OC Triathalon

The OC Triathalon is this Sunday, Sept. 28. It's right at our Lake Mission Viejo. For more info on the race click here. Some of the roads around here will be closed. But won't affect us.

About 14 years I did this event. Although the course was differenct. I was on a team with 2 other members from my office. I did the bike. I think it was 17 miles then. We rode out to the end of Olympiad then to the entrance of Coto. There was nothing much out there at the time. I remember riding the route on a practice ride and riding through a swarm of bees. We did not live in MV at the time. Roger was so nice to let me borrow his street bike as all I had was a heavy mountain bike.

Our swimmer, Doug, was an Olympic water polo player. They won a medal but I don't remember what year it was in. Our runner was my good friend Henry. He was a great runner. Our team placed first in our bracket! It was a great experience.

I would love to do another tri, but not all on my own. Maybe a duathalon. I don't swim very well. A dual is run, bike, run.

We won't be able to see much, if any of the race. Evelyn has a horse show on Sunday, and has to be there before 8:30. Maybe we can see some of the early runners. If you click on the website, you can click on the link to the route.

I did go running this morning with Julie and conquered the Melinda hill. Yay! I felt great. I had not run for about 2 weeks. I was sick, knees hurt and I was tired. Maybe a little lazy too. But it was great to get back out there early in the morning and run. Julie is doing a 1/2 marathon in October. This weekend she and her race partner are doing a 10 mile run. I will have to miss that (bummer). I did get up to 6 with them and really want to do that again!

I got some stuff put away in the kitchen last night. Everything here is so incredibly dusty. This morning it is not agreeing with me. I am sneezing, have watery eyes, and kind of miserable. I took some allergy tabs and they have made me sleepy, so I am eating peanut butter. Not much else to eat and it sounded pretty good.

Enough gabbing. Back to work. I'll take pix this weekend. I'm also painting this weekend.

Good luck to all the athletes competing this weekend. Oh, can't forget the Race for the Cure! Good luck Michele! You will do awesome and I'll be thinking of you as you run your first 5K.

Have a great weekend!

Yay! It's finally Thursday!!

I have been waiting and waiting for this day to come. Finally it's here. It's Thursday and the day of some of my very favorite shows! Survivor. CSI. ER. Season opener of Survivor and CSI. I'm so excited! I can't wait until tonight. (just need to get through the day first).
My plan for tonight is to have some uninterrupted time to watch my shows while I put away things in the new cabinets. I already warned the kids not to bug me. (let's see how that goes)
The cabinets are mostly in. Oh they are beautiful! Beautiful. I'm going to wait to get a picture when they are all done and all the power tools, etc... are cleared out of the kitchen. The installer said he won't be here until about 10:30. That's fine. Not much more to do.
In anticipation of using the new kitchen, I bought some new dish towels this morning and some new things for the kitchen. There are so many cabinets, so much room, it's super! I'll dust everything out good and put things away. I already have an idea of where things will go. I can't put anything in the lower cabinets though. It will get dusty when the counter top is installed. That's fine.

cabinets, surveys, smelly dog and rearrangeing

Well, the new cabinets are here. They are being unloaded. And a person who I think is the installer just rolled up. Time to get busy! Stinky dog has to be banned to the garage, again. I think she's getting used to it. The easiest way to get in and out of the kitchen is to go through the slider in the family room and out the gate. Later, I'll let stinky in to sit with me in the office. As right now the front door is also open to allow for cabinets to be rolled in that way.

Yes, K still stinks. Silly dog.

Surveys. Lately it seems like every time I get a receipt there is an invitation to take a survey. Even the teeny tiny purchase I made at Target the other day gave me a receipt with an invitation to take a survey. Last night I was searching for something in my wallet and I dug out the wad of receipts I had in there. I piled all the ones with surveys and was busy doing surveys this morning. (OH please pick me. Please!!) It would be nice to get that $5,000 Home Depot gift card right about now. Or that $5,000 Target card. Even the PS3 from Game Stop. I'll take it, whatever it is!

