Christmas

I can't believe it is almost Christmas already. We didn't decorate this year...I know isn't that horrible...since I (maybe we) are going to my parents for Christmas I didn't want to got through putting everything up this year, so it wasn't feeling very Christmasy (I don't think that's really a word, but you get my point). But it really started to feel like Christmas this weekend when I made the annual Swedish Tea Rings. Steve doesn't understand why I spend all day in the kitchen to make them...but I really enjoy it and it's tradition! Here's a picture of the 8 I made on Saturday.



I'm leaving on Thursday to go to my parents...hopefully Steve will be coming up on Saturday, but things are still up in the air. It seems like a lot of people will be home this Christmas so I'll have a chance to catch up with Trisha (again :)), Alicia, Amber, Aimee, and Adrienne. I'm really looking forward to it!

Finally Some Good News

Sam:

I think Sam is feeling better. It's been a week now without any incidents...and he's had a lot more energy. So it seems like the food change was a good thing for him. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this will continue...and hopefully I didn't jinx us by posting this :)

Fire Pit:

We got the granite capper for the fire pit last weekend. Steve wasn't so sure of the color when we picked it up, but once we got it home and placed it we both decided we probably couldn't find something that matched the colors in the pathway stones any better. Overall we are very happy with it and ecstatic that we are FINALLY completely done with the backyard!! I guess we'll have to find a new project now...preferably one that costs A LOT less!! :P


Dishwasher:

We have now successful washed 2 loads of dishes. I just can't believe it took 6 WEEKS to get it fixed...seems excessive. This repair place orders the part and has it shipped to your house...then they want you to call them when you receive the part and they'll schedule an appointment for a service person to come out and install it. Well we decided we didn't want to wait until Wednesday 12/12 when the part got here on Thursday 12/6 so we bypassed the installation call...it's not like a couple of screws and a ribbon cable take special skills to install!

Peeing Machine

So last night we finally took Sam to the vet. We got tired of coming home to a new "wet spot" every night. I actually called the vet on Wednesday night and asked them if it could just be that he decided to start marking or if it was more likely a UTI...and their answer was...well it really could be either one and we won't know for sure until we have a urine sample. So off to the vet we went last night...first they found out he had tapeworms then they had to take him to get a urine sample and draw blood. The blood work was just to check the kidneys since he had a slightly abnormal reading back in June when he had his tail sewed up. So we left with pills for the tapeworms and flea/heartworm medication as a precautionary measure since they said that's how cats usually end up with tapeworms.

The vet called today and said they found crystals in his urine so they want us to change his food to try and change his pH...so that's next on the list of things to do. Of course it's the prescription Science Diet that they want us to switch to so we can only buy it at the vet. And we are still waiting on the urine culture to make sure he doesn't have a bacterial infection on top of everything else. All in all I'm guessing the peeing on rugs was a behavioral thing because he was pissed off because of the crystalized urine and the worms and who knows what else...so (keeping the fingers crossed) hopefully once these problems are alleviated...the peeing problem will be too!

Dishwasher Part 3

So the repair guy was out to look at the dishwasher AGAIN yesterday. At least this guy seemed to have his act together. It was another bonus that he didn't even suggest replacing the part they had already replaced TWICE!! He thinks one of the buttons on the button panel is stuck and so the whole thing is confused. So he wants to replace the button panel. Of course, he didn't have the part with him and had to order it so maybe we'll have it at the end of the week or beginning of next. I'm really hoping third time is a charm, but I'm not holding my breath. If this doesn't work, I think I'm going to start asking for a new dishwasher on KitchenAid's dime. I shouldn't have to buy a new dishwasher after 2 years!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. My parents got to our house late on Wednesday. My Grandma and Uncle arrived on Thursday morning and Steve's family arrived around 1pm on Thursday. We ate around 3ish. We had 2 turkeys and a beef tenderloin roast with all the trimmings.

People kept themselves busy playing pool and chatting before dinner. And after dinner the Wii provided entertainment for all ages. It was great to see my Grandma and Steve's Aunt & Uncle bowling on the Wii!! :)

Friday Mom, Grandma, and I did a little scrapbook shopping in the morning and ventured into the world of Black Friday in the afternoon hoping some of the crowds had subsided. It actually wasn't too bad! We were successful in finishing up the last few Christmas gifts we needed to purchase and in finding Grandma a new pair of shoes...no easy feat with a size 11 foot!!

At 10:15pm on Friday my mom and I decided we needed to make a quick run to Walmart. My grandma was going to make us big "bags" to put the table leaves in so we can store them without damaging them (hopefully). After talking through how much fabric we needed, we decided it was best to try to find something for my grandma to take with her in the morning instead of shipping fabric to her. I found plenty of the fleece I wanted for the inside, but they didn't have enough of any fabric to make the outsides of the bags all the same...so we ended up with 3 different fabrics and finally got home around 11:15pm.

Saturday morning Steve and I were off to meet Trisha and Jason for breakfast...leaving the parents to fend for themselves :) It is always so great to see Trisha and Jason and now that they live in Idaho it seems like visits are far and few between...okay so we weren't great at getting together when we both lived in CA either :P It was good to catch up...and hopefully we'll be able to see them again this summer if not sooner! I'm lucky they have family in Sacramento!!! When we got home I found my parents battling it out at the pool table.

