The background info...

I was going to wait and do one big blog about this, but I decided to do several smaller, suspense building posts instead. 
We have a plumbing issue and it's not a simple one.  The upstairs bathroom had a leak in the sewage line.  It wouldn't be a huge deal if the pipe was not running THROUGH OUR FIREPLACE!  Evidently, when the house was built, the plumbers did not want to do through an important structural beam, so they turned the plumbing and sent it down the cavity of the fireplace.  The leak we had caused water to seep out of the bricks inside AND outside.  The plumbers decided it would be much easier to reroute the plumbing AROUND the fireplace like it should have been done originally.  This means tearing up the ceiling and wall in the fireplace room. 
Of course it couldn't be that simple.  Since the pipes must now extend a little further before dropping down the wall, the other end of the plumbing must be raised to allow for enough of a slope for things to properly flow downward.  This meant tearing into the bathroom wall upstairs. 
Of course that would also be too simple.  The bathroom walls just happen to be tiled.  The tile (white with ugly gold speckles) wraps completely around the bathroom including the tub surround.  Once you start ripping out tile, there's really no place to stop, and of course you cannot find matching tile to patch the original hole because it's from the 60s.  Solution?  Bathroom remodel!!! 
You should know that I am 100% NOT a tile person.  I think it looks great in other people's homes, but I for one hate cleaning it and hate having little grooves everywhere for stuff to collect in.  So we were already planning on remodeling the bathroom (and the other 2 bathrooms that also have the same tile surround) someday, so we decided this was the best time.  After all, our home insurance is covering a great deal of the repairs, so we are mostly just paying for the upgrades.
While we're at it, we also decided to get a large doorway put in our wall that connects the 2 living rooms so that it is more open.  This means rearranging furniture and buying 2 new chairs to sit in the fireplace room.  The couch from that room is now in the office and Josh has a much more comfortable space to work in.  We had been thinking about doing this for a while also, but we had not planned on all this happening so soon.  We figured we might as well take advantage of already having the construction guys at our house.  So our first-time homebuyer credit has been reallocated to take care of all this fun stuff instead of other plans we had.  Oh well.  It will all worth it in the end and I know we'll be much happier. 
For now, our home is a disaster zone.  Demolition began a couple of weeks ago and hopefully all the upgrades will be complete by the end of this week. 
Stay tuned for before, during, and after pics!

Study buddies

Sometimes Josh likes to take the big cushion from our papasan chair and lay on the floor to work.  If the cushion is left unattended, Titus will gladly make himself at home and claim it as his own pillow.  Last night both happened.  There was just enough room for Titus to lay down and be Josh's study buddy.

