Family Vacation

Dad and Olga have been so great about coming out to see us in Colorado. Since Frankie arrived, they've been out about twice a year to visit. After five years of them diligently coming out here, we decided it was high time we flew out to visit them in Indiana. So, tomorrow... off we go!

We're going to fly to Ft. Wayne and then drive over to my grandparent's house on Lake James for a few days. I haven't been to the lake house since my grandfather passed away a few years back, and I'm already bracing myself for what will undoubtedly be a flood of memories--- All happy, but bittersweet since I miss grandma and grandpa so darn much.

We have plans to watch fireworks over the lake, eat fabulous summer veggies on the screened-in porch, and just generally be lazy while listening to the sound of boats on the lake, wind in the trees. Lake James is one of my favorite places on Earth, and I'm so glad I'm going to get the chance to see it again.

After that, it's off to NW Indiana. We'll stay in Valparaiso for a few days, and make as many day trips into Chicago as we can manage. I'm dying to show Frankie the Museum of Science and Industry. I hope she loves it as much as I did when I was a kid. I'm really looking forward to seeing the look on her face as she explores that fabulous old building. I've heard a rumor that we're also going to take a Chicago architecture cruise on Lake Michigan, and hop a double decker bus tour across the city. Sounds perfect to me.

 

Bike Tyke

Frankie's gone from being deathly afraid of bicycles (as in, she'd literally cry if we suggested getting her a bike), to being absolutely in love with her big-girl bike. Once we talked her into giving bicycles a try, she took to it instantly. It only took her a few minutes before she learned to zoom around the neighborhood like a pro. Now, she practically lives for our daily rides around the neighborhood. She's so speedy, I can barely keep up with her!

If we let her, I think she'd ride her bike all day until she collapsed from fatigue. Then she'd take five minutes to regroup, after which she'd beg me to take her swimming.

My life in pictures

Ah, summer. The weather has been so beautiful here, and the scenery from our living room and back porch is absolutely sublime. Everhything here is green, shady, and quiet. It's like living in the country, with all the conveniences of the city just a few minutes away.

Frankie has been learning to ride a bike, and it's so nice to have a safe place to ride with her. There's hardly any traffic in our subdivision, and I feel like it's a much safer place for her to play than our old house on Meldrum used to be. The neighbors have been consistently great, too, letting Frankie use their swingsets and play with their dogs. Every time Frankie goes outside, she seems to come back in with a plate of some sort of freshly-baked goody from the folks next door.

The sunsets out here are so beautiful, the remind me quite a bit of the views from the Kirkborough House in England. Instead of the sea, we have the mountains. I often sit on the couch in the evenings, watching the sun go down behind the mountains and trees. It's blissful.

Every weekend, we're hard at work on some sort of house project. I'm proud to say that I've kept the plants I bought for the patio alive for over a week. I'm not sure that all of them are going to make it-- Beware all who encounter my black thumb! Still, some of those little guys are looking pretty darn good. Even my hanging baskets are alive...a minor miracle.

I thought I'd post a few snapshots of some of the things we've been doing round these parts. Just thought I'd show off the progress on the house.

Rec room before: White walls, brown floors. Cold, bleak, and boring.

During: Color on the walls, but still cursed with brown floors. Nothing matches, which drives me crazy. It's a bit of a mish-mash.

After: A vast improvement! I actually *like* spending time down here now.

Art room before: The yellow walls are an improvement, but nothing can look decent with that awful floor.

Art room after: Still not perfect, but much better.

Patio before: Welcome to Weedville

Patio during: The great clean-up.

Patio after: Ahhhh... Oasis!

Patio Progress

We had a bit of a rain delay, but Matt was still able to finish laying the patio stones this afternoon. Lookin' good!

Happy Father's Day!

When I asked Matt what his ideal Father's Day would be like, he answered that he'd like to spend the entire day undisturbed so he could work himself to exhaustion on yard projects.

Ask and ye shall receive.

After a Father's Day breakfast of homemade macadamia nut waffless, Matt jumped right in to project mode. He's been outside about four hours now, working without a break. He's currently working on putting in a patio by the front door. This involves lifting and carrying hundreds of patio stones which were delivered this morning via giant truck/forklift from Lowes. So far, it's looking pretty darn good. I'm impressed with the way he's able to fit the jagged stones together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It's even more exciting that my only role in the project has been on the design and purchasing ends.