Back to kitchen. Well, we had to do some quick re-arranging again. These cabinets are big and need some place to put them and room to move them in. Piano is in the living room as is the kitchen table. Guess what, the fridge has found a nice cozy spot to be for a few days. This means, my living room which was put back, dusted and painted, is now a gathering site for all things that need a temp home. Ugh. Oh well, on the bright side, the cabinets are going in today. The installer says that he wants to be able to get them done today! Today! No water for awhile as the water line to the fridge is leaking and needs to be fixed. Plumber has been called.

I hear a power tool. I won't peek in just yet. But I did see the cabinets. Love the color!

Updates since I hit "publish post"

It's been a 3 ring circus here with me as the ring leader. Had to call a plumber. Water line for fridge - no good. Plumber got here much earlier than expected. Good. He did a temp fix so the water is back on now. Good. Had to run back to the shop to get the supplies he needs to install the line the correct way so we won't have a problem again. Oh these 30 year old homes! Also appears some other lines need to be replaced. But would rather do that now than after the cabinets are in and the new floor.

Gardners came and went. At that time it was crazy. Poor K. She does not like the noisy gardners a it is. She is inside with me and I have the doorway to the house where the work is being done blocked off with the coffee table. She is now fine with the cabinet installer and the plumber. Poor dog just looks so confused. She has plopped herself where she can see most of what's going on. Good guard dog.

Oh do my cabinets look so beautiful! I can't wait to see how the look all installed! I do kind of like the fridge in the living room. It's easier to access from the office (lazy me) and I'm sure the kids will just think it's the best thing ever when they get home from school. School. Not looking forward to the loads of homework Evelyn has been bringing home. Not good.

Floor guy postponed until tomorrow. Good. One less thing to worry about.

El Torito for dinner tonight. Kids eat freeeeee on Wednesday. I can do that. Tom will meet us. Can't wait till he gets to see the cabinets. Oh, plumber is back. Yippee.

The weekend update.....

Another weekend where you wonder where it all went. But here is where it went:

Friday night, work on the house, watch a movie and fall asleep during the movie.

Saturday up early for an early dash to Henry's for snacks, etc... for the weekend. Off to Hunting Beach for the first of 2 games for the weekend baseball tournament. We have some new guys on the Sox and they did quite well too! Games were at 11 and 3. Back towards home with a stop at Miles' house to celebrate his 22nd birthday. Happy birthday Miles! (I first met Miles when he was only 5. That was my first introduction to Tom's family). Home to wash smelly uniform and crash exhausted on the couch.

Sunday: up early to get to church at 7 am, stop over at Bagels n' Brew for breakfast, then to HB by 9 am. Played 2 games and were back home before 5 on Sunday. I finished painting the living room and did some more touch ups. Also did a little painting in the kitchen. Finished up some laundry took a shower and went to bed early to read my book. but that didn't last long.

Oh, and gave the dog 2 tomato juice baths. Yup. dog v. skunk. Again. Skunk won. Again. Stinky silly dog. 1:38 am Saturday morning, I was jolted out of a deep sleep to that awful stench! Ugh. Like the darn thing was right in our room. Saw the dog rolling in the grass and knew right away what had happened. Silly dog. Gave her a tomato juice bath early Saturday morning and again Sunday afternoon. She still smells but not as bad. My guess is that she got hit in the head but it wasn't too bad. I also think the spraying happened on the patio as there were droplets all over the patio. Ugh. This morning she will get a regular bath to get the rest of the tomato juice out of her hair.
When will she ever learn that a skunk will always win. Silly stinky dog.

I'm waiting for the electricians to get here to do the electrical work in the kitchen. Tuesday is the drywall patching and Wednesday through Friday the cabinets will be installed! Can't wait. I am hoping that next weekend I can start to put things away in some of the cabinets. Our new appliances are in the garage. It will be several weeks before they are put in. It's another busy week for us, as typical. I hope to be able to finish up the kids rooms this week also. Hope to.

