Half Time

Mid Winter Break is half over. Yipes!

Yesterday I spent some time in Tacoma painting the interior of the house I posted about Tuesday. A little cleaning and some paint does wonders to thrashed trim and walls. Instant gratification!

Today's agenda includes activities much different than down and dirty painting. I am meeting a friend and a few of her family members for brunch. Then we are going to meet baby Jack (a mutual friend had a baby a few weeks ago). Finally, I am going wedding dress shopping with a friend! She is getting married in July and is ready to venture out to look at dresses. Good times!

Tomorrow I have a meeting for RELAY for LIFE. I am a co-captain for "Mara's Team". Mara is a student at Arthur Jacobsen with a brain stem glioma, which is a brain tumor in the brain stem. She is an AMAZING little girl with an AMAZING amount of spirit for life! Check out her website at: www.maraadams.com

Lastly, it is quite nice to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning before I have to really "get going." Today's coffee break was sponsored by Amy and Travis! They brought us whole bean coffee from Hawaii. Much better than yesterday's Albertson's brand! Thinking of you as I indulge in the fresh ground coffee!

Ahhhh.....this is where our time goes!

Ahhhh.....this is where our time goes! This past Saturday we worked all day at this house. We have spent much of our time hauling out garbage....and we aren't talking a few bags. We estimate about 10,000 pounds of garbage! The house was full, the yard was full, garbage and stuff everywhere! Anyway, we are now on the more fun part of this project. (I call painting, repairing, cleaning, etc. "fun" after hauling out some very heavy and sometimes nasty garbage.) I will continue to search for our "before" photos to show you how much we really have accomplished.

Bathroom

There is a claw foot tub, an unusable toilet and I'm not sure about the sink. Pretty much a blank slate at this point.

Bedroom #1

We took out all the hardwood flooring in this room. Some of it had water damage. We are going to use what we took out to repair some damaged spots in the living room and dining room area. This was a DIRTY and tedeous job.

Dining Room

As you can see there are some areas on the floor that need to be replaced. We are going for the "rustic" and "character" look when we are done. We will replace some of the flooring and then stain the entire floor with a darker stain.

Living Room

This room isn't too bad. Again, we will replace any flooring that needs to be and then stain it a dark color.

2.10.08

Last night I had dinner with four others from my Master's class. We dined in Mill Creek, WA at Azul's. Both food and drinks were tasty. Of course the company was spectacular, too! Last month we did the same thing, dinner, conversation and then dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. I had the same dinner as last month: a salmon BLT sandwich. Now, I was hesitant last month, but did not even have to THINK about what I wanted this time. It is a delicious sandwich.

Today we are headed to work on one of the properties. Our plan is to tear out some wood flooring in two bedrooms. There has been water damage, so it needs to come out. We are going to use the wood we tear out to repair the wood floors in the dining room and living room. With my striped long underwear on, pocket warmers ready to go, and a cup of coffee, I am ready to go! (Well, kinda!)

February Happenings

Let me break it down....

• Spent a week on crutches because of my sprained ankle (see previous posting for details). It was difficult getting around my classroom, but my kids were super helpful. I am still very cautious of my ankle and I am still experiences pain when it moves the wrong way.
• Another Master's class is DONE! I still have a paper to write, but another weekend of meeting is DONE! Graduation is getting closer!
• I am shocked that the school year is half over...this week I got out our second reading book (2 of 2). This means we are getting closer to the end of the school year. Keep in mind we still have two, week long breaks ahead of us. Yes! I am not too anxious as I have an AMAZING class this year.
• In July, in between my Master's classes, I am going to FRANCE! I am going for 2 1/2 weeks with a teacher from my school. We call each other "sis" because we are very much alike. She laughs since she has a son my age. Anyway, her flattering offer for me to join her, her husband and a group of college students caught me off guard. I am SO excited!
• My gall bladder surgery is scheduled for March. Looking forward to some relief.
• All next week we will be movin' and groovin' with the dance dude at school. Friday night will be our first school dance. Should be a blast!

Whew!