Weekend recap

Tobogganing was a big hit.  The stairs up to the chute platform were a little steep, and you have to carry the 9,000 pound sled yourself, but it's a great workout.  We had a blast, and went out for drinks afterward. 

Oh, boy! Monday!

Happy Monday!

I can't believe the weekend flew the way it did.  We learned several things this weekend:

• having family help you paint makes painting go by MUCH faster.
  
• garlic-stuffed olives make really good painting rewards
• we underestimate EVERY task

Don and Ruthanne helped paint on Saturday, and they are the fastest, quietest little workers I've met.  It was like a scene from a movie, where everyone just works, with a backdrop of music.  A little creepy in person, but very effective.  The second bedroom is completely painted.  Now we have hallway and office walls, bookshelves, trim, cubby doors.......  I can't count down all the work left, but we're getting there.

AND, we had chicken soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner twice over the weekend.  If that's not blogworthy, I don't know what is.

The Wii-kend

Great weekend -- we had a Wii bowling tournament and a ping pong match...

Atwood pics

Update!

No cleaning and painting for these gals, no sir!  We're taking a last-minute vacation (woohoo!) with the fam tomorrow.

Anyone who wants to paint in our absence, we'll still pay for beer and pizza.  :)

Breakfast with Del

Breakfast at First Watch, we have a three minute wait for a table.  We sit, people watch, and who walks by but Del Donahoo?  I mention how lucky I am that I bring my camera everywhere,  and Karen's response is 'You are not going to take a picture of that poor man with his family.'  I say, no, and feel a little silly for even thinking that I could sneak a pic.  We are then seated, directly next to his table, and I am facing him.  Karen sits down, completely unaware.  I am notoriously bad at hiding anything, so giggly, I tell her how pretty she looks today.  She thinks I'm making fun, and I say 'no, I might even need to take your picture here.'  

I wait for the perfect moment, trying not to look like I'm taking the poor man's picture while he's with his family. I pull out the camera, and Karen, remembering how cute she is today, has decided that she 'will be studying' for the picture.  I can barely hold the camera steady, proud of myself that she still doesn't know that I'm not really taking her picture.  --snap--  I'm chuckling, she asks if she looks silly, so I show her the picture, and point out how lovely she looks, and how lovely Del looks over her shoulder.

The day started with the decision of where to go to avoid the HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE CONSTRUCTION NOISE.  We lived through a few hours of it yesterday, and I gotta say, at 9am, the pounding, clanking, compresser-noise covered by blaring heavy metal was making my ears bleed.  After breakfast, looking for a place for K to finish her homework quietly, I suggested Starbucks.  I found a gift card from last Christmas (thanks, Doug) and it's been in my wallet ever since.  Two driveways from breakfast we found one, and it only took me five minutes to maneuver the 500' distance.  I realized, laughing, that I didn't bring my wallet, which had the gift card.  Whoops.  Fine, we'll get something to drink, plop down in the silence on the interwebs, and chill out for an hour.  We're there for a few minutes when I realized that their WiFi had a charge, and credit card numbers would have to be entered for timeblocks, (um...  am I being punked?) so I was playing in Photoshop.  I hear a jazzy version of a song I know from Elvis Costello, so I shove my little tidbit of knowlege to Karen. 

'This was originally done by Elvis Costello, 'Love for Sale.' 
Karen points out that it sounds like it's probably the original, and maybe Elvis covered it.
                
Blink.                   Blink, Blink.                  

I say no! (please add your own eye-rolling with a condescending tone.) NO! This is probably his new wife, the jazz singer, covering it.  A few minutes went by, and then some grinder machine started to do it's best impression of the HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE CONSTRUCTION NOISE.  Seriously?  It seemed like ten minutes had passed, but the sound stopped.  Karen turned the page in her homework, and realized that she needed the internet to finish.  We headed home, defeated.

We're watching Casablanca for Karen's film class, and early into the film, she joked that 'this is an Elvis Costello song' and she laughed and laughed and rolled her eyes (and so I stabbed her.)  About four minutes later, lo and behold, what song is the bar piano player playing?  Yep.  'Love for Sale'

We'll have monkeys!

The drywallers come tomorrow, and we have a huge task ahead of us.  We were planning for their arrival and completion before this weekend, and had figured we'd paint Saturday and Sunday.  Now we're delayed a weekend, and are planning for October 10th.  Carrie, (and Mike, and Will, and anyone else who feels a compulsion to assist us in our plight) please consider this a sincere invitation to join us in Cleveland for pizza and beer and laughs and games and monkeys and, oh yeah...  lots of painting.  (Okay, maybe no monkeys, but we've got connections; we'll see what we can do.)

I told you.........................

