Got Biscuits?

Nothing says "Monday" better than your dog presenting you with the fresh cat biscuit that he's managed to dig out of the pile of leaves. Silly me, I thought he was going to bring me a toy...

Finally!

Despite a rocky start, Saturday, March 19th , turned out to be a good day. Jonathan's grand aspirations for finishing the sanding of the wood beams came to a quick end when the last remaining sanding belt was ripped to shreds by a mischievous random nail. Then, despite our best efforts to spend some money we left many a furniture store empty handed. Time for some fast food therapy. We stopped at the always tasty In-N-Out Burger, and after enjoying our lunch, confirmed the dirty rumor we'd heard a while back that In-N-Out prints bible verse references on the bottom of their cups. Further inspection would reveal that it didn't stop with the cups, because apparently your delectable side of fresh cut fries comes with a light salting of Jesus as well. I suppose, for the sake of In-N-Out's tastiness I'll come to terms with the subtle proselytization, but if they start saying it at the cash register, we might have a problem.

By the time we arrived home our mail had already been delivered. After a quick glance at the pile on the floor I spied an overstuffed envelope from the Supreme Court of Arizona. Upon first glance I choose to ignore the little beast. Jonathan had run into some "unique" characters along the path in obtaining his license to practice, and the past 60 days, if not 7 some odd months have been unnecessarily, shall we say, challenging. I figured it was best we not live our lives in fear of a pudgy envelope and decided to hand it to its rightful owner. We both stood in silence while Jonathan read over the contents. After a few lengthy seconds of reading he spoke the words we've been waiting to hear for months. They're granting me the license. Its finally over.

Hooray!!! Jonathan appeared to be in a bit of shock, but after the process he/we've been through, its understandable. It may sound odd, but that letter, that moment, and those words, were even more exciting than finding out we got the keys to our house. Finally, after much stress, and one hell of a nasty roller-coaster ride, Jonathan can start his legal career as a licensed attorney. It will be another two weeks until he gets his official number, but at least its no longer an issue looming over us. Saturday, March 19th turned out to be a good day indeed!

Shared Office Etiquette 101

If you're going to eat something that smells like fart before its even processed through your body, out of consideration for those who share your office space, kindly eat it elsewhere!

Happy Friday!

Good to know

To prevent my car from spontaneous combustion I opted to stay a little further behind this truck than usual.

Easy Rider

Its taken a little time but Jackson has finally figured out how refreshing a rolled down window can be. When I first tried to show Jackson how awesome the fresh air is he was a bit hesitant, but now that he has figured it, anyone sitting in the passenger seat or even the driver's seat is a mere step ladder to the open window. Now that's one happy little dog! And, doesn't he look heavenly with the sun rays shining down on him : )

Everyone is happy when its warm and sunny outside and you're cruising with the windows down!

Finished Tile

D & D Tile finished our tile backsplash this past Friday and it looks great! Really ties the room together, does it not?

Kitchen update

Yesterday we had D&D tile (The Mosaic Guys) install our tile backsplash. They are returning today to finish up the grout, and I can't wait to get home to see the finished product. Even though the pictures below show an unfinished product, it already looks pretty good. We stacked, opposed to staggered the matte white 2x4 subway tiles and accented the backsplash with semi-random lines of black/gray/charcoal glass tiles with little white swirlies. Pre-installation Jonathan was a little concerned that the glass tile accents were not going to work with the kitchen, but we both agree that they look fantastic. They help tie together the black/white theme of the kitchen and bring just enough pop to the design to catch your attention. Nothing too busy, just a little something extra.



One thing this remodel has taught me is how to be flexible. The near completion of the kitchen remodel has made us realize that our kitchen has definitely benefited from a few last minute detours from our original design plans. A few months back, following quite a bit of back and forth we had decided to have a white stone countertop installed in the kitchen. However, after learning of "additional installation costs" in excess of $700, which would top our already tight budget, we decided to go with our initial choice of butcher block, and it looks terrific. Not only did it save us about $2,500+ but the butcher block brings a great amount of natural warmth to the kitchen and has worked much better for the overall design than the cold white stone would have. In addition, the first range hood we ordered was stainless steel, but thanks to a shady online business and an order that was inexplicably delayed for months, we canceled the order and found an awesome matte black hood that works better with our kitchen design.

We still have some decisions to make about shelves and molding, but hopefully by the end of April we'll be able to consider the kitchen... completed!

Happy Friday

Just in case you were wondering, Rage Against the Machine is a very appropriate way to start the day.

More home improvements to come... stay tuned.

Work quote of the day

Male supervisor: "I'm glad I could get it up for you"

Female employee: "I'm glad you could get it up for me too".

The tragedy being neither of the computer nerds involved realized the blatant innuendo of their comments. Just continued discussing computer parts sans chuckle, smile or comment, and I wasn't about to be "that guy" and bring it up. Hyuck hyuck, no pun intended.

Off the wagon

I think Toby may have "a problem".