And some that are finished

Hooray! Some of the work that is done!!


First, a shot of the living room. I had a hard time choosing a color for the main part of the house. Brandon didn't want beige, so I took a pillow from my couch and went to the paint store with a gold color in mind. Since we moved from places where the sun shines most of the year to a place where the sun shines 50 percent of the time, I figured we could use some artificial sunshine.


And this is my new flooring! It replaced the urine-stained carpet. It is really beautiful and it is laminate so the upkeep is minimal. I debated about putting real hardwood in but Brandon was already convinced about laminate and this is a really nice looking one. Each plank is about 5 inches wide and a solid piece so it doesn't look like contact paper on the floor. Once we got the hang of it, installing it was really easy.


And, this is my black thumb. It was so satisfying installing my own floor and I love doing that kind of stuff, and I was bound and determined not to pay someone else to do it or we never would have been able to afford it. Unfortunately, when I get working on a project, especially when I have a deadline (we were moving our stuff in the next day) I don't take breaks and usually forget to eat. Combine that with being pregnant and you've got a potentially dangerous situation. I got about halfway and mistook my thumb for the pounding block. I took a few minutes to let the throbbing subside and then dove right back in. I think I only got two more pieces in when I hit it again. Uh, ow. We didn't have any ice so I just stood at the sink while cold water ran over my thumb and tears ran down my face. I don't suggest doing this at home.

Fortunately my parents were helping, as they had been every day and without whom I'd still be painting and cleaning and would have an overwhelming amount of yard work in the spring, anyway, they finished the install that day. Thanks Mom and Lloyd!!

I also realized I don't have a picture of the outside of the house yet, and I will get there. Just keep checking in!

A house in shambles

Some much awaited house pictures! This installment is titled "In Progress." Wait, we are still in progress.



So, this is disgusting. The first time I walked into the house I about turned around because of the smell of pet urine. NASTY. And, that was the time I was sick in early pregnancy, so it was a double wammy. Anyway, this is the section of carpet that was still wet when Brandon pulled it up. He did go out and chuck at this point. The subfloor was even wet. I can't even tell you how gross it was. Just looking at it is turning my stomach.


And, here I am patching holes. Millions of holes. Brandon thought I was nuts because I felt so bad for this house! It was sooooo beat up. I don't know how this much damage could have been done in such a short life. In fact today I spackled and painted over the names that were scratched into the bedroom doors. Now all the doors are repaired except for our bedroom door which has a big hole in it. We obviously have to get a new one. Oh, here's something to give you an idea of the kind of people that lived here before. One of the kids' bedroom doors has the doorknob on reversed so the lock is on the outside. Hmmm.


This is one of the kids' rooms. It is actually now Sterling's room. Brandon was priming and stopped to take a pic as evidence of the amount of filth there was on everything. It is hard to see here but if you look close you can sort of see the discoloration.


And another nasty one. We don't know how long the house sat empty, but this was the color of the water for days. We ran it and ran it and ran it. Finally my dad hooked a hose to the hot water heater and emptied it. That made a big difference.

Well, these are a FEW of the things we did to get ready to move in. It took a week of at least four people working 8 hours every day to get it livable. We are still missing some baseboards and we are still working on replacing floors, but boy what a difference!

My Molly Mormon Christmas

I love Christmas. I love that there is a special season dedicated to remembering the Savior, His love for us, and the good that He did. On that same vane, I hate Christmas. I hate that it is soooo commercialized, that there are piles and piles of toys that get played with once and then cast aside, I hate the overindulgence, and, don't kill me, I hate Santa Claus. Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with Santa. It is not Santa-mas, it is Christ-mas. If you thought of it in Spanish it would mean "more Christ." That I like. I have spent two years now telling Sterling that Christmas is Jesus' birthday whenever he sees or talks about Santa. It drives me crazy that you can find insane amounts of Santa's but the nativity sets are few and far between. Elves and snowmen and reindeer are everywhere, but where is baby Jesus?

Now that I've ranted (sorry), here is what I tried this year to make our Christmas more Christ themed. First, I didn't talk about Santa. At all. At preschool they learned all about Santa and toys and blah, blah, blah, and on the way home we would talk about Jesus' birthday. Then, in a change of pace, we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve so that Christmas morning could be focused on Jesus' Birthday. We had my in-laws over for breakfast, and I think I'm going to change that next year and have the morning be dedicated to what we are going to give Jesus for a birthday gift. I had intended to sit down with our family and talk about Jesus and the kinds of things He did and then talk about the wise men and the special gifts they gave, but the day got away from us and we kind of did a rushed version while trying to get out of the house to visit. But, we did succesfully come up with something we are going to work on as a family this year to show Jesus that we love Him.

