This project took a little longer than expected, but it is now complete. The paint should be dry by tomorrow and books can be put on the bookshelves. If you look closely you will see that there are also lights in the bookshelf. Wade always has to add a fun twist to his projects.
Now we are just waiting for the thinset to dry and we can put grout around the bricks in our mudroom…
Wade and I spent the day being productive. He is working on laying a new floor in the mudroom. I spent the day working and doing small projects (like cleaning out the basement). The best part of the day was the end. We met Daniel and Laurie Wybenga for a night on the town. Dinner was at Sticky Fingers – you can never go wrong with BBQ. Then there was putt putt. Now it wasn’t pirate golf, but we had a good time. There were even 5 hole-in-ones. Two of them by me! And no date is complete without ice cream – or at least in Wade and Laurie’s worlds.
After three years of living in houses, we have finally bought a real lawn mower. When we first married, Wade and I both wanted a “real mower” – the old fashioned kind with only spinning blades and no motor. That worked fine until the blades became dull. We even found someone to sharpen them. Then we realized that most of our grass is actually weeds, which the mower doesn’t get as well. I was spending more time using the weed eater on the lawn than using the mower. To that end, we now have a mower. Wade tried it out today and the yard looks great.
I forgot to mention one of my favorite birthday gifts – a new roomba! The new roomba is a smart one. You can program it to clean rooms at certain times. It will even go back to the charger when the battery is running low. Now I can just push a button and my dirty kitchen floor will bother me no more.
This is in fact our second roomba. The first roomba was a wedding gift and we basically wore it out. The battery would no longer hold a charge. Wade found a hack site and discovered way to put a RIGID battery in the roomba. Working for TTi, we have access to lots of RIGID batteries so Wade tried the hack himself. Wade has proved to me that it turns on, but he hasn’t made it all pretty yet. It is still taking up residence in my living room chair….
Wade and I have been trying to go to the movies for a month. Various things keep coming up. Tonight we were taking dinner to Caroline and then supposed to have Bible study next door at Kendall’s house. Bible study got canceled so we decided to make a date of it. We dropped off dinner at Caroline’s, went out to eat, and then went to the movies. Wade had really wanted to see “Shooter” and it looked right up my alley. The fun part is Wade didn’t like the movie that much in the end. He had been hoping for a plot twist but there was just lots of action. On an upside, the movie theater had Area 51 and I got a game in before we left.
Wade and I went again to work on the lady’s house. He worked inside putting up a ceiling and I worked outside painting trim. I was so excited about the 80 degree weather that I didn’t even think about the fact that this was the first time I had worn shorts in months. I got home and realized the backs of my legs were quite red – smart me. Oh well, at least they aren’t super white now.
Today was a great day. I started the day off with a present – a new bird feeder from Wade’s parents. Wade and I ran errands at lunch, but I did open one more present – a new digital camera from Wade. And it’s red!!
The big celebrating happened after work. Michelle, Nate, Daniel, Laurie, Kendall, and James all came over for dinner. Michelle and Nate got here first, but Michelle wasn’t feeling well so they didn’t join us for dinner. (below – I finally got a picture of Michelle and Nate)
Daniel and Laurie took a wrong turn off the interstate so they were quite late in arriving. We were all starving by the time we got to Rocket Donkey, but the Mexican food hit the spot. After dinner we came back to our house for a big cookie. Laurie’s birthday was on Tuesday, but she wasn’t celebrating this year. The big cookie said,
“Happy Birthday Holly
Happy Unbirthday Laurie”
Then there were more presents too – a frog doormat, a frog sprinkler, a dog car blanket, a purse, money, Movie money, a frog bookend, and a laptop bag. Happy Birthday to me!
I just love birthday presents! Jamie had emailed me a link to these stars a few weeks ago. I loved them, but decided not to order them till I knew what I would do with them. It’s a good thing too. Jamie sent me three big stars and three small stars for my birthday. Thank you! Wade and I hung them tonight in our mudroom (for lack of a better name). I think now I am motivated to paint the room and Wade is going to put down a new brick (or maybe tile) floor. I have painted two of the four doors so the door project is always ongoing.
