Miscellaneous...

I promise my blog will get more interesting after the basement fiasco is over...well, I can't promise but you can hope! The simple things, like tile being laid, make me very, very happy these days.
Look, no holes in the floor!
The progress is slow, but I'm starting to feel like they might finish one day.

A smaller version of the main floor tile will be going into the laundry room:

On another note, Sarah and Kiki stopped by on Sunday to check out the (dusty) house for the first time and to visit. That girl has a lot of energy. She's sooo cute!!
She even says, "Cheese!" for the camera. She's pretty much at the stage where everything she does is adorable.
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I've been feeling a bit guilty because I haven't been excited to go back to school (probably because I taught ALL summer). Today was our first work day and I'm happy to say that I'm starting to feel a little more excited. It took pretty much the whole day to rip down the old paper on the walls and to put up new. You can't imagine what a pain it is to try to put paper over chalkboards. It's starting to look a little better...except, I don't know what I was thinking, but I put up ORANGE paper all over the front wall. I'm more of a cool, calm colors person. Blues, greens, but definitely not orange. I don't think that's going to calm anyone down!

DonorsChoose

Last school year, I put together a project through DonorsChoose.org that allowed me to become the proud owner of an LCD projector. I recently received the August newsletter from DonorsChoose and they have a special offer for Detroit teachers. If you submit a project by Aug. 25 that is $500 or less, it WILL become fully funded by November 1st. Isn't that an amazing opportunity?

There are a lot of things that I could use in my classroom, but one thing in particular came to mind right away. Check out my project here!

Disaster Area

Check out the "progress" in the basement. Doesn't look like progress, I know. I can't wait until there aren't dusty footprints in my house anymore.

On one hand, it's been a great week for them to start work on the basement again since I have the week off. On the other hand, it's my only week off until we have to report back to school and I am a prisoner in my own home answering questions about drywall and pipes. Boo. I can't wait until I don't have to listen to saws and power tools anymore. Will that day ever come??? From the main room, you can now gaze into the bathroom and shower:

Tigers

Last night, the Tigers played Seattle and we were there in the best seats I've ever had. It was fun being so close to the field. The game itself was a little slow for my taste and as usual, I watched people and listened to random conversations around me more than I watched the game. I try, I really try to pay attention to the actual game but it never happens. Gil was already downtown for work, so I met him there and we got a drink and some food at the Elwood Bar and Grill Besides the with a few of Gil's coworkers. I will be the first to say that I can be no fun at all at sporting events because I get whiny when it's too hot or too cold and yesterday was pushing 90 degrees. But thank goodness, our seats were in the shade.

There was a big group from Gil's work at the game for an event, but we ended up with tickets much closer to the field and away from everyone else! By the end of the game, we were ready to go because we were being dive bombed by bugs every few seconds crazy bugs with a death wish, it was a fun night in Detroit.
And oh yeah, the Tigers won, in case you were wondering!

Finally...

After a lot of waiting for the insurance company, work on the basement begins again today. They will start repairing the tile today and hopefully the laundry room will be finished this week so we can do laundry in our own home again!! After the tile is repaired, they will tear out the drywall that got wet and replace it. After that, it should be all done and ready for clean up. I CAN'T wait to move all the junk down to the basement! Mostly, I can't wait for the guest room not to look like this:


Atrocious, I know.

We were in Ann Arbor this weekend and stopped by World Market I had already thought of what I wanted for the wall decor in the dining room and found exactly what I was picturing at World Market. We bought two of the handmade Wood and Iron Panels which actually proved to be quite tricky to hang. We finally got them on the walls, mostly even, and realized that one panel was about 1/2 an inch longer than the other. I guess that's what happens when you buy handmade, but it looks strange. Now we have to figure something else out. But I still love them...what do you think? I also really loved these Concave Iron Leaf Panels. Maybe those would be easier to use?

Rainy Saturday, Muggy Sunday

Saturday we spent a very lazy day at home watching the second season of Whale Wars (I love that show!). We woke to rumbling thunder and the monsoon rains lasted all day. Here was the view from our porch. It looked like this most of the day:

We tried breakfast at Nello's Eatery...pretty good omelettes. Saturday night we went to dinner and a movie. Farmington Hill's Civic Theater plays slightly old movies for $2.50. Good deal!

We woke up Sunday to super muggy weather and rain coming in the window. It's sunny and hot out now and very, very, very, very humid!
This morning when we walked into the kitchen, we found that our previously very yellow bananas are protesting the muggy weather:


Ever seen a banana peel itself?

This Time Last Year...

This time last year, we were flying over gorgeous water...

This time last year, we were basking in the glow of our newlywed status...

This time last year, we were relaxing by the pool everyday...

This time last year, my favorite spot was laying around the beach beds...

...and the ocean.

This time last year, we were sweaty...really, really sweaty while we explored the ruins


...and made new friends.

This time last year, we were eating dessert after every meal. :)

...and feeling pretty good about it!

This year, we will look forward to future vacations!!!!!





P.S. Thanks to everyone who voted and left comments. We're going with the lovely green tile. Spa-like, don't you think??