House updates

Got the first coat on a couple more rooms today.

Here's the bathroom. I think this blue is going to look great with the white beadboard and trim.

The view above is the side that the toilet and sink will be on. You can barely see the top of a roll of toilet paper in the bottom center of the frame. It's sitting on the toilet tank.

Above is the corner where the bath tub will be.

We painted the little bedroom the same color as the bathroom.

Eventually I'd like to paint that closet door and the trim white as well. And no, that blue carpet is not staying.

Here's the kitchen.

There's not a lot of light in this photo, so the paint color (called "Pizza Pie") looks a lot more brown than it really is. It's more a dark red-orange spicy color.

We're moving right along.

I checked the tomato plants today, too. They've grown a ton, and there are a few blossoms on them, so hopefully we'll have fresh tomatoes sometime soon.

I rode my bike from our apartment to the house, since Adam was going to meet me there after he got done at class. That way, we wouldn't have to drive both cars (gas is holding steady at $3.99 a gallon). It's right under 10 miles, and it took me an hour and 15 minutes. I wasn't hurrying, and I had to stop for a bunch of crosswalks, but overall the ride wasn't too bad. At least I got in my exercise for the day.

"Jell-O Shots for Boobies!"

Little did we know we didn't have to travel to South Padre Island or Daytona Beach to get a "spring break" 2008 experience this weekend. All we had to do was hop in the RV, drive four hours down the road to Noel, Mo., for some great people watching (and listening).

We floated the Elk River on Saturday morning, and camped at the River Ranch Resort all weekend. Let me tell you, the clientele of the River Ranch Resort definitely take the "resort" part to heart.

This place was jam-packed. I love camping, but I don't really like to be camping within six feet of the campsite and people next to us.

It was an interesting mix - families with small children, couples, and ton of late teens-early 20s party people. In fact, within about 10 minutes of pitching our tent, a truckload of MIPs passed by. Of course we don't know how old they REALLY were, but as someone who deals with high school students on a daily basis, I would almost bet my life that they were most definitely under 21.

Adam and I rode down with mom and dad and Jayne in the POW (Palace on Wheels).

That's definitely the way to road trip. Mom drove, Adam and I sat on the couch and read, Dad navigated.

Along the way, Adam made PBJ sandwiches for mom and dad. You definitely don't want the driver of the POW to have low blood sugar and start making poor decisions...

Home sweet home for the weekend:

That's our tent. Thankfully we were smart cookie campers and picked the high spot on the campsite. You'll see why in just a little bit...

We ended up having a very large group. All of my aunts and uncle, and cousins and their kids were in the group, along with some friends of one family. Aunt Janet (a semi-frequent commenter here) did the most of the cooking - awesome breakfasts both mornings, coordinated sandwich fixins for the canoe trip. Somehow, I have a photo of Uncle Mark cooking but not her. I must have been too busy eating while she was cooking!


Malachi, the youngest member of our party, stayed up til after midnight on Friday night while we were sitting around shooting the bull. Then, he only slept for 15 MINUTES! the next day. Surprisingly he wasn't that crabby, at least not that I saw. The kids loved being down at the river's edge playing in the water.


Saturday morning we left for the canoe trip. Our schedule departure time was 10:30, but when we got up to the departure barn and spied the other 1,000 people waiting for the busses, we knew it would be awhile. Meanwhile, Dad, Ann, Carrie and John went across the river to another canoe outfitter. Since RRR was out of canoes, they had to rent from the other place. Their put-in spot was 6 miles up, ours was 8.

We all thought this would be perfect. They'd go up to the six-mile spot, we'd start at 8, and meet up with them as we floated by. Well, they left our campsite the same time we went up to stand in line. We didn't leave the campsite by bus until 11:07, and I'll bet the other group was already at the six-mile put in point by then. They ended up waiting until 12:30, when as Adam and I floated by I heard my dad whistle to get my attention.

They had been asking all of the canoeists what time they put in as they went by, and were getting answers like 8:30, 9:00. They thought it would take us forever to get there. Most of those people must have been the "I'm doing more drinking than paddling" bunch, because it didn't take us that long.

