Author: admin

The surprise vow renewal for my aunt and uncle went really well- he had people help him plan it, and she was completely surprised. It was great! I am glad that Doug and I got to see them and their three kids again. I don’t know them as well as I would like, and I need to do better at changing that. We have invited them to stop at our house on their way back from Montana- I hope they come. Of all the family that we have invited to come up to visit, only my granny has come.

Doug and I saw parts of Santa Fe and I took him to Taos also. Looking through an adult’s eye makes a world of difference- the last time I saw any of this I was about 7 or 8 years old. The stories my dad told me about children my age in the pueblos a thousand years ago created an overlay of color and activity that was absent this time.

The desert is incredibly green this summer- I have never seen it so green. It even rained when we were in Taos. There were flowers everywhere- beautiful! Both of us enjoyed the drive down and back, and Doug read out loud HP7- I love being read aloud to. We both needed the break and spend time together, but it is good to be home again, especially for Doug who had been on a two week business trip immediately preceding the wedding. Ah, home…

There, at the other end of the straight away, is the yellow tape across the finish line. It has been a long race, and you have used your energy wisely, and now, just a bit more will get you down to that yellow ribbon, and then you can rest. So you dig deeper and run faster, no longer looking to see where the other runners are. Almost there… just a little bit more…

We got carpet the week after the 4th of July. We also had some laminate flooring installed in the study and the front door landing.

Doug has been on a two week business trip, and I have been working on some of the landscaping in the back yard including a bird feeder plant holder and an artistic bird bath. We bought trim- something that happens after carpet- and a miter saw to cut it with (also for future projects), and frames for some new pictures downstairs.

Oh yeah, and mix in a book that takes about ten hours to read.

We enjoyed having D&S up, as well as R&M, and seeing the 5th Potter movie, and we figured out what configuration we want to put in the master closet. Between bike rides, trips to the hardware store, seeing people that we haven’t seen in months, work, and working on the finishing touches, we have been busy. Very busy.

The end is in sight! We finished painting late last night, and all is well on its way to carpet install Thursday.

I thought I would post some visual updates, so here goes…

Sorry about the crappy phone video, but it gets the point across.

The video starts at the front door, moves down the stairs, and into the big living room (soon to be the beach bar area). Areas to note: anything that is white was dark brown crappy paneling; all of the doors are currently in the process of being replaced with the door at the end of the video, with satin nickel door handles; yes, that is a kiddie pool in the cats room (it keeps the ‘extra’ kitty litter under control); and again, sorry for the crappy phone video.

For more explanation of things, post your questions, and Christy and I will try and answer them in a timely manner.

Enjoy!

We ordered carpet over the weekend! Yeah! So now we have a deadline to get all the painting done. We had to move everything out of the main room for painting, and tape the stairs also. I am really looking forward to this part of this project being done. We want to take a break from dust and construction for a bit after we move downstairs.

My Granny Flo asked if she could come see us and our house for the 4th. I told her “Of course! All of our family and friends are welcome at our house!” So we are going to pick her up and bring her up, have dinner, and go see the fireworks, and take her home. It should be fun- I have never seen the fireworks there before, and it will be nice to have Granny over. I hope she makes a habit of it because I like it when people visit.

We heard recently that my sister got a new job teaching close to where she lives. I am glad for her- I know she likes teaching- and with it so close, her commute will be simple.

We attended a family wedding a few weeks ago. It was great to see people again that we rarely see. Doug’s Aunt came from back east and brought her little boy with her. He has grown so much since the last time we saw him.

I am looking forward to the wedding of a family friend this weekend. His parents have asked that I use their video camera to film it for relatives that won’t be at the wedding. I think it is so cool that he found someone he wants to be with for the rest of his life.

We have now been in the house for over three months and we have had several people come to our house, never mind the mess, just to see us. Of course, all of our friends and family are welcome at any time. I would usually say- if you are here to see us, come on in, if you are here to see the house, make an appointment… instead, if you want to see us, you might want to make sure we are even in town before you drop in and if you want to see the house, be forewarned- the projects continue.

