The Holiday Hangover

Mr. Price and I have been hanging out and doing next-to-nothing for the past several days and it has been fantastic! We've run errands, gone to the theater and coffee shops, gone on lunch and dinner dates and have been generally connected at the hip. We did *finally* see the movie The Hangover - and it was hilarious. The pinnacle of each day has come along with the mailman delivering the day's supply of Christmas Cards... for which I have a mini-ritual-of-sorts for opening and hanging on the card curtain.

I've been completely off the communication grid for almost two weeks now! No email, no facebook, no anything-online... very limited phone (i keep leaving it upstairs and not checking it for days at a time). It's been one part weird and one part reprieve. However, i'm back to it this afternoon and enjoying it - glad to be catching up again.

Despite the fact that there has been little to NO partying in the line-up for me... i have been feeling progressively more and more hungover. However, with fewer weeks until delivery than innings in a baseball game - I'll just have to suck it up and deal. I am thrilled to report that in this morning's check-up I got some brilliant meds that should help with the seemingly never ending hangover (from the party I didn't get to enjoy) symptoms that continue to pile up. Even more good news: I'll get a cute little baby for my efforts ;)

One of the things I have done with Mr. Price is that we have set up our computers battleship-style and I've started sorting through the year's pictures(which is no simple undertaking). My hard drive is full, so I need to clear out a few more gigs before I can download the current pics on my camera. But as soon as I do, I'll get some pics on here of the recent holiday happenings. MAYBE I'll even do it before the year comes to a close!? Actually, on second thought, don't drink to that just yet -- unless, of course, it's hot chocolate. In which case... bottoms up, buttercup! I'm on my 4th cup today. Cheers.

Friday before

I finally got around to (or rather, realized I hadn't yet) updated the blog playlist to the christmas list. Better late than never!

Today is the last day in the office and I will soon start some serious Xmas shopping to make up for lost time (too many nights until 8pm at the office lately). YAY for Christmas being in full force. =)

Cookiethon 2009

I literally just asked mr price if he thought I should make a pound
cake. He had to ask if I was serious.

I was...

Cards

So, i feel like I took a bit of shortcut this year with the Xmas cards. Instead of taking real creative photo or taking my own original design to a printer as I've done in the past, a co-worker had a coupon and offered it to me AND to pick mine up when she got hers (!) which, on top of the deadline that this then imposed... Meant I'd actually get then done and in the mail (which I was starting to doubt I would accomplish).

But they are done and in the mail today, which is a good feeling. Especially after last year's christmas card debacle.

Sent from my iPhone

Snow, cont

In case you can't see the snow from the last picture, here is my view
right now- sitting T the dinning room table- looking out the back
door - watching snow fall and listening to Charlie Brown Christmas. To
complete the experience, I will now go make some chai. Happy Holidays
from Austin, TX

It's snowing!!

Yay! Yes, I recognize it is but a few tiny flurries, but even this
much is typically an every-other year occurance for us and so it is a
big deal.

Hometown Hero

Best post-game interview answer EVER!!

Reporter: And for those people, Vince, who questioned whether or not you could still play at this level in the NFL and be consistent... what is your answer to them? (to this question, i am recoiling, annoyed and kinda wanting to give the reporter a sharp elbow to the stomach, or maybe stomp on her toe)
Vince: (after half a pause, looks straight into the camera and with a giant grin) I love y'all, too! ha ha ha {turns and runs off to hug old friends on the other team)

I love Vince Young. After all these years, he's still an incredible player, full of determination, fun to watch and I just want to hug him! =)

I have never really liked Pro football, always felt like something about it just seems glitzy and over-done that doesn't fit the essense of 'football'; anyway, all my sports energy is poured into College Football. However, I think I might start watching and cheering for the Titans. It's just like the old days. Turns out, you can go home. =)

Right here, right now

These are the things on my mind right now on this lovey rainy morning where i've been so fortunate to work from my kitchen table (and yes, in my pajamas). When not on the VP's WW Town Hall meeting or plowing through emails and fielding urgent work calls to my cellie, i took a couple moments to peel an orange, watch the rain fall and listen to "Dear Mr. Fantasy" off the blog. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Here's what's on my mind:

1) Peeling oranges. Turns out, I love peeling oranges. seriously. always have. never really appreciated this until earlier this week when a co-worker seemingly went bonkers at seeing me peel an orange, belaboring how much she *hates* peeling oranges. Didn't know you could hate it; I enjoy it quite a bit. it's fun to punch my nail into the peel, it smells so good when that delicious orange oil squirts out and then the gratification of scratching off the bits of rind that remain... you get the picture

2) I had the funniest dream last night that keeps replaying scenes in my mind. Mainly that the shorty came along (which in the dream we knew exactly how early he'd arrived) but i realized that i couldn't remember what labor was like -- so that was good-- and he was okay, even if three months early - and then i was holding him and he was a sweet fluffy grey kitty. We were SO excited and SO in love with the little furry fella. =)

okay. that's all i got for now. happy friday, friends!

Talkin' Chai

Did I ever share how to make Chai from scratch? It is so super delicious; and I don't know if it is in spite of or because of the 5-8 minute effort over the stove that it is such a treat. I learned how from my wonderful Indian friends almost two years ago now.

Yesterday we went to Juanita and Frank's 70th Wedding Anniversary (you don't attend a "Platinum Anniversary" Celebration every day) -- more on that later -- and I think being around Juanita inspired me to make something with a little extra effort this morning. And OH was it worth it.

So here's how to make your own Chai at home as I learned it from Mita -and in the spirit of a Juanita recipe, I don't have exact measurements, just a general guide. Anyway, and all the best recipes seem to come that way:
-Start by measuring out your water to approximately how many glasses you intend to serve (for this example, I'll say two teacups) into a pan
-Boil this water along with:
-1-2 pods of cardamom, crushed to make sure the little black seeds come out and maybe a few of them are lightly crushed
-1-2 heavy sprinkles of cinnamon
-3-4 slices of fresh ginger - Mmmm (if no fresh ginger, go with 2-3 sprinkles of ground ginger if you must)
-2-4 cloves or about a 1/4 tsp of ground clove
-1-2 light sprinkles of nutmeg
(the more you make it, the more you'll be able to micro-adjust the spices to your liking)

Once this is boiling well, add a spoonful of loose black tea and stir. The length of time from now until the end will determine 1-how caffeinated and 2-how bitter your tea will be. the longer, the stronger. I usually let it go for about 1 minute or less.

If you are going to sweeten, you want to do this as close to the end as possible. So once it's boiled a little longer with the tea, add in your sugar and give it a couple swirls with a spoon. Because I'm already being fussy will making this lovely treat, I've only ever used turbinado (raw sugar), but I'm sure any sugar (oh, or even honey?!) would work. As an alternative, you can of course sweeten each cup after serving.

As soon as the sugar is dissolved, which isn't long-- or if no sugar, once you feel your tea has steeped long enough: you are ready for the final step.
-add milk (or half and half, which -surprise, surprise- is what I use) until it is a creamy carmel color.
-a dollop which might be ~1 teaspoon mexican vanilla (this is my modification since rarely have vanilla bean pods on hand and this adds lovely flavor. if you had a vanilla bean, you'd slice, scrape and boil with all the spices at the beginning)

this will temporarily cool off your water and it will quit boiling. a few seconds longer and you're done. let it heat back up until it is steaming and almost scalded, but don't let it boil again or your milk will separate.

remove from stove and strain either directly into heated tea cups (i have a lovely little 1/4 cup mesh strainer that works perfectly) or a pre-heated tea pot. I just swirl a little hot water in there first so it doesn't cool the tea too much.

