Teenagers again!

Tonight was an evening of flashback!  Last weekend Jon spent hours (really days) recording the accompaniment to "Bye Bye Birdie" for his old high school - their accompanist had bailed on them in the final two weeks and they didn't have the money to hire a new one, so this was the next best thing.  Anyhow, we were curious to see how it turned out, so tonight we attended what was their second performance - they did a great job and the music sounded just right.  It was nice to reconnect with some of the people we had worked with last summer on "Into the Woods," and of course to see Jon's high school drama teacher again.  But the flashback did not end there.  We were starving after the show, so we decided to grab a bite on the way home and ended up at Baker's Square (another version of Big Boy) - a moment that was reminiscent of the high school drama club after parties for both of us.  The only difference?  No goofy drama kids and no shakes.  But the following conversation may or may not have ocurred at the time:

Cortney:  "I'm starting to worry a little.  I mean, we got him in there but now he has to come out somehow."

Jon:  "It's like building a ship in a bottle." 

Laundry at our house

What's worse than  dog hair  being attracted to freshly laundered and static filled clothes from the dryer?  The entire dog being attracted to freshly laundered clothes just out of the dryer.  Here you can see Moose hone in on the warm clothes immediately, then hop from one pile  to the next so as to remain on the warmest one possible at all times.

Shade-scapades (an update)

Question - When does 71.25 inches actually equal 72 inches?

Answer - When we're talking about a shade cut by Lowe's.

 Yes, you guessed it, the shade fiasco did not simply end with a quick exchange.  We thought, perhaps, that the first shade we brought home was too short because we had measured wrong.  So during lunch on Monday Jon went back to Lowe's and did what any self respecting consumer would do - blame the store so that they'll take the product back.  Any feelings of guilt were quickly quieted, however, when the second shade wasn't anywhere near the dimensions we'd asked for (contrary to Lowe's belief, 71.25 does NOT equal 72).  Luckily this time it was too long, so we carefully measured how much we wanted taken off and a third trip to the store produced a shade that does fit our window.

Thus the shade is now in place, and since Cortney spent Monday detailing the walls, hanging the valence rod and valence, washing bedding and dressing the room, we are several steps closer to finished.  Pictures soon!

Progress in the nursery!

Saturday started 9am with a Koney Island breakfast with mom and dad H and Curtis, after which Cortney and mom H went shopping while Jon and dad H started painting.  It's a good thing, too, because it ended up being an all day job.  The first coat went really well, and while it started drying the boys finished the laundry room renovations and fixed the dryer and screen door while the girls cleaned and organized the kitchen, then mom H made a wonderful picnic style lunch.  After lunch the guys did a little touch up then started on the second color.  But once on the wall the second color was not at all what we had intended so the girls headed back to Lowe's to try again.  After a very enjoyable dinner at the pizza place down the street the guys covered the first coat of the second color with a first coat of a third color (anyone else confused?) before mom and dad H headed home around 8:30.

Every cloud has a silver lining.  Sunday afternoon the two of us did some final touch up on color number three, but very little was needed because where the second second color didn't fully cover the first second color (confused again...) it created a charmingly whimsical feeling that we didn't want to cover up.  After removing the tape and moving the furniture back into place, the room looks perfect - unfinished, but perfect!  The night didn't finish perfectly - try as we might the brackets for the new window shade did not go in easily, only to find out that the shade had been cut wrong at the store.  So today we have to exchange the shade, hope the brackets stay up, and put up the valance rod, but at least we have arrived at the final stretch.

We aren't quite ready to completely give the surprise away, because it's not quite done, but there are more hints in the work pictures here.  We do want to note that there are key workers missing from these photos - those being mom and dad H, who we cannot thank enough - so we included one of Cookie instead, who worked about as hard as she is here.  :o)

A quiet weekend.

Spring is beginning to return to our barren winter land.  Cortney got outside for a walk with friends Leah and Kristin last week and had such a good time that we went out together both days this weekend - even the dogs got in on the action, going out for their first walk of the new year.  But before the warmth of the weekend, we ventured into the chill of Friday night with friends Andrew and Erin for a stab at Thai food, which is somewhat new to us, and we had a great time.  Who knew curry came in three colors?  We've only ever had yellow curry, but on Friday Cortney tried red curry, and green is also an option.  What they didn't have was burnt umber...oh well.  The rest of our weekend was quiet, filled with cat sitting, lunch with Cortney's mom, potluck dinner at church, lunch with our confirmands, and a quiet Sunday night at home.  One would think we were getting chores done, but we gave those up for Lent.