today has been a good day to spend with my nieces and nephew (and their mom and her mom too). i woke up incredibly tired after a late night watching The Lives of Others. Good movie! Recommended by Emily months and months ago (as a side note- I'm jealous that foreign films come to Vancouver before they're anywhere I've seen in the U.S.). Blockbuster finally decided to buy a couple of copies for me to rent. I snatched it right up!
So after a late start I headed to "Mimi" & "Poppi's". Where we ate lunch, played with acorns and balls, and climbed on most everything in sight. When everyone crashed into beds for naps I made my way home to crash in bed with my kittens and look up puppies on petfinder.com. I found quite a few and even filled out an application to foster two adorable little puppies. We're putting up a fence to make that dream more possible.
Soon I will be helping Dorothy out on a regular basis: on Tuesdays, (maybe) Wednesdays, and Fridays. Soon I will have nephewS and nieces and that will be exciting.
Other things we're looking into right now is starting construction on our deck and sunroom and taking Krav Maga (probably here). Krav Maga is the Israeli invented martial arts form that's supposed to be both doable by the vast majority of people and also ridiculously effective. And it's being taught right here in Memphis! Very cool.
Anyway, Walter and I came back to his parents' house and played with the kids and grilled up some hamburgers and now I'm off out see if we're going to take a field trip to our house to see the kitties. Their mom comes back at 9:00 to take them home so I think we better get a move on it.
9.22.2007
9.11.2007
new eyes
The worst thing about getting better after being sick has to be waking up to th mess that's grown up around you in such a short amount of time. The empty kleenex boxes, the used kleenexes in bed (i must be able to blow my nose in my sleep!), the plastic bags my cats thought were toys, the exploding basket of unfolded clothes and towels and the shower that needs a good scrubbing. A house shouldn't decay so quickly; and you shouldn't be able to notice it until you have the energy to fix it. Oh well, I'll begin my campaign to reclaim the space today. This weekend Holly gets married and I'm glad I'm starting to feel healthy again. I can't wait to see my friend again! It's about time.
9.04.2007
dodge the bullet
My last full day in Chicago included:
- painting the trim and closet doors of my mom's room (the finishing touch to her brand new room)
- holding, rocking, and sponge bathing Ian (Karla is a beautiful mother. Ian is a beautiful baby.)
- mopping Karla's kitchen after Buster's 5th (I believe) "accident" of the day (I am NOT convinced that the last one was an accident)
- taking Buster for a walk in a very cute little Wheaton neighborhood
- eating too much at El Famous Burrito (aww yah for horchata!)
- laying with my stomach on the floor until I didn't feel like I would explode anymore
- talking with Walter on the phone :)
- a rousing 5 rounds of Pass the Pigs (all of which I lost, miserably)
- gathering all of my items from around the house into one ridiculous pile
- promising myself I'll be able to get up in time to pack my suitcase then... tomorrow I'm heading home to Memphis.
9.03.2007
thanks to walter
wally was absolutely wonderful to me and took time with mike to take pictures of our house to show my mom (i ran out of time while packing up for the flight). here's what he sent me:
here's the view from our living room into our kitchen and dining rooms. notice the brand new dryer through the open door. it came while i've been in chicago and i can't wait to get a chance to try it out! the other door leads to a small porch, our back yard, and a field of (once) sunflowers (their season is officially over in AR). the small porch is attached to a decently sized storage room that we're going to open our house into, put in grand windows and make a sun room/breakfast nook. hooray for beautiful views and sunny skies! Oh, and there are many plans on how to fix up our kitchen. The only constant one is to remove that wallpaper (and fast).
Here's the view from our dining room into the living room (complete with Sputnik).
Here is our office, so far. I spent a good part of the day clearing out boxes and organizing books so that this room could finally be walkable. We're planning to do some renovating so it's hard to know always how much to unpack and how much to leave for a short ways (we hope) down the road. it's a balancing act. our desk, on the other hand, is super cool. ;) that's something i do hope to fix before too long.
Here's Walter's work out room. He's been super dedicated lately! You really can tell. He's losing weight and gaining muscle and looking super hot. i don't mind one bit. :)
Here's our bedroom (again, with Sputnik... but no Calvin, wonder where he's hiding). We're still working on getting our bed completely put together. A few pieces of hardware got lost in the move and we haven't replaced them yet. I love laying on the bed and looking out in to the hall where the walls are a beautiful green. The yellow of the bedroom walls and the green of the hallway seem peaceful and restful to me. They make me happy. We also have half bath attached to our bedroom.
