We picked out the kitchen cabinets.

New Cabinets.








Granite we picked for our LAST kitchen... we still like it.

KraftMaid, Maple, "Sedona" (AKA "Sonora,") Praline stain.

They are the same exact price, grade and brand as the ones we had, just different style and color. The old cabinets were very nice but we saw them all charred etc and its too hard to get the same ones..

We almost did Cherry instead of Maple but Bill knows ALLLLLLL about wood and said cherry gets kooky after a bit esp since our kitchen is in very bright sunlight. I loved the look of it but our kitchen does have seriously bright sunlight. So we got these. I think they will go well with the granite color. There is still a danger that Bill will try to make guitars out of them one day. So we are not out of the woods yet.

I AM happy about this, I mean, who would not be happy about a new kitchen, a new house, etc? I just realllly liked our old house. It was our HOME. This will become home too, but that will kind of take more work too, you know? I cannot think about this now. I can't, because I have to research wall ovens. I thought this would be a little more fun.


Also we found yet another paint color we like... THIS ONE.
But I am sure we have a lot of arguing left to do about this... stay tuned.

Today they put this black stuff on the house.

I guess it offers a hint at what our house would look like if we painted it completely black. It makes the house look thinner, certainly.

We are still arguing about what color to paint it.

That front door on the house is only temporary.

PLEASE MAKE THIS SONG LEAVE MY HEAD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNlmn7vbXBQ

WELCOME TO PHOTO OP THURSDAY

Below is the photo for this week. You look at it, and write the caption. Have fun! Do as many as you wan t.



Here is my entry:


"Look, big dog shaped cloud, I don't care how you slice it, Sylvester Stallone was ROBBED when he did not get the acting Oscar for Rocky in 1976...."

I am extrememly busy for the next few days...

Doing some deadline type stuff for the mediation etc. "Teacher Bill" will be at preschool alllll day tomorrow, so that means to me I have a quiet day to GET STUFF DONE. I like the days when Bill works at the preschool though, because he comes home with really funny stories.

House stuff.

This is the house from the back. Sliding door thing is in. And windows.

They finally installed the Central A/C... NO this is actually a really big fan. I have no idea why it is in the house running but Nick must have his reasons.

Our neighbor Dave returned Spencer's jeep today which had been living in his garage for a year. Spencer is checking under the hood, as the battery is dead. Also, the seats and the tires are a little MELTY, so we do not know if it really runs. But here it is.. In the background you can see the new furnace. it is nice for a change to see a furnace in our garage that does not have yellow Crime Scene Tape around it.

We went there today, and then to hardware store to get Bill a drill bit. But then he went to look at some kind of varnish stuff and as he was taking a can off the shelf it was stuck to a different can and it fell on the floor and spilled all over including onto Bill's Hummer brand YAK shoes. I got these shoes for $15 from Sierra Trading Post, and they are "Hummer" like the car... and made of YAK. But now they are covered in Shellac. SO now they are ShellYak shoes.

For the rest of today it is back in the barn we go to write down more crap onto forms. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The stupid four wheeler yahoos next door are doing their moto cross crap, and so we get to listen to their big motorcycle engines....

Spencer bought a loud whistle at the hardware store, and a key chain with a dice (die) on it, so that he can "call the dog" Also we went to the dollar store and he got a Frisbee. I got four plastic plates shaped like flowers, some charms blow pops, pop rocks, and some foaming hand soap. He is practicing how to throw it to either the goat or the dog, whomever responds first to the stupid whistle.
Later on we are gonna clean out the goat's water tub thing. It was gross before, but then yesterday Spencer spilled half a pitcher of Cobb into it. Eww

Today we spent some Family Time with The Goat.

