One of the wonderful perks of my job is the occasional travel. The trips are spaced out well and the majority only last a week which means little interference with weekends. Since I started in mid 2007, I've been to Hawaii, California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington D.C., Wyoming, and Texas - all on the government's dime. Those aren't all glorious vacation destinations, but each place was nice in-and-of itself. As much as I enjoy my time abroad, I can always feel Colorado pulling me home and more importantly, my family waiting anxiously for my return.
Coming home after a week away is always wonderful. Seeing Alyssa and Jonah through FaceTime on the IPad is a nice option to get me through the week, but nothing compares to seeing them in person. I swear Jonah put on a whole pound while I was in Boston last week! I've been lucky enough to take Alyssa with me to Norfolk and D.C. in the last 2 years - an opportunity for HER to do some sight-seeing while I'm in meetings or at a conference. She traversed D.C. by herself last December while 2 months pregnant and had a blast (it was 0-10 degrees each day....). We both agreed that after a week, it was time to go home.
Now that we finally own our home, this feeling is amplified even more. Feeling truly attached to a piece of property and knowing I've provided that for my family makes me that much more anxious to get back to working on it and improving it in any way possible. I've always considered myself a home-body - willingly passing on social outings for the comfort of a project, a movie, or some "time at home." Fortunate for me, Alyssa is of the same mind. We have to force ourselves out the door sometimes in order to avoid being labeled as hermits. This feeling plays right into my compulsion to get home when I'm away.
I can trace this feeling to my youth (no age comments from ANYONE!) and never really feeling that any place was "home." Not to say I didn't have a home, just no significant attachment to a place for long enough to build those feelings. Grand Junction was close, but because I have no family there and don't visit often (twice in 11 years) it feels like my connections to it are lost. The longest held feelings were to my grandparents home in Cameron Park, CA. They bought that house in 1982 just before I was born and I helped my Gramme (no comments again...) move and sell it in 2007. I had more memories in that house than any other to date. That's why I'm so happy that Jonah will hopefully grow up in our house and feel ties to it for many years. For that matter, I already feel tied to it and that's why I love coming home.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Long weekend
Despite my 4-day being turned into a 3-day, it was very productive. I took last Wednesday off to help Alyssa's uncle Kevin move. It was a snap decision for them to relocate across town and went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, that negated my plan to take Friday off. Regardless, Alyssa and I set our to-do list up and started ticking off items left and right. I finished back-filling the window well area, put down the "cloth," and moved all the rock back to cover it up. Just need a couple tons more rock to finish that job completely.
My darling wife has wanted to paint our main level half-bath since we moved in. She also planned to take the standard wall-to-wall mirror off and replace it with something more classy. Check and check. I did some research on taking down mirrors (especially ones put up using liquid nails) and with the help of a couple different recommendations, we were able to get it down without damage to walls, the mirror, or either of us. Now that it's finished, it looks great! (as usual, pics to follow...)
Our next furniture to-do was the desk (mentioned previously). Alyssa was finally sold off on the idea and the style of the desk, so we painstakingly moved it from the garage to the office/loft upstairs. Even being broken down into the major pieces, the thing was pretty heavy. We moved everything off the old desk, put the pieces in place, screwed it all together, and moved everything back. After getting it all together and stepping back, we were both very pleased with the dark monstrosity. (yeah, yeah....pics later....). Now we just have to find the time to move things into the drawers and cubbies. Having that done, we decided to head East to her parents house for homemade pizza and a movie (Transformers 3). We stayed late watching the movie and finally made the journey home without our adorable, little boy. Since our plan was to be back at their house Saturday morning, we left him for a sleepover instead of waking him up twice to get him home.
Saturday was spent doing family stuff - I'll spare you all the details. After that, we invited our good friends (and neighbors) Steve and Cat over for dinner and to play some Dominion. Alyssa made a taco stew in the crock pot and it was perfect for the end of a cold and snowy Colorado fall day. Great time hanging out, playing games. We enjoyed it so much that we spent Sunday evening at our Pastor's house playing Dominion with them as well.
Monday was a relax day. I try not to take too many "down days," but after the last couple weeks, I felt called to sit around and treat my XBox to some overdue attention. I sometimes wonder why I keep the thing at all - Monday was a tribute to why. I thoroughly enjoyed some quiet, feet-up, not a care in the world time. I did some things around the house, but overall, the day was a wash. I watched Big Trouble in Little China and played XBox. I won't have another good opportunity to do that for a while, so it was great.