Have a great week everyone.

What now???

Our addition is done! We just love it! But of course we still need to get flooring and then put everything back into it's place. The electrical was finished this morning and Tuesday the outside was painted.

Just love the way it looks. Now I need to plant some more plants in front but not sure what to get yet.

This morning I heard this loud crash! Oh no. What now???


Oops, I forgot. There were 2 guys in the kitchen knocking down the cabinets. What? Yep, knocking down the cabinets, taking out the old appliances (except for the fridge) and hauling it all away. Why? Well, that would be "project K" for Kitchen. Yes, our new kitchen has begun. Perfect timing too! And, no we really didn't plan it that way, it just happened.


We figured it was time to replace the old kitchen that we have lived with for so many years, and the cabinets we painted ourselves so many years ago. By (hopefully) mid October we will be enjoying our new kitchen.



My favorite thing about the kitchen is the window. I love the view. I can look into the back yard and see through the fence and if I look to the left can see the mountains. There are no houses behind us. Just a very vegitated area with lots of plants, trees, wild animals and a nice walking path.

The cabinets came down today. The new electrical will be done next week, drywall patched (then I will paint!) and the cabinets should start to be installed next Wednesday. Yippee!


So for now, our kitchen is boxed up somewhere in the garage and also in the family room.



the new pantry is here:
The temporary kitchen is here:


and we will be eating off paper and plastic for several weeks. I've been trying to plan meals we can cook in the toaster oven, microwave and bbq.

Our new appliances will come on Friday but will have to sit in the garage until they can be installed in several weeks. We need to still get a sink and faucet. Oh, I do like new things :)

K was a little confused with all that's going on today. First the electrician was inside hooking up the new lights in the office and the electrical outlets. then she was banned to the garage when the kitchen guys got here. It was easier for them to go out the side door and the gate rather than through the front door. I let K inside after they had covered up stuff. She decided to nap in the hall where she could keep an eye on things. After some loud banging she took up her guard dog position by me trying to keep an eye on things in the kitchen.

so, now the kitchen guys are off to another demo. The job took about 1 1/2 hours. Not too bad. They cleaned up, moved the table back in the kitchen, taped off the gas line to the stove and are on to the next job. I can check that detail off my kitchen timeline list.



This is the truck where everything was loaded up into and hauled away.
Work in progress


eew. This is what it looks like where the sink was. A little water dripped out of the lines.

This was where the stove was.
I hope none of Jax's rat buddies decide to crawl into this open vent and use it as a slide to get into the house.

A mini preview of what's to come in the future. There will be a bench built below this window (upper photo). There will be drawers for storage. And in the lower photo, there will be a built in desk and shelves above it where the blue wall is.
Well, there you have it. A preview of what is going on now. We have to decide on a paint color for the kitchen. Need to paint the ceiling and the walls. Need to finish painting in the house. Need to get plants for outside. Need to finish up the kids rooms. Need to get flooring.

And we have a baseball tournament this weekend. Thankfully it's close by this time. 2 games on Saturday and Sunday's game (s) are determined on how we do on Saturday. Notice I say "we" rather than "they boys" as it really is a family event. Everyone involved. But it's fun. I/We enjoy it. :) Greg will have to miss his soccer game. But it was his decision and the coach already knows he will be gone.

Ok, it's lunch time. Oh, but I can't cook. At least on the stove and I don't feel like sparking up the bbq just yet. I think I deserve to get lunch some place. Hmmm. so many choices. I'm thinking enchiladas as we were talking about them last night. Or should it be a sandwich? Or a burger? Too many choices around here.

Almost done!

Monday afternoon the last stucco coat was applied outside. These are the guys on the scaffolding installing the stucco.



The outside will either be painted this afternoon or tomorrow. After the stucco is completely dry.

