Slowly but surely.....

Has anyone been wondering where the heck we have been for the last few months. Well, here is a preview....this is a before and after picture of our fixer house that we have been slaving over. Well, the "after" is not completely "after", as we are not done YET. There is definitely more to be done.....the blue screen door has GOT to go and I have shutters to paint, and we need to pick a color for the front door and the porch floor, we need to remove the temporary "work bench" from the front porch, oh.....and I have hanging baskets........anyway, it is "sort of" coming along. We have been working so hard on it, and really just want to be DONE. Poor Joe has a first job and then gets to go to a second when he gets home from the first. I am sure he has about had it with this project. But, it is kind-of rewarding to see some progress and some good change, I think. I am hoping he feels the same. It will be a good thing when it is done. But, so far, the changes look good to us.....hopefully it isn't just because we are dead tired......
Oh, and I can't wait to post some pics of the inside. Just a bit more to be done in there, and I can share it with ya. Patience, people.

Thanks Nike.....

I am sure you have heard the news reports about the football "star" Michael Vick and the allegations of dog fighting. Thankfully Nike has pulled Vick's items off of their retail stores and their online stores. They have suspended him without pay from their endorsement deal.
I was watching a show the other night like 20/20 or something, and it showed some clips of dog fights and I literally just about puked. This is disgusting, people. This is sick. I could not even continue to watch the show, it was soooo bad. These people who are involved in this dog fighting need to spend some major time in jail. Ok, I guess he is innocent until proven guilty, but IF he is involved in this crap, he needs some MAJOR help. And, as far as I am concerned, some major jail time. Hopefully the NFL will take this VERY seriously, because this guy should NOT be a role model for kids if he is involved in this at all. This is truly a disgusting "sport" and whoever is doing crap like this needs to be punished. Sick. These people are just SICK!!!

Lovin' the Heat.......

Who likes to do landscaping in the 100 degree heat for 5 hours??? Yeah, me neither. Only I didn't realize it until afterwords, when I am pretty sure I just about fainted from heat exhaustion. "But all this work on the fixer house is well worth it, honey...."
Atleast it will be.....when we are DONE....
:-)

Thank You, honey!!!!

This post is for my husband, Joe. He is currently out of town working and I am sure he is super tired and feeling a bit lonely (If he even has enough time between work to think...). We are just so lucky to have him as a husband and father. Thank you honey for working so hard and making such a great life for us. We love you and couldn't be more proud of ya.

~Kelli and Danielle.....
Oh, and lets not forget Nieko...

Oh Where are my Fellow Tongue-biters???

Where are you?? Am I the only one left?? Ok, if you have no clue what I am talking about, I will let loose....

I am the worlds best "tongue-biter". You know, when you were little, and your mom told you to "bite your tongue" when you really wanted to say something, and it would just be wrong to say it.....so you just had to keep quiet. Do you remember that??? Was my mom the only one who did that??

I am beginning to think that she scarred me for life. I mean, because I still do this. I still bite my tongue on a daily basis. "You want to totally take advantage of me???" "SURE, go right ahead...". I just smile to people as they are being rude as hell. I also tell myself that they just must not have meant it in the rude way that it sounded, because there HAVE to be more kind people out there. There just have to. Or am I the only one that loves to make a complete ASS out of myself at times, by rolling over and not saying CRAP.

The problem is, I think there need to be more nice people out there. Ok, not nice like my mom, nice (lol......huh, lyns....), but just people that are thoughtful of others feelings and concerns. People who are on your side. People who genuinely care for you. People who are real, but kind. People who don't get off on treating you like a complete idiot. (AND, YES, I DO have friends like this, and for you all, THANK YOU!!!)But continuing on......

I am not saying that speaking your mind is not ok. Believe me, I love to speak my mind at times. But I truly believe that if speaking your mind makes another person feel like total SH**, you probably should sugar coat it a little. Don't compromise your integrity by keeping quiet like I sometimes do.....just sugar coat it a bit. I am not saying that you should hide under your 500 count sheets and never say a word again, I am just saying that respect goes a long way. Really. Let's all get our big girl panties on and take a class in compassion.
There, I am done venting. And I feel better now.

Wow......It's about time....

Alright, don't get me wrong here, I LOVE Idaho. It is beautiful, it has four awesome seasons, and my friends and family are here. So, why am I complaining, you ask??? Well, Idaho has like the LOWEST minimum wage in the nation. Yep, you got to hand it to our state government, don't ya. They are saving the businesses money left and right. But what are they doing for the worker??? Zero. Yep, Zero.
When Idaho lawmakers passed a minimum wage bill this year, they called it the "do-nothing" bill. They decided to sit on the fence and wait around until the feds MADE them raise it up. How nice.
So, today, the Idaho minimum wage will rise up (if you can call it that) to a whopping $5.85/hour. This would have NEVER happened if the feds didn't require it. Think about how much our cost of living has increased lately???? Who thinks $5.85/hour is a living wage??? I'd like to hear from you if you do. Oh, I know "dubya" doesn't have many problems with it, just check out the movie trailer I posted on my myspace account...( www.myspace.com/kellivalerio ) and view the movie clip and see what he thinks about people having to have three jobs at a time to make a living. He thinks it's pretty great. I know they say he is from Texas.....but are we sure he doesn't have Idaho roots????