Doug is reprogramming the radios in our home county so he doesn’t have to drive as far. He gets home early and has been painting after work. He is a very hard worker and has determination that I sometimes lack. The remodel of the basement is going well, although the project is a lot bigger than what it originally was going to be. There are still boxes everywhere as we have unpacked as little as possible, knowing that the move to the basement is in the near future, and then the projects move to the top level. Those boxes will have to be sorted through also, but not until things are a little more under control.

We are getting some of the screens from the basement windows fixed because I found both cats outside the other morning, crying and trying to get back through the screen they escaped from. They are indoor cats and do not know anything about the outdoors, and I want to keep it that way.

I got a new hair cut that fits more with the area and demographic of people I work with. I think the overhaul is pretty much complete, and I really like the effects.

Well, I think that is it for the recent news. Hope you all are doing well.

Wrapped in a heavy quilt, he sat shivering in front of me despite his hot fever and the warm night. He could barely walk and was so dizzy. His throat was swollen and sore from coughing, and had virtually no voice.

That was last Wednesday. Doug spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday wrapped in blankets on the couch. He is feeling much better now, but his 104+ temperature prompted me to take him to the doctor Thursday. I am glad I stayed home with him to get him to the doctor and get his medicine. I didn’t want to ride the van to Denver only to get stuck there and not be able to come back until the evening if he needed anything. He was pretty rough off, and says he has never really been that sick that long. It was much more than a cold, but not the flu. The doctor said it wasn’t strep, but those tests don’t rule out alternative versions.

I am glad he is starting to feel better. We were even able to start going on walks again, although shorter ones. I miss getting to snuggle next to him first thing in the morning.

Thank you to all of you who gave good advice and wished him to get better.

Thud!

The hollow sound reaches through most of the house.

Prump, prump, prump… thud!

Mre mrei mei…

The chirping vocal mimic of a bird from little Sprite is heard, and then…

Thud!

Finally, a gasping breath and then howls of laughter from Doug.

He bought a laser pointer and is jittering the red beam along the floor, occasionally racing it across the carpet and up the bedroom door, enticing Sprite to chase it.

Around and around she goes, in dizzying circles, and then makes hairpin turns that would make any fly ball chaser jealous. A dash across the floor and a jump into and against the bedroom door, creating a “thud”.

I only had to wonder for a short time who was enjoying this new game more- it is Doug.

It is progressing, sometimes at a snails pace.

The texture is on the walls, now it is time to paint.

The whiskey barrel pot by the front door now has some cilantro, peas, onions, marigolds, pansies, chocolate mint, and most importantly, strawberries. In the center is St. Frank (known as St. Francis of Assisi) and the spiked leaf plant behind him to add flare.

The trees in the yard, many still bearing witness to the St. Patrick’s day storm in ’03, look better now that I took clippers to their undersides and pruned the branches up removing some twiggy dead stuff. I am looking forward to making the landscape better which in my world includes roses. But first, we must finish painting the inside. Paint, paint, paint. And then carpet. I am looking forward to being able to unpack boxes and actually truly move in.

We were at my parents’ house last weekend for Kelly and Amanda’s luau shower. It was good to see many of the old neighbors from the area I grew up in. Very few of them live there anymore, but they are still neighbors in more of the adopted family sense. We did have a good time, but it was pretty interesting.

Hurrah! The last piece of drywall is up and mudded. Sand, mud, sand, wash any existing old walls to get old grime off, texture anything needing texturing, remove old doors and replace with new doors, and then paint ceilings and walls and new doors. And then, we can get new carpet. The end is in sight! Hurrah! A home improvement that morphed into a home remodel.

I met him when he was two. He was wearing a red shirt, and was in pin striped overalls- a train engineer complete with cap. “Hi… I’m Kelly.” The six of us grew up in the back yard, and were called by my mom the “ABC Kids”. Amy Brian Christy. Kelly was the youngest, and ended up being the strongest.

Fast forward 25 years, and now he is getting married this summer. In typical backyard neighbors fashion even though no one lives in the old neighborhood anymore, let alone next door, there is going to be a party in my parents’ back yard- a Luau for Kelly and his beautiful gal in honor of their wedding. I am glad I have a new flower shirt from the Buffett concert to wear. Perhaps we should bring that peanut sauce and the stuff for Mai Tai’s… “Breathe in, Breathe out…” Anyone have a beach ball?