Then, back to the inside, which will probably be Wednesday, the electrical outlets will be hooked up and the new lights instaled.

But wait, that's not all......
One wall done, one wall not done. Still have to move the furniture from the wall. At least we could get the rest of the furniture back in place. No more Wii throne in the living room. And the dog has her couch back now. Silly dog.
This picture (above) is of the high walls in the living room. It was tricky to get way up there in the corner. I had to stand on the top of the ladder, thankfully I am tall.
This is my blue wall in the family room that needs to be painted over. I hope I have enough paint left. And the photo below is part of Evelyn's wall that was fixed and now is just one of the spots that has to be painted over. the the pile of stuff from her dresser can be put back.

Still need to finish painting inside, need floors, and there's lots of other things to do inside, like new doors, etc..... Oh, and finish dusting. I can't sit back and enjoy yet. Almost though. And then there will be all the unpacking and putting back. that'll be a chore.


This picture was taken Tuesday morning, facing East. The sun comes up in the back of our house. The sun looked really pretty through the trees. This is now the opening before our porch. It used to not be there. The roof on the right is part of the new roof. We will need to get new rain gutters as when it rains, we will be behind a waterfall and get to see the back side of water (Jungle Cruise joke)

Painting, Moving, Dusting

Sunday was spent painting, moving most of the furniture back and dusting, really really dusting. And vacuuming too.
I painted the family room and used the tips I got from our friendly painters. I did a pretty good job if I don't say so myself. Can't wait to show them how I did. I still have to touch up the blue wall but wanted to get the furniture moved back into place.
Tom vacuumed off the couch and in the corners, etc.... Trying to get all that ceiling dust, and there's a lot of it.
I painted the 2 high walls in the living room and started on the other wall. We need to move the tv, etc.. on that wall before it can be painted. Tom will move the furniture back tonight. I dusted what I could. It will be nice to have the furniture back. Nice to have a place to sit too :) I'm sure K will enjoy having her couch back. Silly dog.
I also did some touch ups in the entry and part of the hall. I was getting tired and just couldn't get to it all. The touch up's won't take as long as painting walls. It's something that can easily be done in the evening too.
Still need to paint the kitchen, touch up a wall in the fam room and living room and the bedrooms. It's getting there.
Saturday I felt awful even though I slept pretty good Friday night. I did make it to Greg's soccer game. They won again 5 - 1 and Greg scored again. I opted to stay home from the church festival, but went in time for the final raffle drawings (darn.... no new car or tv for us) and stayed for church. Greg and I came home and curled up in my bed to watch Surf's Up. Well, I think I lasted 10 minutes before I was asleep. Tom stayed to help clean up and Evy went to her friends for an un-sleep over.
Sunday, Greg's team had another soccer game. This one was quite a soccer match. They came from behind to win 3 - 2. One of Greg's friends from his baseball team was on the other team. And another friend from his baseball team played in the game before Greg's.
I am feeling better, but still tired. I had to get those walls painted though. It was getting close to crunch time. Later this week I will make another trip to HD to return some unused cans of paint, buy more for the kitchen and get some other items that we need. It's funny when you have to actually schedule in trips to the stores. Ugh. Busy schedule.
Waiting for the plaster guys to show up. I hope they make it by today. More than anything right now, I really want to clean my window. I want to look out a nice clean window. I also want to put the screen on so I can open the window and not have flies come in. Really, I don't ask for much. Oh, and since I'm asking, can someone fold the laundry too? And finish painting for me?
Have a great week!!!

More Updates

A quiet day on Thursday. And I needed a quiet day too. Wednesday was also quiet.

Here are a few updated photos.
This is the brown coat of stucco. It really looks gray. It is the second coat in a 3 coat process. Next is the stucco which should be done on Monday as this needs 7 days of dry time.

