CLEANING, TILING and RUNNING, oh my :0)

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! LOVELY way to start a muggy Wisconsin day: 6 miles of hills!!! :0) Here is Bethann, my sister-in-law who pushed kicked my butt on the hills today. Thank goodness she is running the "hilly half" of the marathon-relay next weekend; she is SO ready :0) Paul's brother Ryan and family are up visiting this weekend for some boating and tubing. The day is forecast to be BEAUTIFUL; storms should be rolling in later tonight, though.

So the past few days have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! The house SURELY needed it! THIS is what happens to a piece of cheese accidently left behind on the dining room floor. EWWWWWW! The good news: now that the house is virtually spotless, I can quilt, quilt, quilt away next week. Well....sorta. I have to head to Mom's on Monday/Tuesday for a funeral :0( My uncle passed away; such a sad quick chain of events over the past two weeks. He wasn't feeling well so headed in to the clinic; was admitted to the hospital for testing; and was diagnosed with Leukemia. He had four bouts of chemo, but wasn't fairing well. On Thursday, once his children had flown in from their locations around the country, the doctor spoke with them with the facts: even if the docs were able to clear his lungs and get him back to tip-top bodily health, his chance of survival was still so low because his body couldn't make its own blood. So after prayers and hugs, they all agreed to stop medications and machines. Despite the doctor saying it could be 1-2 days before he would pass, within an hour of stopping meds/machines, he passed away. The doctor feels my uncle must have had the disease for the past few years...... Live life! It can all come to an end so suddenly. It's too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day 'blahs!' Enjoy your loved ones! And that's exactly what we plan to do today!!!! :0)

Also, once the housework was done yesterday, I finally tackled the last stage of the basement floor.

The grout was finished by mid-afternoon, and I couldn't resist trying out the new rugs. The rug in the middle of nowhere is the location where the toilet will be.

I used some creative cuts and combinations to tile around the toilet base. My lines ended up getting a little "off" on the northern part of the room; I don't mean to blame my husband the contractor, but I don't think the room is exactly square. I needed to "fudge" my tiles as I progressed over the room.
And gotta love my garden-pedicure. Honestly! I don't know why I bother painting my toe- or finger-nails. Within a day of the garden, its all chipped. I TRY to be a girl, though :0)

Okay...time for coffee and breakfast....and then pack up for the day of boating ahead.

HAPPY SATURDAY!!!!!


OH yeah......NOT that it's a big deal.....but yesterday was my 36th birthday. I think 36 will be a great year :0) It's 6-squared....has SO many factors (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36), so many multiples of 3 and 6 there......yeah......36 is a great number :0)