Rolling along

Several weekends ago while Josh was at work I took Titus to Red Bud Park in Abilene.  Josh and I used to go to this park back when we were dating, and I wanted to see if things had changed much.  They have this great prairie dog area that is surrounded by a short wall and benches so you can sit and watch their activities.  Titus loves prairie dogs (and anything that moves) so I thought we should see if they were still there. 
When I got to the park, it was much bigger than I remembered.  I couldn't see the prairie dog area at first, so I just parked the car and Titus and I played ball for a while.  I'm not sure if my memory is really bad or if this is really new, but the park now has a nice paved walking trail around it that I don't remember being there before.  Titus and I walked around the path until we found the prairie dogs.  He thought they were fun for a while and then got bored, so we continued our walk.  We were running short on time so we took the shortcut back to the car. 
I've been trying to come up with more exercise options for me and Titus to do until it gets warm enough to swim at the local lakes.  It's hard for me to walk fast enough to really wear Titus out (and I get bored walking).  He loves when we go for bike rides and he gets to run alongside us, but it's hard for me to lift and reach high enough to load my bike on our car to take to town.  In WA we would go for bike rides everyday because we lived in this quiet little dirt road town that had lots of country roads to enjoy.  Now we live off of a 70 mph highway with no shoulder on the side.  If we hustle, we can safely make it to a county road, but it is still pretty busy unless we ride on Saturday mornings.  We still play ball or frisbee everyday at home, but we need something more interesting for the weekends.
Ok- back to the park and the new walking trail.  An idea hit me- maybe I should try rollerblading with Titus.  When I was growing up, rollerskating was the big thing.  The best birthday parties were the ones at the skating rink, and I would often get my parents to back the cars out of the garage so I could skate at home.  In high school, rollerblades became the big thing.  My parents bought me a pair, but I soon became busy with work and rarely used them.  I took them to college with me and only used them a couple of times.  Since then, they have been in the back of the closet.  Well, I whipped them out a few weeks ago and began to practice at home.  We have a nice little circle to skate on consisting of our driveway, front porch, and a sidewalk that connects the two.  Titus didn't know what to think so he just chased me around in circles trying to get in my way.  I didn't do too bad considering I haven't skated in about 10 years.  I didn't fall or run over Titus!  I certainly wasn't graceful or fast though either.  After practicing again last Saturday morning, I decided I could probably go public.
Titus and I took Josh to work and then headed off to the park.  I think it went pretty well!  Titus and I both got a lot of exercise.  I found muscles that haven't been used in ages and didn't fall once!  I even broke a sweat which is rare for me!  I decided that I'm glad TX is so flat because I didn't have to work too hard going up hills and I also didn't get going too fast going down hills.  You see, I'm not used to using the brakes yet.  I grew up braking with toe brakes not heel brakes.  I always feel like I'm going to fall backward if I try to stop on rollerblades.  I usually just run off into the grass to stop if I need to.  Well, TX is so flat that I can stop if I just stop moving my legs.  Unless of course I'm holding Titus on the leash.  I discovered that Titus would probably make a great sled dog.  Anytime I got tired or slowed down to pass people, Titus would just pull me along and keep going.  It was great and people got a good laugh at us! 
So even though video games are the new "cool" way to exercise, I'm going to go back to the 90s for a while and keep skating.  Maybe I'll be brave enough to skate around ACU's walking trail soon, but for now we'll stick to the south side of town where nobody knows us! 

Wheelbarrow campouts

We came home from church last night to our first power outage in this house.  I generally think blackouts are kind of fun, but then again, I've never had to deal with one for more than a few hours.  I'm sure I would think differently if it went on for days or weeks like some people deal with.  Anyway, my oh-so-smart husband bought a night light several months ago that automatically comes on when the power goes out and can be used as a flashlight.  So there's no shuffling around looking for a flashlight because it's the only light in the house that's on.  Great idea whoever came up with that one! 
We used the nightlight to find a couple of other flashlights.  I'm not a big fan of candles, but we lit the few that we had received as gifts.  Then we remembered our camping lanterns!  We were given a couple of really nice rechargeable lanterns a couple of years ago and we have some smaller ones too.  So we got into our camping boxes and found more light.  After calling the power company, gathering more blankets for the bed, and making sure that we had an alarm that would go off, I started getting ready for bed.  Then the heater came on- bummer, the blackout was over.  I turned on the lights, got ready for bed, blew out the candles, folded the extra blankets, and laid down for the night.  But I couldn't sleep...
Using our lanterns and digging through our camping boxes made me long for a good campout.  It won't be long until it's warm enough to camp around here, but we may not have much time for it until the summer.  Then my mind turned to backyard campouts.  I've always liked the idea, but we've always lived where neighbors could see us and that's just seems a little weird to me.  But now, oh my, we have a nice BIG yard where no one can see us!  Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?
My mind started thinking of all the great spots on our property where we could clear a tent pad and set up camp.  It has to be a spot where we can't see the house or the road.  Shouldn't be too hard.  We can grab our tent, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, lanterns and a book or game, put it all in a wheelbarrow and wheel off to our campsite!  I'm getting all excited just thinking about it!  Friends and family could join us if they wish, we could roast hotdogs and marshmallows, oh I could go on and on!  I laid awake for quite awhile last night thinking about all this.  I ran my wheelbarrow campout idea past Josh this morning and he was all for it too- of course he was, that's why I love him so!  We have been missing being outdoors and this will be the perfect solution until we have more time this summer.  Anyone want to join us?