THE SECOND we put our cooler in the canoe and buckled our life jackets, it started POURING rain. Pouring. We shoved off in the rain, squinting through the pounding rain. Poor Adam - this was his first float trip - not the best experience. I've never canoed in the rain, and this weekend, it rained almost the entire 8-mile trip. We were a bunch of freezing, drowned rats when we got back to camp.

Thankfully, we had our share of drunken a-holes on the river to keep us entertained.

You might be wondering why this blog post about a family camping trip is titled "Jell-O shots for..."

Along with random "WOOOOOO!"s screamed every two minutes by the same guy at one point, I actually heard a guy on a raft scream "Jell-O shots for boobies!" At least he was smart enough to raft the river while three sheets to the wind instead of canoe. That's a TINY bit safer, I guess.

I thought the first thing they teach you in canoe school (is there such a thing?) is DON'T STAND UP IN THE CANOE! Obviously these cats hadn't ever been told that. I couldn't believe all the people (usually guys) I saw trying to stand up as they were moving down the river.

Hopefully, some of the photos I took with Shawna's disposable underwater camera will turn out okay and I can post some photos of the canoe trip later. For now, you'll just have to make due with my Mark Twain-like narrative of life on a river.

Usually when we canoe, the river water is cold when you jump out of the canoe, but the water seemed heated compared to the rain that fell as we paddled. Adam and I, Dad and John, and Ann and Carrie made it the whole trip without tumping over, although you probably wouldn't know it by looking at the three inches of water in the bottoms of our boats by the end of the trip.

Of course, if it was raining on us, that had to mean it was raining on our camp, but none of us expected this:

That's Carrie, using a water cannon to pump out the tiny lake left by the rain right in front of their tent. The lake was about 8 feet wide and went from our picnic table right up to their door. Good news is - our tents stayed dry, even though Noah and his ark probably floated by at some point during the afternoon.

We had a little bit of water in the corner of our tent, but it was our own damn fault since we didn't properly stake the rain fly. Lesson learned, there.

Smarty-pants Ann went up and asked the camp store for every piece of spare cardboard she could get her hands on, and we finally got our camp at least inhabitable again.

Meanwhile, in the POW:

The upper class was livin' it up, caring nothing about the "little people" outside! Here, they watch "Shall We Dance" on the TV.

Adam and I went for a walk Friday after we set up our tent.


This bottom photo looks like one of those grainy Bigfoot pictures. I was trying to shoot the beer bongs without being totally obvious about it.

Just think, if all that engineering went into solving the energy crisis, we might not be paying $4 a gallon for gas!

This guy must have shown his boobies A LOT on his float trip. He didn't even make it off the take-out beach before he passed out. The resort staff just left him there. Best to let passed out dogs lie, I guess.


I had a great time, and I really enjoy float trips on that river. It's class I and II, so it's pretty easy to do in a canoe without losing it.

It would have been much nicer to have sunny and hot conditions for the trip, but it is what it is.


I think if we do it again down there, it'd be better to do the canoe trip on Friday. The weekend trip was rush-hour traffic jam of canoes and rafts. That's no fun.

Who wants to go on the next trip?

REUNITED!

Well, after 11 months apart, Gracie is part of the family again. (I hope no Dunes people read this blog, since we're not paying their exhorbitant pet rent for the next three weeks. )

As always with her, she returned on her own terms, and on her own time schedule. I am not a dog person at all, but the pickup of Gracie made me wish she was a dog for just a few minutes. When you say "Come here, puppy!" dogs will usually do that.

Traumatized cats will not. She had holed herself up in between the basement floor joists and the underside of the bathtub of the house where she was staying. I brought the secret weapon - a can of tuna. She was so freaked out that even the kitty crack didn't get her out of the basement.

So, instead of bringing her home Wednesday night, I had to drive back to Derby from Newton, and wait to get a phone call that she had come out of her hidey hole so I could go back and pick her up. Yes, I was a little pissed, but, the good news is - I actually got to go to book club since it was the same night.

Of course, I hadn't brought any clothes or anything for an overnight stay, so I had to run by Target and get a clean shirt, toothbrush, etc.

