Eilis & Ted: 1, Frigidaire: 0

In the 2007 cage match of E&T versus Frigidaire, we have come out unscathed and $430 richer. Here's to perseverance! Accompanying this letter was a form stating that "It is understood that the payment of the consideration herein stated is not an admission of liability by Elextrolux Home Products, but that this settlement is in compromise of a disputed claim and that liability is expressly denied by Electrolux Home Products." I basically had to sign my name saying that I would quit bugging them and yelling at their representatives now that I have my cash. Sweet deal. Sign me up.


Click on the image to read of my sweet victory

Ted Wields Multiple Gardening Tools Over the Kingdom of Weeds

We spent a lot of time in the yard again this weekend. We cruised the garage sales on Saturday trying to find a lawn mower or weed whacker, but were unsuccessful. We stopped by Lowe's and picked up a cordless weed whacker and sped home to charge that bad boy up...the portions of our lawn that are growing were getting unruly. While Ted was busy taming the weeds, I was raking up the straw and rocks strewn about the yard. And are there rocks. Billions of them. Some ginormous. Most, just annoying.




It was another gorgeous day today, so we decided to get some more done in the yard. The ground here is super dry and our grass has come up very patchy. We've been encouraged by our neighbors to "keep at it," proclaiming that theirs looked just like ours when they first moved in. They all have fabulously luscious yards now, so I think we'll take their advice. We were off to Lowe's again this morning and the two of us watered and raked and seeded the bald spots on the lawn. We also got some "seed accelerator" that seems to be some sort of fertilizer. That went on the lawn too. Then we watered and watered and watered. We'll need to be pretty strict with our watering schedule over the next couple of weeks and see if we can get this grass to grow. I'm not sure if there is any rain the forecast, but that would help too.


Ted shows a rock who's boss

Hulkin' it.

Happy homeowners still enjoying the novelty of yard work.

Portrait of the bald spots

After the seeds and fertilizer

I finished some sewing projects this weekend too. I made some scrub caps for work and some gifts, but also got a chance to make a small cushion for the deacon's bench my dad made me when I was a girl. I'm in love with the fabric and have some more on the way so I can make a table runner for the coffee table with it. Yay!


Donnie K's creation gets some TLC

Girly Side-Bar

In order to spare the less girly readers, I've posted about a couple of girly new cosmetics I recently tried and liked over at Neat-O!

Check it out if you're into that sort of thing.

Zzzzz.

Being out in the sun all weekend has made me exhausted. Ted had a school project to work on today, so I was out in the yard solo finishing up yesterday's project. I think it has turned out pretty well. We'd like to find something to use as a border, but are both very picky about what to use, so we'll have to take some time to find the right stone or brick. It's amazing what a little landscaping can do for a yard though and I'm looking forward to tackling some more projects in the future.


Here's an old "before" picture



Here's a look at Ted's magazine holders all stained and being utilized! He did a great job! Next up, shelves for the garage??

Weekend Projects

It's 77 degrees out and I just came in from an afternoon of planting. It's the first really nice weekend we've had in a couple of weeks and we didn't have any plans today, so we took a trip to Lowe's and Home Depot to get supplies for two projects we've been wanting to do. As you've seen, we've acquired a number of plants in the past month as birthday and housewarming gifts. It was time to get them planted! Ted has also had his eye on a woodworking project for a couple of months and decided that it was time to get cracking.

Once I got home with the top soil and mulch, I realized that some of the plants we got won't do well in the front of the house because they need some shade. I had to pop back out to the store and find a few things that would do well in full sun.

Everyone in the neighborhood seemed to be out today doing yard work, so we chit chatted with Nathan and Rhonda next door. Nathan had just finished with his tiller and offered to let me use it for my project, and I gladly accepted. Our soil is made of clay and rock, so digging is a nightmare. The tiller worked like a charm and I was done in about 10 minutes. Awesome.


Green Thumb Weazie 1, Tiller 0

Meanwhile Ted got busy building his wooden magazine holders. He wants to make a work bench that he found in a magazine too, but decided to start off small. He's been sawing and hammering for a couple of hours and they look adorable so far. He still needs to sand and stain them, but the "building" portion is complete. I think he should go for the bench tomorrow!






It's about 5:30 now and I've grown tired of yard work. I ran out of mulch and still have some plants to put in the ground, so I'll have to pick back up tomorrow. I think it looks pretty good so far though! I bagged the idea of a raised garden bed because I found some instructions and it was going to be a major production and a major expense--neither of which I am in the mood for anytime soon. I've been dying to get the front yard "finished," so I'm glad I didn't wait any longer trying to save $ for the raised bed. Hopefully there will be more progress to show tomorrow!

Creeping Up The Hill.

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a lovely day. Thanks to all of you that helped me celebrate!
There is not much happening house-wise right now. It's still been a bit cold and rainy, so I haven't been able to plant anything. These plants really need to get into the ground though, so I hope the weather warms up soon! I think a trip to Lowe's will be on my agenda this weekend. At any rate, here's some random pictures to look at until there are more house related things going on!


Manhandling Mortimer

He's thrilled.

Ethel's turn.

Ted and his boy.

Our 2 year anniversary and the best meal of our lives.

Eilis's Birthday 2007

Ethel taking a break from working on her figures.

Ethel salutes playoff hockey

The Artistic Duo.

My brother and sister-in-law rock. They are both super creative and artsy and when Ted and I saw this really cool rock-poster style wedding invitation, I knew exactly who to ask to come up with something creative like it.



