And It Begins..

Tomorrow, new teacher training starts at my new school..Where did the summer go? God, time flies...

The Great Summer Project '06 Is Underway!

So every summer, my goal is to take on one big house project. Last summer, I redid the bathroom if you remember. I removed the hideous wallpaper, built shelves behind the loo, put up wainscotting, painted the vanity, and tiled the floor. It was quite a task but the turnout was amazing.

This summer, as I've planned since Winter, I was to refinish the floors in the study and the bedroom. The summer rolled by with trips to Colorado and Atlanta, and before I knew it, it was mid August! Was I to actually get this project rolling? It was now, or NEVER!

So on Monday night, I started ripping up the carpet. A disgusting ordeal thanks to Mr. Denali, I finished sometime on Tuesday with a little help from Joe.

Wednesday, I rented the sander and got pointers from the handy neighbors. I spent most of the day sanding, before cleaning the floor with a tack cloth and putting the first coat of spar varnish in the bedroom.

I used spar varnish versus polyurethane because it won't chip off like nail polish due to its flexibility. My neighbor recommended it. Although a bit more costly and the website says not for indoor use, which really makes no sense because the can is labeled "indoor/outdoor", it turned out well save for a few carpet ghosts! If anyone has any idea on how to get rid of them before I finish the study, I'd appreciate it.

We had to do the project in sections because it involved our bedroom. I sanded the study first before moving all of the furniture from the bedroom into the study. Our bedroom is currently empty, and we'll move back in there sometime tomorrow afternoon when I can edge sand the study, tack it, and coat it with varnish.

With the summer coming to a close, I can happily say I've accomplished this great task ;)

Beyond Absurd

Gathering of the vibes was *wet*

Bobcheese!

Pop!

The End

Atlanta 2006

By next week, I'll have stories about about Vibes and a so called Twister Game, not to mention Bobcheese, so I figured I'd give Atlanta the attention it truly deserves!

I knew last summer that if I were to go back to Atlanta, I had to bring Joe with me. It really is a beautiful city and I wanted to go back this summer and spend some time with my dearest, oldest friend Lori. So we were finally able to make plans to head down there.

Of course, I wanted to take Joe to some of my favorite Atlanta digs, but I was fortunate enough to try some new Atlanta fun this year, like the new Aquarium. It just happens to be the largest aquarium in the world and they've got Whale Sharks and Beluga Whales (the kind that was in the Delaware last year)!! So we spent a day in midtown at the Aquarium, along with Centennial Park from the 1996 Olympics and lunch at the CNN Center.

I surely couldn't go back to Atlanta without heading to my most favorite place, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Fortunately, there was a new sculpture exhibit on display by Niki. The sculptures were larger than life and very fun to play on! Of course, the day was balanced out with a trip to the Sweetwater brewery that night where I got to be the designated driver. Take three people who love beer, one person who doesn't, and 6 extra beers split amongst them from me, and you've got an interesting concoction of total drunks! Take those drunks to a Krispy Kreme, where the Fresh HOT Now light is on and you've got quite an adventure! The night ended with a dip in the rooftop pool, where hijinks ensued, and Joe ended up scraping his face on the bottom of the pool. It surely made for good laughs afterwards.

When we woke up on Thursday, the plan was simple: A leisurely day wandering to various places and heading back to the airport at 2:30 or so for a 3:45 flight. Surely, it wasn't that simple. Thankful for a phone call from Joe's mother telling us about the glorious terror plot, we knew our plans were changing. We took Joe to the Center for Puppetry Arts to see the grand Skeksis from the Dark Crystal and the amazing Gumby Exhibit! Then we headed off to Mellow mushroom for a great lunch before heading into the airport for the disaster of a lifetime!

Overall, it was a fantastic trip! Joe loved Atlanta, as I knew he would. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

We'll update you in just twenty minutes...

Ok kids, i'm home..would you like to know what time I got home? You really aren't going to believe me..6:30 this morning!!!WHAT A NIGHTMARE! We got to the airport OK..there were tons of National Guard but security wasn't so bad.

You couldn't bring even LIPGLOSS on the plane with you. We knew before getting there that we were checking our two little bags due to lotions and what not, but lipgloss? This is getting silly now!

So we're sitting at the gate, plane supposed to leave at 3:45..3:20 rolls around, we haven't boarded..sign changes to 4:05..Finally at around 4ish, we boarded the plane..where we sat..for hours..til about 9:oo, before they decided we should go back to the gate..

Because of the security issues, everything just piles up, and there is a line of planes waiting to fly out! Then, there is a thunderstorm, while we are on the runway, can't go anywhere..then there is a mysterious thunderstorm in Newark!!

Stuck stuck stuck..At around 9ish, he decided to pull back into the gate..says he's cancelling our flight. I called my best friend to come get me. She only lives like 15 minutes from the airport, so she heads over. She gets to the airport before we even make it back to the gate!! We get back to the gate and he tells us it isn't cancelled, but just delayed again, and that we should all get something to eat and prepare to reboard!!

By this time, I'm nearly dieing, cranky, bitchy, flipping my shit. I call my best friend and tell her that we don't need to come back and it will cost us to delay our flight (yeah, like this is our problem now, it doesn't matter, it gets WORSE)We get to Newark FINALLY at about 1:30..the clincher? The last train to Trenton (not like it matters, light rail stopped running at 9) leaves at 2:05..

Get luggage, get tickets...Joe and I each take a job..and get on monorail to go to plane..can we make it??

No..no we can't make it..we COULD have made it just fine..except when the monorail decides to turn around at P4 at precisely 1:57, where we had 7 minutes to get to the other rail station and RUN for the train at 2:04..

no..now we've officially missed it because the monorail has a mind of it's own. Stuck..at Newark airport...for HOURS!!

Of course, with hundreds of other travelers sleeping on benches because they've gotten severely delayed whether it be from Heathrow or anywhere else, missing connections and what not. FINALLY, we caught the 4:30 train from Newark to Trenton, and the 6:10 light rail home..I walked in my door and the sun was up..I could have driven home from Atlanta quicker than it took me to fly..If you've gotten this far, you deserve a big hug!

More Atlanta fun and pictures to come later!