Pink Putty and Paint Stirrers

When Dr. HokieKev and I decided to move to Utah, we also decided to buy a house. We took a long weekend last March to fly out and look at over 30 houses...in three days. We bought the last one we looked at. Fanciness and upgrades enticed us. Things like this:
And these:
And all this (which, consequently was its own pain in the butt- but I think we finally have it working right):

And this lovely kitchen with its gorgeous travertine wall:

The reason for all of the fanciness was mostly the fact that the previous owner was the builder. In fact, that is his profession- he builds houses. He puts fancy upgrades in his. So, we bought his house and with it got the upgrades. We own these things now- they are still fancy.

However, in all of these upgrades and all of this fanciness, the former owner neglected to pay attention to details. Let me remind you- he is a builder, he builds houses. That is how he makes money. Anyway, he left out the details. I don't know why I have picked now to start worrying about these things, but in the last few weeks they have really bothered me. You see, there were several spots throught out the house where paint was touched up- with the wrong color. There is a fairly large section of an accent wall in our living room- the only wall in the whole house that is a different color from the rest- that was painted the wrong color. There were nail holes. And gouges in the wall. And almost every light switch plate looked like someone had taken a chopstick size screwdriver and punched a hole in the wall right next to it. The ones without actual holes, well...you could tell that there were holes which were painted over- poorly.

I mean, I guess I could give the guy the benefit of the doubt. When you are moving out, you are bound to ding some walls or leave some nail holes unfilled. But once again, he is a builder. He does this stuff for a living. That is how he makes money. I could also see if the fixing of these things took time. And before today- maybe I thought they did. But once again- DUDE BUILDS HOUSES. FOR A LIVING.

Once again, I don't know what this has just started to bother me, but it has. Noone will be able to tell that the accent wall is two colors. But I know. Most people won't realize the poorly painted over imperfections. But I will. So today, I went around my upstairs with a can of pink putty and filled in the holes and gouges. It took less than ten minutes. I didn't even have the proper putty knife. I used a paint stirrer. Did I mention the putty was pink?


After about an hour, the pink putty turned white. Once again, I took less than ten minutes to go around and sand away the excess. One day this week, I will take another ten minutes or so to paint over the holes and dings and dents. I don't build houses for a living. I also no longer have chopstick size holes next to all my upstairs light switches (I am saving the downstairs for another day).

Now there is the small matter of that pesky 1500 lb. gun safe in our office...

The Latest Cake

Here is the latest creation in my "Almost Ace of Cakes" repertoire. I really wanted the Steelers to get into the Super Bowl because their logo seemed so easy to pipe. I was wrong! The Cardinal was MUCH easier.

Here is the rest of the spread from the Super Bowl party. As always, there was a TON of leftovers. Maybe next time, I will just order pizza.

Accountability

I am really good at starting things around the house but sometimes not as good at finishing them. Next week is Furlough Break- I refer to it this way because, being a grownup, Spring Break seems so last season and USU has issued a furlough for all employees over said Spring Break. Something about saving money and not having to eliminate positions. Anyway, Dr. HokieKev will be out of town for the first half of Furlough Break- at least we are assuming he will be out of town, somewhere, on the East Coast- which translates into it being a good time for me to get some stuff done. I find it much easier to get certain things done when Dr. HokieKev is out of town. I don't have to worry about fixing dinner or relocating misplaced items or picking up stray socks so I can focus on trying to finish the things I start. In an effort to actually finish the several things I have planned for Furlough Break, I figured I would post them on the interwebs because- as we all know- if they are on the interwebs, they have to get done. So here goes...

What I Will Accomplish Over Furlough Break

1. Match living room paint and touch up all the walls
2. Clean the kitchen really well
3. Hang the picture frames in the guest bedroom
4. Find or build a bedframe for guest bedroom #2
5. Clean the master bath really well
6. Install fancy shower head in downstairs bathroom
7. Find two brown, quilted euro shams for the master bedroom that do not cost $99.99 each
8. Figure out something to do with all the mail
9. Organize the laundry room/tv equipment room
10. Build a coat rack for the laundry room

#1 should not be too hard if I can convince the man at Sherwin Williams that I would rather have him match the paint color than purchase a gallon of paint from the man at Kwal's who talked to me like I was 5. I hate that.

