We took Noah to McDonalds for lunch today and noticed something new they were trying. By the restrooms there was a thing called "RED BOX VIDEO"...a big display of DVDs....where with your VISA or credit card of some sort..you can decide a movie you want to see...and scan your card..and for ONE DOLLAR rent the movie for ONE night. Drop off is like 10:00 p.m. the next night..and you can drop off the movies at ANY RED BOX VIDEO at any McDonalds. IF you do not return the movie for some reason after 21 days they automatically charge your credit card 25.00 plus tax and then the DVD is yours to keep. Anyway....I had not ever seen anything like this before..and thought it was a great idea they came up with. ALL NEW MOVIES too and some older newer ones..but like they had all the ones recently released to DVD. I was amazed. DID not rent any but it is nice to know IF I wanted to we could for a lot cheaper than Pay Per View. Normally we order movies from our local library as they have all the new releases there in time and now with the new library they get movies as soon as they are released..so you can get them for even cheaper than a dollar cause they are FREE!

Anyway..did not know if you all had anything like that around where you live or not...but you might keep your eyes open if you are interested. I think it is a pretty good idea and deal.

Just got back from the local nursery. MAN they had some gorgeous flowers...so I had to get some. I have 2 hanging pots outside now and had already bought 4 new big/beautiful plants for our balcony (but they can also come inside during colder weather). So now I can make a MIXTURE of flowers for some smaller pots to mix in around the plants...and we are going back to the same nursery on Friday I think and buy these flowering trees of some sort that stay in pots. Not sure now what they were called but they were really pretty. They were all about 4 feet high and about 35.00 each. One was like yellow daisy flowers at the top the other were purple flowers. Course they also had pretty rose bushes and vines and all kinds of things. I want to put a very small fountain in the middle of my GARDEN on the balcony this year..but very small and probably fake like made from plastic as I would not trust the weight on the balcony with anything large or heavy. They had some WONDERFUL windsocks too..these 3D ones by GANZ...one was a Pilgrim Tom Turkey and he was sooo cute. I will have to go back and get him. And a pumpkin and scarecrow one...but they are expensive. I think the Tom Turkey one was like 37.00 which is cheaper than online which costs about 47.00 plus tax and shipping. So...it reminded me of a BALLOON float from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They are really nice and have 3 dimensions to them...making them lifelike!!

I decided to try to fix our insides to our toilet myself yesterday. MAN what a time I had because our toilet tank sits RIGHT under a shelf...as the countertops extends over and above the toilet tank but only like by a few inches. SO...you really cannot get down inside the tank from the top at all. SO...this meant I had to REMOVE the tank from the bowl...and fix everything and then put it back in place. I had to get down between the toilet and sink cabinet which was an extremely TIGHT fit to say the least. A couple of times I almost got stuck and I thought....wow..what if I do get stuck and Noah has to call 911 for me as I cannot move? How embarassing that could be!! I dropped the screwdriver back inside the tank once AFTER I had everything fixed and was trying to tighten the bolts myself...what FUN that was to get out with another tool!! Got it all done but had NO way to tighten the bolts/screws and stuff by myself so Keith had to help me with that today. I had to run to Home Depot to get a new flexible hose for the water pipe. FINALLY we got it all tight and no leaks....all is working well. I figure we would NOT make a good team for a show like Trading Spaces!! Makes you really appreciate a TOILET and a WORKING one!! Next is the kitchen faucet and a leaky tub faucet and drain.....not sure..I may splurge and HIRE someone to tackle those jobs as I doubt they would be fast for me. I still want to put a ceiling fan/light combo in Noah's room but there is no stud where the light is now. We took it apart and looked and I am not sure WHAT is even holding his light in now. Some piece of plastic things that wings out in between the rafters I guess..but nothing that could hold this heavy ceiling fan with a light. SO...to avoid messing in the attic I will probably pay someone to do that. I want to put a new floor in the bathroom but will definitely hire that out probably as I want to put in a real ceramic tile floor and I wonder if I could do that myself. I had even thought about making a mosaic design on the bathroom floor myself which would probably be easier for ME....but I don't know. We also would like to replace our kitchen floor with real ceramic tile. Well shoot..if I could afford it I would probably tear up all the carpet out here in the living room and dining room and replace the kitchen, dining room and living room with ceramic tile and down the hallway too. THAT would cost some money. SO it will have to be one room at a time I guess. Will always be something I guess as time goes on. I just want to make it more cozy now though.

We still have not started to paint..but we will probably get started on that soon. I have some colors picked out....now it is just getting the paint and starting. We decided to go ahead and do Noah's room first so we can get the stuff back into his room that has been sitting around...I want to repaint the kitchen cabinets (as I cannot replace them now)....but that will be a job as I have to SAND the old crap that is on there...the person who painted before left BIG DRIPS all over the place....the hinges also look bad and should be replaced I think. AND we want to install safety outlets around the sink. After looking at 30 model new homes the past couple of weekends.....I have some really good ideas....and they would improve the resell value for this place and make it nicer while we live here. We are really checking out some of the new homes...and man they are sure nice. AND at least affordable compared to what we had looked at in the past. The location right now for some is not exactly where we would want to live...so we will just kind of keep looking. That has become a FAMILY thing as we all go to church on Sunday...then lunch and then go to open houses of model homes!! We see about 7-15 homes every Sunday.

I found some fabulous Southwestern stuff to add to the existing Southwestern stuff I have in our living room....so that has really come along. I will have to take pictures of everything when I am done I guess.

Well...Keith just left for work. Noah has an art show at school tonight called "Commotion in the Ocean" so he is super excited about that. I will take pictures. Keith is coming back home for supper so he can go too.

LOVE...