public or private?

I have gotten out of the blogging habit… easy to fall in and out of I’m sure you all understand. Once you miss a few days then the posts end up being massive overviews of what happened and that is pretty much what I do. Every so often I get extra time or just into the blogging thing more and post lots of small updates or observations and I think in a few weeks I’ll have more time at work to post but right now is an extra busy time. There is also the factor that this is a very public blog and I have no idea who about half of the people who read are therefore I don’t really express any strong opinions or write on any really personal topics… that is my own choice really but I am thinking about making this a password/invite only blog but I like thinking that something I said helps other people out. I get tons of hits on my ‘cat peed on my bed’ entry and since I know I googled that exact phrase and got no help I think I’m helping. I also get a lot of hits for reasons to party and monkey fabric. I don’t think I have the time to write two blogs so I’ll be deciding soon what direction I am going to go, if you have a vote, email me; kate79@gmail.com.

Since my last post about flooring I have done tons of stuff especially since I did the flooring over the weekend of May 12-13. I was so sore from that flooring I could barely walk for days, it was a very physical job with lots of kneeling, getting up and down off the floor a million times, and manhandling the planks into place. Lars did help, he pitched in on some of the more complicated cuts acting as clamp while I sawed and he also was a huge help by bringing down supplies so I didn’t have to keep running up and down the stairs. He also held up the washer and dryer while I put flooring under them. Sunday night we looked at paint for the room and I think we are going with a dark yet bright blue name liberty so maybe this weekend I’ll get paint on the walls and trim back up and them move all the stuff back in. We have no real plan for the room, it might be the exercise room, it might be the SCA room, not really sure but since it is adjacent to our cool new patio and we are throwing a nice big party we need it to be decent enough for an extra party space and now it is.

This past weekend we went to Ages of War in Iowa. The weather was great especially since we camped in a hotel. Hotel camping means way less gear therefore more people fit in cars and we took two viaciles with 4 people each so we were doing pretty well. It was disappointing that Calontir really didn’t turn up in great numbers but that happens. Lars and I started this event last year with the King and Queen of Calontir and we were really hoping it would live on. It still happened and maybe it will grow next year again, I know if we win crown again we will talk it up. Monday I took an extra road trip to a site that we had to move a ton of stuff and I’m really glad a lot of people turned out to help because it went very quickly but it was an odd way to spend Memorial day.

Next week I start my next MBA class, I got a B+ on the last one and submitted my reimbursement request so hopefully I get the money to pay for the next semester in time. We are feeling a little bank account light because we wrote the big check yesterday to buy Lars’s brother’s house in PA. It wasn’t really that expensive and it is a good investment but writing the check is hard (I made Lars do it). The whole PA house project took way too much effort and entailed way too much drama so hopefully we can put that behind us now that we closed and all the hoops are jumped and papers signed. Lars and I were starting to loose it with all the dates and meetings to sign stuff and now we can go back to our regularly scheduled life.

This weekend is not planned other then maybe painting and maybe sewing~

Flooring

This was last weekends all weekend project;



It started out with gross old carpet tile and all the junk in the house (I didn't take a picture of that) but I cleaned everything and scraped up all the tile and removed all the basebords and trim to reveal a fantastic cement floor;


And then I worked realy hard for 2 days stright and got it all done but by the end I could barely walk. Next step painting and orginizing all the stuff back into the room.

Another weekend has past and week begun. Saturday Lars and I (mostly I) drove to Fargo and back for crown. It was a very nice event and there were tons of people I wanted to see and talk to and I got to talk to atleast half of them. The tournament outcome was surprising and I think it even surprised the winners, I’m sure they will be fine and sometimes the unknown is fun because it is obviously not predictable.

Last week went reasonably well. I finished my stats final and I am hoping grades are posted soon so I can find out my grade. I got an A on the paper (1/4) and a B on my midterm (1/4) and an A on my homework/classwork (1/4) and the final quarter is the final…. I am thinking I got either a B+ or an A, depends on the curve really, but I felt much better prepared. I never got the Who’s who finished for crown because it got lost in computer land and I didn’t have time to redo it and also study but I don’t think anyone really missed it.

Sunday Lars and I went to Ikea and got 400 square feet of flooring for the down down stairs room. We got the light blond color that matches the real wood in the rest of the house but since the lower level might get damp I didn’t want anything too expensive. Cork is now entirely out of the equation. I need to clear the deck down there and get going on the underlay stuff but hopefully I can get it all in over this week and weekend (wishful thinking). I’m taking suggestions for paint color down there, I’m inclined to go with a light yellow but I really have no idea.

