It's Summer

Wow it's July and I haven't posted in quite awhile.  Life has been crazy busy since our last post in May.

So after our trip to Florida we settled back into the daily life, Don going to work and me working on the adoption stuff, pretty much non-stop.  We did a bunch of things around the house to keep busy and Don helped me in the garden to weed the overgrowth.  Sadly I've been busy and the weather hasn't cooperated as much as I'd like so the weeds are back and I have a ton of work to finish up out there.

In June I flew to Nashville and met up with some friends I'd never met.  I know sounds strange but I've "known them" about 9 years thanks to World of Warcraft and we were finally able to meet up in real life.  Now, I've actually met one of their sons 2 years ago in Atlanta for Dragon Con and Don has met 2 of their sons who also played with us so I wasn't worried. Some of our best friends we met through our guild in game.  Of course it was over the course of years before we agreed to meet anyone but they have become some of our best friends and being able to see them is always great! I even drove to Knoxville for a few days to spend time with my best friend. Don was on a business trip but was able to drive from Ohio down to TN on Thursday and we stayed with our friends then left in the morning to catch flights out of Nashville.  It was really a great trip.

Summer upon us we planned for our friend and his son to come for a visit.  That is always a great time over the fourth having them here.  I really wish we saw them more than 2-3x a year but it's life and we all move to where we live and work.  We're lucky to still be in active (not just Facebook friends kind of contact) contact over the years we've known each other.  We had hoped to stay here for the fourth of July and then drive to Oregon with them but it didn't work out.  You see we'd won a weekend stay at the beach through a charity auction last year and we needed to use the time. Unfortunately, his Son is in swimming so they couldn't go due to his matches but we did the weekend following their return home.

 Cruising the lake on the boat

  Jack loves being on the boat - it wasn't warm enough to swim but still a fun day

 The 4th of July BBQ

One of the fireworks

The drive to the beach on the Oregon coast was interesting.  It's a part of Washington and Oregon we don't usually see.  In fact we've never been to the Oregon coast so it was fun to see and visit.  The beach was great albeit cold.  We unfortunately had a weekend where it poured cats n dogs 90% of the time.  We did get a respite on Saturday morning and took the opportunity to walk the dogs down the trail to the beach and then along it.  Two miles later we were back at the house just in time as the rain re-started with a fury about 30 minutes later. We decided to leave on Sunday instead of Monday so Don could get a full days work in and boy that was a drive home.  The roads in and out are two lanes so we get 30 minutes past Astoria and then we're at a stop.  Accident Road closed the vehicle says as it passes our parked vehicle.  Ah ya ok so how long to wait? Well we debated the wait and turned around. Needless to say our 3 hour drive turned into 6.  It was a long day and made me glad we'd come home a day early.

 Our view from the beach house

 I'd say they loved their beach walk

 The trail to the beach

 Little beach shrine on the trail

 When we said we were going home - ya they didn't want to go

As soon as the car was packed (mind you it had been raining) this was our last view from the house

Next month we are flying to visit friends in Atlanta and will hopefully hear that their foster daughter is their adopted daughter (meaning mom has signed in front of a lawyer so the adoption process can begin).  Things are in motion but it's Foster Care Adoption so anything can and has happened to them.  Crossing our fingers this one comes to pass.
Happy Summer to All!