Voila! You're done. Sniff, sip and enjoy. OH! and by the way.... your house is going to smell incredible for the next couple hours now.

Do me a favor? Let me know how it works out.

A Tale of Busting your Tail

Once upon a time, in a town not far away at all, there was a girl who worked very hard. Too hard, some might say (often even herself). But she continued to bust it, which often meant long days and sleepless nights, laden with stress.

"I'm tired of this crap!" she'd say. But it didn't matter, the work and the foul-ups that she had to handle, just kept coming.

Then one day that was another one of those 'the sky is falling' kind of days, the boss man had a meeting with her. "You can't let this fall through" he'd say, "you've got to make sure this happens, it is crucial for the business" and on and on. She took it like she always did. "I need you to bust your a$$ on this."

Okay, buddy, this was pushing it, she thought, and quickly jumped in with a pointed, yet light-hearted "Do you imply that I am not busing my a$$?!" He assured her he wasn't and carried on.

And then it happened: sandwiched in between rattling off reasons why this was so important and things she could do to make it better, he slid a folded piece of paper in front of her and said, "you deserve this." She was a bit confused and as she started looking at the paper he said: "but you can't tell anyone!"

It occurred to her that she might have just received something very valuable with that sheet of paper... But there hadn't been raises or promotions in so long, it was generally accepted that it was just a myth that they ever happened at all. Nonetheless, there it was, laying in front of her.

Though there was no time to slow down and appreciate her good news and affirmation that the results her work had been impactful to the overall business, that monkey of frustration that had been on her back just seemed to crawl off and sit politely at the corner of her cube.

And then her phone rang again...

The End.

Happy Maddi-ween

the little munchkin was a baker this year. much more "grown up" than last year's whoopee cushion but playing the part just as well! she loves that hat.



oh, and those are mushrooms she is 'slicing' with her spoon.

Best Comment of the Week

I love this:

So I'm wearing a lovely new sweater today and a shirt under it. In other words: some padding between the two layers I have on, one of which is rather thick.

Keep in mind that Shorty continues with his routine kicking, flipping, etc.

After a meeting today, this very sweet guy from the catalog team asked how I was doing. I replied "good" and laughed something about his wiggly-ness today. He responded immediately by looking concerned and shaking his head with "yeah, I didn't know if it was rude to say anything, but your sweater kept moving around and forming bumps during the meeting..."

Just to be clear: I classify this comment as awesome. I feel bad for the guys in the office that feel like they can't say anything or it's inappropriate to acknowledge the bump, etc. ...and as soon as you open the door for them, they come gushing about it. It's good stuff.

Humor with a Pregnant Perspective

Plowing through the 2nd trimester-- can't believe we are about to turn the corner in to the 3rd. Not much to report besides continued growth and constant activity in the belly. I no longer have to lay down or lift my shirt to see the little fella kick, flip and punch away... walking around, sitting down, wearing a shirt or thin sweater: there it is - The alien baby in my tummy pretending he is John Bonham.


With all else being a bit status quo: I offer my list of
Surprising (and mildly inappropriate) Things People Say to Pregnant Women. This is fun for me because as these happen, I just generally nod and go along with it - but on the inside, I'm shouting: are you kidding me? Seriously, people??

Without further ado, here we go:

1) In reaction to my mentioning that I can't/won't be carrying furniture upstairs (absolutely no other mention of physical activity): "Seriously? Um, you'd better stay active, otherwise you may not make it through labor. I mean, are you should at least be doing pilates??" (note: this person was not speaking from personal experience)

...Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence that I 'may not make it through labor.' wow.

2) The well-meaning, co-worker: "I mean, I don't know how you women do it, knowing that in eight months, then seven months, then six months, and until the end... KNOWING you are going to endure the most excruciating pain of your entire life."

Yes, thanks for the reminder. How uplifting. =)

3) I'm going to not recount the horrible pregnancy stories here, i'll just group them into a category (heard two over the past few weeks). But in general, you don't walk up to a bride and groom and start telling a story of a heart-wrenching divorce so what makes people feel the compelled to tell a pregnant woman a friend-of-a-friend's story of some one they know who had complications and baby died at 24 or 32 weeks? mind boggling. And the trick here is, if I respond with that I'm really thinking ("you a-hole, what is wrong with you to tell me those horrific details and tell that story that really was unnecessary!?"), I sound like a hormonal pregnant lady who is overly emotional and out of line. Now, if this story is a friend or current, then by all means, i'm not asking for censorship here - just hoping to pass on the sensationalism of someone telling the awful story of someone they don't even know (nor are they sure of the exact details). Yes, there are lots of sad stories out there - but again... let's remember the bride and groom and try to keep things in perspective.



Okay - that's all i have for now. Eagerly awaiting your feedback on stories you've heard. =)

View from here

On a bench
Under a Live Oak
In the park
On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

Movin' on Up!

Where the hell have I been lately? Exactly. Oh, I mean, it rhymes with that.. er, um, I mean... I've been at work.
Lots and lots of work. and then working hard to try to relax a teeny bit for all the anxiety work is producing... but that's a bore. turning to much funner topics:

last weekend we **finally** moved furniture upstairs. YAY!! Mr. Price's 'twin' cousin came over --thanks, Eric!!-- and they moved the things he couldn't move on his own. There is now a lovely sitting area, a rug, a desk, lamps, bedside tables... it's all there. That's right, folks! In the words of Pinocchio, it's a "real boy" (or in this case, a real room). Woohoo!

Also, the rest of my closet was moved upstairs and although I now cannot wear 99% of my clothes, they are in one place where i can actually see them (ironic, eh? just in time to remind me of all the clothes that were shoved into a tiny closet space for so long...) On top of that, I did some serious maternity clothes shopping so it is actually a pleasure to get dressed in the morning - as I had started to seriously dread it.

Can't believe it took so long to crank out this post (can you imagine sitting on such an exciting update all week long??). But then again, I can. I am now severely behind on all things personal and until the quarter is over and holiday campaign planning is put to bed, I guess it may stay that way. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel... of this I'm reminded each day when I step upstairs and it is really, finally done.
Done done done.


(this is my happy face)

Animal Noises & Party Tricks

So I've been meaning to post something about this for over a month now, and I'm finally catching up. My brother documented some of Poopsie's party tricks and uploaded them - so now I can see them whenever I get the hankerin' to.

Enjoy:

Still Smiling for Now...

...despite the back, chest and rib cage aches.

Repossession!

...that's right. We have re-possessed our home from the clenches of the City of Austin and their ability to tell us what we can and can't do in, on and with our house. Yep! Today, friends, we PASSED FINAL INSPECTION!!

Not without some quick thinking, acrobatics, diplomacy and ingenuity. Who knew so much was required of a building, mechanical and plumbing inspection? But when the City mandates some random code in which the lone person they send to your home is the police, judge and jury on what you can do...well, you end up with lawlessness.

Best summarized by the fact that after several protests and complaints (all of which were meet), he finally determined he couldn't pass us because... duh duh duh: the end of the EXTRA stair railing we had to install during the last renovation didn't connect to the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Funny, it was perfectly okay last time. And the time before that, and that.

Determined to pass today, Mr. Price persisted and the inspector made him drill a hole into the end of the otherwise lovely railing and make it touch the wall. Somehow, I don't think I can quite capture this with words. Here ya go:

Yep. that's right. THIS passes code. Really? because I am QUITE sure that is was much safer before.

But nonetheless, once he witnessed the uglifying of the railing (and creation of a new hazard) - he passed us.

Done. Done and Done.

Mayberry?

