Chicken Pox?!?!?

Look at Glenn's poor legs and feet!!! It may look like he has chicken pox, but it just seems that the buggies around here have a certain affinity for his taste. I do not envy him!

With Weather Like This, Who Minds Yardwork?

It hasn't rained a single day yet nor has the temperature passed 80 degrees. It's so nice to be outside enjoying the weather instead of cooking to death in a giant open air oven. I decided to take advantage of this delightful weather and I was inspired while wandering the beautiful nearby Farmer's Market. One of the local nurseries had some happy looking snapdragons that I just couldn't resist. They were cheap too, only 2 dollars per 6-pack or 3 for 5 dollars. We bought 6 6-packs for a great deal of 10 dollars. We came home with my 36 new little plant babies and we got to work. When we first arrived at the house, it was pretty overgrown with weeds, but the owners mowed the lawn for us but left us the weeds. Yay. Glenn and I worked pretty hard to dig out all those weeds along the fence, but we finally finished. We added a little compost to the dirt, stirred it up and got it wet. Glenn helped me to space out the plants and pop them out of their containers while I dug the holes and planted each one of my little snapdragons. I actually had a lot of fun doing this, and it was really rewarding to see the pretty colors that instantly perked up the yard. We spent about 3 hours outside and I got soooooooo dirty. Apparently my face is a magnet for dirt. I suppose it doesn't help that I dug the holes with my bare hands (since it was easier) and wiped my face with my filthy hands from time to time. Rally wasn't much help, but he sure did look cute hanging out in the yard and wondering what we were doing.I was also bitten that day by the gardening bug and we went back to the Farmer's Market the very next day to get some more plants. This time we went to a different local nursery and I picked up a flat of impatiens that were on sale and 5 gardenia plants that were also on sale. Lucky me, it was actually the nursery's last day at the market so they were clearing out all their stock. We planted these along the long part of the fence that faces the street. In the pictures they were barely starting to bloom, but they should be pretty full and colorful any day now. I'm really discovering quite a love for gardening. I find it to be very relaxing and rewarding. Plus, it's nice to bring more life into my little world.

So just to give the full background of the door+chain story:

The owner had given us one key & one key only and I assumed that, like every house, this key would open the two main doors. It worked fine on the front door & I never tried it on the door in the garage.

So the night before we had to sleep on the floor since we didn't have a mattress yet. We made it till about 1am when I finally gave up, pulled the car into the garage, & we slept in the garage.

The next morning, we got up, got ready, & I guess I triple locked the front door since we were going out through the garage. We went into the garage & I locked the door behind me not thinking anything about it. Pulled the car out & went to Tacoma to meet Sabrina.

After a long day running around Seattle and Tacoma, we got home & I parked the car out front. We tried to go through the front door but we were foiled by the chain. "No big deal" I thought & I went through the garage. That's when I noticed the key I had was completely different than the key I needed. Ugh.

So after repeated tries to both card the garage door & to use a metal wire to unhook the chain, it was time to use force. I went into the basement where our neighbors had conveniently left a hammer.

So as I'm hacking & prying away at the chain, the neighbors (who had been watching us for at least 10 minutes) finally came over.

Neighbors: I don't think they live there anymore.

Me: I know that, we do.

Neighbors: You didn't get a key?

Me: The key works fine, it's the chain I can't get. (I then proceed to tell them the story of how it happened).

Neighbor: Do you need a bolt cutter?

Me: That would be great if you do.

Neighbor: I don't think I do but I'll go look. Good luck.

At this point I'm pissed this guy just offered me something he didn't have & I laid into the chain with the hammer & it resulted in the attached photo.

Rally was happy, so was I.

-Glenn

Now That's a Big Steak!

This post is mostly for Jeff :o)
When we were doing a little grocery shopping at Safeway I happened to pass by these steaks that they had on sale. These were no ordinary steaks though, I'm pretty sure they were actually entire flanks of a cow. They were so huge! I just had to take a picture of this monstrosity of meat. I put my hand next to it so you could compare it to something. In case you were wondering, no, we did not get the steaks. I don't even think one of those would fit on our George Foreman Grill!

Time For a Little Exploring

Glenn and I thought it would be a good idea to explore our new little town of Olympia. Our original plan was to go to the Farmer's Market that's nearby, but they were only open Thursday-Sunday, so we decided to walk along the docks for a little while. There are quite a few boats docked here, some of them really big and ostentatious and other ones that are simple but useful. There was a really cool tower thing that was nearby and it was open so we decided to climb all the way up to the top. If I remember correctly, it was like 4 or 5 flights of stairs! It was very beautiful up at the top, but really cold and windy, so we only stayed up there for a few minutes, but we did get some good pictures and you can even see the pretty Capitol Building!

Our Summer Home Away From Home

Here's a little tour of our new home for the summer and our little neighborhood:This is the inside of our kitchen. The tile is really cute and retro. I really like it but it makes food prep a little difficult.I love the little window over the sink that looks into the backyard. If you notice, the cabinet underneath the sink is open. This is because Glenn turned on the faucet and all the sudden water started leaking everywhere! Luckily he figured out the problem quickly enough. The sprayer had a cracked O-ring so the water just leaked out underneath. It's an easy fix that we will take care of the next time we drive by an ACE Hardware.The house isn't technically two stories, it's more like a split level, and we are really enjoying the tiny staircase instead of the usual 2 flights of stairs we have to use back in Phoenix to get to our oupstairs.There's a lot of built in storage in the upstairs hallway. It's convenient but I can't imagine being able to fill up all the space!This is out little bathroom. It's pretty small, but it's functional. We really like the shower head. It's one of those new rain-type shower heads. The sink is really small though, as in like really short. Sometimes it's a little awkward. This is what the rooms look like. We have two of them and they look identical, so I only took one picture.Here is our view from the front yard. We're pretty much at the end of the cul-de-sac so there is tons of lush foliage around. I think it's all there to attempt to block out the noise from the freeway. We're actually at the top of the hill that's next to the freeway so if you took a walk through those trees, you could probably see all the cars down below.This is our neighbor Sarah's house. She's a very sweet lady. Not even two minutes after we got out of the car at the end of our trip, she came over to say hi and introduce herself and welcome us to the neighborhood. I really like her fence, I think it's so cute!This is the house of the neighbors who most likely thought we were trying to break in and rob the house. We had just come home at the end of the day and went to open the front door when we discovered the chain lock was on. Glenn went through the garage only to find that the door in there uses a different key and that it was locked! We did the only thing we could think of and tried to break the chain off the door with a hammer. The neighbors from this house came down the street while we were doing this and they were like, "Umm, nobody lives there anymore, can we help you?" After explaining ourselves to these semi-startled men they offered to lend us a bolt cutter but we succceeded with the hammer Glenn found. Poor Rally was so freaked out and confused while all of this was going on.This is what used to be the Governor's Mansion. According to Sarah from across the street, the house was purchased for a dollar and then moved over here, but who knows how expensive that must have been! We haven't met the people who live here, but they are local shop-owners. Apparently they don't socialize often.Finally, I leave you with the complete view of our house. It's actually a duplex and there's a family with a bunch of girls on the other half. There's 2 10 year olds who love to make noise and bang around in the basement, it's kind of funny, a 15 year old and 2 17 year olds, but they're not always there. I don't know how they fit so many people in there! I can't remember the lady's name next door, but we're pretty sure it starts with a T. They're from Texas and very nice. They also have 2 dogs, but they don't seem to be allowed to play with other dogs.

This was the crazy man sitting at the counter in Norma's Diner in Salinas, CA. He didn't stay long.