"Much Better"

Those were the words that Uncas used when I walked in the door tonight. Yep - I went and had my hair fixed, as I like to call it. I seriously hated my new hair color that much, that I had to do something. I think it looks 100 times better!!!

Unplugging

We have had a busy April. I was out of town the first two weekends and then last weekend was pretty much all consumed with the kitchen floor. As a result our house is sort of a disaster area and lately I have found myself on my computer looking at random things. So, this weekend I am going to clean, relax, hang out with my puppy and just try to get a handle on everything that is coming up. We have a very busy May ahead - full of lots of fun things. I just want to make sure that I am rested and ready to go!

After I post this message, I will be shutting off the computer and watching some tv with a little puppy dog snuggled on my lap. Have a great weekend!

Oh Crap!

So - you know how sometimes you have a really good idea and in your head you have it all pictured so clearly. And then when the idea becomes reality, it ends up looking a lot different than how you pictured it? Yeah, well that's what happened when I got my hair colored tonight . . . I really had it pictured more of a honey blond . . .

The Reveal!

There it is - our new kitchen floor! I know - I have been a tease about what tile we picked out, but honestly, it was a huge departure from the white/beige color that we were originally thinking. When we were at the tile store last week - I fell in love with this blue tile. We have a blue mixer and our curtains in the kitchen have blue in them as well. I was a little nervous about the floor being too dark, but it turned out beautifully!!!

The top picture is before we did the grout, but the lighting is better than the bottom picture which was taken tonight. Here are a few more pictures from us tiling.

Uncas placing the first tile.

Halfway done!

Getting ready to place the last tile.

On grout duty.

I look forward to having our kitchen back to normal. It's amazing to think we did it all this weekend, with time to spare. Now it's time to go to bed. Have a great week!!!

New Kitchen Floor - Part 1

On Friday night, Uncas and I started the long anticipated project of tearing up and replacing the kitchen floor. Since day 1 in the house, Uncas has wanted to redo the kitchen floor. I have too, but realized that it would be better to hold off until after we painted the walls and the cabinets. The old floor was pretty gross and dirty and didn't match the look of the kitchen that I had envisioned. Originally we thought about doing the peal and stick tiles, but as time went on, Uncas did some more research and decided that we could actually do ceramic tile in there and do it ourselves.

Once we painted the kitchen cabinets, we looked at the calendar and picked this weekend to do the floors. Then the search for the perfect tile was on. We found it last week and placed the order. I was getting really excited, but on Friday afternoon I was starting to feel a little apprehensive. Can we really do this project ourselves? Will the tile look ok? How is Sammy going to deal with this upheaval in our house?

On Friday night after work, the first thing to do was "before" pictures! Then we moved the fridge, stove, side table and bookshelf out of the kitchen. Our dining room has the stove and fridge and everything else is in the living room (including Sammy's food and water dish).


Up next - tearing out the baseboards! This started out relatively easy. I watched Uncas do a few and then I actually tried my hand at it. The we started the part under the cabinets and the sink. Not only was it a hard angle, but one piece was especially stuck. Uncas tried and tried. I started tearing up other baseboards and then I started tearing up the floor. I got about 3/4 of the flooring tore up when Uncas finally got that stupid piece out! Fortunately for us, the flooring was really, really easy to tear up!



Once we finished tearing up the floors - I swept and vacuumed the floor. We were ready for the next step! But since it was around 10 pm, we decided to call it a night.


Saturday morning we woke up and started working the floors by 8:30. First order of business - laying down and securing the cement board. Once again, Uncas started while I observed. Then I took over screwed it down, while Uncas measured, cut and placed it on the floor. We were lucky that the weather was incredibly nice outside. Uncas was able to cut the cement board outside and Sammy played and played in the yard all morning and most of the afternoon. Finished up with the cement board just after 1 pm, so we took a break for lunch.

Supervisor Sammy chewing on a rawhide.

After lunch it was on to the real thing! Time to tile! Friday night when Uncas picked up the tile, the guy at the store gave him a tile cutter. Unfortunately after trying to cut a couple of tiles and breaking them, we decided that we should rent the wet saw like we originally talked about. So - off Uncas went to get the saw. By 4 pm we were back in business. Uncas did all the measuring and cutting. I primarily laid the tile. Uncas would come in and tile a bit to give me a break every once in a while. Just before 10 pm, Uncas put the last tile in place (I let him do the last two because my knees had had enough). It seemed like days ago we had put down the cement board, but in reality it was just in the morning. After we cleaned up, we headed to Wendy's to grab some dinner. We came home, ate it and went to bed just after 11.