Remembering grandma and Family time

Remembering Grandma
Two weeks ago my uncle called to say he was planning a trip up the following week to spend time with family and to see grandma.  So we talked about getting together while he was here, etc.
Well, grandma passed away two days later surrounded by all of us who live here.  Other family from out of state called to say good-bye.  It was heartbreaking since losing grandpa 7 months earlier and she'd been doing pretty well until that day.  She was laughing and joking around just the day before and then she was ready to go.  I got a text from my mom and aunt that Thursday afternoon telling me it was time to say good-bye. Don was working from home that day so we got in the car and headed down. We stayed as long as we could and I got hug and kiss her and tell her how much we loved her. It really means a lot to me that I got to be with my grandparents before they passed away.  I got the call 15 minutes after we left that she passed.  I'm glad Don was driving us home. My grandma was the rock in the family, She always gave great hugs, advice when you asked for it, and her laughter was infectious.  She loved playing games, usually won, and she loved us all so much.  She also loved traveling with my grandpa all over the US, Mexico and Canada.  Later on they took a bunch of long cruises and went to China, Hong Kong, Panama, Antarctic and Australia to name a few and always shared their trips with us through stories and pictures.  Grandma's memorial was this past Thursday and everyone had such great memories to share and my aunt even had a recording of my grandma from the week before that she played and it made us all laugh when we heard grandma say "Where the hell are we going?" The service was beautiful and a great way to remember the amazing lady that she was.
October 31, 1931 - March 24, 2016

 I love this picture of grandma and I 

She loved to laugh

grandma in 1947 - she was 16

 With my grandma - I was a year old 

 Always loved the double exposed picture my Aunt took of my grandparents

 Grandma as a child 

Family Time

So my uncle flew up here for the week and I met him at Snoqualmie Falls on Wednesday.  We talked, walked around and took pictures before heading back to my house where Don had gotten off work early and was waiting for us.  We showed him all the changes we've made to our place and then went to dinner.  We talked and played games and had a great time.  He had to get up early to go pick up my aunt so we met up again at the memorial.  He was heading out to my cousins place for the weekend and we went out for the night on Saturday.  So much fun.  We hadn't been to my cousins new place since he moved last year so it was great on all fronts.  We got to spend time with family and see the island they call home.  They picked us up at the ferry terminal on his sailboat and we cruised back to the island.  The dogs loved it and it was a gorgeous day to be on the water. We met some of his neighbors at the BBQ that evening and they had 4 of the sweetest girls who hang out with my cousins daughter. We talked about adoption and it was great having someone who understands the process. They adopted their girls and they are so loved. One day it'll be our turn.  We hadn't planned on staying the night but we were invited to and we did.  I'm glad we did we had a great night hanging out with family having a few drinks, lots of food and lots of stories.  I liked what my cousin said when I said I didn't have stuff for us but at least the dogs had everything they needed and he said "That's why you're going to be awesome parents because they come before you." In the morning we were driven to the ferry terminal and said good-bye.  It was the first time the dogs had been on a ferry but they loved it.  Don will be seeing my uncle again next weekend since he'll be in CA for the weekend to see his parents. He offered to give Don a tour of CBS where he works so that should be a fun day for them.

  All Aboard Selfie

    Happy Happy

My aunt took this picture of us last week

The dogs meet my cousins puppy who wore them out 

An Oops that led to a room swap and our weekend

We’ve been busy working on the craft room and the game room.  We finished what was supposed to be the game room last year and then packed up all of my crafts, sewing and collections and moved them into said game room.  Fast forward to a few weeks ago where we started painting the craft room (now that last year’s construction is over).  We chose to do it in 2 colors so that meant long drying times to ensure it was dry before spraying the next color.  Well after spraying 2 coats of gray and waiting it became apparent it’d be so much work to tape off the ceiling and walls so Don decided to roll the Orange.  Much easier and it came out great!

 Painted walls and new cabinets 

My craft and sewing tables as I attempted to organize

So once it was all dry we started hanging cabinets for storage.  They look great and then we moved in furniture and I started digging through boxes to begin sorting and putting things away.  That’s when the problems started.  The majority of my Scrapbooking stuff wouldn’t fit in the cabinets.   Then we set up the game table in the game room and there wasn’t enough space to move around the table with Chairs.