This is just a close up of the brown coat. It has these unknown fibers in it. Looks kind of cool. This is just a sampling of the dust we have to deal with. This is the inside of the front door. I did dust a little the other day but it's back. It's everywhere. I'm really not worried though. Things will just continue to get dustier.
This photo was to show the new texture on the ceiling. It's the corner of the kitchen wall and a wall in the family room. The blue in the kitchen will be painted over in a few weeks. The blue wall in the family room will stay there to keep some color in the room. There was a beam that went across the ceiling in the opening between the kitchen and family room. It's gone now. Had to do some patch work.
Moving onto my favorite room at the moment. Although it is not done yet, I do like it. This is just a corner where I tried my best to get a photo of the ceiling and the walls. Even the floor. The walls are Navajo White, the ceiling is Swiss Coffee (no not Chai Tea Latte) The walls in the rest of the house (except bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen) will be Navajo White.

This is the new floor in the office. No, not really. But it is the new concrete, splattered with mold compound (used in the drywall process) and splattered primer and paint. Just add some dirty foot prints and it's good as new!

My friendly favorite painters look like they are finishing up the rest of the ceiling. Went fast with 4 of them. Normally there are 2 but they brought 2 friends. Sanded, primed, caulked, painted. Just about done! Went so much faster than Tom and I could have. Plus they know how to do it. We would have learned on the job, that is getting the sanding right, the caulking straight, etc... At least we don't really have to worry about the flooring. yet.

This weekend I hope we can get the rest of the walls painted. Also need to touch up the kids rooms. They are anxious to get their rooms back in order. Me too. That will hopefully free up a few boxes of stuff stashed in the garage. We need the boxes to pack up more stuff.

Thankfully Julie offered to pick up my kids from school. I feel like yuck. I did run 4 miles with Julie early this morning. I was ok the first and then felt like I was going to barf. My head has been pounding for close to a week and now my stomach is feeling yuck. this happens every few months or so and why my head chose this week to do this, well, who really knows.

Weekend plans:

Saturday: soccer game in morning, church festival in the afternoon/evening

Sunday: baseball practice morning, afternoon soccer game, fit in painting somewhere.

Have a fun and save weekend everyone. Thanks for all your nice comments. I love reading them.

Remembering 9-11

Let's all remember to take some time out of our busy days to take a few moments to pray for and remember those who lost their lives on this day. Let's also not forget all the people who came in to help out those in need. Let us also remember to families of those who lost a loved one and those who survived.

To quote President Bush from a CNN news article: "On a day when buildings fell, heroes rose," Bush said. "... One of the worst days in America's history saw some of the bravest acts in America's history."



We will never forget!!!




God Bless America!!!

Be a hero to someone today.

Gorgeous I tell you

That would be the office. It's gorgeous I tell you. The painters were here again Tuesday to finish up painting the office. Just the office was sealed off with plastic. The ceiling sanded, primed, painted and the walls painted. Lookin' good!


Miguel stopped by to check on things in the morning. I do believe by the end of next week we will be finished! But we still need to floor done so I'm not putting things back just yet.

Also, everything is very very dusty. I mean very dusty. I wiped down part of the office with a damp cloth this morning. I can see that I need to do it again. In fact, the entire house needs it. But I'm just not ready to do that yet. We still have more work to be done in more parts of the house.


I got a run down on how to sand the ceilings, paint, caulk and paint walls yesterday. But as the day went on was wondering if I really had the time to do it all. I do like to paint, but...... You have to sand in the same direction, just the right amount of pressure..... oh boy. Tom loves the way the inside of the office looks and agrees that we should hire our friendly painters back to do the ceiling. We can do the walls. I hope they want to come back to work on their own time, as we sure have put them through a lot lately.



I'll get pictures when I have more natural light in here. No bulbs in the new lights and too many shadows.



And you know, a funny thing happened to me on the way to work yesterday. Well, I really don't commute to work as I work at home. But it was still funny, in a not really funny way but only to me because I find that I just need to laugh at every situation these days.


