dum de doodle dum!

well, i am sorry that i have fallen out of touch. it all started with a bad headcold, which, combining work and weather, still is bothering me, but to a much lesser extent. but enough about work!

i have spent most of my free time in the last month sleeping off this funk! but on the odd day when it was sunny and i was awake:

spring apparently hit us late this year, but i thought it was really early, after a decade of being frozen in the wastelands of michigan! just look at my neighbor's yard! loads of dafodils were in prime bloom almost 2 weeks ago... my rosebush has lots of leaflets and looks FABOOOOOOO. nothing worth a photo yet... but i'm sure there will be buds soon...

we bought a share in a community agriculture at uk, and so i don't have a big garden this year. this is a good thing, as we have a lot of outdoor work to do this year. we're planning on fixing the cement around the house and repairing the holey garage.

and speaking of house repairs, we replanted grass seed in the front yard in march just before that huge storm. i thought our timing might have been bad, but as it turns out, we may have hit just the right time window, as now we have lots of little baby grasslings yaawning into the sunlight!

life is truely amazing, even if it is weedlike and non-indiginous. but what is the bluegrass without bluegrass?!

in the area of fun, curt and i have strung up a slackline in the back yard. it is like a tightrope, only made out of 1" wide webbing and not so high off the ground. so far we both suck at it, but it is lots of fun, and hopefully practice will be rewarding.

we also have been out climbing, and learning how to climb trad (or traditional), where you place little pieces of metal into cracks on the wall and wedge them into place to hold you to the wall if you fall. then, you have to climb up again to remove it when you are done. it takesa lot more time and skill than we currently have, but it is a fun and new, and we have great teachers. and it doesn't hurt the rock (faq).

and tomorrow (starts singing from the musical annie), we are leaving for the GRAND CANYON! i am soooo excited to see mom, and hike below the rim... i promise to take loads of pics! i am so ready for this vacation!

wow

so, the pictures will be a minute coming, BUT!

here's what we've been up to:
drunken scrabble
leveling the front yard with the new rototiller
sewing grass seed and moving bark mulch
flowers in the back yard
drove to work and got stuck in the snowstorm
motel 6ed it up with leeloo (very exciting) and worked alone at work
no, i mean ALONE, no nurses, no front desk staff, no one!

did i mention drunken scrabble?!?

happy birthday to me!

i did NOTHING! and it was wonderful!

well, i baked a cake (chocolate with cream cheese frosting), and curt got some sleep and we went climbing and out for sushi. SUSHI! yummy, rolled up, happy sushi with interesting food combinations! waahoo!

oh! and the baby bushes i planted are doing just great! here they are! aren't they so cute?! woodgie woodgie woodgie little planties... when they grow up, they will look like this: i can't wait! it will be beautiful!

and yesterday, i saw our roof *oh boy* in the sunlight! no rain, no post-work or pre-work darkness... just warm sunlight and our new roof. which, by the way, looks like this! fantabuloso! mmm, architectural shingles!

happy halloweenie to all of you scary ghouls out there! we had our open haunted house at work, and our work social outing to the haunted uss nightmare in cincinnati was awesome (except for leeloo getting a little separation anxiety and tearing up the floor in tammy's bathroom. i'll go up tomorrow to fix it)! while i will be missing a party tonight (no loss, got to spend the day with my hubby), we are now crashed as a family of 3 in front of the fake fire. okay, curt is right, it is an actual fire, but the logs are very fake. kelly's baby shower and tammy's bathroom are tomorrow.

beutifully productive days

ahh, monday was just peachy-perfect. an early morning jump-start to the day... then i had an appt with a blown insulation guy over the sad and pathetic insulation situation in our attic (no wonder the old owners payed almost $300/month to heat this place). learned some good stuff, although it was too expensive and we will probably just tackle this one ourselves too...

then, i cut matting for framing pictures and reduced the size of that project. my desire to actually finish the project has been reduced since anne and sean are no longer visiting (but at least they will be loving a new bundle of joy that they are the proud godparents of!), but now the large mat-board isn't the main attraction of the living room. success in smaller packages!

then, i finalized the roof contractors and the windows. the new roof should be on by friday (in fact, they just dropped off the new tiles today... better than getting a new toy!). the windows, however, will take 5-7 weeks to order and come in. so... no new windows until dec., but at least all my little ducks are in a row.

i did laundry and dishes, played with the dog... THEN i went to the garden center and got bushes for the front of the house. which i brought home and finished the landscaping. i pulled out a small tree and moved boulders... grrr, i am powerful woman, hear me roar! and now the house has a facelift! baby bushes... so nice to have it done...

i started patching the insulation on the heating ducts, then met curtis when he got off of work and we went climbing then out to eat. what a great night... actually sitting down and talking with my husband and eating fabulous dosas at the southern indian restaurant. hmm, heavenly ending to a perfect day!

yesterday, well, that was just work and puppy class... poor leeloo, learning how to behave herself... so sad. teeheehee.

today will be decidedly less productive, although i will be visiting home depot AGAIN.

liquor barn

who knew a lawnmower and a new tv could bring so much pleasure? (okay, so really it was the company we had when we bought said items that made my day... but still, how can you resist an opening line like that?)

the dyerdad came for a visit this week, and it has been wonderful to see family again. or really, any familiar face. he was a real trooper when it came time to shop for appliances, and even helped us map out the town a little with the discover of another sporting goods store, and the infamous liquor barn- the ultimate party store! the story:

we were trying out the new grill, and had decided that it was of utmost importance that we have some margaritas as an evening beverage accent... this point was made more resolute by the realization that we were out of jose cuervo (small family party after graduation took care of that bottle and saved us from having to move it...) and needed limade and limes... yes, we prettymuch only had the ice and a few drops of triple sec... so we made for the nearest liquor store: 2 blocks from our house. SCARY! they did have tequila, so not all was lost, but this establishment was a sorry excuse for a liquor store (and this from the girl who is drunk after one drink!). after dinner, curt diligently looked online for a better way to procure future beverages... and discovered, not to far across town, the liquor barn...

upon entering the establishment, we discovered that this place does NOT deserve the name. wewere inundated with fabulous cheeses and meats, an olive bar, and even fabulous international crackers! there were over a dozen isles of alcohol, with wines separated geographically (yes, we got some rioja wine to remind us of our trip), and vast arrays of ever liquor imaginable... w efound spanish 10 year reserve brandy, all sorts of high quality boozes, and goggled at the locked chest contianing brandy at the measly pittance of $5000... there is beer from around the country (good microbrews), especially some of curt's favorite michigan brands!

our larders are now full, we have happily sampled the spanish brandy, and we have discovered a national treasure, contentedly sitting right by our doorstep!

and on a similar note, another fabulous thing about lexington is the recycling! we have a city trash bin, an equally sized recycling bin, and a third for yard waste! we can recycle clear, green and brown glass, and all kinds of cardboard (not to mention the usuals) curbside! i LOVE this town!

oh! and wehave a live rosebush!
yippee!
i have once again been blown off course, and will write more later about what has been going on here....

mwah!
auds