Sideways view of my new wicker hamper and green rug

sideways view of my new shower curtain

Update

We think the house is sold again. Well, the condo. We think. It has passed inspection, and they have signed off on the resale certificate (the thing that made the last deal fall through), and we just have to wait for them to get funding (a loan). If they can't get a loan, obviously it falls through. But just about anyone with a job should qualify for enough to buy the condo, so it should be fine.

And in other news....actually, nothing. Work, home, work, home. Oh, Mom is coming up here again on Friday to help us out with our trim and to design my scrapbook room for me. I already bought about half of the trim and stained it, need to buy the other half and stain it then seal them all, then I need to spackle up the walls and repaint the areas that I spackle, and that is about it. Lots-o-fun. Actually, staining was pretty fun. Much better than painting, anyway!!

The kitties are about to be entered into a Harborview pet contest, and they will TOTALLY win. Have you seen the pictures I have of my babies?!? Of course you have.....just scroll down and they are on this blog several times. We are gonna blow them away. Ethan will enter one and I will enter the other, and the first place animal gets a $100 gift certificate to PetCo and second place gets a $75 gift certificate. We are gonna win both!!!

Here is a lighter more better looking version, just for Davinie

Yes, yes, yes.....long time no update. Whatever. So.....the condo has another buyer, they talked us down to 199K (we went down $950), and it should all work out. We will close I think on April 21. Whoop-dee-do. So not excited about this. After the last one fell through, I have become cynical. That, and our credit card now has so much crap on it (we usually do NOT carry a balance, this is so unusual for us--we put all the carpet and Home Depot stuff for the house and the condo on it, and plan to pay it all off once the condo sells), anyway, it is nearly full. And Ethan has awesome credit, so the limit is NOT low, and it is almost full! Which just means that my laptop is slip slipping away, as is all our fun things we wanted to but. But...you know us. We are so stinking responsible with money that we weren't probably going to buy the fun stuff anyway (well, Ethan is.....I am more of the money waster in the family).
So.
AND...now THIS computer is crap, so we need a new one, and the definitely takes precedent over the laptop. Dammit!! I want a laptop!! Oh, well.

We are going to purchase our plane tickets to Los Cabos shortly...oh, which reminds me--I need to send my passport in to get a renewal. I got it for when I went to Cuba in 1996, and it expired in January. I will have to set up the tripod and take a picture of myself today. Anyway, woohoo Mexico! I am SO ready for a vacation! Ethan is turning 20-10 and I will make him blissfully unaware of that fact by distracting him with rum and Coronas (not together, that doesn't sound very tasty)

Busy couple of months coming up. Davinie's baby in April that I will be driving down for, the awesome trauma conference May 31 and June 1 (yes, yes yes....I am totally looking forward to the trauma conference. I have gone every year since I became a nurse, and it is always an awesome time. I learn so much, there are cool gory pictures, it is awesome. Harborview puts it on, since we are the massive trauma center, so sometimes I hear case studies and I have taken care of the patient they are discussing. I know a lot of the docs that present, and it is nice to hear some of the stories that are told at the conference....anyway, I am a trauma nerd). Then Sabrina is having her 'little man' the next week, and I am planning to drive down for that and hope my timing is on so that I am there for the big event, since Ethan and I head to Meheeco the next week.

I have recently taken up a myspace.com account, mostly because everyone at work has them and they are hysterical. AND....Jobie has one and it is another way to keep in contact, and I have seen a couple people from high school over there, and it is interesting to see what people have become/who they grew up to be. Because seriously--who is the same as they were in high school?!? The reason I did not go to my 10 year reunion (other than the fact that I only found out about it a couple weeks in advance and I was working that weekend), was because I KNOW I am SO different than I was in high school, I have developed an ACTUAL personality and I KNOW who I am now, but I also know that my damn shy streak is extremely strong, and I would probably have spent the entire evening sitting quietly in the corner too scared to talk to people. I hate that!!! I refuse to be that person. I am so different when I am comfortable, and around people that I am comfortable with. I HATE that when I am in new situations, I freeze and feel all awkward and don't have any ability to be MYSELF. I wish I had gone to that reunion, on some levels, but I am also glad that I didn't, because I would have sat there next to Davinie and Steve and Morgan and not been able to be ME. I would have been Davinie's sister, or that quiet girl whats-her-name or something like that. Forget it. If I cannot act like MYSELF, I am not doing it. Seriously--being shy SUCKS. Not a whole lot you can do about it. It just sucks. No offense to Davinie or Steve, or even Morgan. I am glad they went and had a good time. I just know that their presence there would have made it so much easier for me to sit there and be the timid girl I was 10 years ago, and I didn't want that. If that makes any sense...........
still, after these almost 5 years in nursing, the most difficult part of every day for me is walking into a patients room and saying 'My name is Alyca, I am going to be your nurse today". Once I get past that part, I am fine, but I still have to force myself EVERY DAY to walk into that room and introduce myself. Pretty dumb, huh??

