happy anniversary to us! ray and i will be celebrating our actual anniversary by going to the OC fair tomorrow where we will eat roasted corn, funnel cake and maybe chocolate covered bacon? i can't believe it has been a year, it seems like only a few months ago. mom and pat sent a card and sharon and dad arranged for flowers to be sent from our florist - what a nice reminder of the beautiful day!
here's to the beginning of year number two!
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disclaimer: in no way are these photos actually representative of how cool our house and kitchen will actually be when finished. (those of you who have never been here before, be sure to click on the orange text above for more photos!)
two weeks ago, ray, the cats and i moved into a hotel for three days so that matthias (from MTF flooring) could rip out our carpet, the tile underneath (and the asbestos - yikes!), put down a moisture barrier and install our beautiful new white bamboo floor. okay, technically it is called tan shan mist or something but it looks white to us! the hotel was interesting - the cats really enjoyed the fact that they could crawl inside the mattresses and hide from me. especially the day that i was bringing them home.
since the move home from the hotel on the 1st of may, despite ray working his butt off every day and well into the night sometimes, we've had a few things hold up our progress - a part for our new electrical box happened to be on special order, our plumber was on another job and wouldn't be able to make it over right away and our pendant lights are still in transit but...after four months we finally cooked dinner!!
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for cole
for tosh
for ???? - matt and erin's baby, due in may
framing - check.
electrical - check.
plumbing - check.
over the last three weeks, ray (and dave and ron and the plumber) have been hard at work to get to this point. now that we passed inspections- we will have walls within a couple of days, cabinets within a few weeks and a real kitchen is on the horizon!!
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after
operation kitchen has begun. for real now. i'm actually a little scared to go through the kitchen to the garage. too many nails, random left over 2 x 4s and crazy tools laying around. the small amount of dishes that are dirtied are washed in the bathroom sink. that is not so easy to do so we've resorted to using some paper plates and bowls.
we continue to find strange things throughout the kitchen as we tear down to rebuild. i'm sort of surprised that the house was standing with some of the jerry rigged craftsmanship, electrical work and plumbing. good thing we have a good wrecking and rebuliding crew - ray and dave!
hopefully rob will join in soon when he has time.
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thanks to heather, we went to sundance this year! it was so strange to be in park city with so many people. not only did you have the movie stars, you also had the locals, the producers, the distributors and of course, the paparazzi - yikes! we were able to see three movies: Hump Day (my favorite and heather's favorite, too), Spread and I Love You Phillip Morris (which would have been much better if i had known it was true.
other fun things in utah?
the boys got to ski
and i got to hang out with two of my favorite boys
and, paul got dad to go to a crowded bar!!
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you never realize how many trips you make to the fridge until you don't have one in the kitchen. see that far corner behind the beam? that is where the fridge used to be. we now have to go out the sliding glass door (and be sure to close it at night so lula doesn't sneak out to go find some neighborhood alleycat), open the garage (many times i've forgotten the key so i have to go back in the slider, close it, etc...) get whatever it is i need and come back in, closing the doors again.
it doesn't sound like much but really - you have no idea how taken for granted the fridge in the kitchen really is! as ray and i get ready to leave with heather and paul for sundance tomorrow, ray has closed up the almost stripped clean kitchen with plastic so it is ready to go when we get back!!
over the weekend in utah, i'll relish in the fact that we will only have to go to the fridge in the garage for beer!
don't take your fridge for granted!!
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why do people complete crossword puzzles in all capital letters? i can barely be bothered to use capital letters when required - only at work. i never use all capital letters when writing unless i want to yell at someone. so, why the capitals when working a crossword puzzle? hmm...
my new year's resolution is to complete crossword puzzles. inelastic was a clue in my crossword this morning that i just couldn't figure out! the clue was "lacking flexibility" DUH!! you'd think i'd know that because of yoga.
why the goal? Mac, my stepdad, creates crossword puzzles and it is his goal to be in the NY Times. he has been published in local seattle papers over the past couple of months has sent me a couple of his puzzles. it may have taken me four days for each of them but, i completed two out of three! i'm still working on the third. he did say it was harder than the others :) hopefully, by the end of the year, i will be able to complete more than the easy Monday crosswords and i'll be able to complete Mac's in less than four days!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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it is my goal to start using more fabric napkins after the remodel so that we waste the least amount of paper towels and paper napkins as possible. we do have enough left over from the wedding to do that even after making the wedding wheel quilt! unfortunately, we haven't been able to use it yet as i had to send it to joelle so she could photograph it for the purl bee! 
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i do always miss the festivities, though! last year i had candles everywhere and a tinsel tree. this year while flipping through domino, i was inspired! i dug out the one working strand of white christmas lights and made a garland out of felt using the futte futte maker and voila - a tree to enjoy for the season! no water, no clean up, no cats freaking out and i did it all without amy - amazing (but not as fun). when ray asked me what i did that day (he was at work) i said "i put up a christmas tree! and it was free!" he was very confused and happily surprised when he got home!
merry christmas!!
here is a close up of the garland
PS - yes, joelle, that is christmas bear!
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