This and That

Things have been going on, yet I don't seem to have the motivation to write about them.  But I do take pictures so that's what you'll get.

Note: there is one dead animal picture in the middle...so don't look if you're squeamish.  You've been warned.

I made a double batch of granola to go with my homemade yogurt.  Mmmm, good.

Eddie loves gymnastics...once he decides to participate.

Last Saturday Eddie went with me to a friend-of-a-friend's house to learn about butchering a pig.  Dave was supposed to be home to hang out with Eddie, but when his plans changed, Eddie came along.  When he got bored with the meat, he busied himself with digging for worms in the garden and feeding them to the chickens.  (His recent hobby.)

Later on Saturday: Eddie continued his worm-seeking in the neighbor's compost pile.  He put the worms into a beer bottle he found in the neighbor's yard (uhhhh...) and had me feed them to the chickens afterward.  

I made a video of me feeding the chickens all the worms Eddie collected in the beer bottle.  Dave thinks I'm crazy for it, but I seriously don't think I could ever live without chickens again.  They are such a delight to have in the yard--so much personality!  

Eddie found this dress/nightgown and some books in a "free" pile in front of someone's house on the way home from the pig butchering class.  He wore it to bed that night, after spending an hour dancing around the house like a ballerina.  When Dave got home that night, Eddie greeted him in the living room and I heard Dave exclaim, "Oh!  My pretty, pretty princess!"  Haha, I loved Dave's reaction.

Sunday we were supposed to have Zennie over to play but she was barfing all morning so she didn't come.  So......we demolished the hall bathroom shower/tub surround instead!  Dave even managed to take the old tub out the next day. I'm not sure how we'll get the new one in since he had to use a Sawzall to get the old one out...but I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Dave took my picture here because I was using the biggest nonsledge hammer we have with the smallest chisel we have...that's what I was left with after Eddie rummaged through the tool bag.  But it worked.  

Because the hall bathroom is being renovated, Eddie now bathes in a galvanized tub in the kitchen. So far, he thinks it's fun.  I think it's cute because--well, what's not cute about Eddie in a bucket?  But also it's cute because Dave and I bought those tubs to hold ice and drinks for our wedding reception.

Eddie and Callen busied themselves allllllll day Monday by digging a huge hole in the front yard (in a place pre-approved for digging by me since it has no plants).  They were quite industrious: the soil went into a 33 gallon garbage can, then they dragged the hose to it and soaked it to make mud, then  asked Callen's dad to dump it out so they could play in it.  The can o' mud was so heavy that Rob had to come ask Dave to help him move it.  I think those kiddos were out there for a good 4 hours playing in that mud, making volcanoes, roads, and tunnels.

While Eddie was outside playing and Dave was sawing away at the tub, I made some kid-sized aprons and pot holders. Renee is having her birthday party this coming weekend and I know she's getting a play kitchen from her parents.  So I thought I'd make her a few things to go with it.  I made two aprons so Eddie has one, too.  I used some old fabric from my Grandma's old stash and made ruffles for the first time ever.  I was delirious with pride that I actually made ruffles--I felt like I'd discovered how to make fire or something.  

On our Tuesday afternoon off, Eddie was outside playing with the neighbors when it suddenly got really cold and windy.  They came inside for a snack and we realized it was hailing something fierce.  I got excited and went out onto the patio to check it out.  Seeing my excitement, they came outside with me.  And then we realized we were being pummeled and it HURT our faces so we came inside and just stared out the window for the next 5 minutes until it passed.  

I wore gold earrings and a 3/4 sleeved sweater to school the other day. Not wanting naked wrists, I rummaged through my jewelry box in search of a gold bracelet.  This is the only one I have.  It was a wedding gift from Dave's mom on our wedding day.  And yes, that's a picture of newborn Dave.  Weird?  Yes.  Sort of creepy?  Maybe.  But do I love it? Definitely.  

Eddie insisted on cooking our eggs yesterday morning, just so he could wear his new apron.  Scrambled eggs was the first dish I was ever allowed to cook alone on the stove, too.  I sent this video to Edward right after uploading it and he told me he actually burned his OWN breakfast because he was busy watching Eddie cook.  Haha.

