This year instead of exchanging gifts, Chris and I decided to get ourselves new living room furniture. The store delivered them Saturday morning. We ordered a reclining sofa and two rocker/recliner chairs. They are very comfortable, and very easy to fall asleep in. Just ask Chris!
The new furniture and the rainy weather inspired me to fix the range hood that stopped working. It wasn't until after I had removed the range hood, the microwave, the double oven and some electrical outlets that I discovered there was a light switch near the refrigerator that controlled the power to the range hood. That seemed silly to me, so I decided to hard wire the range hood and replace the light switch with another dual outlet. While I was at it, I decided to put a couple wood strips in the cabinet where the oven is, so I could finally attach the oven to the cabinet.
I went to the hardware store for some supplies, and poor Chris returned home to find a kitchen with the appliances on the floor and bare wires hanging out of the wall. Not to fear. It all went back together quickly. When we were done, the oven was attached to the cabinet, the range hood worked again (fan and light) and a outlet that we were short on plugs had four designer outlets. We are both very happy with the results.
12/11/06
Daris is in Germantown Maryland for a week. With any luck he will make it into DC for a look around.
11/13/06
Chris is traveling on business in Atlantic City for a couple days. Throughly enjoying a king sized bed all to herself.
10/24/06
We fired up the new paint gun this weekend. We primed and painted the two doors for the guest room/office and the coat closet door in the entry way. The guest room/office is pretty much done. I still need to strip and paint the windows hardware, but that's about it. Hotel Bouthillier is open for business.
10/13/06
Chris and I got the closet door hung this weekend. Weather permitting we will paint four interior doors next weekend. All that remains left to be done on the guest room / office it so touch up a few spots with paint, finish the windows and install the voice and data jacks.
10/6/06
Today was spent at Sea World in San Diego. We were on the go nonstop seeing the different attractions (we couldn't miss Shamu). Daris' favorite attraction at Sea World is the sting ray tanks where you can touch the sting rays. After Sea World, we went to Anothy's Fish Grotto for dinner where we had a good fish dinner. Not bad for mom & Jerry's last day in town - they leave tomorrow :-(
10/4/06
Mom, Jerry, Daris and I headed to Los Angeles for the day to take Jerry to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. On the way we stopped at Phillipe's for some beef dip sandwiches and then walked through Olivera Street & Union station. We made it Hollywood & Highland, but discovered the theater was blocked off for some event but we were able to see some hand, foot & face prints of stars.
That night we headed to Knott's Scary Farm for a night of haunted mazes, rides & shows. We stayed until almost closing (1:00 a.m.) and slept in the next morning.
10/3/06
Mom, Jerry, and I headed to San Juan Capistrano to meet Daris for lunch. We went to a local Mexican restaruant where we ate too much. After lunch Mom, Jerry & I headed to the mission for a few hours. We took a ton of pictures of the various artifacts and buildings while wondering around the mission. I couldn't believe how many butterflies & hummingbirds there were.
10/2/06
Yes, it's true. Today is my birthday. We went to Roscoe's House of Chicken' n Waffles on Sunday for my traditional birthday dinner. Chris is cooking a birthday dinner for me tonight as well. My birthday present from Chris arrived Friday. She got me some Yakima EZ Rider towers, so I can put my Yakima roof racks and bike carrier on the Saturn. I'm a lucky guy.
Chris' mother and stepfather arrived Saturday. They will be staying with us for a week. We just barely got the guest room/office ready for their visit. Chris has this whole week off, and I'm taking Wednesday through Friday off. We'll be visiting some of the sights while they are here.
9/29/06
It wasn't easy, but Chris and I got the hallway door up in the guest room /office last night. I don't think I've ever seen a door frame so out of plumb. The top is 3/8" higher on one side than the other, and one of the sides is off by a 1/4" at the bottom. To add to the frustration, the new door slab is an 1/8" thicker than the original door. Despite all the challenges, we got it up and it looks pretty good. I still need to install the knob set and run the 1/8" round over bit across it. Maybe Jerry and I can hang the closet door while they are here.
9/26/06
Yesterday I picked up two new doors and hardware. We setup the futon. We're scrambling to get the room usable by Saturday. My wife and I are quite a team. We work pretty well together. It isn't always easy, but when we combine our skills there we can do just about anything. God sure knew what He was doing when He put Chris and I together.
9/21/06
We finished painting the trim in the guest room / office last night. Next on the agenda is hanging new doors. Today I'm traveling to Maryland for business.
9/19/06
Chris and I had fantastic dinner and a seafood restaurant last night to celebrate our anniversary. The big surprise she got we was top of the line paint sprayer. In honor of two blissful years, we took the night off from painting.
