Post #40

Wow! Here I was going to write stuff about what we've been up to this last week, and low and behold-I read that this would be Post #40. When I started this blog, is was November or December of last year. I was in our rental house on South Whidbey, surrounded by boxes, and I believe it was past midnight-so I had no business being on the computer. We were literally about to move, I was in the process of packing, cleaning, finishing up with Mac's Football (I was Team Mom amongst other things), found a house, signing papers and basically running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. What possesed me to start a blog was beyond me. I didn't have a digital camera to download pics of my family (yes, a pic of me is missing-I know), I didn't have anything profound to write about. I decided it would be like a Scrapbook for our family, and to stay close to friends & family members who live far away-or not so far away. I didn't tell anyone about the blog for several months, because I really wasn't doing anything with it. It was just out there in internet land-simply existing.
With help from my friend Becky from The Cornwalls-she tagged me, and that's all it took for me to get hooked. Armed with a Digital Camera and stuff that is in my head (this can be a scarry place to be), my family are the primary targets for who knows what, and them wondering "is this going to end up on the blog"? Mac now says "is this going to be on your blog"? or "look out! Mom's got the camera out and you will end up on the blog"! I took a picture of my Dad at Halloween, and he is suprised that his picture hasn't ended up on my blog yet (he did ask).
I have surfed the internet and there are hundreds of blogs with different subjects. I worked retail for 11 years-and have 11 years of interesting tales to tell. The thought of starting a blog with my stories has crossed my mind. Working high end retail brings in people from all walks of life. I recently told a friend of mine about a time when a drug addict who was a size 2 was trying to return some bras she had stolen. The bras were a size 44 DDD and she was a size 32 A. If anyone is interested in the story.....let me know.

Happy 13th Birthday Mac! 13 Things We Love About You.

1. You would rather spend time with your Dad and Family than do something with your friends.
2. You Love Football, and begged your Mom to play for 3 years before she said yes.
3. You are compassionate. When you were 9, you thought that someone should turn an old building you saw into a place for homeless people to go.

4. You work hard. You have Dyslexia like your Mom, and worked really hard on improving your reading skills to keep up with your classmates. You also work hard when you work with your Dad.
5. You are patient. Refer to #1 for an example.
6. You make friends easily and are a sociable kid.

7. When you were 5 years old, we went to a fancy restaurant and said "I think I will have shrimp for dinner". You still like shrimp, and steak, and pizza.

8. You are polite and you have manners-apparently you do use your manners out in public, and for that I am grateful.

9. You are flexible, easy going, and are willing to "go with the flow" of life.

10. You easily accept change. We have moved around alot, and you never complained.

11. You LOVE Science and like to watch things blow up. You like to watch Mythbusters to see how things work, and to watch things blow up.

12. You are a very good big brother. When you were 6 and Mason was a baby, I needed to take a shower, and put him in the swing for you to "watch him". You were watching cartoons, and felt Mason needed to watch them too. You moved his swing into the same direction as the T.V. and did this successfully, without getting his oxygen tube caught under the swing and kept his feeding machine upright. I was shocked when I got out of the shower- 10 minutes later.

13. You are an all around good kid. When you go on Scouting trips, or stay at friends houses, I am always told what a good kid you are, and never cause problems.

We are proud of you Mac! I can't believe you are a Teenager, and am shocked that you are 13. Where did the time go? It doesn't seem like 13 years, but I guess it is. Happy Birthday!!

I found them! Spec House Pics

So....I was looking around in Lee's office to find the disks for my scanner, so I can actually use it. I didn't find them, but I did find another disk. It was a disk that Lee made over the summer when he emptied out the Memory Card from our Camcorder/Digital Camera. The disk said "Spec House Pics"-so, here is the house, that consumed us for about a year )the end of 2006-early summer 2007). We were so blessed that the house sold in less than a month. We know we are blessed, and we say that everytime we talk about it. When I went back to S. Whidbey a few weeks ago to see Mason's Pediatrician, I saw homes that are still on the market-that have been ON THE MARKET since before we broke ground, while we were building, and of course after, and now.
The building lot for this house was small and challenging. Our options were to build a 1 level house that was under 1,000 sq feet , or a 2 story. Either way, we were looking at building a house without a garage, because of how the lot was. Building a new house, without a Garage and/or a Master Suite in this day and age is almost unacceptable-and would not sell. So, while I was browsing through some home plan books, I came across this one and asked Lee if this house was possible. It is 3 stories. The lower level is the Garage, with some storage space. Second level is the Living Room (with a 2 story ceiling), Family Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Powder Room, and Laundry Room. The third level had the Master Bed/Bath, second bedroom, "office" or third bedroom, and another full bathroom. It also had a linen closet, which Lee said there was no space or room for-but low and behold, he found space after he framed it.

