Painting the exterior of our house

In June a guy showed up at our door asking to give us an estimate on cost to replace our shake roof.  We knew our roof was in need of help, so we took him up on it, and he had a great deal.  Turns out it was a bit sketchy, and not quite what we expected from him, but we got a good roof and Kevin had fun helping the crew tear off and replace. 

our house in June, w/ shake roof (cloudy day, color on house looks off)

our house in June, with new roof

After working on the roof, Kevin decided we need to paint the house as well.  And we decided we should do it ourselves.  Which really meant Kevin doing it, since Norah's not quite up to it yet!

first he scraped all the dry, peely paint off, and then power washed it

She'd wander from window to window watching dada

Many days and many hours spent scraping, washing, scraping again.  Kevin was super thorough.

Kevin even sawed down a tree in the process

Then Kevin started a new job, the weather began changing, and time was of the essence.  With the help of Kevin's parents, the house finally had a new coat of paint.

after, with new paint

old color on left, new color on right

We've gotten many compliments from our neighbors.  We were the last on the street to get a new roof, but one of the first on the block to paint.  (I think next summer we'll see at least 2 houses being painted...)

Winter wonderland... forever

From Christmas 2010 -
Here's some photos of our huge snowstorm that hit on December 17 and kept on going almost right on through New Years.

These were taken January 3.

Oh christmas tree

So last year we kind of overbought on our christmas tree.





You think maybe this year we kind of underbought?



It is a living blue spruce. Kevin was more into spending our money for a live tree, which I thought was ok too, but by the time we figured it out, all of the larger trees had been purchased. And we were kind of lazy and cheap and didn't want to drive all over town or spend more than around $30. It doesn't smell all pretty, and it's not very big. Kinda makes me sad. I prettied it up on a little table with some lights, so it feels a little more christmas tree-y.



I do have hopes it will grow in the future, and someday we'll have a pretty awesome, large live tree...

Deer in our backyard

A few weeks back, I woke up Sunday morning, looked out the kitchen window and saw a ton of tracks in the snow. It was far too much to have been our cat Norman. Then I thought I saw something move. But it being early, and me still being bleary-eyed, I figured I was just imagining it. Then again I thought I saw something move. And sure enough, a buck walked into view. So I sat on the dining room floor taking pictures, with Norman sitting next to me watching the deer. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the doe under the deck. They wandered around for a bit, then walked on to the next house.

Last week on the way to work we saw a doe & younger fawn wandering through the yards of our neighbors. Their white tails were huge.

Christmas 2010

Some Christmas photos -

At Manito Park conservatory:

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on our back deck

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our tree was bigger than the car...

had to move it to the stairs to get the angel and upper lights on

Norman thinks the balls are his toys

notice upper branches look even with the entry into dining room - they are even

our stairs

We slept in the living room under the tree last night - think we'll do it again tonight.

Haircut

I had been wanting to get my hair cut for quite awhile, I just didn´t know what I wanted. I consulted with a friend on where she gets her hair cut. I finally called the place on Friday to schedule a consultation. They asked when the best time was for me to come in, I said Fridays, because I don´t work. They scheduled me for 12:30p. This was 11:15a when I called.

So, I went in, not knowing what to expect, and not sure if I really wanted to get it cut then. I also figured that there was no better time than now, since I didn´t have any better ideas. The girl talked to me about what she thought my hair could look like, and I said sure, sounds good. And I came out with an awesome cut. She straightened it with a flat iron.








I got a straight iron, and straightened my hair on Sabbath. I didn´t manage to get it as well in the back. I think I may need a smaller iron for the back, since it´s so short.

Today I´ve washed it and let it air dry. It´s not too bad. I´ll need to play with it a bit to see how it works and get a style that works for days I can´t straighten it.

Overall, I am really pleased with it, and would definitely go back there again!

Lookin' good

us recently at a friend's wedding

Flowers