Surprise Paint Job

The 2nd weekend in February I drove up to Salem with the kids to help celebrate Katy's 2nd birthday. It took a lot of effort to not crazy overplan the trip. I had to keep reminding myself that when we'd drive the 3 1/2 hours to Pennsylvania to visit Matt's family for a 2 or 3 day weekend, we'd usually have just 1 or 2 specific things we'd plan on doing. It was mostly just hanging out and visiting. So I tried to apply the same thing on this trip. I think we (my sisters, mom and I) are still so used to only being together once a year that we try to cram as much stuff into the day as we can think of. I'm pleased to say that it was an improvement, but still needs some work.

Matt was a little sad to be without us for the long weekend, but I told him this way he could sleep in as long as he wants and go fishing for as long as he wants without having to have any daddy duty. I might have mentioned that if he got bored he could paint a room or two, but not to worry since we had a 3 day weekend coming up where we could also knock a couple of rooms out.

Well, to our great surprise when we got home on Monday evening (Matt was at a late out of town meeting) the previously wood paneled office was now a fresh milkweed/alfalfa color and the girls room a lovely pink with no more hideous wallpaper! I was blown away. Especially that the textured wallpaper was gone, that in itself seemed a weekend project to me. Plus he'd cleaned and vacuumed the whole house. It was a wonderful welcome home surprise indeed.

Evalyn was delighted to have pink walls.I think she'd been feeling a little left out since I'd recently added Winnie the Pooh wall decals to Henry's room. When she asked about putting up her Princess ones that I'd bought at the same time, I told her we had to paint first. Thanks to Daddy's long weekend hours (he did get some fishing in too!) she'll get her Princess stickers a lot sooner!

New Windows! New Heat Pump!

With all new windows and a new central heating system, our house is finally comfortable!!

NO MORE:
*temperature extremes when the furnace kicks on and off
*$360 monthly oil bills
*priming the burner on the aging furnace when air gets in the line
*cold air seeping through the single pane windows above the bed at night
*sleeping with a pillow (and a stocking hat some nights) over my head to ward off cold air
*waking up to windows wet with condensation, obscuring the mountain views

With our brand new heat pump, our electric bill will be slightly higher, but we'll be saving a couple hundred easily on not relying on heating oil. Plus our A/C costs will be more energy efficient, too. At least we won't have to run it night and day like in Maryland though. Here we can open the windows and night and just need A/C in the late afternoon.

Best of all is how nice the windows look. I love my unobstructed kitchen view, having a child-lock on the sliding door, seeing pretty white vinyl rather than ugly old aluminum. We splurged a bit on the front window and had a bay put in. It adds a lot more space to the room and gives great curb appeal, especially when we get the outside of the house painted.

Here's some pics of the process. As timing goes, the window and HVAC guys overlapped each other for a couple of days. That was a crazy mid-February!



(Do you think I used the word "New" enough times?!?)

What Time of Day Are You?

Some of the questions were a little lame or didn't have the "right" choice for me, but this was a fun quiz and a laughed at the result because it seemed surprisingly right on.



You are 10:02 a.m.

You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes.

Retreating Glacier

The snows of January are finally melting, leaving behind quite a muddy mess. Today was the first day I'd really let the kids venture out in the yard. I felt bad when I realized this was the 3rd or so day with sunny skies and weather above 50, but this was the first time I'd remembered to let the kids out in it. I guess we've gotten so programmed that we'd forgotten we had a yard to play in!

And play they did. They both went through 2 outfits of clothes from the morning/pre-nap play and the late afternoon nap play. It is so fun to watch them discover new corners of the yard and find things to do. They "rode" their trikes through the soggy grass, splashed in mud puddles, played with rocks and leaves and a large puddle, and who knows what else. I even joined them for a bit realizing that I could sure use some fresh air. It was still a tad chilly so I left Linnea inside by the sliding glass door. Henry was delighted that his mommy was walking on their little hilly path and going through the bushes with him. I felt like Santa Clause coming to visit by how happy he was!

There is still a large swath of snow that is in shadows most of the day. It looks like a retreating glacier, complete with exposed toys that were swallowed by the snow. I couldn't find the camera until late in the day, so I'll have to post a picture later. And I finally found the missing pink mitten! Spring is on its way!

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(I had to buy some real rainboots for these two. I could tell the mud was going to be around for awhile and the snow boots weren't cutting it, as you can see from the plastic bags hanging out!)

"Deer" Yreka

one of the quirks of our little town is the resident deer population. The city is surrounded by mountains and state/federal forest lands. The deer like to wander down and graze on the lawns and landscapes rather than stick to their own habitat. I guess they can read signs that say "Absolutely No Hunting" within the city limits.

So we have regular groups of deer sauntering through at their leisure.







Not only do they wander through yards, but they roam the streets like gangs of teens on a Friday night. Be very careful driving at twilight! Or even mid-day. The deer are always out and about. Another fun thing about this little place. We're planning our new fence accordingly, we don't like the deer poop in the yard, or the ticks they may bring come summer!