I started this post awhile back and never finished it. On a walk tonight in the dark, already, at 6:30. Not all of the few street lights in the 'hood are working at this time yet (strangely, because one would THINK that light sensors are a better approach than timers, but whatever... after all, it is the City of Austin we're talking about here) - but I saw shadow of a guy on a walk carrying a grocery bag on the other side of the street. Probably the 10th person or so we'd seen on our short stroll, but then he came into view of the one streetlight working for a couple blocks- and it was my Dad! YAY! Good fun. He invited us over for dinner but we were already prepped for scallops and green beans. Anyway... the point is that the encounter reminded me I had this unfinished post. So, here it is:

Original Post date and time 10/14/09 9:13PM

Came home tonight and before pulling in my driveway, saw my neighbor Will walking Emma (their yellow lab) and stopped to chat for a minute. Caught up on each other's plans for the weekend and other small talk.

Got in the house and Mr. Price was already home and wanted to go on a walk! So we suited up and headed out in a matter of minutes. Got to the front yard and saw our neighbor John walking his pup. John worked with the Mister back in the day at the firm and we love seeing his post-firm happiness and free time. We all revel in it =) He's quite excited for our pending shorty and had a bunch of questions about how I'm feeling and how the little guy is doing. Of course wanted to be reminded of his approx due date. Lovely conversation and they were off to continue their walk.

Took a lovely tour around the neighborhood - passing the TriPrices house and waving and chit-chatting with other folks. Everyone seemed so cheery and relaxed.

A couple blocks from home and hear a bike coming up behind us. Then we hear in a familiar voice "I thought that was you two! You're walk is a bit different than usual..." It was my Dad! He was riding his bike to the store and detoured a block when he saw us =) So he rode in circles around us until we made it to the driveway. He was going to come in and see the new sonogram pictures, but by the time we made it to the house, we'd all forgotten and he peddled on down our street to the store.

Oh, but we're not done yet.. the along comes another neighbor ending his run and stops for a minute to talk home renovation progress (they, too, are doing some work on their house).

Seriously, are we in Mayberry or what? It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

It's All Uphill From Here!

It was a truly lovely birthday in spite of my first birthday surprise: getting sick on birthday eve and losing my dinner (to the point that I wondered if I threw up the baby) starting at approximately 12:08. My first birthday 'gift' was Mr. Price putting the barf bucket by my side of the bed just in case. Good times. Oh, and don't forget the extra pillows so I could 'sleep' sitting up. Didn't sleep much at all and felt like hell all night long. Good news: no fever. But I did wonder if maybe my body was just rejecting the 30s?

So from this perspective, it was all uphill from here, right? I mean, when you start the bday off puking (and NOT because you had too much fun and were over-served)- it can't get worse, right? Well, in this case, it didn't; i'd already hit bottom. (whew)

Definitely didn't go to work becuase I still felt like hell in the morning -and here's where it starts to turn around-- Mr. Price stayed at home with me. I finally got to sleep around 7am and slept on-and-off until 10, then got breakfast in bed (can't get enough of those honey nut cheerios lately!). Eventually got dressed and we went up to Central Market to get lunch which was tasty - even if I was still slightly queasy... I figured it was better to eat through the pain ;)

Followed by some light shopping, my side-kick in tow and repeating that it was my birthday and I got to pick. Worn out, I headed back home and much to my dismay had to take some work calls/shoot off some emails and try not to be too annoyed. Thankfully, I had a hard stop with work due to a 3pm doctor's appointment (which came in handy given the prior night's events). But I DID take the calls from bed and Mr. Price DID bring me my favorite tea, with my fancy honey, in my favorite mug. So that takes the edge off, you know?

GOT to love those wonderful ladies at my Doc's office. Nothin' but love for them!! =) I was feeling a better by then anyway, but two of them squealed and hugged me when they saw me which ABSOLUTELY made my day!! **I later suggested to Mr. Price that we take the first letter of each of their names and come up with middle name for Shorty. But for some reason, he didn't go for that idea... go figure**

Anyway - great appointment. All is well and we heard shorty's heart on the doppler (and a couple swooshes and kicks which impressed her) and we were about to leave and she found a sticky note in my file that said I get a 'free' sonogram for fun. WOOHOO!! So that was LOADS of fun. I had just accepted the fact I wouldn't get to see him and BAM! on goes the sono gel and there he was in all his glory. GOOD times, folks. GOOD times. She sent us home with some pics from the sonogram.

With a clean bill of health (I might have lost my dinner, but no swine flu here!!) Mr. Price suggested I move up the time on my massage appointment (which he suggested I call and set-up earlier in the day) and lo-and-behold: they could take me early... and I was dropped off right after the doc. WOOHOO. AND THEN - my massage lady didn't have anyone after me and decided to 'just keep going' as she told me later. WHAT!?! when does that ever happen?? She didn't even know it was my b-day. YAY for pre-natal massage. Even if you do have to lay on your side. =)

Got picked up from that by Mr. Price... in... MY CAR!!!! it is finally done. A month in the shop and wowza- it looks great. I missed it. But at the same time, after being all repainted and shiny, we're thinking of selling it while it is in such good condition. hmm. something to think on.

Don't forget that approximately a MILLION wonderful friends remembered me and sent me notes, messages and voice mails to wish me a happy day. Okay, maybe not a million, just enough, and those few are certainly WONDERFUL! So I kept checking my phone and seeing more and more sweet messages.

Went home, changed, headed out to Hudson's on the Bend for dinner. Mmmmmm. Given that I was feeling better, we decided to press on with our plans. -oh, but it gets better! We had some extra time before our reservation, so... Mr. Price smartly suggested we stop by the baby super-store to try to figure out what we need for shorty. (I'd already been and started the process with sister Kim)

YAY! why so excited? Lately, I have suddenly felt the urge to figure out what we need to get and make the choices of what type/kind/size/quantity of the seemingly never-ending list of baby things. You know I'm a list maker and this for me is bringing order to chaos. We are making decisions. We are picking things out. We are making a list. Ahhhhh.....

Then on to dinner. And a superb dinner at that. Lobster, Duck, fancy shrimp thingies with fancy sauce and an ancho paste (the 'ancho paste' thing obviously stuck with me...) and then... stop it. really? get this: our kitchen back (in some restaurants this would be the bus boy, but at Hudson's it takes more skill and attention) decides he wants to TREAT US to dessert! what!?! then our uber-professional waiter comes over and says something about it is an occasional perk they get to do and our guy was pulling that card for us! he said to pick what ever we wanted (i knew from the beginning of the night) but then they brought an extra THIRD dessert. WHO DOES THAT!?!?! I want to put them and the nurses/PAs and the masseuse all on a boat and throw a big party for them!

To top it all off, when we got home, Mr. Price had gotten me some Divine bath potions, candles and such from my favorite: L'Occitane and a little bath caddy for the tub so into the tub I go for a nice long soak. Mmmmm...

It was a happy birthday to me.

My Blue Heaven

Ying to the Yang

On the bright side (!) and after the last Debbie-Downer, dose-of-reality posting:

-In the midst of starting to realize all the things i'll need to get my arse in gear to prepare for Shorty's arrival - some INCREDIBLE friends are starting to plan baby showers! The busier our lives get (and the more we've all been on the other side of coordinating and prioritizing to host a party for friend)... the more I appreciate the offer and the effort. I really goes make me feel loved. --sorry it that sounds cheesy. but it's true, so deal.

-I scored two backstage and two VIP tickets to ACL! Sweet action. we went with the cousins (sans their trio of shorties) and had an excellent time! They already had Saturday tickets and we had already talked about going together if we got Sat tickets... but it was SOOOO much fun to get to 'upgrade' them =) Shorty loved DMB and I was proud to have made it there and back (in spite of the rain and mud) - i consider that exercise and maybe this will start a new trend for me!

