What is this round, bright ball in the sky? Is that the sun? Could that be the sun? I think it is. Thank you God for a bright sunny day. :)

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Awesome snacks...Part 2

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Sick Chillas

I had to take Mocha and Pinball to the v-e-t this morning. Mocha’s teeth are a little out of align and Pinball is having some sinus/respiratory issues.

Pinball has always had a wheezing sort of noise in his nose and he’s always sneezed a lot more than Mocha, but I don’t want to let it go on anymore. It’ll just be better to get it checked out.



Andrew started noticing Mocha drooling a while back. I didn’t know about it until I had held him a few weeks ago and accidentally brushed my thumb against his mouth. So, I googled it and find out it could be malocclusion. This isn’t the best fate for a chinchilla. Basically his teeth aren’t growing in the right direction and could need filing. I did some more research to find out that this doesn’t always mean a death sentence and could be caused by a slight calcium and Vitamin C deficiency.

So, the vet called this afternoon to give me an update. Mocha's front teeth are out of align, but the molars are good. Usually when the front are out of align, the molars are bad, too. This could be good or bad. Good that the rest of his teeth are fine, but bad because she wants to x-ray to make sure there aren't any fractures causing this abnormality. She said Pinball may have an allergy to the pine bedding or to the dust we give them, but she's going to do some tests to find out for sure.

I'm glad they are getting checked up on and fixed, but I'm not glad for the cost it's going to be. :( But, the hardest part of it all is the fact that I'll have to leave them overnight.... How can I make it??

New Outdoor Cushion Covers

Does it ever bother you how much outdoor chair cushions are? Am I the only one? I mean, it costs almost as much as a new chair set just to buy some not-so-tacky cushions. I priced Wal-Mart’s on-sale cushions and it would cost nearly $100 to replace the old cushions on our four chairs.

These are our old chair cushions:





*Stepping off my soap box* I had a better idea anyway. It only cost me around $65 and they look pretty good.




I just made some covers for them. It was my first major project for my new sewing machine.



Recognize the table? Yeah, it’s the one I refinished. It’s moved around the house several times now and I think it has its permanent, yet original, purpose and home. :D

Basically all I did was measure out the biggest of our two sets of cushions, cut it out, hem, and sew on some ties of the same fabric. I became lazy and only sewed on two at the top, but the covers don’t look so back tucked up under the existing cushions.



I ended up only using about half of the material I bought. I’m VERY tempted to make a back to these and fill it in with cushion…filler….pad…stuff….whatever it’s called. Lol! Don’t you love my very specific nomenclature for all this sewing stuff? I should do better since I did graduate with a technical writing degree. Lol.

Oh, and here's a project Andrew is working on tonight:



It's a pancake costume for a kid in the youth group. They're doing a skit to promote the adult leader's pancake breakfast next week. It's going to be hilarious! I'll post a video of it later.

Have a great week!

Now, I'm Back

Ok. So part of me wants to explain why I've been gone so long, and part of me doesn't because I don't want to seem like I'm forcing sympathy from anybody.

Well, I guess I should explain, since I'm the kind of person who tends to be brutally honest. Not only was I getting ready for a house warming party, like I had explained in my last real post, I was battling something I wasn't sure what it was. Well, I think the doctors have finally ruled it's acid reflux disease/GERD. It seems so simple of a diagnosis for such pain and not-feel-good-ness I had been going through for so long. Anyway, I'm being treated for that now and I'm starting to feel a lot better. I'm still taking it one step at a time before I do any major confirming.

Ok, enough of that. Let's get to the good stuff...the stuff I promised ya'll.

For this post I'm linking to Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday and A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day.

First off my birthday presents from my dear Derf. :) I had been wanting some solar lights to go out in the front of our house, and that's what I got...sort of.


He made me some sun jars. He is so clever when it comes to these things. I need to show you the blender and toaster lamp he made, too. Anyway, I love them! Well, except when I come home at night and I'm startled by two of them that are on our back porch. It looks kind of like a person is walking out there when I'm not paying much attention.

Basically, he took the solar light off a $3 solar light that stakes into the ground and glued it to the top of a latched canister. Then, he frosted the glass with a can of spray frost. It was quite ingenious, if I say so. :)

The second thing was new porch furniture.


We got a steal from Big Lots. It was their last table and chair set and it was the floor model. So, we were able to get a total of 50% off. It was great. :) Oh, and I love the candle holder. That came from Sam's. It does great for citronella tea lights.

And, the last are the shelves I had mentioned above our desk. They didn't last. No, they didn't fall, but we took them down and now have ugly unmatched patched holes in the wall above the computer. I have to get on that and fix it. I'm thinking those shelves are going to go above the work table in the kitchen.

Well, that's the first of the updates. Stay tuned for more!

Mouse

I'm BACK! ....... sort of

Ok, Ok. So, I fail...When was the last time I updated this blog? That's bad when I can't even remember. Well, I'm going to skip the excuses and let you know more entries are coming! I promise this time. :) So, tomorrow I will be linking to one of my favorite blog's parties. I can't tell you yet because I'm not even sure. lol! I have a lot to choose from and maybe I'll just pick them all. Anyway, we'll both find out tomorrow. Hopefully you haven't given up on me and I'm not just speaking to myself. ;) See you tomorrow!