This is the full bath down the hall. It's a work in progress as well. I found some fabric I'd like to make a shower curtain out of today. I'm pretty excited about it!
This, my friends, is a testimony to my geekiness. I needed a place to store my pictures until I found permanent wall space for them. I shoved them in this basket and then shoved it into the bathroom. I glanced at it later and realized that it was a "basket of flowers" and decided it must be meant to be. Walter (or Mike) rearranged this so more of the flowers are visible. I'm very happy with our house. It's by no means decorated yet but it is visibly lived in and becoming wonderfully cozy. I love seeing things begin to take shape and I'm ecstatic that it's stayed as clean as it has. I'm building in good habits. It's definitely an up hill battle. Not having a car or job to take me away from my house has been a big help, however. It's a good time to in grain some habits. :)
Hope you enjoyed the tour. I'm off to bed so that tomorrow I can finish painting my mom's room, spend lotsa time with Karla, finish making our flower (my rose, her cana) craft together, buy some quick essentials I haven't found in Memphis yet, and repack to head home the day after. Tomorrow will definitely come quickly (and speed by, I'm sure)!
here's the view from our living room into our kitchen and dining rooms. notice the brand new dryer through the open door. it came while i've been in chicago and i can't wait to get a chance to try it out! the other door leads to a small porch, our back yard, and a field of (once) sunflowers (their season is officially over in AR). the small porch is attached to a decently sized storage room that we're going to open our house into, put in grand windows and make a sun room/breakfast nook. hooray for beautiful views and sunny skies! Oh, and there are many plans on how to fix up our kitchen. The only constant one is to remove that wallpaper (and fast).
Here's the view from our dining room into the living room (complete with Sputnik).
Here is our office, so far. I spent a good part of the day clearing out boxes and organizing books so that this room could finally be walkable. We're planning to do some renovating so it's hard to know always how much to unpack and how much to leave for a short ways (we hope) down the road. it's a balancing act. our desk, on the other hand, is super cool. ;) that's something i do hope to fix before too long.
Here's Walter's work out room. He's been super dedicated lately! You really can tell. He's losing weight and gaining muscle and looking super hot. i don't mind one bit. :)
Here's our bedroom (again, with Sputnik... but no Calvin, wonder where he's hiding). We're still working on getting our bed completely put together. A few pieces of hardware got lost in the move and we haven't replaced them yet. I love laying on the bed and looking out in to the hall where the walls are a beautiful green. The yellow of the bedroom walls and the green of the hallway seem peaceful and restful to me. They make me happy. We also have half bath attached to our bedroom.
This is the full bath down the hall. It's a work in progress as well. I found some fabric I'd like to make a shower curtain out of today. I'm pretty excited about it!
This, my friends, is a testimony to my geekiness. I needed a place to store my pictures until I found permanent wall space for them. I shoved them in this basket and then shoved it into the bathroom. I glanced at it later and realized that it was a "basket of flowers" and decided it must be meant to be. Walter (or Mike) rearranged this so more of the flowers are visible. I'm very happy with our house. It's by no means decorated yet but it is visibly lived in and becoming wonderfully cozy. I love seeing things begin to take shape and I'm ecstatic that it's stayed as clean as it has. I'm building in good habits. It's definitely an up hill battle. Not having a car or job to take me away from my house has been a big help, however. It's a good time to in grain some habits. :)
Hope you enjoyed the tour. I'm off to bed so that tomorrow I can finish painting my mom's room, spend lotsa time with Karla, finish making our flower (my rose, her cana) craft together, buy some quick essentials I haven't found in Memphis yet, and repack to head home the day after. Tomorrow will definitely come quickly (and speed by, I'm sure)!
9.01.2007
In Absolute Awe
If you've ever wished that shadow puppets could be considered an art you just have to see this. It's absolutely incredible!
in lieu of iced tea
i'm in chicago!
the night before last alex picked me up from O'Hare. We stopped to get a slice of pizza that was (no joke) as large as my torso... well as long, my torso is (much to the media's dismay) considerably larger than 3/4 of an inch. my mom and i split a slice and alex amazed us with his eating ability. apparently it's a learned talent. he wasn't able to eat an entire slice the first time he visited Bacci.
