Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Adventures in drywalling

Jeff started working on 2nd coat of mud the drywall in the new bathroom last night. We can thank Dave for coat #1 last week. Tonight came sanding and as you can see, was quite messy. Things are moving right along. Dave is coming back on Thursday and they are going to work on the ceiling and we will need to decide on a paint color very soon.

Easter



We made the drive down to Stone Creek to celebrate Easter with my family. Church on Sunday was at Zion Lutheran and then off to my uncle and aunts house we went! They had a full house, I think there were about 30 or so of us there. The kids (our niece and nephew as well as my cousin's children) went out Easter egg hunting after dinner and had a great time. They were given a quota so once they reached that, the eggs they found went to the one that still needed to meet their goal. It was pretty funny watching them run all over the place. This is my brother Greg and his wife Monica. Our nephew Ben and niece Katie enjoyed themselves. They are so much fun and Ben always hams it up for the camera, as you can see...

After we left, we headed to Coshocton to see Jeff's Granny. She's such a joy, she updated us on all of the Lillibridge happenings. We hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, so it was nice getting to catch up with her and see how she was doing.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Kitties

I should introduce our cats, our kids, the boys, whatever you want to call them. We have Mini Me, we just call him Mini, he's the tabby and will be 9 in May. I got him from my parents farm when he was a kitten. I brought him back to Toledo with me in the summer of 99 (he peed in Jeff's truck on that trip back). I was living with Claire at the time and she had a female cat, Xena, that was a much larger version of our little Mini. So, that's where the name came from. Mini is a real sweetie, he cuddles up with us in bed and if you are on the couch, he will be right on your lap in a heartbeat. He loves to be picked up and thrown over a shoulder and ride around the house like that. I lived with Claire for about a year with him, then Jeff and I got married and moved into an apt with Mini in Michigan. We lived in the apt for a little over a year and then bought a house. Mini was thrilled with more square footage to run around in. We moved back to Ohio, had a brief stint with Jeff's parents and have now lived in our house close to three years.



We were feeling like we needed to add a family member to our brood and started looking for another kitty in the winter of 2006. We looked at various adoption centers and honestly, I was ready to take any of them home, but Jeff made me hold off. We were in Elyria one weekend at a pet store that had an adoption center and we saw this little black kitty in a cage by himself with his front legs straight out in front of him. There were dogs barking and running around and he didn't seem phased at all. When we went over to him, he reached out and touched me with his paw. That just about did it. I held him, Jeff said, "Do you want to get him?". Of course, I said yes. And that was how we got Cole. The adoption agency had called him Takoda, but we decided on Cole because he is black as coal. He's such a sweety, likes to make little noises all the time and LOVES to play. He has really become more of Jeff's cat. He always sleeps on his side of the bed and pushes on his arm really hard right before he lays down next to him. It's really cute. We really feel lucky to have found such a nice kitty. He does fairly well with visitors, depending on who they are. Cole likes to growl at my Dad, but will rub up against others. I'm not sure if there is any rhyme or reason to who he likes and who he doesn't.

We love our little boys. They are really part of the family.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Unwelcome Visitors

Each evening, our cats freak out and run from window to window looking at some mysterious critters that make visits to our backyard. Sometimes it is another cat, or geese, but in most cases, it is deer.

Last night it was still about an hour before sunset and we looked out the window and four deer were about 10 feet away from our house. They are fun to watch and all, but they've taken a liking to my landscaping...especially at this time of the year because they are really, really hungry. So, it looks like I'm going to have to plant some deer-resistant plants this spring or else I think we are going to become the local deer diner!


Monday, March 10, 2008

Birthday Time

So, it's my 32nd birthday today! That seems so hard to believe... I keep locking myself in a specific moment in my life, and for a long time, I felt like I was 26. Since I broke into the 30's, I feel as if I should stay 30 for awhile and not get any older than that. That's my plan for now. Of course, it's getting harder to recover from some things which makes me realize I can't be 30 forever.

I'm excited to go out to eat with Jeff tonight! I wouldn't spend my birthday any other way. OK, with the cats, too, but we'll get to see them at home after dinner. We enjoy spending time with them and they are very entertaining. Happy Birthday to me!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Snowed In

If you live in Ohio, then you know the last few days have been snow-filled. Luckily, we did not have anywhere to go and from the time we got home from work on Friday, we did not leave the house until Sunday afternoon. A huge front-end loader worked on clearing the snow from our street on Saturday night, which resulted in giant snow piles.




Kristie's 32nd birthday is tomorrow, so we are planning to go to Crocker Park for dinner to celebrate. I think we are going to try out Agave Tequileria & Cocina, the new Mexican restaurant that just went in.

The basement bathroom project is coming along. We are currently hanging drywall, so the end is in sight!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Blogging and Basements

We finally took the plunge into the digital revolution and will be blogging periodically about our family and goings-on. To start things off, we are doing well in Avon Lake, OH in our new house...going on 3 years soon. It is a busy time of year for me with the Cavaliers headed towards the playoffs. Kristie is doing well in the Financial Aid department at Case Western Reserve. She is currently going for her MBA and should be done in December of 2009.

We actually took on a new project recently...putting in a full bathroom in our basement. It had a three piece rough-in put in during construction, so the hard part is done. My friend Dave is actually doing most of the work and I'm helping and learning as we go. At this point, we've been working on it for about 2 or 3 days over the last week and a half and we have it framed up and the electricity and plumbing is all done. Next up is installing the shower and then we start to drywall!



Before

During


Peeking In!


After