My boss just stopped by my desk and asked, “Are you happy?” What a great boss. I’ve never worked in an environment quite like this one before. I definitely made the right decision in returning to an office environment.
On a side note: I came across a great reverse eBay scam story. The seller recognized a scam and strung the guy along till the end. Instead of sending a brand new laptop, she sent a 3 ring binder with marker drawings and some loose keyboard keys. Read the story here.
Wade has finally decided to work on his office. He has unpacked boxes (moving boxes from Atlanta) and bought a new leather chair. He has repainted his old entertainment center and end table. Now he has a bunch of books and no wall space for shelves – sloped ceilings all around. The obvious solution was to put shelves in the wall. He started the project on Friday and says he will be done and ready for painting by Tuesday. I’m not holding my breath – partly because I don’t want to paint them. The picture below is one bookshelf. He plans to do the same thing on the other side too.
Today we returned to being a one dog household. I drove to Blacksburg, SC to meet our state coordinator for the rescue group. She took both Jack and Remington to her house till they can be transported on. I forgot to bring a kennel and the two dogs were fighting in the backseat. I decided the easiest solution was to have Jack in my lap. He is a very small Brittany and prefers to be near me anyway. I have to admit, it was a little hard to say goodbye to Jack. The nut named Remington is pictured below.
After leaving Blacksburg, I decided to stop at the outlets in Gaffney – I had to drive right by them. I was looking for dress pants, but ended up with quite a few tops and some khakis. I went directly from the outlets to the mall in Greenville. I was going to make a return, but I definitely bought more than I returned. I now have new pants, new tops, a new ring, new candles, new bathmats, a new wreath, and printer paper. I actually think most of my to-do list got done. Now Wade and I are about to enjoy some Wedgy’s pizza.
Rob and Sarah got to our house around 9:30 pm. I opened the door and they handed me – COOKIE DOUGH! What an awesome thing to bring. They knew I would appreciate it much more in the raw form than cooked. We all four sat down at the table with spoons and glasses of milk. The best part is there is plenty left for me to have all to myself! Maybe Rob and Sarah will come stay again sometime soon.
Remington is gone. Now we are back to two dogs – at least until Saturday. My friend Rob and his girlfriend are coming tomorrow to spend the night on their way to DC. Wade and I did some cleaning and some household stuff. I took a break and the dogs both wanted to be in my lap.
Well, I think I have scared Wade off from fostering dogs forever. We thought Jack would only be with us a few weeks – it has now been two months. Jack is a great dog and I would keep him if Wade would let me (he won’t). Wade warned me that he was reaching his limit and Jack needed to go. I contacted my state coordinator and told him if we couldn’t find Jack a home in two weeks, we would need to find a new foster home for him. Well, we found a family that wanted to adopt him. Then they backed out. Then we had two families fighting over Jack – that didn’t go very well. I’m not sure why it got so messed up. Anyway, finally it was decided that Jack would be going to PA and travel would be April 14th. However, my state coordinator only sent the contract yesterday and no arrangements have been made.
Then I got an email from a concerned dog lover. She was visiting dogs at the Greenville Humane Society and found a Brittany Spaniel. She contacted me and I agreed to go pull the dog from the shelter. I was told the dog was a two year old female. Being a little older and female, I convinced Wade to let the dog stay with us for one night and I would find a place to board it the next day till it could go to a foster home. When I got to the Humane Society, I found a 9 month old male dog who weighs 40 pounds. We brought Remington home and it was utter chaos. He wanted to be Alpha dog and terrorized Madison and Jack. We put Remington in the kennel and he barked and whined and barked. He was impossible to control and very strong. I am so thankful for the great foster dogs we have had in the past. I think Remington needs to be an only dog.
