Miss Ginger Turns 14!

When we adopted Mister Beans and Miss Ginger they were the children of a divorce...but arrived with AKC papers, every vet record, and even pictures of them as puppies! Who knew refugees were so pedigreed! Anyway, June 30 is Miss Ginger's birthday, and she turned 14. It's not really fair to call her a short-haired red anymore, as she's mostly white these days, but it's still impossible to wear her out. Happy Birthday G!

For some reason she's taken to not only sleeping under our bed, but between a pillow and our bed. Whatever floats your boat, little dog.

To celebrate her big day, she'll even have a sip of cabernet every now and then, when we're sharing. Beanie was more of a Guinness man...

A Day of Play!

On Saturday we didn't do a bunch of schoolwork, and we didn't destroy anything in our house. Instead, we played! We rode bikes to our new favorite breakfast spot, we bought new tubes and tires for my old green bike "Babar," and we took Miss G on a little hike at the park. We neglected to bring her collapsible water bowl, so she was gracious enough to drink from a baseball cap. Gross! But it was nice to play all day!

The Golf Tournament!

Well, we didn't come in first, but Team Publications didn't come in last either in Friday's company golf tournament. It was in the mid-90s, and we thought we might melt right there on the course. And the beer cart was nowhere to be found, so we had to use our drink tickets at the pro shop...but we had a good time, got some exercise...and you know the old adage...a hot afternoon of golfing beats working any day.

Golf...the only sport for which I own special shoes!


















Larry, my husband, and Brandy at the Warm Springs course.


















The men resting in the shade while the ladies tee off.


















It was a scramble, and believe it or not, this was our best ball. :)

Marmot Season is Over!

Softball season came to an end Monday night, with the final Marmot game! While I spent most games gabbing with other spectators or doing my homework reading, I'm pretty sure they won slightly more games than they lost. My husband mostly played third base, but pitched some, and was the third-base coach a lot. Big thanks for playing in my stead, and representing the family!

rounding first, bringing the guy on third in and winning the game!






















The final Marmot huddle. My husband is the one flanked by the coach's kids in green and white.

A Visit from the Willitses!

Aisha and Jason and their dog Kedzie are in Idaho for the week, vacationing and enjoying the spate of warm weather we've been having! As Aisha has already been on the house tour, we gave Jason the tour, which this time of year requires a LOT of time in the very chilly basement. After that, we were off to the Highlands pub for dinner, then to the backyard of the estate for jibber-jabber and a rousing game of fetch in an attempt to wear out the manic Kedzie. Miss Ginger, as usual, was having no part of running to get a ball. So nice to see the Willitses!

Miss Ginger protecting us from the very excitable Kedzie, who likes to play ball on his vacation. Note the large piles of "lath" behind us -- from the bathroom demo!

After a rainshower, we moved into the garage. (Kedzie is nearly worn out here!)

Elisa's Leadership Award Party!

My manager, Elisa, won a big fancy leadership award from the company, so we threw her a really fun party! We had twinkly party lights, a sparkly glitter tiara, and tiny plastic champagne glasses (though only sparking cider products in them). Marie even came from Portland for the event! I made a bunch of silly decorations involving putting Elisa's head on other bodies. It was good times!

Working hard at my desk!

Ridiculous decorations!

Brandy, Elisa, Me, and Marie!

Good bones, bad skin.

Bathroom sink before. Stupid sink. Stupid vanity. Stupid mirror. We are gladly remodeling the lone bathroom in our house. We knew when we bought the house that it had great bones, and we both loved the funny and quirky little nooks and crannies, but knew we'd have to put some "sweat equity" into it. And instead of doing at the end of our stay, like we did with our first house, we have decided to do it at the start of our stay, so we can enjoy it.























Sink after. Hard to brush your teeth. Apparently (based on the green) our house was either built or remodeled with "salvaged" materials!?!

Shower: Before and After

Not only will we remove the fixtures, we will also remove the surround, and replace it with....tile? We haven't yet decided. Though we did order the corner vanity that we have been eyeing. Love that Internet.

Shower before...























Shower: After

Working Hard.

Sooooooo many options...which sink/showerhead combo defines me as a person? Get to pickin', Ikea Boy.

My husband did most of the hard work. Thus the fancy respirator and spaceman suit.

Clean-up crew on duty. Much dust in the air?