Statesmanship and Happy Easter!

This is a pretty cool little exercise that I stole from Erin.

Bold the states you've visited; underline the states you've lived in; and italicize where you are living now. (I have no idea if you should count states you've driven through or changed planes in, but considering that I always have to stop to pee every time, I'm going to count them!)

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa/ Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Not much to report today. Our dishwasher is a freaking DREAM. After I wrote yesterday's entry, the thing stopped and P called me in to look at this pan we put in it. It is our 10" omelet pan that we use for everything...eggs, sandwiches, hash browns, Boca burgers, and as such, it gets really nasty. We have scrubbed and scrubbed that thing for hours. P even has put hot water in it and put it on the stove to heat it up while scrubbing it.

This dishwasher made it look as new as the day we bought it! We were amazed!

Frigidaire Electrolux. That's spelled E-L-E-C-T-R-O-L-U-X and we got it at Lowe's in case anyone is in the dishwasher market.

So that's the good news.

The bad news is that the hot Mexican neighbor came by to give us the quote on our fence yesterday since it was raining and he can't mow lawns or do anything else. He and P were outside talking for a long time, so I thought that was a good sign. I had prepared P for the fact that the quote might be about $4K total with tree removal and stain. Ha! Good thing he went out and not me. The quote was $5,700 WITHOUT the tree removal and stain. Oh. My. GOD. Talk about a small fortune! We can't justify that on a fence! We would basically have to pick between replacing our cabinets and counters or getting this supreme ultra-deluxe 8' cedar fence.

Gee, I wonder what we are going to do. Either spend our money on a fence that can be destroyed by wind at any moment and that is only covered at actual cash value by our insurance company and that is constantly going to be nibbled on by termites, rot, and the elements, or invest in making our kitchen look like a kitchen of the 21st century and possibly helping the resaleability in a few years when we are ready to move on.

So, I'm going to call another company tomorrow and get a quote for a crappy 8' pine fence like we have now, unstained and with wood posts. I can't help it...I want my beautiful kitchen more than a beautiful fence!

He's still going to remove our tree though which is a good thing.

I finished The Horse Whisperer yesterday, which I picked up in North Carolina in February since I loved the movie, and wow. I was absolutely dazzled. What a fantastic book! If you liked the movie, go get the book...you'll love it even more. The ending is totally different than in the movie. I know that there is only so much movie makers can do with 180 minutes of screentime but it's a shame, because that movie could have been so much more if they had just stuck to the book story. And I LOVED the movie!

I also started a new cross-stitch piece yesterday for Queenie as a farewell parting gift. It's a small saying that I'm going to frame and write a thank you note on the back of for her new office. The saying goes: "To teach is to touch a life forever." Yes, it's cheesy, but she'll LOVE it. And more importantly, it's not going to take very long to complete. I'm hoping if I can have it done by the weekend before her last day, I can spend that weekend framing it and have it wrapped to give to her on her last day of work. I know she'll probably cry, but I want her to always remember how much she has meant to me, both personally and professionally. She's the best manager I have ever had. Anyway, I'm doing it on 32 ct. antique white Belfast (just had a perfectly sized cut of it in my stash!) but I'm out of DMC 501, if you can believe it, so I'll have to pick some up this week sometime.

One meme in honor of Easter...

1) What is your favorite Easter decoration? (rabbit, egg, chick, etc) I like eggs. Coloring Easter eggs was one of my favorite things to do as a child. I loved the smells, the colors, and the fun!
2) Do you like Easter colors or do you wish they were different? Nope, I love 'em! I am a pastelly girl!
3) What did you do today to celebrate Easter? Uh, slept for twelve hours?
4) What is your best Easter memory? My mother made us these gorgeous Easter dresses when my sister V and I were kids...they were floor length gowns with little poofy sleeves. Mine was peach and my sister's was light green. They were too cute. I remember taking pictures in those and it being a perfect happy day.
5) If you are Catholic, did you observe Lent, and if so, what did you sacrifice for Lent? I am Catholic, but I've been bad this year (and last year) and not observed Lent. This year I obviously was getting ready for being pregnant, and last year I was training for my body building competition that never occurred. In the past though, I have sacrified soda and chocolate.

Well! Not sure what we are doing today but I for one would really like to hang out at home, stitch and do laundry. I think P wants to go run some errands, but I'm hoping that our latent lazy streaks will pop up in both of us and we'll stay home. I'm just exhausted all the time now. I feel like I could sleep forever!