The Meckleys

about the cleanliness of the restaurant at which you’re eating? Or if they had any recent health code violations? (GROSS!) Well, I happened upon a site that allows you to look up those very things in my county: http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/health/food_search.php 

Some violations are as simple as a crack in the floor tile but others are flat out DISGUSTING, and I quote, “3 ROACHES WERE SEEN IN THE DINING ROOM DURING THIS INSPECTION. WHEN ROACHES ARE PRESENT DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS YOU HAVE A MAJOR INFESTATION.” Ew!!!

If you live in another county try looking at their website as I bet they may have something similar. Careful though, it may make you lose your appetite! (Which, isn’t always a bad thing for some of us  who seem to be holding onto our “winter” weight for dear life.)

While I LOVE digital photography, I’m really terrible about printing and displaying my photos. (I still have to work on wedding photos…maybe I’ll get to it before our 1 year anniversary in November?!)

I saw this awhile back and REALLY wanted to do something similar for my Hong Kong trip photos:

But, I could never find the right map, had too many photos, wasn’t sure about the layout, etc. I thought I’d never get around to it. Then, finally got inspired to just get to work on it. I decided to try to design a sort of photo collage poster so I could show several photos and attach some of my souveniers like money and ticket stubs. I did a layout in PhotoShop, uploaded it to Snapfish, then had it printed at Staples. Once I got it home I adhered my miscellaneous memoriabilia with rubber cement and scrapbooking adhesive – I love it!

What do you think? I thought about designing a PhotoShop template so you could just drop in your photos and make your own if anyone is intersted?

We bought our house with a few more bedrooms than we need right now with the idea that we will one day start our family here. Until then, we are fortuante to  have a lot of extra space in our house that rarely gets used. I’ve learned that Andy prefers a completely empty room or a totally staged room.

Yesterday Handy Andy was at it again and told me to go look at my spare room.  I walked upstairs to see this:

I love it! Previously it was pretty bare with a little table and a bookcase, mostly used for storage. The dogs and I layed on the futon while I read a bit and then we took a little nap to test it out. They love it too!

A couple weeks ago we added flowers to the front yard. I need to get some new photos as they are growing nicely….in the meantime, here’s a shot of my new favorite, my hibiscus. Isn’t it gorgeous?!

I hope my black thumb can manage to keep this one alive!

We also put a birdfeeder in the backyard. These goldfinches have been regulars.

Did you know dogs like marshmallows? (At least mine do.) Did you know that there are GIANT marshmallows sold at Hy-Vee? When Andy saw the bag of humongous marshmallows of course he HAD to have them. We thought it would be funny to watch the dogs eat them. It was. Have look-see – they’re as big as Tiger’s head!

Can you say HIL-ARIOUS?!?! I was slightly worried they might choke so I stood real close just in case. Instead, I laughed hysterically as Max played with it like a ball at first and watched as Putter stole Max’s marshmallow. I had to grab my camera and snap some shots! Tiger kept getting marshmallow caught between his little toes! Too funny!