9/18/06
Daris and I celebrated our second anniversary. Daris got me a beautiful diamond necklace representing the past, present and future. I can't say what I got him yet -- it's gotta be a surprise.
9/17/06
As our anniversary is on Monday, Chris and I decided to take a break from painting and go to Big Bear again. We got going early Saturday morning and took the dogs on a 7 mile hike to Grays Peak.
Sunday evening my brother Marc and sister-in-law Mary, took us out for a very nice dinner at Ruth Chris.
9/15/06
Chris and I finished applying the second coat of paint to the walls last night. All that remains is to paint the trim, hang and paint two new doors and replace the plugs and light switch. We going to take a little break this weekend and head up to the cabin in Big Bear.
9/12/06
Chris and I finished painting the ceiling in the guest room/office last night. We are going to let the ceiling dry for 48 hours, then mask it off and paint the walls a darker color.
9/11/06
I finally got the prep work in the guest room/office, to the point that I was ready to paint. Chris and I rolled a coat of primer over the entire room (and closet) on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we bought a queen sized futon, mattress and cover. Sunday we rolled out a coat of the Swiss Coffee on the ceiling.
I have the two door ways just about ready to paint. I just need to prep the two windows and we can start painting. With any luck we will start painting this coming weekend.
8/28/06
We finished prepping the last two walls this weekend, and have moved on to prepping the window and door trim. We sure are creating a lot of dust!
8/25/06
Chris and I began prepping the last two walls last night. The ceiling looks pretty good, so we probably won't do much to that. After the walls are done, I want to do some work on the molding around the doors and windows. So far the results look pretty good.
8/24/06
I finished prepping the second wall last night. Tonight I will move on to the last two walls.
8/20/06
Chris picked up two samples of paint color we are considering and painted two small squares in the room. It's a tough choice. We have one wall patched and started on the second. Our house was built in 1955, so there are several imperfections in nearly every wall in the house.
8/13/06
In anticipation of Chris' mother and stepfather visiting, we started remodeling the office/guest room.
8/6/06
Chris and I headed up to Big Bear again this weekend. We rested and took the dogs for a walk on Saturday. Sunday we took the dogs for a hike to "The Gunsight". The four of us had a great time.
7/27/06
The old '93 Ranger was starting to show its age,so we bought a new 2006 Saturn Vue. With my new job, I have a 70 miles round trip commute each day. It just didn't make sense to put any more money into a 13 year old vehicle.
7/4/06
We had a few friends over for a barbeque, to celebrate the 4th of July. Our friends Bin and Roselie grilled some lamb. It was excellent. It was a nice, relaxing day. See the pictures.
6/27/06
I accepted a position at Endevco. My first day is Wednesday, July 5th. I was laid off on April 6th, so I was out of work for over two months. I hated almost every minute of it. Our yard has never looked better, but being out of work sucks.
6/17/06
Chris and I went to the Big Bear for the weekend. Of course we took the dogs with us. It was a very relaxing weekend. We went hiking up to Castle Rock, and were treated to a fantastic view. The whole weekend was just what we needed!
4/26/06
Chris had a birthday. We celebrated at a Chinese restaurante in her home town. We had brunch with her family the Sunday before.
4/24/06
Chris and I closed escrow on a house in Oregon. We are going to rent it out as an investment. We traveled to Oregon and spent a week remodeling it. Not much of a vacation, but we got a lot of work done to it.
3/22/06
Chris returned from a five day trip to Washington DC today. The dogs and I are very happy to see her.
3/7/06
Chris and I just got back from a four day weekend in the Phoenix, AZ area. We visited my mother and Don, did a little shopping and looked at a few homes. Mostly we just relaxed. It was exactly what we needed.
2/20/06
I am now a fully licensed real estate agent in the state of California. I submitted proof of completion of my manditory education to the DRE a couple of weeks ago. It looks like it was recorded Friday the 17th. Does anybody want to buy or sell a house???
1/14/06
Now that we have painted the hallway, we have started building an oak linen closet. There was originally one made out of pine, but it wasn't well constructed and it was painted blue. The new one will have have two fixed shelves and three or four adjustable shelves. We are going to try to duplicate the kitchen cabinets as much as possible. If this works out, we're going to make a corner cabinet for the laundry room.
1/9/06
The Spring 2006 semester at college starts for Daris. One class, two nights a week for 18 weeks.
1/3/06
Chris and I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and properous new year. We had an excellent dinner with my mother and Don, and then turned in early. Chris and I both had Monday the 2nd off, so we worked on getting the hallway ready to paint. By Monday evening we were rolling on a coat of primer.
1/2/06
Today is my father's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!