Antiques Anyone?

We had a good weekend. On Saturday we got up and met the 'rents for brunch at panera and then mom headed out with us as we went looking for antiques in Norwalk, Milan, and Sandusky. As with everything, it was an experience. But we had a good time and found a few things. And believe it or not I think David had more fun than me. With finishing our stairs we've decided we need to "spruce" the area up a bit with pictures, etc. So we've decided to go with a "Sandusky" theme. We're trying to find old photos, prints, and flat memorabilia to put up on the walls. We've found a couple cedar point penants, a sandusky penant, and tons of cool postcards. And we have a large numbered Boeckling print and a print of and map of Sandusky in 1883. So far, so good. As I stated we want old things, not current, and we don't want the whole nautical theme going on. I'm not so much worried about things being worth money as I am just thinking the items are cool. Not to mention, I'd like them to have some form of meaning. Obviously we've already been to most of the antique shops around here and also the follett house and maritime museum, but anyone out there with ideas, we'd love to hear from you. That night we ate at the Roadhouse and then stopped by Kalahari so I could have my carmel apple. It had been awhile since I had one and it just sounded good. Today not much else happened. We traveled to Catawba and Marblehead looking for things and had a small amount of luck that included the items mentioned above. With it being so hot we then just chilled at home. Speaking of the weather, it looks as though we're not going to have a break in it anytime soon. The poor AC...it's workin' overtime! We spent some time with the 'rents this evening and sloopy came over to play and now here I am getting ready for another week of work. Blah! We're going to have a "get together" for our birthday tomorrow...but I don't get off until 7pm, so it won't be that long of an evening. But still we gotta do something on our day. I'm just so tired now and I don't feel like writing so I'm going to bed. Night!

Happy Early Birthday Mom!

Fun Times With Mariachi

Hello Everyone! We're heading into the weekend...just one more day to go. Then it's birhtday weekend! Yep, you guessed it. It's both my mom and my birthday on Monday. Not sure what we're doing this weekend. Probably nothing special. But it's always fun to have a birthday, right? It's about 10pm and I should be heading to bed, but do you ever have those nights you just don't want to go to bed. You want to do something, but not sure what. That's how I feel. I could clean, but that wouldn't be fun. So I figured I'd just sit down and chill at the computer. We had a decent day at work. We got to pin a broken leg in a dog and I got to scrub in for that and assist. Those are always fun. Not to mention huge learning experiences. Looks as though we will have a busy day tomorrow since we already have a few surgeries lined up. Anyway, then we went out to dinner at Casa Real. Tonight was the mariachi band and it was a hoot! We've been wanting to go but have always forgotten and it's usually packed during those nights. Well, this time we remembered and it was still busy but it was fun. The mariachi band traveled around the restaurant singing at tables. And of course they stopped by ours and asked what we'd like to hear. We had no idea what to ask for so we said to surprise us and boy did they! Not exactly sure what they were singing since it was in spanish but the woman who was singing pulled dad out of his seat and had him dancing and twirling in the restaurant! Those are the times you wish you had a camera on you. It's great to have a good laugh every so often. Then you know we had to go to the mall and I got my "pizza slice" cookie from Mrs. Fields. Yum! So much for that "thin" feeling I was having all day. Isn't it amazing how your body can change from day to day. That's just crazy. Oh yeah, and David mowed the lawn today. I was so thankful for that. You see, usually I mow the lawn because I like to work outside and make things look pretty. Plus, you know I have my way of doing things. But recently it's just been overbearing! Sometimes I miss the crappy lawn we had in Michigan...you know the one that was mostly dirt. Didn't have to mow that very often, atleast the backyard. It was half the size too. Anyway, having a decent lawn that's a good size and that was fertilized.....it can take it out of you. Especially when you're working between 10-11 hour days. And I don't want to do it on a Friday night or anything. So the past 2-3 weeks David's definitely helped by mowing and then I'll edge/cut the weeds/etc when I get around to it. I'm very thankful for that.

Can't Think Of A Subject

Don't know what I want to write about today. I just know I want to write. The stairs and landing turned out awesome. We are really pleased with how they look and just everything about them. We love the color too. It's called galvanized but shoot, when I look at it I think of brownie batter. We still have our little touches to add with those things that go between the doorways, etc. But it's basically done. And we got done in great time. We started it Friday morning with me tearing up the carpet on the landing, then David coming home and tearing up the steps. Then that evening we sanded and filled cracks for about 2 hours. The next morning David got off of work about 8:30 and worked until around 11 with sanding the putty and cleaning up. I came home from work and we started painting around 2. Got finished around 6 (slow start due to the crevices). Then came back and put a second coat on at 8. And then we had a late night out. Went to Chili's and Walmart just to get out of the house since we couldn't go upstairs due to the paint. By midnight it was dry enough to walk on. That gave us Sunday to do whatever we wanted. I like little jobs. Don't we all wish they'd go that fast and as smooth? I'm just about done with the summer semester of school. I'm ready for it to be done so I can have a month off (kind of). It's already time to schedule my next set of classes. And since it's online I can basically get all of my info. So once I get my books I can start going. So that's why I say I have a month off kind of. Because you know me. If I can jumpstart and get ahead of everything I feel much better so I don't have to stress every week when assignments are due. By the time things need to be sent in I like to just have my preceptors sign and send it on it's way. I'm still working on my videos too. At this time I've been pricing DVD burners as I just found out the other day my computer can read/write CD's but only read DVD's. Bummer. But I want to get them on DVD so I can take them down to Florida when we go. Oh yeah, I don't know if I ever posted that I'm going to Florida at the end of next month. I'm so excited about it. It's going to be a mini vacation. Mom was planning on going down and decided to call and ask if I wanted to go. I jumped on that since the tickets were cheap....I want to see the rest of the fam...and I just need to get away. I was worried David would be upset as he would want to get out of here too. But he's excited to have the house to himself and not worry about cleaning up after himself, etc. Is that wrong that he wants me out of the house???? Not to mention, that's when Madden comes out so he said he'll be keeping himself busy with that. Time to get ready for work. Great....

