Life Catchup

Don't you love how I blog like once a year and then dump a whole long post on you?  I know huh?  Awesome.

So what is there to catch up on?

Let's see:

Congrats to Rachel for finally walking that long aisle.  Looking forward to July 30
Uhhmmm...how long have I been married again?  Pitiful
I love our house.  Especially now that we are in full project mode.
I love my job.  Especially because there is LOTS to do, lots of great exposure and so much...PROMISE.
I miss Liisa. Not enough to call her back obviously.  But enough to blog about her.
Finally made the jump to Photoshop cs4.  Can't believe how long I kicked and screamed and avoided...
DIY home crafty blogs are a huge time suck
But not as huge a timesuck as Age of Empires II (War Chiefs was way too easy until the end and now I'm on Asian Empires...way too tedious)
My flowers are blooming and I LOVE container gardening
Those paintings...still coming along.  yeah, maybe I should just finish something already
house is pretty much puppy proofed
brother is going to Afghanistan for his last tour. Please pray for him, cross fingers, whatever you do
this sister should get to El Paso this summer to see those folks I've always loved
and as usual, I should promise to detail this list more, but never get around to it.

of course.

World, meet Ashley Merikle

Wow.  I just can't believe it has only been 9 days.
The world got to meet Ashley on Facebook about 4 days ago. Seeing as I now function on all of like 4 hours of sleep a day, I've not fogotten how to use a camera but having the time to upload photos is a whole other story.  There's one of her on Facebook though and thank ya'll for the comments.

Here are ten things I don't want to forget about her in this first week of life together:

Ashley is perfect.  Almost too perfect.  So perfect that we think this is a phase. 
I could set a clock by her rhythms...eat/release/play/eat/sleep/repeat
I LOVE waking up in the morning (yes, at 5:30 now) and bringing her to bed to sleep another hour
She smells so sweet and feels so soft. I can't get enough of holding her
I adore watching him with her
She has the biggest, brownest most gorgeous eyes
I love rubbing her cute little tummy
She is so photogenic - you'll have to take my word on that one I suppose
Everyone thinks she is the most precious little girl.  I happen to agree of course (smile).
She doesn't cry when we put her down at night.  Remarkable!

I'll come back and edit with a photo.

Creative Day

Got a bit creative with it today. Been a while and felt really good.

Clink on the links to go to the online gallery and comment as you wish.

Good Life

Life is good.  As always was and always will be.

Perspective.

 Merry & Bright

Missing a special Christmas guest.

 The Happiest Place on Earth

Fun at Disney.

 Thanks for looking and enjoy.

Happy Birthday!

To on eof the greatest, sweetest, most awesome people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Something cheezy for the "don't make a big deal about this please" birthday boy:

R: Rooted.  You are strong, know what you want and just sway in the breeze.  Stay grounded.
O: Outgoing. No wallflower, you make and keep friends easily and for life.
B: Beautiful.  You tend to not think it, but you are all around beautiful.  Especially your soul.
E: Enigmatic. [i AM a Cornellian...big words = good]. everyday.  still a mystery that I love puzzling through.
R: Real. Never fake and showy...totally down home "what you see is what you get".  But also real sensitive.
T: Taken. (smile)  All mine.  Nothing makes me happier in this world

You are my world as I am your's.  If we live our lives by milestones, often, we fixate on what didn't happen and/or only remember the days of the big events.  So much of life happens between the milestones.  Don't forget to live that too.

Love you with all my heart.  Happy 40th!

I miss...

Lots.  But mostly:

Working only "one job"
Having Wednesdays where I could work from home
Long walks on Alki Beach
Laughing out Loud with him
Going on photography jaunts with him
swimming laps
planning bodacious trips with him
scrapbooking with gluesticks
having an organized scrap room
my mom
my brother
my sister
my nephew
but especially her
shopping at thrift stores
buying purses and shoes
shopping for groceries
snow
kissing the pig every morning
itunes
Sushi Fridays
Movie Fridays
Having my own desktop computer
gardening
swimming laps
sleep
washing dishes by hand
El Paso
jumping in a lake
riding a bike
the Oregon Coast
trips to Mt. Rainier
river rafting
Shorewood Dr.
playing with my pirates
Liisa
my birth certificate (I know, I know)
traveling
Rachel and Alex
PHS
Cornell in the springtime
my old boss Sharon
a bazillion JLS meetings a week
my Sunfire
upstate NY
that summer of intense fun and severe heartache (or heartburn??)
black lab puppies that were never mine to miss
wood blinds
baby ducks
Southern California (cannot believe we almost moved there this week)

life
I miss life.

