Monday, January 31, 2005


First pass with the drywall mud. Posted by Hello

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Finally...a girl gets her own tools

Now I am not much for dust or doing some messy things (except for paper mache and cooking) but I sure do like using these pink tools from my Father-in-law. I got them as a Christmas present, and thought, "cool, they're pink!" and they are girl-sized. I really especially love my pink hammer and screwdriver. Let me tell ya, you haven't assembled stuff until you've got pink tools with which to do it! Another best part, they are all mine :)

Tomorrow my bro comes home from a 6 month hiatus in the Netherlands. I am really looking forward to seeing him!







Pink tools- how cool is that!? Posted by Hello

More drywall Posted by Hello

art shot of drywall Posted by Hello

Our little helper- on kitchen cabinet guard duty Posted by Hello

drywallin' work Posted by Hello

visualization Posted by Hello

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

They say

A picture is worth a thousand words- so here are three pics.

I have been busy building things in the living room. Since I enjoy puzzles and assembling things this hasn't been a big problem. It is however, cutting into my ability to work on my research paper.Yet, the research paper is moving along as I have my 10 required articles-yippee. Oour porf had been sick, and then returned this past monday. I stayed after class Monday night (9:30pm) to get my articles screened and okayed by the instructor. It was nerve-wracking to realize that every check (good) was golden, and storngly desired. My articles and I made it through the un-blinking scrutiny and due to my gathering of articles above the requirements I was able to find 10 workable articles. Now the atsk begins of trying to decipher what they all say!

Sleeves are coming along Posted by Hello

Assembly begins Posted by Hello

Kitchen to be- in its new home Posted by Hello

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Yes, we do have the cutest dog in the world

and some really nice neighbors! I "borrowed" 3 eggs from the girl across the street to make decadent chocolate cake for Elzbieta and I. Yum. Then, the neighbor comes over and snowblows the accessible parts of our driveway. How nice is that!? She asked if we had a snowblower, and I said "no, we have a shoveler". I think I was referring to Troy there. :)

I just had a delightful yet wearying romp with Duster outside. The snow is up to the middle of his little corgi body which is the cutest thing. I chased him and we played tag in the thick snow. He even crouched down several times nearly getting lost in the snow while attempting to "herd" me. We put on a little chase show for "Daddy" as he watched from the kitchen window as we frolicked in the fenced in yard.

Good news on the IKEA front. Our 2 pallets worth of kitchen cabinets have arrived today! Spectacular! We are trying to decide if we want to rent a truck to bring them home, or have them delivered. Hmm...

And, my husband stayed home sick today. He was without energy, he said, and he had a headache and some other body weariness. I knew he wasn't bluffing when I entered his car and drove it around noticing a strange smell. Then I looked down and right near the cupholder and the armrest there was a brownish/blackish blob. EWWW! A dead banana peel!

sleepy buster mcDuster Posted by Hello

Wednesday, January 19, 2005


Yummy color close-up Posted by Hello

My first NORO yarn is here from Canada! Posted by Hello

Results are in!

I have no cavitities! Wait, let's try that again, I have no cavities!

I had to indulge myself for my "good work" and I am feeling indulged now. Just as I was walking out the door to drive to the dentist I spotted a sqooshy package. It was my Noro yarn! Then, I kind of bribed/rewarded myself and wouldn't let myself open it until after I had survived the dentist (it was a check-up). Yippee! Then, continuing the the indulgence, I went to TJ Maxx and found a lovely hot pink zip-up sweater with white trim (which made it look like I could wear it for work or play), and an aqua tank with embroidered Bugs (the car, not the insect). Very fun clothes. Perfect for wearing in spring, and to the Children and Adolescent Mental Health conference that my dear friend Leslie and are attending in April.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

The inside scoop on what's going on in my house

We are officially without a kitchen sink, our kitchen holds a stove and a fridge at this point. Today we had the wise idea/realization that we will not be removing the linoleum floor. Instead, we will just put a new floor over the old. Some internet research led me to make that big decision. The cool thing is that it cuts down some of our work. Yippee.

The scary thing is that I nearly hit a spinning car on 94 W today about a mile from my exit. Spooky. I was driving really slowly like 40 in the snow and noticed that the road seemed to look better up ahead. Then suddenly in the left lane a big Lincoln of something like that came spinning around, and around. Another car spun in a circle right in front of me ending up facing backwards, parallel to the left shoulder of the road. Thank God no one hit each other or got hurt, but it was a spooky and unpleasant moment. The adrenaline kicked in (gotta love that life-saving fast decision-making stuff) and I took my foot completely off the gas and drove into the part of the snowy shoulder of the road just missing the first spinning car. In my tense state I felt like I needed to express my anxiety in some fashion and I honked my horn, as a warning to all the other drivers to watch out and slow down. I don't know if it worked, but I felt a little better. That's what I do if there is an animal of some sort about to cross the road or standing in another lane. It's my little warning to the animal and to the cars.

