Mystery Date

Last month, C sent me an invitation to join him on a "Mystery Date." I knew nothing but the day on which it would occur. Yesterday was the day I'd been waiting for.

After a nice breakfast, C told me that we would need to clean our guest room as we had a dog sitter coming and that I should pack an overnight bag. The bag was the easier of the two tasks. After a couple of questions to determine formal or casual, indoor or out, I was all set. Then came the guest room.

Since September we have been piling parts and pieces for the new bathroom in there. Not to mention scraps from Chrismas, overnight bags from weekend trips, and the pile of dry cleaning I'd yet to deal with. I think the preasure of knowing someone was coming so soon was exactly what we needed to sort through all of the stuff.

House in order and bags packed we headed off. A quick stop at the cleaners and Goodwill, and then on to I-84 east bound. Skamnia Lodge? Maryhill Vineyard? My mind was wondering where we could be heading. C pulled off the road at Multnomah Falls. It was lovely, as usual. Before we could get out of the car he turned it around and headed back to town. Where were we going???

Just off I-84 in Corbett sits the View Point Inn (www.theviewpointinn.com). He had arranged for us to stay in the suite, and made dinner reservations. The view from our room was spectactular! There was an amazing sunset, glowing red, over the Columbia River. We had a roaring fire in the fireplace, sipped wine, and completely relaxed. This morning we enjoyed brunch, again taking in the view of the Gorge, before made the 15 minute drive home.

It was a fantastic suprise, and a place I'm sure we will go to again. To all my Portland friends, check this place out! Great for Mother's Day brunch, watching 4th of July fireworks, or for a surprise date with your special someone.

Tying up loose projects...

Our sheet rocker (Alternative Drywall, 503-504-8968) was out last weekend to take a look at our project. While they aren't available until March, we agree that a good contractor is worth the wait.

Rather than sit idle between now and the completion of the sheet rock I started thinking about what projects we have around the house sitting untouched. I'm realizing that my/our follow through has been somewhat lacking. Case in point, our floors. They were finished November '06, and we've yet to complete the trim. It drives us both crazy, and yet we've seemed to have lived with it this long. But, no more! We will get it done.

Then there is the ceiling in the office. It has a big spot which remains unpainted from when C moved the closet. Again, this has been sitting since Nov. '06. Twice I have taken time off of work to complete this project, yet the primer remains.

I don't usually consider myself a slacker, but I can't come up with any reason as to why I haven't completed these projects. We've got at least four weeks until we can move on to the next phase in the bathroom/utility room. I hope that in that time I can get some stuff done.

Bring in the sheetrock!

It is official, we are ready for the sheetrock! The bathroom/utility room project looks pretty much the same. Regardless, we've hit a major milestone ... we're ready for sheetrock. This also means that our tools have been put away, and we've cleaned up the space.

I took the liberty of doing a couple of quick floorplans to give you an idea of the transformation.

Before:


After:


I'll have new pictures as soon as we have walls. Here's hoping it is soon!!

Destractions

I've been a slack of a blogger lately. It has been nearly a month since I've posted anything dispite the best of intensions. While I've not made time to write, I have captured 35 stars in Super Mario Galaxy, each getting me one step closer to saving Princess Peach.

By way of catching you up to date:

We had a wonderful gathering of ugly sweaters


New Years included the best hat of all time!


We just spent a lovely weekend in Eugene, catching up with many friends and leaving Rocko to wear himself out on a 2-day play date.


The bathroom/utility room project is progressing. It doesn't look much different, dispite the numerous hours spent in there. The HVAC has been re-routed, the electrical is finished, and all the walls are framed. We are getting closer to calling in the sheetrockers, which is when the change will really start to show.

Bathroom Update

After much delay and a number of discussions with the business owner, the plumbers (American Plumbing Services) finally finished up 2 weeks ago. Since then, we've took a little break to retreat to the coast and hosted a holiday sweater party (watch for the upcoming post and associated pictures). The work on the bathroom does continue, albeit at a slow pace. To say that we have run out of steam is an understatement! Regardless, progress is being made.




















The above picture shows the framing for the wall that will separate the bathroom from the utility room, the pocket door neatly stashed in it's pocket, and the white oval on the wall is the interior of the medicine cabinet. The area on the right, with the pocket door, is the shower stall, and the toilet and closet will be to the left of the vanity/medicine cabinet.


The above picture is of the shower as it currently stands. The Wonder Board is up, and awaiting tile. We picked out a great glass mini-subway tile in greens and browns for the accent tile while the majority of the shower will be a white ceramic subway tile. We have a lot of work to do before we lay any tile, but I'm trying to keep the goal in mind.

Re-post: Home Depot Contest

If I had enough guts, I would do this myself.

Please take a moment to help my friends Julio & Stephanie. They are awesome, and completely deserve a killer prize

Here is their blog posting:

Have you heard about the Home Depot $25,000 Holiday Gift Card Contest?

Do-it-yourselfers are currently posting videos on You Tube showcasing home improvement projects in dire need of attention. On December 17, a winning entry will be chosen, and Home Depot will award some lucky homeowner with a $25,000 Home Depot Gift Card.

What can we say? We couldn’t resist! So, if you haven’t already submitted an entry of your own, we’d love it if you would click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mr6WrO-ADA

View count accounts for 20 percent of the points awarded to each submission, so we really need to get as many people as we can to watch our little video as soon as possible because the contest ends this weekend. If you’re a horror movie fan, you may even get a chuckle from our submission. We can pretty much guarantee that our entry is one of a kind.

Thanks in advance for watching!

November 26

C and I were fast asleep during the early morning hours of November 26th when I heard a few tones coming from somewhere in the house. I stirred and drifted off again. The tones returned. They were familiar, but distant and slow coming.

"What is that?" I said, trying to place the tune, and figure out why I was hearing it at 4:30am.

"I don't know." C responded.

"But you do hear it?!" I asked, seeking confirmation of my sanity

"Um-hmm" He drifted

I recognized it! It was Edelweiss playing from my childhood music box, which had been my Mother's before mine. It resides in our office, on a shelf along with her ashes and a few other special belongings of hers which I chose to keep.

I sprang from bed and hurried down the hall to quiet it, and to try to make sense of why it was playing when it hadn't been wound in years. Had the cat knocked it over? Was a shelf falling down?

Once in the office, I saw that all was in perfect order. The music box sat undisturbed. I opened it, expecting to see the gears spinning as they do when it is winding down. It was still. No sign of movement to explain its tune. All that was left to do was accept the unexplainable, and say "Hello Mom."