Even though there's a lot of bad news swirling around the ol' Eagle these days, book club was as boisterous as ever. Jaime and Bonnie even do-see-do'ed for a few minutes. Amy hosted, and she had a great turnout, so I got to see so many people and get caught up. Sounds like the book was a bust, so I'm glad I didn't read it. I've got to get back on the e-mailing list though, so I can keep up with what the club is reading.

Of course, the one book club I actually get to come to, Kat didn't make it. So, I didn't get to see her.

•••

We're leaving this afternoon for a weekend campout/float trip. TheChittumFiles will be shuttered for a couple of days. Lack of wi-fi in Noel, Mo., and lack of a waterproof laptop will keep me from constant updates. I won't be taking the camera in the canoe (last time Dad and I canoed, we totally wiped out, so I don't trust electronics in the canoes!), but I'll have plenty of photos from the campsite, I'm sure.

•••

Camping trip also means that we'll be able to take a little break from the Extreme Home Makeover. When we come back, Monday we paint. Everything is primed and ready. They'll definitely be some new photos when all that color is added.

Fun with PhotoShop, Google Images and VH1

80s rocker George Thorogood and current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards - separated at birth?

The other half of theChittumFiles, Adam, came up with this question while we watched classic 80s rock videos today.

Update - We DID make fire!

We got an A+ from the electrician mom had to come over and check our fan installation capabilities. We just screwed up something with the dimmer switch that cause it not to come on the first time we tried.

Excellent.

I so wanted to be Tom Hanks in Castaway

when my mom and I tried to hang a ceiling fan in Jayne's room last night. I had my blog post all planned:

It would be titled: "I HAVE MADE FIRE!"

And there would be a picture of me dancing in front of the ceiling fan, light on and fan moving.

Of course, it wouldn't really have been fire, but I was at least hoping for some electric light. Unfortunately, when mom went to the basement and flipped the switch, and I flipped the wall switch and pulled the strings, nothing happened.

The fan looked damn good hanging from the ceiling, but when Jill said "Let there be light" there was no light. My best guess is that when we crammed the wiring back up into the piece that hangs from the ceiling, one of the connections got a little wonky. This is my best guess, because after screwing with the damn thing for three hours last night in waning light, we had to stop.

We left the fan attached to the ceiling, but had to leave the electric to Jayne's room turned off for the night.

I'm a big fat chicken when it comes to dealing with electrical. Twice in my life, I've been shocked by a household outlet - once while washing a car at my grandma's house, and once at mom and dad's when I was about 15. It didn't HURT, per se, it just scared the crap out of me (well, not literally). So, I was a little nervous when mom asked me to help her with the fan, but I thought it would be a good chance to learn something new, and accomplish something I hadn't done before.

I learned something new all right: Call a freaking electrician when installing ceiling fans. I think my three hours spent getting frustrated and standing on top of a ladder holding my arms up is definitely worth the fee for the service call!

I'm not running up the mountaintops in Siberia, but...

I spent last night "training" for the Xtreme Team Trivia championships. I wasn't feeling too well anyway, so with a headache and stomachache, I watched six hours of "I Love the 80s" 3D on VH1. I'm sure there probably won't be any questions I can answer from watching, but seeing all the things connected to the different years really helps me put a lot of other things in context.

This is important because last week, during the regional finals, we missed every question that began with "In what year did..." by ONE. FREAKING. YEAR. Literally. We tried to find a pattern, like maybe we were early by one year every time, or we were one year too late. Then, we could just adjust. But nope. We were just off by one each time.

We're off to the Voodoo Lounge at Harrah's tonight for the championships. The top three teams win money: $1000, $500 and $250. I hope there's not a massive rumble involving 400 people there tonight. That's pretty much all I know about the Voodoo, what I've seen on TV about it.

Hmmm. Maybe if we win tonight, Adam and I can take our share and buy Rockband for Wii (comes out today!)...

Yep - this proves there's not a whole helluva lot to do in Doodah

I guess we moved away from Wichita too soon.

