Bring on Christmas

Here's our tree!

It's about time I posted something.. I realize my last post was right after Game 2 of the World Series. For those of you who use my blog as your primary news source and have been waiting 2 months to find out who won the World Series, the Red Sox ended up winning.

Game 2

Once again I could only stay awake through the sixth inning - I guess being a little league umpire has left me with a 6-inning attention span. And once again, I didn't miss much - the score was the same the next morning - 2-1 SOX!!

Tonight the Sox are taking a break, but there's no rest for the Rogue Warriors, who have their last double-header of the regular fall season. What? You haven't heard that the mighty Warriors have clinched first place in the league with an 11-1 record so far? Not bad for a team that went 1-12 in their first season two years ago. Oh yeah that's right. Warriors in da house. So even though I'm not on the roster this fall, I'm subbing for their catcher tonight. I'd like to think it's my Veritek-like mad-skillz that got me called. But more than likely it was because I already own the shirt.

Game 1

I stayed awake till the end of the sixth inning, and apparently didn't miss much. I was awake long enough to watch Ryan Speier walk in 3 straight runs. Not that it made much difference to the final score of 13-1.

Not sure what was going on with the Rockies. Maybe it was the altitude?

11-2!

Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe summed it up nicely: "At 11:56 last night, Casey Blake hit a towering shot toward the 420 (foot) sign in the deepest part of center field at Fenway Park. The ball descended from the October sky and settled into the outstretched mitt of a galloping Coco Crisp, who crashed into the bullpen fence and dropped to the ground holding the American League pennant in his hand."

Block Party 2007

I moved into this neighborhood in March of 2001, and in a continuation of the Dunbar Road tradition of neighborhood social events (and being Anna's daugher after all), I threw a block party a few months later. It was the first block party on our street.

On Saturday, our seventh annual block party was hosted at the home of our neighbors, Dan and Margie. Most of the neighbors came, and it was a great success (as always!). We had a Wii bowling tournament, won by Su with a score of 200 points (it was touch-and-go there while we watched the contender, Pete, rack up a second-place score of 198). Pete brought his home-made wine and there was plenty of libations for all - topped off by Gloria's amazing yellow-n-chocolate cake (replacing a home-made attempt which came from the "world's not-so-best recipies").

After dark, no one wanted to leave... the adults stayed and chatted while the kids played a highly competetive game of "manhunt." Here are some shots of the festivities..

Bravado

We spent last week in Virginia. Here's Sara, Jenna, Dan and Ethan trying to look nonchalant on the Anaconda, a roller coaster at King's Dominion.

weekend at Camp Nonni-Nonno

Here are pics from our weekend at Nonni and Nonno's....

Greatest baseball play

Maybe the greatest baseball play of all time... certainly the best one ever made on Independence day.

Click for yourself:

http://www.keepingapace.com/blogarchives/sports/baseballs_greatest_play.php

Good game, Blue

Dave kept things running smooth at the Senior World Series game yesterday afternoon.

"Guy with a bat comin' at ya!"

I was told that I have been slacking with my blog updates. I have been trying to get pictures of our baseball pursuits (me and Dave umpiring, Ethan playing), but that will have to wait. Meanwhile, here's a Youtube video which gives a look into the perilous lifestyle of the little league umpire..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXiRfBWuB9E

Mother's day

Sara and Dan made me breakfast for mother's day!

The rest of the day was spent watching Ethan's game, and then umpiring a double-header..

Yummy food followed by a day of baseball - does it get any better than that?

Dog walks Boy

Ethan and Daniel have taught Bourbon a new trick - or did he teach it to them? Bourbon pulls them along on their Heelies. For those not in the know, Heelies are sneakers with wheels on the bottom... almost like roller skates but less conspicuous.

And what about all that work we put in to training Bourbon not to pull when he's on his leash? That might have been undone. But at least he's ready for a back-up career as a sled dog, if this laying-on-the-couch-all-day career doesn't work out.

our 15 minutes of fame!

We're featured in an article in the New York Times today about stepfamilies:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/garden/19step.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I was interviewed several weeks ago, and they sent the photographer over last week. Here's the picture they used of us (one of thousands that Danielle Austen took).

Easter 2007

Everyone who is anyone was there....

color-challenged

The color that looked *absolutely fabulous* in the dining room looked absolutely hideous in the living room when I painted it yesterday. I tried to like it, I really did - I tried to convince myself that maybe with the lampshades up, or with the pictures up, it really wouldn't be so bad. But the denial wore off and I was faced with the ugly truth that I would have to repaint. I had really wanted the living room and dining room to be the same color... but clearly that is not possible, if I want a dark dramatic color in the dining room and and I'm not willing to let the living room look like a dungeon.