Tom calls to tell me he has my car keys in his pocket. He is at work. Where are my other keys??? Well, those would be in my locked car which is parked on the street. Why in the car? Well, because last night I was tired and only thought to get out my purse and laptop from the car. And, why did you take my spare keys to work. He does not know. No problem, I'll call the roadside service folks that I have for the car.



The first question I am asked is if I am safe and out of harms way. Ummm, yes for the time being. I give the low down about where my keys are. They are very helpful. An hour later I hear a truck pull up out front. And the phone rings. It is a recording to let me know my friendly roadside service guy is here to help me out.



I go outside as he is getting out jumper cables. Ok I think. Some new way to open up a locked door? Attach it to the battery and burn a hole through the door? So, he says, "if you will pop the hood I'll get the battery started" Well, I say "If you want to jump the battery, you have to get the keys out of my locked car first" Hmmmm? He was told my car had a dead battery. But no problem. Out comes the slim jim and some other tool and in a matter of seconds he was had my car unlocked. Amazing. I'm glad he had a sense of humor.



But before that, he wanted to be reassured that my keys were in the car. I said, of course they are, see there, under the sunglasses, pen, piece of paper and other stuff, that silver thing, that's the key. And that's right where they were. Right where I put them so I would not forget to take them out of the car.

Another floor guy just left. We just wanted another estimate. I'm so ready to set up the new office. But I will admit, the paint splotched cement floor really does not look that bad.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Monday

Back to school after a event filled weekend!
Workers got here 8:30 ish. I packed up and headed to my mom's for the day to plug into her internet to work. (yes I do have wireless but can't remember the password on my computer to use it)
Got kids from school, came home, work in progress! Kids did homework in back yard. Changed clothes in the garage for riding lessons and baseball practice. Off to Longs to get cold drinks and Motrin.
Greg to baseball practice, Evy and I to drive by the house, to Target for some returns, then to riding lessons. Me back to the field to get Greg. Whew. Got there early and was able to sit and chat.
Back to the stables to meet Tom and Evy. Say hi to Roy :) He tried to eat Evy's riding helmet. He's a huge horse and Jessie's stall is next to Roys. To Chipolte for dinner. Back home to work in progress.
Go inside and blindly grab whatever clothes I can for the kids to change into. Off to Tom's parents so kids could change and sleep (I took a nap too) Back home, work is finishing up. I go back to get kids while Tom get's kids beds ready. Bring kids back home and put them to bed. Air out the house. close up the house. Plop into bed exhausted but unable to sleep. Forget getting up early to run. this gal needs some sleep.
Curse the alarm when it goes off at 6 amd (not 4:30 am), shower, dress, get kids up, make lunches, shoo everyong out the door. Vaccum house, feed dog, eat breakfast, read emails, read some blogs, do this blog. Check in with work.
and now I have to set up work someplace. Office is getting painted today. No one here yet. good. Gives me some more time.
Oh, and yesterday the brown coat went on the outside of the house. Next is the color coat. then painting the eves Adn the outside is done! Done!
Hark, I hear a car. I best be going.
One day at a time. That's all I ask for.

Things to do when you can't go into your house

Because it looks like something from a Twilight Zone episode inside. This was Saturday. We had the ceilings scrapped. All that yucky stuff. Whew. It's done (almost)

So, the guys show up about 9:30. I was so thankful for the extra 1/2 hour. I was still packing. While I was moving boxes they were taping up plastic. I got Greg out of the house, got my clothes changed and was out of the house. There was plastic everywhere. I do mean everywhere but for the ceiling. Plastic covered the door ways, with just a little space to squeeze through.

Greg hung out at the neighbors while I went to the bank and then to Starbucks for my venti iced chai non fat latte, please. Oh heaven! I could have drank 5 of them.

And this is what I did the rest of the day.

