Shade-scapades (an update)

Question - When does 71.25 inches actually equal 72 inches?

Answer - When we're talking about a shade cut by Lowe's.

 Yes, you guessed it, the shade fiasco did not simply end with a quick exchange.  We thought, perhaps, that the first shade we brought home was too short because we had measured wrong.  So during lunch on Monday Jon went back to Lowe's and did what any self respecting consumer would do - blame the store so that they'll take the product back.  Any feelings of guilt were quickly quieted, however, when the second shade wasn't anywhere near the dimensions we'd asked for (contrary to Lowe's belief, 71.25 does NOT equal 72).  Luckily this time it was too long, so we carefully measured how much we wanted taken off and a third trip to the store produced a shade that does fit our window.

Thus the shade is now in place, and since Cortney spent Monday detailing the walls, hanging the valence rod and valence, washing bedding and dressing the room, we are several steps closer to finished.  Pictures soon!

Progress in the nursery!

Saturday started 9am with a Koney Island breakfast with mom and dad H and Curtis, after which Cortney and mom H went shopping while Jon and dad H started painting.  It's a good thing, too, because it ended up being an all day job.  The first coat went really well, and while it started drying the boys finished the laundry room renovations and fixed the dryer and screen door while the girls cleaned and organized the kitchen, then mom H made a wonderful picnic style lunch.  After lunch the guys did a little touch up then started on the second color.  But once on the wall the second color was not at all what we had intended so the girls headed back to Lowe's to try again.  After a very enjoyable dinner at the pizza place down the street the guys covered the first coat of the second color with a first coat of a third color (anyone else confused?) before mom and dad H headed home around 8:30.

Every cloud has a silver lining.  Sunday afternoon the two of us did some final touch up on color number three, but very little was needed because where the second second color didn't fully cover the first second color (confused again...) it created a charmingly whimsical feeling that we didn't want to cover up.  After removing the tape and moving the furniture back into place, the room looks perfect - unfinished, but perfect!  The night didn't finish perfectly - try as we might the brackets for the new window shade did not go in easily, only to find out that the shade had been cut wrong at the store.  So today we have to exchange the shade, hope the brackets stay up, and put up the valance rod, but at least we have arrived at the final stretch.

We aren't quite ready to completely give the surprise away, because it's not quite done, but there are more hints in the work pictures here.  We do want to note that there are key workers missing from these photos - those being mom and dad H, who we cannot thank enough - so we included one of Cookie instead, who worked about as hard as she is here.  :o)

A quiet weekend.

Spring is beginning to return to our barren winter land.  Cortney got outside for a walk with friends Leah and Kristin last week and had such a good time that we went out together both days this weekend - even the dogs got in on the action, going out for their first walk of the new year.  But before the warmth of the weekend, we ventured into the chill of Friday night with friends Andrew and Erin for a stab at Thai food, which is somewhat new to us, and we had a great time.  Who knew curry came in three colors?  We've only ever had yellow curry, but on Friday Cortney tried red curry, and green is also an option.  What they didn't have was burnt umber...oh well.  The rest of our weekend was quiet, filled with cat sitting, lunch with Cortney's mom, potluck dinner at church, lunch with our confirmands, and a quiet Sunday night at home.  One would think we were getting chores done, but we gave those up for Lent.

Preparation underway

Even though it's snowing outside, we're doing the spring cleaning now. The dust is flying as we cross paths, carting boxes for recycling upstairs and piles of office gear down. Even the front room is getting attention as it will be the new scrapbooking zone, with attached games closet. Though you wouldn't know it from this picture of the nursery pre-clean sweep, we finished emptying the room and couldn't be more excited to be picking up the crib set from Babies "R" Us this weekend.

Speaking of Babies "R" Us, we had a great time registering last week. We'd been to a few different baby stores and baby sections of department stores, and found there's really nothing that compares to their layout and selection. Sadly, they did not carry any Cap'n Crunch, so we couldn't match what we had on our wedding registry (sorry, Curtis). It took us the following week to make changes to the baby registry online, and now we're very happy with our cute, educational, and essential picks. Who wouldn't be excited about Bugs on Board?

All quiet on the Western front

No news is good news for baby development. It's been another week of steady growth for Raspberry. He has become an acrobat, busy a large portion of the time, and his swiping kicks suggest somersaults. What stimulates him the most? Singing in choir, drinking orange juice, and Cortney trying to sleep.

Our nesting instinct is working its way through the house. We've cleaned the clutter out of the basement and organized it. Next up is Jon's office, and then the nursery (currently Cortney's office). We have a musical safari planned for Raspberry's room, and we'll keep you posted as that renovation develops.