I didn't know anyone was filming Dharma Initiative-esque how to videos.

Work in progress

Despite the break for hot-dog dressing, work continues at the house. Slowly but surely, we're making progress.

Here's the laundry room. We've got to paint the trim white, and the doors white. On Monday, Nebraska Furniture Mart will be delivering our new washer-dryer. I think the laundry room will be the first room in the house to be completely finished.


Here's a couple of photos of the kitchen, now that the walls have been skim-coated. They're pretty much ready to paint at this point. We're still trying to decide on a color.

You might remember photos of the walls after we scraped the wall paper. If you remember those, you can definitely see progress in the above photo.

Above is the back bedroom. It's now painted the same color as the laundry room, I just didn't shoot a photo while it was still light enough outside to take advantage of the window light. You'll have to wait for this weekend for the latest photos of that room.

Tonight, we taped all the windows in the front room, so it's ready for Adam to prime tomorrow, while I'm off boot-camping and getting the car fixed and doing a couple of school-related errands. Oh yeah, I'm also getting my eyes checked by the sister of the Best Blogger Ever!

Our tiniest visitor so far popped in for a minute this weekend. Noah and his mommy stopped in to have a look around on Sunday afternoon. Darn that Noah - we didn't get ANY work out of him! ;-)

Just kidding! We were so happy to see them both.

I hope we're the wieners!

Well, despite the fact that the Star has just announced more than 100 layoffs, they're still staffed enough to do some cheesy summer contests. Next month is National Hot Dog month, so the FYI section is running a "Dress A Dog" contest.

Betsy and Mitzi came over last night. We planned to craft while Adam watched the blowout NBA game. We figured our crafting would be knitting or something like that.

Nope. We decided to dress a dog.

Meet Carmen Mirandog. Complete with her own beach blanket, chaise lounge and tray o' drinks.

I think Mitzi is working on the dog's sunglasses in this shot. Don't let Adam fool you - he was just as in to all these shenanigans as the rest of us were. The contest is on until June 25. Maybe we'll win one of the Picnic Prize Packs! Fingers crossed!

Friday the 13th luck on Saturday the 14th

This weekend our friends Chad and Amel came to see us. They arrived on Friday night, and checked in to their "romantic" hideaway at the Doubletree. We met them for a drink or two at Wil Jenny's, then they went off to the Hereford House for a nice dinner.

They have a small daughter at home, and this was the first time they've left her for the weekend.

Saturday, we got up to go meet them and do some shopping and have lunch. We arrived at the Doubletree, and they followed us to our new house, where we planned to leave one of our cars. They offered to drive, so we got in their car, and headed out to Nieman road. All of a sudden, I felt really sick to my stomach. Like, I thought I might throw up right then. So, we stopped at the Walgreen's at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Nieman. While Adam and I ran in, Chad and Amel stayed in the car.

I got some pink stuff, and we went back to the car. Off again, headed to the plaza. About a half mile from Walgreen's, the AC started to blow HOT air. The temp gauge was all the way at hot.

Uh oh.

We turned around and went back to the house, parked the car. Chad made some phone calls, and had to get a tow to the shop.

Four hours, six hundred dollars and one new radiator later, they were on their way back to Doodah. We didn't get to take them to the plaza, or the Legends, because I think by the end of the afternoon, they just wanted to get the heck outta Dodge. Can't say I blame them.

We took them to Winsteads (it was close, and they can't get it in Wichita) for lunch.

Adam needed to cut the grass, but it was 90 degrees when they left, so we decided to go ahead and go to Nebraska Furniture Mart. I guess we did our part to stimulate the economy, because our stimulus check (or part of it, at least) is now in the form of a brand-new washer and dryer, and a $19 gas grill. Delivery is scheduled for Thursday, so that's my deadline for getting the laundry room painted and ready.

Yesterday can go down in history as the only time in my life I've ever uttered these words: "Thank you, George W."

We're headed off to work today, and play in the trivia regionals tonight. We'll see what develops.

Yeah, they'll pass you by.