Here are a few in-progress shots:

Step one: beachy sandscape

Step two: Brick Tetris!

As soon as I can get Frankie out the door, she and I are going to go to the nursery to pick out some flowers for the edge of the patio. I have no idea what I'm doing, so wish me luck! (Plants are a mystery to me, as is keeping them alive.)

Still alive! Mystery solved.

Made it through the night, no toilet-using intruders spotted. When Frankie got up this morning, she claimed that it was she that put the toilet seat up yesterday. When I asked her why, she just shrugged and said matter-of-factly "For fun."

Yep. Reeeeeeeal fun.

Awesome day-after bonus: My new hair in the morning!

Freaky

I just went into the upstairs guest bathroom, and the toilet seat was up. Matt hasn't been home for two days, and I *know* it was down the last time I was in there.

What's going on??

I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it, but I'm kind of freaking out at the moment. I just went into every single room and looked into every single closet and crevass. Nothing looks out of place, so I guess everything's ok. Still a little weird, though.

I might have trouble falling asleep tonight.

Rockin' the short hair!

Summer Storm

The storm that's going on outside right now is absolutely insane. Marble-sized hail has been pelting down for about an hour now. It's so loud...It sounds like a train barreling through a tunnel. There's thunder and lightning, and the lights keep flickering on and off.

I snuck outside for a minute and snapped a few pictures. They really don't do the storm justice, though. The courtyard is totally flooded:

...and the deck looks like a snowstorm just hit:

Man... wish Matt was home! 

Basement project, day 2

After a long day of work, we put the last coat of paint on the floor around 6pm. I'm loving it! It looks so much better down there. 

I'm exhausted, but I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but these house projects (especially the ones that usher in a drastic change) are actually kind of fun.

Mothman Prophecies

This is a picture of our kitchen window, infested with moths. Gross, omnipresent moths.

I'm so over it.

Zapped

Oooh... I'm feelin' weary tonight!

Matt and I have spent the whole day working on house projects. The biggest chunk of our time was spent on the basement flooring project. We can't quite afford to put down carpet or Pergo downstairs right now, but we had to do something about the horrible cement floor down there. I couldn't stand the thought of living with the floors the way they were for the next few years while we saved up for our dream floors. So, we decided that we would just give the cement floor a new coat of paint and a minor facelift. We moved the furniture, cleaned and prepped the floors, masked the baseboards, put down two coats of epoxy paint, and laid down some decorative paint flakes to go on top.

We finished up at about 10pm, and still have only gotten *half* of the basement finished. It's taking way, way longer than we thought it would, but so far it's a great improvement. I'm so happy to say goodbye to the diarrhea-brown cement down there. It was literally the worst color I've ever seen. It's mind-boggling that someone would have actually chosen to paint the floor that color. Awful, awful, awful.

Here are a few pictures of the project in progress.

Behold the brownscape!

The basement floor used to have seams in the cement, about 1/2 inch deep. They were impossible to keep clean, and everytime I swept the floor, all the dust and junk would settle down in the crevass.

Matt filled in the seams before we painted the floor. Yay!

Here's the new "slate gray" basement floor, minus the gunky seams and horrible brown-ness.

Here's the floor after the second coat of paint and the decorative flake topping.

I'm just starting to get the hang of the decorative-flake distribution process. It's not perfect, but I'm really liking the results so far.

So, back to the grind tomorrow. Can't wait to get the second half of the basement finished. Hopefully, it'll look much better down there than it did before. I definitely think it'll be a big improvement.

Plagued

Would you like to know how many moths we caught in our bedroom last night?

25!!!!

What's going on?? It's as if a plague of moths have descended down upon the house. They're *everywhere,* and they're super grossing me out.

Every time I turn on a light, open a cabinet, or part the curtains, a moth flies out in my face. They're on all the windows, beating their furry little wings against the glass. They're in the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom.

But TWENTY FREAKING FIVE moths in one room at one time is just too much. You've crossed the line, moths. This be war.