Yeah, I've got a great one and plenty of responsibility to go with it.  But there are bits large and small of life before today that I miss.

Balance would be great again.

You would think...

...that I would have a ton to say with all that is going on in our lives right now eh?

Meh.

Gets to a point where one thing means you need to say the other means the other needs to come out and then I get back to looking at the bookshelves and thinking that reading a book would be better than writing a blog entry and...cycles.

No, not those girly cycles.

My general cycles. Sometimes I have to share with the world. Sometimes I have to journal to myself. Most times, it just depends on the mood. And since I'm hungry and will likely need to cook dinner tonight because I didn't clean and I didn't go to work (though I put in my 60+ this week), I sigh deeply and go rummage for something to cook.

I need to start doing grocery shopping again.
Still alive. Barely.

Throw Back Thursday (1/21) - White House Invite

Back in July, I went to DC.

Next Thursday (since blogger and scheduled posts are going to cause me to do damage tonight), I will talk a bit about how I got all party crasher on Frank. This week, let's start here.

So in DC, Robert being the finance and government geek that he is arranged quite a few awesome events for us. One of those events which required all sorts of background checks which I seriously thought I was NOT going to pass (not that I have history, but I am a member of my family so...) was a tour of the Capitol.


Believe it or not, Robert was actually NOT our tour guide. And though David proved to be super knowledgable, he wasn't our guide either (though he did fill in quite a few of the gaps/details for me). We actually had a staffer and an intern from Congressman McDermott's office give us a fantastic tour of...the tunnel. That we couldn't enter. Because there was a vote in process? And then there wasn't? So we turned all the way around and went back in the tunnel to check out the children's artwork from schools across the country and I thought to myself, "I so would rather be in the Senate or the House chamber watching that right now." Well, because of course we had tickets. To both. And time (before the next gig) to really only do one. I got to choose and chose the Senate since the House was blabbering about God only knows what. Wait. That was the Senate too. All to say I was fascinated and I want that job someday.

We were a bit rushed for time because we had a tour of the White House. Now. I am the world's biggest West Wing junky. As a matter of fact, I think I just may go watch an episode now. Why yes I have it on standby. Perhaps it is on tivo. Perhaps.

In any event, I'd never been to/inside the White House before. And though there were places I would have rather seen ('chelle, invite me upstairs girl!), the places I did see moved me. Not to tears (it was just a little something in my eye - maybe some pollen from all those gorgeous fresh flowers). But that I could say "I've been there" when I see certain places on tv (okay, on West Wing) and dream about a day when I will officially be invited to an event of some sort there (heck - invite me to clean toilets...I'll pay my own way AND bring my toothbrush).

Speaking of toilets and toothbrushes, I think IJTU. memories of the flares going off and the punishment for not manning your post from the movie Jarhead just flashed through my mind and I'm going to have to really go puke now.

Bleh. Toilets.

Throw Back Thursday (1/28) - Congressman! Over Here!

To make sure I'm a better blogger this year (and to ensure that I don't have to type things over and over and over again and put my computer screen in danger when Blogger does the Blogger thing and continues to make my life miserable), I'm going to schedule posts this year.

Most will NOT be breaking news (I'll be sure to try and blog those as they happen) but all will be deeper dives into posts like this one which, I've really used as a crutch in the past to mind dump, and then completely forget what I was talking about.

If you have a request for a post from one of those lists, just shoot me a line at henderson.bernadette@gmail.com and I'll throw the order of the universe off if I have a moment and satisfy your stalkerish needs.

So let's go.

Barney Frank, July 2009

Health Care is all the rage

This past July, Robert's good friends S & C were getting married. In DC. We had a day before and after the wedding to explore. Because I'm married to the 2nd biggest government geek of them all (love you honey! But S has you beat there) we didn't just "go to DC". Oh no. We WENT to DC.

