Before and After

Fireplace and Mantel

Kitchen Sink and Faucet

Air Conditioner

None of these changes were cheap, of course.

Bank Account Before:

And After:

The Tell-Tale Clink

We've been prodded by grandparents to update our blog; so, here goes:

Last night as soon as we got into bed I heard: clink. It almost sounded like metal on metal. That's not a sound that our house usually makes, so I listened closely, and a few minutes later there was another clink. I mentally went through our house trying to figure out what would make that sound, but could think of nothing.

Finally, after the third clink I got up to investigate. I stood in the kitchen, waiting, and heard it again. It sounded like it might be outside, so I opened the blinds and looked out, but there was nothing except for empty streets and dark houses. By this time it was almost 1am, our house was totally dark, and I was starting to think we may have ghosts, or that people were in our house like the The Strangers previews that are constantly showing on TV.

Then, it clinked again, and I could tell it was coming from our dining room light fixture.


I turned on the light, heard it again, and climbed up on a chair to investigate. My first thought was that it was a bug in the light fixture, but there was no movement, no shadows, and when I unscrewed the light cover there was nothing inside.

Now I was stumped. I waited and waited but there were no more clinks. I decided that it was somehow fixed now that the light cover was off, so I set the cover on the floor, left a note for Wendy so she wouldn't be wondering what the heck was going on in the morning, and went back to bed.

And then, 10 minutes later, it clinked again. And again. And again. And I got up again and went back downstairs. With a bit of patience I was rewarded with another clink, and it was still coming from our light fixture, except now there was nothing but two light bulbs and the base that screwed into the ceiling.


Determined, I got up on the chair and carefully unscrewed the base and pulled it down a few inches -- as far as the wires into the ceiling would let me. From what I could see there was nothing there. Then, I tilted it towards me, and something small and black slid down: it was a bug. A bug in the attic had crawled down into the recessed area of the base, and when it tried to fly around it clinked against the metal. No ghosts. No horror movie characters. Just a bug. I squashed it, screwed the base back into the ceiling, and went to bed. No more clinks.

Here's what else we've been up to in recent months:

* There was another employee book sale at work, and this year we got a buy 1 get 1 free coupon, which meant it was 12.5 cents per book. We got 87 books for $11. Some of our more exciting finds include the following:

The Portable Dorothy Parker
Keturah and Lord Death
Dreaming in Code
Pattern Recognition and The Difference Engine by William Gibson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Sagas of Icelanders
Howliday Inn

* The process of home improvement continues ever onward. Currently we're in the middle of getting a new mantel and glass doors for our fireplace, looking for a new washer and dryer, and having our front porch and deck washed and re-stained.

* Most everyone already knows, but in March we went to Greece for a week and a half and had a fantastic time. We went to Athens, Turkey, and a few Greek islands. My suitcase never made it there thanks to the opening of the new T5 terminal at Heathrow. After 3 weeks it was declared lost and I got a check for $600 and got reimbursed for all the clothes and toiletries I bought in Greece. It finally showed up on our front porch 4 weeks after it went missing! It worked out well in the end, since I got my suitcase and the money, but was a bit of hassle during the trip. We've emailed pictures to a bunch of people; if you haven't seen them and would like to, send us an email.

* The weather during Memorial Day weekend was fun. On Friday highs were in the 50s, on Saturday the 60s, on Sunday the 70s, on Monday the 80s, and when we went back to work on Tuesday it was back to the 50s.

* Our Wii has been getting a lot of playing time recently. We're both playing a lot of DDR, which is a lot of fun and a lot of exercise, and we just got Guitar Hero 3 and have started rocking out to it. I've also been killing lots of zombies thanks to House of the Dead 2 and 3.

February Adventures

We've gotten a lot of snow this winter. Just about everyone is sick of it by now. About a week ago, the Northwest Herald reported that we'd gotten 69 inches of snow so far; only 5.5 inches below the all-time record set during the legendary '78-'79 winter (Chicago got 89" that year).

Wendy and I have started to notice a pattern. Right about the time the snow melts to the point where we can see patches of grass in our yard, a new snowstorm hits. Today was no exception. We opened the blinds, saw a patch of grass, and checked the weather: 2-4" of snow expected over the next few days.

I snapped these photos from our bedroom window the morning after one the larger snowstorms this year.





A few weeks ago the total lunar eclipse occurred. I shoveled and de-iced the deck the weekend before (which was a lot of work!), just in case it was clear that night. We lucked out and it was! Unfortunately though it was only 10 degrees that evening. So we put on as many clothes as we possibly could, wrapped ourselves in blankets, sat outside with a mug of hot chocolate and watched as much of the eclipse as possible. I think we lasted about 45 minutes, which isn't too bad. But we were really, really, cold.



