the first couple of days out west...more to come

Our Home

more pictures at Hycliffe

Pics from Hycliffe

4 days and counting...

until we leave for the wild, wild West!!  We have been VERY busy painting and finishing up the bathroom, unpacking and putting away, and landscaping our yard.  I promise to post some updated pictures before we leave on our vacation!!

Johnny is headed to the Phish show in Asheville, NC with Mitch this Tuesday (I wish I were going too!!!!) and then we depart early Friday morning for Colorado. 

Headed to the grocery now to find meals for the campfire...

Remodeling

the bathroom with vanity, toilet, and shower gone...

some of what was gutted out

the closet added to our room
closet closer up
our kitchen backsplash
getting there slowly but surely

More painting

Painting the living room....almost done.

Spending time at our new house

Covering up the vents for all of the dust to come
The hallway is done!!
Before pictures of the bathroom...

We officially closed on our house on April 24th (the weekend Megan (plus 1) and Bob came in to town).  We plan on moving on May 23rd.  We have been busy painting the kitchen and hall, and picking out tile for the downstairs bathroom and back-splash in the kitchen.  Changing the colors and adding detail here and there makes the house truly feel like ours, unique in its own way. I have forgotten to take a camera the past two times we have gone to work on the house, but I promise to post some pics soon!!!  I want to take some before and after shots of our bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, before Gelu comes to work on the house.  Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far!! Mitch did a great job vacuuming, putting up painters tape and mowing our front yard.  Margaret cleaned the window panes and they look brand new!!!  Mom and I put some elbow grease into the cabinets and they look pristine....almost...(Mrs. Brumleve must have burned a lot of candles or used her fireplace because it was almost as if black smudge marks we all over the white cabinets).  Mom also mopped the entire upstairs..what a job! Dad helped put up a fan in the kitchen,  Grampies cleaned our furnace, Grannie cleaned out the refrigerator and all of the handles in the kitchen, and Grannie and Grampies both cleaned the AC unit...it looks so much better now!!! 

Thank you all so much!!

Also, thank you to Gary for helping us find a contractor and designing our bathroom and closet.

We are looking foward to moving day:)

Earth Day

Johnny was asked to write an essay for Earth Day on Kentucky's energy future.  Here is the link where you can find his essay...click on his name to read it!

http://www.jcpsky.net/Programs/mcconnections/GlobalConnect/GlobalConnect/News.html

We went hiking on Saturday in Jefferson Memorial Forest.  It was a 4.5 mile hike up and down huge ravines, over tiny creeks, and thru singing pines.  The red buds were in full bloom and painted little  patches of color in the woods. We spotted all kinds of wild flowers...trout lilly, spring beauty, anemone, blood root, trillium, tooth wart, may apples, and blue phlox to name a few. The bees sure were happy and pollination was in full force.  Here are some pics.

Kentucky Spring

The smell of sweet lilac fills our porch as we rock away in the afternoon sun.  I never knew how much I loved lilac until now, and I now know wherever I live from this moment until the day I die, I want a lilac bush to greet me in the spring in all of its grandeur.  Johnny plays the banjo well now after weeks of practicing and neighbors turn their heads and smile as they walk by our place.  Johnny says we will have a dogwood winter.  Sure enough, our dogwood is about to bloom and the forecast is calling for snow this upcoming week. And that is a Kentucky spring folks. Ah, the bluegrass state, my 'ole Kentucky home.

Bike Crashing 101

When clipped in to your bike pedals in heavy traffic at 6 pm here are some words of advice:

-wear bike gloves

-don't travel right on the wheel of your biking partner

-think of a plan before you need to cross 2 lanes to make it to your turn

-DON'T and I repeat DO NOT brace the entire weight of your fall with your hand/wrist as you smear along the pavement

-unclip very fast and remove your self and your bike from on-coming traffic

-walk home, it hurts too much and the frame of your tire might be bent

Yes, I had my first bike crash this past week.  

Besides a very sore thumb muscle and wrist, a leg and hand with road burn, and a bent front wheel, I think I pulled through rather well.  

Gotta get my bike fixed for the warm days ahead. 

