Christmas is only four days away. It seems like a lifetime ago when being this close to Christmas felt like being on the threshold of heaven's gates. Does that feeling come back when you have kids of your own?

I do enjoy watching my niece open gifts. Actually, I enjoy teasing her along with her uncle and dad before we open presents. It's a joy only an adult can know. The looks Laura sneaks at the tree start the second she enters Nana and Grandpa's house. She barely gets her obligatory hugs in before she stands by the tree pretending to look at ornaments. The part of dinner that turns from eating and complementing Mom to lingering and grabbing a small helping of this and another bite of that is when the serious case of antsy strikes Laura. She is SO helpful at the end of the meal; rather she is helpful at trying to usher in the end of the meal because she knows we can't open presents with dirty dishes in the kitchen. "Are you done? Can I take your plate?" "Nana, where does this go?" "Mom, can you wash this off so it can go in the dishwasher?"
Ah, that's the best part of Christmas. I hope she likes the Cabbage Patch Doll we got her for Christmas. I can' believe they are back. So are My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Easybake Ovens! I'd much rather my niece play with a Cabbage Patch Doll than one of those Bratz dolls. How scary are those things? Those Bratz look like slutty little tramps. Gag.

We at least decorated our house this year for Christmas. Last year we didn't do a thing as we moved in and immediately left on vacation and got back days before Christmas. We got a Douglas Fir this year. It's a tad on the big side. We measured the space where it was going to go before we picked one out ~ we just went to the maximum size. And, being a full bushy tree makes the fit seem that much more snug. Ryan put indoor/outdoor LED lights on the tree. It's his job to put the lights on because when I put them on the tree I get angry and start swearing and ruin the festive spirit and Ryan has to bail me out anyway. He's the engineer so he can place the lights and I place the ornaments. But I digress. Indoor slash OUTDOOR lights on a tree. Can you say ugly? Did I mention they are the big bulbs? On the outside of the house they make it look like a gingerbread house, on the tree they make it look tacky. Ryan was so disgusted with my whining about our ugly tree that he offered to buy new lights and to re-decorate the tree. I told him no thanks; I enjoy telling people about our ugly tree. Those big lights on a tree bring back memories of some neighbors who put the big bulbs on their trees. They were hippies and smoked pot and lived in a dark house. Now when I see our tree I see hippies and pot.

Merry Christmas!

I can't sleep. I tried for 15 whole minutes to fall asleep. That didn't work so well. This evenings activities have not been conducive to aiding a restful night. I went for a walk/jog after work for 4 dc Talk songs, so 20 minutes. I took Kea and she actually slowed me down a little. She probably hasn't recovered from her weekend at Camp Monten (my in-laws house out in the sticks - they are very beautiful sticks over looking Hood Canal). I then read part of chapter 5 of Knowing God by JI Packer. I'm woefully behind in my readings and my bible study is going to be discussing the book on Thursday! Reading about the Trinity and other hangups people have about the Christian faith is not something that is going to lull me to sleep. So, I watched a great heathen show, Rockstar: Supernova. Talk about a contrast in thought and action. I started out my evening reading about salvation and redemption and the Word-word play on words that John has in the beginning of his epistle to watching Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro critique aspiring rockstars and bopping my head to a song about someone getting a new .45 and Sanchez had better watch out or, more appropriately listening to "Losing my Religion". Now I have all of this great music in my head, not all of you in my reading audience (Mom) would agree that the music in my head is great but it's there nonetheless and I have beside me, waiting to be read, Knowing God.
While I was reading the thoughts of one Mr. Packer the phone rang. It was a survey and would I like to participate? Me? Give my 2 cents worth? (By the way, I don't like that keyboards don't have the cent sign anymore. $.02 just doesn't do it for me). The survey man asked me a pop culture question. Bingo, I got it right. He then asked me another pop culture question. Again, I did not fail in my knowledge of trivial material. It was the third question that he asked that gave me a sinking feeling. It was a political question!!! I was taking part in a how-dumb-are-Americans? survey!!! It was an easy one though. What are the three branches of the US government. I think the survey guy was surprised when I answered correctly. Two more pop questions. I was getting embarrassed that the pop questions were so easy and I know more than one of my girlfriends would have bombed the pop questions. I missed one pop question (who was the American Idol winner in '06 - and I watched the show. I was happy that I honestly forgot who won). I missed two or three political questions - I didn't' know who was sworn in recently on the Supreme Court and I can't remember the other question I got wrong.
At the end of the survey I said I was embarrassed to have missed the questions that I did and the survey guy told me I actually did better than most people, I told him I was afraid of that.
Hmmm, sitting here and pouring my once racing thoughts into this blog had helped put me to sleep - hopefully you aren't nodding off.

