fun on the mountain

Here are some pictures of the fun we had on the mountain skiing.

Dad, Jodi and David---I did a bad job taking this picture--I should have gotten closer to them so you could see their faces better.

Here is Dad, David and me. This was the first day we were out--it was pretty warm and we all had our "pit zips" un-zipped.

Me with David in the background on the second day of skiing. You see David switched to his lighter jacket-his windbreaker- because it was so warm on the first day.

David and Me with the beautiful mountains as a backdrop.

oh gosh--em took this photo of me. I was pretty happy--and I think I look pretty happy so I had to include it on the blog.

Here is a really cute one of Em and Melissa on the second day.

fun off the mountain

Since the ski trip is always in between Jodi and my birthdays, we always do at least a little bit of celebrating. Here are two pics of the cake they got for us. They asked the woman at the store to put "Jodi and Liz", but "Jodi Liz" made it on the cake instead. It is cute. And it was really yummy! (see second picture down for the side view of the strawberry shortcake)




Here are Em and Mel hanging out in the condo. We would groove all evening to tunes from Mel, Jodi, and David's ipods.
Suzanne, Dad and Jodi hanging out at the table after dinner, ready to play some mexican train dominoes.
And here is the infamous mexican train. The extremely long train you see above was Dad's. We all played on his train two or three times each. He barely got to play on his own at all. We laughed a lot and had a good time kidding one another.

sun valley landscape

As I said previously, the snow was not so good in Sun Valley. Usually their end of season is in July, but this year they just didn't get enough snow. But in some ways, the lack of snow in places made for some really beautiful pictures of the mountains. Here are some landscape pictures taken from the ski hill.

sun valley

Sun valley is sunny but not so snowy. There is so much brown on the ski hill, it is amazing. But we are having a good time, and the skiing is still fun. I've taken some fun pictures so when I get home I'll have to figure out which ones to post.

some pictures, finally

Here are a few stacks of the wood that ended up going on our floor. There were more than this.

This is where we have been "living" for the past few weeks. This is the basement...and the only saving grace is that there are two little windows to let light in.

Here is our floor installed, but not yet sanded or finished.


Here is the final floor in the living room. It is really nice and smooth. It will look even better when we get the walls painted and baseboards installed.

And here is a neat detail that David designed in order to make the transition between two different wood directions look good. It is really beautiful.

still not in the house

Last night we stayed at our hosts house again. That was our fifth night at their house! We also took them out to dinner last night, as another way of saying thank you. I am very worried about over-staying our welcome, so we have been doing all that we can to, as David says, lessen our "footprint". We empty the dishwasher when we see that it is clean, we put all our dishes in the dishwasher, we've made dinner for them, and a made a chocolate cake. We have bought groceries so we aren't eating all their food. And I sacrificed a box of my thin mints for the good of the house.

I think we are doing a pretty good job of staying out of their way. One of the roommates commented to me last night as he saw me unloading the dishwasher, "I'm going to miss you guys when you are gone!". That felt pretty good.

We went to the house yesterday after work, and it is smelling better, but I think I would still wake up with a headache. Everyone says the main smell should go away after 3-4 days, and today, tuesday is the fourth day. Hopefully it will be good enough to sleep there tonight.

bum on the floor

Last night was another night on the air mattress. This morning we woke up to our bums on the floor. Actually, David's bum was on the floor, and that meant I was suspended higher in the air. But as soon as he got up I was hitting the floor. We went to the house this AM. It looks great. But it is still quite fumey (a made up word, I know). So, we are planning to be out and about all day and then stay on the air mattress again tonight.

By the way, to all my fellow friends with a bit of Irish in you--Happy St. Patricks Day. I realized this morning that I have been wearing green for the past three days. Kind of funny--I wonder why my subconscious wanted to be green? Embrace your Irish self!

toxic!