On this day, we had a tour with Representative McDermott's office. In the midst of taking pictures while we waited patiently for our "not really a tour guide, tour guide" to figure out how to get us back where we needed to go, I looked up on the Cap steps. At the top was a group of important looking men that had just come out of some session. I started snapping photos from afar and Robert turned to look and said, "Give me your camera". He snatched my hand and we bolted off in a mad sprint (I thought we were going to be shot by the dudes with rifles standing around guarding the building) over to this one dude. Robert says "Is that...?" and I say "Oh crap. That's Barney Frank!"

I'm still all about "I've got great zoom, stop so I can take a picture". Robert, Mr. I-Used-To-Be-A-Security-Guard sprints right up to Representative _____ (R- I assume) TX and shoves my camera in his hands and says "Mr. Frank, would you mind taking a picture with me and my wife?" Poor Rep No-One from TX is like "dude! I'm a CONGRESSMAN! I don't snap pictures" but he graciously took the shot above.

Then I had to oblige him with a shot of he and I because Representative Frank was all "Too bad neither of you is from TX because Rep ____[I forget his name] here is from TX".

I don't recall if Robert threw me under the bus or if I stepped under it but it was revealed that as a matter of fact, I AM from TX and so...the shot that isn't posted commenced.

Add this one to my wall of political bliss.

Going back to ATL...no not Cali

So I'm watching a ridiculous game wondering why my 'Boys couldn't confuse Fauvre into the concussed performance he's putting on tonight. But hey. I ain't bitter.


Shortly here, I'm going to be heading out to ATL. Back in '96, I wasn't there for the Olympics, but I got to run a few steps at Olympic Stadium on the track when I was in town for the Coca-Cola Scholars Finalist weekend.

We can skip right on by the time I was in ATL back in, what...2001 or so for that disasta in hotlanta.

This time, I'll be there for more noble purposes. My main man up above blessed me with the opportunity to be on the Coca-Cola Scholars National Program Review Committee. That's what I'm talking about. Just gotta get my ride to the airport on.

In the meantime, I don't think I'll be blogging from the road. More like wishing my better half would surprise me and just show up. Being responsible and employed, that's not in the cards. But every now and again, responsible can take a hiatus right?

Throwback Thursdays are preset so those will still be here so you'll get more of the DC trip.

Until later...this too shall pass. What a weekend.

Why Democrats deserved a whuppin'

What. The. F...

Floored. Not that Coakley lost in Massachusets. Because the same thing Obama haters accuse "us" (Kool Aid drinkers) of happened tonight - tell folks some of something they desparately want to believe and holy high water they will take it all hook, line and sinker.

I will never, ever, EVER understand why some folks in this country are Republican. That is NOT a knock on titles and stereotypes and all the rest of the mess (remember, I've been accused of being a closet one of them when I start to talking from time to time). It IS a knock on how you could be a down with anyone who was just so violently against your own self-interests.

Back when George ran his own Sunday show and didn't sell out to ride the early morning couch, he would have great folks on his show. I don't remember which of the Roundtables it was or who said it, but the only time I came close to understanding how certain folks could be Republican (you know who you are...bare with me) was when he noted that folks tend to vote what they want to be. Democrats vote this idealistic "everyone come together" enlightened ticket because that's what they want to be. Right before they say something crazy like "well, you know those women can just be so emotional and those blacks on the internets are nothing like you, so I mean no offense". Seriously. Someone said that to me back in my black power, Barack the Vote days. Seriously.

Republicans vote all "government hands off my money" (that I don't really have because I'm unemployed and totally relying on the government to pay me unemployment, get me WIC and Food Stamps and provide a bailout so I can stay in the house I never should have "bought" in the first place) because one day they want to be rich.

Never mind that as long as you live in dreamy lala land and as long as you vote for folks who will cut off that helping hand you so deservedly need in your time of crisis, we'll get this.

More gridlock.