Or, at least we tried. The goat actually runs from us, unless we have his favorite treat, Cobb. Spencer and the dog chased him all over that field today while Bill and I sat in one of the barns all day going thru burned crap from Bill's business and filling out forms. It was a hot day today, and it was nice for once, so when we were done later on, after we lost all the daylight, we went to Dairy Queen. We were in the drive thru line, which is always hundred miles long and takes 90 minutes because it is the place to be on a Saturday night in Canby. We were behind a sort of a stinky older large car. We also had the dog Amy in the car, and she had bad gas all day from some new food we have been feeding her. No, it is not the IAMS green bag, which is pretty fart inducing but it s a canned kind that Bill gets by the case. Anyway.. so here is how it went:

Scene: A minivan, waiting in the drive-thru line at Dairy Queen behind a car with bad exhaust fumes. Bill is Driving, I am in the passenger seat, and Spencer is in the middle row with the dog.

Car ahead lurches forward 5 feet

Me: Bill you can pull up now, that guy has gone forward a little.

Bill: I know but I want to stay back here as long as I can because the exhaust smell is so bad.

Me: Oh, yeah you are right.

Silence, then a horrifying smell starts to float around the car.

Me: Oh My GAWD, is that the guy's car or, is that the dog farting again??

Bill: I don't know I think its the dog but it could be that guy's car?!?!

Spencer: That guy sure has a bad stinky dog in his car!!!

AND Scene.

Bill and I tried SO HARD not to laugh but it was pretty hard. Then later Spencer fed his ice cream cone "stump" (as we call them after there is mostly just flat bottom cone left and hardly any more ice cream) to the dog. he has a terrible habit of dropping them on the floor, and I find them a month later all sticky and petrified in the back seat, along with the giant plastic insects and toy cars, ancient French fries and fierce looking plastic dinosaurs that the dog has chewed the tails and legs off of that all live int eh back seat of our cars.

I said, "Spencer! Did you feed the dog the rest of your ice cream?"

" Yes."

I said "But it had paper wrapped around the bottom. You have to take the paper off before you give it to the dog... "

He said, "No, she likes her ice cream cones with the paper on!

Sure, you've heard of MOMA...

....the famous Museum of Modern Art in New York City. But have you heard of its sister museum, MOBA , in Boston, Mass? I am truly surprised Osler did not stop there on his recent trip.

MOBA is the Museum of Bad Art.

http://www.museumofbadart.org

Their Slogan is: "MOBA. Art Too Bad to be Ignored."


I have not been lucky enough to visit, but fortunately for me , and for you, they have a website that displays many of their works:

"Circus of Despair"
You know, I am no art critic, but I feel the despair here.


This is called, simply: Eileen's Uncle Phil
Obviously 'Uncle Phil' is Eileen's euphemism for "the everyman." Just brilliant



This one is called Ronan the Pug
I can just see Ronan's energy



This is entitled: Lady in the Field with Flowers
She may be related to Eileen... or Uncle Phil..




Dog
About this Art In America said: "A remarkable fusion of ski resort and wolf puppy -- stoical in his yellow-eyed silence, frozen beneath the ice-capped peak, Dog eloquently challenges the viewer to rexamine old concepts of landscape."
I could not agree more...
I am not sure if this is a cat or a dog but he sure is a happy little fellow!

Today: Bill, Spencer, William, Mary and Queen Anne

Today Spencer is in the family room with his many many blocks, building stuff and scolding the dog for knocking it over.

Bill is out in the barn, measuring a table for this person in Martha's Vineyard to give an appraisal. We are sending her pictures of this table my Paternal Grandmother had. It got kind of wrecked in the Splosion. We are trying to determine fi it is actually a William and Mary table or a Queen Anne table....................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz It is like 16 gozillion years old.

I am looking for Library books. Overdue Library books. Yes I am a delinquent and I have let it slide a little. I will probably end up in Library jail, so if you do not hear form me for a bit....

What is a KITLER, you ask?

A KITLER is a Cat that looks like Hitler.

You might assume there would not be a website that features only cats that look like Hitler.

You would be wrong: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl

Yes, this may be a stupid post, but where else but here are you going to find a variety of info like this? In one day I have told you there are MANY cats that look like Hitler AND how to cut your electric bill. I do this for YOU, my adoring public, for no extra charge. It is a service I am only too happy to provide.