-As of this past week, you can feel Shorty kick from the outside!! It's Mr. Price's new favorite past time. And it is SO hard to not keep my hand on my belly non-stop so that I can catch that little elbow, kick or head bump whenever he decides to flip around and wiggle - which is pretty often as it turns out.

-We got a TON accomplished on the house yesterday (my closet is full of drawers and hanging bars, now) and we even have access to all our attic storage now. Furthermore: I put some real thought/consideration into what the nursery may look like (after receiving many detailed questions about what I wanted...) so am starting to not feel quite so overwhelmed. yay.


-oh - and the new pool pump has been installed and is working like a champ! the pool water swirls around like i ain't never seen. and with another few more gallons of chemicals and hours of Mr. Price's precious time - the pool should be good as new.

When it rains....

The past couple weeks have been the definition of 'murphy's law': if i can happen, it will. and apparently, it will all happen at once.

Besides everyone at work going COMPLETELY INSANE... (i cannot recall a time where things were so stressful that i literally woke up in the middle of the night stressed-- almost panicked-- from things at work)

And without getting into the weeds, I offer a sampling of what has been has transpired at our house:

-the tree that fell on my car has turned into the body shop and the insurance company fighting it out. if you'll recall, it rained a TON the weekend the tree fell... resulting in water and electrical damage on top of the body work needed. it's been a month, i still don't have my car back and won't for another week at best. really tired of the truck, but just glad that Mr. Price is dealing with the many phone calls back and forth, appointments to meet the adjusters, etc.

-the cat got sick. arm swollen like the Michelin man. i will spare the nasty details. i can't really help out given the whole prego thing - so again, Mr. Price having to step in and take care of things. including the miserable trips to the vet.

-the pool converter (?) broke - meaning the pool pump cannot run. with all the rain, kinda need that pump running! the first pool repair guy took a piece of the converter (to get a replacement part) then goes AWOL - doesn't show up when he said he would and doesn't answer nor return calls. find new pool repair guy and learn that pump is shot - need new pool pump AND converter. he vanishes for over a week. pool turns green and is full of leaves. again, Mr. Price busy finding, calling and scheduling pool people. anyone - help. please. we'll pay you, just fix what you said you were going to. show up when you said you would.

-the marble under the tub cracked. cracked big time. Mr. price calls the tile people - who explicitly told us that wouldn't happen because they would lay the tile 'right' and guaranteed it. for two years! (it's been two weeks?) they no-show the first appointment (which he hustled from across town to meet them at). they eventually reschedule and bonus: the guy shows up this time(!) and they offer to fix. no problem, we'll just have to get a plumber back in to remove the tub so they can get under there. oh, any buy more marble, lest you forget.

sound like fun yet? if you've got a running list, that would be... expensive, annoying, time-consuming issues with: the Car, the Cat, the House, the Pool. What else are we missing?

i suppose there were other relatively minor things, but i think you get the picture.

Inspection update

After some confusion and me staying home to wait on him so that he could no-show - the Inspector finally showed up! Breakdown goes like this:

Electrical Final = PASSED!
Plumbing Final = Failed.
Mechanical Final = Failed.
Can't call for the Final Building Inspection until those three finals are passed.

All we need to pass the plumbing is a silly (and ugly) overflow switch off valve on my otherwise beautiful faucet on the clawfoot tub. Mr. Price already trippity-tropped on down to Lowe's and picked up this $30 part and installed it. Ready to
call for inspection again!

Mechanical - need a bit more:
-extra decking in the attic (isn't that building/framing?),
-the vent flew to be moved to a different angle (there's a whole calculation and it's a massive pain to deal with... cutting new holes in the roof, patching the shingles, etc)
-find a 3rd party inspector to test all vents and such (this is going to take some time...)

Did I mention that we can't 'move in' until we pass final?

When our king sized new bed arrived a couple weeks ago, I dare any inspector or other city representative to tell me I can't sleep in it. but nonetheless - we can't move other furniture up there or look like we're living in up there. which is driving me nuts. I AM READY FOR THE MASSIVE FURNITURE MOVE AROUND in this house. let's GO already!

To help the cause - Mr. Price did make a plea to the last inspector that he has 'a pregnant wife who is chomping at the bit to move up there' so we got unofficial approval to live up there (i.e. we don't have to take our toothbrushes and towels, etc back downstairs each time an inspector shows up) but we can't "move" up there yet.

Tyler's very bad, horrible, terrible, no good day

he REFUSED to come out of the carrier. they finally had to take it apart to get him out...

it then took three people to hold him still. bless his heart.

Fun at the vet!

Poor Tyler.  Poor Joe.  They had a less than optimal day.

I think you can *pretty much* figure out the story based on this picture, but I'll post more soon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: J Price
Date: Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 2:50 PM
Subject: Fun at the vet!
To: E Price

Sent from my iPhone

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

So, we can't move furniture upstairs until we pass inspection- nor clothing. These two bars in my currently unfinished closet represent more hanging space than is available im the rest of my closets in the house-- yet I can't go spreading my hangers out just yet. Nope- I have to wait. Excruciating days between now and whenever that may be because lord only knows when the inspector will finally show up, if we will have any advance notice to show up and meet him and what creative things he may find to fail us on (and what magic number of times we will fail) before we finally get the green light to move in.

So until then...... I wait. In agony.

Poolside in Montauk

Arrival in the city

I took the trade off f landing at JFK over having a layover and
arriving in my favorite airport: la guardia.

Heading to west village now to hang out with Amy. Jess is super busy
wrapping things up for fashion week, so we won't meet up until tonight.

Blogging from the back of my cab on the Van Wyck Expy. Kinda fun and
feeling productive but not terribly exciting. Signing off.

Sweet Surprise

That clever Mr Price tricked me into fetching something for him from the fridge when I got home today. Much to my surprise, instead, there were some "hey-thanks-for-growing-our-kid" flowers in there!

Awwww

Wedged right in there between the mini Sprites, the organic milk, the calcium-enriched OJ, some ginger ale and chocolate icing. Now if that fridge doesn't scream "pregnant lady lives here!" ... i don't know what does.

Good times, good times...

Sent from my iPhone

Shower Story

It's been awhile since my last 'gross' post - but what can I say, this one just fell in my lap.

So as previously mentioned, my car got smashed by a massive falling tree limb. With the rain we've gotten over the past few days (yay for rain!) we realized that the damage also included pulling the door away from the frame just enough to no longer be water-tight. Therefore: raining outside = raining in the car. Awesome. --but this is just background building up to the funny part-- So sweet Mr. Price scurried to get the car into the shop only to get a "CUBE" of a car. Strange little thing that it is-- i've actually never seen a real-live car that so closely resembles a cartoon-mobile.

While the cartoon-mobile is entertaining, it doesn't exactly feel like a fortress of security. Therefore: (per Mr. Price) I am in the truck until further notice. =)

Meanwhile: Manager Man (who is more like a brother than a boss) was giving me a hard time yesterday for my nails. Well, really just my thumb nail. Admittedly, it was way too long, but i kept forgetting to cut it and thinking that it would break off like all the others did last week. So I was already self-conscious of it. this morning he teases me again. rat farts!