What I AM surprised about is how Martha, also campaigning to be a "first" (she would have been the first woman senator from Massachusets) would so stupidly rely on the very same playbook that didn't work out so hot for that other infamous she-pol not so long ago. Martha, meet Hillary. Hillary, Martha. Mucho gusto.

I actually think it is a GOOD thing Dem's lost this seat. Yeah, it will delay health care. But if we actually show up to play the game (hint, Democrats should NOT hire any Cowboys to coach that game because, evidently, there have been a lot of folks missing the bus lately), this is such a sweet victory. Republicans can't help but to get punch drunk with these "oh this is a referendum on Obama" and go balls to the wall blocking everything. The smart Dem strategist (or hell, the dumb blogger chick) can mine that for days.

I mean really, the economy is starting to tick up and then it comes back to really - who's the demon for blocking your access to health care? I wonder.

Granted, unemployed, disgruntled folks have a lot more time to sit in line and wait to vote. BUT, if Repubs are going to block everything for the next year or three anyhow, that will get Obama back to doing what he does best - speeches and campaigning and getting people fired up. I like people fired up and engaged. And those Republicans who tell you they don't are lying. How the hell else do you win a seat like they won in Massachusets if you don't like folks fired up and engaged. Perhaps even enranged. Guess sick people don't have the energy to get enraged.

What we wanted - What we Got (That Special Something)

So the journey comes to an end.

You can catch the rest of the tour here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12).
The last item on this list:

Was my hurridly scribbled (see...I don't always have neat handwriting), notion that I wanted our house to have something special. Something we couldn't quite name, but that I would know when I saw it. Certainly, soon as we walked into this house, the mere fact that it had (or will have) just about everything on our list in due time was testimony enough to that "something special". But really, when I wrote that, I was talking about things like this:


A great view. Now. We have a great view. For days. But before I ever thought we'd luck up into a house on the course, my focus was on getting lucky with a house with a view of the Mt. Our second choice was this place which didn't have a bonus room but DID have this gorgeous perfect picture window that perfectly framed the view of the Mt...and a gorgeous yard too...complete with birdfeeder.

Another house I really liked was this one. It had almost no dining room so that knocked it out for us, but the hammock ALMOST made up for the lack of a dining room. Almost. And then there was also this (same house as above):

Yes people. That is a window into the shower. Say what?! This window was not on a wall in the bathroom, or even a wall looking to the outside. This window was on a hallway outside of the bathroom looking into the shower. Though Robert was a bit excited by this concept, it was just one of those many "there's unique and then there is just plain wtf" that this house seemed to be full of.

Needless to say, we passed.

All in all, I love our place. Don't love cleaning it, but that's cause I don't love cleaning period. Now I hvae a lot of space to clean. And to heat. Which is REALLY another story for another time.

So the journey comes to an end. The last item on the list:

What we wanted - What we Got (High Ceilings)

Coming to the end of our list, #31 was high ceilings. See, I can read that one:

I don't have a bunch of main level photos yet, but those ceilings are the tallest in our place. They are huge. The video that better not make "the internets" demonstrates the house of giants. But we're tall folks...vertically challenged folks might be a bit intimidated in there. What I love about most of our big walls is that they come with big windows.

This is the main set of windows in my Master before blinds and drapes.

This next photo shows the ledge at the high water mark in the bedroom. I had a great photo of the vault in the room, but I've been fighting blogger all night so we'll have to revist that in the before/after decor shots in the next series. For now, the ledge below is above the oversized doors. It's kinda cool to see my husband not have to duck through any doors (he's 6'6" and he didn't have to duck through standard doors, but now he kind of looks "short" relative to entryways).


Outside of our bedroom on the top floor, they are pretty standard size ceilings (with oversize doors), same in the "Mom Please Move in" level. I'll have to measure the main floor. I know we had a 9 foot tree and room to spare.

What we wanted - What we Got (Granite Countertops)

Number 29 on our list was granite countertops.

I think I'm to blame for that one.

Granted, when we were looking at most of the places we stopped in on, granite was pretty standard. Even in the older, remodeled homes. So of course we figured we'd go with the flow there.


You can't really tell that much in the photo above, but we have shiny, BLACK, granite countertops. They looked awesome when we previewed the house. And now, I think they purposefully were crafted to only shine up with my tears. Or my sweat. Or really, a bit of both.

