Katrina's Nonsoapy Journal

I promised and I deliver! I said I would post tons of pictures as soon as the final box was unpacked and I got that finished today, three weeks to the day after moving into the house. There are a LOT of pictures here, so I have thumbnailed them for easier page loading.

This is what my house looked like on Saturday. Yep, that's snow...and hail. Yep, it's April. Yep, I hated it. Kids loved it. Bleh.

This is some critter that was in my yard today. At first, I thought it was a skunk (Nathan came running in saying, "A rabbit! A rabbit!). Closer examination revealed it to be a squirrel with his tail flipped over his head. He didn't look so great, so I kept Nathan in until he booked off.

This is the view from my front porch.

This is the carporty thing.

This is the side yard. There is a road on the other side of that forest strip.

This, of course, is the house itself.

This is looking onto the back side yard.

This is to the right.

This is the gravestone Georgia, Jennifer and I hauled from the cemetery dump two years ago.

This is the circle of trees you see in the pic above the gravestone. I hung sheets so the kids could have a tent. It's a set of about 6-7 trees in a perfect ring in the right side yard in front.

These are things on my front porch. As you can see in the main picture, I have this wonderful porch that is two tiered. The big pot on the right is huge and I will ultimately have the guys roll it out to the circle in back to be in the East and work as a gigantic censor to represent Air.

The arrangement to the left is one of my favorites. It's a little weird troll guy and the "barking pig." Barking pig has a light sensor that looks kind of like a stoma in his throat. When you move past him, he does this croaking, barking sound that is nothing like a pig noise. I love him.

And now we go in the house.

In the door, to the right is my fireplace area, a couch, two chairs

The two chairs.

Straight ahead from the door is this shelf, then stairs to the left and Delena's room to the right. A little more to the right is my mini-kitchen.

This is a close up of that shelf

When you're still at the door, to the extreme left is the monkey and hooka altar (don't ask) and to the right of that are the French doors leading to the family room.

This is what the front door area looks like.

This is over the couch.

The living room has exposed beams that begged me to hang shit on them.

This is the living room fireplace and mantle.

This is a funny little under the stairs closet at right angles to Delena's room

The tiny kitchen. Yep, that's all there is. You can see that a four year old can touch both sides at once.

This is the bookshelf I was forced to sacrifice since I had so little cupboard space. Carolyn Aspenson, forgive me, for I have sinned.

Delena's room. Cleanest it's ever been. I put all of her crap in the closet.

By the stairs

(French doors to the left that lead into the family room...and up we go. That brown dot on the wall...

...is a cool shield I found at the thrift store years ago. It broke in the move, so I glued it.

Joe's drawing on the landing.

Up the stairs. Straight ahead, bathroom. Left, Boys' room. Right, My room.

My room and the view from the balcony.

The linen closet across from the bathroom. No door!

The bathroom. In the middle is show "fat woman's misery." It's about 18 inches between the wall and the corner of the sink. I can get through easily, but if I gain more weight, I can't pee. Our tall friends have to cock their heads to the side due to the slanted ceiling. :)

Boys' room. They use it well.

Now, back downstairs and through the French Doors to the family room.

Where it all happens. This is the hub of Eye on Soaps: my desk. To the left of my desk are more French doors leading to the laundry room/Eric's office.

In the first picture of my desk, you can see that when I'm seated at the desk, to my right is Pig Central. It's a coffee table covered with my piggies. Given the place of honor below are Cheech (the boy who weighs about 500 pounds) and his family.

The only pig other than the Barking Pig who doesn't live at Pig Central is my little tin pig who insists on being by the tin angel next to the stereo.

Above Pig Central begins a series of a million family pictures, plus my beloved Dapper Dan clock.

Above the two sets of French doors are more pictures and in the center (between the two sets of doors) is my TV and cassettes and CD's.

In Eric's office. Poor guy inherited both the turtles and the 100 year old dog. This fan is a trip. It's about 12 feet in the air and has no means to turn on the fan. The light works, however.

Back in the family room. I have literally 12 feet of bookshelves along one wall, then a smaller vertical shelf for some of my nicknacks. Poor Greenman took a breaking, but I glued him (not every well) together too. The last picture on the right is a beautiful table that Georgia made for us.