I would think that, for a toddler, learning to express yourself-- learning to talk-- must be very empowering. Finally! You can make people understand you! You can make all your wants and wishes known (is that a line from a song?). You can tell stories. You can communicate! That's got to feel good, right?
Well, Bentley has taken this love of power a little too far. Apparently he thinks that now that he can talk, everyone should do his bidding. Obviously, I've made it clear that I am immune to commands (or that he at least had better try saying "Please" first). And when he tells Kendra not to cry it rarely works. But he's tried to order around a few things that would never even have occurred to me.
At the Cheesescake Factory last week, he began yelling, "Stop, macaroni and cheese! Don't be hot!" (The mac'n'cheese didn't listen. I finally had to take the bowl away because he was getting so frustrated.)
And outside last week, I watched him put up his hands defiantly and yell, "No! Don't be windy!" That one didn't work, either.
Points for trying?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Early Morning Shopping Spree
I am having a love affair with Old Navy flipflops. One of my friends mentioned that today (Saturday of Memorial Day weekend) they would be on sale for $1 each. I already thought they were a good price at $5 a pair, but this was nearly too good to be true! I'd been meaning to buy myself a pair ever since the weather warmed up, but with the sale, I finally had the motivation I needed.
I called yesterday to ask what time the store opened. The woman asked if I was coming for the flipflops, and when I told her I was, she said, "We open at 8:00am, and I would get here right on time if I were you. You're about the 100th person today who's called and asked!"
Since my kids are usually up by 7:00 these days, I figured that shouldn't be too hard to do. As it was, Kendra woke up early and Bentley slept late, so I left him at home with Craig and Kendra and I went out to buy us some shoes! I felt so feminine! Anyway, we got there a few minutes early and I put Kendra in her stroller and went to wait in line (I was proud of myself for thinking ahead on that one-- normally I would just use the store's strollers, but I realized that I didn't want to have to hold her the entire time I waited outside). Not being someone who really enjoys shopping, this isn't something I think I've ever done before-- waiting for a store to open, that is. I avoid Black Friday like the plague, to be perfectly honest. But really cheap flipflops... That's another story! By the time they opened the doors, there were at least 30 people (including some men) standing around waiting. The stroller forced me to be sort of obnoxious and push my way in, because otherwise everyone would have just gone around me. (I hope I didn't hit too anyone's heals!) And it turned out that they had plenty of selection and it was really easy to pick out the colors I wanted in the right size.
So I got white, green, bright yellow, hot pink, and fuschia flipflops. How fun is that? Fortunately for me, you were only allowed to buy five pairs. Who knows how many I might have bought otherwise? (Although there's also a chance that if there hadn't been that limit I may have bought less-- something about knowing you can get only one more pair makes you more likely to just buy it, huh? I mean, it's only a dollar, right...?)
I was home by 8:10. And happy.
I called yesterday to ask what time the store opened. The woman asked if I was coming for the flipflops, and when I told her I was, she said, "We open at 8:00am, and I would get here right on time if I were you. You're about the 100th person today who's called and asked!"
Since my kids are usually up by 7:00 these days, I figured that shouldn't be too hard to do. As it was, Kendra woke up early and Bentley slept late, so I left him at home with Craig and Kendra and I went out to buy us some shoes! I felt so feminine! Anyway, we got there a few minutes early and I put Kendra in her stroller and went to wait in line (I was proud of myself for thinking ahead on that one-- normally I would just use the store's strollers, but I realized that I didn't want to have to hold her the entire time I waited outside). Not being someone who really enjoys shopping, this isn't something I think I've ever done before-- waiting for a store to open, that is. I avoid Black Friday like the plague, to be perfectly honest. But really cheap flipflops... That's another story! By the time they opened the doors, there were at least 30 people (including some men) standing around waiting. The stroller forced me to be sort of obnoxious and push my way in, because otherwise everyone would have just gone around me. (I hope I didn't hit too anyone's heals!) And it turned out that they had plenty of selection and it was really easy to pick out the colors I wanted in the right size.