--okay, set-up is done. starting to feel like this has been a long haul for a short slide. oh well, too late now--

So i go to the truck to leave to get lunch today and... lo and behold! there is a nail clipper! way to go Mr. Price! how handy. so I pick it up to go to town on my thumb nail - bring it over my lap and... a confetti-like shower of nail clippings! so gross, but i suddenly can't stop laughing. looked at the clippers and they were some fancy kind that has a 'clip catcher' (think along the lines of a hole punch).

anyway- there's the short slide. i'm quite sure this story didn't convey nearly as funny as it was to me at the time. surely just as gross. but man, i AM still laughing on the inside.

And in the mornin' we'll make WAFFLES!!

Mmmmm is for morning....

To Do Today

We will labor today to check off our rapidly shrinking upstairs list:

1) New bed & matress
2) Closet organizers/shelves etc

We call for inspections tomorrow :)

Sent from my iPhone

Lights, Camera, Action & Missing in Action

Lights:

The electrician came on Wednesday and finished installing all the fixtures and switches!! We have light upstairs! Friday the plumber came and installed the plumbing fixtures and he wanted to finish before the weekend (and not return today) -so bless his heart- he stayed until 9pm (which didn't bother me because my lazy @ss was laying on the couch.

Camera:

Wednesday we had a sonogram and learned that our little babino is a baby BOY! Good times, party people. Good times. It is a bit surreal to think in terms of our baby being a little boy rather than a just a baby - the loss of ambiguity has been a pretty cool thing to wrap our heads around. As my brother put it: it really changes things when you can think in shades of pink or blue instead of shades of gray. Agreed.

Action:

TONS of rain yesterday and last night in Austin. YAY!! We need it. Most severe drought after the hottest summer on record (was it 68? days of triple-digit heat?) so the rain was welcomed. And the new door was installed yesterday (excellent timeing, fellas) and I did a little dance after darting the house out of the rain, heading upstairs and noticing not a drop of water on our wood floors. whew!

Now for the 'action' part: heard a few loud noises this morning but went back to sleep thinking maybe the house was settling. I woke up super early [for me] and you know something is headed your way when you hear in a gentle voice: "okay, now don't be mad..." right after 'good mornings'

A large tree branch fell on my car from one of our massive elms that I love so much. Don't know which I'm more disappointed in- the car getting all banged up -again (hail storm last year did a few grand of damage) or the tree losing a branch. oh well... just another trip to the body shop and a call the arborist.

Missing in Action:

We sold our 4 season tickets this year but today is opening day. You gotta know I love me some Texas Football. I've had these season tickets since 2001. I consider "Football" to be one of the 4 seasons in the calendar year besides for Spring, Summer and Winter. However, there is a certain liberation I am feeling that I will miss multiple home games this year and not stressing over it.

Having the tickets in-hand gives you this feeling of obligation: "I've already paid a couple hundy for these cute little pieces of cardboard; hell if I'm not using these to walk into that game!" But it isn't just walking into the game: it is an all-day, 6-8 hour + time for preparation + the next day of recovery kind of event. It rules the weekend. Which I'm okay with, but as it turns out... I'm also okay with missing a bit of that action this go-round.

I'll still be cheering them on, it's just that I may be poolside. Hook 'em.

Shorty Price

Leading with the big item - as I do seem to walking the talk lately:

We've got a bun in the oven! That's right, party people: a Shorty of our own will arrive in just 6 short months - which is easy to believe if you've seen me lately because I already have at least 10' additional inches on the area formerly known as my waist... it changes by time of day (implying it is bigger at the end of the day than in the morning when the muscles are more fatigued).

Rest assured that my belly is massive. Now for the Question and Answer session of this blog post:

How have you been feeling? If there is a pregnancy symptom out there, I've had it in spades. I spent the entire month of July with all-day-long morning sickness. Ironic and taunting little name for that symptom, eh? Food aversions like mad and cravings that have done resulted in the following scenario:

Me: Hey, what are you doing?
Mr. Price: Working. You?
Me: Thinking about carrots. Anyway you could help out with that? Since most veggies have been abhorrent to me lately, I thought I should act quickly.
Mr. Price: I can run to the store now.
Me: That would be super-wonderful.

-30 minutes later-
Mr. Price walks in the door and proudly holds the carrots up for me to see.
I see them and immediately want to vomit.
Me: (moaning) put 'em away!!! I don't want to SEE them...
I reach for one of my 20 ginger candy/lozenge/anti-nausea treats and start sniffing the nearest half-a-lime until the sensation subsides.

Much like the Nordics can have 10 different words to identify the shade of white due to their exposure to constant snow... I can now identify at least 10 levels of nausea. So really, behind a month of supreme nausea and my newly formed ability - the other symptoms: dizziness, fatigue, blood pressure drops, constant trips to the bathroom and forgetfulness -- all a walk in the park.

What kind of cravings have you had? No peculiar combos, but the cravings are strong and definite!! Things I can recall:

-Cream Cheese & Pickapeppa sauce which I inhaled for about 2 days straight
-White cake with white buttercream icing
-one meal in particular consisted of the following: a salad from Central Market, soup from La Madeleine, and french fries from P. Terry's. No substitutions, please. And bless Mr. Price's heart if he didn't walk in the door from his 3 stops and realize that our ranch dressing had expired (which he won't have any part of me eating anything with a remote chance that it's gone bad) - so back out he went to the grocery store for some ranch dressing.
-Cucumber sandwiches - just like my grandmother and I used to make. Annie and I would smear a thin line of cream cheese on both sides of white bread (crusts removed), cucumber slices, salt and dill. Mmmmm.. I didn't think it was strange until I heard Mr. Price telling someone (for the second time in my presence) that I was carrying them in my purse.
-Daddy and I made a few ice cream sundaes - complete with a cherry. But really - that's not out of the ordinary for me, now is it?
-Popcorn dipped in melted butter (again, not exactly out of the ordinary)
-Crab Rangoons from the nearby Chinese place. They deliver =)
-I'll think of more...
-Things I normally LOVE and cannot fathom eating: tomatoes, spinach, chicken salad
-Speaking of 'chicken salad,' for about two weeks I couldn't say "chicken salad" without gagging/dry heaving 3-5 times uncontrollably

Are you going to find out the gender? Yes! Can't wait. My wonderful doctor will guess early rather than waiting for the more typical 18-22 weeks. So long as Shorty cooperates, we could know very soon. I'll keep you posted.

What names do you have picked out? Yes - the same ones we've had for several years now. Many of you already know them but I told someone a year ago who was 3 months along who didn't have any names picked out yet and lo-and-behold when 6 months later we got an announcement that their baby -with our name- was born. Yes, a name stealer. (Did you see the Sex & the City episode? hilarious. and incredibly similar to my situation) So for now, no baby name posts. Call me gun shy =) ...I know, I know... it's a bit late for that!



Those are the most frequent questions and at this point, this is a SUPER long post so I'll sign off. Just one last question:

Is this going to become a baby blog? Nope, that's not the plan. While I am sure that our lives will be greatly impacted by many more baby-related or baby-growing themes in the future, we have actually started a separate blog for Shorty. You can expect continued rants, updates, confessions and other non-mommy like commentary here. However, if you are interested, shoot me a note and I'll add you to the reading list for that one. We're keeping it private since our Shorty is a bit shy at this point in development. ;)

That's all for now.

Love from the three of us,
EmPrice, Mr. Price, and Shorty

Clone

Look closely. This may be Tyler's exact spot and pose... But don't be fooled, this is Tylers clone-gone-awry...

His nemesis.

Mocking him.



Happy Monday.