Uncas using the wet saw.

The floor looks amazing! Better than I could have hoped. We still have to grout the floor, which we will do later this afternoon. I am glad to give my knees a break, but I am so sore all over! I have a new found respect for anyone who does tiling for a living. It's hard work! Both physically and mentally. Fortunately everything has gone so smoothly this weekend. The rain held off until late last night, so we (Uncas) could do all the cutting outside. The tiles lined up so beautifully on our floor that the amount of cutting that had to be done was minimal and my husband, being the perfectionist that he is, had very little waste! We ended up with almost 2 full boxes of extra tile!

I am purposely not posting any pictures of us tiling (I did take some) because I want to post the finished floor first. That won't happen until after we grout today, so you'll have to wait a little bit longer. But I think it will be worth waiting for! Now it's time to wake up Uncas and get some breakfast!!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY SAMMY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!!!!!

The top picture is from the second day we picked him up. He was just over 2 months old. The bottom picture was from last week. I hope that Sammy has had a wonderful first year. We certainly have loved having him in our lives!!!!

More Easter

So as I was looking through my Easter pictures, I realized that I could just divide them into Sammy's Easter Pictures and Saffy's Easter Pictures. And so I did. Check them out.

It's hard to get back in the swing of things at work since I will have to work 5 days this week! The past couple of weeks I have taken the Friday off and it's been heavenly. I have always said that I would love to work 4 days. Who came up with the 5 day work week anyways?

I don't have too much else to report. I am gearing up for the destruction that will be our kitchen this weekend. The last major project that we have to do in there (or at least that we have planned in the next few years) is to tear up and replace the kitchen floor. We picked out the tile last week and we ended up going with something completely different than we originally planned. It's top secret - so top secret that I wouldn't even show my mom the sample tile this weekend. Now that is top secret! I do promise to post pictures on Sunday when it's complete.

And now one last picture from the weekend:

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a great day and ate lots of chocolate bunnies! Above is Sammy posing sweetly with mine and Uncas's Easter basket. We had a wonderful weekend spending time with my parents and extended family today. I plan on posting pictures sometime this week. If you are my friend on Facebook, they are already posted there - so check out it! Ok - off to bed!

Pictures from Weekend

Work has been a little crazy this week, so at nights, I haven't felt like being on the computer much when I get home. But, I did take some great pictures from this weekend and I want to share them, so I managed to upload some pictures tonight.

A quick weekend recap:

Friday night - went to see Mary Poppins (the musical) with my good friend Mike. It was fabulous and I highly recommend it.

Saturday morning - headed to Lisa's mom's house for Caiden's party. Was immediately put to work preparing for the big day. I love hanging out with Lisa's family. I have known them for so long - they are like my second family. It was so much fun to see everyone. Lots of people came to wish Caiden a happy birthday including my parents. Some people hung around for a long time, which was fabulous and then Lisa, Amy (her cousin) and I went out for a girl's night. We hadn't done that for many, many years. We managed to stay out just past 12, but then had to call it a night.

Sunday - I went to visit my grandma. My cousin Michelle had a baby - Gavin, one month ago, so she meet me there, so I could meet him. What a cutie!!!!

Sunday night- home with my hubby and puppy!

It was a great weekend. I was able to see lots of people and had a fabulous time. You can check out all of pictures here.

Happy First Birthday Caiden

This weekend I went to IL for my godson, Caiden's first Birthday. I had a blast, but I am super tired. I promise to post more pictures soon.

Slacking Off

Sorry that I have been MIA for most of the week. I haven't been in the blogging mood lately. Sometimes I am just can't think of anything blog-worthy. I guess it's just been one of those weeks. The picture above was taken a couple of weeks ago - as I was hard at work on the computer and Sammy patiently waiting to sit in my lap.

Unfortunately, there won't be anything from me soon because I am heading south for the weekend. I have my godson's 1st B-day to celebrate (I can't believe it's been a full year already)! I will take lots of pictures from my weekend's adventure.

Oh - and the real reason for this post today was not to warn you about my lack of blogging, but the fact that I was sick of seeing the "Pruning" post. I thought I would leave you all with a cute picture at least!