The title of this blog alone should tell you all you need to know.. about a dog (Boogie - who ate everything in sight) that we no longer own who ate Spencer's (real life) imaginary friend named DONUT.

Sure, you can read the New York Times if you MUST, but you will never get the kind of information from that rag that you get here.

SO Whether you need home energy saving tips, OR anecdotes about life with a four year old, OR captivating stories about and exploding house and the rebuilding of said house, all the from the point of view of a woman who has quite possibly lost her mind, stay tuned.

Lights Lights Lights, WattStopper, Patio Door and Heat/ AC

Today we went to the house at 8 AM and met with the electrician. We went all thru the entire house and told them exactly what lights we wanted where and how many plugs, and where the switches should be and all of that stuff. It was good I guess because now it will be where we want it and everything, but I don't know how that guy is gonna remember all that stuff. But I guess he does it all the time. We did not add much except since we have already lived in the hosue we know exactly what did not work out well before and now it should be better.

We plan to also get these great energy saving things that are like motion sensors on the lights of every room. You set them up for like say 20 minutes or whatever, and THEN, when, for example, your four year old goes to the bathroom right before we leave the house and leaves the light on in there ALLLLL DAY, it TURNS IT OFF after 20 min of no activity in there it has like a motion sensor thing on it. You can also set it up to turn the lights ON when you walk in the room, and turn them off when you leave. Its just a way to save energy and money on your light bill.

These things are called: WATTSTOPPER OCCUPANCY SENSORS and you just add them to your light switch I guess. There is info about them here: http://www.wattstopper.com/

In fact though we cannot afford to get half this stuff, here is a list of many ways to "go green" in your home: http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/productlist.shtml

They also put the patio door in today AND the furnace and central AC.

Reason #873 Spencer is a NUT.

Nutty Spencer, asleep in his car seat, with a diaper on his head.

THis evening while we were trying to prepare dinner Spencer was doing what he ususally does at that time:

Climbing on chairs to get in the cupboard to get the plates to set the table,
Running around like a maniac, with NO PANTS on...He likes to eat dinner in the buff..(???)
watching us cook and begging us for strawberries,
asking for the 5 th time what are we having for dinner

the usual 4 year old stuff I guess...

But tonight two funny things happened:

1. I was I was stir-frying some fresh sugar snap peas and he says:
"Mommy why are you making those Pea Houses for dinner again tonight?"

2. He was pushing chairs all around the kitchen - he loves doing this, and it keeps him busy - so at one point he I'm not sure... bumped into a chair and hit his head a little and then he said:

"Ouch......Didn't see that coming..."

HAHAHAHA - He is so crazy.

We have no idea why he takes his clothes off to eat dinner, or why he does anything he does.

We just love him.

LOOK! We now have windows!!!!! ALso Colors.

It is starting to look like a real house, finally. We have LOTS of other problems, legal and otherwise, but this is concrete progress that no one can argue with. SO there you go.


Still working out colors:



We both like this color, but I fear it may be too dark as in we might get tired of it.

This color is REALLLLLLY growing on me, and though some other colors are much more exciting, I seriously, SERIOUSLY have had just about ENOUGH excitement for a while. This tranquil color just appeals to me so much...

BUT the trick is that you have to picute it on YOUR HOUSE which is Much harder. I compare it to when you go to the eye doctor and they say Better One, Better Two. Better One, Better Two. Better One, Better Two...

SO I have tried to do this HERE:

Better ONE?

Better TWO?

WELCOME to the new BABY IPLAW!!! ALSO Busy Summer Ahead for Spencer...

First, Iplawguy and his wife welcomed their second child, LadyBirdJohnsonIplawbaby, a few days ago, a second girl. SO AWESOME and by the picture it looks like Mamie Eisenhower IplawToddler could not be happier. CONGRATULATIONS and welcome, and I only hope your Dad gets better at Scrabulous..... KIDDING!!!!! He beats me on a regular basis.


Next, Spencer's preschool is going to have 4 weeks of day camp this year which is GREAT because he just loves his preschool.

SO it will be a week of ART,
then a week of SCIENCE,
then a week of WET & WILD (?)
and then a week of COOKING FOR KIDS.