So I got white, green, bright yellow, hot pink, and fuschia flipflops. How fun is that? Fortunately for me, you were only allowed to buy five pairs. Who knows how many I might have bought otherwise? (Although there's also a chance that if there hadn't been that limit I may have bought less-- something about knowing you can get only one more pair makes you more likely to just buy it, huh? I mean, it's only a dollar, right...?)
I was home by 8:10. And happy.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Graduation
Saturday was Craig's graduation! Okay, okay, so technically he won't be finished until July 3rd, but he got to walk on Saturday, which was still very exciting! (And I am more than confident that he will finish just beautifully, so I'm okay with celebrating early!)
Let's just move on to the pictures right away, shall we? (And I actually recommend clicking on the picture so you can really see him in it, because yes, he's there!)
Here are the graduates, filing into the Patriot Center of George Mason University
Craig walks up to receive his diploma
(I like how he's in focus and everyone else is blurred. I wish I could claim that I did that on purpose, but I'm afraid it was an unfortunate accident-- I think I've forgotten everything from high school photography!)
Craig notices me taking pictures in the stands and smiles for me
The Graduate! (But not like in the Dustin Hoffman movie...!)
Okay, so this isn't a great picture of most of us, but I did want to show off Kendra's really cute dress. Thanks Uncle Bob and Aunt Lorraine for that one!
Very proud parents. (And, by the way, I wouldn't have survived without their help! Trying to keep two little kids happy in a place like that is work!)
I only look a little frazzled here. Mostly I was just so proud of Craig. I can hardly believe how much he's managed to accomplish since we moved here!
Let's just move on to the pictures right away, shall we? (And I actually recommend clicking on the picture so you can really see him in it, because yes, he's there!)
Here are the graduates, filing into the Patriot Center of George Mason University
Craig walks up to receive his diploma(I like how he's in focus and everyone else is blurred. I wish I could claim that I did that on purpose, but I'm afraid it was an unfortunate accident-- I think I've forgotten everything from high school photography!)
Craig notices me taking pictures in the stands and smiles for me
The Graduate! (But not like in the Dustin Hoffman movie...!)
Okay, so this isn't a great picture of most of us, but I did want to show off Kendra's really cute dress. Thanks Uncle Bob and Aunt Lorraine for that one!
Very proud parents. (And, by the way, I wouldn't have survived without their help! Trying to keep two little kids happy in a place like that is work!)
I only look a little frazzled here. Mostly I was just so proud of Craig. I can hardly believe how much he's managed to accomplish since we moved here!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Simple Pleasure
This morning as I was brushing my teeth, I realized that Bentley and Kendra were both making humming noises as they brushed their teeth alongside me. They were trying to sound like my electric toothbrush. It pleased me no end.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Confession
We've started doing the kids' baths at the same time, and I discovered that if I tell Kendra to show Bentley how brave she is, she handles the "pour water over her head to wash out the shampoo" part of the bath without crying or even sputtering in shock and anger. I feel a little guilty about this blatant manipulation of my daughter. But not guilty enough to stop doing it.
Nephi in Translation
I feel bad for even admitting this, but Nephi has never been one of my favorite Book of Mormon prophets. Something about the way he writes tends to rub me the wrong way. So it's been interesting as I've been reading him again this last month, but in Japanese. Before you even think about being impressed with this, I should explain that my Japanese is all but non-existent these days. I haven't had much chance to speak it in the last few years, and consequently I've forgotten most of it. I realized recently what a sad waste that was, and so I decided to try reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese in the hopes that it would jog my foreign language memory a bit. Basically, I read a verse in English, and then I read it out loud in Japanese. This is only possible because the Japanese BofM has all the phonetic pronunciations next to the Chinese characters. If I didn't have those to help me out, I would probably never even try doing this in the first place. As it is, it's mostly a lot of sounds with a few words that I actually know thrown in the middle-- faith! Plan of Salvation! Holy Ghost!-- words that only a missionary would know (and words that I'd sometimes forgotten, but am relieved when I recognize).
Anyway, it's very slow going, to say the least. And now that I'm in the Isaiah chapters I'm getting even less out of my reading than before.
But. Reading in Japanese has helped me appreciate Nephi a little more, so here's the story.
