Monday

The weekend came and went.  We are spending our time in the final stages of TBTB.  The new couch comes on Tuesday.

Until we return, I think often of our other home and the beauty surrounding it.

From Fall in the O

From Fall in the O

Happy Monday.

Basement update

Getting lots of questions about the basement.

Well, it's coming along.   Painting commenced this week and is taking us through the weekend.

Looking down the basement.

From Basement

Love the color going up!

From Basement

From Basement

Trim for the basement.

From Basement

He's fast!

From Basement

Supa-fast!

From Basement

We will be done in no time!  Today is touch-up and spot checks.  Woo hoo it's coming along. 

Weekend wrap-up

We are redoing the basement.  Why?  Who knows.  Mostly because it desperately needs it.

The wiring is completely out of code and we are fortunate that the home hasn't been torched to the ground.  Several times.
The carpet is glued to the cement floor.
The drop ceiling forces guests to walk around bended at the waist.
It had weird speakers built into the ceiling.

From Basement

It's ugly.

I didn't realize how ugly it was until we redid the kitchen, bathrooms, and windows.  That unfortunate consequence of remodeling is that once you start, virtually everything could and should look better.

From Basement

From Basement

From Basement

From Basement

It would have simply been cheaper to move.  But we love our neighbors.  We love our neighborhood.  And we LOVE our yard.

So we stayed.   And renovated.  Our dear friends at HWC Homeworks are working their magic.  Updates will continue as they go.

Baby, it's cold outside

It's hard to write when it's so cold. Not just cold, but COLD. Freezing, single digits cold, with below zero wind chills. The numbers don't mean anything after a while. We know that when we go out, our skin stings, our eyes hurt and our nose hair freezes. What more do you need to know?

Well you should know that Mr. Handsome, or Happy Bingo as Big Johnny calls him, is totally oblivious to said cold. He loves the cold, the snow, the ice and even the rain. Go figure.

A couple of points to note. Tonight our current president, and Paul's last Commander-in-Chief officially said goodbye. Regardless of what you think of him and his performance, the C-i-C is a position that holds a significant amount of respect in our home. We are grateful for his service to the country, as he is for all those who put and have put their lives on the line for our country. It is easy to forget that we have a volunteer military - people who willing sacrifice, families who sacrifice, employers who sacrifice. And it's easy to criticize the President. It is not easy to do his job. I like to remember that we have a volunteer military who serve every day so civilians who choose to can sit around in homes and offices, criticize the President, criticize the military and criticize our way of life. In other countries, such freedom, such criticism, is a luxury. So we thank our military - active and retired, for service and sacrifice. (And if you think it's so easy, you go serve and report back to me). ;) Stepping OFF the soapbox ...

Tonight we say goodbye to Gil Grissom on CSI. I don't watch too much TV but I love CSI and I will miss him.

It's the weekend! So happy, Friday Happy Dance! We have lots planned - dinner with friends, time with Bud and Barbara, shopping at the coolest place @artofthetable, some work in the basement and lots of time with Hotel Bravo. Or Happy Bingo. Or Samson, the handsome one.

Happy Friday!

A most remarkable weekend

Friday was a delightful day, with much quiet, reading and writing. Work is quiet, the calm before the storm of students and faculty returning over the next few weeks. It is also the calm before the kitchen storm, when our great friends and remodel experts, HWC Homeworks start the full renovation of the kitchen. I mean full - cabinets, windows, door and flooring. I know how I do with entropy and chaos, and it's not pretty. So this momentary reprieve, just me, music, books, Mr. Handsome and my computers was a true delight.

Saturday we did something that we don't do enough. We headed over to our friend Amy and her store Art of the Table. Oh good heavens, I don't know why we don't just move in and work for food and wine. We had a gift card from some good friends and bought three magnificent bottles of wine. And I can never walk out of there without the Dancing Goat Creamery cheese from Alpine goats. I could no kidding eat goat cheese and drink Amy's selection of wine for dinner. And I would call it good. ;) This was truly the highlight of the weekend until we opened the Spanish wine, Viscarro. It was a fabulous, robust, fragrant and smooth-as-silk wine. Paul made a couple of ribeyes and the meal was almost a two hour fest, slowly enjoying the wine, steaks, cous cous and grilled veggies.

Sunday, we did a substantial amount of work in the basement, moving forward in our TBTB initiative. We have made great strides in eliminating junk and clutter. Soon enough, junk and clutter from the kitchen will fill those momentarily empty shelves. I think it reproduces in the basement.

We also had a playdate with our dog friends. Per his usual, Mr. Handsome was a little rambunctious and oh so happy to see his friends! It will be a wonderful week as we start moving the kitchen contents to various places in the house. Be on the lookout for pictures!