#4 can't be that hard. Certainly, I can screw a piece of plywood to some wood blocks and turn it into a bed frame. Hopefully, the guy at Home Depot agrees. While I am at it, I can pick up supplies for #10. I took shop class in 6th grade- I have a drill.

The cleaning stuff- well, it is cleaning stuff. At least with Dr. HokieKev gone it will stay clean for a few days.

#7 will be the hardest I am sure. My boyfriend, Restoration Hardware, is currently running a sale on the shams that need my bed. The problem is they no longer have them in chocolate. Sheesh! Hopefully, a trip to HomeGoods can remedy the problem. Don't worry- Restoration Hardware knows its place in my heart (as does Dr. HokieKev).

So there you have it- my plans for Sunday- Thursday. Thursday we are going to Reno to the WAC Basketball Championship. Then Dr. HokieKev will be home- expecting dinner!

Flashback to November

Way back in November, Dr. HokieKev's best friend, Tim, got married. We made the trek to Richmond, VA for the wedding. As always, I took some pictures that took forever to get uploaded to the computer. The wedding was held at a historic mansion- complete with mossy bricks and gazebos. It really was a great affair and I am glad the rain in the forecast stayed away. Dr. HokieKev and I had a great time- Drunk Dr. HokieKev even made an appearrance. I bring this up because it is a VERY rare occurance but I think the peer pressure got to him on this one! If nothing else, the rehersal evening proved to many that we are no longer in college and cannot party as though we are. The picture below is from the end of the reception- it for more, including some from the ceremony. If you look closely, you may be able to see uptight wedding planner chick. Seriously, if Prozac was created with any specific person in mind- it would be her!

The Funniest Thing I Heard Today

Today was Sunday. I tend to sleep in on Sundays even now that I am, as my friend Mona says, A real live grownup. I usually don't sleep past ten but today I didn't feel the need to roll out of bed until noon- I think it is my brain retaliating for making it get up so early to go snowboarding the last few weekends. I also have a penchant for waking up, looking at the clock, and rolling over for "10 more minutes." During these "10 minutes" I usually have really whacked out dreams- yesterday, I was eating cake on the top a a giant, snow covered mountain with Jenn from work while discussing the secret underground in Park City. Today, I was arguing with a manager of a train terminal in Washington, DC that I really needed a bed if he was going to stop running trains to South Carolina.

So anyway, I wake up this morning afternoon for the third or forth time and decide that maybe I should actually get out of bed and try to do something productive since it was too warm to go snowboarding. Bleery eyed, I stumble out into the living room to find Dr. HokieKev engrossed in something scholarly a poker game on his computer. This was our conversation:

Me: Do you want breakfast?
Dr. HokieKev: I was just thinking about making pancakes.
Me: What? You were going to do what...
Dr. HokieKev: Well, I was thinking I would make some pancakes.
Me: You... were going to make pancakes? When have you ever made pancakes? Or breakfast, for that matter? Do you even know how to make pancakes?
Dr. HokieKev: Well, I was thinking about it.
Me: ::laughing:: So, I take it you want pancakes?
Dr. HokieKev: With chocolate chips...
Me: How old are you?
Dr. HokieKev: ::laughing:: Six

I found the whole conversation amusing. Dr. HokieKev can grill- in fact, he does it often. He can also make tacos- although, he does that WAY less frequently. I think I have also seen him make a grilled cheese or two and heat up various frozen, boxed foods. However,I have never seen him even attempt to cook breakfast. Well, maybe that isn't true. I have seen him try- once- to make eggs. Here is how that went:

::Flashback to Massachusetts in or around 2004::

Dr. HokieKev: I am going to go make some eggs.
Me: Do you know how to make eggs?
Dr. HokieKev: Yeah, I mean how hard could it be.
Me: Okay.
Dr. HokieKev: What pan do I use?
Me: The small one.
Dr. HokieKev: Do I melt the butter or scramble it in with the eggs?
Me: Melt it first.
Dr. HokieKev: Where is that pan?
Me: Ugh, let me just do it.