More Floor....

I woke up yesterday and decided to pull up the carpet on our landing upstairs. And then David came home and took up the carpeting on the stairs. Before you know it this house won't have any carpet at all. We've been debating whether to pull it up and I had just about had it and decided....now or never. We knew there were hardwood floors underneath but weren't sure what shape they were in. We had pushed around the idea of just painting them and had decided we may regret that in the future so we were planning on doing the whole strip, sand, stain, and poly again. But upon pulling it up they've already been painted. Painting it is. At this time it's been a total relief that they were painted. I really didn't want to do that much work that soon. So last night David sanded them down and I filled the cracks. Today we have to re-sand the putty and then get painting. I'm excited. So far everything has gone quite smooth so that's been nice. We want to do so many things around the house but some of them aren't weekend type of jobs and definitely not financially weekend type jobs if you know what I mean. And most require sanding which is just a pain since it gets everywhere. It's either-try to cover things and it's still messy, or just be messy and wash everything later. I just wish I could sand everything all at once and be done with it. But that would mean having 20 different jobs going at once....not good for the ol' OCD. I remember moving in thinking, "there's not much we have to do." and believe it or not there hasn't been however, we get on these kicks and want to change everything. i.e. the floor. Never was thinking about pulling the carpet up while moving in-at least that soon, it was old though. Then with Lily, and I just got frustrated...so we pulled it up, which then lead to the cat room, and now the stairs and the landing...and you know our bedroom will get done at some point. It's a lot of hardwork but cheaper than recarpeting, especially when you have an animal with IBD, and never know when there may be an accident. Ah well, one more thing to check of the list. Next up, upstairs bathroom vanity and closet, downstairs bathroom walls and closet, cat room walls (probably tearing down paneling), then the dreaded kitchen......paint paneling on lower half of walls, strip and recoat the cabinets, and then hopefully the floor. And we can't forget, we still need to put shoe molding around the baseboards in the downstairs.

My Balloon

I hope this finds everyone well. And I hope you've been enjoying the videos as much as I have had making them. Sorry to inundate you with them. Once I get on a kick with doing something it's hard for me to stop. Especially when I'm teaching myself something. It's all trial and error and that's the way I learn. It's fun. Especially looking at the old video and pictures. I had the day off so I got some cleaning done. I obviously worked on the computer and also went out to Walmart to get a few things. I decided to surprise David with NCAA for his XBox. He was pleased and totally surprised, which makes me happy. He played that for the afternoon after work then we went to Red Robin with the 'rents. While leaving mom grabbed a balloon and started tying a knot in it. She then handed it to me and said, "just for old times sake" So I wore my balloon all night. Including our trip to Old Navy, Marshall's, and the mall. It was so simple yet fun. Even the girl at Old Navy got a kick out of it. She said, "I like the balloon! Is there a special occasion?" I said, "Nah, my mom just wants me to wear the balloon. So I'm wearing the balloon" She laughed and said, "that's cool." Good times. I think dad got annoyed with it in the car though. Too many balloon bonks. Sorry dad! We had a great time and I'm glad my mom gave me the balloon. That's enough for the evening. Ta Ta for now!

Natchez and Jax/Practice With Pinnacle

Natchez and Jax


Just got the Pinnacle setup so I've been messing with it. This is what I've come up with so far....

I'm addicted

I love this photo story program....I think I'm addicted. Now, just trying to figure out the Window Movie Maker.....

Lily's Life With Us

I was playing around on our computer last night and found that we had Photo Story. Figured I'd mess around with it a bit and made this little video. It goes from the time we got Lily to the present. Please be advised that this is my first "video" and it's not perfect. Hope you enjoy!

July 13th

4 Years. It's gone by so fast, yet as I told David, New Orleans seems so far in the past. It's amazing how many things change in four years....how many hairstyles you can have (4), how many locations you can move to and from (4), how many states you can live in (3), how many "kids" you can have (4), how many great times (too many to list), and how many learning experiences together you can have (way too many to list....we learn more and more each day). Although at times it's been hectic, especially when dealing with the military, I wouldn't change anything for the world. If you think about it, it's amazing what can even happen in one year. Just over a year ago we never would have thought we'd be back in Ohio, let alone in our hometown. God definitely keeps things interesting. You just have to learn to hold on and take the ride. I can't wait to see what the next year, next four years, and beyond brings!