Yesterday we drove down to Chicago and spent the afternoon at the Field Museum. We were drawn by a special exhibit on George Washington Carver. In college, we went to the George Washington Carver National Monument just outside Joplin, MO. At the time we knew him as "the peanut guy", but we soon discovered he was a much more fascinating person. In addition to being a scientist, he was an artist, a great educator, a tremendous friend and inspiration to countless people, and he possessed great humility and a great love of nature. His greatest contribution, though, didn't come from the laboratory, but from translating the results of science into knowledge and actions that the poor farmers of the day could use. We enjoyed the National Monument so much that this past Christmas we stopped there again on our way to Oklahoma. We found they'd expanded the building and put in several new exhibits, including some interesting audio interviews (Carver had a very unusual voice).

When we got home after Christmas, we saw that the Field Musuem was having an exhibit on Carver starting in February. We thought it a funny coincidence and decided to go check it out. We were not disappointed. I was especially pleased that they had a few more samples of his artwork. A lot of his artwork was lost in a fire, but the pieces I've seen -- mostly of plants -- are really good. It's definitely worth the price of admission.

After the Field Musuem, I dragged Wendy to a comic book store in north Chicago called Chicago Comics. It was cool; they had a large selection of graphic novels. And it was neat to see some of the north-side. Parking, as you can imagine, was a big mess, and I swear some of the cars parallel-parked along the street were so close to each other there's no way they could get out. Anyway, just to make things even, Wendy then dragged me to a store so she could go clothes shopping!


Finally, for our Wii-loving friends out there, we've started playing a new game that's a lot of fun: Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. It's flown under-the-radar a bit, but it's possibly the best third-party game available for the Wii. You play a young boy who wants to be a pirate, and the goal is to find treasure, but there are all kinds of puzzles you have to get through. It makes really good use of the Wii remote, and the puzzles are very clever. So far it's been a lot of fun.

Library Nirvana

It took two weekends, a lot of driving, and several trips to the store to find the right tool, but we at last have enough bookshelves for our books!

Several weekends ago we bravely ventured forth to the Schaumburg IKEA, determined to spend our hard-won Christmas monies on bookshelves. The overflowing piles of book boxes in our family room had simply become too much to bear. So we turned our gaze to ikea.com in search of answers, and one word leapt out at us, promising to solve all our storage needs. It was "Billy". We considered ordering online, but decided against it; we had to witness Billy in person. We had to be sure.

Thus we found ourselves in Schaumburg, IL. Knowing full well the magnitude of the task before us, we stopped first at Macaroni Grill, where we spent another hard-won Christmas present: a "gift card." After filling ourselves with eggplant parmesan and margarita pizza, we began our task. IKEA beckoned. Making our way through the turbulent throngs, climbing floor after floor of home furnishings, and maintaining a sharp, laser-like focus, we found ourselves amidst the Billy showcases. And it was good.

We secured our items and proceeded to checkout. Our plan was to have IKEA deliver the goods to us, but another, cheaper alternative presented itself. There was an on-site Enterprise store with vans available to rent. So we found ourselves driving back home not in our car, but in a full-size cargo van. After one hour to get home, half an hour to unload, one hour back to drop off the van, several minutes of being lost, and one more hour back home in our car, we had accomplished our goal. Bookshelves! At least, bookshelves in a box.

The next day, Sunday, saw us put the bookshelves together. We soon found this was the easy part. Getting them properly aligned and anchored on the wall was a task we left for the next weekend. Working well into the night the next Saturday, with the aid of dogged persistence, wooden shims, an offset screwdriver, and caramel-chocolate-chip cookies, we finally finished. The next day, another Sunday, we put up our books. And, again, just as before, it was good. Billy was right.

From start to finish:







With our books off of the floor and into their rightful place, I couldn't resist cataloging them via LibraryThing. The above shelves hold 346 books of all sizes, shapes, and subjects. We're not done cataloging, but we estimate this is about half of our total collection, with the rest scattered among smaller bookshelves throughout the house.

Sunday Breakfast

I like to make Sunday breakfast. I don't always cook Sunday mornings, but I would say more often than not I make muffins or pancakes or waffles or something. This morning, I made Four-Grain Pancakes, and they were so tasty that I knew I had an obligation to share the recipe with the world.

Here's my recipe, slightly adapted from one of my cookbooks. Next time you're hungry and you have some extra time for breakfast, make these. Seriously. You can thank me later.

Four-Grain Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
This is the part that I think completely makes the recipe:
1 packet of instant flavored oatmeal
The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats and 3 T maple syrup, and you could certainly do that, but I used 1 packet of Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal in Maple and Brown Sugar flavor, and it is insanely good. The packet was about 1/2 cup of uncooked oatmeal.
2 cups buttermilk
I also did not use buttermilk, but soy milk made a fine substitute. I'm sure regular milk would as well, although you might want to use slightly less than 2 cups, since neither is as thick as buttermilk.
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten

In a large bowl, combine everything. Stir just until it's all mixed together - don't overmix.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. I use a non-stick skillet, and you'll definitely want to spray it with non-stick spray or grease it with butter for the first set of pancakes. You'll know the griddle is hot enough when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it and they dance around before evaporating.