It's interesting because the translation is very direct, and this can be problematic with the cultural differences between Japan and America. The most obvious example is just the fact that Nephi is always beginning his sentences with, "I, Nephi..." And here's where it gets tricky because in Japanese, it's considered very rude to use the word "I." It's self-centered to talk about yourself so much, so in most sentences, Japanese people will just leave out the "I" and assume you know who they're talking about. So when Nephi keeps saying, "Watashi Nifai wa..." I keep wondering if this seems as rude to the Japanese people reading the Book of Mormon as it seems to me. And I wonder if that could have been translated better (less directly) so that it wouldn't seem quite so self-centered. And then, when Nephi mentions that he is "large in stature," I just about die. You NEVER brag about yourself in Japan!
So this was on my mind as I read the other day, when I came across 1 Nephi 17:19, "And now it came to pass that I, Nephi, was exceedingly sorrowful because of the hardness of their hearts; and now when they saw that I began to be sorrowful they were glad in their hearts, insomuch that they did rejoice over me, saying: We knew that ye could not construct a ship, for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment; wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work."
The word used in Japanese for sorrowful was "kanashii" which for whatever reason struck me as being much sadder than the English "sorrowful." And the Japanese word for "rejoice" was the verb form of the word "yorokobi" which means "joy," which, again, seemed much happier than I'd given it credit for in English. Such strong emotions between Nephi and his brothers surprised me. I mean, what sort of brothers tease their little brother until he is truly depressed-- kanashii-- and then, seeing the affect they've had on him, have joy? We all know that Laman and Lemuel are punks, but this somehow made it feel so much more personal to me. I realized just how sad it made Nephi that he could never manage to get through to them.
And this, of course, got me thinking some more. I think we can agree that prophets very rarely have easy lives. The scriptures are full of prophets being ignored, rejected, ridiculed, and/or killed. It seems that only the very lucky prophets manage to actually convert people and bring them to repentance. And Nephi fits in with this generalization pretty well.
But there's one way in which Nephi is very different from other prophets, and that's who his audience was. Most prophets preach to huge groups of people, many of whom are probably strangers. But Nephi only ever preached to his family-- his brothers and sisters and their spouses and children. And still he was rejected by more than half of them! That had to have been a lot more personal, and therefore hurt a lot more, than being rejected by strangers. It would certainly hurt my feelings a lot more if my own sisters were slamming their doors in my face than it did when the Japanese people did it.
Anyway, it occurred to me that Nephi had a much more difficult time of things than I probably have been giving him credit for. And if he feels the need to mention how strong he is or to talk about himself a bit much, maybe I can cut him some slack because he had a truly difficult mission in life.
Insights from reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese.
Anyway, it's very slow going, to say the least. And now that I'm in the Isaiah chapters I'm getting even less out of my reading than before.
But. Reading in Japanese has helped me appreciate Nephi a little more, so here's the story.
It's interesting because the translation is very direct, and this can be problematic with the cultural differences between Japan and America. The most obvious example is just the fact that Nephi is always beginning his sentences with, "I, Nephi..." And here's where it gets tricky because in Japanese, it's considered very rude to use the word "I." It's self-centered to talk about yourself so much, so in most sentences, Japanese people will just leave out the "I" and assume you know who they're talking about. So when Nephi keeps saying, "Watashi Nifai wa..." I keep wondering if this seems as rude to the Japanese people reading the Book of Mormon as it seems to me. And I wonder if that could have been translated better (less directly) so that it wouldn't seem quite so self-centered. And then, when Nephi mentions that he is "large in stature," I just about die. You NEVER brag about yourself in Japan!
So this was on my mind as I read the other day, when I came across 1 Nephi 17:19, "And now it came to pass that I, Nephi, was exceedingly sorrowful because of the hardness of their hearts; and now when they saw that I began to be sorrowful they were glad in their hearts, insomuch that they did rejoice over me, saying: We knew that ye could not construct a ship, for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment; wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work."
The word used in Japanese for sorrowful was "kanashii" which for whatever reason struck me as being much sadder than the English "sorrowful." And the Japanese word for "rejoice" was the verb form of the word "yorokobi" which means "joy," which, again, seemed much happier than I'd given it credit for in English. Such strong emotions between Nephi and his brothers surprised me. I mean, what sort of brothers tease their little brother until he is truly depressed-- kanashii-- and then, seeing the affect they've had on him, have joy? We all know that Laman and Lemuel are punks, but this somehow made it feel so much more personal to me. I realized just how sad it made Nephi that he could never manage to get through to them.
