Bit 'o News

Last night, while Dellas was working, I was sitting at the computer when a much anticipated email came in. We've been waiting 3 months to find out where Dellas will be going for his summer internship with Kiewit.
(refer back to this post to refresh your memory)
I knew he'd be disappointed that I was first to see the email (since he'd been checking for it every 5mins for the last month) but I called him anyway. The instructions in the email were to take a look at the attached projects and email them back with your top 5 preferences asap. They'd first be placing previous Kiewit interns according to their preferences and then placing the remaining interns in the order of when they received their emails back; so we knew we needed to get on the ball to try to be one of the first to respond.
While Del tried to work, he stayed on the phone with me while I gave him the low-down on his options based on location first then project type second. We were able to narrow down the 17 projects to his top 5 so here they are!

1. Pier 23 Replacement Project in Tacoma, WA
2. Casting Facility & Pontoon Construction in Grays Harbor, WA (about 45mins west of Olympia where mom and dad Vance are)
3. Brightwater Treatment Plant in Woodinville, WA
4. Brightwater Pump Station in Bothell, WA
5. Willamette River Transit Bridge in Portland, OR

So, although we still don't know EXACTLY where he'll be this summer, at least we have an idea, finally! One of the great things about the first 2 choices are that Del will be able to stay with mom and dad Vance to help cut living costs and make it easy for me to visit. Options 3, 4, and 5 are still convenient for me to fly into a major airport but we'll have to search a bit for a place for him to stay. (So if anyone knows anyone north of Seattle or near Portland, we'd be glad to hear about it!)

I'll let everyone know when we know his placement for sure.

Laundry Room Reveal

Well, if you read my last post, then you read that I was hoping for a new & improved laundry room by the end of this week and I'm happy to say that I already have it!! Del and I got started on our laundry room yesterday and it went pretty fast! Easy for me to say though because I didn't have to mull over the perfect cuts and fits like Del did ;-) But by 9pm last night he had all the new linoleum installed already! His afternoon today was spent doing the baseboard, touch up paint, and moving washer & dryer back in. So when I came home tonight from work, I stepped into a fresh, clean, pretty laundry room!
As usual, I must remind you of the before...

First ever pic taken in Aug 2009

and also a shot from during...

During prep

And finally.........the final masterpiece! haha.

Final product!

Believe it or not, this room cost a whopping $50 to update! We opted to go with the linoleum peel-and-stick tiles and went right over our old linoleum (after a thorough cleaning and prep job). It was a cheap and quick way to update the room that'll last long enough for us to enjoy and the next owners to redo if they want to pry up everything down to the plywood :-P
So that's it!! We're done with EVERY room in the house now! Only took 1 year and 7 months, almost to the day, to get it done! Not too shabby I'd say.

Rainy Saturday

This week, Dellas decided he'd finally worked up enough motivation to resume work on the house. We don't have too much left to do, (especially since we may be outta here in 8 months) but we've been wanting/needing to get the office painted and done. The office and laundry room are the last on our list to complete so we decided to tackle the office today!
First let's revisit how the office used to look:

As of October 2009

This was one of the dirtiest rooms in the house, not that you can tell in this pic, but the walls were by far the gunkiest.

But now let's see the new and improved office! All we did was slap up a fresh coat of paint all around, buy a couple new cork boards to keep things organized and that's it!

After!

Jill's Half of the room

 

 

 

 

Dellas' Half of the room

Now that we've clean up this room, Dellas has kept up enough motivation and is talking about replacing the floor in the laundry room. Next to the office, the laundry room is the 2nd dirtiest room in the house. The linoleum floor is probably 16yrs old and is in dire need of a replacement, so maybe that'll get done next week during Del's spring break!

Silly Oakley

Last week, while I was away for 4 days at a training in Tri-Cities WA, Dellas informed me, during one of our phone calls, that he found a new way to help with Oakley's excessive shedding. Before letting him in the house he "rakes" (brushes) him, makes him run around, then finishes with blowing him off with his shop vac. First chance he got after I got home Dellas had to show me their new ritual....

The goal was supposed to be to blow any excess hair off of Oak but it quickly turned into a game instead! Haha. Silly boys!

I'm Spoiled!

Alright, so Del and I did something completely unexpected yesterday........we bought a new CAR!!!

 

My new 2010 Ford Edge Limited

We've been talking about it for awhile but it was always with the assumption we'd wait till he graduated. Then that changed to waiting till we found the right deal which turned out to be Saturday! We paid off Del's pickup on Friday (my car was paid off last year), then Saturday went to just browse and see what deals there were and drove off the lot with a new SUV!

About a month ago, we test drove an Edge Limited and also a Nissan Murano but fell in love with the Edge (sorry Ris, I know you love your Murano!). Nothing could compare to the fabulous options Ford offers! Granted, the Limited package includes all the bells and whistles anyway, but it still stood out from the others. 

 

I just have to brag for a minute since this is the nicest and funnest car I've ever had...this car does EVERYTHING. It is all bluetooth capable, (meaning it syncs with my phone and I can make and take calls just by using my voice or 1 button on the steering wheel), I can listen to any music saved on my phone thru the car, it links to my iPod and I can tell it whatever I want it to play (e.g. "play playlist Favs" and it does), and it'll speak turn by turn directions to anywhere I need to go. That's just the start; there's so much stuff I won't even use very often (such as it telling me traffic updates, sports updates, news headlines, etc.) We've also got leather seats and panoramic sun roofs (yes roofs, one up front that slides and tilts and one over the rear seats.)

The Interior

Inside with the ambient lights on in blue (has 5 other colors too)

 

Other than all the fun technology things, it'll be so great to have a roomier car. With Del taking his truck with him this summer, I'll still be able to easily take my pup places with me! Of course, the room will come in handy as we add kids into the equation down the road. 

Anyway, I'm very excited about my new toy! My husband says I owe him though haha.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just want to wish everyone a  Happy Valentine's day!

Not only am I thinking of my wonderful hubby :) but all of my friends and family! I'm so thankful for each and everyone person I have in my life and am reminded how lucky and blessed I am. I hope you all know how much you mean to me and Del!

Some Winter Fun

I'm a little slow posting this so anyone with Facebook has probably already seen these pictures, but oh well!

Dellas, Oakley and I started 2011 with a trip into the mountains near Idaho City, an hr or so from town. We didn't have anything in mind except to play in the snow; and that we did!

Oakley was SO excited to leave he wouldn't sit still!

 

Pup and me - he was eying some people snowshoeing

First in a sequence of me falling in the snow.

The end of my fall...before Oakley pounced on me.

And there he is!

Winter Wonderland :)

It was fun times getting away for a few hrs. We stopped in Idaho City (tiny old gold rush town) on the way back down and grabbed a hot chocolate to warm up.
Other than that day-trip we haven't been up to too much. Mom and Dad Vance were in town a couple of weekends ago and we're thinking a McCall trip is in the very near future. 2011 has started out great and Del and I keep wondering aloud what it will hold! Del's internship away from home, graduation, new career(s), a very possible move away from ID...can't wait to see what unfolds!