Who knew????

I am here in CT, relaxing and enjoying the company of my friends. It is so nice to be out here and learn about this area with them. I am having a great time and it is super beautiful out here.
Ok, so here is a weird thing. They have fireflies out here. And, they really glow. I know, its probably not that weird to some of you who have seen this before, but I have not, so I am in awe when I see them. So, I actually got on the computer and did some research. They don't live in any part of the United States further west than Kansas. (Thus, the reason I have not seen any before....) The glowing is some sort of chemical reaction that they use to find a mate, and sometimes they do it just for kicks. Here is another strange fact.....frogs that eat tons of fireflies actually start to glow themselves. Who knew?????

Danielle's online scrapbook.......

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

How hip is that????

I am finally done with the "extreme" makeover of Danielle's bedroom. Who knows why I started this project while we are so busy with our fixer and all, but once I bought the bed, I was determined transform her room into a contemporary space. I bought her the black bed frame and then painted her other furniture black and I was not done yet..........I decided to paint the upper half of her walls black. Too much black, you say. Yeah, that's what I thought. But, it actually didn't turn out bad. It is super cute and you would never know it was the same room. All that matters is that my baby girl likes it. :-)

Important College News of the day.....

I was reading my morning paper, and I glanced at the Sports section and the college news for the day. The headline read "EWU mascot has feathers ruffled"

Here is the article in full.....

Seattle Chief of Police Gil Ker********** came to the rescue of swoop, the EWU mascot. When the eagle found itself in a sidewalk fracas with a bar patron in Pioneer Square early Sunday morning.

According to a Seattle Post Intelligencer story, the chief was being given a closing time tour of the club district when officers witnessed the man Vs. eagle confrontation.

Police said a man shoved swoop to the curb and then stomped on the mascot's back as another person dressed as a beaver watched.

Four officers broke up the disturbance. No one was injured all were later released without citations.

Many mascots from the Northwest were in Seattle over the weekend for a competition.

A police spokesman couldn't confirm the identity of those involved.

An EWU spokesman told the Spokesman Review::" Eastern Washington University does not reveal the identity of swoop, just like any other superhero".

Ok, I have a couple of weird thoughts......Where were Swoop's super powers when he needed them???? Because if he had any, you wouldn't think he would be on the ground getting the SH** beat out of him.

Where was the Idaho Vandal mascot when ya need him???

How much do they pay these idiots????

Wouldn't it be hotter than hell in one of those costumes especially when the temp has been over 100 degrees for days?? Oh, maybe that explains the havoc.........heat + Beer = well, not very good behavior......

Back to Reality...........

After 3 full days of floating the river, we are forced to come back to reality. Tomorrow is Monday. Tomorrow is the day we will get back to the old "grind". Joe will be back to work after a 5 day weekend. I will be back at our fixer house after a super relaxing mini vacation at the river. We are all ready to be out of the sun though, I think. Each of us is a different shade of red. Not really "burnt", but almost there. Even the SPF 50 sunscreen couldn't hold up to the swimming, rafting, and snorkeling that Joe and Danielle did. They had tons of fun. So, the temperature here will continue to be at or near 100 degrees for at least another 6 days. It looks like Danielle and I will be spending our fair share of time at the beach.......

What happened to my "girlie" girl???

Danielle informed me about a week ago that she would like to change the color scheme in her bedroom. OK, I thought, that shouldn't be a problem. Maybe she is getting tired of the "pepto" pink color along with purples and whites. But, she threw me for a loop when she told me she would like to do her room in BLACK and RED. What??? First of all, those are Wallace Miner colors, and that is not OK around here.....(tiger pride...). Second of all, where did these colors come from??? Who likes these colors??? I didn't think little girls did. At least, I didn't THINK she did. So, after the initial shock of it, I started thinking......black is the "in" color right now in furniture.....I could work with that....., black ACCENTS wouldn't be bad.....I could work with that, so I told her we could go shopping for black bedroom furniture. So, the first bedroom store we went into, she spotted it, not just a black bed, but a black WATER bed. Ok, I will admit, I wanted a water bed when I was little. My friends had water beds, and they were, like, totally cool ...., and my parents quickly shot down that idea by telling me that we had an old, historical home, and that if we put that much weight on the 2nd story (conveniently where my room was)that the bed would probably fall through. So, now I know that they were totally...............LYING..........and I suppose I am over it, but I still don't want to heal my wounds by letting my daughter have one. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's because I think she might get stuck between the water and the side???? Maybe it's because I have a fear of it popping, while all her friends are jumping wildly on top of it??? Maybe because.............well, maybe because I just don't. Can't that be a reason???
So, we went out shopping again today, and we saw a really cool contemporary black bed and we both fell in love with it, and she wanted to get it just as bad as I did, and the water bed thing fell by the wayside. For now, anyway......

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Happy 4th, guys. Hope you all have a great day!!!! It is currently 8:30pm and the fireworks have been going on in my neighborhood for about 4 hours now. The fire danger is EXTREMELY high right now, and there is a house fire about 14 blocks away, a fire along the interstate about 10 miles from here, and a couple forest fires to the north and south of us. So it should be an interesting night. The neighbor kids are currently trying to break the unofficial record of how many firecrackers they can light off at a time........ :-)

Oh, here's my latest pic of Danielle.......

Cute magnet I saw........