Holy...jeans!

January 7- I cannot believe it. I started off 2011 by tearing holes in not just one, but TWO, of my jeans! And considering that I only have 4 tattered pairs to start with, it is definitely a hit to my wardrobe. I was wearing a pair and noticed a little tear starting on the knees that seemed to grow bigger as the minutes passed. So I switched to another pair of jeans and what do you know...I bend down to do some scrapbooking and whammo...another hole appears out of nowhere within 10 minutes! I check my other pair of jeans and there are actually two holes that have made an appearance. I hope that I don't wrap up this week by tearing holes into my 2 other non-holey jeans!

Up on the rooftop...

January 5- Another day of housework! Adam spent the morning finishing up the running of cables for the satellite (he installed cable outlets in every room and ran the cables through the attic and walls). He was up on the roof and in the attic for much of the morning while I went back and forth between vacuuming, holding the ladder for Adam, feeding him cables, and making a card for my brother-in-law Paul (get well soon!!!). My mom made delicious spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, and then we spent the afternoon taking out the gross shag carpet from the garage. That included pulling out all the stuff that was in the garage, putting loose items into boxes and labeling them, and purging cardboard boxes. It was nice to roll up that dusty old shag but we all had to take hot showers afterwards! Still some ways to go before we really get to cleaning the garage, but that is the first step. Thank goodness for the large dumpster we rented!!

January 6- Adam and I started out the morning with breakfast with Sarah and Jeff (does it count if I ate a burger and fries?). It was so good to see them...it had been a while (since February) and really there is no excuse for us not seeing them sooner since they are in Victorville. Sarah and I plan to have a scrapbooking weekend when I get back from New Mexico (she has a Cricut too!!!) while Adam and Jeff can have their action flick movie watching. =D When we got home, I spent some time listening to music (some good ol' Ecua hits from our time in Ecuador), organizing my scrapbooking stuff, and doing more vacuuming while Adam watched Spread on the laptop. Plan for the evening? Maybe I'll be able to sketch out some layouts so I can finish my Galapagos scrapbook...we'll see!

January 3- We woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow! I would guess at least 3 inches, but melting fast! I was able to catch a few shots of the snow before it almost completely melted by afternoon. I am sure the kids were excited because school was cancelled (and all the base employees were permitted to arrive 2 hours late). I know Susan is laughing to herself, since they easily get multiple feets of snow and still are expected to get to work! Adam and I also managed to squeeze in lunch at Miso Sushi (I would actually say that it is one of the best restaurants in town) where I satisfied my craving for a Washington roll (mmm, raw salmon!), a trip to the storage unit, and multiple trips to and from the Home Depot. 

January 4- Adam took our purchases from the Home Depot and turned it into this beauty...that's right, we built our parents a closet organization system. Yay! My mom came up with the design and then Adam and I purchased all the MDF, screws, mounts, hinges, etc. etc. It was slightly stressful since Adam and I were concerned about the weight of the MDF and how mounting it into the studs would work with holding it up securely. After using some furring strips and such, I think it turned out pretty good! We have to do a bit of touch up (you can see where we added the support strips so we'll be painting those white) but otherwise it is ready to go!

 

I'll also try and post a few photos of the updates we made to the house later on...yay for new carpet, new flooring, new toilets, and new paint!

Aperture, Wide Open!

After Jota got his 50mm lens and seeing how fast it was (and how inexpensive it is), I decided to get one for myself! I've been having fun taking photos (indoors, no less!) though I do have to say that I need to stop using such a wide aperture all the time! I just got the lens last week so it'll take some time for me to get used to the fact that I can't zoom in and out, and it'll also take some time for me not to stick to the widest aperture setting all the time (but it is so much fun!). Aperture!

Decor of California Missions in Adam's parents' house

Desert flowers in front of Adam's parents' house in New Mexico

Garlic knots, pre-oven...not as gorgeous as Jason's but tons of garlic on top! Yum!

Ginormous bento box...my new lens lets me have a really shallow depth of field (good or bad...lol, in this photo only the rice and a bit of the tempura is in focus)

Mmm, salmon inside and out!

Adam out on the deck with Mickie!

Last night Adam's mom made baked apples...these are pre oven...look at all that butter on top! YUM!