And this, of course, got me thinking some more. I think we can agree that prophets very rarely have easy lives. The scriptures are full of prophets being ignored, rejected, ridiculed, and/or killed. It seems that only the very lucky prophets manage to actually convert people and bring them to repentance. And Nephi fits in with this generalization pretty well.
But there's one way in which Nephi is very different from other prophets, and that's who his audience was. Most prophets preach to huge groups of people, many of whom are probably strangers. But Nephi only ever preached to his family-- his brothers and sisters and their spouses and children. And still he was rejected by more than half of them! That had to have been a lot more personal, and therefore hurt a lot more, than being rejected by strangers. It would certainly hurt my feelings a lot more if my own sisters were slamming their doors in my face than it did when the Japanese people did it.
Anyway, it occurred to me that Nephi had a much more difficult time of things than I probably have been giving him credit for. And if he feels the need to mention how strong he is or to talk about himself a bit much, maybe I can cut him some slack because he had a truly difficult mission in life.
Insights from reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Criticism and Concern
Since getting our piano, Bentley has been very concerned about the men who helped move it in. He wants them all to come back and hang out with us. This led to a very suspicious-sounding conversation, as he recently asked me, "Where's the guys?" Craig gave me one of those eyebrows-raised looks that effectively said, "Busted!" Trying not to appear guilty, I asked Bentley which guys he meant, and he answered, "The Piano Guys." Phew!
Anyway, yesterday during breakfast, we had this conversation again (the joys of being two and having Alzheimer's-- repeated conversations), but this time it took a slightly different turn. It went something like this:
Bentley: Where's the piano guys?
Me: Hmm... I guess they're at work
Bentley: Like Daddy!
Me: That's right, Daddy's at work, too.
Bentley: And Mommy, too!
Me: Yup, I'm working, too. My job is to feed Kendra and keep you guys happy.
Bentley: And keep Daddy happy, too.
Me: Yeah, I guess I keep Daddy happy, too, huh?
Bentley: Sometimes.
Ouch! Apparently I need to do better in the Wife Department of my life. Didn't think it would take my two-year-old to tell me, though!
Anyway, yesterday during breakfast, we had this conversation again (the joys of being two and having Alzheimer's-- repeated conversations), but this time it took a slightly different turn. It went something like this:
Bentley: Where's the piano guys?
Me: Hmm... I guess they're at work
Bentley: Like Daddy!
Me: That's right, Daddy's at work, too.
Bentley: And Mommy, too!
Me: Yup, I'm working, too. My job is to feed Kendra and keep you guys happy.
Bentley: And keep Daddy happy, too.
Me: Yeah, I guess I keep Daddy happy, too, huh?
Bentley: Sometimes.
Ouch! Apparently I need to do better in the Wife Department of my life. Didn't think it would take my two-year-old to tell me, though!
A Great Idea
My friend Mary said something the other day which I find incredibly wise. She said something to the effect of, "Sometimes I wish we took videos of everyone running around trying to get ready in the morning before church. Because all we ever see are these perfect little families sitting in the pews as if they were made that way. No one ever sees the frantic-ness that goes on to make that happen!"
This statement came right after I'd been telling her about getting dressed for church and discovering that chapstick had been left in a pants pocket and run through the wash, resulting in a dime-sized grease stain in about THE worst place possible on the shirt I was going to wear. (I'll leave that one to your imagination. Trust me, it was bad.) That coupled with getting a bad night's sleep had left me in a foul mood all morning, so, of course, the best remedy was to whine to my friends.
Since then (and also since I managed to get the stain out-- let me just sing the praises of Shout's advanced stain formula!!!), I've decided that there was even more depth to Mary's idea than I at first thought. As I get to know people better, it often amazes me to realize that we all have trials that we're dealing with, 95% of which are not apparent on the surface. It's too easy to assume that we're the only ones who occasionally wake up tired and cranky and while we are desperately trying to look our best for everyone else, we feel like inside we're still frantic and our shirts have embarrassing chapstick stains on them. (Or something like that.)
