Sweet Sunday Morning Pictures

Sunday morning nursery happenings.  Sarah and Bronner were the only ones there, but I think they had a good time.  We all had a good time.  There was a new bracelet kit to play with and a Grinch puzzle, a movie playing on the TV, and a short nap for Bronner.

We missed Tyler who was visiting relatives in Kentucky with his Dad and Grandfather.  I bet that was a fun trip.

Sarah was alternately being a baby and a baby kitten, so the bottle was there in most of the pictures.

(I tried correcting his red eyes, but it's much cuter this way).

Whitney's hair is just too much a temptation for Bronner.

Sweet girls (or girl and kitten).

It wouldn't be a photo session with Bronner without at least one picture of "the look."   This is what you get when you're about a second too late to capture the smile.

This happened yesterday.  Cranberries and toasted almonds....

Must mean cranberry cookies.

 Yummy.  I had to hide most of them in the pantry so Elise will have plenty when she gets here tonight.

Here's the Christmas card from Sherry's family - Najla, Ryan, and Emma.  She was born on Thanksgiving Day, so I guess she is 1 month old now.  So sweet.

Elise's plane will get in around 4:00 this afternoon.  We'll have barbecue tomorrow for lunch and maybe eat out somewhere tomorrow night - or maybe not.  Tuesday is Les Miserables and home for more barbecue.  And then Wednesday Elise goes back to Texas.  Unusual Christmas this year, but we'll mange to make it fun.

Tile Man

I may have mentioned a couple or a hundred times how bad the tile in the kitchen looks.  It was bad when we moved, and I tried different things for cleaning it, different concoctions sure to magically clean that stained grout.  But I couldn't tell any difference after scrubbing.

I was ready to call it quits and either hire a professional tile cleaner or even replace it.  But Mike had a lot of success with the bathroom tiles and wanted to give his way a try.

This is what it looked like last week.

The lighter spots are where the damaged tiles were replaced.

This is a clean floor.  It's just that the tiles were so stained that mopping or scrubbing wouldn't touch them.

This is what I see when I walk into the room today.

And the breakfast room.

Cleaned, scraped, cleaned some more and then painted.  He's actually upset with me that I didn't wait until he's cleaned them better and put on the sealer, but I needed something short to write today.

They almost don't look like tile in the pictures, but in person, you can see the grout a little better, but it's nice grout, evenly colored and clean looking.

Here's a before closeup of the worst tile.

We've tried to imagine what could have been dropped numerous times on this hard tile to do this kind of damage.  Just actual pits and chips in the tile.  The grout is now clean, but the touchup with the grout paint will come tomorrow and kind of fun (the tile man says).

This happened yesterday also.

Goodbye to the old dishwasher.  It just stopped working.  It was awful looking when I moved here, and I hoped for the first year that it would break while we had the 1-year home warranty.  But it didn't, and we've put up with it.

So after a few days of talking about it, we just walked into Lowe's and picked out the cheapest one that had good Consumer Reports ratings.  I think Whirlpool.

The two guys came and made short work of it.

In hindsight, I would have picked black or stainless steel since this one is a different white than the cabinets.  Plain Jane.

But nice and new and clean.  And surprisingly quiet, even though that doesn't matter that much.

Those counter tops are interesting, but they're next.  If they can't be cleaned, they'll have to go.

Playing with my New Camera

My good old Panasonic Lumix bit the dust in Yakima.  It spit out a few more pictures but then just died.

So I got a nice Christmas present yesterday with a new one as close to the old one as possible.  It's all shiny and new, and I'm not even scared of it.  My pictures will be just as odd as they were with the old one.

Therefore, my December Friday night in pictures.  A rare cool night in the midst of this spring weather we're having.  I don't like cold weather, but I do like a fire.

 

Can't argue with this setup.  I didn't know I wanted a laptop, but I find out I'm enjoying it.  I got it big enough to use for work, and it took awhile to get used to balancing it, but it works nicely.  I do appreciate the big screen.

Just sitting here "talking"with Elise about Christmas plans. And looking at Pinterest. I doubt I'll make this, but it looks interesting



Stella enjoys the fire a lot. She wouldn't be a cat if she didn't.

 

Darby, on the other hand, enjoys sleeping behind the chair so there willl be less chance of being asked if she wants to go out. The answer to that will always me NO.

 

 

 

 Exciting new shipment of coffee came yesterday.  That should do me.

 

 

After getting a few cups of mocha from Starbucks, I thought I would try this.

 

 

And I like it a lot.  This is my last one unfortunately, but I might try it again.

 

 

This is a gift that Mama received from her sister-in-law.  Looks pretty, but I decided not to taste them.  Right now.

This is how the kitchen counter looks right now.  Not really the usual Christmas decor but will be appreciated a lot later.  Mama is not as thrilled about it though.  She keeps asking when it will be finished.  She  bought some candy for a Christmas candy dish but didn't put it in the kitchen.  We found it on the mantle. 

We still having a dishwasher installation take place in the next few days.  And the front door is being sanded and readied for staining.

It makes me exhausted just sitting here typing all this activity.  I might go looking for chocolate.

Mainly Pictures

Just to help me remember.

 Unfortunately, I forgot to document where these pictures were taken.  I think Nebraska.  Mike thought to take a picture of the Welcome to Utah sign when we stopped at a vewing point.

 

 

Utah is beautiful and one of my favorite states.  We stayed in this same hotel in Boise on the way there and on the way back.  I like the cozy sitting areas in the lobbies, especially since this is where we saw our first rain and snow.

 

 

 

The famous Boise Lamp monument

 

 Then into Oregon and Washington with bunches of vineyards and orchards. 

 One last look at my excellent Yakima smoked hickory bacon potato soup and clam chowder.

 Right after this, we came to Snoqualmie Pass and the blizzard.  I think I already did pictures of those.