The basement, stretched out... 

The ceiling, under plaster

Karen's masterplan (I added the small bird)

This will be a wall on the north side of the office

Holy crap, what a weekend

Many of you (okay, just Carrie) pointed out the lack of content last week.  We regret to point out that this will be the second sequential Weekend Recap, but that is all changing this week.  We are at the tail end of many projects, and after a solid, back-breaking few days, we are in the home stretch.  The apartment sale went quite well, thanks in part to some work folks and their friends.  Much appreciated, and your time and effort made my job much easier yesterday.  That said, MOVING IS HARD AND TAKES FOREVER!!!  Even when you think you're almost done, you're not.  I have half the day off today to finish up, and CAN'T WAIT until I get home tonight, finished, after turning in the keys and such.  I will post pics of the sale, the gutted condo and the insane layer of dust on EVERY ITEM WE OWN.  (I'll also attempt to use fewer uppercase words.)

Weekend recap

Saturday: Tremont Art-Walky Street Festival (with a name I should remember)

Coolest sidewalk chalk guy

 

Karen ate while I watched and took pictures

Karen loved the bee part

I love the stones painting so much, I took three pictures of it. On the third, a man approached me and asked if they came out nice, to which I responded something similar to 'pretty good' while I fumbled with my camera.  I didn't realize he was the artist until we had walked away from each other, and I don't know the etiquette at an art show...  Is it considered rude or stealing to photograph someone's work?  If so, Mr. Stones Painter, it was my favorite, and had I realized that it was you asking me about the photograph, I'd likely have answered that I loved it so much I wanted to take a piece home for free.  (Which, I suppose, answers my ethical photograh dilemma, and not in my favor)

This morning we went to five bookstores, in a quest to quench my David Foster Wallace thirst.  We didn't find Infnite Jest, but I got two others, and a few booklights and a bookmark and another novel and I might just be a little drunk on new books.  And, while I learn all about lobsters, Karen's doing this

blame vimeo -- pics soon to come

The weekend - a recap

We had dinner for Don's birthday...                We got to take a look at Al's new expander.  

we had some wine.

      

We watched Al's jumping beans, until this picture was taken, when she accidentally dropped them in the basement.  I certainly hope that Hoppy, Hopper, Shorty and the other two are okay.  :)

We played some ping pong

We went to Sweet Lorraine's - a quirky little resale shop

Where we bought this picture, that goes GREAT in the living room

Then, we went to GAME NIGHT!

Sunday, we went to a family wake (Condolences, Jess and fam), made pizza for dinner, and vegged/did homework/watched 90210 (sorry K), 

took pictures of Phoebe and Moxy, 

and watched the Browns.

And, now it's raining

Things I'd like to do this weekend

In addition to the many things we already have planned (Dad's birthday dinner, game night with the Winters, game day with the fam) I'd also like to do the following:

• Go to breakfast one day, order breakfast in one day.
• Go somewhere unexpected and take a walk, maybe some pics.
• Watch the twelve hours of crap TV we have DVR'd.
• Grab a Sunday NY Times (or a book, or my laptop) and go to the new bookstore/wine place around the corner.  (I'd also love to shake the hand of the person who invented the bookstore/wine shop.  Well done, good chap.  Well done.)
• Mail the double-boiler to Carrie.  (Mrrrppphhhtt.  I can't even keep a straight face.)

Stuff I forgot to add from last weekend

   

The weekend is sadly over

Sunday, lazy Sunday

We spent the weekend lazily, watching movies and hanging out.  Saturday we took Muffin to the vet in the morning, and then lounged for an hour or two.  We went on an afternoon adventure, where we gabbed and learned the fine art of pickling from Sue and Kelly.  We sat on the deck, had a fabulous dinner and played with the puppies a bit.  After about six hours, we called it a night, and headed home to our beloved couch.  As expected, by Sunday, we were exhausted.  We must've watched ten movies this weekend, none of which were really very good, but it passed the time.  We also cleaned the entire basement!  Yep - the whole thing is now empty.  Since Karen's still in the special olympics, I made about thirteen hundred trips up and down those basement steps.  Normally, this would've been one of those tasks I drag my feet on, but for some reason, I was quite motivated.  (Yey, me!)  We finished in less time than I figured we would, and ordered pizza.  More movies (Don't bother watching Mr. Woodcock...  That scene you laughed at in the previews?  It's the only funny one in the movie, and now it's been ruined.)

Another week, another plan.  K starts her classes tonight, and the rest of us have the last vball game of the Monday-night season.  Wednesday starts playoffs.  Tomorrow is my birthday dinner with Mom and Dad, and Friday night is dinner with Karen's fam and Mickey (Happy birthday, Mic).