Anyway, it made more sense when I was thinking about it late last night. Hopefully you're at least getting the idea.
This statement came right after I'd been telling her about getting dressed for church and discovering that chapstick had been left in a pants pocket and run through the wash, resulting in a dime-sized grease stain in about THE worst place possible on the shirt I was going to wear. (I'll leave that one to your imagination. Trust me, it was bad.) That coupled with getting a bad night's sleep had left me in a foul mood all morning, so, of course, the best remedy was to whine to my friends.
Since then (and also since I managed to get the stain out-- let me just sing the praises of Shout's advanced stain formula!!!), I've decided that there was even more depth to Mary's idea than I at first thought. As I get to know people better, it often amazes me to realize that we all have trials that we're dealing with, 95% of which are not apparent on the surface. It's too easy to assume that we're the only ones who occasionally wake up tired and cranky and while we are desperately trying to look our best for everyone else, we feel like inside we're still frantic and our shirts have embarrassing chapstick stains on them. (Or something like that.)
Anyway, it made more sense when I was thinking about it late last night. Hopefully you're at least getting the idea.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Bad Sign...
It's never a good thing when you've completely run out of tupperware. And it's even worse when you realize that's because it's all in the refrigerator, holding food which is now too old to be eaten. Gross!
(I guess after my last post I should explain-- the ants can't get inside the fridge, so it's not something I clean as regularly as I should. Oops. The good news is that the garbage men hadn't come by when I noticed this problem, so it's all cleaned out and miles away from me now!)
(I guess after my last post I should explain-- the ants can't get inside the fridge, so it's not something I clean as regularly as I should. Oops. The good news is that the garbage men hadn't come by when I noticed this problem, so it's all cleaned out and miles away from me now!)
Motivation
I finally realized the main reason why I clean my kitchen.
I probably do dishes at least twice a day, and I try very hard to keep the counters clear of crumbs. And certainly a big reason for this is because it's just plain nice having a clean kitchen!
But after the kids are in bed, I have to get everything spotless. Dishes washed, table and high chairs scrubbed down, floor vacuumed. The works. (And when I say "I," I really mean "we." Craig always pitches right in so we get the job done fairly quickly.) I remember my mission president's wife explaining that it was much more restful going to bed with a clean house, and I wholeheartedly believe this.
But the real reason I try to keep things so clean is because I'm afraid of ants. There is no greater siren song to ants than crumbs left all over your counter or food sitting on the table. Trust me, I lived in Africa. I know about ants. Any food left out would be covered in ants within the hour. I live in fear of the day that I will come downstairs in the morning and discover a kitchen turned black with ants. (Really, I've had nightmares.)
So I clean. And so far it hasn't happened. We did get some ants in the bay window of our apartment shortly before I moved, but there was no food there, just a lot of paint chips that the ants were convinced must be hiding food. But even then, I had to not look at the bay window or else I would lose my appetite. I was so relieved once I had finally cleaned it out and sprayed Raid all over it... The only other incident that even comes close to this nightmare of mine was the time I left brownies in my backpack while I was in California. That was a big mistake! After emptying the backpack of all food items, I just left it outside by the garbage cans for a week, hoping the ants would realize the food was gone. (Fortunately for me, my aunt didn't get mad that I'd gotten ants on her bed while my backpack was resting there-- she assured me that ants in Southern California were pretty much a way of life. Poor Californians!) And I'm sure I have many stories involving the ants in Africa, but none of them are coming to mind right now. Perhaps I've blocked them out? You're probably happier not hearing them, anyway, so I won't try to remember.
Anyway, that's my weird paranoia. Or at least one of them. What's yours?
I probably do dishes at least twice a day, and I try very hard to keep the counters clear of crumbs. And certainly a big reason for this is because it's just plain nice having a clean kitchen!
But after the kids are in bed, I have to get everything spotless. Dishes washed, table and high chairs scrubbed down, floor vacuumed. The works. (And when I say "I," I really mean "we." Craig always pitches right in so we get the job done fairly quickly.) I remember my mission president's wife explaining that it was much more restful going to bed with a clean house, and I wholeheartedly believe this.