That led to us revisiting Home Depot for shelving to put in the game room and once that was in we moved all the furniture out of the craft room and into the game room.  Guess whose room that game room is now.  Yep, mine and I’m still going through boxes but at least the cabinets in that room can hold all my craft stuff and then we moved the sewing cabinet back in there.  With the smallness of the room Don will do his painting in the game room and now he even has space to play his drums since the game table folds down to a smaller table. The added bonus to that is not just good exercise but it opens up the storage area under the stairs next to my desk.  So I get to use that space for anything I just want tucked away like my extra sewing machine or that box of vacation shirts I want to make into a quilt. Don is even thinking we could build a train layout around the room.  I think it’s a great idea.  I’d love to unpack the trains more than once a year for the Christmas tree.

my new room cabinets are filling up

Parker waiting to help me unpack this box

So while I’m doing all that unpacking  Don is going through all our music and reorganizing it all so it’s easier to find and put on our phones.  Yay! No more low volume older music versus high volume new stuff playing in the car.  It should all be leveled now.  That’s how we spent Saturday and then Saturday night we had tickets for the theater.  It was for the play Assassins .  When we were given the tickets I looked it up and was like huh, weird content for a musical.  Well it totally works and it even had us talking about it all the way home from Seattle.  I even looked up two of them because I wasn’t familiar with their stories.  No time like the present for a history lesson.

Sunday was nice and fairly lazy.  I unpacked a few boxes and reorganized some stuff and Don continued to work on the music.  We even played our first game in the game room last night.  A game Don was given for Christmas and I wasn’t sure I’d like it (Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures) given that it’s a starship combat game but it was fun.  I can see us adding the expansion packs to it over time.

That’s our last few weeks.  Here’s to a great week of unpacking.

A perfect balance of a work and play weekend

We were so busy this last weekend but it was full of fun!

On Friday night we moved half the computer room and removed the carpet and carpet pad.  Then I tired removing the floor tack which was harder than it seemed so Don finished it up on Saturday Morning.  After that he realized we couldn't just floor part of the computer area and so shut down my computer to move it until we could get the flooring in.  Now moving things isn't a problem but not having internet was entirely different. Thank goodness for cell phones!

After moving things from the room we began laying the cork underlay and then the flooring. However at 11am our brother in law arrived to help transport a large unwieldy TV to the local high school who was having a Marching Band fundraiser for electronics.  We not only donated the TV but also some cash. Don was in band and I was in Choir so funding those in our local schools is important to us.

After all that was done we had to get ready and drive to our friends place for game day/night.  We usually stay over because of the time and distance. We had a blast.  i spent most of my time with our friends wife and 2 granddaughters, now I realize that the word grand daughter is frightening but our friend is 42 and has been a grandma since her 30's. The girls are amazing and we had a blast playing bubbles, my little pet shop, and catch with them while the "guys" (not everyone playing was a guy) played a strategy board game. We stayed the night as we usually do due to distance but it was great because the youngest granddaughter turned 3 on Mother's day this year.  So awesome to be there for her big girl day. We had to leave fairly early to begin laying the flooring in the computer area of the basement which we didn't think would take very long based on the first room we did.  Uh Nope, because of the first room it's taking considerably longer but we are almost done as of tonight.

 The girls having Auntie do their make up

The floor is coming together although still unfinished

So Sunday night was special because our friend's had 2 extra tickets to see Neil Diamond in concert and I totally wanted to go.  I grew up with my family, especially an aunt of mine, loving Neil Diamond. I can't say I know all his music but we had a fantastic time!  I still can't believe he is 74 years old and doing such an amazing performance. I bought my aunt a shirt as a surprise even though she's gone to so many of his performances.  I just want her to know when I think of him I think of her and how much I love her!

Really was an amazing weekend.

Home projects in full force

I haven’t posted in a while but we’re here and busy with many different things, like finding contractors for work in the main part of the basement and for the backyard. I will finally get the yard fenced, retaining walls and an upper deck.  I’m super excited to run around with my dogs out back and play ball with them and our future child.  It’s a long time coming for all of us!

