I'm Floored

I know I've been talking about this remodel project for a LOOOOONNNGGG time but it's still going on.

My husband has been making his own new floorboards out of old wood to create tongue and groove flooring. He used the boards he took out of the walls when he raised the roof.

It's a messy job and he's been working hard to make sure each piece fits just perfectly.

Now, he's working on installing the boards.

It's hard work - especially on his knees. So, he's using my gardening pad to keep his knees from wearing out.

You can see the white one and the half-yellow one. My hubby is such a sustainable fellow, he finds ways to use objects in new and useful ways and you can see that he's making progress. He's even adding venting so the room won't be so hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

Now we're almost ready to paint the walls, refinish the floors and move in.

DIY Shopping bag and tee shirt

Some races give away tee shirts but I don't really like tee shirts that have tight necklines. So, I decided to turn the shirts into a shopping bag and a tank top for my husband.

Here's how I did it.

I started out with the tee shirt and then trimmed the neckline.

Then I cut away the arms.

After I cut one off, I used it as the pattern for the other arm.

Then I ironed down the seams where I wanted to stitch them.

Then I sewed the raw edges.

And the shirt and bag were done.

Simple sewing to turn something I wouldn't use into something I definitely will use and my husband will too.

Happy Fourth of July

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. If you want to try a treat for the holiday, pop a little corn and throw some blue and red m-n-m's in the bowl for a pretty 4th of July munchie.

Hot Half-Marathon

This past weekend the family all went to Sunriver and participated in the Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival.

We all signed up for events. My hubby and son and friend did the Tour de Crest, marathon bike challenge. My daughter and her girlfriend did the 5k, my sis, niece and another friend did the 10k. And I ran a half marathon. It was a HOT weekend.

My run was really hard because of the heat. It wasn't bad for the first six miles but by the eighth mile I was struggling.

I stopped at the "hydration stations" or what normal people call "water stops" and drank one cup of water and poured one over my head. But still my calf started cramping (I was probably getting dehydrated) and had to shake it out and stretch it, but then I was able to finish.

So, I learned something from this experience. . . I need to run in the heat, train in different temperatures. Maybe if I didn't just run early in the morning when it's cold, I would have done better.

Spelunking

I just can't go over to Bend or Sunriver without crawling deep into a few holes in the ground. Some people call this caving, others call it spelunking. 

It's so fun to escape the 100 degree weather and climb down into a cold cavern. These caves are always about 50 degrees so you need to wear a coat, and a headlamp...at least if you want to be able to see and keep your hands free, just in case you trip over fallen rocks.

It's easy to find these gaping openings in the landscape. You can't miss these lonely ladders sticking up out of the ground. And it's so much fun to climb down into the dirt. It always reminds me of Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth.

It's difficult to get any good photos when you're in total darkness but here are a few.

And when you crawl deep enough into the earth your eyes will start to adjust but then you'll turn a corner and you'll see the way out. It's a simple sign...light at the end of the tunnel.

I always try to find new caves to explore. One day I hope to be able to rappel into the Arnold Ice Cave. But first I'll have to build up my upper body strength to hold my own weight as I lower myself down into the cave.

How bout you? Have you ever wanted to crawl down into the Middle Earth? ;D

Tour de Crest

This past weekend was a few days filled with athletic events. My hubby and son did a marathon bike ride up the side of a mountain. They had a great time and even came in together.

They had to hop off their bikes at the end and run through the finish line. And I was there waiting for them.

SUPER VILLAIN kills 25,000 Bees

This is a story right out of a Marvel comic book. 25,000 Bumble Bees found dead in an Oregon parking lot and the assumption is insecticide is the killing culprit.

25,000 of anything is horrible but bees are critical. We need bees for pollination. And pollination for our food source. Without bees, we lose crops and food. But due to insecticides we're losing bees and cutting down our own food supplies.

And Monsanto is like the giant Lex Luther of the modern day world. It has been a major contributor to the decline of our bee population. This one corporation assumes the super villain role by creating genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) that kill bees. They must be planning on creating their own robotic bees and then charging everyone in the world for pollination. Control the food supply and you control the world. MWHA-HA-HA, they want to take over the world. 