But the real reason I try to keep things so clean is because I'm afraid of ants. There is no greater siren song to ants than crumbs left all over your counter or food sitting on the table. Trust me, I lived in Africa. I know about ants. Any food left out would be covered in ants within the hour. I live in fear of the day that I will come downstairs in the morning and discover a kitchen turned black with ants. (Really, I've had nightmares.)
So I clean. And so far it hasn't happened. We did get some ants in the bay window of our apartment shortly before I moved, but there was no food there, just a lot of paint chips that the ants were convinced must be hiding food. But even then, I had to not look at the bay window or else I would lose my appetite. I was so relieved once I had finally cleaned it out and sprayed Raid all over it... The only other incident that even comes close to this nightmare of mine was the time I left brownies in my backpack while I was in California. That was a big mistake! After emptying the backpack of all food items, I just left it outside by the garbage cans for a week, hoping the ants would realize the food was gone. (Fortunately for me, my aunt didn't get mad that I'd gotten ants on her bed while my backpack was resting there-- she assured me that ants in Southern California were pretty much a way of life. Poor Californians!) And I'm sure I have many stories involving the ants in Africa, but none of them are coming to mind right now. Perhaps I've blocked them out? You're probably happier not hearing them, anyway, so I won't try to remember.
Anyway, that's my weird paranoia. Or at least one of them. What's yours?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Projects
There's been a lot of stuff going on here these last few days, which is why I haven't been writing much. But it's time I started telling you about it!
The oldest thing is probably that we finished working on our downstairs bathroom (for now). It's still a very small and claustrophobic little bathroom, but at least it is no longer scary and dirty and claustrophobic! Now it feels very clean and functional. I'll put up the before and after pictures to prove my point...
So this is the original ugliness:
Why, why, why in a bathroom this small would you use such busy wallpaper? It's just awful! And it looks like a Subway restaurant. I like Subway, but it's not how I want my bathroom to look...
(It's hard to see, but trust me, that shower was disgusting. But nice of them to leave their shampoo and soap behind for us, don't you think?)
Anyway, Craig ripped out the wallpaper, replaced the toilet with a slightly smaller one, replaced the broken tile in the shower, cleaned the shower like crazy, and painted the bathroom white. I helped with the painting a little, when the kids were napping, and also cleaned the sink and the inside of the medicine cabinet (which was really gross-- why would there be little tiny hairs inside a medicine cabinet? Was someone trimming their mustache inside it??? Ew, ew, ew!). And then Craig put up new towel racks and stuff like that.
So here it is now:
Oops-- forgot to use the flash for this picture... It isn't really this yellow.
Whew! Doesn't that just feel better somehow?
Anyway, so that's one project done. For now. Some day we need to bump out one of the walls, and possibly move the toilet closer to the wall, but that requires a whole lot more work than what we wanted to bother with right now. We just wanted it functional.
The other project was a bit unexpected: our oven died on Saturday, so we suddenly had a rather more urgent project to take on. (Thank goodness for my crockpot, since we were having company on Sunday!!!) But Craig was able to find a new oven on Craig's List (gotta love it) for less than half the price of what one would have cost at Home Depot or Lowe's. We picked it up yesterday (which, thanks to DC traffic took three hours, but that's a different story), and then after the kids were in bed, Craig installed it. I did help hold it up while Craig was connecting all the wiring, but it was pretty much his show. And I think the entire operation of taking out the old unit, carrying the new one into the house, and installing it took less than twenty minutes.
Who does that? I would have had to hire someone!
Anyway, I was impressed with Craig. And it's nice having a new oven, even if it is just as small as the previous one (that's the problem with wall units-- you can't sporadically change sizes, it turns out!). If you'd seen what the previous owners had done to the oven, you'd be glad, too. When my mother-in-law cleaned it out, she found old chicken bones inside it! And I'm not even going to tell you what was climbing around inside the control panel. (Shudder.) That's probably why it stopped working, though...!
But no more! We have a lovely new oven, and I made bread in it just now, so it works wonderfully!
So check those two projects off the list.