These will not be all in a row, and they are four weeks in total, from about 9 -1 M-F for the weeks they are held. They have a horseback riding thing too, but I think I would like to wait on that for a bit... We are building this house this summer, doing the mediation, eventually moving again, OFF the goat farm, and you know having to make 200 little tiny decisions about the house every ten minutes. SO I do not need the extra stress of thinking about Spencer on a HORSE. I mean horses are great probably.... he loves animals I know it would be fun for him but NOT THIS SUMMER. I am hanging by a very thin emotional thread these days. I don't need to think about Spencer v. Horse for a month.

Besides I have already signed him up for swimming, and then he is also going to do gymnastics once or twice a week and also KINDER KEMPO which is like Karate or something like it for four year olds. If all that stuff does not keep him busy, he still can play with his blocks...

MY GOODNESS that kid likes to build things. There are these smaller pieces of wood from the house that are in a pile on the front yard They are called Cut offs or off cuts or cut downs or something.... whatever - Spencer grabs a few each time we go over there and he takes them home. Bill sands them a little and ...Boom! Instant blocks to add to his collection... but these are still not enough.... Tonight when he ran out of blocks from his new set from his Grandparents, he used the cut offs and when those were gone, then he looked around and emptied an entire case of 24 little 8 oz water bottles from costco. (We stopped Juice Boxes for his lunches a while back and give him an 8 oz bottle of water now - he does not need all that sugar)

He built like this Water bottle highway all across the family room.... He is SO crazy.

Today we met Nick at the house to discuss plumbing stuff like where we want what...
and then Thursday AM we have to go in and figure out electricity stuff Like where all the lights are gonna be and stuff. For homework, he sent us home with a book of cabinets and pretty soon we have to pick those.. Like Fast.

This all seems like it is the fun part you know or so I thought it would be but it is hard sometimes... Like today we have to AGREE on a style of cabinets. That is the first hurdle...I like more modern stuff in very light colored Maple. Bill likes Cherry and traditional, and a little darker stain. Then we have to figure out what worked before and what kind of drawers and stuff we want this time....Do we want the KNOFE DRAWER back or can we live without it? I thought it was OKAY but we NEVER used that pull out cutting board it comes with. SO forget that. ALso here is another one: We have TONS of silverware I mean TONS.... and its all casual and you hate to throw it out, so we keep washing it and using it.... but then it OVER FLOWS the silverware drawer which is really narrow and small. WHY WHY WHY???? THIS TIME we are gonna have a HUGE silverware drawer to hold ALLLLL the spoons, etc. So anyway... We have to figure out what we liked in the old house and what we want to change... Like our kitchen has Southern Exposure or Western or whatever makes the sun just some BLASTING IN at dinner time. SO like about 5 PM in the kitchen you practically have to wear sunglasses to eat dinner and if you did the blinds, its TOO dark... SO we got a UV COATING on JUST those windows in that area.

Like for ex I hated the LAZY SUSAN. It was like this stupid corner cabinet/ vast wasteland, where pots and lids and bakeware just goes to die.. When the house blew up and we had to empty it for the last time, and after three years of living there we had collected like three bundt cake pans and all kinds of things that just were one day placed into the DEEEEP DARK ABYSS of the LAZY SUSAN and never seen again. Had the house not blown we might not have ever found them. SO its good we get to starts over because NOW I know I do NOT want a LAZY SUSAN again... BUT that I also LOVED my cabinet that held like tall skinny things, like cutting boards and cookie sheets In fact I used it so much that I think I want two of those. I have a LOT of cutting boards.. those you know...hard plastic ones... and I am always chopping things. Pluse they also double as like HOTPADS for the table for hot things....