We are making progress. At least that is what we are telling ourselves. The kitchen is done. Well, I need to paint the new sill and Ryan will install the trim. Then it will be done. It's nice to have a place to cook and a place to clean dishes other than the bathtub or creepy utility sink in the basement.
The project that consumed this weekend was the fireplace insert. Last weekend Ryan hauled himself up onto the roof a handful of times to put in flexible vent pipes. I helped him by sticking my arm up the flue to pull the tubes in so he can connect them to the fireplace insert. This week it is about getting the mantle ready.
We bought a mantle off Craigs list a few months ago. It will be pretty once it is painted but right now it is dark brown and looks like it was built in 1960. Kind of ugly. As always there were a few bumps along the way and the design changed. To keep the mantle from getting too hot we had to keep it a safe distance from the insert and to keep Ryan from having to dismantle the entire brick fireplace surround to have access to the gas he had to place the insert out further, closer to the hearth. Now the mantle is turning into a massive structure. We stopped and looked at it this afternoon and thought that the scale was off. Small living room, huge fireplace. So Ryan thought to tie in the fireplace and surround he would make window seats to flank the unit. The fireplace installation gave birth to a new project, built in window seats. He made one in the West Seattle house but this one will be a little different. How, we don't know yet. But I'm certain that it will be cute.

Here is my final post on little Snickerdoo, aka Snickerdoodle, Snicks, Snickers, bunny bun bun buns. The wee little thing died Sunday, June 25th; she was 5 years old. I miss the little rabbit. I waited to post something because I was too upset to think about her for the length of time it would take for me to write this. I'm glad I made my previous post on the bunny, just a month before she died. If you think I'm being silly over 'just a rabbit' I bought her at the pet store when she was just a baby, only a few weeks old and I've had her longer than the cats and dog. She was my first pet as an adult on my own. When I would visit Ryan on the weekends I would bring her with me to Seattle. Then she made the move from Vancouver to West Seattle and finally to Beacon Hill. She definitely had a personality shift since being given some freedom to roam in the yard, she really mellowed out. Although she had a luxurious pad in the other house this last home was definitely the best habitat for a rabbit, some might say the best rabbitat. Ha. Having a fenced backyard was a great change from the small front yard we had in West Seattle where she could only be if on a harness, which she hated, and watched over every second. I wish I had a close up of her face because the fur above her eyes turned really dark, almost black; it looked like she was constantly scowling. I didn't realize how much the color of their fur changes - they are constantly changing colors. She was a light brown when I got her, hence her name, Snickerdoodle. So, that is all for Snicks. Farewell, my sweet little bunny.

I cooked tonight!!! It was a little after 8 pm after Ryan finished setting up the gas for the cooktop. I never thought I would enjoy cutting cold chicken as much as I did. The food wasn't that great, the chicken was a little dry and I didn't have a key ingredient to make teriyaki, namely teriyaki sauce but I COOKED IT IN MY OWN KITCHEN so it was DELICIOUS!!! Not a culinary masterpiece but I don't really care.
Isn't it so pretty? Now we just have finishing touches left, like touch up paint, quarter round, molding around the doors and window. Then it will be done, done, done!
Last night I washed dishes in the sink for the first time. The first thing I did with my freshly washed cute little glass that was passed down from my grandma Mae was pour myself a celebratory drink of my favorite, Bailey's Irish Cream. That was a nice way to celebrate my marginal role in the development of the kitchen. That is not to detract from my role in destroying the original kitchen. I can swing a mean sledge hammer but I'm not so skilled with the plumbing and electrical work.
I hung some pots and pans from the pot rack tonight. I think it makes the kitchen look smaller and a little cluttered so I'm not sure if they are going to stay up there. We can always hang cute utensils up there instead.