The oldest thing is probably that we finished working on our downstairs bathroom (for now). It's still a very small and claustrophobic little bathroom, but at least it is no longer scary and dirty and claustrophobic! Now it feels very clean and functional. I'll put up the before and after pictures to prove my point...
So this is the original ugliness:
Why, why, why in a bathroom this small would you use such busy wallpaper? It's just awful! And it looks like a Subway restaurant. I like Subway, but it's not how I want my bathroom to look...
(It's hard to see, but trust me, that shower was disgusting. But nice of them to leave their shampoo and soap behind for us, don't you think?)Anyway, Craig ripped out the wallpaper, replaced the toilet with a slightly smaller one, replaced the broken tile in the shower, cleaned the shower like crazy, and painted the bathroom white. I helped with the painting a little, when the kids were napping, and also cleaned the sink and the inside of the medicine cabinet (which was really gross-- why would there be little tiny hairs inside a medicine cabinet? Was someone trimming their mustache inside it??? Ew, ew, ew!). And then Craig put up new towel racks and stuff like that.
So here it is now:
Oops-- forgot to use the flash for this picture... It isn't really this yellow.
Whew! Doesn't that just feel better somehow?
Anyway, so that's one project done. For now. Some day we need to bump out one of the walls, and possibly move the toilet closer to the wall, but that requires a whole lot more work than what we wanted to bother with right now. We just wanted it functional.
The other project was a bit unexpected: our oven died on Saturday, so we suddenly had a rather more urgent project to take on. (Thank goodness for my crockpot, since we were having company on Sunday!!!) But Craig was able to find a new oven on Craig's List (gotta love it) for less than half the price of what one would have cost at Home Depot or Lowe's. We picked it up yesterday (which, thanks to DC traffic took three hours, but that's a different story), and then after the kids were in bed, Craig installed it. I did help hold it up while Craig was connecting all the wiring, but it was pretty much his show. And I think the entire operation of taking out the old unit, carrying the new one into the house, and installing it took less than twenty minutes.
Who does that? I would have had to hire someone!
Anyway, I was impressed with Craig. And it's nice having a new oven, even if it is just as small as the previous one (that's the problem with wall units-- you can't sporadically change sizes, it turns out!). If you'd seen what the previous owners had done to the oven, you'd be glad, too. When my mother-in-law cleaned it out, she found old chicken bones inside it! And I'm not even going to tell you what was climbing around inside the control panel. (Shudder.) That's probably why it stopped working, though...!
But no more! We have a lovely new oven, and I made bread in it just now, so it works wonderfully!
So check those two projects off the list.
Monday, May 4, 2009
FreeCycle Miracle
So, we have a new addition to our family. And this is it:
Isn't she beautiful?
Okay, if I'm going to be completely honest with you, I should admit that there are some scratch marks that you can't really see in this lighting, and it's way out of tune. But considering the fact that this piano was free, I think it was still a good deal. Right?
Anyway, the story here actually begins a couple weeks ago when I was hanging out with several of my friends. They were talking about how someone was giving away a piano on freecycle, this community board that they subscribe to. I'd heard about freecycle, but it mostly sounded like people trying to get rid of their junk, so I hadn't bothered joining yet. But when I heard that they were occasionally giving away free pianos, I decided maybe it was worth investigating. My friends, for the record, didn't want the piano for various reasons-- not nice enough, not enough space in their apartments, etc.
So the next week (last week) I actually got around to signing up for freecycle. The local version is run by a woman in the ward, so that was easy to do. And (I kid you not) the very next day, someone posted that they had a piano to give away. I was in hysterics I was so excited. I emailed him right away and asked if I could come see it and then I told Craig that maybe we were going to get a piano.
Now this is where things suddenly got weird. Because Craig was totally apprehensive about taking it! He pointed out that it was probably in pretty bad shape, and it would be really hard to move, and since when did I want a piano, anyway??? I told him that I had to at least look at it, that it couldn't be that hard to move because people did it all the time, and of course I wanted a piano. I may not play much, but I love to sing, and it really helps if you have a piano to plunk out the tunes and make sure you're doing it right. And hello-- you NEED a piano for warming up!