But there's nothing funny about this Sci-Fi story, especially since it's real.  Farmers are even suing Monsanto over the destruction of their crops.

Control the food sources and food supplies and you control the population. But don't humans work in that corporation? I just don't get it. This is crazy sauce served up Monsanto style.

Getting Ready to Run a Half Marathon

Okay last year I ran a marathon and I wanted to do a triathlon but no such luck. This year I haven't been training like I did in 2012 because I sprained my ankle on Halloween. It was stupid. I was running in the dark and hit a divot and went down. The worst part of all is that it took six months to recover enough to even run... :( so I started running again in March (slow and short distances to build back up the strength in my ankle) it's been a super slow process.

But I signed up for the half. So, now I'm trying to prepare for the event.

How 'bout you...any set backs to your goals any secrets, tips or hints you'd like to share?

Meatloaf

Meatloaf was our theme for the day on Sunday. But not the singer. We were celebrating food...in the shape of a bread loaf but made of meat ;D

It was our monthly cooking contest. My family gets together once a month to have a food fest. We all have a theme we have to follow. This month it was . . . yep, meatloaf and we had 8 loaves to judge, eat and celebrate.

We treat the judges like kings and queens

And some really ham it up

And we really try to make sure it's a blind taste test. We have one person set out little samples in cupcake papers and have them numbered so that no names are associated with the bite.

And here's the winner for the meatloaf challenge

Next month it will be a Spam off.

World War Z

We all went to see World War Z.

I loved it. Thought is was filled with suspense and run, fast, zombiesque thrills without the usual gore of typical zombie flicks.

I also really liked Brad Pitt in this movie. And I'm not a big Pitt fan. Not that he hasn't done some good work but I always think of him as a pretty boy instead of an "actor" but in this show he wasn't the average Pretty Boy. He looked like a really human--which I loved.

Over all I would rate this fairly high. Now on the bad side...it didn't stick to the story in the book, but then that might have been really a difficult task. It would have been better if they had given the movie a different name than the book because if you go into the movie expecting to see a visual display of the book, you'll be sorely disappointed. But...if you go to the show for a zombie movie, I think you'll be entertained.

If you've seen it, let me know what you thought.

St. Andrews Legal Clinic Race for Justice

The Race for Justice is a fund raiser to help raise money for free legal services to benefit St. Andrews Legal Clinic.

It was a fun run.

    

Projects - Picket Fence Benches and more

My husband likes to reuse, recycle and repurpose more than anyone I know. He's made me quite a few benches and chairs out of an old picket fence someone tore out of their yard.

It's the reason our upstairs project has been taking so long.

He couldn't just go out and buy more wood. No. He had to use the lumber he'd torn out of the walls to make new flooring and he couldn't just buy new building materials. No. He had to hunt out materials that were taken out of other projects. Even the chandelier we bought for the room was an antique someone else wanted to get rid of. He was willing to rewire the light, if need be.

So maybe our projects take longer than some, but in the end it's pretty cool to have benches in the backyard made out of old picket fencing that someone else was throwing out, and arbors in the front yard made out of recycled lumber and flooring fashioned out of wood torn out of walls.

 So maybe my hubby takes longer to complete projects but when he finishes, it's always beautiful.

Here are a few more projects he's made for me.

Kabobs

"Kabob" means a small piece of meat on a stick.

But what about fruit kabobs?

We thought this would be a good idea for our renewing of our vows celebration because people could grab one and eat it anywhere. Beautiful, tasty and convenient.

We had pork kabobs, steak kabobs, chicken kabobs and even turkey kabobs and each meat had its own style and accompaniments. 

The chicken was marinated in Teriyaki sauce and paired with pineapple.

The steak was paired with corn, onions and little cherry tomatoes but you could make them anyway you want.

Here's how we did it.

First we soaked the shish-kabob sticks in water over night--so they wouldn't catch on fire on the grill.

Then we boiled the corn and pre-cooked the pork for 30 minutes in the oven.

Then it became a labor of love skewering the small bites onto the sticks.

It took all evening. Then we wrapped them in foil and set them in the fridge until the next day, when they were thrown on the grill.

The only problem was they were eaten faster than they could come off the grill. People were grabbing them like popcorn and they disappeared just about as fast.