Wrapping up the weekend

It's been a busy one. First full weekend without the Pin. SWEET. Seems like it the Pin was there forever and now, well now, it sits in a plastic bag for the world to see. It's not in my foot and that's the best news ever.

We had an amazing weekend full of basement cleaning (TBTB), terrific dinners and fun with friends - 2 and 4 foot.

Sunday was a terrific day. After church, we picked up lunch and headed to Deb's house to have playdate with the pups. Goodness, they had a good time. Samson had his first bath and with a little puppy treat cajoling, did well.

I am tired and icing my foot. Tomorrow, I drive for the first time in six weeks. We have notified the appropriate authorities. Samson has an appointment with our favorite vet for shots and a general checkup. We are getting closer to trying puppy day care and boarding, and this is the first step. He is SUCH a good dog.

So that's a wrap. Tomorrow, it's back to work. First Monday, post Pin. Hooray!

Sunday morning

Alright already, posting. And frankly, my nerves were REALLY shot. ;) We had an incredibly busy day. Saturday morning, Paul spent almost five hours cleaning out the garage. Our friends at HWC Homeworks will be doing some work in our garage, rebuilding some of the storage space and Paul needed to do some work getting it prepped. We put the finishing touches on the guest bedroom by making the bed and moving the furniture. We needed to get that done to move all the extra stuff out of "Paul's room" so that he can get it ready for getting back to work. Bottom line, we were living with significant entropy and it is starting to be reduced. We still need to put up pictures in the guest room but we are going to let 'chi' flow before we do that.

I worked in the basement, getting laundry done, folding, washing and ironing. Now that we have some place to put it, I can start moving stuff upstairs.

Friday night, we had a wonderful meal with our friends Dave and Aileen. Aileen made a wonderful meal of chicken with cream tarragon sauce. YUM. I am trying to get the recipe for the East of the Equator Foodies Group.

Today is yet another busy day. (This is a killer for the short weekend we get....) We have more work to do around the house and I have some actual work to do. Paul needs to get in a run while he trains for the 5/3 River Bank Run and Mr Samson needs to chase some wild turkeys. Well, not really, but I will let him chase some frisbees. It is supposed to be a lovely day and we haven't had any of the threatened rain. The Red Wings play at 2:00 pm this afternoon! Enjoy the day.

Ah....the weekend

Big sigh. It's Friday and it's the weekend . It's been a good week, and a long week. The bathroom is done and it looks MAGNIFICENT. Wow, they did a fabulous job. I know it sounds lame to get so excited about a bathroom but now we have two absolutely stunning bathrooms. They are clean, warm, lovely and totally functional. While we walk in and admire the work of our team at HWCHomeworks, Samson is of course, oblivious. He wonders why we are standing around and not doing something, like chewing a bone or chasing a frisbee. Frequently, he will plop down with a big snort. I think that they teach them the GSD snort in doggie school. ;)

Tonight is a chillaxin' sort of evening. Paul has pan-seared tenderloin filets in cabernet sauce on the menu tonight. Tomorrow, we are joining our friends Jennifer and Ken for dinner. Jennifer is a gourmand much like Paul so the dinner is no doubt going to be fantastic.

We have a couple errands to run, pick up a few things for the new bathrooms, a little shopping and some TBTB work to take on. I need to do some reading and enjoying the opportunity to rejuvenate and refresh. We have a winter storm watch starting Saturday into Sunday. The weather nerd will keep you apprised of the situation.

Where does time go?

I was once told that the older you get, the faster time goes. I frequently wonder if that's true? I was talking with a friend at work and we both wondered what happened to the weekend? One minute, it seems like it is Friday and in the blink of an eye, it's Tuesday night! It seems like the time just flies...but does it "go" anywhere? Is there a recycle bin or trash bin for used up time? I don't know how or why it passes so quickly but Christmas is passed, we are waiting for the Super Bowl and American Idol is starting back up!

Jim (and Paul) are in the throes of bathroom # 2. As expected, there have been a few surprises along the way. There have dead critters, uninsulated walls, really horrid wallpaper and some smelly piping. Along with Samson's 'dangerous gases" be glad that there is no smell-o-vision for this entry. But Jim is making excellent progress and this weekend, Paul and I have to pick out paint colors. Pictures are available on Paul's excellent blog here.

With the bathroom project in full swing, I do have to say that our kitchen is "ick." That's a technical term emphasizing that dust is EVERYWHERE and make it undesireable to cook. Of course, I don't cook but it makes it undesirable for me to think about cooking and for Paul to actually DO it. So the next ten days may involve some external food resources.

We start training class #2 this week as well. Handsome Boy is doing very, very well both at class and at home.

