General Archive

We’re back from our trip to Dallas and Oklahoma. Photos and details of the trip will be coming in the next couple of days.

I was putting up lights on the house yesterday and found myself wanting to stay up there longer than usual. When it’s roughly 40° outside (and windy) and you’re putting Christmas lights up on the house your instinct is to put them up quickly and get inside. But when it’s 75° and sunny, getting off the roof is not first in your mind.

Another thing that was far from my mind was Christmas. Although it was November 18th, the weather made it feel more like September 18th. So as much work as I was doing to get prepared for Christmas, it was hard to think Santa was coming in about a month.

I also meant to take some photos from on top of the house while I was up there. From on top, we have quite a sweet view of the back of Target, the front of the new Office Depot (off in the distance) and miles and miles of rooftops. If I think of of it before it drops to 40° on Wednesday, I’ll climb back off and snap a few shots to share.

The two rooms in the basement have been sheetrocked and taped and have had their first layer of mud applied and sanded. Stacy and Erin are helping us finish up the rest of the mudding in the basement (to give Juli a well deserved break).

I, on the other hand, am in charge of all sheetrock sanding. Sanding sheetrock is just about as dirty as it sounds. Put on mud, let mud dry, sand smooth. All this “sanding smooth” creates a ton of dust. And let me tell you, inhaling sheetrock dust is very irritating. There’s an unpleasant film that adheres itself up your nose, in your eyes, in your mouth and everywhere else imaginable.

The paint for the rooms has been bought and is waiting eargerly to be rolled onto the walls. Mikayla’s room is a bright turquoise blue and my office is a neutral wheat tone. Now we just need to get ahold of a trim carpenter to finish the rooms off with wood trim and install my desktop and shelves.
All that said, our furniture will arrive on Saturday afternoon. I think we’ll wait to put the tv downstairs until the two rooms are finished and the entire basement can be mopped and cleansed. Stop by if you feel like working.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family. Hopefully we get to see each of you sometime over this holiday season. If not, you’re welcome to stop by our house and visit.

Coming over to visit any time soon? Don’t be suprised if we answer the door covered head to toe in white dust. We’re starting to finish the two rooms in the basement (after almost three years). Our friend, Tim, came over tonight and hooked us up with a few electrical outlets, switches and a phone line in one of the rooms. This said room will become “My Office” and the other room will be Mikayla’s bedroom.

Both rooms are cleared out, aside from the dust, and we plan on starting to lay some “rock” tomorrow with the help of Stacy and Erin. My hopes are to get at least one room completely rocked. Maybe then on Sunday we can finish the left over room.

We’ll leave the mudding/taping of the rooms for another weekend. After that, it’s smooth sailing with some paint and trim. Before we know it the rooms will be done, our new couch will be here and the family can start enjoying basement-life more.

This year’s Halloween was filled with pumpkin carving, candy, costumes, fun, scary movies, monsters…and did I mention candy. Juli was a good trooper while we (Scott, Sarah, Juli and myself) watched the original Psycho . It was a first for everyone (except me). And although Juli despises horror movies, she did quite well for this 1960s “drama” (as categorized incorrectly by Blockbuster Video). Check out a few Halloween snap shots from this year.

My buddy Scott found this link the other day. It’s a game that tests your brain power and eye sight. There are two pictures that look similar only there are three subtle differences. Play the game and report your score after your done. Don’t list out the differences and ruin the game for others, but just post how many you found and approximately how long it took. Have fun.

Update: See a few photos from the trip.

Who knew that a city kid like me would enjoy getting out and smelling country air. This weekend Juli and I are headed SW of town to camp overnight with some friends. The kids are going to be hangin’ with Nana Jean for the night. I am fully anticipating getting a nice warm fire going so I can cook my veggie-dogs over an open flame. Photos will be posted as soon as I get them processed.