As I stand accused...

...as she who "hasn't even written a word in like ever" and I've even been threatened by virtual stabbing with knitting needles! That's right, can you believe it? Well it is true that I haven't written, but its mostly because I feel bad writing without something to write about or pictures. I've been doing nothing crafty lately, still trucking away on the blanket for baby Sophia, who may be in grade school by the time I finish up. It's the house I tell you, the house I blame for all my craft-less woes. Soon I promise I will post pictures of both the blanket and the kitchen.

So at least we are making progress on that. The kitchen really is almost done. Hubby put the new door up and now we just need to do some finishing on the cabinets and he needs to install a ventiliation fan. That should be fun. Then we get to finish decorating!! I need a shelf for over the stove, and I'd like a new light fixture as well. Then Hubby got a motherlode of brand new Lagunitas Beer labels (his favorite beer) which he wants to mat and frame in a nice black frame as art. I thought that would go nicely over the kitchen table and it will make the boy very happy to contribute to the decorating part of the equation, since usually I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to that. But you can't really blame me cuz the boy has no sense of symmetry or theme when decorating, and those things matter to me. I choose my battles carefully and this one I have chosen. NO the tacky ass skateboard with a slutty looking girl sucking a lollipop will NOT hang in the living room. I will however allow a modest gallery of more aesthetically pleasing skateboards grace a wall somewhere in the house....maybe even in the living or dining room if I can find a place for them that pleases me. See, don't ever say that I don't compromise!!

Oh what other home improvement news do I have to share? Ah yes. When the boys were installing the aforementioned door, they managed to get plaster dust billowing throughout the entire house. So I quickly hung up a flannel sheet in the doorway between the kitchen and the rest of the house and lo and behold...all of a sudden the ancient floor heater is effective at heating the living room! Even with the door up, it seems the kitchen/garage area is a portal through which all heat goes and does not return. So I'd in my head been toying with the idea of making a nice permanant curtain for that door way that we can close in winter time. I figured the man wouldn't like the idea, and then he comes out with "hey maybe a beaded curtain would look cool here". WHAAA...??? Before the fabric curtain idea I had though the VERY SAME THING but didn't speak of it cuz I figured the idea would be WAY too hippie for hubby. And then he suggests it! And wouldn't you know, I have a vintage from the 60's bamboo beaded curtain that my mother gave to me that simply needs re-stringing. That won't, however, solve the heat problem. But suffice it to say, a curtain of some sort will likely grace that doorway hence. Maybe I'll switch them back and forth depending on the time of year!

Oh oh! And I've saved the best for last. We've been debating on what kind of storage we should buy for our sideyard so that we can get rid of the oft-loathed monstrosity of a shed that is living on our back patio. The sideyard is long and narrow so many standard sheds simply won't fit. We found a tupperware type one, but it was 700 bucks and we couldn't stand the idea of spending that much on tupperware. Custom made one would be awesome, but would be $1300, which we can't afford. So I ordered a shed from Walmart (note: I HATE walmart, but i just happened to notice a link for sheds on google so I said what the heck and there it was). It's ca bit cheap and not the prettiest - but it will always be out of sight, it will fit and it big enough for what we need to store, it's not plastic, we can afford it, and we don't have to build it ourselves...which we were talking about doing and with everything else going on we'd end up with the monstrosity on the patio for a year.

So we are very very excited for our little aluminum shed to arrive so that we can get on with the backyard. Now there's a project I'm very excited about!

Well gee - I guess I'd better work again. Don't let it be said that I never ever post. Just that I never actually post any pictures.

Blah Blah Blah

No time! I'm late! I've feeling that way alot lately, hence the lack of posting. Gypsy Junk has been bugging me for pictures but I've been otherwise occupied when I'm at home where all my pictures are! (Forgive me, oh two solitary people who probably are reading this, for posting about things you probably already know about) One of my work parties went off last night. Everyone loved it thankfully, and the food was pretty darned good. We had it at Beckett's Irish Pub in Berkeley and the service was terrific and the ambience even better. I would definately return there, and plan to soon for the Ireland crew reunion and picture swap session. Yes, yes...I know...I haven't even posted any pictures of our trip to Ireland! We went in late May and early June with some excellent friends and had an excellent time. I have many photos to post...perhaps tonight I'll get around to that. Imagine...two posts in one day!!

