Stitch - Jekyl & Hyde

For all of you who don't know...Stitch is the love of our life but is a terror when it comes to other pets, especially other dogs. He hates them with a vengeance and can't stand to be anywhere near

them. He's just an old man who wants to be left alone.

Well I decided to take him for the very first time ever to a dog park and thought that it would be a once in a lifetime experience because he would growl and bark at every passing dog and I would get dirty looks from everyone and leave because I was so embarrassed. I don't know what possessed this little monster but he was an ANGEL the entire time! A few low growls here and there when some dogs came at him too fast or kept wanting to play with him but other than that he was SOOO good!!!

For the first time in my life, I wasn't the embarrassed owner with the small yappy dog! There were times where I just walked way ahead of him and he never once wandered off! Poor John missed this amazing moment in his kid's life. Joey was actually pretty scared of all the other dogs and had his tail inbetween his legs the entire time. He did some sniffing but got really frantic and tried to hide if too many dogs came at him. Poor Kid. He would hide at anyone's feet the minute he got scared. We're going to try and go as often as possible so that these 2 can get used to it.

We're on our way to Magnuson...here Joey is trying to get as close to Stitch as he possibly can.

I think he's trying to kill him with love!!!

Amazing or what?

Joey was pretty curious but wanted to approach and not really be approached for the most part.

Our New Entertainment Center

Tada! Here is the final product.

John's creative juices were flowing...built us a new entertainment center. It's actually really nice and professional looking, once he's done staining it, we hope it will look like something out of Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn!

Check out the molding detail...very nice!

Pumpkin Patch

Isn't this a nice photo of Johnnie?

We went to The Farm in Snohomish to load up on our first pumpkins of the year. We spent a lot of time choosing them out and finally settled on 4 for ourselves and one tall but wide one for Amy and Brian! =) It's funny because John chose out one for A & B but when we got to their house we let Amy pick out which one she wanted, and she ended up picking out the exact one we had in mind for them! Does John know his sister or what? =)

This is the first pumpkin we choose to carve...I gave John a tracing that was 3 out of 4 stars in difficulty level but of course he tackled it and 2 hours later we had our first Jack o' Lantern!



Such concentration...

The photo just doesn't do it justice...it's a Haunted House just in case you didn't know. =) See the bats? Clouds? Moon? Creepy walk way up to the house? Of course you do!

Strike Vacation

For all of you who don't know, Johnnie has been on strike from Boeing for 2 whole weeks now and there have been NO talks of negotiations. Hmmm...wonder how long this will last. I can only make it so long being the suga mama! But it will be fun while it lasts!

I took all of last week off to hang out with my hubby and we had a fantastic time! It's great going to bed whenever you want and not have to worry about waking up for work the next day and sleeping in as long as you like!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - Cape Flattery (Neah Bay)

Some stops on our way...

After a 30 minute ferry ride, 4 hour car ride and 30 minute hike...

This is the INCREDIBLE and breathtaking view you get....it was the most amazing thing we've seen and well worth the all day trip we had to make. Cape Flattery is the most Northern tip of the peninsula and where the Straight of Juan De Fuca begins.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Tilicum Village

John went years and years ago, but I've never had the chance to so when we found half price tickets we jumped on the opportunity. Took a long boat ride over and was greeted with a beautiful sight of the Long House. We were each served clams in nectar juice...I of course gave the clams to John but the nectar was surprisingly good...not too seafoody tasting. Went through the buffet, which wasn't fabulous by any means but hey...food is food! Basic salad, baked red potatoes, rice pilaf, dark bread, salmon (of course) and found chocolate shaped salmon when we were seated. The show was ok...but there's just something about seeing an Asian and black person performing that just took away from the whole authenticity of it...don't you think? I was honestly expecting a whole cast of Native Americans...wouldn't you? Then took a short walk around the area and back on the boat headed home. It was an overall good experience, but I wouldn't pay full price and sadly, don't have plans on ever returning...