So we are having to think about all these little changes and stuff and where we want what and I am not COMPLAINING, really but it is a lot more involved than you might think, and sometimes less fun than you think its gonna be. Some days I am not in the mood to go pick out faucets and sinks, I don't want to talk about where the freaking dryer is gonna go.. just put it on the roof if you want to...I am tired of all of this you know? WHo CARES what kind of interior doors to get or where the toilet goes or all of this... I observed a twenty minute conversation about POCKET DOORS v. regular doors the other day.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and then they ask me you know "Well what do you think Liz? How do YOU feel about POCKET DOORS??? " and I was like "Well, gentleman, I cannot say that I have formed a concrete position on Pocket Doors. I guess the Pocket Doors predate my involvement in the project, and further research is needed. However my IMPRESSION of Pocket Doors is that they are a pain in the ass and Spencer can get them right open when you are in the restroom and hence in the three years I lived in that house I never once spent any time in there with the door FULLY CLOSED. SO in conclusion, fellows, I am not a fan of the pocket doors........" GAWD just WAKE ME WHEN ITS OVER. And then after all of this I learn that POCKET DOORS are really the only kind of door they CAN put there so we HAVE TO HAVE THEM. SO uh where do I go to get this 20 min of my life back?

And then you have to do like all of this sort of IMAGINING the house that will be, even though we ALREADY LIVED IN IT for three years.... all the while in real life I am on a goat farm with kooky water and you know the stove with three working burners, and all this and its like... it feels like it is taking forever to build this IMAGINARY house that we will NEVER get to live in again. you know? LIke I cannot believe that we are ever gonna really live there...

The other day Bachelor Dude (the landlord) called us and he said that right after we move out he is going to sell the Goat Farm and if we like it he will give us a good price and we can have first crack at it.

WOW.

Bill started talking about how it is an intriguing offer.....and I could not help thinking, "Wow. I 'll bet if you put a couple of guitars in the fireplace they would burn reallllly quickly....." No Bill, we are NOT buying the Goat Farm. Because we have a lovely imaginary house with pocket doors and no knife drawer waiting for us.

Spencer's Family Birthday Party at Red Robin.

We still have not held the reptile birthday party, and we are not sure now if we will, but we did want to celebrate his birthday somehow, so we got together at Red Robin with our friends Siri and Steve and their son Travis. It was actually pretty fun and we did not know it but on that night the Big RED ROBIN bird mascot person comes around to tables. SO the kids went crazy when that happened. Also the staff did their weird clapping happy birthday song and it was overall a pretty fun way to spend a birthday.

We do not go to a ton of restaurants, but when we do, we like to go to places that are really tolerant of the kids. Red Robin is very kid friendly. Its always really loud in there so no one cares how loud they get and the staff is very nice and they have a great kids menu, etc. Plus, BALLOONS!!!

Isn't that what birthdays are really all about, anyway? Spending time with family and friends you love?

I think the kids had the most fun when THE BIRD came

Here are all "our guys:" Travis and Steve and Spencer and Bill. Steve is not only Siri's husband, but he is an excellent musician, and he and Bill also play guitar together.

The Cake: it had lizards and dinosaurs, and even fake rocks on it.

One of the presents: a Dinosaur that walks AND ROARS!!!!

Continuing on Memory Lane to celebrate Spencer's Brithday week.

Stuff I like to do:

I like to drive my Jeep, which later melted...

I like to goof in front of the camera..

I used to spend a lot of time at Toney Baloney's before it closed. Here is my buddy Donut

When I was two I was Spiderman For Halloween

One time it actually snowed in Oregon, and alll the kids and adults in my neighborhood came out to play in it. Except Mommy, who grew up in MICHIGAN, and is NOT AT ALL enchanted with the stupid snow...

In the summer my Dad made a Home Made Waterslide for all the kids out of a play structure, a sandbox and a hose. FUN!!!!

One time at Home Depot I actually fell asleep in the cart while Mommy and Daddy argued for an hour about floor tile... zzzzzzzzzzz They are such crashing bores...

When I am feeling really cool I wear my Dad's Bluesman Hat.

More Adventures of Spencer Growing Up

Sometimes I get mad....

but I have always loved my Daddy

And my feet....

And my Dawg, Riley.. (R.I. P.)

Love to play with Bill's Volt Meter

I love to pick out books to read in my lion chair

I like to run in the sprinkler in the summer...and get all wet