Craig wasn't convinced. I think he thought this was an Impulse Buy, which, according to Craig, is always wrong. (Although if it's free, does it still count as an impulse buy?) I finally had to explain that I'd always wanted a piano, but didn't see much point in talking or even thinking about it, because they were so expensive. When would we ever get around to buying one? But every house should have one. Sort of like a computer. When I told my Dad this theory, he laughed out loud and told me that I didn't get this notion from him. Yes, we have my Mom to thank for that one. (Thanks, Mom. Really.)
But all of this arguing didn't really matter, because I waited all day and never heard back from the guy. I figured someone else had already gotten it.
Fortunately, I checked my email one last time before going to bed. They still had it. They said I could come and look at it. Tomorrow.
I was too excited to sleep that night.
The next day I went to see the piano, and it was beautiful. Not perfect, no, but still beautiful. And then my mind was made up.
Craig said I had to do all the work, so I did. I called people and got lots of men from the ward to help out. I reserved a van from U-Haul and even drove it to Haymarket (I did let Craig drive it back). And I watched and smiled a whole lot while the men struggled and heaved to get the piano from there to here.
And now it's done and I couldn't be happier about it. And Craig has already been playing the piano, and I think he's pretty darn pleased with the whole thing, too, even though he won't quite admit it. (I was right! I was right! I was right!)
Sometimes my life goes so well for me. Free piano, who would have ever guessed?
Isn't she beautiful?
Okay, if I'm going to be completely honest with you, I should admit that there are some scratch marks that you can't really see in this lighting, and it's way out of tune. But considering the fact that this piano was free, I think it was still a good deal. Right?
Anyway, the story here actually begins a couple weeks ago when I was hanging out with several of my friends. They were talking about how someone was giving away a piano on freecycle, this community board that they subscribe to. I'd heard about freecycle, but it mostly sounded like people trying to get rid of their junk, so I hadn't bothered joining yet. But when I heard that they were occasionally giving away free pianos, I decided maybe it was worth investigating. My friends, for the record, didn't want the piano for various reasons-- not nice enough, not enough space in their apartments, etc.
So the next week (last week) I actually got around to signing up for freecycle. The local version is run by a woman in the ward, so that was easy to do. And (I kid you not) the very next day, someone posted that they had a piano to give away. I was in hysterics I was so excited. I emailed him right away and asked if I could come see it and then I told Craig that maybe we were going to get a piano.
Now this is where things suddenly got weird. Because Craig was totally apprehensive about taking it! He pointed out that it was probably in pretty bad shape, and it would be really hard to move, and since when did I want a piano, anyway??? I told him that I had to at least look at it, that it couldn't be that hard to move because people did it all the time, and of course I wanted a piano. I may not play much, but I love to sing, and it really helps if you have a piano to plunk out the tunes and make sure you're doing it right. And hello-- you NEED a piano for warming up!
Craig wasn't convinced. I think he thought this was an Impulse Buy, which, according to Craig, is always wrong. (Although if it's free, does it still count as an impulse buy?) I finally had to explain that I'd always wanted a piano, but didn't see much point in talking or even thinking about it, because they were so expensive. When would we ever get around to buying one? But every house should have one. Sort of like a computer. When I told my Dad this theory, he laughed out loud and told me that I didn't get this notion from him. Yes, we have my Mom to thank for that one. (Thanks, Mom. Really.)
But all of this arguing didn't really matter, because I waited all day and never heard back from the guy. I figured someone else had already gotten it.
Fortunately, I checked my email one last time before going to bed. They still had it. They said I could come and look at it. Tomorrow.
I was too excited to sleep that night.
The next day I went to see the piano, and it was beautiful. Not perfect, no, but still beautiful. And then my mind was made up.
Craig said I had to do all the work, so I did. I called people and got lots of men from the ward to help out. I reserved a van from U-Haul and even drove it to Haymarket (I did let Craig drive it back). And I watched and smiled a whole lot while the men struggled and heaved to get the piano from there to here.
And now it's done and I couldn't be happier about it. And Craig has already been playing the piano, and I think he's pretty darn pleased with the whole thing, too, even though he won't quite admit it. (I was right! I was right! I was right!)
Sometimes my life goes so well for me. Free piano, who would have ever guessed?
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