Cousins...

Even thought these little guys only see each other once or twice a year, (although this year we've been lucky to see each other 4 times, including a week in Mexico), they have such a special bond between them. They are 4 boys and one very spunky girl (who doesn't seem to notice she's the only girl), and are 5-11 years old. In the last week they have spent the better part of every waking moment together, without one fight, tear or problem. What an awesome place to be, sitting on the beach in the Okanagan, Joel & Nathan, (37 year old twins), reunited while Patti & I sit on the beach, reading, chatting, laughing and doing a lot of eye-rolling at our big boys.

Last night all 5 fell asleep on one bunk watching a movie. It had been a hard day of playing on the beach.

My $164 Kitchen Renovation & Other Weekend News Items (photos in no particular order because I don't know how to get them in particular order.)

Bye Bye Brass!
GONE are every brass cabinet pull in our house.
GONE is the ugly brass light fixture in our kitchen.
HERE are some simple, inexpensive brushed nickel knobs & a light fixture that, after looking at every lighting place in town, I found at Canadian Tire for $99, which happen to be my budget.
I feel like I have a brand new kitchen!

We also got the back yard to a very usable condition... all the irrigation is moved, the hotub pad prepared, the hot tub moved, my patio reclaimed, and we've got 3 yards of washed gravel over the dirt so that whenever that deck comes, the pre-work is done! We have one small area that still needs to be fabric'ed and rocked, and then a bit of cement to be poured, but our backyard is 90% useable and I've been able to set up my outside living room (with area rug over the gravel) and I love it. We can totally see now that the deck size & shape will be awesome.

We finished 40 minutes before our company arrived on Saturday. Thankfully they were about 4 hours late. We were able to keep their cousin's arrival a surprise from our kids... got a couple of not very good surprise pictures.

Last night we had a little birthday party for my-sister-cara at my mom & dads house... the boys learned this hilarious song called, "Fat Guys Wearing Speedos", which they performed and it was some good entertainment. Lots of laughs on Grandma & Grandpa's deck with our family and Franz & Sabine, our family friends from Germany. They always arrived with a grocery bag full of German Chocolate for each of the kids and assorted German bath products "for the ladies".

Later today I have to call my mom and ask if what Sabine gave me is lotion or body wash. I'm never sure and can't read the label.

from my new favorite TV show...

Flight of the Conchords on HBO, Sunday nights. We don't have HBO, but so far all episodes are available on the internet, either on HBO.com or YouTube... these two best friends have moved from New Zealand to New York to make it big with their band. When one gets a girlfriend (Bret, in the pink shirt), the other (Jemaine) has a hard time letting go...

My favorite line is the barely audible "I always see you there."

Do it NOW!

So, I was in my laundry room, noticing the boys' backpacks hanging on their hooks, with their lunch bags kind of peeking out. I thought to myself, "I should take those lunch bangs out of there and wipe them out and put them away for the summer" and then I thought, "oh, forget it, I'll do it on the evening of September 3rd". But then I decided to do the responsible thing and take care of it then and there. Brodie's felt oddly heavy for an empty lunchkit... and so did Adams... and then gthere was the smell.

It was at that point I realized I was living every mother's nightmare... my 11 year-old was obviously making his own banana liquor on the side, starting with fermented bananas which he was planning to keep in his backpack until the process was complete.

In short,if your kid has a lunch bag still in his backpack from school, check it now, just incase they forgot to eat their snack on the last day of school.

Brodie, never wanting to miss out on a good business venture, was apparently going to make his own wine.

Who Needs a Deck?

For the last "several years" (Joel insists it's only a year, I say three) we've had a unfulfilled dream of a deck in our back yard.

Things you should know before reading further:
1) Joel works a LOT more than 9-5, so his spare time is precious and so are his kids, and so is havings a little R&R so that he stays sane with the pressure of his job.
2) While he would love to learn how to do "BUILDY" stuff, he would admit to a very low natural skill set in the "handy" department.
3) I try really hard not to be too naggy about stuff around the house that takes ages to cross off the list or doesn't get done due to 1 & 2.
4) I have still clung to the dream of a deck and have been purchasing items for it when they're at the end of season (since i've had 1-3 end of seasons to pick up deals... depending who you ask.) and have had several large boxes of furniture in the garage for (1-3, depending who you ask) years.

Well, this spring came and went, and besides that fact that I had a written and witnessed contract that I would be sitting on my deck June 1st this year, we are, sans deck. Time ran out for Joel and I did get a quote for having the deck built, which came to the amount of $10,000. GULP. Not this year, thanks.

So, we've agreed that this year we would tackle the first step to the deck, which is to get a pad for the hottub (which is currently taking up 2/3rds of our small concrete patio, leaving us with virually no where to sit in our back yard.) And that this summer we (and when I say we I mean Joel) would move the irrigation lines around to fit the deck that is coming next summer, along with making our patio pad a little bigger. Bored of this story yet?

Anyhow.... yesterday I was in a "be part of the solution instead of bitching about my lack-of-deck", so I went on a tear... cleaned the shed, cleaned the garage, and got those several boxed out of there and assembled my own darn patio furniture to put on my "pretend deck".... I've always wanted an outside livingroom type space in my back yard, and deck or not, I can still have it... I'll just consider the grass (where it's not dead) to be green shag. I might get a tent next week and set it up in the shade, since the hot tub is supposed to end up in this spot soon.

Anyway, this is where I will be hanging out, in my outdoor with green shag living room. Come by anytime! (ok, call first)... and please note that if we were 18 inches higher we could see the lake.... next summer.

My Favorite Thing about the end of the School Year...

is possibly reading Brodie's journal. I can not for the life of me find the entry regarding square dancing.... a comment along the lines of it being boring and "grose". However, this post-Easter entry is pretty funny... I mean come on!

This weekend we did a quick trip to Seattle for a visit with Joel's brother Dave and his family. In our 48 hours we took in a Mariners/Jays game; went to the Seattle Zoo; ate at a revolving sushi restaurant; enjoyed DIP 'n DOTS; a 45 minute power shop at Target; Pike Place Market where Joel accidentally bought copious of smoked salmon, (anyone want any?); and fish & chips by the ocean. It was a nice little get-away and we were home Sunday night so we could still have Monday at home to get some stuff off the to-do list, and a foiled attempt at getting dinner from Marathon to celebrate Jay & Cher's big move out of the basement. Pizza it was.

a couple more pics from our weekend... love the organutan.