One Man's Floor is Another Man's Weekend

Last weekend was one of those rare times when we get a day off for a holiday that requires no action on our part. No baking of class cookies, no purchasing of presents, no preparation of a giant meal or out of town guests. So we decided to celebrate in the way that Home Depot suggests - by putting in a new floor.

Here is the before shot. Notice the slightly pinkish linoleum. What the pictures don't show is the scarring that has come from eight years of living with said linoleum. It was a treat for the eyes, let me tell you.

This renovation idea was all well and dandy until the day before our project started. I got a miserable cold. But in our family, we don't let that kind of thing stop us. So while the cold was killing my nasal passages and stalking Chris, We tore out the unsightly linoleum. There now. Isn't this better?

Then we covered the entire floor with orange wires that promised to keep our cold feet warm even on the worst winter day. 

Then we covered that with some orange junk. Something about uncoupling the tile from the subfloor and independent movement. I'm just the unskilled labor here.

                                      

Finally, Saturday night saw the laying of the first tile. It was considerably later on Saturday night than originally planned and we were both really starting to feel the effects of that darn cold virus. 

Nonetheless, we worked all night. From the placement of this picture, I can tell you that it was about 1:00 a.m.. We worked until 3:30 a.m. when we realized we were officially too stupid with exhaustion to measure tile anymore. I heartily apologize to the next owner of our house in the event they tear out the trim behind the fridge and realize the tile is cut a bit short. I was tired. Mistakes were made. Mostly by me. 

But by Monday night, we once again had a functioning kitchen. This is my favorite moment - the dishwasher being replaced. Let me tell you, after 5 days of cooking on the grill and in the microwave and having to resort to doing dishes in the bathroom sink, this was a beautiful sight.     

                                

And then we were done. Kind of. There's still a bit of trim work for us to do. And by "us" I mean "Chris". I am after all banned from caulk products since the Harney Street bathtub incident of 2004. But we won't talk of that.

Here's our lovely new travertine floor with a marble medallion. (And by the way, those orange wires under the floor are delightful).

Thanks, Chris for an adventure in tiling. Also, thanks for making everything an adventure.

A Chilling Tale

This past weekend requires documenting. Unfortunately, the only pictures that exist are a couple of overly backlit cameraphone shots that could be either of us or bigfoot. It's impossible to tell.

Chris and I like to get away for our anniversaries. Even if it's only one night. Even if it's two weeks after the fact. This year, we found ourselves more stressed out than usual. I was long on work and short on vacation time. The prospect of driving 450 miles to get away for 36 hours seemed a bit daunting. We almost decided not to go this year. But we did it anyway. Why? Because it's important. Because we have the kind of marriage that's worth putting effort into.

We dropped off the kids with my parents (thank you so much Mom and Dad! We owe you BIG!) and went to Salt Lake. We froze our butts off in single digit temperatures trying to catch some of the downtown ambiance. We drank not one, but two, hot chocolates within an hour so that we didn't die of hypothermia. We ran to our dinner reservation after we discovered that running restored blood to our limbs. We ate over-hyped mediocre yet trendy food while we laughed at the uppity couple sitting next to us. We finally gave in to the demands of our frozen fingertips and noses and drove to a movie that was less than a mile away. We end-of-season clearance shopped our hearts out on the way back to RS and we ate a number of Mrs. Field's cookies which shall remain undisclosed.

We had a fantastic time. Thank you Chris for being the kind of person that makes every trip to the outlet stores and every meatloaf sandwich an experience worth remembering for the rest of my life. I love you!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

Welcome to my Christmas post. I'm always struggling between staying positive in my posts and having a realistic record of our lives. After all, I don't journal or scrapbook. My kids don't even have baby books (gasp!). So, this blog is it. That having been said, I will always remember this year as the one where I was mostly absent from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It's one thing to work a little extra, it's completely another to have your boss' boss tell your boss one week before Christmas (about projects that were already fast-tracked and already causing you to stay late every day) that three projects "WILL be done by Friday".

I think I saw my kids a grand total of about two hours last week, and most of that was trying to get them out the door in the morning. I sang "Sweet Baby Jane" and said goodnight over the phone most nights. Other nights, I prolonged Chris' hectic day by asking him to keep the kids up just a little while longer so I could say good night in person. Last week was miserable and I fear it will repeat itself soon if things don't change at work. 

The one silver lining to this cloud is that the Governor, in a last minute act of unexpected charity, gave us Christmas Eve off. This hasn't happened for years, and may not happen again for awhile, so we decided to make the most of it.

The day before Christmas Eve started with church

And ended with a trip to my folks' house for dinner and opening of "a couple small gifts"

On Christmas Eve, Emily helped me with baking both Jesus' Birthday Cake (It's our tradition to replace cookies and milk for Santa, since our kids don't believe in the bearded guy) and dessert for Christmas dinner. 

The finished product:

After enjoying some Christmas eve sandwiches

we indulged in Jesus' Birthday Cake (no - we don't sing "Happy Birthday". That would be weird)

Then we let the kids' open their one gift on Christmas eve which is ALWAYS pajamas and yet, somehow, ALWAYS a surprise. This continues to baffle me. But who am I to squash their excitement?

They got bathed and pajama'd up. 

and we went out to see lights. 

in our very own.... drumroll.... Christmas eve snowstorm! 