I have been letting Snicks out in the yard on the weekends. I've felt bad relegating her and her ginormous cage to the back yard so I set her up with her little nesting box (which doubles as a cat carrier on Vet days) and a cage with the door propped open so just she can enter. I saw a raccoon in the neighborhood the other day and figured I should do a little more to keep the rabbit from becoming a snack. Wouldn't ya know it, the fat, lazy rabbit doesn't take advantage of her freedom! She just sits and eats and eats and eats. The only exercise she gets is a from hopping away from me when I try to pick her up. She'll stay put if I just pet her; she's even started to shove her head under my hand if I stop scratching her head. It's pretty cute. We could get a few more rabbits and not have to mow the yard. Or fertilize it, either, for that matter. Unfortunately she's not discriminate in her munchings. She took out a really cool plant, a tall stalk that had yet to flower. She also likes the mini rose bush and some other ground cover. I moved my potted vegetables away from her hopping radius so hopefully my tomatoes, peas and cucumbers are safe. Yes, tomatoes, peas and cucumbers; look out Farmer Brown! Snick's is 5 years old this spring! She's got 5-7 mores years of hop left in her. Ryan and I had only been dating a few months when I bought her. When Ryan came to Vancouver we would take her to the park and let her hop around on her lead. Taking a rabbit out in public on a leash is a great way to meet people. Or give strangers a good story to tell their friends, at least.

From this to that

This is my first post and I'm not quite sure how it's going to turn out. I think this will be a great way to keep family and friends up to date so I'll just start right in. I have not cooked a meal since December. Well, I did make pancakes in an electric dutch oven and used plastic forks as spatulas once. That was tricky; gently sliding the fork underneath all the way around and then carefully flipping it without tearing it or melting my 'spatulas'. So, here it is, the month of May and our 'kitchen' finally had dry wall installed. Thursday we painted the kitchen; an earthy yellow color. I loathe painting. So many people enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor instantly so painting is a rewarding job for them. Don't get me wrong, I like to see progress as much as the next person but since I'm sloppy with the paint I see the fruit of my labor for several days after - on my arms, in my hair, on my glasses. Despite my dread of the paint tray and roller painting this kitchen had to be the most satisfying of all paint jobs because it was the easiest, the floor was hideous so there was no need for drop cloths, Ryan painted the few inches next to the ceiling so all I really had to do was paint large squares of drywall and not be concerned about painting the wrong surface. It was great. I still have yellow elbows and tiny droplets in the crevices of my glasses. Now we have cabinets installed, and the doors and pulls, too! I installed a lot of the pulls on Sunday but screwed up royally. I don't know what I was thinking. I even pulled out the directions on how to do it and looked at the little picture. Instead of putting a block of wood on the inside of the door to 'catch' the drill bit and prevent the wood from chipping I put the block of wood on the outside and drilled all the way through. So the insides are a bit chewed up, but they are the insides. It also helps that Ryan noticed a lot of the doors were not flush when they were closed - very askew. So we are sending back about 10 doors. This is one time I'm glad Mills Pride sucks, their shoddy product means we can start over with the pulls on most of the doors. (And by we I mean Ryan). He was pretty good about leaving me alone after realizing what I did to the cabinets. I think I clued him when I snapped, "Don't make fun of me! Leave me alone!" And sped off down 4th avenue to get home, he was at work while I screwed up, pun intended. Countertops are going to be installed on the 30th! After that we'll just have to install toe kicks and replace the doors that Mills Pride is shipping to us. That's when all of my excuses for the last 6 months must come to an end. Or I make up new ones. Excuses? Excuses for what? Well, eating junk food. It is very difficult to maintain a normal diet with no kitchen, no pots and pans, no dishes, a few utensils and no place to wash up. (And no desire to set up shop in the bathroom or basement). Now when the kitchen is done I will have to eat good foods, and I will have to cook them, and clean the dishes afterwards! Part of me wants to go crazy in what I hope is my last kitcehnless week at McDonald's. Ice cream, burgers and fries, oh my! Once this damn kitchen is done I'm going to have to become a domestic diva. Cooking, baking and cleaning to my hearts content. If I was nutty about having a clean kitchen before I had a new kitchen I can only imagine what kind of freak I'm going to be as soon as I get my kitchen back.