Day 14: the fun conitnues

So, it seems like an eternity since we started this fun little remodel.  Though there aren't many pictures to be shown, a lot has been done.  The electrical work is finished, which is a miracle!  Most of it Sam was able to do himself.  I'm sure that will save us a lot of money.  So, I didn't take pictures of the day to day work on the wiring.  Not all that much to look at, I promise.  Yesterday the construction guy came over to start putting our house back together.  Yay!  He thinks he'll be done by Friday (in a couple days)...I think it'll be great if he's done by Friday the 11th of June.

See!  Our can lights are in (wired by Sam) and we have a ceiling!  Yay!

And this was a wall that we tore down. (Kicking myself for not getting before and after pictures of this wall.  It had some amazing texture on it.  A Quarter inch thick in places.  We decided it'd be easier to build the whole wall from scratch than try to sand the texture off.)  So the wall is half built up again already.  Happy day.

Day 3: umm...

So there really hasn't been much change the last couple of days.  I know I thought it'd be awesome to do daily pictures and updates, but it kinda looks the same.  I'll post a few pictures and point out the changes for you.  It seems like they are a little stuck on the electrical changes that need to take place.  Yeah, our kitchen was, apparently, the central location for all the wiring in our whole house.  You think I'm joking?!?  Not so much.  So, currently things are at a stand still. 

This week has been a fun one, however.  Got my tires rotated today and had to buy two new tires, even though it has been less than two years since I bought my tires.  My car's alignment was pretty jacked up...got that fixed and am looking forward to another repair.  Something to do with a bent something or another that has to be replaced!  Good times.  Next week should be better.  Only 7 more work days til summer vacation...WAHOO!!!

See the fancy new can lights they've put up?  Not that they actually work right now...but hey, I guess it's progress.  And I think they tore the ceiling off since the last post.

Remember those dry wall patches in the entry hall way?  Those are being mudded and will eventually look like the rest of the wall.  Cool! 

So, yeah, that's basically all the progress I've seen the last couple of days.  Might be taking more meals at our parents' houses the next couple of weeks.  It's gonna take a while before things are less dirty (dusty) and more usable.  Hopefully, in the end, it'll all be worth it....

Day 1: Demolition

So, we are having our 6'11" high kitchen ceiling vaulted to match the rest of our living/dining room area.  They started work yesterday.  They got most of the demolition done...I think.  From what I hear, that's the hardest part.  I hope that's so.  Although, as they uncovered the walls that were there and the ceiling, I think they found some wires that may make the electrical more difficult than anticipated.  Isn't that always so???  Honestly, when we got the bid, I figured it would be more than they quoted us, and maybe take longer then they said.  But, we're okay with them working late, so maybe they will get it done within the week (still not holding my breath).

Here are some before pictures:

We are super sad to be losing our completely useless loft.  Well, at least I think Michael is a little sad that we are taking his room and making it part of our kitchen.  Sorry Michael...but I don't think Nora would like to live there with you.

And some pictures from the end of day 1:

Lazy Days

I feel so totally lazy today.  I need to go to the gym but so far I've just been lying in my bed.  In fact, I even ate my dinner in my bed.  That's how lazy I feel.  So many things I should be doing but instead I'm blogging...

It's still cold outside.  Fortunately it's not snowing.  It's just super windy which makes me really cold.  Here's a couple of my favorite things from the week:

• the first thing is the grand opening of Winco!  It's just down the street from my house.  I am a huge fan of Winco and have been since my mission in Oregon...so long ago....  I didn't brave going to Winco during the day Monday, but Sam and i made a trip that night at 11:30.  It was great!  The lines were short and we got all the deals and, of course, some of my favorites from their amazing bulk section.  Man, I love that place.  It makes me feel like I'm in Oregon when really I'm here in Utah.  I forgot how much I love it.

• secondly, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."  I've been wanting to read these books for a while, but the first one was always checked out from the library.  (I can't read books out of order, so even though the third or fourth one would be in, I never got it.)  I knew it would be an easy read, what I didn't know was how funny it would be!  It totally made me laugh out loud.  Good times!  It was kind of nice to take a little break from reading "Lord of the Rings."  I would honestly recommend those books to anyone, although I've only read the first two.  It makes me want to see the movie.

• last, but not least, is merely the fact that I've had good gym attendance this week, excepting today...but I'll go...eventually.  I've even been really good about doing cardio, even though it depresses me that it's too cold to run outside AND it's May 6th.  Guess you can't have it all.

It was snowing off and on all day today.  That makes me really sad.

Random thoughts...

What happened to the nice spring weather?  Good thing our "mini-reunion" was not this week.  So cold!  As I was walking into work today, I almost got blown over.  No joke.  The wind was so strong and cold.  I thought I was done with my winter coats for the season...nope.

What's with people my age having 4 kids?  It makes me feel old...I am old.  But still...it's crazy.  I guess they got married young...something I never had a desire to do.

This year is my ten year high school reunion...that's weird.  I really AM old.  Neat-o.

I just hope the weather warms up....and the price for flights goes down...and that I don't die from carbon monoxide poisoning.  Now is the perfect time to test our, supposedly, "perfectly in order" heater.

And anyone who cares can thank Tracy for my blog remodel.  She wanted to make me look cool or something...at least on the web...

Photic Sneezing Update

My mom is a photic sneezer...that explains it. Dominant trait...about half my siblings have it. Makes sense.

Oh, and I loved that the comments on my last post started with T saying I was a freak and then everyone else said they, or someone they knew had it! So funny!

Photic Sneezing

I, along with 30% of people, suffer from photic sneezing. You probably have no idea what that is. Basically it's when you sneeze because light gets in your eyes. For me, it's really just the sun.

