Order, Order

Not the best lighting, but hopefully everyone can see the organization...a calming effect came over me tonight when I pulled into the garage and there was not CRAP everywhere...

Not Once, but Twice

While I was at work, Chelsie went to bed...not once, but twice. Apparently, she was tired.

First, in Mom's bed....
Then in the Buckeye room

Sign me up for this life! Where is she now, you ask? On her end of the sectional in the basement..

Girl Tools

As a girl home owner, I am very proud of the "girl tool crib" I have created over the past 4 years. About 6 mos ago, I got fed up with not being able to find something when I went to look for it, so I went and got a rolling cart, got rid of all my nasty tools, and put everything in one place. This has been good for my obsessive compulsive need for order.

I have filled it with all kinds of things - wrenches, pliers, cordless drill and nice drill bits, channel locks, utility knife that will cut your fingers off, 2 hammers...and the list goes on and on. I also have one of those Black and Decker picture hanging levels, and it is AWESOME. However, tonight, I added a new tool I had never heard of - nut drivers. Anyone have any idea what those are?

Well, I used it tonight to fix my dryer vent. The dryer hose had been coming undone for some time now, and when David and I were in Home Depot today, I said something to him about it. I had all the proper clamps and had the right idea on what to do, but I was having a hard time getting the screw on the clamp tightened. This infuriated me to no end, as I knew what I was doing was the correct way to fix it - and you all know how I get when I can't do some home maintenance deal that I know I should be able to do. So David said I needed nut drivers to do this - of course, you had to buy them in a set, so I now have 7 nut drivers (and have no idea when I will use them again). However, the dryer hose was fixed in about 15 minutes.

I also utilized some REAL MAN tools this weekend - my brother came over to help me hang shelving in my garage and brought his Makita drill. This thing is WAY more powerful than my little Black and Decker, and had no problem putting three inch screws into studs. The garage looks AWESOME and there is SO MUCH ORDER in it. I got a few looks from my brother about "its just a garage" when I did a few things - the one that took that cake was to wipe the dirty fingerprints off the tracks (they are white) I took some grief for that. But there is so much order in my garage, I love it. Its the first place I come into at night...and if that is a mess, is it any wonder I get all jumpy??

Camera battery ran out, so no photos...but I am now in the office that is COMPLETELY out of order, so I am off to get the Xanax.

GIRL TOOL CRIBS RULE!

Agility Weekend

Hello friends,

This weekend, I had a competition at the Sports Barn at Easton. Mommy likes the Sports Barn a lot, she does not have mulch in her toes at the end of the day.

On Saturday, I ran like a rock star. I had my own cheering section - Natalie, Jeff and Naomi came to watch me, and I could hear Naomi cheering for me. During my warm up, the were watching me from the view above, as there is upstairs seating. They watched my standard run, and folks, let me tell you, I was awesome. Mommy complained about the course, said it was "Choppy" - and it was. But lucky for her, I am a good dog and was awesome. Naomi came to visit me at my crate after my run, and I was happy to see her. I also ran very well at jumpers, and got a Q and MACH points there. Yes, folks, that would be a double Q for me.

Today, friends, was a little different. We got there and my friend Dash came out to greet me and told me to get in there, they were running our class. Well, they were - and our turn was in 4 dogs. For the past 2 days, they have run the FAST class, and we did not participate - and they did not run it today. Maybe my mom could read the entry form? Really lady? So anyway, she watched for a few, and I was all jazzed up - and got a little bit of a correction to settle. This rattled my mom and she lead me to the wrong end of the tunnel - Jesus lady. To make matters worse, she then got lost and we got another off course. Thankfully, we found our way, I ran like a champ the rest of the way and got my cookies at the end of my run. Next time, read the entry form, mom - sheesh. You ruined a perfectly good opportunity for another leg to my MX and more MACH pts because the course was EASY BREEZY.

To prove I am as awesome as I say I am, I nailed the jumpers course, which was also "choppy". No good flow and my mom was telling me what to do the entire time. Jeez lady. But I did it, and then ran over to Jill and Mrs. Birkinbine (Jill's mom) because we had left my cookies with them.

In the end, I ended up with one double Q, 1 leg to my MX and 2 legs to my MXJ. I now have 7 of 10 legs for my MX title, and 5 of 10 legs for my MXJ (last titles before MACH). I earned 10 MACH pts yesterday and 4 today. In total, I have 4 dbl Q's and 78 MACH pts. I will take it.

On top of this all, mom got distracted with garage organization and did not feed me until 9PM. Good lord! I am now finally able to relax and mom is downstairs working on the computer. I have had a busy weekend, so I am off to bed.

Have a great week!

Very Sincerely,

The Chelsie Belle
CGC/TDI, AX, AXJ

A BEAVER BELIEVER!!!

First the Olympics were impeding on my sleep, not it is college football. I was up until almost 1AM watching the Beavers of Oregon State DEFEAT the Trojans of USC. Oh yes, it was AWESOME!! Maybe now Lee Corso will shut up about how good USC is - um, can we say Oregon State was UNRANKED??? And that the last time an unranked team had beaten the top rank team was in something like 1968? What a distinction for USC to have.

Lee Corso, hush up - I can't wait to hear you eat your words tomorrow on College Game Day. Pete Carroll and the Trojans - how was the ride down from the top???? Not that I am passionate about college football or anything...

BTW - they have re-dug a ditch for about the third time and are moving the same pile of dirt they moved yesterday for about the third time as well. All those grimy little construction workers are right outside my window....

"Go pick a guy off a construction site"

This is direct quote from my lovely brother. One of my brother's finer qualities is his ability to come up with some pretty good one liners - many of them not appropriate for this site, so I will spare you all.

Anyway, this quote came during a conversation about one of my relationships - it was in this conversation that he not only informed me I needed to quit dating divorced men, but that I should "go pick a guy off a construction site or something". Seriously? I had no idea he paid attention to my dating life in such detail.

So yesterday I was carrying in a wedding gift for a co-worker getting married on Saturday. The area around my office is under massive construction - and will be for quite some time, so grimy little construction workers are crawling around everywhere. The construction has now moved into an area where I literally have to walk right through it to get to my office. I have befriended a few of the workers, and yesterday this was the conversation that occurred with one of them:

Worker - Is that for me?
Nicole - Only if you want to get married.
Worker - Let me call home and ask my wife.

Meanwhile in the background, there is this other dude jumping around waving his hand saying I'll get married...

Maybe I should look around and "pick a guy off a construction site"?? Or maybe it is totally pathetic that I am even considering this? Either way, I smile when I think about both scenarios....

How the Candidates Match Up

During election season, I always get confused about what everything means. I found this gallery on CNN that does a pretty good job of explaining each candidate's HIGH level position of key elections issues. Hope it helps!

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0806/gallery.election_issues/index.html