Wade and I finally narrowed it down to this green and blue. I can’t decide. I think I may paint them both up there and then see which one I like best. I just seem to love painting don’t I? Anybody have an opinion?
I think we have decided to put up molding in the dining room so only the top half of the walls will be red. The sunroom is still yellow with lots of red in it.
Wade and I made another trip to Lowe’s and bought four more color samples. I love the small size containers of paint. Perfect for my patchwork wall. This time we added a new green, two blues, and a brown. I actually liked them all.
After putting more colors up on my patchwork wall, Wade and I decided to try a pumpkin color. Here it is on the wall. Now I am going to cover it with primer because I didn’t like it.
The original plan was to finish wiring Wade’s shop today. However, when he offered the alternative of a trip to the lake – we went! We spent the day on the water with his work friends and had a great time. They dragged the tubes behind the boat and we all took a few turns. Wade, Ben, and Leon even learned to do tricks and change places.
After the lake we cleaned up and then drove to Atlanta for Maryellen’s party. All my work friends were there and we had a blast. There was a ton of very yummy food so all we did was eat and eat! Wade introduced the girls to freestyle paper, rock, and scissors. If we had stayed till more drinks were consumed, I think it would have really gotten interesting!
Then we left the party and met up with Steven, Netta, and Brad for laser tag. In a non-physical game, I managed to get a busted lip. I now look like I got hold of purple lipstick and didn’t know what to do with it. We played the extended thirty minute game and had fun. I came in fourth with only Wade from our group beating me. Darn husband.
The next stop was Steak-n-Shake for milkshakes. There I discovered a tragedy. They no longer make my favorite milk shake – a chocolate chocolate chip shake. The funny thing is they still make a chocolate shake and have chocolate chips, but you can’t get them together. I will say we had stellar service, which is rather rare at a Steak-n-Shake.
Wade and I decided to be social tonight. We drove up to Greenville for ice cream and games at Lindsay’s house. We knew Lindsay and Mandy from church. Everyone else was pretty cool – especially Mandy’s brother. The ice cream was yummy. Wade was silly. The new people were nice. The others wanted to play “Psychiatrist” and made Wade go outside. Then they continued talking about other things. By the time we went to get him, he had walked the neighborhood and met all the neighbors. The game of choice ended up being “Catch Phrase” which we all enjoyed.
There were also a few rounds of freestyle paper, rock, and scissors. Wade and I created this game on a plane ride long ago. The only rule is you can’t be divide-by-zero. Sometimes we have themes, but it is more fun when there is no limit. Most people are hesitant at first. No rules is a little intimidating. They quickly realize the key is to have a good argument about why your thing would beat the other player’s. It doesn’t really matter what you are.
I think I have decided to go for a modern look. I have picked out five different colors and tried them all out on the living room wall. I don’t like any of them. Thank goodness for Lowe’s small paint samples. I’m headed back tomorrow to try some different colors…
On Sunday, before tackling the wiring in the shop, I was outside pulling weeds. I leaned over to pull while talking to Wade and got poked in the eye by the dried stalk of a day lily. My vision was blurry for a while, but I was fine the rest of the night. Then I woke up today and my eye wouldn’t open. When I did get it open it just watered nonstop. Mom said I probably scratched it and needed to keep it covered for 24 hours – so here comes the patch. The worst part was my other eye wouldn’t stay open by itself. I guess it didn’t like doing all the work. So here I am at home, feeling fine, and all I can do is listen to a book on tape. I did take three naps and go to bed at 9:30.
While visiting my friend Rob last week in Atlanta (he just moved down from DC), he gave me a frog. The frog hangs from it’s arms, makes noise, and moves up and down when it’s motion sensor is triggered. I was showing it to Wade the other night and Madison went absolutely nuts. She started whining and hiding behind me. She can hear the frog’s noise from another room and go berserk. I will admit that Wade and I have had quite a bit of fun with that this weekend!
Wade and I decided to tackle another project this weekend – lighting. Both the basement and his shop need quite a bit of work to be what we want. Due to a late start, we decided to do the basement today and save the rest for tomorrow.
