5 Things

TAGGED!

So, Kristy totally tagged me. She did this on her blog, and now here it is on mine. Queen Kristy has spoken and I must obey...plus it will get people off my back about updating the blog!

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?


I was probably doing laundry. 10 years ago Charlie was 6 years old, and in first grade.

We drove to Disney world at Thanksgiving time. Ok, now that I thought of that I was doing laundry and packing!

I was cleaning houses with my mom from about 8am-noon.

I was the president of the Friends of the Prior Lake Library (and I still am).

I drove a green mini-van with the wood paneling stuff on the sides - you've just got to LOVE that wood paneling!

Mike and I had been married 9 years. We were getting ready to go on a Caribbean Princess Cruise in January with Debbie & Terry, it was their 25th wedding anniversary, and Beth & Rick.

2. Name 5 things on your to-do list today.


A. Take Charlie to school


B. Pick up my mom, go to Bachmann's on 60th and Lyndale,
and then go visit my aunt in the care center.


C. Re-pot 2 of my orchids after the visit to Bachmann's for supplies.


D. Take Charlie to his trumpet lesson at 8pm


5. Watch Glee at 8pm...wait a minute!!! There is a conflict on my to do list!


Why doesn't this kid have his driver's license???


Tomorrow's to-do list...1. Call the driver's ed guy and set up the behind the wheel training!



3. What snacks do you enjoy?


Hmmm. What snacks don't I enjoy might be an easier question. I enjoy chocolate snacks, especially Cadbury fruit and nut candy bars. I enjoy original Lays potato chips. I like popcorn and Junior Mints at the movie theatre, but not mixed together.



4. Name the places you have lived.


Ok, in order

A. With my mom and grandparents in Bloomington
B. With my mom and dad in Bloomington or South Mpls, not sure which town the double bungalow was in
(all of the following are with my parental units, until I tell you otherwise)
C. In a trailer in Lakeville (by Fleet Farm)
D. On 70th and Columbus in Richfield
E. On Crest Drive in Burnsville
F. Rural Rt 2, Box 210B in Prior Lake
G. Oak Grove Ave in Minneapolis - my first apartment!
H. London, England for 3 months while attending Literature in London through the U of M
I. Back with mom and dad on Fillmore Ave in Prior Lake
J. With my friend Maren, in Uptown, on 31st and Dupont
K. In a duplex with my friend Lydia from B. Dalton near Matt's Bar on 35th and Cedar
L. Back with my mom and dad on Fillmore
M. In an apartment in Richfield on 494 - Mike and I lived together before the wedding - horror of all horrors!
N. The house where I live now with Mike, Charlie, Kinsey, and Buster - 5490 Crossandra in Prior Lake.











5. Name 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire.


A. Purchase the villa next to George Clooney's on Lake Como in Italy -
This one is George's, so I'd just pick one around his. Is a billion enough? Maybe have to ask Oprah for help, and tell her she can visit.






B. Hire a chauffeur for Charlie so I don't have to miss Glee.


C. Buy lots of First Class airline tickets to get me to the first class cabin I have booked on really nice cruise ships. I will, of course, check as much luggage as I want :)


D. Pick up a nice house in the mountains of Colorado, for use when I'm not cruising or in Italy with George.


E. Put some of the money away so if Charlie doesn't get the job at Microsoft that he wants he has plenty to live off of while he learns to run a Mac. Perhaps buy him a villa next to Jobs or Wozniak, just to help him out a little bit. Maybe he could just volunteer for Mr. Gates instead of actually collecting a pay check? Another option.


There you go, my 5 things. Wasn't it interesting? Think you can do better?

Prove it!

Our 19th Anniversary was all about Charlie!

I never would have thought on my wedding day that 19 years later I would spend my anniversary at the Prior Lake High School. But I did, and it was great.

I took this same picture last year, at the same event - the Board Scholar Recognition Ceremony. To be a Board Scholar you need to have a 3.8 grade point average or higher for the whole year. Last year they got it for their Freshman year, and this year for their Sophomore year.

This is Charlie, Kowae, and Max. 3 great young men who help out at all the Friends of the Library book sales. They are super smart, caring, fun, kids. And one of them just happens to be mine. I'm so lucky.

Here is a picture of Charlie's certificate and pin.

Here is a closer look at the pin, which tells that this is his 2nd year as a board scholar.