I showed Mindy the picture and explained that we'd love to have something like it for our wedding, perhaps to display at the reception or to have people sign in lieu of a guest book. My birthday is coming up, and this present arrived on my doorstep today:




I can't even describe how awesome this is. It's beyond perfect. I love it, love it, love it! I have yet to talk to Mindy, so I have no idea how she created it. Teaguer did the framing apparently, which is gorgeous as well. I've had wedding on the brain all day, so it was very fitting to come home to the perfect wedding accessory! Our very own poster! Thanks guys.

Weekend Visitors.

We had a riot this weekend with Ted's sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces Amanda and Brooke. They were on their way back home from Myrtle Beach and stopped by to see the house and stay the night on Friday. We spent the night catching up, playing video games, and watching movies. Brooke and Jim took a quick liking to Ted's favorite game "Guitar Hero," and Brooke was an old pro before we knew it. Amanda and I got crazy with Super Mario Brothers 3, and the whole crew cracked up over Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights."
I love spending time with the girls because they are so easy to have fun with. I pulled out our "old school" video game consoles and was showing the girls the Sega Genesis and the first Nintendo. They looked at me like I was ancient and said "We've never even heard of those before." I think that's the first time in my entire life that I felt OLD. It was nice to know that I could still keep up with Amanda in Super Mario Brothers though.
It was fun to have family in town again and great to hear the house filled with giggles and laughter. I hope they can visit again soon.


Brooke concentrates on being a rock star.

Amanda plays some SMB3 on the NES

Giggling at Will Ferrell in "Elf"

Brooke and Amanda

Things That Rock.

In no particular order...

1. Ebay. I was doing some wedding research and found a boatload of sparklers on ebay. We'll light these after the reception in lieu of blowing bubbles or throwing confetti (or whatever is deemed appropriate to throw at a bride and groom these days). We were at a wedding in Baltimore where the guests all lit sparklers as the bride and groom left the reception and it was so pretty.


The Sparklers and Me.

I also found a boatload of matches to light the sparklers with. I was going to just buy a ton of matches at the grocery store, but then I found these plain white matches on ebay and thought "Hey! How about another project?!" I plan to decorate them with some sort of stamp. Maybe a leaf to go with our fall theme, or perhaps a "B" in honor of my new last name. My mom looked at me as if I was crazy and Ted wondered aloud if I should give myself another project. Contrary to popular belief, however, I don't really have much that I can do for the wedding until it gets a lot closer. And I'm DYING TO DO THINGS! So now I have a little project. It won't last me very long, though, because when I get excited about projects I don't rest until they are completed in full. It will be fun though.


There's plenty more where these came from.

2. Etsy. Again. I found a woman on there who makes these adorable little gift tags and got her to custom make some in our wedding colors for the bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts. A necessity? No. Adorable? Yes. And ridiculously affordable. She was all excited to get a custom order too. Good times were had by all.




3. Kitties. 'Nuff said.








4. Zappos. Did you know that I've always wanted to learn how to tap dance? Some of you may have. Some of you have seen my great pretend tap dancing that I do when I'm happy about something. Well, my dodgeball team couldn't get it together this season, so I don't have a spring extracurricular activity going on. Ted has hockey is going to take guitar lessons. I am going to take tap lessons. I can't wait! I ordered my tap shoes online YESTERDAY from Zappos and they were at my door when I got home from work TODAY. Free overnight shipping. Free returns (though they fit like a glove). They are seriously the greatest shoes I've ever owned. My fake tap dancing sounds a billion times better with real tap shoes! Who would have thought?


They Make Me Happy.


So Much Fun!


5. Other people's misfortune. Oh, I know, I know...it sounds terrible, but hear me out. I got a call from Frigidaire the other day. A different woman than the one I have been dealing with. She states that they have received my packet regarding my claim, but she has one question for me.

"Do you still own the unit?"

I could feel my blood boiling already. It was ALL. SPELLED. OUT. IN. THE. GIANT. PACKET. I. SENT. YOU.

"If you would READ the information in the packet I sent you, you would know that I DO NOT OWN the unit anymore," I remarked in the snottiest voice I could muster.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Wagner, but we just received your packet on the twenty-eighth and I haven't had time to read it yet."

Then why are you calling me??

"I just received a message that there is another person complaining about that refrigerator and I wanted to find out if there was some sort of mistake."

I went over the story with her and explained that the fridge had been returned to Lowe's, who then had it serviced. I couldn't help to throw in one more dig.

"As you'll see in the packet, when you get around to reading it, Lowe's had it serviced by an outside service center and to the best of my knowledge, it was repaired. The service report is included with my paperwork."

It turns out that Lowe's has now sold the refrigerator to someone else and they are having problems with it too! I'm not sure of the nature of the problems, but it looks pretty good for us that the thing is now giving someone else trouble. So, anyway, bummer for the new owners, but great news for us! It will still take 4-6 weeks for liabilities to read my packet and give me an answer though. They are dead to me.

Well, there's my list for today folks! Not too much going on in regards to the actual "house," per se, but lots going on! It's rainy here and I haven't had a chance to do any more planting. It is supposed to warm up in the next few days, so hopefully ol' Green Thumb Weazie can get down and dirty gardening style soon!

Happy Easter!

We don't have any specific plans for the weekend, which makes us wish we could be with our families for Easter. Although, my parents are apparently having "Easter Bunny Soup" for dinner on Sunday, made with fresh rabbit that my father got at the farmer's market, so I'm sort of glad I'll be missing out on that particular delicacy. At any rate, it's supposed to be "cold" here this weekend, which spoils my plans for a nice picnic on Sunday at the gardens, but we'll see how cold it actually gets. It won't be like last year, that's for sure...It think it was in the high 70's.

Anyway,Happy Easter to you and yours! Here's some pictures of my latest activity--needle felted eggs, as well as some new artwork and our growing Chia Pet!