Back to work today. Golf tournament on Friday. My new watch should be here today, I hope! Women's Woodworking class to teach tonight. More work on the Oak China Cabinet Thursday night (progress pics below). Trip to the Boston area next week. Busy, busy, busy!!
My darling wife has wanted to paint our main level half-bath since we moved in. She also planned to take the standard wall-to-wall mirror off and replace it with something more classy. Check and check. I did some research on taking down mirrors (especially ones put up using liquid nails) and with the help of a couple different recommendations, we were able to get it down without damage to walls, the mirror, or either of us. Now that it's finished, it looks great! (as usual, pics to follow...)
Our next furniture to-do was the desk (mentioned previously). Alyssa was finally sold off on the idea and the style of the desk, so we painstakingly moved it from the garage to the office/loft upstairs. Even being broken down into the major pieces, the thing was pretty heavy. We moved everything off the old desk, put the pieces in place, screwed it all together, and moved everything back. After getting it all together and stepping back, we were both very pleased with the dark monstrosity. (yeah, yeah....pics later....). Now we just have to find the time to move things into the drawers and cubbies. Having that done, we decided to head East to her parents house for homemade pizza and a movie (Transformers 3). We stayed late watching the movie and finally made the journey home without our adorable, little boy. Since our plan was to be back at their house Saturday morning, we left him for a sleepover instead of waking him up twice to get him home.
Saturday was spent doing family stuff - I'll spare you all the details. After that, we invited our good friends (and neighbors) Steve and Cat over for dinner and to play some Dominion. Alyssa made a taco stew in the crock pot and it was perfect for the end of a cold and snowy Colorado fall day. Great time hanging out, playing games. We enjoyed it so much that we spent Sunday evening at our Pastor's house playing Dominion with them as well.
Monday was a relax day. I try not to take too many "down days," but after the last couple weeks, I felt called to sit around and treat my XBox to some overdue attention. I sometimes wonder why I keep the thing at all - Monday was a tribute to why. I thoroughly enjoyed some quiet, feet-up, not a care in the world time. I did some things around the house, but overall, the day was a wash. I watched Big Trouble in Little China and played XBox. I won't have another good opportunity to do that for a while, so it was great.
Back to work today. Golf tournament on Friday. My new watch should be here today, I hope! Women's Woodworking class to teach tonight. More work on the Oak China Cabinet Thursday night (progress pics below). Trip to the Boston area next week. Busy, busy, busy!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Running Man
I started running again back in mid-May after deciding I needed to get outside for some of my workouts instead of staying in the basement all the time. So far, I've run between 2.3 and 7.6 miles a couple times a week depending on my schedule. I've noticed a huge difference in how I feel throughout the day after these runs as they're almost always early (4am) in the morning. I hope to keep it up through the winter, but having no treadmill means I'll have to face the cold temps and whatever else Mother Nature throws at me. Colorado winters aren't always terrible; you can count on at least a couple mornings around 0 degrees with patchy ice on the roads.
I ran 3.3 miles this morning - took off at 5 after sleeping in for half an hour. I finished some reading and then forced myself out the door. Most mornings I feel like I could stay in bed til 10 or 11. Guess that's what you feel like when the candle is burning at both ends. Enough whining - I pushed myself hard for the first mile despite a chilly headwind that didn't help with keeping my eyes open. After that it was smooth sailing minus the fact that at 5:15 it's pitch black out and my route passes by 2 street lights total. I REALLY need to get a headlamp and a reflective belt / vest. Running in the dark should be a sport all in itself. Each step is an adventure in road construction especially considering Marksheffel is still under construction and you never know where they put their spare chunks of asphalt, concrete, or dirt. I'm only a little bitter after a run in with some misplaced barbed wire fencing 3 weeks ago....grrrr
So, off to clean up and get out the door for work. Going to the shop tonight to assist Michael and some friends with picture frames and "intro to woodworking" class. Should be a blast. I still owe you pics of the garage....maybe I'll run (ha) out and get a couple shots right now to add to this later. Ok - here are some pics of a shelf I refinished for Alyssa's friend Lisamarie and some shots of the garage (they'd be better, but I didn't want to move the truck and I still have some mudding to do...). The shovel / rake hanger was made from a scrap piece of plywood.
