Sunday, August 19, 2007

I'm still here!

Well she loved it! My M-I-L got here Thursday night and we were so excited to show her! She went to open the door to her room and looked up and said "Ah! You put up a new door!" When she walked in, she nearly flipped! Couldn't believe we had done all that work- especially ourselves. She can't wait for us to come and tile HER house now... HAHAHA! Kate agrees it is like a Japanese Zen Garden room with the green and how relaxed she feels in there now. So cool!
Nothing however will top yesterday. We left home around 11:30 to get to KC for the 2pm SPAMALOT performance. It was amazing!!! Honestly I can't remember laughing so hard in my life! Joe and I are SOOOOOO glad we did that. Cost quite a bit, but realllly worth it! We bought t-shirts for ourselves- mine says "I'm not dead yet" and his has the shields of King Arthur's knights. I had so much fun!
Then we had to rush home, change, and get to our fantasy football draft. That was great too- beer, football, BS-ing with the guys we pretty much only see once a year! And of course, since my team was awful last year I got to bring the "Good Grief!" Award home (where it doesn't belong!). Joe made it a few years ago- it's Charlie Brown and Lucy in the classic pulling-the-football-away pose. We have had it two of the three years it's been around! Hopefully next fall one of us will have the winner's helmet instead...
So Kate spent the day alone with Sam yesterday and came to a 'diagnosis' of his problems. She says he has chronic motor tic disorder related to OCD-type stuff and says a good treatment for it is B vitamins and spirulina. Let's hope that helps. She also said a big part of it is oppositionality and defiance towards the child's parents. Well that sounds right-on! We're hoping the vitamins and behavior modification will help. He's even been making the humming noises at school, so it's GOT to stop. She did say they usually 'outgrow' this by age 10 or so. God I hope so.
Off to make fondue...

Sunday, August 12, 2007

It's DONE!!!!!!!!!

We did it!!! The room is done, all we have to do is put the new door back on when the sealer dries. Joe is building a 'box' to cover up the drain from the dishwasher and that's all that's needing to be done now. Well, that and decorating...
Let's refresh, shall we??
Before-
After! The new closet doors and the new tile floor, the shade in the window over the oak ledge on top of marble tiles, and the antique headboard on the bed with new bedding and the new side table. My old chest looks great at the end of the bed!

Joe's mom is coming Wednesday for a week and has NO IDEA we've been doing this! She's going to completely flip out! Joe came up with a great name for the room- The Lincoln Bedroom... Because you have to make a BIG donation to get to sleep there! HAHAHAHAHA! I think instead it should be known as the 'Grandparent's Suite' since my grandparents (thru Dad) paid for it and Sam's grandparents will be sleeping in it! It really is amazing to think it's the same room. (Wish I had pics with the nasty rotting brown shag on the floor and close-ups of the broken mirrored closet doors!) The downside is it's not OUR bedroom, the upside is when we do our room we get to sleep in it!
We WILL be taking a break for a while. Not sure what the next project will be, but it's probably going to be just as major. I'm sure we'll do the tiling on the landing and redoing the stairs going to the basement next. nothing TOO major in that.
The eating is going OK. Not been super disciplined and only exercised twice in the (whole ) summer! Those were walking last week even. It's so hot now- over 100- that walking outside isn't really an option during the days. Now that the room is done, I was able to move most of the stuff blocking the 'Beast" so I should be able to start that up again. With school starting Tuesday (can I get an AMEN!) I will be able to go whenever I want. I plan to go in and walk at that park Wednesday morning before going in to the office. When I walked last week, it felt great and I slept better. Looking forward to it! Joe is losing well, I am mostly steady at 189 or so. When I start eating better AND exercising, it should start melting off! Have to fit into those jeans from Linda this fall/winter!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Long time!

Didn't realize how long it had been! Busy busy busy...
This past Sunday was our trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. It was a day of firsts too! When we got to the area where the lodge is, we were hungry and had a couple hours until our check-in time. The area is called Legends and is full of shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at a place called Styx- it is a Japanese hibachi grill/sushi place. We sat in the grill section so we could get a "show" with our meal. Sam thought the grill chef was awesome- he even loved his teriyaki scallops with SAUCE on them!!! I tried my first sushi- I got three tuna rolls- and it was very good. The waiter told me to try it with soy sauce, but it was better with the sweet soy sauce the chef brought out. Good stuff! I was surprised it didn't have any weirdness to it, just a really creamy texture. Sunday night we ate dinner at a place called T-Rex's- obviously a dinosaur themed restaurant. They have a dino-dig spot for the kids, which Sam loved. The food was crazy good- I had the Mammoth Mushroom Ravioli (big portabello-stuffed raviolis simmered in a white garlic sauce and topped with chopped roma tomato). After dinner and Sam's dino-dig, we ate dessert at Cold Stone Creamery! The service was horrid- and I mean REALLLLLLLY bad- but the ice cream was sensational. I got a small mocha ice cream with graham cracker crust, brownie, and a little fudge sauce mixed in and barely ate half of it. Sam got the cake batter ice cream with white chocolate chips and Joe got a dipped waffle cone with nuts filled with sweet cream ice cream with peanut butter cup added. All was delish, and only Sam finished his. We figured it was the one time we'd ever eat it, so we did!
So school starts next Tuesday!!! Sam is in the same class- they have looping classrooms at his school- so he will have the same teacher and mostly the same classmates. We saw the class assignments yesterday, there are two new kids and I think only one or two kids aren't in there from last year. I do sort of wish he had a new teacher, but it's only for this next year, then they get a new one. He sometimes says he's excited, sometimes he's not. I know I am tho!!! I think the only reason he isn't sure is I have been letting him go to the pool here with his friends for the last week. He doesn't get that the pool closes when school starts! It'll mean getting up at 7:15 every morning again, but it'll be worth it...
The room is almost done. We bought the new door, got it home and it was too small. Took it back yesterday and got the next size up and it's too big! Had to take THAT ONE back today and get the smaller one again, we'll just have to shim it a lot. Got the trim for the closet painted, the window too. Have to get the door done and we can finish cleaning the floor and seal it. Then we can get the baseboards up and put the bed in there. We found a great side table at Nebraska Furniture Mart yesterday, so we're pretty much set. Just need to finish those last few things and we'll be ready for Kate next week. She doesn't even know we've done this... I will get the pics once we are finished and the bed is in there. It's going to look so nice with the new bedding we got too!
Off to start dinner and clean up a bit. Had a major bad headache most of the day so I laid down after grocery shopping. Feel like I've accomplished NOTHING today!!!