Aunt Maddo

I got a call yesterday saying that my Grandma Sally's sister Madeline Johnson just died. She was 93, so not a spring chicken, but it still made me a little sad. Aunt Maddo has lived here in Washington for years! So, I'm going to represent my family at the funeral next week. Not another funeral.

After Brent met Aunt Maddo for the first time, he said, "Which grandma's sister is she?" She does look a lot like my Grandma Cherryl's side, but she is Grandma Sally's half sister. Aunt Maddo was quite a bit older than Grandma and actually kind of helped raise her.

When Aunt Maddo was told about Grandma Sally's passing, she said, "Oh Sally. But it's ok, her sister will be there soon." And now she is. I'm sure Grandma is so happy to see her, not to mention the rest of the family and Aunt Maddo's husband who died 47 years ago.

I'm thankful for my knowledge of the gospel. I'm thankful that I know that this life isn't "it".

Happy Birthday Brad!

Since I'm trying really hard to turn over a new leaf and remember everyone's birthday...

Happy Birthday Brad!

This picture makes me smile and deserves an explanation. When we were first getting the adoption stuff going, we needed to drum up some cute pictures of us doing fun stuff. So, we went to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium with Brad and Court and the girls (Kyle wasn't even thought of then). We keep having them take pictures of Brent and I in front of the tigers, or the polar bears, something like that. (Hey, give us your kid because we like zoos.) Well, those of you who know Brent will know that one of things about him is that he takes REALLY BAD PICTURES! It's not his fault, he just has a hard time relaxing in front of the camera. So, Brent gets a hold of the camera and says, "Hey you guys smile" and this is the picture we got. The best one of the day. Too bad it wasn't with my husband. :)

Hope you have a great day Bradly!!

Home Improving - eventually

Where has she been, you're asking yourself? Well, Brent and I have decided to fix up our basement. The upstairs is nice looking - except for the fact that they had no idea how to paint and I'm married to a snotty ex-semi-professional painter - but the downstairs is fairly 80's. Complete with the brown molding and doors. Our basement is also semi underground, which is unusual in this area, so there are 2 walls that are exposed concrete. Needless to say, not pretty or warm. So, Brent, in his seriously infinite knowledge of home stuff, drew up a plan to build out the concrete walls a little so we could install some insulation. This should help IMMENSELY with the cold. And we're going to replace the shelf and paint - probably a nice pale daffodil - and the computer room will be immensely different. Oh yeah, we've also recently decided to replace the door since there is a hole in it. Eventually, we are going to replace the carpet with linoleum - probably, jury is still out on the tile (I think it would be too cold) - and you won't even recognize the place! So, why am I telling you this huge diatribe? Well, since the construction - or destruction as it currently is - has begun, my little heater no longer has a place to be plugged in. Therefore it is probably 50 degrees down here. My fingers are so cold that I can hardly type, so...I'm going to share some picture and get the computer upstairs by the end of the weekend.The "Handy to Have Around" Guy begins his newest quest.

Why am I showing you nails? Well, they are about 10" long. This is what was anchoring the brown shelf to the wall. It took Brent an ENTIRE night to get the stupid things out. It wasn't fun to listen to. Wood breaking is a yucky sound!!

This is the cement wall after Brent got the shelf off. A good before picture if there ever was one!

Let's end on a happy note. Our crocus, some tulips and daffodils are coming up! Spring is here! YEAHH! I need to plant my seeds! We only have 8 weeks left until planting season!

Ode to My Garage Door Opener

This is my new garage door opener:
Isn't it beautiful?? My Mom and Dad gave it to us for Christmas. They're so nice.

It has taken a little while to get installed because the people who originially wired the garage were, as Brent puts it, "IDIOTS!" It took he and Brad at least a whole night to figure out how to wire everything to install the opener. Luckily, they are both very smart and engineers and can draw out diagrams (I should have taken a picture of the diagram) so they figured it out.

My new garage door opener comes with a big button in the garage that when you press it, it - get this - opens the garage door.

You can't tell from the picture, but there is a little green light that is always on so you can find the huge button in the dark. That's awesome!!

The other amazing thing that comes with my new garage door opener is a clicker that goes in your car that when you press it - get this - it opens or closes the garage door automatically! This is amazing! Especially if you are lazy, like me, and live in a place where it rains a lot, like where I live.

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to have a garage door opener - like Brent - I feel sorry for you. Maybe someday in the future someone - like Brent - will be able to buy a garage door opener of his own. And then, someone - like Brent - can install it on the other side of the garage so he can use this amazing system.

Thank you all who paid for and installed my wonderful garage door opener. It is the best!!

PS - I love digital cameras!

Hello Again

I'm back. It's been a week. More on that later...

New Beginnings went well. The girls were funny and we had a great time. No one really ate the chicken salad sandwiches. They said that they were weird. Whatever. It wasn't my idea. I thought they tasted good, so...only cookies and brownies from now on. :)

On Wednesday I had a really bad headache all day. By the end of the day my throat started to hurt. On Thursday I couldn't even swallow. It was HORRIBLE. I kept hoping I would feel better until Brent got home on Friday, then I just had had enough, so we went to the urgent care. The wait was 2 hours, so I decided to come back on Saturday morning. So, we go back and they swab my throat to see if I have strep throat. The doctor comes in and says, "The strep test was negative." WHAT!! I seriously was in so much pain I almost started to cry every time I tried to swallow. The doctor looks in my mouth and says, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you have strep throat and that was a false negative test." YEAH!! He gave me antibiotics. On Saturday I layed on the couch all day. By the end of the day, my throat was almost feeling better. He also gave me some pain pills so I could sleep for the first time in 3 nights. I woke up on Sunday and my throat was a lot better. I'm slowing coming back from being so sick. My throat isn't sore any more, but it's still really sensitive. I'm so glad to be on the mend though.

Tonight Young Women's is a planning meeting for the next few months. Awesome. These can go well - which the last one did - and it can go badly. Keep you fingers crossed for me.

No pictures today because ... we bought a new computer. Best Buy was having a really good deal, so Brent went and bought it. All the pictures are still on the old computer, we're still working on getting everything on this one. The monitor is HUGE and the computer is fast, so it's great!!

Have a good one!