Stripping, Swimming, and Traveling

Somehow, despite being off work for almost two weeks, I haven't had much time to blog. Hopefully this post will catch you up a bit on my recent adventures.

My last day at my old job was Monday the 23rd. I had planned to work until Friday the 27th, but they said when developers leave, they usually ask them to leave immediately. I guess they're afraid of sabatoge or something. I would never to that (clearly!) so I was a little shocked when they said that. But, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I thought "Cool, more paid time off!" (they're required by law to pay out the full two weeks). They let me stay for a week after I gave notice, but I did get four unexpected days off. I originally planned to use the time to do fun things, but I've been planning to strip the wallpaper in my dining room and then paint this summer. I decided I'd much rather strip wallpaper when I'm off work than after a long day at the office. I did go blueberry picking with my cousin one morning (super fun and super cheap! I'm looking forward to eating the berries I froze all year long), but then I started the wallpaper job. The first picture is "before". It was taken a couple of years ago.

Stripping wallpaper is definitely not my favorite chore!! My back and shoulders begin screaming pretty much as soon as I pick up a scraper. Fortunately, this room was easier than the hallway that I did last summer. It only had about 2 layers of wallpaper on it, instead of the 5 or 6 that the hallway had. And occassionally, I was able to grab a piece and rip off a huge section of the outer paper and the backing! That made the chore go pretty quicky! Unlike last summer, the walls are actually in decent shape. I should be able to avoid having to do a skim coat of drywall mud before painting! Yay! I'm totally excited that my house is finally wallpaper free!! WOO-HOO-WOO!! The picture below is of the wallpaper-less walls. Once I get the paint done, I'll post a picture of the finished product.

After finishing the wallpaper project, my mom and I headed to Omaha for the swimming Olympic Trials! Oh my gosh! It was a blast!! We saw tons of world and American records! Swimming has gotten so fast in the ten years since I retired! But, it was cool for me because I still know a few of the swimmers that made the team and still just love to watch the sport! I jumped up and down with excitement when a fellow Northwestern grad made the team in the men's 100 back. Imagine me excited and then multiply that by about 10! That's how excited I was! This picture is of the awards ceremony for Michael Phelp's 400 IM. Notice the Micheal in yellow letters behind him? That was some cool sort of falling-hologram-thing (that's a very techincal term!) that spelled out swimmers names, events, USA Swimming, and even did a picture of the Olympic Ring logo. Very cool!
After four days in Omaha, my mom and I drove back to KC on Thursday and then turned around and flew to Hartford, CT with my dad first thing Friday morning! I got up at 3:15 a.m.!!! I'm used to getting up around 5:15 or 5:30, but anything in the "3s" is EARLY! After arriving in Hartford, we rented a car and I drove four hours north to Middlebury, VT, where a good family friend of ours, Erica Hill, got married. Mark drove up from Philly for the weekend and we had a GREAT time!

Middlebury is a picturesque quaint New England town, nestled in the mountains of Vermont. It's so green up there. The Middlebury campus has a big "green" in the middle, with old stone buildings around it. The wedding was lovely! Good food, great company, and fun dancing made for an awesome evening!

And then yesterday, I started my new job! It's going well so far, but I'll share more about that in a future post.

This might be the best family photo we've taken in a while!

Yard Work Girl

After touring the construction site of the KC Performing Arts Center with my P.E.O. chapter this morning (the concert hall and future home of the KC Symphany is behind me), I tackled all the yard work I should have been doing this spring but managed to put off for various reasons (Australia, scrapbooking, working, swimming, other more-fun-than-yard-work-things, etc).

In about 4 and a half hours today, in addition to making myself look completely disgusting (dirt everywhere, including under my finger nails which drives me crazy), I've managed to:

• clean the gutters (really old standing water smells really bad, by the way)
• trim the hedges in my front yard without cutting the extension cord
• rake up the trimmed hedge branches and a few miscellaneous leaves that got mixed in
• put new mulch around the tree in the front yard
• spread down a lime treatment in the front yard, which is what the Tru-Green guy that knocked on my door on Thursday night said I need to get new grass to grow again
• sweep the driveway (had to use the manual sweeper instead of the blower because some of the little hurricane goodies were stuck to the driveway)
• move all the remaining firewood from the back yard to the garage.
• rake up the leaves from the back porch
• move the wind chimes from the screened-in porch to the hanging basket cord outside
• re-stake the rain gauge in to the yard. hope it stays because it makes me happy to know how much rain has fallen
• mix a new batch of weed sprayer and spray for weeds in the front and back
• discover that yard work accompanied by tunes from an ipod isn't all that bad

The last item on the list may be the best accomplishment of all. Maybe now I'll enjoy yard work more?

The Beauty of Home

There's just something about being home. The spring colors in my backyard. My own pillow. Internet whenever I want it without being charged (other than that little cable bill I pay each month). My own car, which I can drive on the right (literally and figuratively) side of the road. More than 5 shirts to wear. My DVR with my favorite programs waiting for me to watch them. My comfy couch.

Sigh. Traveling is great! New sights, culture, words, food, adventures. But, coming home is great, too!

Icey Fountain

As I was driving home from an outing to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art last weekend, a friend and I noticed that the JC Nichols fountain on the Plaza was active but partially frozen over. It was really cool!! I carry my camera in my purse (it's come in handy many times), so we stopped and took some pictures. I currently have three photos hanging on one of the walls in my dining room. They are store bought photos, that I have no particular attachment to. I was thinking about taking them down and putting these up instead.

Creative Ideas?

This crock is the new Red Wing antique I bought recently. It's sitting in the corner formed by my living room wall and my TV cupboard. Notice the ugly messy cords hanging out the back of the cupboard? I sure wish someone would invent wireless TVs, DVD players, DVRs, etc. Until that happens, I would like to put something in this crock that is wide enough and tall enough to hide the cords. A plant would work, but I've had plants before in this spot and they tend to die. I'd like to blame it on the lack on sunlight that this corner gets, but in an effort at full disclosure, I should probably take some of the blame on myself. A fake plant is an option, but I've had a fake plant in this spot and it tends to look, well, fake. So, most of you out there are a heck of a lot more creative than I am. If you ever need something organized in to a spreadsheet, give me a call. Creative ideas, however, aren't really my strong suit. So, I'd love any suggestions for what to put in this crock that would look great and hide the mess of cords.