The rug hoarder

Okay, first off I typed the story in Word and copied & pasted to the blog and I do it all the time but this is the first time the copied text was underlined and in blue.  I got it back to black but can't get rid of the underlining...go figure!

 
Before Jim & I could get new carpeting we had to tear out the old carpeting & pad and remove all of the furniture in the family room. I helped with moving all of the furniture except the aquarium and TV stand which are very heavy. He had to drain about ¾ of the water from the aquarium before it was even remotely possible to be moved. He had asked Patrick to come help him because I told him I refused to do it. Well, everything worked out good because he took my suggestion of sliding cardboard under the legs of the aquarium stand in order to slide it off of the carpeting and onto the floor in the hallway. I felt sorry for the fish. They were not happy.


Anyway, Jim & Patrick tore the old carpeting out IN ONE PIECE and drug it out to the garage where they plopped it onto the trailer that normally holds the 4-wheelers that we are selling to Jennifer. The next day I called Jennifer and left her a message saying that the old carpet was now part of the deal. When she called me back we joked around and I told her she could find a place to dump the carpet in Salem. I also told her JOKINGLY that Jim would probably use it to carpet my garage.

A couple of nights later, Jim was outside cutting the carpeting up on the driveway when I got home from work. I went inside to cook dinner and when I came back out, Jim had put a big piece of the carpeting in the garage. I just looked at it and rolled my eyes at him. He proceeded to say how he spoils me and nobody else has carpeting to park on and isn’t he so nice. I just shook my head and when I walked out of the garage, I tripped on the stupid carpeting. It had only been about 5 seconds and I already tripped! I didn’t fall or anything but I was aggravated so I went straight back in the house.


When the family came over last Saturday night for a poker party, I took Jennifer out to the garage to show her that although I was joking, I was right about what Jim would do. I’ve already blogged about Jim’s obsession with rugs in the garage so now I have one more huge rug to add making a grand total of NINE rugs in the garage. Jim has a new nickname – Lord of the Rugs.

The Honeymoon's Over

A few weeks ago I bought a new painting to hang above the fireplace in the family room. I got it at Kirkland’s and it was called the Amalfi Coast and it reminded me of Italy. When I brought it home Jim liked it, too. It was too big for me to hang myself, especially since it wouldn’t work on the same nail as the one I was replacing since it had two hooks on either side of the frame. I asked Jim to hold it up there for me & I was going to pencil a little mark on the wall on one side which I could use to hammer the first nail and just eye up the other one. Nay, nay, reindeer….not a good idea to Jim.


He proceeded to get out all kinds of tools & measuring paraphernalia while I was growing very impatient. I thought that something I could do in a few minutes was going to take 10 times as long because of him and I couldn’t believe it when he marked the wall with the pencil just like I was going to do. After he completed his measurements and everything, I told him that I was going to be very upset if it wasn’t perfect. Well, he did good and it was perfect.

I commented to Jim that we used to work really good together and asked him what happened. He said, “We got married”!

What's Up at the Miller's

 

What a way to start a post, huh? Needless to say, the pictures are all messed up as usual & the story is below.

Jim decided to clear out some of the woods behind our house so that our backyard will seem bigger. Not that we plan on hanging out back there or anything because it is on a significant slope. He’s been working on it for the past month or so and has gotten all the rocks to edge his path off the land. It’s been back-breaking work but Jim loves hard work. He also boxed in an area with chicken wire for me so I can start a mulch pile. If you look closely you’ll see a creepy, gargoyle creature peaking out from inside the tree. I will be splitting some of my perennials--decorative grasses, hostas, ajuga, etc. from our other gardens so he (or probably, me!) can plant them along the path.

I’m also posting a couple of pictures from the garden in front. I bought the 2 bleeding hearts last year towards the end of the season, planted them and they immediately proceeded to die. I was disappointed because I never had a bleeding heart before & I was looking forward to them growing and covering the pipes from the sprinkler system. When I saw them come back this spring I was thrilled! There’s a picture of my front porch decorated with potted grape & pink hyacinths. And there’s a picture of a frog giving his/her friend a piggy back ride. Jim said they are different colors because one is a youngster. I guess that'd make the older one a cougar...whatever…they didn’t look very happy to me – not that I know what a happy frog looks like.

And finally, a picture of Jessica with the beautiful lemon-raspberry cake she made for Easter and the coconut cake I made.

I’m happy to report that I’ll finally get new carpeting in the family room. We’ll been in the house 4 years come June and I’ve always hated the Berber carpet in there. We’re getting a pretty good tax return that will come in handy....