Church was full of new visitors today. Partly due to the huge egg drop our church hosted yesterday – 25,000 eggs dropped out of a helicopter. There were also lots of familiar faces. Nate and Michelle were there – we haven’t seen them in about two weeks. I feel like I’m in withdrawal. For a while we saw them every few days. We did go ahead and make plans to get together next weekend after they get back from a nice, relaxing cruise.
After church, Wade and I had Easter lunch with the Wright’s. Their menu was very similar to what my family was having in Kentucky. The important dishes being ham and homemade mac and cheese. We stayed a few hours at their house and then headed home for Sunday afternoon naps.
I was somewhat productive after my nap – a little painting. Wade finished cleaning his office and started making plans for the bookshelves he is going to cut into the wall. I think it will look great when he finishes, but I know there will probably be some painting in this project for me. It never ends…
Wade and I had a long weekend. (I was about to say “his company”, but it is now “our company”.) Our company gives Good Friday as a holiday. Wade also took off Thursday (he has more vacation than I do). We worked on the house! Wade aerated the lawn, seeded new grass, cleaned his office, painted his old entertainment center, worked on the lady’s house I talked about last weekend, and stripped paint off the back door frame. I worked on the back door. You thought we were done with doors, didn’t you? This is the big heavy back door – the one with a lock. We were trying to get it done over the weekend, but that didn’t happen. It turns out the door had to be sanded down to wood. Someone had put the wrong kind of paint on the door so it was cracking and peeling. I spent hours hunched over the door using a heat gun, belt sander, and orbital sander. I finally got the first coat of paint on the door on Saturday evening.
Kendall and James are a couple from our church that live in Greenville. We see them every week at either church or bible study, but we haven’t spent social time with them in ages. We all agreed that a dinner out together would be fun. There is a restaurant in downtown Anderson called Sullivan’s that is very good, but we don’t often go. James had been before and wanted to introduce Kendall to it. We decided on Thursday night. Then it turned out I had to go to dinner with some folks in from Milwaukee for work. Kendall said Tuesday would work so we moved our dinner up a few nights. Then James had to work late. We tried Wednesday, but I had too much work to do that night. Finally – on Friday night we all got together. Dinner was excellent, but the best part about Sullivan’s is the dessert. They have a case full of scrumptious desserts. Between the four of us we had – key lime pie, oreo cheesecake, lemon blueberry cheesecake, and ice cream (Wade of course). Before dinner was over, Wade had gotten Kendall involved in our bathroom redesign. It was a fun evening for all and I am still full!
I posted some pictures of our dogwood trees earlier, but now our azaleas are in full bloom. I love the people who put so much time and effort into this yard. It would never have looked like this if it were up to us.
I know I used to have lots of free time. In fact, I remember days when I was bored. At least, I think I remember those days. Now I don’t seem to have an extra minute in the day. Most of this story is about my job so I’ll start at the beginning – February 2006.
When we were moving from Atlanta to Anderson, Wade’s new boss was very interested in me as a patent agent. I interviewed and he offered me a job with TTI (Wade’s company). In the end, I didn’t take the job because Scientific-Atlanta offered to let me work from home. About October, I knew working from home for Scientific-Atlanta wasn’t going to work. Scientific-Atlanta had only given me one small project since August. I contacted Wade’s company and they were still interested in hiring me. They even flew Wade and me up to Milwaukee so I could meet with the IP department there. However, TTI was getting a new CEO and making some organizational changes so everything was moving very slowly.
In the meantime, I found a job with a Chicago based law firm working from home. The law firm does contract work for the PTO so I was once again searching and writing PCT opinions. This company doesn’t care how much or how little I do. They pay per application, but they have benefits and handle all the taxes. I’m actually really enjoying this work. They are truly set up for contract employees to work from home.
To make a long story, longer. I finally got a call from Wade’s company. They asked me to come in and meet with the head of their HR department and their general counsel. Later that day they called and offered me a job, which I accepted. Now I am back to a full time job and very little time at home. I am really enjoying the job. The company is doing fun things with their IP department.