So aside from that let's see...what has happened since the last post? Nothing much. My other big work event I was working on got cancelled. I'm sad, because I was looking forward to a trip to Seattle even if it was during December. Hopefully next year will bring some more trips up there...it's kind of a nice break in routine. I need to drag hubby up there one of these days...he's never been there and I think he'd like it. Hopefully not too much, because I sure as hell don't want to move there!

Last weekend I managed a trip to Sacramento and Carson City to see friends (for some fun gaming sessions) and parents respectively. This coming weekend I'm flying to OKC to see my brother and his family. Poor hubby gets left behind with the dogs every time!! And heaven forbid he might manage to feed himself while I'm away?? I think not! The poor boy will starve if I don't stay home more. Not that he would be all that excited about gaming and family stuff.
There will be yet another trip to Sacramento soon to finish aforementioned gaming session...after all we are three days into the swamp, haven't finished the task at hand...and yes, I'm a nerd.

All this travelling about has left little time for house/yard improvement. My cabinet doors sit on the table in the garage with only a coat of primer. The unattended dog poo is threatening to rise up and become some kind of dog-poo-elemental force in the backyard which will attack us vicariously through filthy pup paws. And the persimmons...yes I think I'll have to end my post now and try to find some recipes for persimmons before I resign myself to doing expense reports and scheduling stupid meetings for the rest of the day.

Signing off...

Happy Halloween

As predicted, you can see that I have not been posting very much. In part due to being very busy with home improvement...yes we have heat, AND hot water finally!! YAY! In part due to being very busy planning things for work. Two parties, a small charity event, and a two day meeting/training for a larger group...and out of town for that one! It's that time of year when everyone wants to get together. The other hold up on posting is my annoyance in not having the adobe skills to create a lovely custom header all by my self. But I suppose I don't have to have a header to make entries now do I? Well enough blathering for now. Perhaps sometime soon I'll have enough time to take some pictures of my current projects and talk about something productive.

Signing off,

The wicked witch

Home Ownership Rocks!

So the hubby and I just recently bought our very first house. We'd been thinking about it for years and finally scored a sweet little fixer upper in a nice neighborhood. Now that we've been in about two weeks things are starting to need fixing. We currently have no heat, no hot water (we have it set to scalding in order to get a luke warm shower) and the water from the latest rains is sitting stagnant at the end of our driveway and can't seem to find its way to the nearest storm drain. We also have a leak in our attic. So many things to do, many phone calls to make, and miles to go before we sleep.

We bought a new water heater which gets delivered tomorrow, and the hubby plans on installing it himself. I'm a wee bit concerned about the whole process...but he's very into the whole DIY thing so I'm letting him have at it. The HVAC guys come tomorrow as well and I'm nervous to find out how much fixing the furnace might cost! Hubby seems very on top of fixing the roof...we have a good friend who is a roofer who gave us some advice. It's good to have friends!

It's all a bit overwhelming, but it is exactly what we signed up for. We couldn't afford, nor did we want, some shiny fancy ready made tract home - we wanted something with character that we could make our own. I am pretty proud of what we did in the kitchen. It has been transformed from a grannyish flourescent yellow with vomit colored linoleoum to a fresher, cleaner whiter version with a new tile floor. I'll post some before and after pictures, but not until I finish getting the cabinet doors painted and installed. I know some people don't even have cabinet doors, but personally without them I kind of feel like I have my pants down.

Ciao for now!

Savvy, I'm not!

I'm pretty inept at computer anything - with the exception of the MS Office suite of which I'm a "power user", if that really even means anything. But trying to get a picture to work for my header is another story! I'll have to try again later, but at least I got a picture of my doggies to post! I love my doggies! They are so old now that it makes me sad. There's nothing like coming home to wiggly, fuzzy, smiling creatures that are simply ecstatic to see you! It took me a while to get my husband to agree with my position...but he's grown to love them. I even catch him snuggling with them - though the black-eyed dog avoids him like the plague because he enjoys tormenting her.