We’re currently visiting family in northern CA during our long-overdue vacation this week, choking on smoke that’s engulfed the entire state. Good times! Highlights include:
* Our 9-year-old niece grabbing a bottle of K-Y Jelly in Wal-Mart and asking Uncle Andy what it’s for. (I stumbled in terror, and when I couldn’t come up with an answer, she assumed I had no idea what it was for and I told her she assumed correctly. All Tracy did was laugh.)
* Seeing Wall*E, which (so far) has my vote for Best Picture at next year’s Oscar’s
* Checking out Susanville’s first Indian restaurant and leaving very pleased (and full)
* Hanging out with the 2-year-old niece and teaching her new sayings and ways to shake hands
* Seeing the rest of the family and being able to chat and joke like we saw them as recently as last week.
Finally, we bought our tickets to The Dark Knight. I’ve pre-purchased movie tickets before, but never three weeks before the release date. I’ve seen and heard all the hype, but Kevin Smith’s review finally put me over the top. So now Tracy and I have a date at 2:30 PM on July 19th at the killer Cinetopia Living Room Theater in Vancouver, WA. Who says I’m not a romantic?
Up next: driving into thicker smoke via Sacramento and Vacaville, capped by a booze run for family and co-workers in Redding, and then…
You guessed it. We did more work on the house this weekend. But it wasn’t just the new bathroom getting all the love. As you probably know by now, we laid down the concrete board (a.k.a. Wonderboard) for the new tile. We also finished the drywall by running it through a hopper and air-hose combo that is incredibly messy and hardly a one-man job.
Jim in our ”workstation” (driveway) deciding which tool is best for the next round of creation / destruction.
Cutting the wonderboard…it’s dusty. ’nuff said.
Kids…always be safe with your tools.
The 2nd bathroom as it sits today. Primer and paint going on later this week. Tile and vanity in two weeks.
Since some jobs in the bathroom were better off being completed by one person, Jim introduced me to the magical world of installing trim. I gotta say…I LOVE it! It’s easy, and it comes with instant gratification. Jim had already put new trim in the entry way many moons ago, so now it was my turn to put it in the kitchen and dining room.
Look carefully and you can see the ugly pink color that used to coat the entire wall. Ugh!
Captain Harry Armsmith dismantles the old trim.
New trim in place on the pantry and kitchen door going into the laundry room.
New trim on the kitchen window looking into the back yard.
While Jim and I slaved away inside, Tracy and Georgia did some shopping for vanities, fixtures, and other random stuff (and groceries since Tracy and I can’t seem to do that ourselves during the week). They also did some outdoor work thanks to the lack of rain.
I don’t know the name of this flower, but it’s in the front yard near the hose.
Yeah, I don’t know the name of these either. And since Tracy doesn’t blog, your stuck with my lack of knowledge.
Since the ladies were tending to the yard, the guard gnomes decided to take a make-out break.
Tracy gets all arty and crafty at times. She was inspired to make this piece for the Spring.
Our neighbor’s dog sneaks a peek to see how the progress is…uh…progressing.
Finally, I left around 11:30 on Sunday for Seattle to see my favorite band (and former employers) The Vandals. It’s rare for them to tour anymore outside of Southern CA when they’re not on the Warped Tour. But they got an offer to tour Australia with Pennywise in April, which means large venues and lots of fans wanting a professional show, not a band who hasn’t played in a long time. So The Vandals decided to do some short weekend tours around the country for a few weeks as a warmup. The closest one to me was last night in Seattle, so I decided to take a day off work and make the trip. The place was packed and ready to be entertained.
My former boss (and current morning radio host on LA’s Indie 103) Joe Escalante plays bass and is normally the quiet one on stage.
There were signs in the venue that said “No Stage Diving” and “No Crowd Surfing,” but I guess kids in Seattle can’t read.
By the end of the show, the fans were obviously very pumped.
I took this video of the end of the show, when singer Dave and guitarist Warren traditionally switch duties. They’re covering of of the better Queen songs “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Always a great closer.
The holiday break is upon us. Tracy and I are heading to the ‘ville for a few days on Thursday night. Plans are to see family and friends, open some gifts, veg out and watch A Christmas Story at least five times.
Hopefully work on the house will resume after the New Year.
In other news, I drank 5.5 glasses of iced tea at Red Robin last night. The .5 is from the large glass the waitress brought when she figured out how thirsty I was.