Cook the pancakes - they should sizzle a little when they hit the griddle, because you want them to be slightly crispy on the outside. They'll take a few minutes on the first side and only a minute or so once you flip them. This recipe made about 16 pancakes, which is always enough to feed the 2 of us twice. So, four servings, I guess. Pancakes freeze really well, if you have leftovers. Just let them cool, put them in a ziploc and put them in the freezer.

More photos than you can shake a stick at!!

The long-awaited photos of our kitchen have finally arrived! Kudos to Abby for finally twisting our arms enough to get the pictures posted.

Here's a smattering of before pictures. Click to enlarge.

Below is the best photo we have of the previous floor, so be sure to take a good look.

Here you can really tell that the top cabinets were a different shade of off-white than the bottom ones. And, again, the floor. Ugh.

Finally, a couple of cabinet close-ups so you can see the old hardware.

Here's a list of what we did over the course of the summer:

• Painted the kitchen walls a "Honeypot" color.
• Removed all the cabinet doors and threw away the old hinges and knobs.
• Sanded, patched, primed, and painted the cabinets and doors a "Pot of Cream" color.
• Took off the existing adhesive shelf liner and put down new liner.
• Installed new hinges and knobs and re-attached the cabinet doors.
• Stripped the surface of the old floor.
• Applied embossing leveler.
• Installed self-adhesive vinyl tile.
  

Without further ado...











As you can tell, the kitchen looks MUCH better! We are quite pleased with how it turned out (the floor, especially). And we spent around $800-$900 on everything, so it was much cheaper than doing a remodel. One funny thing is that updating the cabinets, walls, and floor have really made the sink and refrigerator look dated, so those may have to get replaced at some point.

Finally, we'll leave you with a few pictures taken in-progress:




Auf Wiedersehen!

Labor Day

Our kitchen floor is finally done and it looks so good. Pictures to follow as soon as we find the batteries for the camera and also the strength to put them in.

We're still here!

So...hello again! Allow me to summarize our spring and summer.

- We spent a lot of time working on disassembling, sanding, priming, sanding, painting, reassembling and changing the hardware on our kitchen cabinets, as well as painting the kitchen walls. Everything looks a lot better now - we've got lot of before-and-after pictures to post, but I think we'll wait until we've replaced the floor and the whole thing is completely finished.

- Abby came for a visit, decided not to move here after all, and went home. We still had fun.

- Two weeks passed, and Abby (along with my parents, grandparents and the rest of my dad's side of the family) came back for a visit/triennial family reunion thingy. We did lots of touristy Chicago things and had a nice time, but I think the best part was having everyone over to our house, where we ate ice cream and played with the Wii. There's a game on Wii Play where you use the remote to steer your cow through an obstacle course, knocking over scarecrows as you go. Everyone (even Grandma and Grandpa) gave it a try, and we had a lot of fun.

- I'm in the process of applying for a different job in the same department at work - it's full-time and more responsibility and best of all, no evenings or weekends. I am so excited about it. My interview was today. Please cross your fingers for me!

- I read Harry Potter. No spoilers here!

- Randy turned 30! We went to Galena, which is a small town in the northwest corner of Illinois, for a long weekend and had a really nice time. They have a historic downtown with a lot of really neat little shops, and we also went canoeing on the Galena River and hiking in Apple River Canyon State Park, which was very pretty.

- And finally, and most importantly of all: We bought a coffee table and end table for our living room! We have been looking for, honestly, almost a year. I don't know why it was so tricky, but we finally found ones that will both fit in our living room and look nice with what we have. They won't be delivered for another week and a bit, but we've been without them for so long that another little bit doesn't really matter.

What have you all been up to for the past four months?

Turtle Power!

In the past month my mom and Joy each had a chance to visit us. Their trips were separated by three weeks and nearly sixty degrees: Mom came at the beginning of March and got to experience temps in the 20s and dangerous blowing snow; Joy came at the end of March when the high almost hit 80.

While we were giving Joy a tour of the area we drove by the McHenry dam and noticed that the Fox River was unusually high. This morning Wendy and I went back to take some pictures and go for our first hike of the season.


To give you some perspective, the trees in the next two pictures are not usually under water.




As we were walking, we kept noticing more and more turtles out sunning themselves on logs. We started to keep count and literally came up with over 100 turtles!










There were lots of beautiful dark clouds racing across the sky during our hike. It turned out to be good timing; later in the day it turned windy, cold, and rainy.