House on Hycliffe

Johnny and I did it!  We put an offer down on a house in St. Matthew's and the sellers accepted our second offer!  The pictures that were posted on the real estate website were already taken off the web, so unfortunately I can't post any pictures to our blog.  The house is a neat little brick cottage with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The kitchen is my favorite part of the house...very open and inviting with plenty of windows.  Our closing date is set for April 24th but we probably won't officially move in until the end of May (our lease on S. Bayly goes through May). 

The new address (pending everything continues on smoothly) will be:

3404 Hycliffe Ave

Louisville, KY 40207

Shopping for homes

It has been a busy two weeks for Johnny and me.  We are starting the process of looking for a home. There is a lot to learn about buying a home...and getting a loan.  We meet with our first loan officer tomorrow after work.  Once we can get an idea of what kind of loan we can comfortably afford, then we will be able to look more realistically.  It's pretty neat to think that sometime this year, we will own a home!  Saturday we are going to look at a house on Hycliffe Ave in St. Matthew's.  From the pictures on the internet it seems like a great home...we'll see after we get a real look.

Little Charlie

Last night I got to hang out with our neighbor's 8-month-old for 5 hours.  I am not calling it babysitting because it was anything but "sitting".  Charlie is the cutest little thing ever.  He is mostly all smiles and big brown eyes.  For the first 30 min I was there, Courtney (mom) showed me every little detail and went over Charlie's typical routine.  Feeding him was pretty easy except he really did not like the mashed up cauliflower Courtney picked out (it smelled pretty bad I must admit) and his face turned really red when I gave him the first bite.  Then, it looked like he was choking and he got it half way down and I frantically started patting his back in within seconds he chucked the bite of cauliflower out on to his tray, still coughing a little. Scared the crap out of me. Needless to say I didn't make him try anymore of that.  He did get down the organic carrots, baby soy food, and his bottle. His dessert was pink Amoxicillin for his ear infection. He loved it!

Next came a little bit of play time. Johnny brought over his banjo and kept Charlie's attention and wide eyes for quite some time. It was so cute. 

Bath time was most interesting. "Have you ever given a baby a bath?"---Courtney asked during my training...Huh? She wanted me to bathe him?  pep talk to myself...Okay, I could do that.  Charlie splashed and splashed, heels slamming the bottom of the tub...me trying to protect his heels while trying to wash him at the same time... And then drying him off was a process.  I grabbed him with both hands and picked him up out of the water, but then didn't have a hand to grab the towel.  So I am holding this dripping, slippery baby and I can't figure out how to get the towel around him. Somehow I let go of him with one hand, grab the towel, and swaddle him up.  He was probably thinking, "I'm cold! Why the heck didn't you think about what you were going to do BEFORE you pulled me out of the water. Mommy does such a better job".  The crocodile tears were gone as soon as I dried him off and put on his lotion and got his nighties on.  We dimmed the lights and turned on some soothing music that was pre-set by Courtney and in 5 minutes I had rocked Charlie to sleep in my arms. 

Ahh, success. And not a peep the rest of the night. 

I did run back upstairs before they got home to make sure he was still breathing. (i guess i felt this huge weight of this tiny little helpless being in my care). 

8 month olds are a lot of work..I really didn't realize it until last night. 

But, I can't wait to have my own someday.

And, I figured out (with the help of Courtney when she and Jeff got home) how to bundle a baby up after a bath while still holding them with two hands :)

here we go

well..the big moment is in approximately one hour:)

i'm getting my hair cut

its been long since freshman year of college...

oh, and today we also get to see bela fleck play with the abigail sparrow quartet at ear-x-tacy (a music store near our house)

we'll get there early to stake out a spot in the front row

i love intimate, free shows...acoustic of course

they are playing today as a warm-up and preview to their big show tomorrow at UofL, which JB gets to attend (I have to work).  i'm just glad to see them today.

Lights, Power, Action

YAY! We finally got our electricity back today.  It is such a novelty to have lights and warmth and to not have on 2 layers of pants and 3 sweaters plus a down coat inside your house. 

Hopefully this will be the last power outage for some time now. 

Johnny will finally go back to work tomorrow...so hopefully not all of June will be eaten up by make-up days....as we head out for the Grand Canyon on June 12 and have backcountry reservations at the bottom of the canyon (Bright Angel Campground) and meals at Phantom Ranch on June 16.