Never mind

The buyers for the condo backed out. They got the resale certificate from our condo association (standard thing--we had to pay $150 to get it), and since the association has been discussing replacing the siding and the windows (they have been discussing this for YEARS.......not happening any time soon!), they are concerned that they will have to pay for that soon, so they backed out. We had heard that they were going to ask us to put money into escrow, and any assessments that became due in the next year would be paid out of that money, but they ended up not even asking for that, and just backed.

Starting over.....

Yeah...got a bit busy last night. I ended up staying 4 extra hours and dealing with crap..... Worked 40 hours over the past 3 days, and now I'm enjoying a nice day off. So nice to be able to sleep in! I am heading out in a bit to get the new Harry Potter movie that came out yesterday. Woo and hoo. Hopefully there are lots of nice extras on there...

Really, there is nothing going on for me to write about on here. I can think of nothing......cats, house, Ethan...work.....that is about it for the moment......
Oh, we DID finally get the foosball table set up. It is so big, we are having a hard time finding a place for it. Right now it is in the computer room, and I think it will stay there. It won't fit in the sports room very well, and isn't appropriate for upstairs, so this is a good spot for it.

Well, Harry is calling. Maybe I will think up some good discussion things whilst I drive to pick him up.....

Lets see........

The sports room is really coming together nicely. Every time I come home, Ethan has something new up or moved....the room looks a lot bigger now that it is not being used as a box storage place. He took the old shelves I removed from my scrapbook room and hung them on one little wall, and they hold a lot more and look very nice, so the room looks bigger.....

The upstairs living room is together now, except for us needing to buy end tables, coffee table, lamps, etc. What IS there looks nice, so it is a start.

The cats are THRILLED with the house now. They tear around chasing each other, and it is amazing how much noise they make! No wonder our old downstairs-neighbors hated us! The cats are so noisy! They jump off things so un-gracefully, with a big thud when they land. It cracks me up to see/hear them tearing up the stairs and spinning out on the laminate floor, so they slide into the wall or couch. Just like in those cartoons!

Gotta go give a pain pill.....will add more in a sec....

A couple o photos to show the house as-is for now.........well, to show the sports room, anyway. The batteries on the camera died and are currently charging, and if I am still motivated later, I will put some up of other parts of the house

Extremely exciting view of my scrapbook room.....mom is going to help me make some shelves/desk sorta thing for this room, and kinda yelled at me when I went looking at GOodwill for a beater desk to put in there.....it will be AWESOME when it finally gets done.....

Sonics wall, and random crap sitting on my cedar chest/spare seating. We have our random seat cushions on top of the cedar chest for extra seating. THe very bottom of the picture shows the edge of the couch. I am going to buy a dark blue (Seahawks blue) couch cover, and custom make a huge Seahawks logo to put on the back. The logo is the perfect shape for the back of a couch, and it will look AWESOME! The vacuum has an actual home elsewhere, so ignore that....the boxes are also temporary, but they don't have a home elsewhere yet, so they are still hanging out..

Closeup of the #1 Sonics wall. We will get these jerseys nicely framed sometime, but these are cool for now.....

Closeup of the Star Trek section in the corner... you don't really notice the fishing line in the room, it just shows up here because of the flash.....

