Stokes hasn't spoken in a while, huh?

so, maybe I should change the title of the blog to Stokes Speaks Every Great Once in a While...

Let's see - School has been going wonderfully so far. I thought that there would be this steady climb of the "easy factor" and with each passing year of teaching that things would be getting steadily easier. Turns out that the curve between year 2 and year 3 is much steeper that I thought - meaning that things this year have just gone so much more smoothly that I had imagined. It seems like I have really hit my stride. I feel like the kids are with me and paying attention much more so now than in the past. The group thing is working almost seamlessly (sorry Katie - I know...). Tomorrow is Back to School Night with the parents coming to school at 7:00PM and lasting thru 9:00 - Makes for a very long day, especially when I don't have the time to drive back home between after school and parents. I can hopefully get a ton of correcting done, though.

Andy and I have been doing kind of putzy stuff lately. Nothing major - We still have a back splash to tile, a kitchen to paint and a stairway to plaster, but I'm not feeling a big rush to get those things done. At least not until the Northwest Rain hits. Then we will be cooped up and will be itching to accomplish something. We spent the last weekend in Eugene visiting some friends, which was nice! This weekend we have a family deal and we might go see a play (PolyAnna) that one of my former students is in. Not much else new here. Hope all well back in the Midwest - My mom had snow flurries last Friday! Makes me a bit nostalgic...

So long, summer...

It's been a while since my last post... Let's see. I had a great visit back to MN for a week. I got to see Brent and Patti for a very short visit because of a 4 hour plane delay. Then up to the cabin for quality time with mom and dad. I got in my bird-nerd fix, helped cut down some trees, did a short hike with mom, kayaked with dad, and just had fun hanging out with the parents. Then back to Mpls for some much needed girl-time. I had a blast meeting Jack and Henry, and spending time with H, D and K and all of the kids. Thanks girls for putting me up in your houses and taking care of me! I had a nice surprise visit to the good ol' MN State Fair - I got all of my food needs in - the corn, mini-donuts, cookies, milkshakes and cheese curds. I even got to ride the big slide with Hailey!

I had a nice 3 day work week with meetings and quite a bit more time in my classroom than expected. I feel like I am ready to go. As for Labor Day weekend - We kept it pretty calm here - Went to a minor league baseball game in Salem, canned some tomatoes from our garden, played some tennis with Andy, his brother and sister in law. I start back at school tomorrow with kids for a half day - short 9 minute periods, then Wed, Thur and Fri with full days. I've tried a new seating arrangement in my room (groups of 4) that hopefully will help accommodate the technology pieces that I've wanted to integrate in to my daily lessons, as well as incorporating group work. We'll see how that works. It's sad to see the summer come to an end... But I do love the fall with the crisp air and leaves falling. Take care!

75% of the way to a brand new kitchen!

OK - For those who how have not seen my house in person, here is what the kitchen used to look like. Note the black and white floor tile, white laminate counters, and doily curtains.

My parents came out for spring break this year and my dad helped put in the new floor (I don't have any pics of this process, but you can see the new floor in the next pics)

Then, I designed an island and had a local cabinet maker built it. I picked it up in pieces, and had to paint all of the doors, end panels, and trim. Then Andy and I assembled it in the kitchen, and secured it to the floor. We ran wiring for one outlet in the end, so we can plug in a blender (for smoothies or margaritas), waffle maker (for blueberry waffles with friut right from our garden) or cell phone chargers. We still have to connect the wire.

Next, Andy and I removed the old white laminate counters ourselves. A bit tougher that expected, but aren't all home improvement projects... Note the new blinds that replaced the grandma curtains.

Finally, the new counters arrived and we put the finishing touches on the island like floor trim, putting in the shelves, etc. We also replaced all of the hardware on the cabinets. What a difference!!

The remaining 25% of the kitchen remodel entails:

1. Putting up a tile backsplash from countertop to the bottom of the cabinets. We already have all of the supplies, we just need to find a day or two to put it up.

2. Installing undercabinet lighting on the sink side of the counters. We have all the supplies, just need to find some of that elusive time.

3. Painting the ceiling and walls.

Well, that's it for now - I'll see you fellow Minnesotans very soon! Time to get packing.

MN here I come!