Last night we went to the house after work to pick up our clothes etc. for staying over at a friends. They had put a coat of the finish on around noon, and we got there around 6. So the first coat had had time to dry. We walked in the house and were first amazed by the floors. They look fabulous. But the very next thing we noticed was the noxious fumes that made our eyes burn, noses run, and chests hurt. We were told that it would be smelly, but i was expecting the kind of smell that you can get used to, and that you stop smelling after a while. No, this stuff is the kind of smell/fume that just gets worse the longer you stay in it. In fact, after packing up our clothes from the basement and taking them out to the car, I went back in to grab a few groceries (milk, cereal, etc.). It started to hurt my eyes and nose so bad I just gave up on getting more than just the essentials.

Our floor guy was there when we arrived, and he was starting to put down the second coat of finish, which made the fumes even worse. I got a chance to ask him about the fumes. He wears a super-duper mask (no that's not the brand name ;-), which helps, but it is still bad for him. I asked him about the "water-borne" finish that is becoming more popular. Apparently it is pretty non-toxic. That really sounds good to me at this point. I really didn't realize how toxic this swedish finish is. He said that the water-borne is a lot more pleasant to apply, but that he doesn't think it does as good of a job/ isn't quite as strong as the swedish. He prefers the swedish finish even though he has to deal with all that smell and chemicals. If I were him, I would be pushing my clients toward the more environmentally friendly finishes. I think if someone had really explained to me about this swedish finish, I would have requested another less toxic type of finish. Even if it would have worn more quickly, I would have preferred it. So, the last coat of finish is supposed to be going on this morning and then it will be done. I don't know how long the fumes will stay in the house. Once the last coat is dry, we will go over and open some windows to help air it out. So, I guess we'll have to see how the fumes are before we decide to start sleeping there again.

out on our bums

Well, as of tomorrow night, we will not be able to stay in our house for a few days. Today they are doing the final sanding of our floors, and tomorrow morning they will put their first swedish finish coat on. It will be so stinky we won't be able to stay- so we are staying at one of David's gracious friend's house. We will even get a room--we won't have to sleep on the couch! But, we will be bringing along our air mattress because while the room has a door, it doesn't have a bed. We will probably be there through the weekend.

excited to go home

I can not express how excited I am to go home. This morning our floor guy called just after we had gotten out of the shower and asked if it was okay if he started the floor installation early. Early as in right then (he was sitting outside our house in his van)! He originally wasn't going to start until wednesday, but I guess the schedule got moved around. So, by the time we get home tonight, at least part of our floors should be installed! Approximate timing of events: The installation should take until wednesday, then they can do their sanding, and put down the first coat of finish, thursday put down a second coat of finish, and friday put down a third coat of finish. Or maybe I have it one day off. For some reason I thought they were putting down the last coat on saturday--so I must have messed up the timing somewhere along there. But I guess it could easily change based on how things go--could take shorter or longer.

Also, Jodi is home safe and sound from her Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia trip. It sounds like she had an awesome time- and she has some pretty good photos to prove it.

shut up and sing

Last night David and I rented a movie called "Shut up and Sing". For those of you who don't know, it is about the Dixie Chicks and the backlash that came out against them after Natalie Maines made a comment in the UK that the hard-core country folk didn't like. It is a really good documentary. Very well done, and funny and sad and wonderful all at the same time. I would highly recommend it to anyone to see. Very interesting how politics and entertainment can become so completely intertwined.

The movie moved me so much that I think I'm going to go out and buy their latest CD.

I like saving money

I know-- who doesn't? But really, I get a real kick out of saving more than the ordinary person. So let me tell you a little story about something I recently began doing to save money.

I was watching a local television news"lite" show, and they featured a segment on how to save 50 to 60% off your grocery bill. I was really intrigued by what I heard, so I went to the website they discussed. The website offers a one month trial for $1. So, I figured, for $1 it can't hurt to try it.
The whole thing is built upon the idea of stockpiling. For me this is similar to the idea of dollar cost averaging in the stock market. You buy lots when they are cheap, and when you need them, you don't have to pay top dollar for them. Of course this mainly works for non-perishables, although the list does include produce items that are especially cheap. I think what they do is to track "historic" lows in prices on particular items, and track the coupons that come in the sunday paper. Then they combine historic lows with coupons from the sunday paper and wa-la. Lots of savings. My first shopping week I saved 43% of my bill, which seemed better than my usual 20%, but I wasn't able to use many coupons because I hadn't accumulated enough yet.