These days, I feel like I'm pretty good about staying in touch with people that I don't see that often. Of course, things like blogs, Facebook and texting help that. Even though I may not SEE all of my Wichita peeps as often as I'd like, I still know what everyone's up to, and we talk pretty frequently.

This is a new phenomenon in my life, though. Up to this point, I'd say one of my biggest personality flaws was that I lost touch with people pretty freaking easily. I'm not a huge phone talker, and I guess there is some truth to the phrase out of sight, out of mind. Unless it's one of my closest friends, I'm not great about seeking people out to catch up. I moved on pretty easily.

Last night was a great illustration of this. Bets, Mitzi and I went to see the Journey tribute band again, which features a drummer who I went to high school with. Last time we saw them, I didn't really see anyone I knew. That's okay with me.

Last night, there was a whole crowd of SMN folks. It was the whole drama crew. People who I spent a ton of time with in high school, but always at school during play practice or drama classes, never out of school. We ran in different circles, I guess you could say. As soon as they came in (together) I recognized everyone one of them, and then out of the corner of my eye, I watched them stare at me for about half of the evening, ostensibly trying to figure out if it was, in fact, Jill they were seeing.

I haven't lived here in 15 years, if you count college.

There's only two people who I knew in high school whom I still talk to, see or e-mail on a regular basis. One is here in town, one lives in Florida.

Here's the thing, though: I sort of like it that way. I'm not the same person I was in high school. I would like to think most people aren't.

I can't imagine what I would have in common with people I haven't seen in 10 years. I suppose we could swap stories about the "glory days" but that only lasts so long.

Back to last night: Yes, a couple of them finally came over to say something. I think I would have been happier to just skip all of that. It was so loud, so I could hardly understand Betsy and Mitzi, whom I talk to all the time, let alone people who are strangers to me now. A sample of conversation:

"Are you Jill?" (Really? Do I look THAT different? No.)
"Wow, good to see you!" (Screaming over the music, then insert giant awkward pauses.)
"Where were you living?" (Still screaming.)

I didn't really ask any questions. I'm really self conscious about screaming in people's ears.

I probably would have enjoyed catching up with these guys - in a quieter environment, and not a group of 10 all at once. I had the "monkey in a zoo" feeling for a while. And I don't even like to talk to Adam or the twins over live music. It's incredibly awkward to scream into someone's ear, and it's a little familiar to be that physically close to someone who is not your close friend.

I knew eventually this day would come. We did move back to my hometown, so yes, I'm going to run into people from my "former life." I guess I should come up with some stock conversation starters...

I am very shy around people or groups that I don't know well. It takes me a little bit to warm up. I'm always trying to find my place in the group and I don't want to mis-speak or do something stupid. That's exactly how I felt last night. As I got older, I grew out of this as a necessity of my job. I had to be able to approach people as a news photographer and I met so many people every day that it just became easier.

I'm very bad about assuming shy or quiet people are being aloof or snobby. (Pessimist, I guess.)
If those guys are anything like me, they might be Googling me as we speak. I hope if any of them find this, I don't sound snobby. It's just amazing to me how quickly I reverted to that person I was back then, who was so worried about being accepted.

I do not miss those days.

Man survives nail to head during home improvement project

Yes, this happened in Shawnee.

NO - it did not happen during OUR renovation project in Shawnee.

Forward Progress

A few things are starting to happen that make me actually see that the house is transforming...

The kitchen counters were installed while I was in Tennessee:



A little sanding and staining on the edges, and they'll be ready to go.


We worked in the yard on Saturday, planting a few things, like this hanging basket. I also threw some wildflower seeds in the ground there, so I guess we'll see what develops. There used to be a windmill in the yard, and the hanging basket is in that spot. There's a dirt patch under it, so that's what will hopefully be wildflowers. If they grow, I'll show you the evidence in a month or so.


Here's one of Molly's hostas.


This is the backyard/garden. I'm standing at the back fence, looking to the house. That's a two-car garage on the left, a one-car garage shed in the middle, and the playhouse on the right.
Storage galorage!


The dirt-weed patch used to be Grandpa's garden. It hasn't been tended in years. I've cleared a little tiny spot for tomatoes, and hopefully a few other late vegetables soon.