Flashback: 2006

Three years ago today, Aug 28:

The back and roof to my house was ripped off

Our pool was bright green

We were living in the 650 sq ft 'cabana' in our backyard

At least half of that space was completely inaccessible, stacked to the ceiling with boxes and furniture

Mr. Price was one week out from massive jaw surgery: his mouth was wired shut, we was on a liquid diet and he was HEAVILY medicated (and decided at some point in the day that pureed pizza and milk would make a nice snack. mention it today and he'll still shiver at the thought)

Our two cats who were terrified of each other were co-existing in this space with us -- which means I woke up approximately 6 times the night before to separate the cat fight before finally locking on in the bathroom only to hear him cry for the rest of the night

Thinking that we had about a month to go before moving into the house, we had not turned on cable or internet in the cabana - so I set up the TV and DVD player so he'd have something to watch in between medications

...And I had my first day of work at this job.


See-- things could always be worse. ;)

Freeze Frame

Excellent progress on the casa in the past few weeks: Marble and tile has been cleaned and sealed, the wood floors are finished and gleaming, just a few quick tasks left before move-in!

Not so fast. This is a home renovation, remember?

Please note today and the fact that approximately 3.5 days of work remain. And that is stacking the work end-to-end; workers *could* actually show up at the same time and take less than 3.5 days. Hmmm... that's less than a week! Wow. Breakdown goes like this:

-1.5 days of trim work, 2 workers (crown molding, floor molding and shoe trim, windows and doors trimmed) this includes the final painting of the trim-- it has already been primed. And hanging the medicine cabinets
-.5 day of 'setting' the tub, sinks and toilet, 1 worker
-.5 day of electrical finish out (connecting the switches, screwing on the face plates, installing the canister lights and hanging the fan), 1 worker
-.5 day of plumber completing final connection of supply/drain lines to hardware, 1-2 workers
-2 hours or removing the existing exterior french doors and installing the new ones (that's a whole other story), 2 workers
-1 hour to install frameless shower doors, 2 workers
-1 hour of total jacking around

**this doesn't include closet installation - which we realized last night we haven't bid out yet. OPPS! but rest assured, that although it will be a tad sad, it won't keep me from moving up there and soaking in my new tubbbbbbbb....

So, given that the floors were finished last Wednesday, that gave the renovation 2 weekdays to 'rest' even. Technically, we could have been done today!?

Although they knew Monday was the day to finish:

-The trim guys called on Monday and can't arrive until next week.
-Electrical guy can't show up until middle of next week.
-New french doors are being special ordered - available in 2 weeks at the earliest
-Shower doors are being special ordered - available in 1.5 weeks at the earliest

Which means..... besides sealing the marble/tile which took 2 hours: NOTHING PROGRESSED THIS WEEK!

So in summary, my friends... we are officially at the point in the renovation where everything comes to a painful, obnoxious, taunting crawl.

Picture Perfect

We had a lovely time in New Canaan last weekend and NYC late last week. Kristin was a beautiful bride and the Stanwich Congressional Church was perfectly New England, the Rehearsal Dinner at Waveny Park was picturesque and the New Canaan Country Club was just as I'd remembered it.


Now comes the heart breaking news (well, for me at least): after what should have been a 15 minute bus ride full of guests heading to the church but ended up an hour of winding roads and getting lost - I partially recover from my motion sickness, settle into our pew of the breathtaking church and ask Mr. Price to take a picture of Chad (the groom). I checked to make sure the flash was off (there was plenty of light from the tall windows surrounding the two story sanctuary) and the camera wouldn't take a picture.... Yes, team: my battery was dead. The catch: in a hurry to make it downstairs for a 3pm bus departure, I had him switch out the batteries since I thought the other one might be running low. And dammit if the 'other' battery wasn't worse off.

And so it was. One of the absolute most beautiful weddings and receptions I've ever seen --seriously, the light was amazing-- and I have not a single picture to show.

*sigh*

My sweet brother-in-law took a bunch of pictures and emailed me today to say that even though "they weren't very good" he is going to send me a CD of high-res pics. Thanks, Ted!!

Pampered Flooring

The reason we're running the new upstairs A/C?? To make sure that
wood feels right at home before being nailed to the ground, of course!

Bits & Pieces

Slowly progressing...

Something seems different here... can't quite put my finger on it

So I walk in the door tonight around 9:30, flip on the light and see... hmmm. This is strange? This looks different than it has in the past 3 & 1/2 years I've been walking through this door.

[Quick mental scan] Nope, I didn't do that. Did Mr. Price take to redecorating the house today? ...Wait a second. Where the hell is the thing that's usually there??? [Eyes scan to the floor] DAMNIT!!!

First day in a while I haven't worked from home while the workers are in and out... and *somehow* something gets jacked. Strange how that happens. Funny the coincidence.

Can you find the slight difference?

BEFORE (the new look):

AFTER (reverting to what WAS there when I left this morning)

Guess the workers decided they'd take a turn at redecorating for me. So -ahem- sweet.

The frame got fairly beat up - which makes me growl a bit. But at least the glass isn't broken.

On a not-so-irritated note: the floor has been prepped for the marble to be laid tomorrow and though it is currently 96 degrees outside (yep, at 9:45 at night) it is 71 degrees upstairs. Brrrrr. It's like a freezing blizzard up there.

The Best of the Worst

Once again, I worked through lunch today. In order to counterbalance the resulting bitterness, I decided I would go to Zorba's for some baba ghanoush and hummus (among other things) for my 3:30 lunch. Pulled up and ...that cracking sound you heard about an hour ago was my heard... because they close at 2:15, which I never realized before today. Heart wrenching, I know.

Despair not, dear reader - I made lemonade! (Figuratively, obviously, since it was late in the afternoon and I was sans any food in sight). I did not panic. Nearby was a handy selection of fast food restaurants I usually don't even see for the fact that I rarely -if ever- eat there.

I quickly determined to gather my favorites as a consolation prize. And with each stop, I was tempted to just finish out my list and head back to the office, but ultimately, I stayed the course.

(1)Driving though first at Chick-fil-a for an 'Original' chicken sandwich
(2)Next driving through McDonald (yes, I went to McD's!) and got my since-high-school favorite combo of fries and their hot mustard sauce --got to give props to Sarah's mom for teaching me that little gem.
(3)Pulling into Sonic for a Cherry Limeade.

Chipotle!!

This was too much fun to not share. www.chipotlefan.com lets you descirbe what you order at Chipotle (I always get the same thing) and it gives you this handy dandy Nutritional label!

Anyway, this was my lunch today.

Clever, huh?

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1000	Cal from Fat 570
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 62g	95%
Saturated Fat 19g 93% Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 70mg	23%
Sodium 2550mg	106%
Total Carbs 91g	30%
Dietary Fiber 22g 88% Sugars 25g
Protein 26g
Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% • Iron 0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Sour Cream,Guacamole (4oz),Fajita Veggies,Corn Salsa,Tomato Salsa,Rice,Black Beans,Cheese,Chipotle Vinaigrette

Click'>http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?nutritionId=17:18:7:13:12:4:5:16:21:">Click Here to view

Don't know what all that really means, but it's fun to see things add up as you click items.

What it doesn't reflect is the "extra sour cream" I always get. Mmmmmmmmmm.........

Motivation & Marble

Clearly blogging makes me a better version of myself: apparently griping about my own inadequacies works as a call-to-action. (Oh, wait, only on occasion. See any references to 'excercising') After seeing in black-and-white text yesterday and realizing that "my lack of decision making with regard to the flooring was soon to become the bottleneck" (I believe those were my exact words... at least, that's what is blazoned in my mind) ... I actually did something about it.

In fact, not only did I MAKE a decision on the flooring, I already located and purchased the lovely carerra marble which will be picked up this weekend and installed starting next Wednesday. Whoo-hoo!

Meanwhile, the wood will be placed upstairs Monday so that it can 'acclimate' to the room for at least a week prior to them starting installation. Who knew?

