Operation Raccoon: Update

The battle continues...

To discourage the raccoons/possums/stray cats from hanging out under our house (and then crawling inside), TJ created an ingenious little device:

He drilled holes in pvc pipes and stuck them in intervals around the base of the house, then threaded wire through it and ran it with electricity.

Then he tested it on himself (boys!).

We were sitting in the living room later that evening after turning it on and heard a nice 'thump' around the side of the house. I think that means it works. We haven't seen a cat since!

Fight like a dancer and Dance like a fighter

My new thing is Capoeira. Its a Brazilian martial art that was developed back when they had slavery. The slaves weren't allowed to train so they disguised it as dancing....its kind of like if you mixed break dancing with karate and added some samba music.

Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSiwEn57kaY&feature=related

That's pretty much how I look when I do it....or maybe its not.

I did actually go into the circle to spar last night. yikes! If nothing else I'm learning to not be embarrassed when I'm not good at stuff in front of large groups of people :)

you girls say all the right things...

thanks for all the lovely comments on my slouchy hat!

i also got a few nice comments on my hair....probably in connection with my previous post where i was whining about the fact that i can never get it to curl.

in the picture with my hat i had just worn it braided the day before. but i've also since discovered something great:

Caruso Steam Rollers
http://www.folica.com/Caruso_30_Molec_d1201.html

at the risk of sounding like an infomercial, they're great and so easy to use! when i did it before work the other day i had beautiful bouncy curls almost till lunch...and it was even still wavy when i got home that evening. for my hair, that is a-maz-ing.

stupid raccoons

remember how we hired a company to take of our raccoon problem and they caught several possums, raccoons and cats? (by leaving the traps on the side of the house. we don't have cats in our attic). well....after all that i was still hearing things upstairs and what did the professional tell me?

"sorry! there's too many ways for them to get in - there's nothing i can do to help you. "

and just a few months ago i was so proud of the fact that my house is almost 100 years old. now? not so much.

so we're taking matters into our own hands. as of today we're the proud owners of a live animal raccoon trap. when it arrives in a week we'll stick some sardines in there and see what happens. i'm really not sure what we (*TJ) will do if we actually catch one. i guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it!

Its one of those slouchy hats

I knitted it! Its for my younger, much trendier sister. I've heard this is what the kids are wearing these days ;)

Ok, fine

I'll admit it. It was actually me that was convinced grey and brown don't match. (And I still might maintain that certain grey slacks with certain brown sweaters don't!)

But after reading your comments I've rethought my position. And I might be wearing brown and grey today.

I need you to resolve something for me

Brown and Grey:

1. Do they work together in an outfit? (dark brown trousers with a dark grey sweater....just for example)

2. Do they work together in a room?

and seriously - when/why did TJ get such strong opinions about interior decorating and colors in general?

Christmas at the Campbell's

We spent Christmas at the Campbell's. Guess we were the last stop on Santa's route since he stuck around to open presents with us.

This year we picked names for regular presents and we picked names for white elephant gifts. The people receiving from us were particularly lucky.