Happy Founder’s Day!

…to all my Zeta Tau Alpha sisters.  Celebrating 113 years of seeking the noblest!  Here’s to many, many more!

(Note:  This is my first attempt at auto-publish.  So, if you see this before October 15, I am aware of the correct Founder’s Day date. ZLAM)

So long September!

As I sit and write this, my desktop weather thing is reading a chilly 48 degrees, so I know that summer is officially gone, so we can settle in for a cozy autumn.  To recap our September:

We started swim lessons again at the YMCA…..Trevor’s friend Chase is doing them with him and they are both having a great time. 

 

Lots of September was rainy and nasty here, so we took Trevor bowling for the first time…he had a blast!

Things are very busy here at the Chapman household…..work is picking up for Shane, work is steadily crazy for me, Trevor is in school, I am in school, Shane is toying with the idea of applying to school (please feel free to text and call him offering encouragement!)  so our calendar is full and we never seem to slow down too much! 

Pre-School Art

Tuesday Trevor brought home his first pre-school art project.  I promise I will not post about each one, but being that this is the first one, I wanted to share. 

 

Apparently they read “The Kissing Hand” and this related to it….I have never seen that book before, so I guess I know what I’ll be taking a peek at the next time I go to Barnes and Noble. 

First Day of School

Today was Trevor’s first day at pre-school!

He did great and went right into his classroom and started playing when I dropped him off—no tears, no hesitation, nothing!  He didn’t even say goodbye to me!  I am so glad he did so well on his first day. 

Me?  I can’t say I did so well…..I managed to drop off our tuition check in the office and make it out to my car before I broke down bawling.  Preschool is apparently much more traumatic for the parent than it is the child……

Anyway, here are some first day of school photos:

Leaving home for the first day of school!   We had some extra time to kill before we could go to drop-off, so we swung by my office and a co-worker tried to take pictures of us. 

You, Me and Irene….

Well, power was restored to our house last night thanks to the hard-working men and women of Dominion Power.  WHOOO!! 

Ironic that You, Me and Irene was the movie playing on FX all Saturday while Hurricane Irene blew through.   Not that we watched it, but so I heard from the people who never.lost.power. during the storm. 

Anyway, we made it through Irene with no real damage to the house, or the pool (very important you know).  We thought we just had a lot of limbs down in the back of the house, but after pulling those out yesterday afternoon, turns out that we lost two tops off of trees that we are going to have to chainsaw out of there as soon as we get our hands on a chainsaw. 

I have some videos of the storm coming through…which I cannot figure out how to upload (help! savvy blogger friends!), but here are some pictures of the storm and the mess it left. 

Sky Friday evening

Our backyard after:

 

Shaner working on cleanup

And Trevor had branches of his own to help with! 

Yes, I am fully aware that my son is running around outside in his skivvies….it is close to 90 degrees, we have no power, and we are potty training.  He was as happy as he could be given the conditions…I own the underwear wearing action. 

Our debris pile, is taller than I am….and there is more to come. 

Earth, Wind and Fire…

Well, it looks like Mother Nature will be completing the trifecta with Irene’s arrival tomorrow. 

For the past month we have had a wildfire burning in the Great Dismal Swamp, delivering a lovely campfire scent to the air on most days.  Personally, I enjoy smelling my freshly spritzed Burberry Brit perfume as I walk out the door to work, but um, I guess the “smoky” smell is in this season. 

Tuesday afternoon, as Trevor napped in his room, we experienced the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that was centered in Mineral, Va.  No damage to report from our area—many people didn’t even feel it—but the earth definitely shook beneath our feet.  Not something I’d like to experience anytime soon though.

For the balance of the week, we have been glued to the news, watching the tracking of Hurricane Irene.  As of now, it looks like we are going to get hit with a nasty Category 2 storm.  Thanks to everyone who has contacted us to see what our plans are and to ‘wish us well’ as we head into this thing.  For those we haven’t spoken to, our plan is to ride this baby out.  We are “battening down the hatches” and are praying for the best.  We have supplies to last us for a few days, the van is full of gas and because we live on the side of the water that we do, we can access two emergency routes that will eventually get us out to I-95 and to the safety of my parents’ house in NoVa, which is only supposed to sustain a tropical storm. 

We will keep everyone posted as to how we come out on the other side.  Until then—Irene, Let’s dance. 

Clearly, I need an intervention…

I think someone needs to come to my house, figure out the parental controls on my television, and block HGTV.  I think I have crossed the line.  

So, to explain….

To fill my new office, I acquired a pair of sitting chairs for my office.  They were in good condition, but were a little dated.  SO, enter my wealth of knowledge learned from HGTV…….

and voila!  beautiful new office chairs!

the one on the right is the original chair.  the left is the first chair that we did.  both have been reupholstered in the same fabric. 

I took these beauties into work this morning and WOW, they look fantastic in my office.