Do Not Enter

Remember the signs that you used to post on your bedroom door as a child? They would most likely say something like:

• Do Not Enter!
• Quiet Please!
• Do Not Disturb!
• No Little Brothers Allowed (my personal favorite...jk, Josh. You know I love you.)

Well, I have discovered that my bedroom is no longer a private sanctuary now that I own a home. I think this happened for a couple of reasons. The first being that I actually share a bedroom with someone (my husband). The second and probably the biggest reason for this 'lack of privacy' is the need to parade every guest in your home through every room in the house. AND, in the spirit of parading you through our home, here is the latest picture of our bedroom.

We have hung curtains, placed the headboard and hung some pictures. I still want to paint but it can wait for now...I'm not in the mood to mess with the vaulted ceilings yet.

By the way, I realize that this blog is quickly becoming about the improvements we make on our home. That's probably because it consumes our life right now :) so you're going to have to suffer through it with us!

Side note: new haircut...not sure what to do about the color.

Saturday in the Park...

Well, not really. We were in the yard again and instead of being 4th of July it was Memorial Day weekend. (Hope you're familiar with the band, Chicago.)

We spent the day improving our front yard, again. I think we are just about finished with the hard work.

Mark and I are off to rest by having date night. We could really use some quality time together that doesn't involve dirt and sweat.
On a side note, my dad started a blog! I'm telling you that this blog this is addicting. I'm so glad he is trying it out. You should check it out...

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
28 Years Today!
Thank you!

Our Neighbors Will Thank Us!

Mark and I finally got around to doing some landscaping this weekend. We actually got a lot done but we are NO WHERE NEAR finished. We will want to add a bench at the front of the house with stepping stones and we need to plant more flowers around the right side of the house.

Today, Mark tore out the hedges that were in front of the house. I cannot stand hedges. I think all they do is collect trash and hide your home from view...but, to each his own. We put some garden edging up and mulched. We also planted quite a few flowers, but as I said, we will be adding more to this in the next few weeks.

On a side note: I found a snake hiding under one of the rocks that we removed from our garden. It was about 6" long and soooo cute. (No mom, I didn't touch it :) I moved it to the street with the shovel.)

Before:
After:Before:
After:

Scott and Stephanie in Austin

Mark's cousin, Scott, and his wife, Stephanie, came to visit us in Austin this weekend. They are from Vancouver, Washington. It was so great to have them at our house.

Stephanie is a great cook and taught me a few things in the kitchen. Both of them love the outdoors (which means we get along great!) so we spent an afternoon hiking at Pedernales State Park.

Here are the kabobs that we cooked on Friday evening (this is before they were cooked).


Here are a few pictures from our afternoon at the park.

Storm in Austin

I haven't posted in a while so I will preface this with the fact that I am going to post three time this evening.

I have had several people ask me about the storm in Austin this past week. So I will share a few pictures and details.

The storm was just rain, hail, wind and a few tornado warnings; nothing that I didn't experience in Amarillo. The difference here is the big Oak trees. Because there are a lot of old Oak trees downtown, there was a lot of damage down there. I should note here that Mark and I live about 25 miles from downtown Austin.

As far as downtown goes, there were down telephone poles, blocked streets and broken roofs. Here are a few pics.
The picture above is in front of the house I work from on MLK.

Allergies from H-E-double lacrosse sticks

I have great news! I can't stop sneezing! Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I usually enjoy a good 'SCAT' (that's what I say after I sneeze, ask me about it later) but today it's a little ridiculous. I'm thankful that they now sell Zyrtec over the counter!

My allergies all started with a ping pong table. That's right, a ping pong table. I'll try to give you the short version.

Mark went to Dallas this weekend to play lacrosse but I had to stay in Austin. So my friend, Stephanie, had a great idea! Mark has been wanting a ping pong table so she suggests we find a truck, buy one and have it put together as a surprise for Mark when he gets home.

Here was the plan:

1. Locate a truck (about 15 minutes)
2. Head to Academy to purchase the table (30-45 minutes)
3. Bring it to my house (15 minutes)
4. Unload and put it together (about 1 hour)
5. Play some pong (maybe another hour)
6. Mark returns home to his nice surprise

Here's what happened (minus a few details):

1. Locate the truck (about a day and a half)
2. Head to Academy to purchase the table (30-45 minutes)
3. Bring it to my house and purchase a sandwich from Delaware Sub Shop (30 minutes)
4. Realize we can't lift the box the ping pong table came in and call friends for help
5. Neighbor overhears and offers to get her husband to come help (about 20-30 minutes for steps 4 and 5)
6. Begin putting the table together, only to realize that the instructions are of absolute 'no use'
7. Stephanie and I curse the justifiably, presumed men that wrote the directions while putting together the table (3 hours)
8. Stephanie has to leave to help her mom
9. Finish putting the legs (that's right, I'm only that far) on the table (2-3 more hours)
10. Mark arrives home to a half-complete, upside down ping pong table
11. Mark helps with completion to reveal the final product! (1 hour)

So ladies and gentlemen, after about 6.5 hours, WE HAVE A PING PONG TABLE!

Back to the allergies. All of this was done in the front yard while sitting in the grass...not the best idea but it's over now.

Here's a picture of my tired baby. He is definitely worth the trouble of sneezing fits and blistered hands.

FYI: They won their game on Saturday but lost the one today. Mark blocked a goal in the first game to send them into overtime for a win!\