The next morning my mom and i went on a morning walk chose our favorite neighborhood McMansion and then drove off to Qdoba for lunch. I had a mango salad (yum yum!) and my mom had a naked burrito. we picked up some burrito for karla and her mom and made our way to karla's house. Mom had never been there which made me the navigator. (Not a good sign) we pulled in to the driveway and were amazed that we didn't see any cars there. By my calculation there should have been two: karla's and her mom's. nevertheless we trekked to the door and rang the bell. No answer. I called k.'s phone but couldn't get my phone to connect to the network (darn AT&T and darn my nice little phone). we snooped around the house. looked in through the side door. explored the backyard. and then decided to leave. we went to JC Lichtto pick up some paint and then finally (just as an employee was walking us to our car) got a call from Karla amazed that we had been there. she'd been there all day.
"are you sure that you were at the right house? "
it looked like her house. exactly like it.
"did it have a stork in the yard?"
umm. i could have sworn it was karla's house.
we dropped off the paint, picked up the burritos. and ran over to karla's. this time we pulled into the correct driveway and were met at the door by a most doting grandma and her beautiful grandson (only 5 days old!) he has the cutest little nose that i think he got from karla and LOOONG skinny fingers. they're beautiful. we held her sleeping baby. visited. and walked the dog (buster, the puppy they've had for maybe 3 weeks).
when my mom and i came home we began work on the bedroom, ripping off the wallpaper border (NOT put on correctly... VERY hard to get off) and washing off glue. we breaked for chicago style pizza (YUM!) and High School Musical. Hehehe, I never thought i'd like that one but it was fun. It's exactly what i would have loved in HS. we finished the bedroom and dropped into bed around 12:15AM. (Happy Birthday MOM!)
Today we've removed a little more wallpaper (it was behind a dresser we hadn't moved yet), removed all the furniture, and painted the ceiling. Now it's on to the walls. I'll be sure to post pictures of the incredible results. ;) Back to work...
the night before last alex picked me up from O'Hare. We stopped to get a slice of pizza that was (no joke) as large as my torso... well as long, my torso is (much to the media's dismay) considerably larger than 3/4 of an inch. my mom and i split a slice and alex amazed us with his eating ability. apparently it's a learned talent. he wasn't able to eat an entire slice the first time he visited Bacci.
The next morning my mom and i went on a morning walk chose our favorite neighborhood McMansion and then drove off to Qdoba for lunch. I had a mango salad (yum yum!) and my mom had a naked burrito. we picked up some burrito for karla and her mom and made our way to karla's house. Mom had never been there which made me the navigator. (Not a good sign) we pulled in to the driveway and were amazed that we didn't see any cars there. By my calculation there should have been two: karla's and her mom's. nevertheless we trekked to the door and rang the bell. No answer. I called k.'s phone but couldn't get my phone to connect to the network (darn AT&T and darn my nice little phone). we snooped around the house. looked in through the side door. explored the backyard. and then decided to leave. we went to JC Lichtto pick up some paint and then finally (just as an employee was walking us to our car) got a call from Karla amazed that we had been there. she'd been there all day.
"are you sure that you were at the right house? "
it looked like her house. exactly like it.
"did it have a stork in the yard?"
umm. i could have sworn it was karla's house.
we dropped off the paint, picked up the burritos. and ran over to karla's. this time we pulled into the correct driveway and were met at the door by a most doting grandma and her beautiful grandson (only 5 days old!) he has the cutest little nose that i think he got from karla and LOOONG skinny fingers. they're beautiful. we held her sleeping baby. visited. and walked the dog (buster, the puppy they've had for maybe 3 weeks).
when my mom and i came home we began work on the bedroom, ripping off the wallpaper border (NOT put on correctly... VERY hard to get off) and washing off glue. we breaked for chicago style pizza (YUM!) and High School Musical. Hehehe, I never thought i'd like that one but it was fun. It's exactly what i would have loved in HS. we finished the bedroom and dropped into bed around 12:15AM. (Happy Birthday MOM!)
Today we've removed a little more wallpaper (it was behind a dresser we hadn't moved yet), removed all the furniture, and painted the ceiling. Now it's on to the walls. I'll be sure to post pictures of the incredible results. ;) Back to work...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
