Thursday, July 06, 2006

What a lovely vacation!

I am oh so lucky to be one of THOSE people that work for a company that are smart about scheduling company holidays and I had Monday AND Tuesday off for the 4th. To add to the enjoyment of a 4 day weekend, I took Friday off as well. Woo Hoo! That's right, 5 days off, and a resulting 2 shortened work weeks. LOVELY!

Sorry for my absence in the blogosphere, but during my vacation, I opted to also vacate most of the internet except for the occasional curious factoid look-up or movie listings.


I spent the Friday with my buddy Dot, her pre-teen daughter, her niece and nephew, and her friend and daughter. We all woke up way early and went to Marine World (Aka: Six Flags Marine World, but I hate calling it that because although I enjoy the rides, I do not like what they represent nor the stress they are putting on the animals which were there first - yes I know I'm a hypocrite because I still went and spent money, but I don't have to like it! And yes, I cried at the Whale show too, I always do.). My favorite morning radio show, Alice 97.3, was doing a remote there, and the first 1000 got in free (big deal considering it is now over $50 admission). Dot amazingly got her family in the car and was there by 6am. I arrived late at 7am, but still got in FREE!

The rest of the weekend (4 days still left), was spent sleeping, cooking, drywalling and painting the tiny shed, and organizing Eric's landscaping supplies and tools so they fit into said shed. Eric came to the conclusion that even though he runs his own landscaping business, he does not yet have employees and therefore does not need 3 of the same kind of rake. This realization was repeated for a number of tools and supplies. We both have a tendency to grab free/cheap stuff when its offered, so ample quantities of stuff that is and will never be used tend to accumulate in spaces which then make the items and the space unusable. Since we live in a small space with little storage, organization and limiting the "stuff" factor is a must.

Sadly (even though I thought of it multiple times) I failed to snap any before pictures. But here are some afters. The patio still needs some work, but I'm ok with that. I'm told that all of that landscaping "stuff" if ear marked for a client install this week, so it should be gone by the end of the week (I've heard this before, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt this time).


oh yea baby.. thats the new AC!

For the before shots, I will ask you to use your imagination. Think of this shed so packed with stuff to the ceiling that it took skill to open the door safely, and then imagine noticing water coming from under all the stuff due to the neighbor's failed water heater, so all that stuff had to be piled onto the 12x12 patio which is also used as our main entry and my outdoor kitchen, and it already had its own pile of stuff because it was being used as the shed overflow. Then imagine moldy walls, and then ripped up walls...but with a new water heater.

I will also let you imagine the site of our trash can, today, two days before trash pick up. Imagine it... can you see it? I know I can. But most importantly, I can see most of the patio now and I USED the BBQ on the 4th! oh, and if anyone needs a tape measure, I think we found a total of 5 (including the one that Eric bought on Sunday because he couldn't find any of his.)

3 comments:

J said...

Congrats on the storage and the patio! Looks great. :)

I think all weekends should be 4 day weekends. ALL. Unless they're longer.

Autumn's Mom said...

Patio looks great. Hey, is the new AC quiet? I'm curious if you notice any sound or just enjoy the COLD!

Cherry said...

Well, since the AC unit is just outside our very old kitchen window and sliding glass door, we hear it. Its not as loud as the old one though. And hopefully once the new windows are in, we won't hear it as much.

Our furnace is a little loud too, so even if we can't hear the AC, we hear the blower. Maybe I should have shelled out the additional $2k for a new furnace too...hmm... NOT!