Bobblehead wall in the sports room, with the NBA Hallmark ornament collection hanging below

Storm section......couple of bobbleheads, signe LJ jersey, big frame with stuff from the championship season, and the replica trophy

THE sports room (Seahawks wall). See the fathead on the wall?? (enormous helmet sticker), big TV, temporary component setup. Mom is going to come up here in a month or so and build us a custom entertainment center. It will be built around the TV, and will take up the entire width of the wall, and most of the height. We will leave spaces where there is no back so you can see the blue wall, and maybe frame some jerseys in there. No plans just yet, but it will look AWESOME!!

Finally....I am starting to scrap again.....still a work in progress, but I have STARTED a layout, which is good.....

God save us all from the Religious Right

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This is mine.

An embryo IS a bunch of cells. It is a bunch of cells with the POTENTIAL to become a fetus, and then a baby.

I fully support the right for a woman to choose what is best for her specific situation, her body, her family, HER. I don't think it is right to kill a baby. I don't think a baby is being killed. If I were to get pregnant at a time when it was absolutely not doable for me, I would consider a termination of that pregnancy. The embryo. The group of cells. I DO see a difference between embryo and fetus. I think the late term, so called "partial birth" abortions are a different story, but I don't think any blanket statement should apply to anything--every case is unique and different. I don't think abortion is a good form of birth control, I don't think it is or should be an easy option, I think people need to take every step possible to prevent unwanted pregnancies from occurring, but I think this option should be there, should be available. Don't tell me they should just go through with the pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption. Do you have any idea how many kids there are in this country alone that need families?? People will adopt a newborn, white infant, but not a three year old hispanic kid, not a 5 year old black kid. Not even a 4 year old white kid. Those kids were born to mothers not prepared to take care of them, not ABLE to do anything for them. Many are born drug addicted, many are neglected. Many were not wanted. THere are so many kids out there who really need help now, banning abortion would just create more, and there is no way to take care of these kids. THey slip through the cracks every single day.
Before you tell me what to do with MY body and MY situation, go adopt some of these kids who really need a loving family and someone to advocate for them. Leave the embryo, the group of cells alone, and concentrate on the kids.


My two cents. Don't have to agree with me, but don't try to force your opinions on me. I have seen so much on this on the TV and internet and the papers lately, I just had to say SOMETHING............not looking for a debate, just ranting......

SOLD

After 5 days on the market, the condo is GONE.

The buyers were reportedly (via their agent), very picky, and had been looking for a while now for a place. They walked into the condo Sunday evening, and instantly loved it. Their quote was that it looked fantastic. (Thanks, Mom!!)

SO.......we saved $5000 by doing the painting/remodel ourselves and with Mom, raised our purchase price by $5o00, and ended up getting everything we asked for.

Can I get a Woo Hoo??

Just listed!

http://www.windermere.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Listing.ListingDetail&ListingID=6764806


MLS # 26025031 at www.windermere.com if the link above does not work

Why I will not be updating my blogs any time soon

I am working. I work at work, and I work at home. I work 8 hours today, then will head over to the condo to paint until 9:30 or so. Then I work 12 hours tomorrow, and will head over to the condo to work a couple hours with Ethan. I am off Thursday, and will spend the entire day at the condo. I work 8 hours Friday, and Ethan will spend the entire day at the condo. I am off Saturday and will spend the entire day at the condo. I am working 12 hours Sunday, and off Monday. If there is more work to be done on Monday, I am running away from home. We have been at the condo until 10pm for the last few days, and that won't end any time soon. Work at Harborview is respite from work at the condo. The condo sucks. It looks very nice now, but not nice enough, and there is a TON of work to be done there. So.....doubtful I will be playing on the computer much for the next week or so....

Why Mom is my hero

Mom flew up here Friday morning, and spent three 14-hour days working on our condo. We thought we had maybe 10 hours worth of work that needed to be done (by her), but we were wrong! She came to install new trim everywhere. What a pain! We had it painted, then she measured them, cut them, nailed them up, added painters caulk, prettied them up, and did a wonderful job. She knows EVERYTHING! We have so much crap going on over there, it is ridiculous. Know what we are doing for Valentines day?? After my 8-hour respite at work, we are heading over to the condo to repaint the trim and walls. They need another coat to look nice. We had carpet installed Monday, and need to repaint everything, and clean out the bathrooms, throw a bunch of garbage away, finish painting the kitchen, clean out the fridge, etc. We hope to put the condo on the market next week.

