Monogramming

  Over Spring Break, I wanted to make a small gift for each of my friends at school.  It had to be something simple, but something new - something that I hadn't done before.  My mom suggested making pillows, but I had already done that too much.  So, I decided to make pillows, but monogram their first initial on the front of the pillow.  It was easy enough, and the results turned out pretty cool.  I used my mom's embroidery machine, which made the job very quick and easy.  I'd say the hardest part was picking out the perfect fabric for each person.

(Hopefully Katie and Chris don't read this before Tuesday...)

I Don't Know Whether To Laugh or Cry

The Cat Hotel

Imagine walking in a door, and the first thing you smell is cat litter and salmon flavored cat treats.  Not very delightful, is it?  Well, that was the way our house was just a few hours ago.  Litter box on the right, and food on the left.  So today we decided to solve that problem.  First, we bought a secretary desk from Salvation Army.

We decided to keep the litter box and food in the desk - not right next to the door, but on the landing on the top floor.  To keep a litter box in the desk, there would have to be some sort of hole for the cats to get in.  So that's what my dad and I worked on today.  We put on our painting clothes, (even though we weren't painting...) and cut a little hole on the side of the desk where the litter box would be laying inside.

Here's the hole.

And now our construction job was complete!  Using the wood that came from the hole we cut out, we made a plaque.

On the other side of the plaque we made a little sign for when the cats are busy eating.

And here are the Grand Opening pictures of the Cat Hotel.

Our manager about to cut the ribbon.  (Er... the pipe cleaner.)

Messing up while cutting the "ribbon."

And it's cut!

Now, I'll give you a tour of our Cat Hotel.

The Dining Hall.

The Bathroom.

The Rooftop/Bedroom.

The Kitchen.

And here are some pictures of our satisfied customers.

                                                  "And yes, as a matter of fact, I AM a cat."

More Random Pictures.

Sammy and Theodora actually have to eat on two separate levels because when they aren't, they will push each other's bowls off the edge so they can have the whole area to themselves.

Nom, nom, nom.

Relaxing on the rooftop.

"You're so heavy!"

Oh Yeah...

Forgot to say this, but we're not moving anymore.  The reason we were planning to move in the first place was that my dad's boss was going to resign from work, and dad wanted to take her place.  But to do that, we would have to live in Manassas Park.  (That's where dad works.)  Suddenly something came up, and my dad's boss decided not to resign anymore.  So that meant that we wouldn't have to move anymore.  It was kind of depressing - not being able to move anymore.  We worked really hard.  But it was also a relief.  No more people coming to examine our house anymore.  I am also very glad that we found out about my dad's boss not moving anymore on the day that we did; because the next day, we got two offers for our house.  If we hadn't known about the job being taken away, we would've moved for no reason at all - living in a new county with no new benefits.  OK, so there's our little moving experience in a nutshell for ya.