On another note, I am still arguing with knitting my sleeves. It seems like the pattern keeps resulting in sleeves that are way too wide for my wrists and I have taken it upon myself to experiment with the number of stitches, seeking the perfect combination. I'll let you all know when I get there.

Yet another note, I was about to paint and it seemed like everything was going wrong. I was having to make trip after trip downstairs to bring painting things upstairs, I had to find the light and extension cord, then realized that the super-bright lamp was burned out. I semi-but not so flippantly said "I need a Caribou drink!". My husband asked for confirmation about whether I truely did want one or not. I said, "you already know the answer to that question". When do I not want a Caribou drink? Then he went out into the cold to get my favorite, light white berry with raspberry syrup. Yumm-o. That must be why I seem to be having a type-athon here. I better stop since my husband is waiting for me...

Oh- one more thing. At the Women's Expo I won a gift basket from "Passion Parties". There is some scrubby thing in it (I forgot the word) and massage oil. OOOH, I love massages. :) I tell ya, it pays to go to the Women's Expo! Especially since my Mom and I always have such a good time there.

IKEA kitchen version 1.0 undergoes dismissal of cabinets Posted by Hello

Where'd the cabinets go? Posted by Hello

Dusty demolition Posted by Hello

Gutted Posted by Hello

The masked bandits aka Kings of the Kitchen Project Posted by Hello

My project- paint a wall all by myself Posted by Hello

We've come a long way so far... Posted by Hello

Monday, January 17, 2005

the hard drive crashed

On Wednesday evening, forcing a shut-done to my computer fun. Now, I don't know what is going on with the PC, that's Troy's forte not mine, but I do have access to my e-mail so that is good.

The hard drive seems to crash at the point at which all my bookmarks are perfectly organized. Last year this happened, and I had just made all nice little folders for them, and they were just right. Well, this time I had the bookmarks all organized and all, plus, I had organized and located all types of research articles for my current class, Principles of Research. The moral of the story is, don't try to organize your stuff or it will find a way to un-organize itself.

Breaking news. On Thursday Troy and I selected our first dishwasher together at Sears. And it is a stainless steel Kitchen Aid model. OOOH, stainless steel. I tell ya, our kitchen is going to uber chic, and all the things that we make in there will be Yumm-o. I have to confess a recent obsession for all things Rachel Ray, like her 30 min meals show. I can recite the intro to that show. "Hi. I' Rachel Ray and I make 30 minute meals. That means that in the time it takes you to watch this show I will have made a delicious, and healthy meal from start to finish..." and then she jumps into her meun for the day. Everything she makes is, "Yumm-o". That leads me to want to make things that are "yumm-o" too. Which is hard to do when the kitchen consists of a fridge, a stove, and an itty bitty removable cabinet. But I am so ready for this kitchen re-do!

I almost went knitting tonight. Like all students, I was included in having MLK day off from classes. I considered the toasty perfect hot chocolate that I have been missing from Nina's coffeehouse, and then immediately considered how un-fabulous I would feel trotting through the arctic while having a sniffley nose and watery eyes. At that point I thought, no way. I am going to stay in and stay warm tonight.


Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The thrill (and distraction) is almost too much to bear!

I have been using a lot of my time at home during the day to start working on our kitchen. The cabinet removal is scheduled for this Saturday, while I am at class, with Troy's Dad Mike and Troy as the expert workers. I am so excited for change that is coming soon. Presently, we have our new granite kitchen sink and stainless steel microwave in the living room, keeping our IKEA accessories company, as all await their stylish and practical new home. Pics provide a special glimpse into the timeline of kitchen makeover activities. There will be more pics at things change in the kitchen. Are you ready? I am! Well, I will be after I buy the new faucet at Menard's.

The "kitchen" has moved to the dining room Posted by Hello

What happened to the kitchen?! Posted by Hello

purple sweater progress Posted by Hello

Sunday, January 09, 2005

New Corgiblogger

My husband got me started with this whole blog thing back in July. As of January, he decided that he was done missing out on all the fun that I experience, and perhaps he wanted to be techie like me. Haha- I'm really not techie though I can find *anything* on the Internet.
So, anyway, I am now introducing a blog that you should check out, another fone straight out of our little family. So visit here, and read Corgis at the Movies.

Berries and streusel- a late night improv Posted by Hello

My Puppets!  Posted by Hello