walking into the kitchen now
west wall before
west wall now
stove before
stove now
north wall before 
north wall now
sink and window before
sink and window now
the other day i made a list of small things to do on the kitchen. today i crossed off 4 things! i have 7 left! i'm hoping to finish this weekend. (but i really shouldn't be putting a time limit on this.) hopefully the next post you see will be the finished kitchen! (but i'm not making any promises.)
marta has been doing giveaways lately and i entered this one the other day. i was pretty sure i wouldn't win when i was the 117th comment. but then i got a comment from her on my blog (how exciting!) and i won! i'm really in love with those zigzags. i'm already thinking of the zigzag quilts i need to make.
ps - i don't know marta personally, just through her blog - she's overdue with a baby and still working/blogging/doing giveaways - not what i'd be doing at 9 mos. pregnant. (i'd be complaining.)
sam (the future diplomat) has been telling me all about chinese people lately. he thinks anyone who has black hair and speaks another language is chinese. (more likely hispanic here, but oh well.)
so yesterday we're at the park and sam comes to tell me that "there's a chinese guy over there! i can tell because he's old." a few minutes later the "chinese" guy walks past us and sam says, "see, there's the japanese guy!" then he turns to the guy and says, "adios!" the guy turns around and smiles at sam.
well - it's 1:20 and the boys get in at 3:15 and the kitchen's NOT FINISHED! i really wanted to have it done before they got back. it's almost done and i did get a lot done while they were gone, but still. maybe i should just stop having expectations, or at least lower mine significantly and then when something works out, i'll be pleasantly surprised. that said, i expect to get the kitchen done soon, but i'm not putting a time limit on it this time.
these thistles were scattered along a trail in park city. we saw several of them with big fat bumble bees just resting in the top cushy part.
little luke wasn't crying, he just has teary eyes.
this huge tirantula was just walking on the same trail we were. i couldn't believe it and i wanted a good picture, but it was getting dark so i had to use a flash and i threw the cheerios in so you could see just how big he was.
i really liked the contrast of this bluish green with the red soil. (it was a little more contrasty in real life.)
this last week i've been working so hard trying to get the kitchen done. the 3 older kids are at my moms (they've been gone for 7 days today and they'll be back in 2 days). but right now i just don't feel like working on it so i've been checking out everyone's blogs and i thought i'd get a post or 2 in. i read 2 really motivating and inspirational posts today. one is from my aunt peggy who's on a mission for our church in peru and the other's from marta, who i don't know personally but love to read about on her blog. i'd love to do a post like either of these one day, but you'll have to settle for this one today.
here are some of the photos that nicole hill took. there were over 350 of them, but i'll just post some of those. what do you think?
Wednesday: we waited and waited for zach and steff (and fam) to get here from azerbaijan. (also waited for mom, dad, katie, andy and HIS FIANCEE ASHLEY! - pictures later, because i don't have any yet.) z and s brought along some azeri gifts for everyone. mine was a silk scarf made by a company named "rosa parks". mom's was this head thing she's wearing. i don't remember the name.
Monday: IKEA and and an Imax movie and little Luke's first birthday party! we got pizzas and a costco cake and played a rousing game of baseball at the park (where i slid into home plate, wearing a skirt, only to get tagged out by jordan).
Tuesday: that just wasn't enough so today we're going to Lagoon. everyone's leaving tomorrow morning, so we have to pack it all in!
i've finished it now, i think it took 3 days. i think i'll give it 3.75 stars (out of 5).
things i didn't like: it took about 200 pages to get into; it was too wordy and pulpy and not really well written; it was a little predictable (but maybe part of that is what i've heard from others who've read it.)
things i liked: after 200 pages it started getting pretty intense; i started having all these questions about vampires and they kept getting answered (kind of fun); it was a pretty fast read, even though i was bored at first; i liked the idea of controlling your urges - even though it may be VERY difficult, it's still possible.
in short: i liked it more than i thought i would, but it's not my favorite book.
and thanks for all the previous comments - it was fun to see what you guys thought too.
with so much going on, i forgot to tell you all that we went to see these guys
and let me tell you - they were much older than this. though i have to say that they were rocking pretty hard the whole time. i don't know how old guys get up there and play for a good 2 hours, but they did. sting and stewart copeland are 56 or something and andy summers (who made very good use of his whammy bar) is 66! you actually couldn't tell how old they looked until they started showing live feed closeups. maybe not such a great idea.
the songs they played were not just the songs on the best of cds, which i appreciated. i loved hole in my life, can't stand losing, and so lonely (which was my theme song in college until i met dan). they did 2 separate encores (which was nice - the last time i saw sting - in 1991 or so - he didn't do any encores).
elvis costello opened, and i don't know much of his stuff, but what i know i like. we only really heard 3 songs because of traffic getting there (the worst venue i've ever been to for traffic there and back) and one of them was allison. and sting came out to sing harmony - it was cool.
the tour's almost over, and they swear they'll never do it again, but if they do, you should go see them.
to read another (probably more entertaining) review of the phoenix show a year ago, go here
wow - it's so great to have an eight-year old! just now jack gave luke a bath (including washing his hair, which we told him not to do) then he got him dressed. it took him about 10 minutes to get a t-shirt and shorts on the big squirmy guy and he didn't complain or whine about it! the other day we were in the drive-thru (man am i getting sick of that place) and charlie had to go to the bathroom. i asked jack to take charlie inside and it was so great! no more taking every single person in with me if only one has to go. he's not quite ready for babysitting, or going too far away from me, but it's so nice to have some help from a kid! thanks jack!
the tile is half-way grouted. and i'm so pleased with how it looks, i thought i'd show you!