Dave is home this week for water treatment class he's taking in Sacramento.  Obviously, this makes this week one of the best of the year because he's here every morning and is home in time for dinner every night.  I loooooooooooove it.  Eddie does, too.  Tonight he and Dave played 'struction workers on excavators while I threw dinner together.  He's always pretended that the upside down stools are heavy equipment because when he stands inside the legs, it puts the legs in the right position to be the levers controlling the machines.   

So that's what we've been up to!  I'm off to Mountain View/Livermore tomorrow to spend a couple of days away for some (hopefully) focused writing time.  It's possible I'll find some time to write up a few much-neglected blog posts while I'm gone...but I think I'll be too busy biking, eating Cajun chicken pasta at Strizzi's, sitting in Edward's hot tub, picking greens in my dad's garden...oh, and writing the results and discussion sections of this first dissertation chapter.  Boo.  

Old Becomes New

Dave and I love refurbishing old furniture or changing something general into something for a specific application. Our latest project was to turn a free-standing wine rack from a thrift store into two smaller racks that fit in the small bookcases that we refurbished. At some point I'll sand off the crusty finish on the racks and put on a fresh new coat of lacquer.

Wine rack before:
And now it's all chopped up and made into new racks! Doesn't Davie do such a good job?

These book cases came free with the couch set we bought on Craigslist last summer--they were uuuuuuuuugly. The lady had stained them the same blue color as the couches and the edges were all rounded and boring. I had Dave add some moulding to the top and bottom to dress them up; then I painted them crisp white to match the trim in the dining room. We affixed them to the walls (like good earthquake-conscious Californians) and now they look all pretty. Especially with the cute baskets that I bought and now with wine racks. (Although I'm going to return those baskets...they were like $17 a piece! I liked them so much that I bought them anyway, knowing well that Dave would convince me to return them. They'll stay long enough for me to measure them (since they fit perfectly on the shelves) and search online for cheaper versions.)

Here's what the book cases (we have two of these) looked like when we got them. I realize you can't really see the book case in this picture, but you can tell that there's no pretty trim at the top and bottom and they are blue. I had to apply like 5 coats of white paint to cover that dark blue stain. They look very snazzy now, if I do say so myself.

Reincarnation As A Shower Curtain

Right after we became engaged in Paris, my mom bought Dave and I some Paris bedding from my favorite catalog, Garnet Hill. We had a queen bed then but upgraded to an eastern king sized bed once we realized there’d never be enough room on a queen for two humans and two dogs (who also require their own pillows, mind you). Since I gave Edward and Allison our queen bedroom furniture this past summer we’ve not been using these cute sheets at all.

This is what the bedding looked like (from the Garnet Hill catalog):

So I decided to turn them into a shower curtain for our hall bathroom. (If my mom is reading this, I bet she’s having a fit: “She did WHAT with those nice sheets I bought for them?! Tisk. Why would she go and ruin such pretty sheets like that?”) But I think she’ll be pleased to see how it came out and how it looks hanging in that blue bathroom. We already had Moulin Rouge prints hanging in that bathroom (that’s where Dave proposed...at the Moulin Rouge, not in the bathroom...) so it all “came together” with this new curtain.

I used some neat trim and some ribbon I found amongst all the sewing stuff I inherited from my late Grandma so it wouldn’t just look like I hung an old sheet up.

The remaining material from the sheets and duvet cover will probably come back to life as curtains for our gray-walled office. We’re thinking of painting vertical stripes on the walls of the office to make it look taller—we’ll use the same color of gray but in a different finish (we have satin up now so perhaps we’ll use a semi-gloss).

I might also refashion a red king duvet cover I got for our bed so that the center of the duvet is Paris print. My intent for buying the red duvet set was to (try to) mask the dirt and grim the dogs bring into our bed everyday. Potatoes is the main culprit--right after he's done going potty after breakfast he runs straight back into the bed and snoozes in one of the human spots (it is still warm and he adores ANYTHING that smells like Mama or Daddy--yes, even our dirty clothes.) Because he's a boy (not because he's a dog...) his paws are especially prone to coming back in trailing leaves and clumps of dirt. The red duvet DOES mask the dirt, but not all the white hair. So it ends up looking messier than if I just used one our girly pastel floral duvets where the paw prints just sort of blend in with the flowers. I know some of you are probably completely grossed out, but that's just life with dogs. And when you know your dogs are angels sent directly from Heaven (as mine are, of course) then you just take it as your Earthly duty to deal with dirty paws in your bed. =o)