My Kitchen

This pictures are the kitchen before the Banks. We took off the kitchen cabinets (on move in day), sanded, primed, and painted. Then we put them back on, added some curtains, got new granite, new sink, and knobs. SO CUTE!!!! Ug!

Yes! I soooo love my kitchen now.

Funny story about the knobs. Two of my neighbors just came over one afternoon and started installing them. They knew I was getting impatient waiting for Joe...

That stove and vent were so expensive. I feel pretty bad but.....I'm pretty happy :)

FAB-u-lous

Ok, let's get started. I really thought moving here would be the end of my life. I really did. I'd listen to people write that it'd all be ok but I didn't believe them. Guess what? I'm all right.


Last weekend we took the girls down to LA to visit Joseph's friends. We didn't get to see his sister but maybe next time. Anyway, Krista took us shopping all day Saturday and the girls had a blast. They were even more excited when they were approached by an agent who wanted their business. They thought that was pretty cool. So, Saturday night, Cherry (Mike's fiancee)came and sat with all five kids while we went to Haunted Universal Studios. They made gingerbread houses and had a great time!!!

My eyes look really sketchy here. Maybe I was part of the program. Anyway from left to right: Greg, Krista, me, Joe, Mike, Robert, and Chrystall, and Mike at the bottom. We didn't leave until 2 am. I'm too old for that. Truly good times.

I also got a beach cruiser and a really cool seat for Sicily. I got it from Amazon.com and it came from Utah. Weird!

But I have to write about the craziest day....Tuesday October 13th. It started raining at 5am. Not just pitter patter....full force rain. A down pour. Coming in torrents. About 1:00 it was time to take Sicily to school and there were trees knocked down, flooded streets, power outages. It seriously was the craziest. It didn't stop raining until 6:00 pm. I've never seen rain come so quickly and so much. I sat in the office just waiting for the pool to overflow because all of the drains in the yard were moving so slowly It was about a centimeter from coming over the top.

Anyway, after 6, I made dinner and we were upstairs in Cassidee's room reading. EARTHQUAKE! My first one. What the????? It just like rippled through her room and we could hear it. So weird! We watched the news (major flooding and damage by the rain) and the epicenter was about a mile away from our house.

I know Joe loves us because he came running into the room during the rumble. He did! He ran into the room. I teased him later and said, "You love us!!!"

My office & neighbors

Back home, I loved my "office". I could stay in there for hours correcting papers or "working" on the computer. I was afraid when we moved here, we wouldn't have room for our office stuff but this house does! I love it. This old school fireplace used to be gold but I sprayed it black. I was going to paint the brick but Joseph wanted to keep some of the older attributes of the house. These French doors are the coolest. The hinges used to be retro brass but I switched them out for nickle and now I love it. The two sides that are covered with the curtains have screened windows in them and it looks out to the pool.

Yay! books.

Ah, happiness.

I also have to blog about some of my new friends.....

Jeff and Catrina are awesome. Sometimes, Jeff will talk to me on his megaphone down the street. He has also helped Kennedy with her bike. They have a daughter in Kennedy's grade and a boy in kindergarten. Catrina invited us to walk with their group to Kennedy's school. We love it! Last Friday, we were running late, and the group waited for us. Tender!

Josh and Katrina are also awesome. They're both cops and have been to Iraq in the army. They have some pretty intense stories. They just had a baby boy and he's the chubbiest. Last night, we played Apples to Apples and I haven't laughed that hard since....well, the last time I played Apples to Apples.

I met Thersa at the gym. She's a trainer there. The cool thing about her is that she used to be handicapped. She was in a wheelchair for a long time. Then, through a lot of physical therapy, she got her abilities back and has placed many times in those fitness shows (whatever they're called). Truly inspiring!

There are good people everywhere and I'm thankful I get to surround myself with remarkable individuals.