Thank God that's over with (almost)

I am still recovering from the holidays and have yet to take down the Christmas tree but I'll get to that soon enough.

I have to back up all the way to Thanksgiving and tell you how all my festive dishes turned out.  They ROCKED the Casbah!  All I heard during dinner were groans of delight and clinking of serving spoons because everyone was going for seconds.  There was the big ol' ham, mashed potatoes (I was so worn out by the time it came to the potatoes I just made a regular batch instead of garlic and horseradish like I said I would make), a modified green bean casserole, rolls, sweet potato pie, apple pie, mocha silk pie, and pecan pie--ALL FROM SCRATCH!  It was pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself.

We had quite a mix of family to help us count our blessings and everything we are thankful for.  Some of my family, some of Eric's, and the house was packed.  I quite enjoyed it.

On to Christmas.  I tried as best as I could to start the shopping early this year and was successful at getting a big chunk out of the way.  My husband did most of his shopping online, which is way better than shopping on the 23rd or even the 24th of December with all the other dim-bulb procrastinators like he did last year.  No, instead of shopping at the last minute, he decides to re-do our garage.  A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS!  There was no stopping him but I think he learned that a week before Christmas is not the best time to do a project that involves piling up a bunch of crap in the dining room, tearing down a half-wall which, incidentally was about as difficult to tear down as the Berlin wall; painting the walls and the floor, then moving said crap back into the garage.  Needless to say, it did not get done before Christmas but it's done now so I'll quit my yapping about it.  We had several different family gatherings to attend which is funny because at three of them we see some of the same people.  We had 5 in total and as much as I love my family, I'm glad that's over and I can kick back a bit.

I have lots of new toys to play with and a kid on break so we've been playing with this cool marble wall coaster.  You use putty to stick tubes and tracks to a wall to make a course for a marble to run through and it's totally awesome!  We've also been playing Scrabble Flash and it is super cool for word nerds like us.  One more goofy thing we've been playing with is the Criss Angel magic kit.  It was a gift for my daughter from my mom, and don't laugh or roll your eyes because it has some pretty good tricks in it that will blow your mind.  Seriously.  Tomorrow we are off to the Bricktown ball park to go snow tubing so that should be fun. 

I'll eventually take down the Christmas tree and we can call 2010 a gonner.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Patio renovation...part 2

Well, it's been over a month since I last blogged about our patio renovation, and the more you get to know me, you will come to understand that I am a prefessional procrastinator who is married to a professional procrastinator.  To our credit, we have had a lot of things going on but I'll keep it real and tell you the truth:  we have been to busy with work (him) and having fun (both of us).  But now, we must get serious!  Procrastinators unite!  Tomorrow.  Ahem.

So far, the flagstone is clean and has a polyurethane coat on it.  I want to get a second coat down this week.  My husband and I painted a bunch of the wood we are using since we are sloppy painters and didn't want to make a mess on the stone or the screening.  Also, the framing for the screening is partially done.  Maybe the next time I blog about it, it will be finished!  Who am I kidding?

Here are some pictures:

So far, so good.  Let's just hope it keeps going that way!  For any of you working on home improvement projects, you are not alone.  Don't watch too much DIY network or HGTV.  That stuff will just lead to more projects that will inevitably lead you to ask yourself the question, "When did I become such a grown up?"

Patio Renovation...Part 1

My lovely husband likes to keep me on my toes and his latest way of doing that is to start a home improvement project.  I can tell when he's got an idea cooking because he folds his arms and squints a little and starts a sentence with, "What would you think if we..." and we end up doing something crazy like remodeling something or opening a book store.  I decided long ago to just go with it because it usually ends up pretty cool.  If it was left to me, nothing would ever change.  Ever.  But, that's not how it is, or even how it should be, so I guess it's quite a blessing we ended up together.

If you are not into home improvement projects, skip this post because it is completely eaten up with it.

Stage one in the renovation was to clear out all the junk on the patio.  Dog houses included.  This thoroughly confused one of our dogs and I watched her sniff around where her house had been and she looked at me as though asking for help.  I showed her where her house was and she huffed about it for a minute before going in.  We had a TON of stuff out there, man!  A literal TON.  Well, maybe a half ton.  Okay, a quarter ton.  That's still a lot, right? 

The next step was to power wash the flagstone.  I always thought it was pretty, but with it being outside, it was hard to keep clean and I never noticed how dirty it really was.  Here is a  5-year-old picture of the flagstone before washing it.  Also, our patio is now covered.  And I am no longer that thin.

And, a picture of the flagstone with a dog sitting on it:

I couldn't help myself.  She's just so darn cute. 

So we got all the stuff off the patio and now our yard looks like Sanford and Son set up shop there.  I am a bit of a neat freak so it is vexing to say the least but my mantra since starting this project is, "It will all be worth it in the end".  Actually, I have a lot of mantras lately but this one applies to a whole mess of things in my life.  Maybe you should try it too! Or "Count to 10" or "Take a deep breath" or "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me".  Give it a try.  Or don't.

More on the renovation in the coming weeks.