We've been very busy around here with home projects.  They sound so easy and simple weekend tasks but as most people know it’s the unknown that sets you back. Our flooring came in right before we left for Italy and just as we were going to start painting and laying that flooring in the first room, Don was called to Arizona on business then he drove to California to spend time and help his parents that weekend following his week away. His mom recently had knee surgery and his parents could use some help with clearing things out, cleaning a bit around the house, and just moral support. Thankfully all is well on that front and she is recovering wonderfully and his weekend there was a big boost to his parent’s morale.

So we again begin to think of painting and flooring.  The first step is to remove all items from the room.  Now this was our store room and Don’s craft room so lots of stuff to move into the main basement area, then came removing the carpet and carpet pad.  Now the carpet wasn't so hard to cut and remove but the carpet pad was a bear. Once that was up and removed we had to remove the nailed into the concrete foundation carpet tacks.  That was so much fun, NOT! We inspected and repaired the foundation including those many nail holes from the carpet tacks but only after scrapping and scrapping some kind of fiber glue from it.  Don’s quote of the weekend was “I feel like Cinderella!” I couldn't stop laughing.  I, too, had attempted removing that glue from the foundation and it WAS NOT EASY!  Once we had the foundation in order, Don painted the room and ceiling. 

The following day we began laying the new flooring which was by far the easiest part besides the knee and back pain from being on the concrete floor for hours on end.  It was like we’d moved into a new house once it was done.  Removing the ghastly steel blue carpet for bamboo flooring increased the lightness of the room a 100X.  We gave the floor a week to settle before starting on the cabinets the following weekend (this past weekend).  I have to say I love the new room. It’s bright, airy, and just what a basement room needs.

This is the best way to rest while working

Finished room is dog inspected and approved!

Today was spent figuring out where all the stuff we had in that room was going to go and then moving it.  That room is now going to be my craft room and boy oh boy do I have a lot of stuff to transfer over from my current room. The sewing, scrap-booking, paints, etc will be fun to reorganize though into the new cabinets.  My current craft space will get redone into a family game room. We will not only store our games and play them in there with company but it will also have a TV for video games and my exercise machine.  I’m kind of looking forward to having a TV to watch while I exercise and it’ll be nice to have all the games in one spot.  We moved all the stuff into its new home today and throughout this coming week we will begin moving the computers and office area furniture into the main room.  Each area getting set up as we move it so we still have online and general computer access.  Once we get that done we hope to begin removal of the carpet and installation of the new floor.  Since we previously painted and redid this area minus the floor and lighting it should be a fairly smooth and quick weekend project.

Chocolate Indulgence for the weekend

It’s the weekend and it should be a great one around here. This isn't really adoption related this week, except to say we hope to enjoy these types of weekends with our own child soon.

Our new flooring for downstairs and the stairs has arrived at the store this week and we’ll be going to pick it up tonight.  I’m so happy to finally rid myself of the carpeting soon.  It is going to be so much easier to clean, bye-bye daily vacuuming and weekly carpet cleaning and hello sweeper and mop. I’m looking forward to it being done but am not excited to move everything from room to room as we lay it. There is always a downside to DIY home improvement.  We won’t be able to begin working on it right away since the flooring must acclimate at least three days. The soonest we can start is next week and I’m not sure he’ll want to be laying flooring after work but we’ll see.

As for the rest of the weekend we’ll be going up to a friend’s place for the night. Our other friends we’re also going to come over but they've gotten sick so they had to cancel.  We usually bring food to share while we play games and I’m thinking I might make a Flourless Chocolate Cake this time.  It’s one of my favorite chocolate recipes and so simple with 4 ingredients.  It’s extremely rich so this small “cake” goes a long way. It’s from my Test Kitchen cookbook. If you're in the mood for chocolate give this a try.

 I use this instead of double brewed coffee for the recipe.  It's a nice compliment to the chocolate.

Have a great weekend everyone!