Summer Escape

Pacific Beach - WA

Aw, the summer escape to Washington! So nice to have a week of no responsibility, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. And last but not least, a week with no hot weather.  A trip to Seattle, time to visit with Megan and Alex, lunch, Deseret Book, a lesson on the wonders of aphids in the temple parking lot, and a trip to the beach made for wonderful memories. Relaxing with Larry and Melba was especially nice. I think this should be a yearly ritual!

French Check

Work continues on the house. I have removed all the wallpaper in the dining room except for the border on one wall which refuses to budge, and I have been scrubbing the walls in the living room in preparation for painting. 

In case you were wondering, no paint selection has been made yet. The rug has to come first.  But I'm getting closer. I finally fell in love with a rug for the living room. And it is typical "Diane unique"(or maybe I should use the word "quirky")!! It is called "French Check" by Karastan. There will be a 10x14 in the main part of the living room and a 5x8 over by the piano. Then, of course, I'll need new furniture!

Chilling in the Hot Summer Sun

After having a wonderful time with relatives, especially kids, Cindy is relaxing and trying to beat the heat that arrived yesterday!

The Igloo

Tonight Sean and I went to MaRoo's for dinner where they specialize in Japanese and Korean cuisine. We go there for the Japanese food; sushi for Sean, tempura and soft shell crab roll for me. But it was the dessert I ordered that was the hit this evening.  The Igloo. Our waitress described it as a vanilla ice cream center surrounded by fruit cocktail, red beans, and an icy slush.  Sean dubbed it "the towering inferno!" We had to be shown how to eat it.  You take the serving spoon, break down the tower portion, and then mix the whole thing together.  It was delicious! The blend of flavors and textures was wonderful! It could have served four people, so unfortunately it did not all get eaten.  But it was well worth the risk of ordering the unknown menu item.

Floor Photos

The hardwood floors are finally finished!  And they look wonderful!  Already the house looks more updated and definitely cleaner.  Photos below....

Living Room showing walnut border.

Living Room at bay window.

Living Room showing entry on left.

Living Room corner.

Sean's Office

The Work Begins 2

No, I'm not talking wallpaper removal. I actually started a new job today. And, as it turns out, it is quite perfect for me right now. From 10:45am to 2:15pm every day I work as an instructional assistant in a functional special education classroom at a middle school. Other than one disruption, which was handled by another assistant, the day was quite pleasant and enjoyable. We did art, lunch, walked to the city library to check out books, reviewed the recipe we will be cooking tomorrow, and then a few end of day routine activities. Now that's the kind of job I like!

The Work Begins

Sean's future office

Let the wallpaper stripping begin!  Escrow closed on Wednesday, and Thursday I was over stripping the walls of Sean's soon-to-be office. Good place to start....all wallpaper including backing pulled off in entire strips at a time. Saturday, Sean and I started in on the living room.  All walls except one had been painted over the wallpaper. Not quite as easy as the office but the surface of the wallpaper stripped off easily. Now we just have to strip off the backing, which will require some tedious, patient scraping.  We are trying to get as much wallpaper stripped and walls patched as possible before we have the hardwood floors refinished. One thing at a time!

Valentine's Day and Pizza

I learned a valuable lesson today. Do NOT plan on pizza for dinner on Valentine's Day. After numerous calls to Me 'n Ed's Pizza only to get a busy signal each time, I decided to drive the five blocks and place my order in person so I could inform them their phone was off the hook. As I'm walking out the door, Sean so kindly tells me to look into the store before I enter because having the phone off the hook is a tactic used by burglars when holding up a store. I assured him I would and we agreed we've been watching too many "Criminal Minds" episodes! 

Come to find out, Valentine's Day is one of the busiest days of the year for pizza. Who would have guessed? Not me. I knew I was in for a wait when I saw the delivery kid balancing ten pizzas in his arms on the way to his car. I entered, without looking through the window, and stepped into a mad house. My guess is every Me 'n Ed's Pizza employee was working tonight.  Needless to say, I placed my order and went back home to wait my turn. I returned 45 minutes later and retrieved our dinner. Tonight it was worth the wait....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

At Last!

After all the searching, we finally have a house in escrow!