Baby maters.


Please tell me you can see the difference between the photo directly above this line and the photo below. The photo above was shot over the weekend. The photo below was shot today, right before we left.


Proof that Adam is actually working.


And, the piece de resistance (up to this point, anyway): The new ceramic tile backsplash in the kitchen.


We cannot take credit for the work on this. We had people who actually know what they're doing come in and put in the tile.

That range hood is new, too. Looks good. The tile guys are coming back tomorrow to grout everything.


So, if I'm lax on blogging, or if I'm not returning phone calls, you might have some idea why when looking at all of these photos!

I did start working on a knitting project yesterday, though, so I'm not going completely stir crazy. I had to hang out at Ma and Pa's while the tile guys worked over there, so I knitted, did the crosswords, and watched "Knocked Up," "Georgia Rule," and "Back to the Future." On-demand free movie channels are the best!

Work work work

Yesterday we spent all day working inside the new house.

Today, we spent the day working in the yard at the new house.

Thing I've learned: I HATE STRIPPING WALLPAPER. I'd much rather work outside, even if it is hot and windy.

While I was in Tennessee, though, new countertops went in the kitchen, so at least one thing has be RE-done. Everything else is still in the demo stage. I think we can probably get the wallpaper down this week, so we can start prepping the walls to paint. Once we get to that point, then I'll really feel like we're making some progress.

I told Adam today that I wish we had made as much forward progress in the house as we did in the yard today. I worked a patch in the garden, planted a few tomatoes. We visited Betsy and Molly this morning, and Molly sent us off with tons of daylilies, irises and hostas. So, we were planting fools this afternoon. My DA didn't bring the camera, so you'll have to wait for photos!

Now, we're going to rest so that we can go do something fun tonight!

Take the last train to Clarksville

I've had that song in my head for 24 hours straight. I'm in Clarksville, Tenn., for three days. Pretty sure I'll be singing it for a while.

I ran/walked this morning. It's a hell of a lot more hilly here than at home, so it wasn't very fast! I like to run in new cities, though, because I get a little mini-tour. There are some amazing 19th century, post Civil War homes around here. I'd love to go inside and see what they look like!

I have to go set up my laptop and projector now. Wish me luck - 250 kids are going to be listening to me for quite a while today. Hopefully I won't be covered in rotten tomatoes by the end of the day.

I swear, this would only happen to me

I'm sitting at KCI waiting to board a flight to Nashville for a yearbook workshop. It's quite a haul to get from our apartment to the airport, especially when you add in a stop at the Apple store on the plaza. (SO not on the way.)

I thought I had to stop there because for the life of me, I couldn't find my "dongle." For the uninitiated, the dongle is the small white adapter that allows Mac users to plug into video presentation projectors. (Not sure who to be mad at here - Mac or the rest of the world. Couldn't we just make it so one cable would work?)

Since before I went to Anaheim for Spring JEA, I thought I didn't have it. I borrowed from Bradley and Mark the whole convention because I couldn't find mine.

Last night, I got out the TWO that I brought home from school. Neither fit. Great. Have to detour in the morning, I thought. I dug through every traveling bag and/or computer bag we had and still couldn't find it.

We walked in the Apple store as soon as it opened, and I picked one up. (Luckily, they're only $20) We drove to the airport from the plaza, I stood in line, went through security, and sat down in the gate area to get out my laptop. I pulled out my flowered computer cover. As I did, I felt the side of it and thought - Hmmm, that feels familiar.

Opened up the side pocket and THERE WAS MY ORIGINAL DONGLE. With my name written on it in Sharpie and everything. This bag has two identical zipper pouches on each side, and I must have checked the one, but not the other since they look exactly the same and maybe I thought I had already done it. What a concept - actually having the piece of equipment where it naturally belonged. That's probably what threw me off!

Basically, I carried it all the way to Anaheim, all the while thinking I didn't have it, and it was with me the whole time.

Guess we'll have to stop out of the way again on the way home from the airport on Thursday and return the new one. Let's all hope I don't lose it between here and Austin Peay University!

Time to board, gotta shut down.