Go early to Greg's soccer game. Chat with the coach, sit in the shade and make some phone calls, read a book and start to fall asleep. Cheer on the team (won 7 - 0 and Greg scored a goal.)Greg played my favorite soccer position, mid defender or sweeper, last in line before the goalie. He smiled when I told him that was my soccer career position :) Greg played left forward the 2nd half and although the coach told the guys not to score any more goals (5 - 0 at half time) Greg couldn't resist.

After the game, go home to check on the house. Wow! What a mess but making progress. Leave Greg at the neighbors and go to Home Depot, again, for more plastic and tape, oh and paint, unload into garage. Then go to the store to order interior doors. Find out I need to get more info and can't order today. Drive to gas station and get gas, drive around for awhile and sit in a parking lot staring at nothing. (I was tired)

Go home and peek inside again. Wow! Wish I could have taken a picture.

Check on Greg. He is doing fine with out me.

Sit in back yard with dog, start to read but start to fall asleep instead.

Do some gardening.

Wash fake plants with the hose

Take a picture of my cool new shoe

Take a picture of the dog laying at the gate

Read some more

Make some calls

Try to peek through the windows to see what it looks like inside

Scratch the dog

Hook up the rainbow sprinkler and watch it water the grass.

Watch the kids run through the sprinkler

Pick apples from apple tree

Not this one!

Eat dinner with neighbors (thank you !!!)

Check in with workers, see if they want me to get them dinner but they are fine and almost done

Hang out at neighbors and try not to fall asleep on the couch. Thanks again for our unexpected drop in and hang out with you day :)

Talk with workers when they are done (8 pm) and thank them over and over and over for their hard work. Seriously, they did a great job and worked a long day. Figure out what time they will be here on Monday to finish.

Have a short lived panic attack.

Watch Greg climb into the Wii throne and play his video games.

Watch dog try to figure out how to get onto her couch even though other furniture is piled on it and then opt to lay as close to a couch as she can.

Vacuum up the stuff that didn't get picked up in the plastic.

Drink half a bottle of wine (not all at once!)

Crawl into bed and watch TV and fall asleep without brushing teeth.

Sound fun? Well, I just kept praying to get through this day. One day at a time. I know pretty soon it will all be over. I do know.

Like I told Traci, it's like packing up your house to move but you don't move. It all has to go in the garage only to be unpacked again. Stay tuned for our garage sale!!

But the ceiling looks great. It's all scraped and taped and mudded. Monday some finishing touches as I see some old tape coming off. It will be sanded and the texture coat put on. Oh, and the house will be draped in plastic again. I plan to work elsewhere.

This is what the hall looks like. Pretty cool huh.

I typed up this post Sunday night. I am tired. It's late and I must be up early. I ran tonight and it was great. Tom and Evy had a great time and are tired, as usual. Greg's friend came over and I was so thankful. They planned this out at church this morning. I plan to post the pix I took early Monday and get this posted Monday. (and here you have it)

Thanks for hanging out on our journey. When all is said and done, I will do a very happy dance and want to have a party. when it's all done. And again, I am so happy with the quality of work that we are getting. If you are in the need of any work, let me know and I'll hook you up with Miguel. Chai tea latte :)

A friendly sighting

I managed to sneak out of the house today, alone, to go grocery shopping. I had already run errands with Greg after church, packed up the rest of the empty boxes that I had, cleaned and scrubbed out the fridge and pantry, cleaned the kitchen floor and tried to read the paper.

So off to my favorite grocery store in my cleaning clothes, hair in pony tail and hat on my head. I hear this voice, this unmistakenable voice. MELANIE is here! Oh my how long has it been?? Way too long. And now I know just how out of touch I have been.

We had a great catch up chat. Great to see you gal! You look great as always. :) I looked like the clenaing lady. And you shop at the best grocery store too :)Will have to meet you at Starbucks one Saturday morning when I get some of my sanity back.

P.S. I did get a lake run in this evening. I need it too!

Why pay for a gym membership.....

