What I've done so far...

In an effort to get the house ready for the onslaught of welcomed company, we have been doing projects that have sorely needed doing. For example, we started remodeling our main bathroom before we started the kitchen remodel. It was left unfinished when the kitchen took off. So on Saturday we hung some bead board and kick boards and painted. I also painted the deck (something that desperately needed doing but we didn't want to do until we decided if we were going to repair or replace the deck... we still haven't decided but it is good until next summer). I also painted the front door.

So today, the first day of school, after I spent two hours at the school putting fliers for t-shirt sales in teacher's boxes, I came home and:
painted the bead board
painted the bathroom door
painted the kick boards
spackled some dings
painted the inside of the front door
painted the inside and outside of the garage door
did 2 loads of laundry

It is 2 and I am tired now, but glad for the things I can check off my list.

What next?!!!

Barenaked Singer Escapes Plane Crash

This just hasn't been the Barenaked Ladies' year. First, cofounder Steven Page gets busted for drugs. Now this.

Los Angeles (E! Online) -

BNL's lead singer and principal songwriter, Ed Robertson, and three others narrowly averted disaster Sunday, walking away unscathed from a float-plane crash near Bancroft, Ontario.

According to the Intelligencer of Belleville, Ontario, Robertson was at the controls of a Cessna 206 when a gust of wind caused the plane to stall, forcing him to put down in a wooded area near the resort of Baptiste Lake.

"Everyone is fine and that is the important thing," Barenaked Ladies rep Adam Smith told the newspaper. "That's all the comment we have at this time."

Per local authorities, the Cessna was taking off from the lake when it lost air speed and went down. The plane's landing was cushioned by a grove of maple trees (oh, Canada!), and Robertson, 37, managed to safely guide the craft to a halt.

"They're all really lucky to get out of there. I think there was somebody on their side," fire chief Brian Sears told the Intelligencer. "They could smell the fuel, so they didn't waste any time getting out."

While the plane was totaled, Robertson and his passengers were uninjured. Because the doors were jammed, they climbed out a window and then hiked out of the forest to a nearby road and reported the incident.Officials declined to reveal the identities of the other occupants, but an acquaintance told the paper the passengers were the musician's wife, Natalie, and two family friends.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation.

It's been a bumpy road for the Ladies this summer. Aside from

Robertson's brush with death, the band has been hampered by the fallout
stemming from Page's July 11 drug arrest in upstate New York.

The 38-year-old musician was taken into custody with a female companion and another woman after police allegedly found cocaine in their Syracuse-area apartment. He was booked on felony possession of a controlled substance and released on $10,000 bail.Consequently, the band bailed on Disney's Music Block Party tour, a series of family-friendly concerts.

Happy Anniversary!

26 years is a long time!

BTW, being the "Keeper" of all Ford Family things photographic, I have a LOT of really good pictures I could post that would entertain audiences for a LONG time.

Poll of the day... I have always adamently maintained that my BIL (on the right) looks like Michael Keaton; but in this picture I am channeling Tom Hanks (from Bosom Buddies days). So... who do you think he looks more like (in this picture)?

a. Tom Hanks
b. Michael Keaton

I have really enjoyed the olympics this year!

Just a few thoughts going through my head this morning

It is just before 8 a.m. and my mind is already racing. I think it's a result of going to bed with a migraine. Anyway, here they are...

I woke up and turned on the news, as I always do, and as I did, I reflected on how much more aware I am of events happening in Maryland and Spain, now that I have missionaries serving there. For example, did you know Michael Phelps is from Baltimore and is going back there to train after the Olympics? Yup. I told Rob to go tract him out. And then this morning I saw this sad report of the plane crash in Madrid. The plane was full of families on their way to vacation in the Canary Islands (where Mom and Dad are). So very sad...

I found this in my Meridian Magazine this morning and, for some reason, it really struck a chord with me. I have always liked Michael Medved and really respected him for his moral values and his fair treatment of Mormons, but now I REALLY respect him. Check it out!

Mormons Exposed - The Mormon Conspiracy

Lastly, I am pretty stressed out today because it is Back to School night and I am going to have to man the membership table and the t-shirt sales table because the other "volunteers" have opted to visit the classrooms with their children. I would love that luxury, too! This is the downside of being in charge, I guess. I just wish parents would take their responsibilities seriously. I mean--how many times have I been left at the Book Fair until 10 at night with over a thousand dollars in the till--alone!!!

But then there is the glory and the rights to complain vociferously (vocabulary word of the day). I had to include this last thing because I am just keeping it real... (I have adopted this as my new catch-phrase, borrowed from a fun blog I read)

Family pictures

We are having our family picture taken on Tuesday night. I want one very casual and fun and one more traditional. Any suggestions? Please....!!!!

I feel the need to point this out...

Now why don't I take more pictures of myself? Go figure!