Online Scrapbook Store

I've been meaning to post this for a while...

http://www.passionateforscrappinit.com/

I came across this website when I was looking for something I couldn't find in our local scrapbook store. This site has some AMAZING prices on things and you get 5% off every purchase. It is a little spendy for the shipping since they are located in Georgia...I think it was $8.50 to ship to CA but even with the shipping I saved something like $10-15 on my purchase compared to the local store prices...and my order was only $28 (w/ shipping!!)

Stuff

ITEM 1:
Well contrary to the last post we still don't have a dishwashwer. The new part came last week. We installed it and it worked...ONCE...then went back to it's old ways. The new part (for the second time) should be here Monday or Tuesday...but neither me nor Steve have any confidence it's going to fix it, but we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope we're wrong.

ITEM 2:
On another note we got Guitar Hero for the Wii last night. Steve's not so sure about it, but I think it's pretty fun. It'll take A LOT of practice just to get off the easy mode and on to the medium mode.

ITEM 3:
I love our cats...but for some reason Sam has taken to peeing on our BRAND NEW bath mats in the master bedroom. I washed them yesterday because he had peed on both of them and this morning he had peed on one of them again. I don't know what his issue is, but we've got to find a solution!

ITEM 4:
I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. I'm not sure I'm ready to cook for 13, but I'm sure I will be when the time comes...and it always helps to have the expert help of my Dad!! We're still trying to finish up the house and yard before people come over...I don't think much more is going to get done though because today is our last chance and neither of us are moving very fast :) Guess we better get started...

We Have a Dishwasher!!

I'm so excited we finally have our dishwasher back!!! However we found out that all we really needed was the power board, so we are hoping we can send back the ribbon cable and seal. We tried to replace the seal because the one we have now has (well...had) a hole down towards the bottom of it and it was leaking. The seal they sent us was not the same as the seal we currently have and for some reason the door wouldn't stay closed, so we tweaked the existing seal so we could cut off the bottom piece with the hole and now all is well!

Haircut

Well, I think the last time I got my haircut was sometime in March...so it was long overdue. I think you all know I'm not really one to change hairstyles so although it doesn't look ALL that much different...the layers are a new thing for me.

Drum Roll Please....

Finally some pictures of the new yard. It was already starting to get dark so these aren't the greatest pictures in the world. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to cap the fire pit. And we are still tweaking the waterfall a bit. But it is finally done for the most part. I think the last thing we need to do is buy a couple of chairs to put out by the fire pit. Let me know what you think. This first pic is in the same general direction as the "before" picture in the early post.


Below is the waterfall Steve and I built without killing eachother (okay we came close a few times :) )


The unfinished fire pit


Here are some more miscellaneous pics of the yard

Threes

It seems like when one thing goes wrong two more are quick to follow. This started with the alternator incident last week. This week while I was driving home (late) on Thursday night I realized that one of my headlights was out. It was too late for me to get a new one that night, so I figured I get a new one on Friday when I got home. Well I had to go to Santa Cruz Friday morning and wouldn't you know that it was the foggiest morning I think I've seen all year. At least I didn't get pulled over for a fix-it ticket!! Then #3 came along...Friday night I went to load dishes in the dishwasher and noticed a few of the panel lights were blinking. I tried to start it, but to no avail. So on Saturday after doing everything we could think to try and fix it ourselves (short of ripping it apart) I called for a service appt. Of course it is horrible timing since both Steve and I have have super busy schedules next week and can't wait at home for 4 hours for the service man...so we will be hand washing dishes until Saturday when we hope they will be able to fix it! Hopefully this sting of events will stop at 3!

A Little Delay

So, I know I promised pics of the yard, but well we had a few setbacks this weekend and didn't quite get finished. I want to wait till it's ALL done before taking pics...but maybe I'll take a few before then.

Cars...

So sometimes I think cars are more trouble than they're worth...this morning while driving in to work my radio kept cutting out. I just thought it was the radio signal until all my gauges dropped to zero! Then I started to get worried...for those of you who don't know what my drive into work is like...about the time this started happening I was in the sticks with no cell signal...so I kept driving hoping I would make it in to town (Clayton) without anything bad happening. Well I made it in to town and thought maybe I could make it to work...but no such luck. About 3 miles from work I stopped at a light in a left hand turn lane and about 30 seconds later the engine quit. So I called AAA for a tow...meanwhile I was trying to wave traffic around me. I figured it was probably the alternator...and after running a diagnostic on the charging system they found out that was exactly the problem...so an alternator, battery and an arm and leg later I got my car back just in time to go home. What an exhausting day!! That is definitely enough car trouble for me for a LONG while!

Yard

So I've been promising pics of the new landscaping...but we're not quite done yet, so here's a before pic for those of you who haven't it seen or can't remember what it used to look like.
I promise some pics of the new landscaping will be coming in the next week!

Finally Setup

Well here it is. I finally started a blog...now let's see if I can keep it updated.