are you ready to RUMBLE?

Or did I mean Rubble? Anyway, we are doing some serious rumbling in the house this weekend, hoping it doesn't turn to rubble! We will be basically relocating our kitchen downstairs temporarily, tearing out all the cabinets, and also removing the drywall around the bathroom so we can put up some backerboard for the tile.

The plumber comes on tuesday. She is replacing all of our plumbing. She should be done by the end of the week.

Extensive sidebar: (yes you heard me right..SHE--we hired the 3rd licensed female plumber in the state of washington! Her name is Zan, and her tagline is "Call Zan- the Rad Dyke Plumber" How cool is that!)

So, that means on tuesday we will no longer be able to shower or "relieve" ourselves at our house. Thank goodness we have scheduled a "honey bucket" to be delivered to our house on monday. For those of you who don't know the proprietary name "honey bucket"...we are talking about a port-a-potty. I think I may have to institute a rule about no liquids after 7pm or something so that I don't have to go out into the cold in the middle of the night. ;-)

So, plumbing this week, tile next week, and hopefully by mid may, we will be back into our bathroom all nice and new! All the tile is bought for the bathroom, so it is just a matter of getting it up and fixing the drywall in the bathroom.

I'll be updating regularly I'm sure, with the travails of living without a bathroom (or real kitchen for that matter). And this is all while I am working full time, taking a class, and training for a triathlon.

power tripping

Have you ever know someone who really seems to enjoy their power and goes on occasional "power trips"? I'll bet most of us know someone like that. I've never understood it. It seems that it must in some way be related to their own self-esteem or something. Even the littlest things that they have already agreed to they seem to want to sign off on them AGAIN, formally.

Is it also that they don't trust those around them to make good decisions? I actually don't think that is as much of an issue as the perception of themselves that they must maintain.

what do you think?

before and after and happy dog

See below for the project we worked on this past weekend.

Here we have the view to our yard from the side door. If you don't recall that horrible green awning, the picture above should remind you.

AND....

Here we have the view to the yard now. Not only is the green awning gone which lets in a ton of light, but our yard is looking pretty great.

Here is the view to the back door from the backyard. It is so refreshing to not have that green mess...I feel so FREE!

and I couldn't end this post without posting a picture of David and Emma, the german shepherd we are dog-sitting this week. They are buddies!

end of the week and I'm so happy

This has been a crazy week. David had a bunch of meetings and a big deadline, and I've had some extra meetings this week, so I am just so tired. I had to get up at 6 am this morning to be on a 7:30 conference call. Of course, David had to be at work today at 8, so it worked out well.

It was really great to see Julie last weekend and on tuesday. It made me realize how long we have been friends (all the way back to 3C's). That was probably before I could tie my shoes! We talked about our families and gave the updates, and also had some really nice time to hang out together. We saw the Seattle underground- watch some fish and mussels fly through the air at the market, and ate at our favorite mexican restaurant. I think we still have more in common than we expected. It feels good to catch up with old friends.

fund food for rescue animals!

Jodi sent me an email to tell me that the animal rescue site which is a 'sister' site to the breast cancer /mammogram site, is not getting enough 'clicks'. I've added it to my list of favorites on the left, so it is very easy for you to visit and click to fund food for rescue animals. You can also use this link below (but the other one is permanent).

Click to fund food for rescue animals!

tired but looking forward

I feel like this has been a really long week, and I am really tired. Tomorrow my old friend Julie from high school is coming into town for a conference and I'll get to spend some quality time with her. I'm not sure what sorts of things we will do, but it will be nice to be able to get to know each other again. That is the part I am looking forward to.

spring in seattle

It has been cold here the past few days, but the flowers are definitely out. The tulips mom and I planted this christmas finally came up, and we have what I've been told is a magnolia tree in our backyard which has just magnificent flowers right now. (see below)


These are the tulips earlier this month before they had any blooms. I wasn't sure they were going to bloom because we planted them so late, but we got lucky!



They are so pretty and make me smile every time I come home!

happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday dear me

Happy Birthday to me

Thanks to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday. I received sweet cards, wonderful gifts, and sincere wishes. And for those of you who will be a bit belated...I do accept cards late ;-)

fun at the base

While we had a lot of fun skiing and back at the condo, we also had a great time at lunches on the hill when we could unbuckle our boots and relax, and at the end of the day at the base when the sun was shining down so warm you took off all but one layer. So here are the non-action shots of the trip that were taken during our skiing down-time.

Lunch on the first day--food was great. I had a wonderful salad with mozzarella, prosciutto, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and some other goodies I forget. It was perfect.

Here is Jodi, Em and Melissa in the morning at the base lodge getting their boots on and doing last minute stretching. Notice the two sisters striking a pose for the camera!

Melissa and Emily at lunch at the base.

This last group of photos (including em above) were all taken at the end of the second day of skiing. We met down at the base lodge around 3:30, although some of us get there early enough to have a hot cocoa and baileys before everyone else arrived ;-) It was a good day. Each one of these shots was the only one I took of each person and they all turned out well.





I have to mention this before I go on---see the PBR on the table? The first day we noticed that PBR seemed to be the beer of choice. It seemed odd to us for a place as nice as Sun Valley. Well, on the second day, we ordered a few PBR for our Apres Ski. And so we found out why it was the drink of choice. It is cheap. I mean like $1 per can cheap. So, I guess even the regulars at Sun Valley like a cheap beer now and again.



That's it! No more Sun Valley photos. I've got more --but they aren't good enough to post. So, I hope you have enjoyed a peek into our ski trip.

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.