OK - I've finally decided on dates for a flight! I'll be back in MN Aug 20-27. Can't wait to meet Henry and Jack! It took me forever to feel OK about leaving during the last week of my summer break. I think we are going to get a lot done on the house this week. We had a minor setback with our plumbing. After our new countertops got installed on Friday, we attempted to hook up the new faucet. We had everything under control until one of the cold water pipes started leaking - as soon as we tried to fix that one, the shut off valve started leaking... (these things tend to happen in a 100 year old house with corrosive water) So, hopefully I can find a plumber on Monday who can come and save our mess of a kitchen sink. We've had to endure 4 days with no kitchen sink and no dishwasher. I'm waiting to post pics of the counters once we have the faucet in and some things put back in place.

This week, I'm hoping to finish up the Venetian plaster on the stairs/ landing. So far it looks awesome! It's a lot of work, but man, it looks great. I'm even thinking of doing one wall in the kitchen with the same treatment.

Well, looking forward to seeing all of my fellow Minnesotans soon! I hope my Portland weather follows me there. It's been about 80 with a nice breeze and a few clouds here.

I'm done with the S's and on to the T's

Since we joined the 21st century back at Christmas-time by purchasing a TIVO, we have been enjoying many of its bonus features. Using the networking capabilities of TIVO, you can play music from the hard drive of your computer out thru your stereo. (Thanks to Mr. H for pointing this out to us - you've created a monster.) Soooo, we are now attempting to rip all of our music to the newly-purchased external hard drive, so that we have a complete library of our entire music collection. Each CD takes about 5-10 minutes to upload to the computer, then you have to switch to the next CD... Since we have like a million CDs this has been a painstakingly long process. Obviously, I'm not going to just sit in front of the computer for hours on end, I just put a new one in each time I walk by the computer. So, I just finished up with the S's: Steely Dan, Springsteen, Stone Temple Pilots (one of my fav bands), The Strokes, Sting, etc. Now on to the T's. Any guesses as to some T's?????

Our goal in doing this is to make folders that you can shuffle thru depending on your mood. We've created catagories like Alternative, Classical, Hair Metal, etc. It's like having your own personal radio station. We also want to back up our CD collection in case of fire, etc. I've heard of the Pandora radio thing - I might check it out - but, alas, I've been spending too much time with this ripping thing.

On another note - House projects continue - Our new countertops are being installed tomorrow. Andy and I ripped out 2 of the 3 old counter sections last night, and still have the section with the sink to take out tonight. Needless to say, I will be doing some drywall repair today. Seems like no matter what you do, the caulk rips off the paper part of the sheetrock. I can't wait to see the new counters tomorrow - I will post pics then.

FYI - I'm still considering a Aug 21-27 trip to MN - Checking on tickets again today... Will let you know if I book some.

House projects

I know it's been a while since I last posted... Andy and I have been busy with various house projects. I've been working on making some curtains for the living/ dining rooms. It's taken more time that I thought it would, but they are turning out nicely. They are definitely an improvement from the filthy black metal mini-blinds that were there. Here are pictures of the two windows that are done. Still one window to go.

Last week, we had a very large branch break off of our huge walnut tree in the front yard, but it was still connected and hanging very low in the middle of the street. The city came and cut it down, but I had to deal with cutting it up with just a hand saw (still haven't finished...). I also worked on sprucing up our yard. I pruned our boxwood hedge in the front yard which took me forever, and did some general pruning and raking. Our city had a giant festival last weekend that centers on a park less than a block from our house. TONS of people come for the music, carnival rides, parade, booths, car show and fireworks, so our neighborhood was a hoppin'.

The guy that made our kitchen island finished it up last week, so in order to same some $$$$, I drove out and picked it up. I also had to paint the doors and the end panels, which took all of last week (3 coats of oil based paint on 2 sides of the doors). Last night, Andy and I installed it in our kitchen. We ran some wiring to it so that we can put in an outlet. The counter guys are coming out tomorrow morning to measure for the new Corian counters. Yeah! I can't wait to see what our kitchen will look like! Then, we will still need to paint the walls - I'm thinking maybe a Venetian plaster effect on one wall. We are also planning on a tile back splash and putting in some undercabinet lighting. I'll post before and after pics after the countertops are in. That's it for now - back to "work"!

Glacier Video

OK - I've added a short video clip of Child's Glacier Calving - I think it's on the right hand side of this blog... Just click and it should play.