Probably the best I've seen yet!

I don't know if you can read this, but here is the link to see this up close--it's a MUST READ if you have doggies!!

I fell through a vent.

That's right.  I fell through a vent.  Nasty little buggers.  The floors in our house were covered in paper (the walls were being painted), and I, never thinking about disaster, stepped through the paper and clear into an air vent hole.  All the way.  Did I cry??  No.  Would I have cried had Handsome Taylor not been there?  Most definitely.  But he lifted me out of my vent hell and we surveyed the damage.

At first, I thought I had broken my leg.  It probably would've been better that way--I had a horrible limp and nobody understands when you tell them you've fallen in an air vent.  It's been three weeks and I still don't wear shorts...mostly because it looks like someone took a bat and beat me, but we're getting there.  Anyway, here are the first pictures of my leg about an hour after the embarrassing trauma.

Contrary to popular belief, that is not my gigantic quad muscle sticking out.

Stupid air vent.

Just in case you ever were to doubt my dad's alumni...

My dad went to Clemson University in SC.  And in SC, you're either for Clemson, or you're not.  There just isn't another option (at least in our family's case).  Right now, my dad lives in Florida, and just so people don't get him confused for another allegiance, he placed a few decals on his car.

 

Normal looking car...

1st simple decal, placed on rear driver's side

FOUR more (FIVE if you're including the license plate holder)

Obviously, you have to match decals on the passenger rear side

And of course, if someone is coming at you from the front, they'll know too...

But wait!  Who can forget the headrests!?!

...And the floor mat...

And just so you have Clemson memorabilia wherever you go...

And last but not least, if you have a decked out Clemson car, you must have a decked out Clemson keychain.

My father, a Clemson tiger through and through.  :)

Our House

An update on our house!!  Painting outside is COMPLETE!!

Officially a Microbiologist!

Okay, so I haven't gotten around to taking any pictures of my workspace until now.  I actually have my own space!  No coffee, though.  This is a dirty space.

To be specific, I work with bacteria from poop.  It's not all bad; Pseudomonas spp. smells like grapes, and E. coli looks like an 80's neon green on my EMB plate.

I'm learning slowly and steadily, and I've already had my throat cultured (I had a sore throat) by one of the women in the lab to see if anything unusual was growing in there (there wasn't...well, a little Staph aereus but that is found in sore throats anyway).

I haven't mastered the art of carrying arm loads of plates without dropping all of them yet, but that too will come.  But after I master the art of Bacteriology, I will move onto Mycology and then Parasitology in the lab :)  Baby steps, though.

Oh, and Uncle Scott, B, and Keith, you will be happy to know that you can carry on with your poop jokes.

Olympics!!!!!

Home is closer than you think :)

Look what I just bought!!

I like to write letters.  It must be a habit I acquired from my mom--she writes all the time.  And I like getting letters...so I've come to the conclusion that the more letters I write, the more I will get back. 

But I'm also slightly lazy.  If I can get around doing something repetitively, I will find a way to do it.  So I decided that I really wanted needed to purchase this stamp.  It's very cute, stylish, and cuts down on repetitive motions significantly. 

 

The stamp will actually read:

taylor (heart) randi

7 bethel dr.

asheville, nc 28803

Isn't it just fantastic??!!

Lucy

And here is a cute picture of Lucy, who is very cute...and chunky.  Our wonderful, lazy Lucy.  :)

Handsome Tay

Handsome T is actually very handy.  It's nice to have someone around who can put pretty much anything together.  (This really translates to I do not have to worry about it because Taylor will fix it).  Although sometimes I do worry...

Anyway, Tay decided to purchase speakers for the house.  Not just a couple speakers for the living area.  No.  That would be so very un-Tay to not go above and beyond what is reasonable for technology in our house.  There are 4 speakers in our living room, and a subwoofer (did I spell that right??  It looks wrong.).  And there are 4 speakers and a subwoofer in our bedroom.  And there are speakers on our porch..and in our garage...you know, for all the times I will be rocking out in the garage.  Please.

So here's a picture of Handsome T putting up one of the speakers in our bedroom (and don't worry, it will be covered up like the one on the right when it's all finished).  Psh.

Our house is starting to get painted!!!

Seeeeee???  The top part is a greyish-greenish color.  The bottom will be a sage green, but for now it's just primed.  :)

Tutu and bow-tie

This weekend was spent watching two of the cutest kids I could get my hands on.  Naturally, their cuteness made me want to make something.  Soooo, Pinterest DIY called and I looked up how to make a tutu for Aubrey, and a little bow-tie for Trey.

I got some UNC fabric for the bow-tie--all you really need is about a square foot for both the bow-tie and the piece that holds it together.

I cut the bow-tie to about 6.25" x 5.25" and turned it inside-out and began to sew it by hand...you know, because I'm suddenly Susie home-maker.  Well, it looked horrible and I could tell it wouldn't hold up...

 

See..??  Yuck.  So I turned to my trusty sewing machine--Taylor used it last with a heavy duty leather needle for making a cover for his golf-cart (he's much better at sewing than me..go figure).  The bow-tie literally took just a minute to sew up (make sure you leave space at the end to turn it inside-out again)!  Yay, technology!!  

The bow-tie should look like a  little square patch about 6"x5".  Sorry, no picture.  For the next part, you want to make a piece of fabric about 1"x3" to tie around the middle.  I hand-sewed this part (which you can see in the picture..and I know it looks horrible, but it's the thought that counts!!).  Then I put a snap on and the other part of the snap on the little one-sie.  What is nice about this is that as Trey grows, I can always place another snap on a T-shirt or whatever he wants to snap the bow-tie to!

 

Next, the tutu!!  I bought about 9 yards of light blue tulle white tulle--you know, Carolina's colors.  :)  I folded it in half, then in half again so it would be easier to cut.  

I measured 16" and cut at the end so that the tutu, when wrapped around the piece of elastic (oh yeah, I sewed a piece of elastic in a ring about 16" in circumference) so that when the tulle stuck out, it was about 7" long.  You can also tie the tulle in a knot around the elastic.  Either way, the best part is that you don't have to sew!!  (Sorry, no pics--turns out it's really difficult to take a picture putting it all together..maybe next time).  Oh, and I alternated colors so that it would look decent.

Ta-Da!! 

And the best part...

Our new bathtub!!

Just got our new bathtub and had to try it out :) It's like a little sake cup!

Turns out it was very easy to carry.  We thought it would weigh a ton, though!

Perfect for an after-work "stew"!

Lucy, waiting for her much needed bath.

It's a wee-bit tight for Handsome Taylor, but I'm sure he won't mind.

Doggies!

I found these on Pinterest...(thank heavens for Pinterest) and I just had to share!  Maybe these will brighten your day as much as mine!

Things I need on Etsy...

So I've decided to compile a list of things that I want need on Etsy.  It will probably be a growing list, but I'll start out low for right now :). 

How flippin cute is this?!  Yes, I think this will look disgustingly cute in our new house.  I haven't decided on the color, but I'm leaning towards buttermilk or sage (see below)...

Ha!

Almost there :)

Master bedroom looking at closet (left) and french doors to mini-deck

Pop-out office

Lucy, our redbone coonhound smiling on the porch by the kitchen

Looking at bay window in living room and front door

Looking at kitchen and french doors to porch

Master bathroom (tub is going to be under window)

Master bedroom from doorway

Guest bedroom from doorway

Stairwell

Our ridiculously large bonus room...left undone till later...

Living room from front doorway

Kitchen and dining view from living room

 

 

Front door from porch...and Lucy's butt