Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Mitch pulled up the ugly green carpet in the kitchen today and guess what was underneath ... Even uglier yellow linoleum!! Actually, I don't know which is worse: green carpet or yellow linoleum. I'll let you be the judge. The linoleum reminds us of the yellow brick road though.
Here's the linoleum:
And here's Harvey chillin' on the green carpet (Awww, isn't he so cute?):
Which do you think is worse?
So, the tile is going in soon. Mitch finished the cupboards and I am thoroughly pleased with the outcome. They look even better than I imagined. I love our new appliances. Finally, an oven that doesn't take forever to bake something! Here's a sneak peak at our remont thus far:(It's hard to tell in this picture, but the walls are a grey/blue color. It's a very calm and soothing color.) We went to Lowe's today. We should stop going there. Every time we do we find another project for our house. Now Mitch is seriously considering redoing our counter tops and putting in a new kitchen sink. Ahhh! We decided to finish the tile and beadboard first and then decide. I think the bank account will probably decide for us. Ha,ha. I'm glad Mitch is such a handy man though. He can do anything and he does it so well!

For the Record

I was a little upset last night because my favorite show, American Idol, was cancelled so Fox 13 could broadcast President Obama's speech to the nation. Okay, I wasn't that bummed. I actually planned to listen to the president. I like Obama. But I didn't get to hear his speech because I assumed that he would be on at 7:00 and he was on at 6:30. So, not only did I miss American Idol, I didn't even hear the president speak. I was bummed. I guess it's not that big of a deal though because I was able to read his speech online today and I can watch American Idol tonight.

I wanted to post my favorite part of the president's speech here, just for the record: "So let’s look towards the future with a renewed sense of common purpose, a renewed determination, and, most importantly, renewed confidence that a better day will come."

Well said, President Obama, well said. The whole speech was great and I agree: long term investments are the way to go!Here's a link to the speech.

Progress

We have kitchen drawers again. Still waiting on cupboard doors. Soon, though. Mitch is doing a great job! I can't wait until it's all done!!

Happy Birthday Miotch STi!

It was Mitch's birthday last week. Or should I say, "Miotch STi?" (Miotch, nickname from roommates in college + STi, the Subaru he drives = Miotch STi, Mitch's x-box gamer name.) Also the name I put on his birthday cake, complete with race cars. Hee,hee. Mitch turned the big 28! I made him waffles for breakfast and I made his lunch. I know, such a good little wifey. Actually, if I really was a good little wifey, I would make him breakfast and lunch every day instead of just on his birthday ...
I did plan a good surprise for him though. I blindfolded Mitch, put him in the car, and told him we were going somewhere nice for dinner. When I pulled the blindfold off, Mitch was so happy to find we were at Tepanyaki. We walked inside, and lo and behold, Mitch's friends were already seated at our table! It was a great surprise and I think Mitch had a good time. I even took a cake over to the restaurant early, so the waiter brought it out after our meal. It was awesome.Here's the problem with Mitch's birthday though: I usually start thinking about what to get him in January. Why so early you ask? Because Mitch is nearly impossible to buy for. Everything he wants he either goes and buys for himself, or it costs $500 or more. I had a couple of good ideas, but they all cost more than we would normally spend on a birthday, so I didn't want to buy him one of my ideas unless I knew for sure that he wanted it. So, as usual, his presents were not a surprise. (I guess that's why I wanted to surprise him with the dinner/friend thing since I can never surprise him with his gifts.) After discussing it, I ended up getting him a paint sprayer and an I-pod adapter for his car. Lame, I know. That's what he really wanted though! And not because I'm a slave driver and can't WAIT to have our kitchen done (which the paint sprayer will make the remont go faster). He's actually excited about the paint sprayer; supposedly he can paint cars with it. (Don't tell anyone, but he even opened the paint sprayer and made fake spraying noises and walked around the house, pretending to spray paint stuff. Ha,ha. It was funny though and I'm glad he liked his gifts.) In my defense, I begged him to get something fun and enjoyable. There's always next year I guess. I'm glad Mitch had a great birthday. My family spoiled him with gifts and we still have one more celebration to go with his family. I'm sure they'll spoil him also (as usual).
I hope you had a good birthday, Mitch! You deserve it! You're my best friend and I appreciate all you do for me. I love you!!!

