I have the world's best husband! We recently celebrated our sixth anniversary together, and although I know it's no longer important now that we have a wedding anniversary to celebrate, it's still fun to remember. Especially when I think back 6 years to how goofy we were. I met Alec for lunch today, and mentioned :) that sometimes girls like flowers. Subtle I know. Of course he kindly reminded me that "flowers are just dying weeds." He's such a romancer. Well when I got home today, there was Alec with a homemade flower in hand. Amidst all the craft items strewn across the table was a step by step instruction manual on how to construct a 3D flower out of paper. Talk about melt my heart. If Tucker hadn't have eaten it later that night I would have posted a pic. Thanks Tucker. 

In other news, we have *almost * finished the back deck. We've been working on this project since shortly after we moved in. For whatever reason, other projects kept taking priority, and we simply forgot about it. I'll post pics asap. After living here for 2 years, we have finally tackled many of the necessary projects, and have limited our remaining projects to just a few. Of course they're BIG projects, but it's all about perspective right? :) The remaining renovations include: 

1. The entire remodel of the basement- we're adding 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, an office, and a laundry room to the downstairs basement space. Right now we only have one small bathroom, and sleep in the very open, very bright loft (night shifter here!), so I'm super excited about this change. 

2. Ceiling remodel- tongue and groove the the entirety. Sure glad Alec isn't scared of heights...

3. Finish the landscaping- this includes weeding the entire 1+ acre, creating a semi-circle driveway, replacing the fence, and tearing down the old barn. 

And folks, that IS IT! Woot!

Hopefully we will finish these projects by Fall of 2010, and maybe, just maybe, the market will have picked up enough to sell our dream home. Tear. But, if all goes as planned we will be packing up the farm and heading back to the Pacific Northwest (we've given serious consideration to Northern Idaho or Western Montana). I am going to miss the 300+ days of pure sunshine, but it's a tradeoff right? I need green trees and water!!

Over the past 6 weeks we've been taking Tucker to puppy school, and I've got to say, BEST DECISION EVER! He is such a changed little man. He now salivates at the sight of his backpack (gotta love Pavlov) and actually follows commands now. When he inadvertently knocked over the 5 year old neighbor girl, we knew we had to do something. Looking back, I wish we would have taken him BEFORE he was a 110 lb fatty., but we have learned our lesson. Don't adopt a lab/great dane mix. Haha. 

In other news, I am becoming a nomad when it comes to jobs. Yep I know, it's a bad economy to start getting picky when it comes to employment, but if there's one thing I've learned from the nursing feild, it's you CAN work anywhere. Seriously, nursing is the best job EVER. I've been working in the ER for 2.5  years now, and until recently I've really liked it. I'm an adrenaline junky if you will. But I guess all the BS that comes along with working in an ER (AKA the red-headed stepchild department) really starts wearing on a person, and I just couldn't take the constant chaos anymore. I have a real interest in women's health, so I found a job in an OBGYN office here in town. Love it. Of course I can't quit anything (weird syndrome I have) so I'm still part-time in the ER (which I love now that I don't live there anymore). Unfortunately, the office setting wasn't everything I was looking for, so I found a more exciting, women's health related, position up on the OB floor at the hospital. Looove it. But...I've always wanted to teach and stumbled across an opportunity I can't pass up, so I'm going to snag it too. Yeehaw! So, if everything goes as planned, I will be working 4 part-time jobs. The glorious thing about this whole situation is I rarely work more than 35 hours a week. Have I mentioned how glorious nursing is??

Well this hog podge of a posting needs to find an end, so I'm bidding farewell. Alec has a basketball game tonight, so with them luck. Their stellar D league BBall leage is only 1 and 5. Next year boys. (PS- Alec wanted me to tell you he is a "basketball superstar") Gotta love him. 

Night!

Before and After

There is finally an end in sight! All of our hard work is finally starting to pay off, and I thought I'd track our progress thus far. Alec is such a stud, we wouldn't be where we are today without his awesome carpentry skills. So when we moved in on Christmas Day 2006, our house had no floors, no decking, no heat, a broken toilet, and such an overgrown yard that we couldn't see the piles of trash buried within it. Not to mention, it was painted a horrid green color. 

Now, January of 2009, we have a completely different home. We have renovated the bathroom and kitchen, added carpet and 2 decks, and tackled some serious landscaping. We are by no means finished, but there is now an end in sight and I couldn't be happier. Next we are tackling the basement- what is now an open space will soon become 2 bedrooms, an office, laundry room and second bathroom. Yah!

Welcome to blogging...

This is Tab.

I always said I would create a blog website, but just never got around to it. Well, I guess New Year's Day is a good day to start :). Not to mention, my loving husband almost ended my life today, so in celebration of living, I'm going to start tracking our life better. 

So Alec, in his infinite wisdom, decided to fix the shingles of our very steep A-frame log cabin by himself. Mistake number one. He reckoned it would be easy. Mistake number two. After fashioning a makeshift harness out of rope and tying it to the underside of our front deck, he hoisted himself from the ladder (which happened to stand on our back deck, 3 ft from the edge, where missing railing and a 10 ft fall awaited him). After clawing his way to the top, he sat like the king of the world and stated, "this is easy." Do I even need to say mistake number three?? Of course I must watch this disaster in the making (it's like trying to pry your eyes away from a horrific car accident, even though you don't want to see it), the whole time swearing under my breath that I will NOT take him to the ER on my day off. Well, he forgot how forceful gravity can be and "accidentally" let the hammer slide down the roof at lightening speed, only to miss crushing my skull by a mere two inches. Hmmm, chalking this all up to "accident" seems a little fishy to me :). 

All in all, Alec was right. The roof was fixed, no one died, and no one was injured. I still stick to my claim that it was a stupid idea though. I guess I should have seen it coming- This time last year Alec and his brother, Birch, tied ropes to one another and climbed up on top of the roof to sweep the chimney. Only there was no front or back deck at the time. Boys. 

Despite the near death experience, today was a good day. We slept in, relaxed and enjoyed the day off. Last night our friend's were bringing in the new year with live music, and we went to the Native New Yorker to support their band. Jill brought wigs, and I realized once and for all I can never pull off being a blonde. Alec could, however, sport the afro just fine. Little scary. 

Well, hope everyone is having a great New Years Day. Happy 2009!!

PS- the house pic below doesn't do justice of how steep the roof is :)