Almost DONE....

The kitchen floor is ALMOST completed and I am very pleased with how it has turned out. There is one small area left to do, by the front door, but we ran out of one size of tile so need to wait for it to come in. Otherwise....it is done. The grout photographs much lighter than it really is but you can get a general idea of how it looks.

Andrew had a meet today at Culver Academy so we made the 2.5 hour drive up to see him run. The campus was beautiful...it looked like a college campus. This was the largest meet they have participated in so far this year ~ there were 69 teams participating with 29 of them in their group. He ran in the freshman/sophomore 5K race and finished 79th out of 289 with a time of 18.31. The competing teams today were a much higher caliber than they have faced all season.. as a team, the 7 boys from his school, placed 9th out of 29 so not too bad.

Check it out...

Just a quick post to show the progress of the floor so far. This is really for Tim's benefit as he is not here to see it all being done. He just gets to see the finished project when he show up in town :-}

The dated old linoleum currently in the breakfast room

Backerboard on the floor.
The start of the tile installation
A closer look of the floor

Maggie School Picture

Maggie has just now let me know she got her school pictures back. HELLO>>>>>>does she now know she should have told me HOURS ago about this?? Anyway....it turned out very nice. What I don't like is the photo studio has their logo on the front of the photo and the school year on it ~ I will have to hide that part with a frame.

A Better Day and OPINIONS please

The tile guy showed up bright and early this morning at 8am and worked all day. Today there doesn't seem to be too much progress as it was mainly a prep day ~ take off doors, move laundry machine, floor boards etc. Tomorrow we should see even more progress.In the move back our family room furniture was damaged and as a result we get to have it recovered. I found this print fabric and really like it - I want to use it on the ottoman and the throw pillows. SO this means that I need to find the right solid color to go on the sofa and loveseat....here is what I am looking at....tell me what you think? ALL input is greatly appreciated - who knows I may completely change my mind :-) The solid fabric is an awesome microfiber and boy is it soft. The colors are not showing as a true representation of how they look but you can get a general idea.

Urghhhhhhhh

Why is it that contractors NEVER show up when they are supposed to? They were supposed to start our floors today and here it is 2:15pm and NOTHING has been done. I am using a decorator for this project and I foolishly thought her contractor would be on time etc. BUT NO!!! I was wrong.....the original plan was they were to be at the house between 8-830am then it was noon to 1pm. I left the designer a message telling her I WAS NOT IMPRESSED that the guy was not here and hasn't called and I CANNOT sit at home all day waiting for him. He did finally call a few minutes ago to let me know he won't be here today but will be here at 8am tomorrow morning. I could spit nails!!!

Here it is...

Andrew's school photo! As I said before it is too bad he blends into the background but otherwise it is pretty good.

A Few Things....

Our kitchen table set arrived on Friday and it is just PERFECT! Ignore the plastic on the seats as I need to take it off as well as the manufacturer tags. Things are finally coming together. The boys and I will have to move it Sunday night as they start the installation of the floor on Monday ~ but that isn't a big deal.

Andrew had a meet today which was HUGE!! There were something like 40 teams there and in his race, the JV run, there were 298 runners. He did well and finished 42nd and the JV team placed 4th overall so they had a good meet. His school photos arrived today and I will post them later...I need to scan the photo. It is good but a bit disappointing his background was blue and wore a blue shirt so he blends in :-)

15 today...YEP 15!!

Today is Andrew's 15th birthday. He was of no use with ideas as to what we should get him this year so hopefully he will be pleased with the shopping that we did for him. He has a pasta party tonight for the cross country team so I had this cake made to bring to the dinner. He has NO idea about the cake and won't until he gets there as I am dropping it off before he gets home from practice this afternoon. The photo was from his 2nd birthday...isn't he cute??

Outta Here...

He is outta here...Tim that is. He is on a plane on his way back to the UK. He was very busy with kids activities and projects around the house the last 3 weeks. I think he may be slightly looking forward to leaving as he won't have projects to do :-} He will head out to China again in a few weeks and back here for good the end of October if all goes as planned.

The rest of this week is a busy one for the rest of us....Maggie begins violin lessons, Andrew has 2 cross country meets, Maggie and Christopher have piano lessons and I have a bunch of stuff to get done. PHEW.....The tile has arrived for our floors so that installation will begin next Monday ~ I can't wait!!

As Promised....

Here is Christophers school picture! I do like it and I think it really captures how he looks. Hopefully Andrew will be bringing his home soon too!!

School Picture Time

Yes, it is that time of year again...school pictures. Both boys had their picture days a couple of weeks ago and Maggie has hers tomorrow. Christopher has already received his photos back and I must say it is really good ~ so strange to see a school photo in casual clothes instead of the UK uniform :-} I will scan his photo and post it later.

It's a JUNGLE out there

This weekend saw us doing some much needed yard work. There hasn't been anything done to it all year so it really needed to be done. We made a lot of progress but still have A LOT more to do. Hopefully, we can get more completed before Tim heads back the the UK in a week :-}

BEFORE:

DURING:

Today's XC Meet....

We went to yet another cross country invitational today and Andrew did GREAT! The weather was perfect for running a 5K ~ much better than earlier this week to say the least. He continues to amaze me with his progess this early in the running season. Today he ran the race in 18:26 a WHOPPING 1:24 less than last weekend. He placed 16th out of 141 runners. To say I am very proud of him is an understatement.

Why did the chicken cross the road???

Thanks to Cara for these..

• BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!
• JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
• HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One! that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.
• GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
• BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
• AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
• DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
• GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
• ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
• COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

A 5K in 92 Degrees ~ YUCK!

Andrew had another cross country meet today...luckily it was a home one so we did not have to travel very far. The weather was AWFUL to run a 5K but all of the kids did a really good job. I was dying just watching the kids I cannot imagine how they must have felt! Both the boys and girls won so it was a great meet despite the unfavorable weather. The next meet is on Saturday and hopefully the temperature and humidity will be lower.