Pruning

No, I did not sit in the bath too long and turn into a prune this weekend (if you know me well, you know that I detest baths.  I can't remember the last time I took one).  This afternoon Uncas and I "pruned" our lilac bushes in our backyard.  They were very over grown and in need of some serious love.  Check it out:

 

Above is the "before" picture.  I actually took it last year, right around this time, when we had our home inspection.   I didn't think to take any before pictures today.  It's a little hard to see, but it makes more sense when you see the "after" picture.

AFTER

Yeah - can you really call it pruning when we basically hacked off all the branches?  Lilacs are hardy and if not next year, then the year after we should have some pretty nice bushes.  Of course, the result of our work was this:

 

That was only one pile.  I know you are thinking - wow - what a lot of work for you and Uncas.  But don't you worry.  We had some help from Sammy.

 

Ok - so maybe his idea of help was taking the sticks off of the piles we made and chew them or else get in the way as we were sawing, but he sure wanted to be in the middle of everything.

As a result of the fresh air, sunshine and hard work, we are all exhausted tonight.  But it feels good to have worked out in the yard.  I am glad we were able to enjoy the day.  I know that folks in WI and IL were treated to some lovely snow.

Here is one last picture of Sammy, from earlier in the day.

What Do You Read?

This week it has become even more apparent that what my husband and I surf on the internet is completely different. Even though we get along fabulously, we are quite different in a lot of areas.

I spend most of my time online reading other people's blogs, updating my own blog, on Facebook (he doesn't have an account with them), on Star Tribune.com, CNN and various entertainment sites like People, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly.

On Monday on our drive home from work Uncas turned to me and said "I was reading about soap today."

OH - really?

Then he said "Yeah, I am pretty confident if we were stranded in the wilderness, I could make soap for you."

Oh gosh - thanks Sweetie! See, he really does live up to his name Uncas! It was my father that gave him the nickname before we took our last Boundary Waters trip in May of 2007.

But, back to the soap - Uncas then proceeds to tell me how he would go about making it. Thankfully we were blocks from home, so I didn't get the long version. My mind was already wandering when he started about how he needed a source of fat and that would most likely come from a small aninmal that he would have to kill (which could also be our source of food.)

When I retold this story to my friend, she suggested that he should use lavendar oil to make it scented. What a great idea!

So - I can tell you which celebrity got married over the weekend (Bruce Willis) and my husband can tell you how to make soap.

UPDATE - on tonight's drive home, before I even told him about this blog post, Uncas said to me "Guess what I read about today?" This evening's topic was wood burning stoves.

Best Friends

This weekend my in-laws came to visit and they brought their dog Sophie with them.  Sophie is Sammy's best friend.  Fortunately the weather was beautiful on Saturday, so they spent some time outside in the yard.  Here are a few pictures.

Posing sweetly for the camera

 Sharing a rawhide.

 

I know Sammy will be sad to see Sophie leave today, but I also know that he will sleep amazingly tonight!

Won't be Shopping at Whole Foods Anytime Soon . . .

The headline on CNN said "Deadly Spider Found in Store" and of course it was a video. When I read the headline out loud, Uncas's comment was "I was hoping you wouldn't see that". I actually clicked on the link, thinking there would be a commercial before the actual story. So, I read underneath that it was at Whole Foods in Oklahoma (I had to know where this spider was found) and when I glanced at the video, I saw the damn spider. It was huge and I screamed, and nearly dropped my laptop off my lap and then Sammy starting attacking me. I had to have Uncas change the webpage because I was freaking out.

One of my big pet peeves is when CNN just has a video. Sometime I don't want to watch a video (read that sometimes as almost always) because when I am at work, I just want to be able to read articles. All I wanted to know is where they found the damn spider so I can avoid it like the plague!

Also - this week I finally got over my fear of buying grapes. Two years ago a woman found a black widow spider in a bag of grapes that she bought at Cub Foods here in Minneapolis. Yup - it has taken me that long to buy grapes again and I still probably won't make it a habit.

Can someone watcht the video and tell me what fruit specifically they found the spider in? Oh - nevermind - Uncas just did and it was walking around the bananas. I started sweating just listening to the video! And Dad - this does not mean that funny spider pictures should be sent to me! I am serious!!!

Thief!

You better watch out!  In my family there was a thief loose in my parents house this weekend.  She was captured on film stealing the remote!  There is nothing worse than a remote robber!!!