They are awesome to look at. Until someone drops a crumb on them (quite a frequent occurence if you like toasted "everything" bagels) or leaves anything with a bead of water on my countertops. Thankfully, I'm not as OCD as some folks have accused me of being (ahem) so I just go with it. But if I had my way, they would actually be something other than shiny black granite because 99% of my time spent cleaning in this house (yes, I know...but go with me here) is spent on wiping, drying, glossing and glazing those counters. Sure, they look gorgeous, but if I have to deal with someone NOT doing all 90 of those steps above on my counters again...

Don't even get me started on the glass cooktop.

What we wanted - What we Got (Fireplaces)

Skipping quickly passed those we did not get (more on that in another post shortly), we landed on "well, sure no one builds new with real fire anymore but can't you make an exception??"

#28 on our list was a real fireplace.

In our last place, we had a gas fireplace. It stunk to high heaven because we never used it because it stunk so bad. Not like gas, but like "hey, I can tell the fireplace is on because I can smell it when I walk into the house."


While we didn't get real fireplaces in our new house, we did get two fireplaces. There were a few places with fireplaces in the master bedroom and even the master bathroom that I was coveting, but I actually really like the two we have.

This fireplace is our main fireplace on the main level. Robert took the photo and had it printed on metalic paper. It is awesome and goes so well with colors already in place.


And then down in the "Mom Please Move in With Us" space, is the other fireplace. The color is growing on me.

At least in the dark it is.

What we wanted - What we Got (Kitchen Pantry)

#23 must have been a consideration in the moments before I made the decision to just go ahead and purchase (some of the best shrimp I ever had) lunch from a beach vendor. I was starving. And as such, #23 surfaced. I'm pretty certain I can take credit for this one.

Essentially, we wanted a pantry in our kitchen. It wasn't that we didn't have enough storage at our old place. Okay, really it was. We just didn't really realize that we only had two cabinets (upper at that) for food storage because we ate out so dang much. In crunching the numbers for the next place, we had committed to cooking a lot more from home. Hence why I won with the refrigerator wars and made sure that our pantry was our first improvement project.

Now. We moved into a new home. No one has ever lived here, it was built in 2006, there were not a whole bunch of projects to do here beyond the personalization we wanted to do for our selves.

What we love about our builder is that there is a lot of attention to detail. There are higher end finishes. It is easy to just move on in. With our pantry, there was an awesome pantry door already in place and there were great wood shelves in place too. Only "problem" with our place is that it is semi-custom. Moreso in places like the bathrooms and the kitchens. To the extent that 6 times out of 10, you can go to Home Depot and pick up a matching something. Those other 4 times, you drive "all the way into town" and come back bitter and angry about what you couldn't find and will have to create yourself. So was the case with our pantry shelves.

We spent a lot of time drilling little holes and recreating shelves so that we could reclaim the middle corner that was just not working out with the current shelves. All so that we could stuff it full like this:

Which is actually not a great picture because you can't see the third set of shelves (to the left of the door). All to say, I used to work retail, in a grocery store. So you can see that I totally stocked and faced my shelves like any good retailer would do. You might also notice that in that middle shelf (the small one to the left visible in the photo), the third shelf from the top, that is the designated Graham Cracker shelf.

Yeah. I know.

What we wanted - What we Got (Upstairs Laundry)

Honestly, #22 on this list was not added by me.

So for a while, I've been going through the What we Wanted, What we Got series here.

You can find the other entries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) at those links.

I go as long as possible before doing laundry. I'm the girl who will go shop a lingerie sale before doing laundry. That and I've learned long ago that the best way to preserve my relationship is for him to do his laundry and me to do mine. I mean, I get the sorting colors and whites thing. It's the rest of the label reading that I just don't make much time for. And understanding what all those assorted laundry liquids are for. All I know is that 120 count box of Bounce dryer sheets has lasted like half a year. No. Joke.

