes up less room than the supplies did.

I also glued the fake flowers in place on this wreath:
It came to me already bedecked in silk blossoms last summer when our maintenance men were cleaning out an abadoned (and thoroughly trashed) unit in the neighborhood. The woman had no concept of cleaning and hse had a bit of a hoarding tendancy. The boys decided they would let me go through all of her abandoned craft supplies to see what was still usable and I could keep what I wanted.

Two more "blank" wreaths came along with it. I have plans for one to become an autumn wreath and have bits and bobs for that. The other... I don't know. Perhaps something with summer time accents. I already have a winter wreath thanks to my MIL. Or perhaps my friend, Holly, will want one for her new house. :-)

Tomorrow I will be there all day helping her tape trim and showing her how to paint walls. They have until the middle of June to leave their rental house, so we're getting the painting done and some other needed work out of the way before the furniture is in the way.

Now to track down FH since it's half passed seven and he's not home yet. If I know him he's gotten into the groove of coding.