Here's what i learned from the world's most reliable source, Wickipedia:

"Photic sneeze reflex is an autosomal dominant hereditary trait which causes sneezing (due to naso-ocular reflex [1]) when suddenly exposed to bright light, possibly many times consecutively. It is also referred to as photic sneeze response, sun sneezing, photogenic sneezing, the photosternutatory reflex, being photo sensitive, allergic to the sun, ACHOO syndrome, and Achooism,[citation needed] named after the sound made when sneezing, along with its related backronym Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome. The condition affects 18-35% of the human population.[2]

The first mention of the phenomenon is probably in the later work attributed to Aristotle (Problems, book XXXIII).[3]"

Hereditary...interesting. I think one of my sisters has it, I don't know about my parents or other siblings. I just want to say, "Yes, it is a real thing."

I always said I was allergic to the sun!

It's been warm this past week...well after it stopped snowing. I hope it stays that way. Warm. I like the Spring.

Ammendment I

I totally forgot the most exciting part of our spring break! I can't believe it...

- we felt an earthquake. It was about 300 miles away in Mexico, at the epicenter it was measured to be 6.9. It lasted for over one minute...cool huh?

One more thing, but less exciting:
- the second time we were at the beach we saw a couple dolphins.

I think with the addition of those two things, I have now satisfactorily covered spring break.

Spring Break

So this year for spring break, Sam and I went to California. It was a good time...overall. We stayed with Sam's sister, thanks! His nephew is super cute. Loves to scowl at people...it's so funny. He'll totally scowl at you and then laugh and smile.

Here are a few quick highlights of our trip:

- learned a new, and kinda funky way to play rook...I was called a "Rook Purist."
- ate home-made fried ice-cream...a delicious treat.
- went to the beach a couple of times...the water was cold, but still fun and beautiful.
- went to the fashion district, very interesting...they sell a lot of tight jeans and shirts, purses, shoes, and yes they even have lingerie stores...skank-a-licious...we bought nothing.
- stumbled into the fabric district...much more my speed. Crazy amounts of fabrics there, crazy prices. It was great! There were quite a few items that tempted my there, but I refrained and only walked away with serger thread for me and my mom...only a dollar a spool. (Talk to me in person and I'll rave about the fabric district for 20 minutes. I told Sam we're going every time we go to Cali from now on...lucky him!)
- I finally ate the infamous Tito's Tacos, pretty good...a Rosenthal tradition.
- drove by Bubbi's house...I hear it looks the same.
- and we watched the Biggest Loser, of course I've been keeping up with the season...yay for voting Melissa off!

That's my spring break in a nut shell. Ironically, the only picture we took was when Sam's car hit 100,000 miles on the drive home. Yes, I was lazy when it came to taking pictures. Oh and thanks for dinner, Mare! It was great! Oh, I guess the last thing to mention is that Megan performed a 15 minute concert on her "drum set," including such hits as, "Santa Wants You to Love."

Heater Saga

So, we finally got the work on our old GE heater done. I guess it wasn't work on it so much as just replacing it completely. Well, it did get replaced, and so our basement is warm. Unfortunately, our upstairs is still cold.

I'll be brief in my ranting. I did yell at the company at least one more time before anything got done. They came at 8:30 one night to replace it. They got it half done and then Sam and I went out of town. They were scheduled to come back monday and do it...apparently scheduled appointments mean nothing. Oh wait, I knew that. They DID call us tuesday night to see if they could come by...it was at 11:30 pm. Like we would want them coming at that time of night to work on it. Genius pantses!

And they actually came wednesday afternoon to finish the job. Yes, Sam missed more work. But it's done. Now if we could only get the Lennox fixed. We did call the warranty to have another company come to check the Lennox. they almost sent CDM over again!!! Seriously?!? Hopefully we'll have better luck with this other company. Such fun!

So, I went to a high school to interpret for a meeting. When I walk in the lady in charge says, "What grade is your student in?"

Heater Issues

For those of you that don't know, we've been having major issues with our heaters and even bigger issues trying to get them fixed. Thanks to our home warranty it's relatively cheap for us to get them fixed, it's just a matter of dealing with possibly the worst company ever.

After not showing up for TWO appointments we had set to get it fixed today (this is after a lot of crap we've had to deal with...paperwork not being sent in, inaccurate diagnoses, etc.), I decided it was time for me to step in (up til now, Sam got to deal with them). Sam had taken the day off work to be here for them to come. They told us it would be an all day project. An hour and a half after they were supposed to be here, Sam called them to see what was going on. They fired a technician and so they weren't able to come at the scheduled time. Did they bother to call and let us know that they wouldn't make it? Oh no! Even thought they said they knew they wouldn't make it at 9 this morning. So the rescheduled for the afternoon and Sam went to work. When I got home from work (7:30 pm), they still hadn't come...or called. So, I decided to give them a call.

I can be pretty mean when I feel like it's necessary. Today was a long day. I was tired, grumpy, and hungry. Poor, poor lady who answered the phone when I called to complain....

Warm Weather

Today was such a nice day! Yay! I got to go for my first outside run...and I made it a long one. It was so nice to actually go somewhere on my run instead of trying to keep my balance on the treadmill at the gym as I watch whatever movie they happen to be playing at the time. And they do not always pick running-friendly movies. Ever tried running to "Bedtime Stories?"

I don't know if you have ever run in a "cardiocinema," but it is not the easiest thing. They make it all dark and have a movie playing on a big screen. It took me a while to get used to running in that type of a setting. It makes me totally off balance. I think it might be caused by the glaring red lights on the treadmill contrasting with the darkness of the room. At first it made me sick to try to run in there with the red lights in my peripheral vision. Eventually I got used to it, but there were plenty of times that I almost fell down due to a loss of balance...so fun!

Just glad it's actually warm enough to run outside again...at least for now.