The front of the house. Notice the shingles-I stained each and every one of them by hand. All of them. The 2 decks on the left-the lower one is off the Family Room and the upper one is off the Master Bedroom. There was a veiw of the water from the deck and bedroom.

We put in Bamboo Flooring. It was very inexpensive to put in, and it came pre-finished. It was beautiful after Lee installed it. It was in the whole main floor level-except the Powder Room and Laundry Room-Lee intalled Tile in those 2 rooms.

The Master Bath corner tub. Lee tiled the tub area, and the floor. When I tell people Lee can do everything, I'm not exaggerating. He has to sub-contract the plumbing and electrical because he's not licensed to do that....but he can and has on a few occasions.

The double vanity sink in the Master Bath. There is also a separate shower in there, and a toilet room as well, but I'll spare you of those.

The living room windows-that I took from upstairs. You can see the loving room below from where I was standing. I accidentally put this pic on here, I couldn't delete it-does anyone know how?

Experiancing some technical difficulty. The pic below is the Master Bath from the doorway. I couldn't flip it around or delete it. Just turn your head (or laptop) and you can see the tile floor.

This is the fireplace in the Living Room. Lee, tiled it as well. He left room on the left for someone to place a T.V. in there, or bookshelves.

This is the Dining Room area, that is off of the Kitchen. There is a sliding glass door that goes to the back yard. It doesn't look like it, but it's a bigger space than it looks.

Below, the Kitchen. It has Maple Cabinets, we were able to put an Island in it. It is a nice size Kitchen, with plenty of space to work in.

The back of the house. The long narrow window is the stairwell. It let in alot of light into the house. The little back door on the right went into a little hallway where the laundry room was on one side and the powder room was on the other.

The retaining wall in the driveway-with a little fence thing built on top of it. The fence thing was a code issue. Someone could fall off the top part (which is the front yard) and hurt themselves. The little red head boy got in the way. He wanted his picture taken.......

so I did. And he left me alone. This is a really cute pic of him though. If I don't say so myself.

A close up of the shingles I stained. I don't know how many I stained, but it was alot. We have some left over.

Thanks for humoring me. Now all of you know what Lee does for a living. And I help him out a little.

Go Vote!

As I said in my previous post, Lee and I voted absentee last Friday. It was nice to be able to sit and get it done before today.
As I was reading some posts of my friends this morning, I am really glad we don't have a "land line" or a real telephone. We have our Cell Phones. My friends have been getting phone calls from Obama & other people who are running for Governor, or whatever. The other day, Lee said he recieved a phone call from Michelle Obama, asking him to vote for her husband. He thought he was safe from all of those phone calls. I however, haven't recieved any calls-which I am grateful for. We were shopping the other day, and the cashier asked Lee for his phone number, and he gave IT TO THEM! I couldn't believe it! So I said "Now I know how Michelle Obama got your phone number". He just looked at me and nodded is head.
I really have nothing profound to say today. But I will say this...if you don't like what is going on with our country, if you think our country needs a "change"-then go out an vote. Otherwise, stop complaining. I found it funny that with all of the griping, complaining, and protesting people did 4 years ago-that Bush still won.

We Voted!

Lee and I are absentee voters. Actually, I think our whole county is. I started voting absentee after I had Mac. I had him on a Monday, we were voting for something (not a presidential year) on Tuesday, and I was still in the hospital with Mac on voting day. It bugged me that I couldn't vote because of circumstances out of my control.
It's been nice to be able to sit down, look things over, and be able to think about what you are voting for.
Lee and I sat down, discussed initiatives and people and filled out our ballots. I then took them to an official drop off place-where we can drop off our ballots, instead of mailing them through the Post Office.
I can't wait for this election year to be over. I think I'm looking forward to it more than most years. I'm so sick and tired of watching T.V. and seeing negative ads. I am thankful more than ever for our DVR-so we can bypass that stuff. I'm not going to get political or push my views onto anyone. I am grateful that I can vote, I am grateful that Lee and I share the same views and that we are not a "house divided", and that my voice will be heard through the voting process.