My new favorite room

Let me start off this post by saying that I don't believe that I have any decorating style at all.  I pretty much just pick a color scheme for a room and try to make things match.  I remember the first time my parents visited our tiny little duplex in OK.  My Dad was sitting in the living room and he looked around and simply said, "It's comfortable."  I don't think I ever told him that this was one of the greatest compliments I have ever received.  Those words have stuck with me and have become my decorating goal.  I want our home to be comfortable- for us and our guests. 
Along those same lines, I have tried to keep our house pretty gender neutral.  It's not a bachelor pad or a frilly, girly house either.  I always feel bad for those husbands who live in homes that are so fancy and flowery that you would never even know a man lived there.  So even though Josh is a botanist, I try to keep flower fabrics to a minimum and make sure I run most decorating ideas past him first to make sure he's comfortable. 
Now, on to the reason for this post.  When Josh and I bought our 4-bedroom home we decided to designate the rooms as master bedroom, guest bedroom, office, and workout room.  Shortly after moving to TX we decided the workout room just wasn't practical for many reasons: laziness, lack of time, lack of equipment, and the fact that we have 10+ glorious acres to run around on if we so please.  So the question arose, "What do we do with room #4?"  We tossed around several ideas and finally settled on this:  the office could be Josh's man room and room #4 could be my craft room!  Oh how wonderful!  Josh now has his manly leather office chair, his gun cabinet and fishing poles in his map/globe decorated office.  It's not completely done yet, but we're getting there.
On to the craft room...  I had a whole room to decorate any way I pleased!  I could be as girly and flowery as I wanted!  I wanted something fun that would inspire me to be creative.  I decided to start by finding a great tablecloth for my 6ft table, and then I could accessorize to match the tablecloth.  After months of searching for the perfect- read: affordable- tablecloth, I decided to just find fabric I liked and make my own.  I've had my eye on a certain fabric at Hobby Lobby for other projects, and decided I loved it so much that it should be the theme for my room.  After all, it was on sale!  I bought the fabric a little over a week ago and I finished the transformation this last weekend.  I LOVE my new room!  Now remember, I am no decorator here, and I'm sure that I'm way more excited than anyone else will ever be, but bear with me and allow me to give you a little tour of my new creative space. 

View from the hall

Notice: pegboards are not just for the garage!  They are great for organizing craft supplies!  Also notice girly tablecloth and coordinating curtains.  The ribbon around the pegboard also matches- oh, it's so exciting!  My table is perfect for laying out patterns, cutting fabric and wrapping gifts.

Sewing area:  matching sewing machine cover and matching pin cushion on my spool rack.  The matching ribbon is also around the edge of the spool rack, you just can't see it from this angle.  Coincidence:  the plant even matches because it has pink edges along each leaf and we've had it for a couple months!  Too perfect!  The sewing table (and machine inside) belonged to my grandma (Mom's mom) and the sewing machine on top was Josh's grandma's (his Mom's mom).  I like having a piece of both of these women in my room.

My keyboard also lives here.  Some of you don't know that I took 9 years of piano lessons growing up.  Also notice the lion scratch-art on the wall.  My brother made this in high school.  I've always loved it but had nowhere to hang it until now.  The black and white don't exactly match the room, but they match the keyboard.  For those of you who have seen the room before, notice the football light switch is gone!  The little ivory box to the right of the lion is part of the intercom system that came with the house.  Every room has a little speaker and the main switchboard is in the kitchen- sometimes it even works!