How cool is that? Chris was especially excited to hear his favorite electronica rendition of "Carol of the Bells".  

Then the children got all nestled snug in their beds (what was I saying about this blog not being sugar coated? I guess it just went out the window) and Chris and I hauled out the loot. 

That's a lot of stuff, folks. 

The next morning we woke up to 

                                 

a white Christmas!

                                  

Jane's big present was a table and chairs. 

Emily's big present was an ipod. We have since learned that this device may herald the end of her ever hearing another word we say. We have started to institute rules about when and where headphones are appropriate. I sense many more rules to come.

Chris got me a beautiful diamond necklace and for those of you who were wondering what the last gift on my list ended up being - it was luggage for Chris. 

The loot was as plentiful as the girls' enjoyment of the morning. 

Then, since we had both snow and a new sled, we had an opportunity for a Christmas morning moment that made Norman Rockwell wish he could come back to life just so he could properly capture it. My camera will have to do. 

(it was both excessively cold as well as excessively difficult to take pictures with gloves on)

Then we headed home for some hot chocolate and some time with our Christmas presents. Also for a workout which did not turn out well on account of the Christmas overindulgences. There I go again with the honesty. Workout nausea aside, it was a fantastic Christmas. One that set the bar high for next year. 

A Post for the End of the World

Today is our 12th anniversary. On account of the world ending today, it could very well be our last. But barring the end of the world, I hope we will have many more to come.

I am so glad Chris and I found each other because otherwise, we would just be two people who never had anyone to laugh at their respective jokes.

Happy Anniversary, Chris! I love you!

What's Crackin'?

Last night, Emily and I got to enjoy a production of the Nutcracker.

Before the show, we went to Olive Garden. Unfortunately so did every other mommy/daughter duo who went to the Nutcracker last night (at least it seemed that way) and so we were almost late to the performance.

Luckily we made it on time. 

The performance was amazing (unlike my camera phone. My apologies) and Emily loved every minute of it. At one point, she said, "Mom, this is the best night of my life". 

I am looking forward to the day when Jane is responsible enough to sit through a performance of the like, but it was lovely to be able to spend some time with my big girl last night.

Four of One, a Third of a Dozen of Another

Jane had her 4th birthday this past week. In lieu of a party we did a special day for Jane. This could be the last year I can get away with this, so I really savored the freedom of not doing a kid party. 

We drove an hour south and went to Jumpin'. Which is wall-to-wall bouncy houses. Jane was a bit intrepid at first, but eventually was able to join in the jumpin' fun.

After that, we went to Build-A-Bear (note: if you happen to go to Build-A-Bear in December on a Saturday, plan at least an extra hour into your schedule for standing in line. Also, pack snacks and water for your kids so they don't have meltdowns in said line.)

In the end, it was all worth it. Meet Lucy and Chuck the Girl. Lucy is the one sporting skinny jeans and Ugg boots. Chuck the Girl is modeling a lovely pair of heels. 

After the Build-A-Bear expedition, we needed sustenance. Jane chose Carrino's. 

When I asked Jane what she wanted for her birthday cake, she said "pink cupcakes". I said I would make some pink frosting and asked her what kind of cake she wanted under the frosting. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "pink cake". So... pink cupcakes with pink frosting it was. 

Then she got some loot. 

Happy 4th birthday, Jane! (And a big shout-out to Chris who really helped with all the birthday stuff this year on account of the sick joke involving huge amounts of stress and time going on at my workplace right now)

Big Cookies, Bright Lights

Let me get this out of the way: I love Christmas with small children. That having been said, Christmas with small children is exhausting. This situation has not been helped by my transfer into a squad that is working mandatory overtime on eight projects. Still, because I have a great husband, Christmas traditions have not been neglected... much.

This year, we actually decorated our house.

Here is Chris doing some of the lighting work while Emily keeps him entertained with tales of that crazy llama.

And we have a tree. I think we'll do a live tree as long as Christmas is magic for the kids. When it stops being magic, I have my eye on one of those shiny foil trees from Charlie Brown Christmas. Preferably with a rotating stand. 

But for now, I wouldn't skip the piney smell for anything. It makes all of this better:

In our family, we have a tradition of having a special ornament every year that represents something we did or experienced. It makes decorating the tree even more fun when you remember where each special ornament came from. This year's ornament was from our Disneyland vacation. When I look at that magical glow, I almost forget the incident in the line for Peter Pan. Almost.

The finished product, decorated mostly by children:

And, because the kids asked, and asked, and asked, we decorated sugar cookies this year. My back is aching and it only took approximately three hours to produce cutouts and frosting (which, to be fair, included making and decorating Jane's birthday cookies for preschool) but it was totally worth it to allow my kids the magic of Christmas sugar cookie decorating.

The sprinkles stayed in the cupboard for two reasons:

1) We already had a frosting mess to clean up and I wasn't about to add sprinkles to the party, and

2) M&M's are one of the most delicious foods on earth AND they serve as lovely tree ornaments as well as Rudolf noses. 

Argue with that.

Thanks to ample help from Chris, the magic of Christmas is alive and well. Now if only I could figure out that last gift on my list. If you happen to be a young father/professional/gamer/techie/bigfoot enthusiast (or are tuned into the needs of such) please leave suggestions in the comment section.