We're Almost Empty-Nesters

May 11th

May 21st

May 23rd...

Thinking about flying the coop.

   

Stellar Parenting

I saw a cartoon recently of a woman in an employment office being told about a great job. It was kind of thankless, she'd receive no pay, would be on call 24 hours a day, and would get one day off a year, but actually would have to work that day.

And so, so many of us thought that sounded like such a deal. :)

Exactly one week late: Happy Mother's Day! 
(Especially to my Mother and my Mother-in-Law.)

The girls and I rode our bikes to Ilona and Michel's place, to bring in the mail; they'll be back from France in a couple of weeks. It was a glorious day and I only had to show houses once in the morning and once later in the afternoon. (Guess the employment office did warn that we'd have to work on our day off!) Oh well. Nicolas returned from California by cocktail hour. Perfect timing.

Between our home and the in-laws', we pass a garden with an ever-changing set-up of chairs. During the Olympics, the owners had colored hula-hoops on the chairs; on July 4th, stars and stripes; when the World Cup was being battled, soccer balls, etc. On this day, there were Mama chairs and Baby chairs. Pretty cute.

Not as cute as these guys though! The five little eggs right by our front door have hatched into bald little balls of grey. Their beaks open searchingly and both parents spend all day scavenging for food. They've grown exponentially, their eyes are opening and they're starting to spread their wings already.

So glad it takes a little longer than that for humans. Even if, sometimes, just occasionally, I might envy the lightspeed timeline of those Stellar Jay parents.

Not often though.


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Hey, check it out. This cartoon was in the paper this morning (May 20th):

   

The Things We Do

I was excited for Acacia, I swear. A new challenge and adventure in her life. But as we drove the six and a half hours each way to Denver for her gymnastics meet, I did at one point calculate how long her total performance was going to be in comparison. I think the grand sum was four minutes. Maybe six.

(I've never added a video before. Hopefully this works.)

She ended up placing 4th on beam, 3rd on floor, 1st on vault, 1st on bars, and 2nd all 'round. Admittedly, the competition wasn't too steep, but it was perfect for a first competition.

I can tell you exactly how long we drove, and how much we paid for gas and accommodations, etc. But what she gained in confidence was, as they say, priceless.

Pretty cool stuff.

   

Disaster Area

"Hi Satcho!" Sometimes I still call it out when I come home and I know no one's home, because it just feels wrong not to.

It's empty around here, even with all the wood and dust and tiles and appliance parts all over the house. We're in the middle of a small remodel that's created a big mess.

Who knew replacing an oven was so involved?

First... we took out the 25 year old electric oven, shattering the glass that once covered the front (I cooked a meal on it when it was out like this). It's being replaced by a gas cook top and electric wall oven, so this meant Nick first had to build a new counter edge to make a rectangle (previously it was a "U" that the oven slipped into) to drop the stove into, and to frame the future new cabinets under it.

Then, to put the new oven in the wall, we needed some more space, so we knocked out the brick wall behind the wood stove to move it toward the living room (and open up the kitchen space), and then, because you wouldn't have a wood stove next to a fireplace, we ripped out the fireplace that Nick has always hated. That took some Kim-convincing because we could've made that fireplace nicer, but I love the wood stove, so it won.

 Cook top in and running, but still need cabinets underneath; oven in the wall but still working on the microwave space and a new door; and of course, now we need a new platform for the wood stove.

Nick got the dry wall up today, the pendant was yesterday's challenge and we're working on the new counter and cabinetry.

All to get rid of a stinky old stove.

After 15 years, I've learned that when my husband says, "You know, I've been thinking..." to tell him to hold on a sec - while I pour myself a drink.