Still they were yummy and pretty...don't you think?

Intestacy

It sounds like part of the body...intestines or like some sort of illness but it might even be worse than an infection.

Do you know what the word means?

INTESTACY is my word for Wednesday.

If you think you know, take a guess...

Then scroll down to see if you were "write" or wrong.

Have no idea, guess any way. What will it hurt and no one needs to know.

Now scroll down. . . for the answer. . .


Further. . . .



FURTHER. . . .

The word might remind you of dying and death...maybe that's why you don't know what it means. I mean, after all, who wants to focus on the hereafter rather than the here and now?

Well, you might want to think twice about that, if you have anything you want to pass down to someone.

Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies owning property greater than the sum of their enforceable debts and funeral expenses without having made a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estate, the remaining estate forms the "Intestate Estate."

Intestacy law, also referred to as "the law of descent and distribution" or "intestate succession statutes", refers to the body of law that determines who is entitled to the property from the estate under the rules of inheritance.

Renewing Wedding Vows - from 1983

Return of the Jedi was playing on the big screen. The Rebels were rescuing Han Solo from the palace of Jabba the Hutt (or in my mind - the Slug Man) and attempting to destroy the Second Death Star, while Luke Skywalker tried to turn his father away from the Dark Side and bring him back to the Light Side of the Force.

The Police and Men at Work were playing on the radio and Clint Eastwood was telling people to "Go Ahead, Make My Day" while I was wearing my fashion forward Swatch Watch and the computer mouse was invented.

Lars was busy watching Wargames, Octopussy and Risky Business but I was more interested in Christine and The Dead Zone.

He was a republican and I was a democrat...but somehow we found enough in common to get married back in 1983.

Of course, back then, we never thought about where we'd be in 30 years. When you're 21 you don't think about hitting 50! That would be too old to even dream about...because in truth it would seem more like a nightmare. Or just plain gross! With all those wrinkles, gray hair and sagging flesh...we'd be picturing ancient artifacts and mummies. And no one wanted to hang out with mummies back then, except maybe Harrison Ford who (while we were getting married), was busy making Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984.

The year was 1983, the Christmas Nintendo Entertainment System hit the shelves and Cabbage Patch Dolls were the gift of the year.

It was a time of big hair and Flash dance. Everyone was partying because when you're young, there are lots of things to celebrate: graduations, engagements, bridal showers, marriages, house warmings, new jobs, baby showers, births . . . the list goes on and on.

Then you get busy with life, work and children and it's easy to lose track of friends and fall out of touch. We put off celebrations for another day...but the days slipped into years then decades and before you knew it, time was gone.

So, we decided to turn back the clock and celebrate the passing of time with a Renewal of Our Wedding Vows along with our family and friends and some fantastic food.

I made cupcakes...of course.

And, together, we stood up at one of our favorite parks (next to the dog park) to say a few words...

And - like always - I was looking up to my husband. But, of course, I couldn't keep my mouth shut or stop laughing.

And it just wouldn't be the same without the friends and family who were in our original wedding. So I insisted that they get out of their chairs and come stand up beside us--once again.

But the true story teller was Elliot...not us.

He told the story of how we met and even gave away our 30-year secret: he told everyone how we eloped back before our "real" "church" wedding. Yes. It's true. We snuck away and got married on our own.

Our first wedding was in the courthouse. We never told anyone--not back then. And with no family or friends we hired a Judge to do the deed. But, we didn't know we needed witnesses. And we weren't going to be deterred, so, we grabbed a couple passersby out of the hallway to stand up as our witnesses. That was the first time we saw them and the last.

So Saturday, we did it again. We celebrated our love by renewing our vows at our third wedding ceremony. Then, we went up to the house for the real party...the feasting and food.

Fatina and Kara worked hard to put it all together.

Shish-kabobs!

And were they ever delicious! And the fruit kabobs were even prettier.

And old friends we hadn't seen in years stopped by to wish us well.

And Andrea, who designed and made my original wedding dress, brought a few of the tee-shirts she makes for tall men (like my husband and boys) to show us some of her new clothing line: Altus Menswear

It was a day filled with food, feasting, new and old friends, family and even a few fashions ;D

What a way to spend a day!