Mike and I are going to do some fun things this weekend in honor of our anniversary. But if that doesn't happen I'm OK with that. This was enough for me.

Ok, so it has been a long time. I'm sure you check the blog everyday (Aunt Janet) to see what is happening. Lots has happened. I think this is where I left off...

The concrete is done. Here is the finished product in the front of the house.

The pergola is done! And so is the concrete in the back of the house.

I love my pergola!

Mike started painting 2 smallish walls in the kitchen red. I can tell you now that it took many coats. I think this was about 3 coats. I will post the finished product soon - it looks better than this!

The landscaping work has begun. Moving dirt, making the yard drain properly, bringing in black dirt - it is all good for our yard! And a sprinkler system - Yee ha!

A new post for the mailbox - now if only the neighbors would get a new one!

This is what the pergola and back yard looked like on October 10, 2009!

October 16 - Mike's 48th birthday. Charlie and Mike spend time putting our new fire pit together. Since we didn't have on built into the concrete patio, we got one on wheels so we can move it around.

The directions were not good.

But eventually they got it all together, maybe there were some leftover pieces, I didn't listen to the whole conversation :)

Mike's birthday cake that I made and Charlie decorated with M&M's!

Opening some presents. Here you can see part of the bow window and the color on the living room walls.

Mike's favorite thing - chocolate!

On Saturday night Kayla (Charlie's girlfriend) came over and he showed her how an Eagle Scout builds a fire!

We all sat out by the fire and made smores. It was very relaxing, although a little chilly!

I hope we have many more lovely evenings like this one with our new pergola, patio and fire pit.

Today we put lights up on the pergola, and I will try to post the pics soon!

The painting continues. It may be finished tonight!
We shall see...

4 of the windows have trim!
And now 3 of them have new shades.



The other windows continue to get varnished.



The concrete has been poured.
Here is the front from start to finish!

The forms are set.







The chocolate colored concrete is poured and smoothed out.



Lots of smoothing!



The pink dust is put on and the stamping begins!



Lots of stamping!



The back sidewalk and patio...formed up.

This concrete is mint green colored.

And then the charcoal colored chalk is put on.

And the stamping takes place.

A different pattern than the front!

The finished product on the back, the day after!

And then the pergola starts to go up.

All cedar, and all has 2 coats of sealant on it.

I'm glad that part is over!

I've been sealing cedar for a couple of weeks now!

The lattice will be on the top.

I picked the design for the ends of the boards

and Mike made it look smooth.

The boards go up!

Perhaps tomorrow it will be done?!

I will take a picture of the finished front walkway too,

since I don't seem to have one yet.

The yard is supposed to get ripped up on

Thursday and Friday, unless it rains.

It is sort of almost done.

No, it isn't done yet!

Last week Dan got some help with the siding. Mike and Marty, who are siding experts, came and worked with Dan. A lot of progress was made!

The side of the garage, with the new door Mike (my Mike) painted green (my favorite color!)

This is the cedar board that will go on the back of the garage for my pergola.

I put the sealer on it.

Wrapping around to the back of the house.

The next day the back of the garage was done, with my sealed, cedar board in place.

The bow window, with the air exchanger vents, and my new dryer vent!

And the front! Wow, it looks like a different house!

Another view of the front.

One day last week (I can't remember which day now) the rest of the new windows arrived.

And all 5 were installed that same day! Not so much rotten wood on that side of the house.

After that day of progress, it came to a screeching halt.

They ran out of siding.

In the meantime we started working on the inside of the house.

I made 2 trips on Friday to get the stain for the inside of the windows.

So Friday night, Mike started staining the kitchen window.

It took a long time. On Saturday, he did the front window in our bedroom. That also took a long time. After that he had his method down and things went a little quicker. He got all the windows in the house stained except the bow window and the sliding door.

On Sunday it looked like rain, and it did rain briefly. You can't really work on windows when it is raining, so Mike painted the living room ceiling.

Ladders anyone?

My friend, Julie came over on Sunday and helped Mike and I plan out the concrete for the back of the house. She came over one night last week and helped us figure out the concrete for the front of the house. We are now ready for concrete!

Tonight when Mike got home he put a coat of sanding sealer on one window. Then we ran to Menards and bought brushes, tack cloth and polyurethane for the windows. Maybe tomorrow night he will get the first coat of poly on the first window!

This is going to take some time...