My First Job

I'm so excited ... after two months of dedicated effort, I landed my first freelancing job! I'm going to edit a 160 page book that is already contracted for publication with Stephen Covey. I have two weeks to have it done, which means I'll be busy between editing, studying for my life insurance test, and working my normal 35 hours a week. Not to mention our remont on the kitchen, the gym, and my other normal routines. But, I would rather be super busy than bored. I guess it's time to bust out my red pen and start pointing out all of the author's mistakes. Ha,ha. I'm just kidding, I know I have to be very tactful about how I correct the author ...

Is It Too Late To Change My Mind???

I don't know if I want to remont our kitchen anymore. We just emptied our entire kitchen into the living room. The cupboards and drawers are completely empty. Actually, the cupboard doors and drawers are in the garage being painted, while the food and appliances sit in our living room. What a pain.
Our conversation went like this:
Mitch: "So, what do you think about our empty kitchen?"
Lacey: "I think you'd better get to work!"
Ha,ha. I'm not a slave driver, but I really meant what I said.
Can I change my mind about remonting the kitchen? Oh yeah, I can't change my mind because we just dropped way too much money on a new microwave, stove, and fridge. The fridge is super sweet though and I can't wait to cook on the flat top stove. Sooo, I guess I'm okay with the remont after all. We'll just have to eat out this weekend. Anyone wanna join us?

Spring Fever!

It is soooo nice outside today. A little windy, but nice. I went running outside yesterday. The weather was perfect for a short run. Now I officially have spring fever. I called Mitch today and suggested a picnic. Lucky for us, we work down the street from eachother, so we met up at a picnic bench and ate our lunches in the sun. I was so happy. I love feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. It reminds me of boating when I was a kid ... laying on the boat until I'm so hot I can't stand it, so I jump in the water, which feels great, and then I jump back in the boat and start all over again. I LOVE that feeling! Boating is probably the most relaxing activity in the whole world. I can't wait until it's warm enough to go! I told Mitch that I always think of February as the coldest winter month, but as soon as it's March 1st, I assume spring has sprung. I need to learn that spring doesn't technically arrive until March 21st, and even then, it might be even longer before it actually feels like spring. I just hate waiting that long. Hurry up Spring!

Borshch

Mitch and I were asked to participate in a missionary activity for our ward. They had the church set up as the MTC, Missionary Tasting Center (ha,ha). We brought pictures and souvenirs of our mission to display. We also each had to teach a district of missionaries. I taught my district the alphabet, the numbers 1-10 in Russian, and talked about the Baltics. Mitch taught his district some Khmer letters and talked about Cambodia. The best part was the food. Everyone brought a native food from their mission. We had everything from rice and black beans to curry and borshch. I made the borshch. It's beet soup. It's bright pink from the beets and it's disgusting. I don't even like it, but I made it because it is definitely a Russian dish. I did eat some of it, but I refused to take the rest home so I got rid of the leftovers at the church. Hee,hee. Mitch made sticky rice and it was delicious! It's a sweet dessert rice made with coconut milk and sticky rice. Very fattening but oh so good.

It was fun and very interesting to see everyone's mission pictures and hear about the places they served. I'm glad we were able to participate. It was fun to wear my missionary badge and pretend for a day. I will never regret my decision to serve a mission, but I'm glad to be married and on to the next stage in life. :) Mitch and I took our pictures by the map and pointed to where we want to go on our couples mission. Ha,ha. Cheesy I know, but so fun. We pointed to Egypt. Who knows? We might have missionaries there by the time we're retired. The Gospel is spreading fast and it is amazing to see the growth of the Church. In Sunday school today I taught my class about the organization of the Church. They were stunned that in 1830 the Church was organized with only 6 members. Now, less than 200 years later, it's grown to 13 million. That totally excites me and I can't wait to see how many members there will be when I'm serving a mission with Mitch.

And Harvey got a bath today ... poor little guy!