For those always asking for pictures... here's a visual, albeit a not-very-good one (from my phone) Don't know why the center of this picture turned out reddish. Maybe that's a special feature of the camera. =) Anyway, it is a white & grey marble. ta-da!

In Living Color

Where have I been? Busy making the million-and-two decisions to finish out the bloody upstairs. =) My lack of decision making with regard to the floors has officially become the bottleneck. I have gone back and forth a dozen times between marble and porcelain hexagons so many times I can't count. Then with the hexagons: glazed or unglazed? White, light grey, dark grey or black grout? if black, then should there be a black & white design...so then not all white (or off white, TBD) but then i think: soccer ball. nope, not in this oasis of a bathroom. back to marble! but what if it's too slippery? and will the weight of the 4 points of pressure from the 300 lb clawfoot tub (+200 lbs with water in it) crack the marble? whoa- wouldn't i be pissed then and wishing i had gone with the 1 inch hexagons!

enough to make a girls' head spin

but we did finally land on a decision for the bedroom, after much concern - we ended up with an option that has never even been on my short list for the bedroom. [don't laugh:] we're going with 3 inch red oak hardwood floors. not the wide planks i thought for awhile, no sisal/seagrass carpet which might have better muffled footsteps heard from the downstairs. Yep, we are going with exactly what matches the original floors downstairs. Novel idea, eh? Don't know why I was originally so hell-bent on having a different floor up there. Oh, well.

Wood is waiting in the cabana and after three different bids, the floor guys start on Monday. Which means I'd better get my arse in gear over the tiles because ideally, the tiles should be done first because if they have to move the tub out of the bathroom, I don't want my precious tub or my brand new wood floors getting jacked.

And as of today: The upstairs has been painted! =) whoo-hooooooo. Silver Sage in the bathroom and Twine in the bedroom... at the last minute, I moved away from the slate grey color for the bedroom. The trim won't go up until after the floors are done (wainscoting, crown, etc) but they have primed and painted the first coat so it will just need touch up after being nailed into place and a final coat.

Bored out of your mind with construction-talk? Me too. Ready for a nap? Me too.

Sounds of Summer

Horrible recording, but kinda captures the essence of the sound of the secadas echoing in the trees. I absolutely LOVE hearing this sound- it is the unmistakable sign of summertime.

I stepped into the front yard and recorded this withy phone. Hope it posts.

'No' How

Last weekend I was delighted to have a precious old friend in town! And by 'old' I mean that we've been friends since age 8; this is not am admission of being old. Anyhow- Gilbert stayed with me and we had a fantastic time.

Since sister Sarah now lives in Oman, it isn't easy for her to swing by and say hello. As such, she hadn't had the chance to meet mademoiselle Madeleine so we proMptly fixed that.

While we were visiting the little curly haired monster, she of course looked up and asked me for "oh oh oh" (yes, I still shamelessly dole out beyonce songs and other iPhone entertainment on demand) so I regaled little miss with her favorite song and she effortlessly completed her repetoire of related tricks. Once interest was waining, I hit pause and got the predicted "uh-oh!!". But didn't restart it.

You see, it's about 50/50 that she'll insist it turn back on vs losing interest all together. Oh, she wanted to still hear it alright and I was bombarded with the sweet question: "oh oh oh". And again with expressive eyebrows and a little sadder: "oh oh oh..."?

So I say to Sarah, "i mean, really? How can I say no to that?". Thankfully, Madeleine quickly let me know by responding "oh oh oh, no-no. oh oh oh, no-no." and repeating it a dozen more times, waving her finger before laying her head down and giving up.

So apparently THAT is how you tell a 20-month old "no"

Sent from my iPhone

Big Day

The moment you've all been waiting for (well, not really, but just go along with me on this one). Today we got sheet rock upstairs and it finally looks like a 'real' room. You could walk around up there and not have to be told: "and this area is the bedroom..."

So for your viewing enjoyment... (because you asked and i'm not one to want to disappoint)... pictures!!

From entering (on the landing) you can see the balcony doors at the back of the bedroom and reflections from the pool glowing on the ceiling (that was a lovely surprise... one I didn't realize before today). A couple steps ahead of him, Mr Price is about to turn into the bathroom door:

From the far corner of the room looking back at the door/landing. The french doors to the right lead to Mr. Price's closet and to the far right of the picture, the door to the bathroom:

A better view looking into the bathroom, and past Mr. Price is the shower:

The shower in the center, to the left is the door to my closet and just out of view to the right of the shower is the door to the potty closet:

From inside my closet and looking out, you can see the two windows that are over the tub (which is currently draped in an old comforter and covered in sheet rock to protect my shiny new tub from dents, dings and other mishaps from construction) and the speaker wires dangling down from the ceiling. To the right, the protruding box is the backside of my linen closet, just to the right of my sink:

YAY.

It's as if it is no longer just an idea or concept... today made it feel real.

Yawn

...Before I bore myself off this blog... it's time to spruce it up.

and it's almost the SECOND half of the year. which means one thing: time for a new playlist! (woohoo). so there are a few songs i just couldn't get enough of so they'll show up again, but i tried to refresh it. The Asia songs: China & Japan references... gone. All the French songs... well, [almost] gone.

What's still around? Can't seem to get enough of Lauryn Hill beatboxin to the 70's remake, hopeful songs like Ohh La La and Wagon Wheel, the hottest song ever: Desire, sprinkled in with wake-me-up songs, close-your-eyes-and-pretend-it's-Friday-afternoon songs and some pull-the-shades-after-the-sun-went-down-and-slip-away songs.

Anyway, the playlist is my modern mix tape replacement; now that mix tapes are merely a relic of our memories, maybe found in a shoebox somewhere. Sorry you can't pop it in as you drive down the road, but go on and pretend there was a some block letters on the case dedicating it to you. =)

All because of the peanut butter

so... i got a concussion last weekend! lovely, eh? i was moving the shelves in the pantry and two full tubs of peanut butter fell and landed squarely on top of my cabeza. yes, we eventually made a trip to the ER after three medical professionals (two nurses and a doctor: sister-in-law, doctor's office after-hours line and friend, respectively) insisted on Sunday that I go after symptoms increased. now, who doesn't love an emergency room visit? at least we didn't have to wait.

anyway, who gets a concussion from falling peanut butter?? seriously.

two days later from the bump and i have an awful headache, am still dizzy & nauseous and keep forgetting words and what i'm trying to say.... which is extremely irritating - as you might imagine. in general i just feel a bit spacey.

while it should just be a few more days until back to normal -- Nurse Marines had a very smart analogy: consider the lack of focus like a runny nose... it's a symptom that will go away, it's not you, it's just the bruise -- but it could be a few weeks until back to normal. the thought of which would likely really piss me off right about now; but my head hurts too much to be too angry.

silver lining: if bad things happen in 3's, we are DONE for a while.

Inspection Intervention

We were looking at a possible 2-3 weeks delay due to inspections...

The inspector stopped by this morning and (thankfully) I was still at home. We went ahead and called for the framing inspection, even though we passed it when we were working on the house the last time. BUT, we figured, if we didn't they would get all in a tizzy and go berserk and make us rip out the sheet rock or something silly (and expensive) so that they could inspect it again.

After about 5 minutes or so, I went upstairs and he was busy making notes, ready to fail us undoubtedly. I thought I would just let him know we'd passed before and that we had a confusing permit situation, etc etc. After about 10 minutes of me explaining and re-explaining and him responding that all he had on record was one final inspection that we failed.... he decided that we could just look it up online. Perfect!