Mom was wonderful. We spent all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the condo, then did a couple hours Monday morning before heading out. We went to REI for some relaxation, then I put her on a train home. She had some awesome ideas for building an entertainment center built-in sort of thing around our mammoth TV, and wants to come back up in late March to do that. If she had not come up here, we would still be standing in the condo wondering what the heck we were doing. Go mom!!

I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three. ~Elayne Boosler

Fallen Firefighter memorial in Pioneer Square. It was made after 5 firefighters were killed in a warehouse fire that was eventually found to be an arson set by the owner of the building in an insurance scam. The names of all Seattle firefighters killed in the line of duty are engraved in the concrete portions.

What I'm up to

Painting. Lots of painting. I painted one big wall in the house, and my scrapbook room, then moved on to the condo. I am painting the ENTIRE condo, except for the two bathrooms. I have finished the living and dining rooms and the second bathroom, and need to finish up in the hallway, and do the master bedroom. I also painted all the room doors and closet doors white, and painted the door frames white to match. We still need to buy a ton of trim and paint it white (it comes pre-primed, thank god....), and now we know that the kitchen needs to be painted a soft yellow. Actually, our real estate agent (via her interior design person), told us to paint it the color of the label on the apricot beer bottle that is sitting on the counter in the kitchen (it is the only kind of beer I like to drink......haven't gotten around to moving it yet). So I will be taking my bottle to Home Depot to get a matching color.
Then, Ethan is going to add knobs/pulls to our kitchen cabinets, and hopefully we can get mom down this weekend to help with the trim installation, and get carpet guys out to replace the carpet, and we are all done. It is A LOT of work!!! I am doing all of the painting, because Ethan hates painting. He is scrubbing the bathrooms, really getting them spotless and perfect, and has been removing and re-hanging the doors. Since I have more actual days off, I get the fun stuff. Actually, I enjoy painting. I volunteered to do it, but I am becoming less and less fond of it. I still need to paint at least the two upstairs bedroom in the house, and need major touchups on the white living room, as well as a good deal of spackle (spackel??). I can do it....I know it will look great when I am done.
Ethan is the chief putter-together-er of things, and I am the prettier and painter. It all works out nicely.
So. That is pretty much what I have been up to. Oh, and the Superbowl, of course. Don't even get me started on the crappy officiating. But, the Hawks played crappily too, so I can't put ALL the blame on the refs. Oh, well. Miami, here we come!!!

And, Shadow has herpes. Apparently most cats carry the herpes virus, but you never see any symptoms and it remains dormant in them. When they are really stressed out, they can have an outbreak (it is NOT contagious to humans...different herpes). I know that the only time I get cold sores is if I am all stressed out, and poor Shadow shares my pain. Actually, his version is much better. One of his eyes is all weepy and has some goop in it. The vet gave us some goo to put in it twice a day to clear it up, and he will be fine. But I just feel so bad that my baby has gotten so stressed out! I bought lots of soft food for the kitties to make it up to them, which they appreciate. The Boo-kitty is too skinny lately, always has been a bit, and now with all the running up and down the stairs (and he LOVES to do that...), he is bound to get even skinnier. I worry about him sometimes.......but they both have soft food to eat and enjoy, so I feel a bit better.

I sure wish I had blogs to read that were updated and had pictures........MINE will have pictures up later tonight once I am home. That sure is nice to see, pictures I mean. Lets you see what people are up to, shows you how kids grow. Aww, shucks.....

Grand Gridiron Goals

Almost any appropriate athletics aficionado is attending a big bash to back their band of bashers and ballers. Contrary to conventional celebrated communications and conjecture, the damp, drenched, dare we say 'deluged' devotees of MY district distinctly espouse enormous enthusiastic expectations for our family-friendly football faction to finish off that greatly glorified gang of heavy hitters and their head honcho, the idiot with the immense id. Incomplete identification of just how juiced our jocks are kills the kosher-ness and legitimacy of the laughable looked-for

Okay, according to thesaurus.com there is no word starting with an L or M that means outcome, end, prediction, etc. But, that is a lot of the alphabet to get through.......


Go Seahawks!! 330pm on ABC, for all you non-sports people. If there is ONE event you watch each year, this should be it!!!