Muffins, Cookies, and Pie - Oh My!

I was a busy little baker today.  I made some blackberry muffins and sugar cookies this morning.  Then later this evening I made a banana cream pie in honor of Pi Day. 

Check out the goods:

 

I have never eaten a banana cream pie before, so I tried a little piece tonight.  Turns out, I am not really much of a fan.  Oh well, I guess Uncas needs to eat this one himself.  I did quite enjoy the crust that I made with it.

Sammy and I have been on our own for most of the day because Uncas is off hanging with the guys.  We spent some quality time outside, but now he is cuddled up in my lap.  Earlier today I caught him trying to chew my clog!  That dog will not leave my foot apparel alone!  Here is a picture of his new toy that we bought him on Thursday night.  He managed to destroy it in less than an hour.

And here is a picture of him sitting sweetly.  Can you imagine that this cute little puppy can be so destructive?!

Slippers 0, Sammy 2

This afternoon when I got home from work, we did the usual drill. We opened the door and too Sammy outside. As usual, I stood out there for a minute before I declared that I was cold and going in. Uncas then stays outside with Sammy for a bit. As I came in today, I walked through the dining room and took down gate #1. We confine Sammy to the kitchen and dining room during the day. As I was making my way to the living room, I noticed it was strange that our camera was on the floor. I was trying to figure out how it got there, when I looked up and into the rest of the living room.

Oh! The first thing I saw was my slippers on the floor and one of them was clearly torn up. Also on the floor was a ball of yarn a complete mess, a torn up tissue and then on the couch a torn up receipt. Sammy brought part of his bed from the bedroom out to the living room (this time he did not unzip and take out the stuffing, which he has done many times before).

What I had forgotten to do this morning was put up gate #2 in the kitchen. What a grand old time Sammy must have had today. I called Uncas in to see the damage. Then it occurred to me "crap, he probably went upstairs!" Sure enough, he tried attacking the plant at the top of the stairs, dragged my straightener across the guest room floor and pulled out a quilt that Uncas's mom's made when Uncas was a child. Fortunately there was no damage done to those two items other than moving them.

Fortunately for us - it could have been much, much worse. He managed to chew up my right slipper again, so I have two left slippers - argh! But that was really the only thing of any worth that he got at. The last time I forgot to put the gate up, he didn't even notice. I bet I won't forget to put it up any time soon!

In other news, I did my first post to Twitter via my cell phone. I wasn't sure if it worked, but I just logged on now to see that it did!

Tweet What?!

This week I found out my mom joined Twitter! What?! I don't even understand it, but I figured that I better join it too. God forbid my mom ends up trendier than me! So, I signed up and you can follow me @sallysacnu.

Problem Solved!

One way to prevent me from smashing my nose on the towel rack is to take it out. And that's just what Uncas did this weekend. I sweet-talked him into taking it down, since he had to replace the soap dish in the shower anyways. And the replacement titles cost a total of thirty-two cents. We haven't been able to shower since yesterday morning, but at least I know Monday morning's shower will be free of fear!

The rest of this weekend has been spent finishing up the kitchen cabinets. Uncas is hanging them as I type this. He is nearly done, and hopefully the electric drill will have enough power juice to make it until he is done. I probably won't post pictures until later this week, but trust me when I say that it looks fabulous. Uncas has done a great job. I helped just a little with some painting today, but it's pretty much been his project.

To thank him for his hard work, I made him homemade raspberry muffins this moring, a roast dinner tonight and for dessert - brownies with a pecan, caramel and white chocolate layer. Everything was pretty tasty and I even did all the clean-up (including the mess he made in the bathroom from the retiling - but that was part of the deal).

The weather was great here this weekend. A little cool and overcast, but the roads were dry enough that I took Sammy for a walk on Friday, Saturday and today. If there is snow on the roads, he won't walk. But thanks to the warm weather this week, it was pretty much melted. On Friday night when we came up to some puddles, he would be sure to walk about 10 feet away from them. It was pretty entertaining.

And while I am not looking forward to the dark mornings for the next few weeks, I am looking forward to the light skies at night. Now I better go encourage my husband as he hangs the last of the doors!

*UPDATED*
I wasn't going to post pictures tonight, but then I decided to after all. Here is a before picture. It's from the first weekend that we moved into our house. It's to remind you of how dark the kitchen was before.

 

Here are the after with some paint and new lights: