Bad Blogger!

Wow...I've really been slacking with the blog posts lately! If anyone actually still reads this regularly...sorry about that. We've had a lot going on, frankly. Let's see if I can quickly catch up.

More than a week ago (October 17), Shawn played an awesome rugby match. He was named "Man of the Match" (basically the MVP of the game) and he even scored a try! In rugby lingo, that's basically a touchdown. And for the position that Shawn plays, that's fairly uncommon. I would liken it to a Linebacker scoring a touchdown. It's certainly not impossible, but it's not something you see every game. In fact, until that game, I'd never seen Shawn score a touchdown in a "regular" game of rugby! (I saw him score once in a 7s tournament.) I was on camera duty that afternoon, but his scoring play was on the other end of the pitch, so I didn't get a picture.

Things are moving along with the house. We've finally gotten all the doors re-hung (after taking them down to be painted), the outlet covers back on, and the stairwell railings reattached (again, after painting). Shawn picked the color for his "Man Room" and bought paint last weekend...now we just need to start painting. (He picked #2, by the way.)

This past Saturday, we invited a bunch of people over for a "Housewarming/Birthday(s) Party." We had a lot of fun! It's really nice to actually have room to have a bunch of people over, and I'm already looking forward to doing it again. We had way too much food, so I've been eating the leftovers all week. I bought Tostitos and salsa and pretzels. I made a tray of carrots, celery sticks, and strawberries, and we had also apple slices. I made a Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip, which was super yummy! I also made Cinnamon Chips, which were awesome alone or in the fruit dip. For more sweets, I baked a pan of brownies (nothing special...just from a box), and I also baked a loaf of banana bread. Don't worry...I didn't forget the meat. :) I made super easy crockpot meatballs, and I also made these really good bacon-wrapped-turkey-bites. Sadly, I took almost no pictures at our party. Our friend Thuy made us a housewarming cake...isn't it cute? :)

And finally, in other big news...I've gone full-time with my online teaching job! Technically, I made the move to full-time two weeks ago. However, neither my boss nor I knew that until last Wednesday, since HR didn't bother telling either of us that the paperwork had been processed. I also still don't have my company computer or my VOIP phone, so I'm not yet able to take on a few of the new responsibilities that come with being full-time (and that will more easily allow me to actually work 40 hours a week). I'll admit that I'm not super thrilled that I don't get some of the "normal" perks of being a full-time teacher (I only get 5 vacation days the first year, plus 7 or so paid holidays), but it should be an interesting experience.

So...yeah! I think that's pretty much it for us these days. Oh yeah, and my birthday was yesterday. It kind of snuck up on us, so we didn't really make a big deal out of it. Shawn and I went out to dinner at one of our current favorite restaurants for pizza and a few games of pool. It was a good night. :)

Voyager

Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon, 1994 (870 pages)

I've noticed lately that I haven't been loving most of the books I've been reading. I've given most of them 3 stars (on Goodreads, that indicates that "I liked it"); a few of them have gotten four stars. I was glad to pick up Voyager a week ago...definitely a five-star book!

This is Book #3 in Gabaldon's series that started with Outlander. It continues the story of Claire and Jamie Fraser. In this book, Claire goes back to 18th century Scotland to find Jamie, after she discovers (through historic research) that he didn't die during the battle of Culloden like they both thought he would. At this point, they've been apart for 20 years, but they're both completely happy to finally be together again. However, a lot has changed in Scotland during this time, and certainly not everyone is happy that Claire is back.

Just like the other two books, this one is wonderfully written. This book is 870 pages, but it never feels like it's long or drawn out. I usually don't want to put the book down because I'm so interested to see what might happen to Claire and Jamie (and their friends and family) next. If you haven't read the Outlander series yet, you definitely should. I'm glad that there are still three more books left in the series, but I do plan on spreading them out, like I have the first three.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 39

Total number of pages read in 2009: 14038

Silas Marner

Silas Marner, by George Eliot, 1861 (183 pages)

I picked up this book at the library, thinking my friend Lis had said it was one of her favorites (in one of those silly Facebook "which of these books have you read" things). But I just double-checked it...and no, she likes Middlemarch. Oops...I read the wrong George Eliot novel. Oh well!

Silas Marner is a linen weaver who is wrongly accused of a crime. He exiles himself to a different village and basically becomes a recluse, only interacting with others in the town when they need him to do some weaving. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but Silas does eventually begin to interact with his neighbors after he himself becomes the victim of a crime. And as it says on the back cover of my copy of the book, "Ultimately, Marner finds redemption and spiritual rebirth through his unselfish love for an abandoned child who mysteriously appears one day in his isolated cottage."

One of the major themes of this book is that everything happens for a reason, and this is something that I wholeheartedly believe. Even things that seem negative at the time often have a way of turning into something good.

I'm going to have to say that this is another one of the books that I think I would've liked better if I had just read it faster. I do enjoy George Eliot's style of writing, but I felt that this book took a LONG time to get to one of the main plot threads of the novel (and to introduce one of the main characters). But it is definitely worth reading! I've also learned that in 1994, Steve Martin wrote and starred in a movie based on this novel, called A Simple Twist of Fate. I might have to see if I can find that. :)

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Total number of books read in 2009: 38

Total number of pages read in 2009: 13168

More Paint Choices

Before we moved in, Shawn and I managed to paint the living room, the office/guest room, the master bedroom (including the "dressing area"), the stairwell, and both the upstairs and downstairs hallways. Oh yeah, and all the trim and all of the doors upstairs.

We do eventually want to paint both bathrooms, and I'd like to paint the downstairs family room. But the next room on our list is the 4th bedroom...the one downstairs. AKA, the Man Room. Or the Preparation Room. Whatever you want to call it. Basically, since I've known Shawn, he's let me know that he would eventually love to have a room where he can keep all of his outdoor gear...camping gear, hiking gear, rock climbing gear, outdoor clothing, trail maps, technique books, etc... He loves the idea of having everything well organized and easily accessible in one room. When he's ready to go out and do something, he can use this room to prepare for it (hence the "preparation room" name).

So when we bought this house and it had that fourth bedroom downstairs, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for Shawn to have his preparation room. (By the way, I just call it the Man Room because I think it's funnier.) Let's be honest...I love the idea of all of his "stuff" being out of the way of everything else. I also like the idea of keeping all of that dirty equipment downstairs and away from the main living area. That downstairs bedroom gets bonus points for being right next to the garage.

Before the move, we just ran out of time for painting the Man Room. At the moment, all of Shawn's outdoor gear is in the garage. (It's okay...we can't park our car in there right now anyways since the door is broken and needs to be replaced. Had I mentioned that little detail yet?) We want to paint the room before we bring in all of the gear and the tall shelves that will house it.

I told Shawn that picking out a paint color for this room is his job. I'll gladly give input if he wants it, but ultimately, the choice is his. He started out with these nine colors as possibilities.

After he and I discussed the options, he went to get samples of some colors. He had narrowed it down to four. These are our choices.

#1 is Aspen Gray, #2 is Stone Mason Gray, #3 is Porcelain Shale, and #4 is Mountain Smoke. (Do you see any trends in the names of these paint colors?) Once these dry and Shawn picks a color, we'll paint the room! I'm hoping to get it done this week. But let's be realistic...I'll be happy if it's done before Shawn's family arrives for Thanksgiving. :-)

We Need Rakes

I'm sure the fact that it's the middle of October hasn't escaped your attention. And unless you live somewhere with absolutely no deciduous trees, you probably know that we are very close to that time of year when the leaves decide they've had enough, and they all come tumbling down. Since both Shawn and I have been renters for quite some time, we don't really own anything for taking care of a lawn...that's what landlords are for. But of course, we no longer have a landlord. It's all up to us now to take care of these "minor details."

Yeah...something tells me that raking the leaves isn't going to be such a "minor" detail for us. Do you remember this picture I posted a month or two ago? It shows a very small part of the very large tree we have in our backyard.

Although both Shawn and I really like this tree (okay, I'll admit it...Shawn likes it way more than I do), a very large tree comes with some very large leaves. Like this one.

Now, you should keep in mind that this is actually a fairly small leaf for this tree. This was just the biggest one I could find that had already fallen to the ground. Many of the ones still attached (and especially the ones much higher up) are easily double the size of this leaf. And there are lots of them! Maybe you can kinda see it better in this picture.