All said, once he mentioned that we should have an upstairs laundry, I fully agreed. Generally, we knew we'd be moving into a multilevel house. Maybe that was subconscious, but I'd say it wasn't on purpose. All things said, with the multi levels, we then said we wanted a place with an upstairs master. With an upstairs master, we wanted a laundry upstairs because it is hard enough to get me to fold and put away my laundry when I DON'T have to haul it up and down 40 stairs.

He knows me well.

I love our side by side. We could stack them on top of each other but we think we'll probably build pedestals for these two (more because we're tall than because we want to store stuff), create a counter across the top of them (for folding clothes) and then have some rod work across the wall above these for hanging clothes as we do laundry. Across from these, in the same laundry room, is a huge soaker sink. I think I want to do some shelving above it. To store what, I dont' know...we don't have much going on in our laundry room because the only thing I hate worse than washing clothes is ironing them. To that, I'd like to keep the ironing board tucked behind the door (out of sight, out of mind) and do some framed art on the walls. We shall see.

What we wanted - What we Got (Paint and Steel)

We were certainly people that don't need to be taught a lesson twice. After a long weekend of painting and 4 years of a "never really white" Craigslist side by side fridge, #19.5 was paint on the walls, #20 was stainless appliances and #26 was a side by side fridge only because I knew I would get my way for an upgrade here if I just mentioned "4 years!"

In our old house, in about one long weekend and a few hours, we transformed the place. We have some pretty mellow ideas when it comes to color and had a nice neutral but noticable bit going in the bedroom. It was awesome.

We had a minty fresh green (which he hated) in the living room. Worked well with wood tones, our green furniture and the orange accents.

We converted the yellow mancave to a girly green family entertainment room. I cried when we picked out the color thinking it was hideous and I wanted a pale blue. He talked me out of it definitely not knowing this is the color that would result. I love this color and would love it in my new house. Love it enough to even commit to painting something in my house this color. Keep this next photo in mind. Mellow...smooth...green.

In our new house, you will notice that there are lots of gray tones. Some look a little more tan in my photos, but they are all shades of beautiful gray.

And then there is this:

W.T.F. That is the downstairs level. I call it "chili pepper red". Who does this to a perfectly good wall? The shocker? It totally grew on me as you'll see when I get around to the Christmas photos. And that green furniture? It actually goes remarkably well in here. Who knew. All said, there is just absolutely NO EXCUSE for this though:

Oh. My. God. This is my friggin' scrap room. I would say they wanted it to be a nursery but what child could ever sleep in a room this hideously bright? It's obnoxious. I've not scrapped in here yet. It sucks my creativity because I get so distracted with all the other colors I could paint my room with my little bottles of craft paint. Ick.

Then I get the munchies. And all is well when I go downstairs and open my hard fought and hard won french door fridge. I LOVE this fridge. Almost as much as my husband.

Just saying.

What we wanted - What we Got (Great Room Concept)

So then. Blogger is going to be fun tonight. I can already tell.

Skipping along down the wish list because 1) some of these items are covered by default in another post because we got a bit repetitive with creative use of similar words and 2) I just don't have photos of some of this stuff and I'm already getting bored with the wish list:



We are now here. At #15. We wanted a great room concept that was really open with few walls. Clearly, we don't have kids that we want to hide stuff from. Yet.

In the old place, we had sort of a great room concept. Mostly because we just had really big and open and airy rooms (we lived in a 2200 SF condo...the rooms were pretty big). Best photo of the great room concept is below - this was the view from our living room towards the staircase and powder room with the "yellow" room in the background which is the dining room on the other side of the kitchen. So it was "great" to entertain there because you could see clear across the house with few obstructing walls.


In our new place, we (okay I went) a bit nutso when we walked in cause this is the hallway:


Surely, number 27 on the list is "hallway". For some reason, he was opposed to any hallways. I like hallways because they are truly non-functional walls with lots of space for photos. I got that in spades on this house. But this entry hallway is actually awesome because on the right side of this photo, there are actually art cubbies on the wall. In the house video tour that better the hell NOT end up on the internets (namely, because it actually starts out with "Welcome to [our address]! Come on in" and love ya'll much but...let's hold off on the uninvited guests for a while.

I was saying. On the video, you actually see the canvas we made for someone (who me?!) to paint and put on said walls. The canvas making was a DIY project for the ages in itself. I'll take photos...promise.