So after a bit more confusion and a few more explanations, random details and Q&A: he says, "okay. I actually believe you now."

talkie-talkie-talkie- about another 5 minutes, he told me something about insulation installation and calling for that inspection and he was gone. Well, from the house because he stayed in his car out front for another 15 minutes or so, making notes or something.

This afternoon, Mr. Price calls me (from his fancy new itoy, I might add), and --a bit bewildered-- tells me that online it shows we have passed: Framing rough-in, Plumbing rough-in, Mechanical rough-in and every other inspection until insulation.

now THAT'S progress. WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO

Checklist

While we are now going on two weeks of the framers saying something to the effect of 'just a few more days' to come wrap up their 1/2 day of work [assume mild amount of frustration here]... we HAVE crossed some things off our list.

We now have -upstairs, mind you- 2 sinks, 2 medicine cabinets and 1 potty. Oh, yes; and that's not all! The most exciting news to report: Mr. Price hired some help last weekend and the 4 of them got our cast iron tub upstairs and in the bathroom area. Yippers!

check. check. check. check.

progress.

Who's your Daddy?

Did I mention that the TriPrices refer to Mr Price in the third person as my "daddy"? As in, he belongs to me and he is an old man so clearly he is in the category of "daddy."

Mr. Price finds this endlessly hilarious.

Sure, they still call him 'uncle' but when inquiring where he is or what he's doing they'll ask me: "Where's your Daddy?" A little confusing to me (and wanting to gently set it straight) since they could be referencing my real Daddy... but no, they consider him my Grand Daddy or just get really confused as to why I'm asking for clarification because "what's wrong with me that I don't know who they mean by 'Daddy'?? I mean, don't you know who your Daddy is?" ...at least that's the look that's the look I get in response...

so it remains.

The Best of Intentions

Story I have to post because I still giggle at it:

Hanging out with the triplets a couple weeks ago and A & F got in a squabble so Claire & I went to the play room while her sisters got sorted out. Sweet Claire asked if I was going to spend the night and I told her if I did, Uncle Joe would be sad. She looked up at me with those beautiful big brown eyes and the sweetest, concerned face; then in a delicate little voice replied: "But I want him to be sad..."

Still not feeling lotz better...

Nothin' like a few bad tomatoes in your medium original from Schlotzsky's in Hillsboro to taint an otherwise lovely day. Felt overly full about an hour after eating it, nausea set in about 3 hours later, and two hours later, by 7pm I was seeing it again. Dis-gust-ing.

No one else in the car had the misfortune of diced tomatoes or olives on their sandwich. I was the lone lucky one.

I keep seeing in my head that stupid road sign that gave us the brilliant idea "Lotz Better" and it makes me want to... oh, wait... I already did that.

So, here on day 4 post-poisoning, still with a sore back from yakking so much and my stomach still loud and irritated, I have managed to branch out from the jello and occasional chicken broth diet to potato soup. Little victories. On the mend.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.

Tornadoes & 4 inch hail

Best warning all night ... "now is not the time to go to the store"

Thanks, Mr. Weatherman!! I'll try to remember that =)

Sketchy

These are some of the original sketches I made for our house remodel (back in 2006!).

While the kitchen layout didn't change much from the final product, the upstairs bathroom has had more time to morph.

Mental Juggling, Medicine Cabinets and Dominoes

The classic riddle of the remodeling-sphinx: How can something seemingly as simple as a medicine cabinet possibly consumer so much of one's time?


Of the 250 decisions (that might be generous on the low side... let's call these 'product decisions') that must be made for the bathroom alone, I am currently spinning my wheels on the medicine cabinet. Should be fun and quick, right? Well, it was.... the first time. Maybe even the second time. I had the the size was just right, the price well shopped and down to the SKU - ready to purchase when it was closer to install time (no need to have additional stuff laying around up there...)

So there we go last weekend to pick up the medicine cabinet (we need it now not to install, but so extra blocking can be done prior to the sheet rock being installed). Just before heading out the door - thinking I'm being cautious... i decide to pop upstairs and measure in between the studs... just in case. Whew, I think: one was 14.5 and the other 14.25. The difference of a quarter inch could have really thrown me off here. but the dimensions of the in-the-wall part is 14'' in width so all clear. WOOHOO! ---wait for it--- Hmmm.... that PVC pipe is running straight up the middle of the studs where the cabinet is to be. yep. Murphy strikes again.


After all my pondering of size, shape and style - then shopping pricing and picking out the PERFECT medicine cabinet... it's no good. it would have looked lovely over one sink and protruded from the wall over the other. Back to square one. But actually, the domino effect kicks in, because we needed to finalize what type of lighting would go over the sinks before the electrician could finish the rough in... so we bought the lights already. Well, those were selected on the premise that of the inset medicine cabinet would be fairly flush to the wall.


Given this new discovery that I need to pick out a new medicine cabinet that will be wall-mounted, not recessed, it will not protrude further from the wall than originally thought. Meaning the lights won't be ideal any more, they either need to come out further from the wall or be side mounted... but we've already passed electrical inspection, so i don't want to redo any electrical wiring and have that set-back.... so stuck with finding a new light fixture with the parameters we already set for the last lights, not to mention staying within the metal finish selected when we got the clawfoot tub feet & hardware (faucet, etc) and minding the available selections for the time period of the original construction of the house.


By and by, I have since realized that I need to consider/select the sink size and placement to determine where the exactly the blocking* will need to be, once the cabinet (and corresponding dimensions) have been determined.


While this might seem an easy task... it turns out not to be. And I'm still on the medicine cabinet part. And now it's not time for casually thinking it over and refining my selections over time.... chop chop, sister! this will now hold up progress and the guy is coming to finish up minor framing changes early next week.


So, need to go ahead and get the sinks. Thankfully, my sink selection will still work, but I will need to go to two different places to get them because everyone, it seems, is running low on stock of that item.


But picking up the sink won't really help all that much, other than crossing it off the list because I will have to just visualize the combo since we are.......... still in studs.


*in case you aren't familiar, blocking is securing a 2x4 between to vertical studs to carry weight of a heavy item on a wall: e.g. medicine cabinet, TV or recessed shelf. done correctly, it should be connected at the center of the new 2x4.


also: did I mention that we failed our mechanical inspection? well, we failed our mechanical inspection. not because of something with the new system... and not because of something functionally wrong with existing system... but because the vent pipe is too long in one direction and they want it to go straight up. Yep. A minor ~$600 'fix' for something not even involved in our current renovation. and the best part: the vent pipe will pop through the roof on the front part of the house.

Memorial Weekend Mishaps to Happiness

So I'm a few weeks behind on this... but I finally downloaded pictures from my camera (along with some precious shots of the Herd Twins!) and have story-in-pictures to share. Meghan - there will be more house updates on the way, as promised.

So for now:

The pool, post paris (lovely, no? welcome home! you now have a pond) see, i told you it was bad...

and subsequent draining. It was shiney and blue by the next evening. dirty rat-b@astard pool. arggh

this is a sneaky picture from the dining room. so... we were having a couple boards replaced on our porch and - much to my delight (oh, wait...) the whole damn thing needed replacing. nice... so this is the workers finishing up the new floor joists.

and now, something pretty from the backyard to counteract the other backyard blunders:

and while lightening the mood here... this was fantastic. dinner with the Shanleys and for a bit of comic relief - look through the window over Erin's sholder. Um, that'd be Jim & Joe under the roof of the casita because it started raining while they were grilling. tee hee...

and as the grande finale on this crescendo.... pardon my elephant neck but, seriously - can a face express pure joy any better than little bit's here?? we weren't even spinning yet, it was just the countdown ...