Saturday, September 13, 2008 - Hike at Easy Pass (North Cascades)

We decided that we wanted to do a hike and intially thought about Ross Lake where John, Brian and Aaron went a couple years ago...but I didn't think that I could make the 17 mile canoe trip plus a hike up the mountain in one day. I did some research and being the lazy person that I am, choose the hike with the least amount of miles...even though it was labeled as 'strenuous.' I should have listened because it was the most difficult hike I have ever been on and was pretty much panting like a dog not even 20 minutes into it! John was going along his merry way of course and I told him to walk ahead so that he wouldn't have to lag behind me. It was 3.5 miles (one-way) of switch-backs up hill pretty much the entire hike up. But in the end, we had a good time and had really great views along the way.

we decided to start an organic vegetable garden late into the season. this was a simple project to do. the hardest part was actually removing the sod and then tilling the soil. since the area was only about 4 feet by 8 feet we went ahead and did it all by hand once again. the raised bed frame was built with six 8 foot "cherry timbers" from Home Depot along with some twelve inch spikes to hold it all together. the soil consisted of a few bags of top soil, peat moss, cedar grove organic compost, and a bag of steer manure. the soil was so rich that the plants started to "burn" when they were first put it. once they were use to the soil they started to grow like a child. i swear you were able to see a difference in size every day. ha ha.
peppers for salsa. we also have a jalapeno somewhere but it doesn't seem grow. good news is it wont die either.
cherry tomatoes...............yummy! jessica will really like these
cucumbers for pickles? i dont know why i bought these either
zucchinis yummy! these are great on the grille with a little bit of johnny's seasoning, lemon juice, and some olive oil.

here is stitch keeping me company. i dont think he likes the heat too much.

well this picture shows our retaining wall project about two weeks in. unfortunately before shots of the yard are all lost somewhere in the digital world. anyways this is another project that we saved a ton of money on. all the dirt was dug and moved by hand since we were not able to bring any kind of heavy equipment to the back yard.
the yard slopes up away from the patio. by leveling out the area directly in front of the patio we were able to add a lot more space for chairs and tables for those big family get-togethers. all the old sod sat on the patio for a few weeks while the dirt was used to backfill behind the retaining wall. to this date we are still throwing away sod in our yard waste bin a little at a time.
tadda! well here is the finished product with the new sod and a new set of solar lights. it took at whole month of moving digging, moving dirt, and setting up the wall blocks but in the end all that hard work was worth it. we now have the extra space we wanted and something nice to look at out our kitchen window. the curved steps were a last minute idea but i think the outcome is beautiful and definitely adds character

this is our master bedroom. the original paint was a faux finish. jessica and i thought it looked more like dirt and dust on the walls. you can also see the hideous chandelier in the top left hand corner.

here is the new paint color as well as the cheap Home Depot light we installed. we definitely like the brighter color much better. this is still with the old carpet and no moldings.

here is the start of the brand new bamboo floors. these are solid vertical grain bamboo floors from bamboo hardwoods. we bought them through costco home which was actually cheaper then buying directly from bamboo hardwoods.
we started the floors pretty early the next morning after a long day of demo. we rented a flooring stapler from home depot which was one of the best decisions ever. we used a small pancake compressor which was plenty for the stapler.

here's kevoon hard at work. he needed a couple of practice swings before he got a hold of it. after that he was hard at work. i did all the cutting while brian laid them out and marked them for length. what you dont see is that jess was also taking turns stapling away. oh by the way thanks for the marks on the walls guys..................from the stapler. ha ha. last pieces to go in. they required hand nailing though since the tool would not fit.
and the finished product! no more dirty smelly carpet and cheap linoleum. we were glad to see the berber carpet go.

January 01, 2008well here it is folks, day two in our new house. this was the old carpet in the living room and hallway and lenolium floors in the kitchen and dining room. hidious, yes we all know. the wall color throughout the house was a nice celery/khaki color but too bad they were old and dirty.

this is the family hard at work all pitching in to help us demo. jess and i were pretty happy since we only had a weeks worth of vacation to work on the house so it was nice to have the family help. yes the guy in the grey sweatshirt does have a head. i believe his name is brain.

there's the old lady scraping away at the remaining bits of lenolium. special thanks to the best brother in law for helping us throw away all that trash.

one last look. say goodbye!