Rich Feeling Manly! (ugh! ugh!)

So I've started the major work on the 2nd bathroom. I had to rip out the toilet because there was some drywall rot behind it (where else would it be?).

These are the "before" pics...as I forgot to take them before we started ripping down the funeral home wallpaper. Right now, it looks like a hotel room after an Aerosmith party:

...And here you can see the patch were the rot was replaced:

...And the lovely lighting soon to be gracing my workshop:

...And of course, the wonderful bath doors!:

...You've got pornography on your screen

Aimee and I just found a new movie to recommend: Eagle vs. Shark. Our cats now have an even larger inferiority complex.

our house

is a very fine house. With two cats and a yard. Life used to be so hard.

Whoa. Stop that song train. But good things are happening at our house. The new house cleaners are fantastic. My house has never been so clean or smelled so good. 9 months without anyone living here took its toll, but I think Rich and I are helping the house feel loved and cared for again.

The yard has been a mess for much longer than we've lived here. The previous owner had it "cleaned" up before we moved in, but there was still much to do. Rich started ripping out the ivy this winter. But now we have Alberto and Alberta the yard wonders. They spent over 10 hours here yesterday ripping, weeding, trimming, pruning, and cleaning up! Our yard looks bare, but wonderful. They will finish up this weekend and then all I have to do is keep it weeded and start deciding what plants to put in the front part.

We know that this yard is truly a five year project. I've bisected it in my mind into parts and part one/year one has begun. Next year the side of the house. This year the front walkway.

Here are some photos. If you've been to the house, you can see what a difference a day of hard labor makes. Thanks to Alberto and Alberta for making the start of my yard dream come true. Yes there were tears on my part.

Our house

is a very clean house. Rich and I took the step to outsource our housecleaning. This involved a lot of soul searching on my part. Would I be able to let strangers in and clean up my mess? I had to really think about that and be ready. And I'm so thrilled that we hired Anna and Rosalia to come in and clean. Our house is cleaner than ever before.

When we moved in, no one had lived here for 9 months, so it was filthy. I cleaned. My mom cleaned. My aunt Tecky cleaned. But I was forever finding places we missed. Now I have two great people and the house is spotless. It was such a huge relief to come home tonight after a long day at work and be able to walk into a clean house. I highly recommend it.

SIGH

smells like lemon....

Houses and Housework

spike with Pasha
Originally uploaded by redhotknitter

Yesterday was my one day off before a long 6-day stretch and I had to make the most of it! It began with Alberto and Alberta, my potential yard cleaners. We have (more) ivy to strip out and general maintenance to be done. After all of the wind storms this winter, there is too much debris for me to tackle alone and it would take 5 pick-up loads to get it out of our yard. So we'll be hiring A&A to come in and help us out.

As well, I ordered new blinds for the basement, master bed and bath, and my office. Wow! So many options. And having to pick with Rich in mind. But I hope he'll be happy with the choices. I'm excited. We'll have natural light in our bathroom and no more blue venetians. Who would order blue venetians? I'm just asking.

Then I met with our new housecleaners Anna and Rosemaria. After one too many arguments about keeping the house clean, Rich and I agreed it was time for professional help. Every other week, people will come in and make it sparkle, which makes me happy and then Rich will be happy (especially since I won't be "reminding" him to clean).

Then Lola went to the vet. She's a 9 year-old cat in the body of a 6 year-old. Glad one of us is fit! Seriously, no dirty teeth and good health. What more can a kitty mama ask for. She and Spike are no longer speaking (once the scent wears off, they'll be fine). I also have to deworm them. Doesn't that sound fun? It turns out that even totally indoor pets can carry parasites that can harm us, so de-worming here we come. The CDC asks pet owners to de-worm once a year.

Finally, my day ended with a great massage! So nice to get pounded and stretched. I loved it. I'm sore today, but that's okay. I was in pain yesterday and she worked out all of the kinks. What a great way to end my one day off!

Today, its work, work, work. And tomorrow too. If anything happens, I'll let you know.

Drunk Knitting

Well drunk knitting night wasn't the great success my friend and I hoped it would be. It turns out that John Barleycorn's is really too dark to knit. We need to find a brighter place with alcohol for knitting purposes. Research to do!

I'm currently knitting socks, a scarf, and Rich's vest. I need to knit snails for my niece Emma and something for her older sister (as well as re-knit the too small sweaters they got for Christmas).

Today nothing remarkable happened except I turned the ringer of the phone on in the master bedroom on and it rang at 7:30 this morning. I thought it might be Rich so I answered. But it was my boss telling me I needed to be in earlier than I thought. Yuck. I've been tired all day as a result. Caffeine didn't even work.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Final details about the NZ trip

Thanks for sticking it out to the bitter end on this trip that ended a week ago! I'll write about the final details and then move on to current day life.

That final Saturday in Christchurch, Rich and I attended his friend Luke's wedding to Bronwyn. It was at their house, with their two kids, and families around. It was a small wedding, but truly beautiful. It was fun too. We got to talk to people who live and work in NZ and ask silly questions about life there. It was a really good time.

The next day (Easter Sunday), we went back to Luke and Bronwyn's to eat breakfast and watch them open presents. It was really nice to hang out during a quieter day. We then got on a plane and flew to Auckland. Our luggage made it with us.

Once in Auckland, we picked up our rental car and drove to some other friends of Rich's, Tony and Jane. They live in Helensville, which is north of Auckland. They have a great piece of property with dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens. We had a great lamb dinner with their entire family and talked to the wee hours of the morning.

After sleeping in, we trekked around Auckland on Easter Monday. Remember that not everything was open due to it being a holiday. If only we could adopt a four-day weekend in the US to celebrate Easter. It was great from that persective. I found more yarn to buy. And we went up the skytower. The views were incredible.

I met a young German woman who was on her last days of vacation before moving to Heidelberg to become a midwife. She was fascinating to talk to.

We spent our final supper together at a nice Italian place, picked up some ice cream and headed back to the Hilton to pack and have dessert (ice cream with fresh blackberries). It was bittersweet. We had a great trip and now it was at an end.

We got up very early (4am) and drove to the airport. Rich and I flew to Sydney together. He rented a car so he could show me a yarn shop (closed) and went on to the Opera House (incredible--photos don't do it justice) and the Harbor Bridge. I tried to enjoy myself, but I was incredibly sad that I was now heading north and he was heading back to NZ for almost four weeks. I'm still sad to be apart.



I got on my plane (after purchasing new luggage in the airport to carry my yarn--seriously just yarn and a pair of shoes). Luckily it wasn't full so I had three seats to stretch out on. The flight was horribly turbulent, so not much sleep to be had. I got to San Francisco and with Rich's status on United (he's a FREQUENT flyer), was able to catch an earlier flight back to Portland.

I made it home, unpacked, wandered around (20 hour time difference) until I fell asleep. Wednesday was zombie day. And now we are back to today.

Thanks for a great trip Rich. Love you.