Wall #4- ironing center.  I didn't have any other place in the house for the ironing board, so it lives here.  It's actually very convenient to have nearby the sewing machine.  I do way more ironing for crafts than I do for clothes anyway.  Also notice the rag quilt on the wall.  Our church in WA made this for us when we moved away.  Each family personalized a square.  This has been hanging on the wall for months now too, but wouldn't you know, the 2 shades of green actually match the fabric I chose!  Seriously, does it get any better?!?  I also have my stereo and small bookcase here.  Note, there is a closet to the right of this picture that is full of all kinds of fabric, wrapping paper, and other crafty things.  Love it!

Of course you wanted to see a close-up of the fabric, right?  So girly!

So that's my new craft room.  I love that this room reminds me of so many loved ones, and I look forward to spending time among their things as I create new things for other loved ones. 

Side note- our living room has been finished for about 6 weeks now, I have just neglected to post updated pics.  So here it is complete with curtains, pictures, plants, and tables.  Again, ignore the blue carpet.  Thanks for hanging with me for this long post!

 

 

Better-than-girl scout- cookies

Ok, some of you already know about these cookies, but I felt the need to share again since it's girl scout cookie time.  My favorite girl scout cookies (in order) are: tagalongs, samoas, trefoils, do-si-dos, and thin mints.  I haven't bought girl scout cookies in years because the prices are outrageous, but I have found a cookie that has topped my list and is available year-round and is much, much cheaper.  Keebler makes a cookie they call "Peanut Butter Filled."  I don't know about you, but I think this is a stupid name, not really even a name at all.  But they are soooo good.  They're like tagalongs, but the cookie is chocolate, so they're even better in my opinion.  That's why I have renamed them "better than girl scout cookies."  There's only 18 in a package, but they are much cheaper than girl scout cookies, especially if you find them on sale.  The catch is that they might be hard to find in your city.  In WA, I could regularly find them for $1.68-$2 a package.  I haven't been able to find them in Abilene yet, but I haven't checked everywhere.  I did notice that Walmart has a version of this cookie, but I haven't tried it yet.  Why?  Because my Mom gave me 15 packages of these little beauties for Christmas!  mmmmm  Try them frozen too- even better!

Rain, rain, rain

The man that first owned our home was HUGE into water features.  He dug a 1/2 acre pond in front of the house and filled it with water and fish.  To make it a more permanent feature, he put concrete all around the sides.  He installed a ladder in one of the concrete sides so that you could easily climb out after swimming.  He even added an island, complete with trees, a picnic table, and a little bridge so you can access it from shore.  We have 3 wells on our property, 2 are dried up and 1 still has water.  We assume he dried up these wells keeping that huge pond full all the time.  I can imagine many happy summers spent in this front yard lake with all of his kids.  I can imagine his wife looking out the front windows and hearing her children squeal with delight as they play.  Sadly, his wife passed away and he later remarried and moved out of this house.  (He built wife #2 a house that is built into a hillside so that all you see is the front of the house.  Then he built a moat, yes a moat, around the front yard of that house.  Like I said, he was HUGE into water features.)  Anyway, recent owners of this house (including ourselves) have decided not to spend enormous amounts of money to keep this pond full of water.  So it sits as a big hole in the ground that has become overgrown with plants.
Well, in the last 2 weeks we have received quite a bit of rain, and now we have ourselves a small pond in this enormous hole.  We've had thoughts of making a smaller pond someday, but we're still a little undecided.  For now I'm enjoying our tiny pond while it lasts, and I'm thankful it's not mosquito season!

Adam, Josh and Titus in the empty pond at Christmas

 

Adam, Josh and Titus on the island

Our little pond (you can see the bridge and island in the top right corner)

And just when you thought this post was not about Titus...

Here's a video of him destroying some air pillows I brought home from work last night.  This dog cracks me up!  He only left 1 pocket unpopped- not bad for 45 seconds!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbrokaw/4331996163/