So, off I went to Lowes today, and dropped another $86 (that paint is expensive!) on basically the same color I had in the living room before - It's Valspar Signature "Straw Hat". But I am leaving the far wall of the living room in "Wooden Spoon". Here you can see the two colors, although it's hard to tell on the computer. They are very close in tone, but Wooden Spoon is merely a darker shade of Straw Hat. You can see in the picture that the two colors are very different in intensity (the blotch to the left of the window is Straw Hat, the rest of that wall is Wooden Spoon). But to the right of the window, you can see how subtle the difference is when they are on adjacent walls.

and they said it couldn't be done

Here's the dining room - all finished! The total cost was $417. I used Valspar Signature "Wooden Spoon" (eggshell) on the walls above the wainscotting, and Behr "Creamy White" (semigloss) on the wainscotting and trim. Dave orginially predicted the project to cost $500. I thought he was way off and was figuring on just over $100, maybe $200 at the most. Boy was I off. Plus I will probably need to change the window treatments, so that will bring us up to his original projection.

Now on to the living room. I am undecided on the color. I really want the same color in the living room and dining room (wooden spoon), to join the rooms together and allow the two spaces to flow, especially since the dining room is so small. But it is a pretty strong color and I'm afraid it will be too dark. So I think I will try it on one wall and see how I like it. Normally I would say I could just repaint (heaven knows I do a lot of that), but with Easter fast approaching, I feel pressure to make up my mind quickly.

How it's going

In answer to Erica's question, here's how it's going. We got the chair rail up, which unfortunately was the easy part. I have some sheetrock repair to work on this week, patching up the hole where the old air conditioner went through the wall, and some various cracks at the corners of the thresholds. This weekend we should finish the molding - in between Ethan's championship basketball game, Ethan's 3 baseball practices for 2 different teams, a softball practice for me and Dave, and un umpire clinic for me and Dave. And Dan and Sara's tennis lessons. I think there's a free 20 minutes in there somewhere, when we should be about to bang out this molding project. Easy Peasy.

Don't worry - it will be done by Easter and you will be enjoying roast leg o' lamb (with Nonno's famous garlic infusion) in a beautiful diningroom. It will be so nice, in fact, that I may have to go out and buy a new set of dishes..

Dining Room Project

It snowed on Friday. My 9th grade science teacher told us it always snows on Saint Patrick's day, but this year it snowed a day early. Anyway, that forced us to cancel our first softball practice of the season (GO ROGUE WARRIORS!), so I decided to start a new project. I hope to finish it before Easter.

We're going to put up crown molding, chair rail and shadowbox molding in the dining room. Actually, Dave is going to put up the molding. I am going to paint when he's done.

So here are the the before pictures.

We spent $150 at Lowes yesterday on the crown and chair rail moldings. And we spent $217 today at the Home depot on the shadowbox molding, painting supplies, adhesive, and one can of paint for the lower half of the walls (Behr Creamy White, semi-gloss, which is the same paint we used on the built-in bookcase and trim in the living room). The top half of the dining room walls will be Cracker Bitz, same as the hallway. And, I'm thinking of painting the living room that color too.

Yes it's an awful lot of Cracker Bitz. It might be dark. We'll have to see..

say hello to my little friend..

Here's Dave holding the little gray mouse he caught in Sara's room. We managed to lure him out from behind Sara's dresser in the direction of TicTac, as it was our plan for her to take it from there. She stared at him as he sauntered past her. The mouse was not scared of TicTac and she was not the least bit interested in catching the mouse. So much for our huntress.

Then Dave got the little guy trapped under the radiator where we spent the better part of an hour chasing him from one end of the radiator to the other. We finally got him to come out and Dave trapped him with a plastic container. Sara and Dave took him down to the woods at the end of the road to let him go, but not before giving him a couple pieces of cheese... which he chose to stay and eat instead of running away.

I hope he doesn't find his way back to our house... and I hope he didn't leave a little mouse family behind...

Valentine's day at our house

oh look, the valentine fairy has been here...

Super!

Sara made a Superbowl cake. She has no particular allegence to the Colts but she wanted to use blue icing.

Later today we're having a superbowl party - just the 6 of us and Grandpa K. I will be rooting for the Bears because that's where Mike and Carolyn live... other than that I know nothing about either team but I figure, I have to pick one. I think it's some kind of rule. Dave is making a grid and there will be prizes for who comes closest to the score at the end of each quarter. More pics of the excitement to follow...

Office Space

Here's the new office, which isn't all that new anymore but as Tracey said it's time I posted something. This is the desk that Dave built for me, and the matching bookcase. I still need something for the wall over the couch to break up all that tomato-soup red... just can't decide on what yet. Plus I'm broke, so it'll have to wait.

Next project - Dave is building me shelves for the closet, and a new filing system will be created to replace the "just throw it in the drawer" system we've been using for years.

if you blinked you missed it

Look! Snow! ok it only lasted for 5 minutes but at least I caught it on film as proof that it really is winter.

Oh by the way, Happy Birthday MOM!! :)

Think locally, warm globally

Today Dave and I got the Christmas lights down. It was in the 70's and sunny. My kind of January weather!

Although it is confusing the heck outta my poor daffodils and forsythia.