However, last week I went shopping with a bunch of coupons, and I have to say...I did pretty well for my second trip. In fact, by using this system, I got $131.29 worth of groceries for $58.44. I saved about 57% or $72.85!!!!! I was really impressed with the system! So, I know you are all dying to know what this is called....well it is called "The grocery game". Other people call it Teri's List. I will definitely keep trying this over the next few weeks. After one month, I have to pay $10 a month to get the list, but if I am saving $72 or more each week, I think I can afford the $10 a month. Seriously, check it out. I think I am a believer. It just feels so good saving money! Just go to the site, read about how it works, and browse some of the bulletin /message board. Then tell me what you think.

ship lap

Well, We officially are living on our subfloor, which is ship lap. Yesterday they tore up our hardwoods, and today they deliver the wood that will become our floor in about a week or so. But first it has to acclimate to the subfloor. So, the new rule in our house is shoes shoes shoes! It is a gold mine for splinters (and accidental nail punctures).

Happy Birthday Jodi Coyote!

To the lucky girl who is in Thailand or Vietnam or wherever right now...

I hope you are having a great time. I'm sure this will be a good year for you!

ps. The date on this post is not Jodi's birthday...but it is her birthday in the part of the world where she is right now--so Happy Birthday!

March 1st and we have snow!

This morning we woke up to snow on top of roofs, cars, grass etc. I had no idea it was going to snow. It was kind of cool to wake up to that kind of beauty. However, since it was just a light dusting, it will be gone before noon. But at least we got to enjoy it for a short while. I can't believe it is March 1st! Where is the time going?!

the hole in the wall gang

At least that is what mom said she was going to call us, given how many holes we like to put in walls. Speaking of which, see below for pictures of our latest endeavor. We figured we ought to get the messy part of cutting the wall apart done before we have a floors replaced. And, we really wanted to open up our kitchen to the living area for entertaining etc. So here are some before and afters.

First set of three pictures below show the progression of the wall from the perspective of the living room.



We will be adding a bar to this side, and then some built-in shelves/cabinet to the left of the hole and bar area.

This set of 4 pictures shows the progression of our hole in the wall from the perspective inside the kitchen. We tore out those cabinets completely as you will see below.
This is the space that was above the stove before.
And here we are, as far as we are going to get for a few weeks. The plan is to finish out the living room side so it is a bar, with our new barstools.

I think it looks great. And while it means that right now we have less storage, once we get the built-ins on the other side, we'll be fine on storage.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Just for you I had them blow up this big balloon. I hope you have a great birthday! Enjoy those pre-30 years. You start to feel old when your body can't quite do as much as it used to!

do you tri?

That is, do you do triathlons? Well I haven't, but I'm going to. I've signed up for the Danskin sprint distance triathlon which happens in Seattle during August. This means I've really got to get my butt in gear and start training. I chose to be part of the mixed age group, which shouldn't be quite so competitive, but you still get an individual race time. However, I know that sometimes the competition is really what makes me motivated, so I guess I'll just have to see how I feel when I do it. Part of me wants to do it in as little time as I can, and the other part of me wants to just do it so I finish it.

Who am I kidding, I've never done something just to finish it. I'll be racing myself that day, I'm sure. Go Lizzy!

A better picture

Here is a much better picture of the wall remodeling we did this weekend. Looks much better without the stove in the way!
;-)

It is not a weekend

It is not a weekend without some good old fashioned wall demolishing! Yesterday, David and I decided we needed to open up a doorway a bit, so we tore open the wall. Here are the before and after pictures. We obviously still need to put on the drywall on the opening and then mud it, but we got pretty darn far in just one evening. Fun!


What used to be the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room....

The new door way between the two rooms. This will make entertaining so much easier. Of course, the stove needs to be put back in place before any entertaining might begin...