This is a picture of the basement before we moved in – it came with the shelves and furniture you see:
With the help of a friend, we moved out all of the old furniture and put in new shelves. You can see I am a packrat and keep a lot of boxes and packing supplies. The only thing that still bothered me about the basement was the lighting. There was a light in the stairway that could be turned on at the top of the stairs. Then there was a light switch on the ceiling as you come down the stairs for the front of the basement. Then there was a pull chain to turn on the light in the back of the basement. I wanted it all on a single switch at the top of stairs. Wade suggested we even add some new lighting. It didn’t take too long and now I have a bright basement. We even took out all of the old wiring – that is nasty stuff.
I made the decision recently to join the American Brittany Rescue Organization. They have the cutest pictures of displaced dogs online. They also desperately need foster homes for dogs. From the website, I understand that they are only in foster homes from 2-6 weeks. I thought, “I can do that!” Plus I can see how Madison does with another dog in the house – for down the road when we might get a second dog. Wade seemed agreeable with the understanding that all the work would fall to me.
I turned in an application and got a phone call the same night. The coordinator for South Carolina had a dog in Anderson she wanted me to check out. I was to go to the shelter and determine if the dog was a mix or pure bred. Sadly, the group only handles pure breds. I told her I had a Brittany but I wasn’t sure I could determine a mix from a pure bred. She said that Brittany’s cannot have black noses and either have a nub of a tail or a feathered tail.
I haven’t been in an animal shelter for a long time. They stink! We couldn’t find the dog in the main section so the lady took me into the back. She warned me before entering, but there are 6-10 dogs in each tiny dogrun with no food or water. It was heartbreaking. The dog at the shelter did have a black nose and didn’t have the right tail, but he was so cute. I hated to leave him!
August is our birthday month. My dad begins it all with his birthday on August 15th. Then my sister’s is August 16th. Wade’s dad then has one on August 17th. Happy Birthday to all.
Wade came home from work today wanting to do something. He suggested dinner, a movie, going to Greenville, etc. Evidently I was thinking too slowly because he pulled out his phone and called Kendall and James, our friends in Greenville. He left a message for them saying we were headed their way and taking them out to dinner. They called back and said they were interested which is good because we were already on the interestate. Dinner was at a sushi restaurant in downtown Greenville. I’m sure you are thinking, “Wade ate sushi”? In fact he did. This particular restaurant had some interesting types of sushi – including fried chicken sushi. We all know how Wade likes anything fried. After dinner we tried two ice cream places, which were both closed, before going to the grocery and eating ice cream at their house. A nice random evening.
Way back in April, my dad and Laura gave me the promise of a new washing machine for my birthday. Due to one thing or another (mostly studying for my test), I haven’t picked one out before now. However, Wade did some research and we had brand a washing machine and matching dryer delivered today. In the long term plans for the house, we will have a separate laundry room and a counter top will be built over the washer/dryer. For now, I am just glad the washing machine doesn’t groan and beep and shake all over the place.
Sally has made herself scarce lately, but she appeared today. Sally has a bad habit of making people uncomfortable. She stands too close to me and invades my personal space. Whenever we have a conversation, I feel like she is too intense. She stands extremely close, hangs on every word, and stares at me for the duration of the conversation. It is extremely unnerving and I feel the need to ramble.
Wade and I slept in this morning – what a luxury. The cruise was awesome, but there were no late mornings and lots of late nights. I spent most of the day unpacking, relaxing with a book in the sun, and cleaning. The good news is Delta called with Wade’s bag. They should be delivering it tonight, but it is close to midnight so I’m not sure if that will happen.
We discovered Madison has fleas. She must be front-line resistant. I put the medicine on every month and she still seems to get fleas once a year – yuck.
Wade and I also picked up paint samples today. My next project is painting the living room. The living room has my yellow sunroom on one side and a soon to be red dining room on the other. We are thinking maybe green or a light yellow. With our track record, it could be a couple of those before we pick the right one!