When you have had a day like mine.
Started off with an early morning 3.1 mile run around the beautiful lake.
Back home to take the dog for a walk, and it's up hills too.
Then, I can no longer spin in my chair from my lap top to the printer to the desk top. I have to get up, walk a few steps and then get to something.
Trip to Home Depot next. Those 47 lb boxes of joint compound sure make a great arm work out. Then try pushing a cart with 6 of them (282 lbs) plus 2 large boxes of plastic, masking tape and drywall tape, not to mention a 10 year old son who asks "Does the cart feel lighter when I ride on it while you push?" Dah, what do you think. Oh no, now it's over 300 lbs! How about I ride on the cart and you push! Great strengthening exercise. Not to mention, I have to unload these boxes from my car and carry them into the garage. Oh vey!
Later in the day, we hit the sauna for about 30 minutes. The black asphalt stand in line at the recycling center sauna. Our turn, and it was time for the squats and arm curls putting those bags upon bags of recyclables in the machine so the kids could earn some money.
Back home to another sauna stint. It was hot and I couldn't really turn on the air. The office was all enclosed in plastic earlier in the day. Now it was closed up, hot and smelly. Time to get to the mall for some power walking.
Got some cute shoes at Vans, endured a mind over matter mental battle with a teenage punk employee at the game store, scarfed down a almost hard as a rock piece of pizza (lunch consisted on an In n' Out cheeseburger and other than breakfast that was all I had eaten) then a power walk from one end of the mall to the other where we were parked with a Crate & Barrel table in a bag stylishly slung over my shoulder.
One more trip to Home Depot to power lift packing boxes.
Back home to the sauna to start packing. That's an overall body work out.

So, I got quite the work out today. Think I deserved that very small scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. There was hardly any left and I was nice and split it with the son.

This afternoon the nice guy who is doing a great job on the drywall and who got rid of the yucky cottage popcorn cheese in the office said he will start on the rest of the house Saturday. Yeah! This means packing up things. Although the entire room/house will be draped in plastic it is still very dusty. Ugh. I am glad I did not vacuum the carpet today. Or dust the house like I had intended to do.

I really had to spend some quality time with other things I have been neglecting,like the mail and bills. So, this means no sleeping in and getting up early to pack up the family room stuff before 9 am. If there is time, I will pull out stuff from the closets so those can be done too. If I can't get to it, then the closets will have to wait. And Greg has a soccer game in the afternoon.

Tom and Evelyn sure picked a great weekend to go to Catalina.

If you would like to work out with me, come on by. The gym is open. But let me know you are going to be here so I can dust and vacuum first.

Gump gets Dumped

Well, it has to happen sometime. And today was the day. Actually the second time. I'm not talking about Forest, Forest Gump. I'm talking about Andy, Andy Gump. The lovely bathroom addition that sits in my driveway. And by the way, the kids decided it would make a good hiding place yesterday evening when they were playing hide and seek. Ewww!

I was sitting in the office with the window wide open. Enjoying the nice warm summer breeze blowing through and swatting off the flies. I hear a noise. Hark. Who is it now. Sqeeky brakes and a truck pulls up in front of the house. Oh, this again. Plug your noses!


This guy hops out, gloves up, pulls out this long hose and goes to work dumping the gump. Only took about a minute or so. Puts away the hose and off he goes.


I did manage to snap a photo with my secret spy telephoto lense. I was somewhat shy about taking these pictures.



The Gump Dump truck.

And update pix, taken in the day light. I just love all the new space in here. It echos when I type on the key board. K had fun sniffing around and putting her nose out the window.


This is the office drapped in plastic. My work sapce has moved from the nice big desk to a small little space in the corner by the lamp. I know it's only temporary.
This is the front of the house in the day light.
And this is the new roof. I had to stand in the neighbors driveway to get this photo. I love the line of the new roof. It totally changes the front of the house.


It's hard to tell the difference between the old and new roof material and that's a good thing.