I have to admit, I even felt like Molly Mormon while concocting this whole scheme. But, my heart was filled with joy when I was talking about Jesus' Birthday with Sterling on Christmas Eve and he wanted to make a crown for baby Jesus. Then we made a birthday cake to have for dessert after Christmas dinner. So, I hope all my craziness helped my Sterling think about the Savior and His love on His special day.

Merry Christmas!

Let it snow!

So our friend Robin, in a recent blog post for her family, waxed positive about the snow, writing: "All of you who are living in warmer climates and bragging about your 60's and 70's degree weather...you can have it!"

Uh, no!!!

To see where my negative attitude comes from, let's back up a little. How about all the way to 1969. That's when the last major snow storm hit Western Washington.

It was a storm resulting from cyclogenesis in a large 500mb ridge off the west coast extending into Alaska and a short wave trough over southwest Canada. This produced a large high-pressure system at the surface over southeast Alaska and the Yukon Territory and a low-pressure center off the Washington coast. In addition, a weak arctic front had previously passed through Western Washington bringing low temperatures to the area.

Can you see the weatherman in front of the green screen right now explaining all this?

So, when we got blasted at the beginning of this past week with cold and then snow, it was a big deal. And not one that brought a bunch of warm fuzzies.

People in Syracuse yawned, pointed to their average yearly snow fall of 120 inches, yawned again and then went back to their college basketball team.

In Syracuse, what else is there to do?

Yes, I know Syracuse gets a lot of snow. I experienced one full winter there. Actually it was two winters, but each of them only got half the amount of snow as usual (and then got blasted after we left... ha ha!). So flaunt the fact that you are so manly and can withstand what Washingtonians can't.

Now let's add a little perspective.

The folks there can point their finger and ask what the fuss is about in Washington with two feet of snow when they routinely get that in the ghetto. It is precisely because it snows all the time there that they have a method to deal with it. Is there a reason to invest massive amounts of public dollars into snow plows when two inches falls every year? No. It doesn't make sense. In Syracuse, their plows go 24 hours a day. I know at one point they even had the biggest snow plow in the world at the airport. Some 32 feet across. That's just massive (that's what she said!).

So when two feet comes down in a place not used to it and with no real equipment to handle it, it's hard to like the snow. All it does turn to bumpy ice and then you have to drive in it and worry a) about your life, and b) about your suspension.

Example: It takes me an average of 27 minutes to get home at night. I hit I-5 from work all the way to the Rochester exit (stay with me... we're talking Rochester, WA here and not Rochester, NY).

On Thursday, it took an hour-and-a-half. I got part way down I-5. A 20-car pileup closed down the freeway for four hours but I got off luckily and hit Old 99. Got halfway down that and then a County Sheriff was diverting traffic. Apparently there were a couple bad wrecks with all the additional traffic that ended up on that road. So the detour went down a road I had never even heard of and kept going and going in a seemingly opposite direction of my destination. Soon I was on a narrow road with evergreen trees looming overhead, broken branches all over the road. Thoughts of my wife and two kids went through my head.

My cell phone had no reception.

I almost hit Rainier before heading back down and backtracking West again.

This would never have happened in Syracuse. But it's because they have the means to clean the roads.

I acknowledge, there was a simpler time when the snow was glorious to behold and everything was cinnamon and hot cocoa.

I was 9.

I appreciate the rosy excitement some people have for snow. There's a pretty good reason why some people don't like it and it's not just to be a bah humbug about it!

So, to make a short story long, if you are in 60- and 70-degree weather... I hate you.

So, we had Boys Night when Sarah had some dumb church activity. I got the little dudes out of the bathtub, laid them down in Hyrum's room on their towels and noticed they just kept looking at each other, sometimes smiling, sometimes affectionately. I told them to keep looking at each other while I ran and grabbed the camera, fully expecting them NOT to keep doing it. But sure enough, they stayed that way long enough for me to take a great picture.

Brandon

Some ramblings... and a surprise!!

First the surprise. I'm having another boy!! You can't imagine the shock Brandon and I both felt when the ultrasonographer said that! I cried right then and there. I even made her look twice. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic that I'm having another boy. I'm just disappointed that I will have to do the whole pregnancy thing again. But, I know that there is a little girl waiting to come to our family and apparently we needed to bring some others before she could get here. I just keep thinking that I am going to be so old when the next one comes!! Not that 31 is old, but if we wait so the next two will be about two years apart then I will be in my thirties!! I thought I'd be done by then.

Now some random ramblings. Just a warning if you want to quit reading now. Here is something I've noticed helps keep my house a little more peaceful. I log on to a free classical music station online when things start to get a little hectic. Bickering, hitting, tattling... And soon enough it starts to calm down. In fact, there have been instances of sharing!! Crazy, I know.

And finally, I love white paint. There is not a single wall in my house that is white, but I am painting some of the trim white and the doors and they look so fresh and crisp!! I love it!!

That's it for my ramblings. Honestly I'm going to find the USB cable so you all can check out my lovely black thumb nail.