So that explains part of what we're up against. Have I mentioned (or have you just noticed it for yourself by now) that this is some kind of a maple tree? Maple trees have "helicopters." At least, that's what we called them when we were kids, because as they drop from the tree, they spin around and look like helicopters. You know...these things:
Well, our very large maple tree with its very large leaves also has very large helicopters. Again, that was one of the smaller ones. And not only are these helicopters rather large....there are thousands of them!! All those brown things in this picture are helicopters, and again, this is just a very small section of the tree, near the bottom.

Like I said, this is a pretty awesome tree. It's a formidable thing to have growing in our backyard, and it will provide plenty of shade for us in those warm summer months. But I have to say...I am NOT looking forward to cleaning up after it in the fall!! Maybe we'll get lucky and all those leaves and helicopters will just blow right over our house and into our neighbors' yards. A girl can dream, right? :-)

A Day of Rest

After our busy day on Saturday, Shawn and I wanted to have a relaxing Sunday and just enjoy our house! Shawn got up a bit earlier than I did and went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. He seemed happy with what he found...lots of trails, playgrounds, and play fields. After we went to Mass, we also stopped by a bakery/cafe that's close to our neighborhood. So far, we've enjoyed the snacks, sandwiches, and coffee that we've gotten there, so I'm looking forward to making it our "local" coffee shop. :)

Almost as soon as we got home, a couple women from our church came over to do our House Blessing! Instead of sending a priest every time someone wants their home blessed, our church has commissioned lay people to do the blessing ceremony. I thought it was really nice! The four of us started at the front door to start with some prayers and a Scripture reading. Then we went from room to room, saying a prayer appropriate to the room's use ("bless the meals that are prepared in this kitchen") and sprinkling holy water. They also gave us a nice little plaque-type thing that we can hang up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, watching football. We were thrilled that CBS switched over to the Broncos/Patriots game after the Seahawks game ended, so we were able to see the Broncos win in overtime. Then we headed out to meet friends of ours at a dinner theater! Tim and Thuy were given free tickets to a dinner theater in Bellevue, and they invited us to come along. The four of us agreed that the show was rather cheesy (it was "A Mafia Musical"), but heck...it was free! And parts of it did make us laugh, and it was something different.

Overall, we had a great weekend, and we're looking forward to a good week!

Domestic Saturday

This was our first Saturday as homeowners...and we definitely dived right in to the "domestic" activities! Well, I will admit that we did sleep in first. But then we went grocery shopping together (I don't normally do this on Saturdays, so Shawn usually doesn't go with me...but I hadn't gotten around to it yet this week). There's a Safeway less than half a mile from our house, so that's nice!

We picked up a carpet cleaner while we were at Safeway. Once we got back to the house, I actually went out to lunch with a friend of mine (at the Applebee's that's also less than half a mile from our house!), while Shawn stayed home to get started on the carpet cleaning. He said that our power actually went out for a little while, but he did already have one room done by the time I got home. As I'm typing this, we've gotten 3 of the four bedrooms done, and the downstairs family room. Our plan is to do the living room and the hallway right before we go to bed tonight, and then we'll do our master bedroom after we get up in the morning. Here's Shawn cleaning the office/guest room.

One thing that we really love about this neighborhood is our friendly neighbors! Shawn met a neighbor while he was getting the mail this afternoon (about 8 mailboxes are all together, right across the street from our house). This neighbor, Jim, let Shawn borrow his lawnmower! So Shawn mowed our lawn this afternoon. It was definitely a job that desperately needed to be done!
While Shawn mowed the lawn, I actually cleaned out the car. It's so nice to have a driveway to do things like this in instead of dealing with an apartment complex parking lot! And some neighbors that we had met a couple weeks ago (the first weekend we had the keys) drove by...and honked and waved. Such a nice feeling!

And then....we thought we'd spend a few minutes pulling some weeds. We ended up pulling out tons of weeds from our front yard flower beds! I didn't take any pictures since we were losing the sunlight, but it looks so much better! I'll take pictures tomorrow. Our next door neighbors also came over and introduced themselves while we were weeding. I had met the mom, Wendy, earlier, but her husband, Mike, and their daughter came over, too. He made the mistake of telling us that he's a contractor.....what a handy neighbor to have! :-) He's also offered to let us borrow some of his lawn stuff (like a trimmer) until we have the time and finances to buy our own!

So...that was our Saturday!