Woah - She Finally Posted

Yes - you CAN believe your eyes. This blog has been updated for the first time in about seven months. Lets skip the pleasantries and get right to the meat of this post: What is the one question on everyone's mind? "What has Kim been doing for the last seven or so months since she last blogged?" Of course! Well, there have been two major projects/changes and I'll tell you about both:

1. Home Improvement Bonanza! Randy and I decided, for better or worse, to rip out all the floors in our house and replace them with hard wood Brazilian Cherry floors. Ourselves - as in we did all the work (well, lets be clear - when I say "we" I mean "Randy") with help from friends and family - especially my dad! Just like so many other endeavors, one thing leads to another and replacing more than 1000 square feet of flooring was not sadistic enough for us. We also painted every door in the house, replaced all bedroom light fixtures with fans, and completely redecorated our bedroom (I did have a major role in those improvements). Below is a photographic essay on the entire process.

The day we first got our new floors - we were so young and naive then! We layed them out for a preview of what was to come. I'm not sure if it will translate in this picture but the new wood is MILES above the old laminate on which its lying.

One thing we didn't think about until we were in the thick of it - putting in new floors is much like moving out of and then back into your house. Everything must be moved out of each room for the floors to go in and then put back. Here is much of the office temporarily residing in the living room.

Spare Room: Before. No - your eyes are not deceiving you. The room really was painted "painter's tape blue" when we moved in. Here it is with the carpet removed, ready to be put out of its misery with several fresh coats of paint.

No - Zipper did not get into a bottle of whisky. She worked hard that first day and had the paint stains on her paws to prove it. I don't think she was technically awake in this picture.

This picture is to prove that I did do some work on this project. You can tell because I'm wearing a bandana. A workin' bandana.

TaDa! We have eradicated all traces of electric blue from the house. This isn't the best picture of the room, but you can see the new colors - sand for the ceiling, pale aqua on top, and sky blue on bottom. Oh yeah - we also installed new wood blinds in every room.

Here is Randy after he ceremoniously installed the first plank of floor. Doesn't he look proud?

Even though we painted and outfitted our bedroom when we moved in a year prior, I felt that the room looked kind of like a circus and wanted something a little more sophisticated. This is a glimpse of the new decor.

Drum Roll please......Countless hours and two months later, this is how our living room looks complete with the new floor. We LOVE it.

Finally, Linus wanted to show you the view down the hallway. He appreciates how thoughtful we were to pick flooring that matches his coat so nicely.

2. I quit my job! After a lot of consideration and discussion and anticipation, Randy and I finally made the decision for me to hang up my Girl Scout sash and take a break from the working world for a while. I was stressed out and tired and my blood pressure couldn't take any more meetings :) so after almost five years at Girl Scouts, I resigned in January and have been learning to be domestic ever since. I have been told that my cooking has improved quite a lot and I'm working on becoming organized. The best part is, I should have much more time to blog now!

So we have a lot of blogging to look forward to. Coming soon: Memoirs of a Cactus, Speedy the Turtle, and The Rebels on Gribble Drive (aka the Marksberry Animals)