It's Birthday mania!

One more birthday to celebrate this week....Carolyn's!

Happy Birthday!

Hope you are having some fun today!

Happy V-Day

To all my loved ones, and especially my sweetie--Happy v-day!

Spread the love!

Happy Birthday and good news-we're going to Hawaii!

First and most importantly,

Happy Birthday Will! This is for the "old" Will, not the young Will ;-) Seriously, I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that the coming year is even more marvelous than the last.

Secondly,

I don't recall, but I think I mentioned somewhere along the line about submitting 3 papers to a conference in Hawaii. Well, two of those papers we've received notification on that they are accepted (with some revisions), and the last paper we haven't heard on yet, but I think even if they accept it, we will have to decline to present b/c the data we have in the paper is not correct, and there is not enough time to get the correct data in the paper. In any case, I'm going to Hawaii! (and so is David!) Yea!

a little late better than never

Seems like I'm always saying that. We got a letter in the mail this week with some photos from thanksgiving in KC, and I realized I never posted any of my pictures. (or did I? Now I'm doubting myself) Here are the four best ones that are representative of our time.

I really liked this statue at the Kemper Art Museum. I'm not sure I was supposed to go up there under it, but I never touched it which is what the sign says you are not allowed to do!

Here is Dad and Suzanne in Front of the Kemper. The spider is their "logo" you could say. In the top right corner you can see Jodi and David doing their own exploring.

David trying to figure out the spider. This image is kind of like a movie to me--like revenge of the spiders or something. It is about to jump down and attack! Yikes!

And here is jodi, david and me in the scuplture area of the more traditional art museum in KC. (I can't remember the name). David was tall enough to be able to fit his head over the top, but Jodi and I had to improvise. I have a picture of him straight on where you really just see the statue and his head. Funny! It is even darker than this picture, so I didn't want to post it.

decision made

Well, we finally made a decision. Thanks for everyone's support and advice on the floors. It has been a difficult process. The decision we made was to get a new floor. by the end of the first week of March (or so) we should be living with new floors. I think it will feel like a whole new house then. I've just got to get David in the habit of sweeping or vacuuming the floors. It feels kind of weird to vacuum a hardwood floor, but it seems to work pretty well, and our vacuum has a bare floor setting, so that probably helps.

Just wanted to let you know the decision. Now I guess our next step is to get in touch with a plumber for the bathroom.

more tests

So we decided to try a new spot with a lighter dye, same stain on top, and we bleached some of the spots and not others. So here we go....

Above you can see where the spots are.

After the sanding

Using the bleach. The people at the stain/paint store said to use oxalic acid on stains. So this is what we used above.

This is after bleaching. I'm not so sure that it looks that much lighter. Just slightly. I suppose we could have done another round of bleach, but we were so tired, we just wanted to get to the dye and stain.

The light/orangish brown is the lighter dye we decided on. The Stain is still the "Java Bean". It seems to have masked the stains pretty well. However, I'm not sure David is sold on the color. The big stain that we didn't bleach you can kind of see at the right angle with the right light, but probably wouldn't be visible otherwise.

So...some decisions to make...

oops here are the long promised bath photos

We tore down the tile wainscoat-- looks bad huh?



I'm sure it will look better when we mud it.

floor issues

So we decided to go buy a aniline dye and stain to see how well it would mask the stains.....

This is the spot as it originally looked before we sanded it all off.
After sanding, you could still see the stains, but they weren't as bad.
last night we put the water based aniline stain (dye) on it (above)

And this morning this is how it looked. Can still see the wood grain, but not really the stains. They said you are then supposed to put a coat of stain on it do deepen the color and complexity.

So this morning, we put the stain on (see above). I'll show you what it looks like after it dries. But this is definitely promising. It isn't black dye--so it still has warmth, but it seems to be covering the stains without losing the interest of the wood grain.

We are cautiously optimistic and may go back to the paint store and see what other colors they have and maybe do another test spot with a lighter dye/stain combo.