I swear I’ve done stuff since….um….January! I’m going to keep it pretty short since there are a few different topics to post.
First. You remember what my “garden” by my front door used to look like, right? Of course you do, it looked like crap! Well, I got angry at how bad it looks one day, so I did this….
Which, with Layne’s expertise and assistance, turned into this…
Since that day, things have grown, and thanks to the heat, a couple have died. Whatever those purple/green things are have really taken off too! Since that photo I’ve also added a little brick retaining wall, and Layne planted some leafy things (caladiums I’m told) along the other side of the walkway.
What’s next. Dakota got a hair cut! And let me tell you, it certainly wasn’t professional. I’m WAY too cheap for that. Instead I bought some grooming clippers at Petco (where the pet’s go!). I did the grunt work of getting loads of hair off this dog while Layne did the detailed job I’m much to lazy to focus on.
Last but not least, Curt and Andi got married! What’s this doing on The Return of the Blog you ask? Well, I officiated! It was an excellent ceremony and went really well I think. Apparently I did forget to tell people they could be seated after the bride walked down, but they got around to it eventually…
That’s all for now…(and probably all for later too.)
Not going to be a huge update, but I've been harassed my at least two people for letting my blog fall out of date. That's two people more than I thought even looked at it!
Anyhow, as the Christmas break ended and I got back to work, I realized I had 9 days off of work and didn't even think to improve my house at all. Soooo......I bought a load of paint and a new chandelier for the breakfast area. Here's a "before I lived here" and an "after I got off my lazy ass and did some work" photo.
The first coat of "moosewood" went on the wall in the study tonight. The other three walls will eventually become "harvest brown". It's a few shades darker than my other beige/tan walls but not too dark to really shrink the room. At least that's what I'm telling myself right now. Here's a sneak peak.
After I put the first coat on the wall I decided to change out the chandelier in my entryway with one I picked up. Overall I think it is much improved over the last one I had. Of course, that could just be the mercury from the CFL I dropped talking...
This photo also finally shows what my new tiled entryway looks like.
On a more personal level, life is.................well......................that about sums it up......
Meh.
A few weeks ago the installers finished replacing all the flooring in my house. I replaced the majority of the carpet with engineered spanish hickory hardwood floors and the vinyl with porcelain tile. Here's a small taste of how the living room has turned out. Sorry that they're a bit grainy but I didn't want to use the flash and I'm too lazy to take more right now. You'll get more (read: better) later!
I went out and bought some longer curtains and I think they work out pretty nicely although I need to think about opening them up. I'm undecided.
Poor Rock Band sitting there all alone while the stupid xbox is back in the shop for the 2nd instance of the red ring of death repairs.
So a lot has happened in the last week and a half since my last post...
All of the floors in my house have been replaced. The entryway now has a fancy new tile makeover, along with the kitchen and the bathrooms. The living room, dining room, hallway and office have had some gorgeous engineering hardwood laid down. And lastly, the bedrooms have been re-carpeted. I promise you'll get some photos soon.
I was fortunate enough to get invited to go on a canoe trip with some of the ADCOs and their Russian counterparts that were in town. A bunch of us (16) took a day trip to Piney Woods to go canoeing on the river near there. I must say I had an awesome canoe partner, the kind that just likes to hang around in the back and cause trouble.
Josh took the majority of the photos on his camera and was fortunate to upload them to his gallery. Of course I had to steal them all and provide them on my own photo gallery for your viewing pleasure.
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| Canoe Trip |
This week we launched another space shuttle. The purpose of this mission is to bring up the new Japanese laboratory module, or JPM as us nerds call it. While I'm not scheduled to work in Mission Control for this flight, I'm the Team 4 person for THOR which means that if things go really wrong I can get called in to support those guys working console in whatever way they need.
My Krav Maga martial arts classes and the whole diet thing have been going well, I've lost another 5 lbs! That brings me down about 20 pounds overall in the last couple months. Not Bad!
There may be a few other things off in the distance, but I'll just let you sit and wonder for a while.
There used to be times when it felt like I had a good clear view of the road ahead and where my life is going. Those times are not these times. Lately it feels like I've been on the "Zoom Zoom" track from the Mazda commercial and every turn is unexpected. Some turns end up in a head-on collision while others actually end up quite nice. While the ride is proving to be interesting to say the least I wouldn't mind seeing a stretch of straight road ahead for a bit...
As far as the home improvement stuff goes, the vinyl tear-up began today and I'm hopeful that the tile installation will be complete sometime on Saturday. That paves the way for the wood flooring installation to begin on Tuesday! WOOHOO! I'll post some before and afters as soon as I get some afters.
When I first moved into the house all of the walls were white and all of the fixtures were plain and boring. Slowly but surely I'm starting to get away from that. The first project was to put some color on the walls. That plan made it as far as the living room, but I'm not giving up yet!
Before:
After:
A couple weeks ago I started on the guest bathroom.
Lemme know what you think!
...the best is yet to come....
