Painting report

We finished painting the master bathroom this weekend, and the tray ceiling in our bedroom. That only leaves a few rooms and the upstairs hallway before I'm forced to do the baseboards. The master bedroom and bathroom look really good together and we'll get pictures up soon. We want to paint the walk-in closet too since that has become part of the room, essentially. The colors come from our duvet cover, so Jeni had the wise insight to put "backup duvet cover" on our list of things to pick up -- just in case.

Is Jeni trying to kill me?

Seven jars of recalled peanut butter, plus the one I just finished off, and who knows how many before... I eat PB&J for lunch at work, and Jeni loves the BOGO at Publix so she's stocked up on Peter Pan peanut butter, and they all have the 2111 recall! We traded our seven Peter Pans for four large JIFs ... choosy salmonella infected people choose JIF.

Map addict

I enjoy maps, tourist info and welcome centers. When we were over visiting Nikki and Todd, I learned that Evan has a growing fascination with maps. I was in his room with him and he switched the TV to the Weather Channel to look at the maps. So on the drive home, I got the idea to go online to the tourism sites and order maps to be sent to Evan. Well, I get carried away sometimes. Evan should be getting travel info and state maps from all 50 states. I remember being his age and getting so excited when I got mail, especially when I wasn't expecting it. So this should be fun for him. I just hope Nikki doesn't kill me for deluging them with mail.

Evan's new room

We went to Atlanta this weekend to visit Nikki and Todd. Evan had his first big-boy sleepover Saturday night, including a trip to the circus and a birthday party at Pump It Up. With Evan out of the house, Jeni, Tiffany and I helped Nikki and Todd move Evan into a bigger room and makeover his room into Preppy Guy Plaid.

Evan was thrilled with his new space.
Sorry about the dark pictures... Jeni managed to hang Todd's old Cincinnati Red's bat over the door (if I had hung it, someone would be getting a concussion) and I helped hang the cool shelves on the wall.
Rooms To Go delivered Evan's new dresser right on time as the room was coming together and the space was open. Now Evan has twice as many drawers. He checked his old dresser when he got home and wanted to change clothes and came downstairs to tell Nikki he didn't have any socks or underwear. He's such a good boy...
The blue panel curtains were an ordeal, but we found them at Target number three right before Target closed Saturday night. It was a full day. We started the room first thing, then took a break for a trek to Ikea, then two Targets (the other Target was Friday night), and then home to finish the projects. But it was worth all the effort because the room looks great and Evan was so excited. My favorite quote was from Evan as he came up the stairs. Lizzy the dog was in his way, blocking him from his room, and five-year-old Evan said, "Lizzy, I'm gonna kick your ass." Don't mess with Evan.

The Hoohaa Monologues

This is too ridiculous to be made up. Apparently The Vagina Monologues was a little too offensive to have on the marquee, so they changed the name to The Hoohaa Monologues instead.

[OK, I really need to get to work now...]

Everything in the internet is connected

So this is my proof that everything in the internet is connected. This morning, in a brief moment between patients I took a minute to check a few blogs I enjoy but haven't been to lately. First, I went to the Dog Eat Doug blog (from the artist who does the Dog Eat Doug comic). He had a link to an artist he enjoyed, and whose style reminded me somewhat of my cousin Kerry. I viewed some of his pictures, liked it, and moved on. I then went to Neil Gaiman's Journal (on of my favorites). He wrote about a book he enjoyed, then mentioned his favorite book of the year so far, The Pinhoe Egg. Out of curiosity, I do a Blingo search for the book, and go to Amazon to look at it. The cover of the book is by the artist that was linked to from Dog Eat Doug. And the circle is complete...

Valentine's Day

I thought I'd share my favorite Valentine's Day story. When Jeni and I were in college, it must have been our junior year, Jeni rarely visited my dorm room. I had bought her a little mini-rose plant (I didn't want to get her flowers that would die, but a small plant that could survive in her tiny dorm room) and was trying to keep it hidden in my dorm room until Valentine's Day. Well, for some reason, Jeni decided to stop by my dorm room, she walks in and the first thing she says is, "Where'd you get the dead plant?" I guess I should have watered it...

There's A Slight Chance I Might Be Going To Hell

Jeni's favorite chick-lit author has a new book coming out, and with a title like that, who can resist?

Happy Birthday Kelly!

20 years old....wow...just remember only one more year until you're legal! :)

Rest in Peace Walter

Today the Columbia Theatre community is grieving after losing one their cornerstones - Walter O'Rourke. Walter suffered a stroke in late January and died yesterday. Walter was a master carpenter and was the Technical Director at Workshop Theatre for over 17 years. And he build some of the most amazing sets you have ever seen.

The first time I met Walter, I was so intimidated. He was very gruff and I thought well this guy definitely doesn't like me plus he ignored me. Later I had a conversation with Randy, his partner, and he said "oh don't worry about that. Walter's a little gruff on the outside, but he's got a warm heart. Oh and don't think he's ignoring you, he's pretty much deaf. He only hears half of what I say to him and I yell." A couple of months later, I was talking to Walter and he said something to me that made me feel like all of the hard work was paying off. He said "You're doing a good job. It's good to have some young blood in here." It doesn't sound like much, but it meant the world to me.

Walter and Randy had 31 years together. I never saw them apart. I wanted to say something about Walter and Randy's life together, but I really couldn't put into word, so I'll use someone else's.

Walter's devotion and respect for his partner, Randy, was an inspiration and lesson to us all--watching them work together, on the stage as well as in life, defined mutual respect, love and extraordinary talent."-Susan H.

Walter will be missed greatly. I know that his devoted crew will continue his work.

Decisions, decisions

Which is cooler, the Nintendo controller belt buckle or the Pac-Man belt?

Winter Storm 2007....

Well today was the day. Our first South Carolina snow (which anywhere else would be called a dusting). But nonetheless it was very beautiful falling from the sky. The joke part to this is I was outside taking pictures in my flip-flops and no coat, and it really wasn't that cold.

Some parts of me really misses the snow, and then there's the part of me that remembers the miserable Iowa winters with wind chills well below -20F and 12-18" of snow that you had to shovel to get to school because they never canceled school. Well I will correct that statement, we missed one day of school because of blizzard that dumped like 36" of snow in twenty-four hours and no one could get back from winter break.

Well here are a couple of South Carolina winter wonderland pictures.