Wade and I did get up on time at 3:30 am – ouch! There was a mean man behind the check-in counter. He informed me the self-service checkin screens weren’t for use, but he only accepted boarding passes at his window – you couldn’t check in with him. I walked around the corner to another kiosk and then he was willing to help me – Moron!
We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of line for security at the Juneau airport. We thought all liquids and gels had been removed from our carry-ons, but we later discovered both Wade and Judy had chap-stick and lotion.
All was well until we landed in Atlanta and discovered our bags had not. I guess the airlines have been swamped with all the extra baggage people are checking. There were piles of luggage all over the airport, but we couldn’t find ours. We did wait the couple of hours for the second flight from Seattle in the hopes that our luggage would be on that plane. My two bags were but Wade’s were not. The nice lady at Delta informed me that his would be delivered to our house as soon as it was found.
We stopped for dinner at Waffle House and then went home to see our dog and sleep in our own bed. Good night all.
Today was spent mostly on the water, which happens to be the perfect place for whale watching. There were about 15 whales near our ship so I decided to get my camera out. With Wade’s help, I did manage some great shots. You can see the whales blowing, breaching, feeding, and diving. They are so magical to watch. There were quite a few calves learning to dive that provided us with quite a laugh.
Before heading back to Juneau, we made a stop at Tracy Arm, another area with awesome glaciers. Before you ever see a glacier, the water becomes this gorgeous clear turquoise. Then you begin to see floating pieces of ice in varying sizes. The glacier was the bluest I have seen, which sadly doesn’t come across in the pictures. It is almost a sapphire blue. The area was very chilly and was spitting rain/snow at us.
I am going to make a supreme effort to be in bed early tonight – as in 10 o’clock early. We have to be up at 3:30 and on a shuttle by 4:15 for the airport for our 6 am flight – ouch.
I woke up this morning to realize that cell coverage had returned. I checked in with mom and she told me about the thwarted terrorism attempts in England. What is the world coming to? We have been rather isolated lately and I couldn’t find a newspaper with the story so rumors are flying. I have heard that all international flights have been canceled, that it is recommended to be at airports at least 3 hours in advance of a flight, and that no liquids are allowed on board. I’ll be curious to get to the airport on Saturday and see which of these are fact and fiction. Either way, I am sure this will affect flying for quite a while – joy joy. Random fact: During the last terrorist attacks I was in a cruise in the Pacific Ocean. Maybe it’s me? I think I’ll just stay home.
Sitka is one of the larger cities in Alaska, but that doesn’t really say much. Wade, his parents, and I took a long walk to see the salmon running, but evidently there weren’t as many as the last trip Judy and Jerry took. Instead of a stream solid with fish, we saw mostly stream with a few fish. However, the fish were spawning which was neat to see.
The ship did some sailing while we were asleep and had docked in Haines before I ever awoke. Haines was formed in 1881 by a Presbyterian minister as a mission to natives. The current population is now 2,800. Wade and I decided not to do any formal excursions so we walked around the town (in the pouring rain). The best news – they had a grocery with Milk Duds for me and Fruit Loops for Wade.
Our boat made a second stop today in Skagway – the starting point for the White Pass and Chilkoot trails to the Klondike goldfields. We took a train ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route railway to the summit of the trail at the Canadian border.
Wade and I woke up to sunny skies today – our first since arriving in Alaska. Our ship cruised through Glacier Bay State Park today. Wow! Glaciers are awesome. This particular area has seen numerous retreats and advances of glaciers. The coolest glaciers are the tidewater glaciers which come all the way down to the water. The water erodes away at the bottom of the glacier and gravity pushes from the top, which results in calving – huge pieces of the glacier falling off and hitting the water. These huge glacier pieces become icebergs and float in Glacier Bay until they melt. Seals live on the glaciers and can be seen playing and swimming.
We didn’t really celebrate our “real” anniversary, but Judy, Jerry, and Emily had cards for us. After dinner, Wade and I returned to our room to find a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne in our room. The chocolate was even dark chocolate – yum!