This week was going to be hectic because I was supposed to be traveling and I shuffled stuff all over the place and now the trip is canceled. I really had work to do with the supplier and now I need to find another time that works but on the bright side I am here all week and have pretty open schedule that will hopefully allow for flooring. I mowed the lawn last night and contemplated gardening, the tulips are done and I have nothing on deck… I’m not sure where to start and I have no garden network so if anyone local knows someone who wants to divide out some daylilies or something I have good spots for them.

I am at the offsite office, suffering from lack of sun but I know that today is pretty gray outside so I’m not missing much. Yesterday was 90 degrees, today is 60, someday we will settle on summer. I need to get working so this is it for now.

I would like to reject the episode of Gilmore Girls I just watched. They need to re do it. While I agree on some levels it is not a good way to end a show....

Tuesday night

I am down to 4 stamps needed when paying bills! Everything else is on auto pay or I can pay online. Don't worry mom, the only things on auto pay are insurance and non changing payments so I really do look at all my bills every month to make sure there are no surprises.

Right now Lars is mowing the lawn and it is way easier now that we took down a big section of fence. My next house project is getting the down down stairs (4 level split) put together. Right now it is the junk and kitty litter room and since it is right next to our new patio it needs to be a bit nicer. The pro's to the room are that it has a big closet and is one of the larger regular sized rooms in the house. It also has french doors to the patio. The cons are it does not have a door to the house (just a doorway of odd irregular size), it has a concrete floor, and the foundation wall weeps every so often. I was sold on cork flooring for ages but I've read that it does not stand up to wet too well. I'm thinking maybe pergo from Ikea since millions of people walk on it there and it cleans up nicely it is a possiblity. There is also vinyl, it looks really nice and has a bit of cushin to it but it is the same price as hardwood... I want to move all the garb into that one large closet but that is a longer term project. It just needs to be presentable for the party in a few months.

Lars is done mowing, time to go ride bikes for a little bit~

5/7

For the first time in ages, the house was actually clean all week and into the weekend so I didn’t have to spend any time cleaning. We had the cleaning ladies on Tuesday so we cleaned for them and then the appraiser came on Thursday so we cleaned again for him and hopefully he was impressed enough to think the house is worth what we want it to be worth (higher is ok too). We should know that hopefully today sometime and provided all went well we can finish the house thing. I spent a frustrating week dealing with the realtor and he really should retire or quit or just go away because he is so bad he disgraces Realtors everywhere. He only works from 3-6 and he never checks hi e-mail and he is likely to call random contact numbers, never the one you are at, and he thinks that replying to Lars’s e-mail was answering me…. He is a moron. It has been fun getting him to actually do any work on this deal but at least the end is in sight.

This weekend was very very productive. I spent Sat sewing tents and a nice evening hanging out. Sunday I had a friends two sons come over to help with yard work and between 10am and 3:30pm we washed all the decks and patios, raked and bagged all the leaves in the hedge, cleaned the entire garage, took down some fence, pulled out and set up all the patio furniture, and painted a bench. They were great kids to work with I got three weekends worth of work done in one. I was wiped out Sunday night so we ate dinner and watched TV and here I am on Monday again.

This week is pretty open at work, no travel or big events. Hopefully it will stay quiet so I can get all the little things done. I have my final exam on Thursday but I’m not too worried because he put the entire exam up on the overhead and we went over all the problems. I have to do my Who’s Who for Crown but I got most of it done this weekend.

I can’t believe it is Thursday already!

This week has flown, all my normal blog writing time has been taken up by house buying activities. We are at an agreement finally, no thanks to the greedy and dumb realtor. I’m sure the seller, who I’ve spoken to many times, is kicking himself for going to an agent on this since he basically had a buyer already and these guys are a real stupid pair that have delayed the deal over a week. I don’t have time to go into the idiocy that has ensued…

On the flip side of the same project, we are getting our house appraised today and we are crossing our fingers for a good appraisal. Yesterday I mowed and killed all the dandelions and the cleaning ladies came this Tuesday so the house is clean and tidy. I did an extra clean yesterday because they are coming inside to do measurements etc. I wish I got all the patio stuff set up but I didn’t have time and I doubt it will matter much.

Tonight is my second to last stats class. We are turning in our paper and I think we will get a really good grade since we turned it in last week for ‘review’ and we fixed every thing he commented on. I asked how my homework grade is and he said that I’m getting an A on that so hopefully I’ll have two A’s, a B and then the final that provided I don’t bomb it I should get an A-. Tonight he says he is basically going over every question on the exam so I’m going to take good notes and just memorize what I need to know, he better be right about what is on the exam this time, he did not do too good a job on the midterm prep…

This weekend I am sewing tents on Sat and I’ve hired a friends two sons to help with general yard work. This should give me a good start on a nice yard for the party at the end of June. I really have to get invitations out for that, maybe Monday.

Ok, today we are doing a mentor day for all the kids in the program and I have to go help set up.