Conference in Hawaii

This year, the American Farm Bureau annual convention was in Honolulu, Hawaii.

I tell you, it was torture to have to go to this conference for a few business meetings. Just torture.

We flew all day on Saturday 1/7. By the time we got to the hotel it was 9:30pm Hawaii time, 1:30am Sunday morning our time. We were tired. I took this picture of Waikiki beach from our hotel room, and we passed out.


This was the view from our hotel room the next morning. Gorgeous, no? Yes!

Remodel Mondays - Interior framing

Things keep moving right along, and we have been really happy with the progress on our new house!


All the interior framing is done, so it’s easier for us to visualize the new floor plan, rather than just looking at the drawing.

The floor from the sunken office was raised, and the new window on the front of the house was framed out (covered in plywood towards the right of the photo). The old door was closed, and the new door was opened (and you can see outside now).

January vacation in Chicago…?

Yes, we started our vacation in January in Chicago. Strange time to go to this cold city? Yes. But it was 50 degrees, and I walked up and down Michigan Avenue with no coat. Actually, pretty great weather for Chicago in January!

This part of the trip wasn’t all vacation. Hubby Doc had meetings Thursday evening and all day Friday. So I was left on my own. At the Intercontinental Hotel. In downtown Chicago. Right on Michigan Ave. Hubby Doc worried that he was going to end up spending more money with me shopping than if he had registered me for the conference!

Really, when left all alone all day long on Michigan Ave, what’s a girl to do?

Never fear, I kept my wallet inside my purse, but I did do some pretty fantastic window shopping!
(After all, we had a week-long trip to Hawaii coming right up!)

Here are a few of the stores I did not go into…

Remodel Mondays – Now there’s a roof!

We went away to Chicago and Hawaii for 10 days (the American Farm Bureau annual conference and a bit of extra vacation) and we came home to some major changes on our house!



The most noticeable thing – and you can see this driving up to the house from almost a mile away – is that the whole thing has a roof on it now!

My mother-in-law helped out taking some photos while we were out of town, so I can share with you the whole process!

They showed up one morning with a huge crane…

And lifted the trusses up to the new section of the house.



The trusses got lined up like dominoes.



When all the trusses were in, you could see the gorgeous sky through our giant skylight.



Part of the roof over the original section of the house needed to be replaced, too. So the old roof came off, and the new trusses went in. The construction guys crawled all over the new trusses and put on the decking. (You couldn’t pay me enough to get up there. I have this thing about heights.)



The whole roof was temporarily covered with a tarp (which wasn’t tied down quite as well as we thought…)



A couple of days later, the tarp was taken off and the moisture barrier was put on.



Our shingles are ordered, and we are waiting for them to come in. We are also waiting for some good weather so the shingles can get put on. Apparently the weather needs to be just right – not too hot and not too cold, definitely not too wet – or they won’t stick right, or they’ll peel up, or they’ll shrink when it gets cold… I guess I don’t really understand. But Hubby Doc knows what’s going on, so I’m leaving this part up to him.

We have a tornado warning tonight, so hopefully the new house doesn’t get blown away!

How are your New Year’s renovation projects coming along?

Remodel Mondays – Framing the addition

Right before Thanksgiving the walls for the new basement were poured and sealed. The floor didn’t get poured until right before Christmas. We were starting to wonder if the new basement was just going to have a dirt floor. Not to worry, it has a beautiful, sealed and shiny concrete floor!

Shortly after Christmas the real excitement began. The back wall of the basement was framed out, complete with big window and sliding glass door to the future patio.

Sometimes it sucks to be a vet

Especially when you have to take care of your own animals.

My big-o pig-o Leo got sick about two months ago.

Leo is a giant orange cat. With super-cute white paws. He’s about fifteen years old, and I’ve had him for around thirteen. He’s my big buddy. At his largest, he was pushing 20 pounds. Now we’ve got him down to a trim 12.5. Much better.

(It’s pretty embarrassing for a veterinarian to have an obese pet. Not good advertising.)

Remodel Monday – Skylights and other windows

Last week I mentioned that the chimney and fireplace were coming out. They came out.

New technology

For about a year, I have been complaining about my laptop. It’s too slow. It won’t open the program. It won’t run three programs at the same time. It’s too slow. The hard drive is too small. There’s not enough RAM. It’s too slow. (Theme, anyone?)


Finally, with a little help from some Christmas money, I got a new one!

I can’t believe I waited this long.
It’s pretty. It’s shiny.

Furniture protector

We bought a plain old king-size white sheet at WalMart a few years ago, and it has had several uses. We originally bought it for a Halloween costume. (Can you guess for what? Hubby Doc was a ghost.)

Then we used it as a drop-cloth to cover a bed in the basement we rarely used to keep the cat hair off the bed.

Now it’s used as a drop-cloth to keep the cat hair off a black futon. I also stuck some pillows and extra blankets under the sheet for “safe-keeping.”

Remodel Mondays – No more office

The part of our house that was my office used to be an attached garage. Long before Hubby Doc bought the house, it was converted into an “inside” space, but it was just sitting on the concrete slab, and is about 3 feet lower than the rest of the house.

I had that room pretty full…

Getting it emptied was no small task…