During the night our boat had left Juneau and was sailing north. We saw lots of Humpback whales and Killer Whales near our ship. Trying to take a picture at the exact moment the whale breaches is close to impossible so I just enjoyed the sight.
Our first stop on the cruise was Elfin Cove. Elfin Cove is an isolated boardwalk community in the Southeast Alaska that can only be accessed by sea plane or boat. There are no roads or cars. The community has a population of 250 in the summer and only 10 in the winter. I am in awe of the type of people who decide to live this type of life, but it definitely is not for me. There was a single store which had a very limited amount of groceries – the prices of which were sky high!
As with most cruises, there was a formal Captain’s Welcome Aboard Dinner. Everyone got dressed up and the seasickness patches Emily, Wade, and Judy are wearing seem to be working.
Happy Birthday Johnna!
I have been flying for years and years. I don’t even remember my first flight and I probably take at least a couple flights each year. However, in March I had to fly to San Jose, CA for work. I mentioned all my flight trouble here. Well, something happened on that trip. I suddenly get very uncomfortable during takeoff and landing. Once we are up in the air, I am fine – or maybe it is just that I get really involved in my movie or book. But for take off and landings I get a tight stomach and am very nervous. I can even use logic to try to convince myself the chances of crashing are slim, but somehow that doesn’t help.
As an update: We boarded our flight from Seattle to Juneau and sat on the runway for about 30 minutes before the Captain informed us there was a problem with our nose steering control. Just what I wanted to hear, right? In the end, the decision was made to put us all on a new plane. In my past experiences, that normally means a significant delay. I was very impressed with Alaskan airlines – we walked off our broken plane straight to a new one.
Because Wade and I will be on a ship for our Anniversary, we decided to celebrate before we left for Alaska. Wade had taken the day off work so we got up late and I cooked a big breakfast, or I tried to cook a big breakfast. I found two recipes in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook that looked really good – Herb flavored Eggs and Chive Biscuits. The eggs were extremely heavy on the butter and dill and the biscuits were rather flat. Since I know the recipes from this cookbook are normally really good, I think the error must have been with the cook.
Wade and I have never been very traditional so our anniversary gifts weren’t the typical second year cotton theme. I gave Wade a laminate trimmer and the Readymade book. He gave me an awesome portable DVD player – just in time for our day of traveling. Did I mention it is red? A coworker of his had gone to Hong Kong for work and brought it back for me. I love it!
Wade and I left Anderson and leisurely drove down to Atlanta. We had reservations at a Bed and Breakfast in Virginia Highlands called the Gaslight Inn. What a cool house! Wade said he chose the Ivy Cottage for us because it reminded him of the room he always used when he visited my mom’s house. When we returned from dinner, the owner had placed fresh flowers and a Happy Anniversary card in our room.
Shortly after Wade and I got married, I realized laundry could no longer be done once every three weeks. Wade needs laundry done every week. I do have more clothes than him, but that isn’t the big difference. The big difference is my clothes aren’t necessarily dirty at the end of the day – like a pair of jeans. I can wear them more than once. My clothes also tend to last longer. Random holes and stains seem to appear on all of Wade’s pants and shirts.
As we are getting ready for our Alaskan cruise, Wade realized he didn’t have enough clothes to make it the entire trip without doing laundry. We went shopping in Anderson – what a treat. He found three pairs of jeans, but no khakis or slacks. Too bad we don’t have a Gap…
This hallway seems to have taken months to complete. I painted the closets, the trim, polished the hardware, and rehung the doors. Well I finally have put the doorknobs back on. Our side door hasn’t been locked in months. Heck, there hasn’t even been a real door there for weeks at a time. Well I am glad to say I am done. The pictures are framed and hung, the stuff is back inside the closets – everything is nice and pretty.
Did I mention I am taking a break? No more house projects for a few weeks – which works nicely with our Alaskan cruise!
I’m not sure this really qualifies as a project, but I finally decided on the color of the globes for th fan in my office. I asked for opinions here. I initially went with red, but it gave the room a red tint that I didn’t like. So now they are white and I’m happy with them.
Now all I need is to get my desk built….