I ran 3.3 miles this morning - took off at 5 after sleeping in for half an hour. I finished some reading and then forced myself out the door. Most mornings I feel like I could stay in bed til 10 or 11. Guess that's what you feel like when the candle is burning at both ends. Enough whining - I pushed myself hard for the first mile despite a chilly headwind that didn't help with keeping my eyes open. After that it was smooth sailing minus the fact that at 5:15 it's pitch black out and my route passes by 2 street lights total. I REALLY need to get a headlamp and a reflective belt / vest. Running in the dark should be a sport all in itself. Each step is an adventure in road construction especially considering Marksheffel is still under construction and you never know where they put their spare chunks of asphalt, concrete, or dirt. I'm only a little bitter after a run in with some misplaced barbed wire fencing 3 weeks ago....grrrr
So, off to clean up and get out the door for work. Going to the shop tonight to assist Michael and some friends with picture frames and "intro to woodworking" class. Should be a blast. I still owe you pics of the garage....maybe I'll run (ha) out and get a couple shots right now to add to this later. Ok - here are some pics of a shelf I refinished for Alyssa's friend Lisamarie and some shots of the garage (they'd be better, but I didn't want to move the truck and I still have some mudding to do...). The shovel / rake hanger was made from a scrap piece of plywood.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Productive Weekend and Hello October
I blinked and the weekend was gone. The good news is that a great many things were completed during my blink; new microwave....installed!
Now we can get rid of this little guy:
I finished the 2nd Dominion board which will belong to the Zimmermans - hoping to give it to Barry this week (I had some better pictures and didn't get them sent to my email this morning :( ).
I finished drywalling the garage and most of the taping/mudding in the early hours yesterday morning. (those pics to follow when I don't have the truck in the way).
We spent most of Saturday helping a friend move before Alyssa had to run off to worship practice. Her friend Lauren was kind enough to watch Jonah while we were assisting with the move, so I headed East to pick him up with a quick stop by the woodshop to get some scrap firewood we'd promised them. Ended up with a desk in the bed of the truck along with all the firewood. Yet another attack by the to-do monster as the desk will need some refinishing before it's house-ready. I'll get right on that...(here's a pic of the desk's twin now in use by the Grojean clan -)
Alyssa isn't sold on it yet. I think that after a little sanding and a fresh coat of walnut stain, it'll look great. More on that later.
Perhaps the most important accomplishment from the weekend - we bought Alyssa a brand new car (actually happened Thursday, but we'll count it anyway...). She found herself a 2012 VW Jetta SE (even though she labeled it as a 2010...don't be fooled) We've needed a safety upgrade in the vehicle department desperately and this is exactly what we were hoping for. Top safety rating, looks great, warranty, 3 years of free maintenance, and excellent great fuel economy. It even has a navigation system / DVD player built in. She's happy = I'm happy.
So, pretty good weekend - makes me that much more anxious for the coming 4-day at the end of this week. By default, I should be at least twice as productive ;)
Also, where did summer go?!?! Not only did I blink and miss the weekend, I blinked and missed the summer. Maybe I'll catch it on the next trip around.
Now we can get rid of this little guy:
I finished the 2nd Dominion board which will belong to the Zimmermans - hoping to give it to Barry this week (I had some better pictures and didn't get them sent to my email this morning :( ).
I finished drywalling the garage and most of the taping/mudding in the early hours yesterday morning. (those pics to follow when I don't have the truck in the way).
We spent most of Saturday helping a friend move before Alyssa had to run off to worship practice. Her friend Lauren was kind enough to watch Jonah while we were assisting with the move, so I headed East to pick him up with a quick stop by the woodshop to get some scrap firewood we'd promised them. Ended up with a desk in the bed of the truck along with all the firewood. Yet another attack by the to-do monster as the desk will need some refinishing before it's house-ready. I'll get right on that...(here's a pic of the desk's twin now in use by the Grojean clan -)
Alyssa isn't sold on it yet. I think that after a little sanding and a fresh coat of walnut stain, it'll look great. More on that later.
Perhaps the most important accomplishment from the weekend - we bought Alyssa a brand new car (actually happened Thursday, but we'll count it anyway...). She found herself a 2012 VW Jetta SE (even though she labeled it as a 2010...don't be fooled) We've needed a safety upgrade in the vehicle department desperately and this is exactly what we were hoping for. Top safety rating, looks great, warranty, 3 years of free maintenance, and excellent great fuel economy. It even has a navigation system / DVD player built in. She's happy = I'm happy.
So, pretty good weekend - makes me that much more anxious for the coming 4-day at the end of this week. By default, I should be at least twice as productive ;)
Also, where did summer go?!?! Not only did I blink and miss the weekend, I blinked and missed the summer. Maybe I'll catch it on the next trip around.
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