See, breakfast and Dr. HokieKev really don't go together. Although, he did admit that he did this on purpose because he did not want to make the eggs. This story ended with me cooking up some chocolate chip pancakes on the skillet I once hated but have now decided is much more efficient than a pan when making breakfast foods. Dr. HokieKev got down the skillet. He also started dinner tonight- Lasagna, from a box.

My New Toy

Some Things Never Change

Picture for a moment my 15 year old self tumbling her way across the floor at gymnastics practice. Roundoff, backhandspring, backhandspring, back tuck. Lather, rinse, repeat. Now imagine my 15 year old self landing one of those back tucks where her right ankle decides it doesn't want to play anymore and, instead of standing strong for the landing, rolls flat while the leg stays straight. Apparently, it popped. Apparently, it was loud enough for everyone in the gym to stop what they were doing and ask if I was okay. After hopping around for a moment, my 15 year old self decided the ankle was fine and kept on tumbling. Yeah, probably not the best decision but 15 year old selves don't think of that. Twelve years later, the right ankle is still a problem. Thankfully, it doesn't tend to get humid and rainy in Utah and needless to say, the ankle did not like Florida humidity.

Fast forward to last Sunday. My 27 year old self decides to leave the safety of the baby mountain while snowboarding and show off my newly acquired snowboarding skills on the real mountain. After a couple successful practice runs down the baby mountain, I head up to the top with Dr. HokieKev and some friends who, compared to me, are ready for the Olympics. I do okay especially since I have left the safety of the green circles for the slightly harder blue squares. I have to stop a few times- the altitude is an ass kicker- but otherwise felt pretty good about the big mountain. I fall once, pretty epically sliding down the mountain (note to self, back flip will not stop the siding. It will continue, but now hurt more since your face is in the snow), but manage to stop myself before hitting a tree. I am sure my expert skier friends were laughing. But remember, they are ready for the Olympics, they can laugh and ski at the same time- so maybe I deserve it. Anyway, I make it down the mountain to a nice, flat, "easy" part. I lose my momentum and fall straight on my head. I guess I put my hands behind me to stop my head from ricocheting on the ice- it didn't work. My head went crack. Dr. HokieKev asked if my head was all right and told me to get up. I put my hands down to push myself up and...nothing...my wrist was having none of it.

I somehow manage to pull myself together and get back to the lift. As I am holding my wrist trying to convince Dr. HokieKev that I can still feel my fingers so it must be okay, Ski Patrol Man comes over to offer me a splint and a bag of snow. A BAG OF SNOW?!? Um...no thanks dude, I am fine...yeah, fine. I can still move my fingers, nothing is swollen, I may be on the verge of tears but I am not bleeding, time to go back up the mountain. Thanks though! And back up the mountain we all went- my Olympic-ready skier friends and I!

All was fine. It was cold so my wrist was frozen. I went down a black diamond and only fell once- a little fall. Weird that I can't do the "easy," flat stuff but I managed to get down the black diamond alive and unharmed. I also managed to get off the lift without falling more times than not and my tailbone escaped without being bruised. So anyway, we got home and thawed out and- HOLY WHOA THAT HURTS!- I guess my wrist wasn't that okay. In theory, one would go to the emergency room. In practice, I felt that unnecessary. I have a pretty high tolerance for injury pain but an incredibly low one for ANYTHING involving medical personnel. Besides, emergency rooms take forever and cost alot of money. All they would do is give me a brace and some x-rays and tell me to go to a doctor on Monday. I can do that myself- well, not the x-ray part but the rest. Three stores and 11 bucks later, I had a wrist brace. My 15 year old self would be proud.

Some things never change.

P.S.- Two days later, it still hurts. Yesterday, I could barely brush my hair. Dr. HokieKev had to hook my bra- something I am sure he never thought he would have to do. I spent most of the day using my left hand for anything that involved a turning motion. It is really hard to do things with the left hand. Today was a bit better. I did have to suck it up and take off the brace to write. I can't write with my left hand. Hopefully, this trend of getting better continues.