On another tangent, you will also notice number 19 (wood floors - REAL wood floors...requested by the girl who never had to deal with shiny new wood floors and keeping them that way) in the photo above.

Moving on.

#15. The Great Room Concept. Once you come down the hallway in the previous photo, you land at those columns. One one side of said colums is number 30 - a dining room. Great room concept and all, it is not a separate walled off space, but it is where our 10 seater rests it's weary, well-traveled, table legs. The view is from the kitchen (#14 - check, we have a kitchen). On the right closer to the bottom edge, you can see the wine bar. Farther back, you can see my fave staircase in the house. There's more than one. The downstairs one is growing on me.

On the other side of the columns is this:



The living room. That cubby is the soon to be custom built entertainment center built in that my better half is working on. Well, right now, he is muttering about the difficulty in buidling his own speakers. Come Saturday, maybe that will be done. Maybe more like Sunday.

More photos of what we've done with this space to come. It is huge, and it was an awesome entertaining space for watching the Cowboys whip the Eagles - for the second week in a row. Bring it Minnesota. Bring. It.

What we wanted - What we Got (Big Back Yard/View)

Number 10 on our wish list was a big backyard closely followed by a view.

In our old place, we lived in a condo where the common areas were less than fun. That whole lawsuit thing and cutting our losses before the work was complete so that we could move from a backyard which showcased views like this when looking towards our house:



To a house that showcased views like this from across the way:

Kind of dreamy huh? Well, from our backyard, we now look out onto the "lake" and the course. Ultimately, our yard will be an extension of all that gorgeousness.

I say ultimately because when you have a large yard, that means you get to do actual yard work.

This is my better half sweating bullets on the first run of his first ever lawn mower. You should have seen him buying that gig in Sears. It was such a cute and tender moment. I'll have to unearth those photos. He was sweating bullets not only of the "am I doing this right" nature, but also because well, our yard was a crazy weed patch when we moved in. There was some sort of maintenance when we came and saw it the first time. By the time we actually moved in a month and some change later, those weeds were THICK. We pulled up about a quarter of them by hand before he was convinced by a very kind neighbor that if he just set that bad boy to mulch, he could just run it over the weeds and take his chances with seeding. We did.

Don't know if he expected Jack and the Beanstalk results in the two or three weeks we had before the first official frost, but I saw tiny shoots of green this past fall and still do to this day. He's of course panicked that he shall not have a perfectly manicured lawn in time for summer. Thankfully, we just got an awesome patio set off Craig's List so we can sit on the deck upstairs and completely bypass views of our own yard for a hot minute.

Soon as the rain and driving winds stop.

What we wanted - What we Got (Add'l Full Bath)

Number 8 on our list was an additional full bath. Essentially, the girl with no kids wanted a place outside of her master suite sanctuary where kids could be scrubbed and rid of their filth in a tub.

Unfortunately, for many reasons, I do not have a photo of our additional full bath or our powder room from the old place. Unfortunate because the powder room color, though lovely for a powder room, would have been a nice transition into my photos of the shocking color on our walls in the Mom Please Move in With Us Suite. Unfortunate also because the shower curtain in our staged additional full bath would have transitioned nicely to the shower curtain I purchased for our new additional full bath.

Above is our main living additonal full bath. This is on the upper floor (with most bedrooms) and has an awesome waffle weave white shower curtain. It's white because I don't have kids. And there is an awesome tealight candle holder deal on the dual vanity countertop - also because I don't have kids. But actually, since I paid 4.99 for that shower curtain at goodwill (and another $1 for the liner at Big Lots) I think I WOULD rock it with kids. It's almost disposable at that price. Almost.

Speaking of powder rooms and additional baths, this is the new powder room on the main level (remember, it is lower, main and upper level in our house - this one is on the main level where we entertain those who dare make the treck out here). The walls here are this really deep awesome gray. With the hardwood floors and pedestal sink, I totally love this small piece of heaven.

Not photographed yet, we also have another full additional bath (be careful what you wish for) all the way down on the lower level in the Mom Please Move in With Us Suite.

Just saying.