No efforts on TBTB but we hope to make some progress this weekend. That could be postponed as Paul has had some inquiries regarding his resume but for now, we will plan on sticking around here.

The Red Wings are playing Atlanta tonight. It would be nice for them to win. Go Wings!

The Weekend

It has been a busy week and will be a busy weekend. Today we have training with handsome boy, two fabulous playoff football games, a Detroit Red Wings hockey game and with any luck our friend traveling from her hacienda in AZ will stop by and say hello.

In the TBTB intiative, Paul has made amazing strides downstairs. We have a backup computer in TB (along with our desktop and external backup) and Paul bought a cheapy flat screen for it. Once one has a flatscreen, big honking monitors just don't cut it, even for backup computers. We need to install that and do some updating and maintenance on the machine. We will also need to move some laundry accoutrements around as HWC Homeworks will start working on bathroom number 2 on Monday. They will need access to some space in the basement currently occupied by laundry 'stuff.' We have a lot to sort through and what friends and family can't use or don't need, we will donate to In the Image.

We also need to empty bathroom number 2 in preparation for the demolition that starts on Monday. With any luck, this will be less messy than bathroom number 1. Look for pictures from Paul.

Friday's January Series speaker was enthralling. The program hosted Ishmael Beah author of "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." This soft-spoken young man told of his experiences being a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, the wonderful people who took him from the Army and rehabilitated him and his life in the US. He read a few excerpts from his book and expanded on some of the stories. It was absolutely riveting. It will be a book on my book list. If you have a chance to hear him speak, I would encourage you to do so.

In the escapades of Handsome Boy, he is doing very well. He has acclimated perfectly to the rhythms of our life. When he wakes up early in the AM, he sits quietly until we are ready to get up. After his brekkie and while we are enjoying our coffee, he sits under the table, chewing his bone. He has funny habits - one of taking his nose and poking us to get our attention! He also LOVES ice cubes. He chews on the ice and when pieces fall out of his mouth, he just stares at them! It's funny to watch.

This is my favorite time of the morning. I have HB at my feet, a fire in the fireplace, the sun hasn't risen yet and I have great coffee in one of my cool mugs. Here's to Saturdays!

Weekend Wrap Up

I can't believe that the holiday week is coming to an end. In the BLINK of an eye, whoosh, it's gone. Saturday was a busy day. Plumber Dave and his assistant came and worked on the dishwasher leak. They both commented on how the seal might be bad and we may be finding ourselves in need of a new one. Harumph, that sent me in a spin. Not to sound TOO bitter but I was certainly expecting a life longer than seven years. They were able to make some repairs and we will know tonight if it worked. (Fingers, toes crossed)

We worked extensively in the basement. 2008 is the year to TAKE BACK THE BASEMENT (TBTB)! We have boxes from three moves ago and we need desperately to clean it out and make it a livable, usable space. Before moving to Grand Rapids, we never had a basement. The basement is a peculiar word - seems like it can be just about anything - noun, verb, mental state. I have a love-hate relationship with our basement. I love it because it's there and HUGE. It stores good stuff and lets me do laundry. I hate it because it's a magnet for STUFF. All stuff. Right now, it is simply organized chaos and we need to fish or cut bait on stuff that we have been hauling around for years. Now that we are in one place, we have the time and energy to figure out should stay and what should go. Our goal is one hour a weekend, with one large back of trash and/or one large bag of giveaways. Undoubtedly we will have some funny stories in our TBTB initiatives. ;)

We treated ourselves to a visit to our favorite store in Grand Rapids, Art of the Table. Amy Ruis, store owner and all round fun person, helped us pick out two wonderful bottles of wine for our anniversary dinner. We picked up a wonderful Cabernet and Petite Syrah. We think that we will have the Cab with our anniversary dinner for which Paul is making us Tenderloin Deluxe. It is one of my hand's down favorites. If you are looking for good recipes, tips and tricks, make sure to check out our Foodies Blog - East of the Equator Cafe. The recipe, along with many other good eats and drinks are shared there. Join us!

This morning, we met our good friend, Jodi, for breakfast at our favorite breakfast diner - Wolfgangs. Now, this is NOT to be at all confused with Wolfgang Puck; rather our place in Eastown is breakfast only. I had the corned beef hash with hollandaise sauce with a side of rosemary potatoes. There was enough food to share the potatoes with my brekkie mates and bring home plenty for another meal.

Tonight is leftovers. We are taking care of various friends dogs, cats and birds while they travel. We are going to chillax with Samson and make sure to get a good soak in the hottub. It's hottub kind of weather - cold, overcast and very quiet. A good soak is the perfect way to end the evening.