The doors, house color, patio cover and of course Melvin

Last week Bruce from Edelen exteriors worked on putting in our new doors. It took three days to put our front door, garage side door, fire safety door and two sliding glass doors in. Corey and I can't believe how great they all look. I know it is funny to get so excited about doors but when you own a house it does become your life working on it. Melvin was well behaved during the installment. We had to literal lock him up in the guest room, since he can open all the doors. I think Melvin enjoys the front door because now it is easier to escape outside. The first day Corey accidental shut Melvins neck in the door. Hope everyone enjoys the before and after pictures. We tell all our friends to take before/after pictures in their houses because it is fun looking back and seeing how much you have done. Also in the photos is the new patio cover that Corey and his dad did. It turned out great can't wait till next summer to enjoy it more. As for next summer we plan on putting in new outdoor house lights, shutters on the windows and painting under the patio cover. House projects are never ending. :)

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Halloween

My friend Heidi is leaving for England in a month. While she was putting her husband through grad school she picked up lots of random jobs for extra cash. One job was a promo girl for different alcoholic companies. Since I am going part-time in a month Heidi offered to get me in on the promo jobs. On Halloween we did one together for Hood River Distillery at a local bar down town. For three hours we passed out mini shots of whiskey and vodka and got to hang out together while earning money. In the mean time our husbands were at a different bar playing Golden Cup(?)an golf arcade game. We rushed home and traded our Halloween outfits since Heidi left her custom at a friends house. I was a 70's housewife and Heidi was a 80's prom date. We couldn't get our husbands to leave the dive bar so we entertained ourselves with drinks, karaoke and mingling with strangers. Ending the evening and starting the next day with a hang over. I am glad that we got dressed up haven't done that in years. Thanks Heidi!

Miss. Bailey

Can't believe my niece is 7 1/2months old and I have never posted anything about her on here or any pictures. Last month I took two days off to watch Bailey while my sister worked. I ended up only watching her one day and sadly I wasn't feeling great. We had a good time going for a walk and playing on the swing set. She is a great eater when it comes to food but I always seem to have a hard time giving her a bottle. I also changed my first really dirty diaper it went up her back and everything. I was lucky to get to go to her swim class too. She really loves the water and isn't afraid or anything. Maybe she will be on the swim team like her auntie. Here are a few pictures I took while I was there. Love my Bailey!!!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Hey, we had another great October pumpkin Saturday. We started the morning going to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin for carving. We ended up going to a pumpkin patch on Beef Bend Road, there were a ton of people there. Go figure, the weather was great. While there, we collected our pumpkins, went through our first corn maze (which was surprisingly harder than we anticipated), got some apple cider, and had an Oktoberfest sausage. We then had to pick up supplies and stuff for carving in the evening. Our friends came and everyone enjoyed my grandfather's recipe for rumpunchkin, which is quickly becoming more and more famous. We set a record for the number of pumpkins carved, 13(my mom, aunt and uncle pumpkins aren't in the photo). We also collected pumpkin seeds and are attempting seed roasting, the first batch has turned out well. As some might guess, with a number of people in the house Mel managed to sneak out through and open door and dash around the neighborhood, with Robert hot on his tail. If he wasn't terrified of the outdoors prior to that event he is now, at least for the next couple of days. Check out the picks, and we hope that you can join us next year.

Good thoughts for Corey

Please have good and positive thoughts for Corey tomorrow as he is taking his 8hr exam to become a professional engineer. He has spent the last month studying almost every day for 2-8hrs. He is a little nervous but I know he will do great.
Thanks again.

Fast times in Victoria BC

Early this month I took a fast trip up to Victoria in British Columbia Canada. One of my bridesmaid and past Azalea girl Kelly is getting married. Her husband Dylan and her are getting married in December in New Zealand. Kelly is a big runner and signed up to run the Victoria half-marathon. She enlisted friends to run with her (not me) and the weekend suddenly turned into a bacherlorette party. I rode up with Rhea (Corey's best man Alan's girlfriend) on Friday after work. We got in around 7:30to Lauren's house. We all went out for Sushi and Lauren entertained us with her fascinating single/dating life. The next day Rhea and I showed up at 7am to board the ferry. We got two seats next to an older women and her adult son. They were a very entertaining family and the 3 hour ferry ride went fast. Neither Rhea nor I got sick, luckily. After 45 minutes waiting in customs we meet up with Kelly and her friends. The group was a mixture of Alaska girls (non-palin supporters), College friends and co-teachers. We had two suits at the Chateau Victoria. Saturday afternoon we spent walking around shops, parks and having high tea. A few of us stopped at the Dutch Bakery which is a bakery with a soda fountain/dinner. It brought me back to my days at the Pharmacy. The weather was Autumn perfection, cold but sunny. In the evening the runners went to the expo while non-runners decorated the room in pure bacherlorette style. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant and Kelly was a good sport and danced with the belly dancer. The non-runners went out and the runners went to bed. We (the non-runners) went to two bars/clubs where we did the three D's danced, drink and dared each other to do things. We ended the evening by searching for food. In the end we found a cheap and greasy pizza joint it really hit the spot. I went to bed around 3am and was woken up at 8am but my roommates. We planned on cheering the runners on but 6 girls hung over don't make for a fast or motivated bunch. We did manage to squeeze in breakfast and lunch with a walk around downtown before we got back on the ferry. This time with all 11 of us. Between the partiers and the runners everyone was so tired we joked that we had one functioning brain between us. Rhea and I got back in her car at 10:30pm for the ride back to Portland. I reached my beloved pillow at 2am only to wake up at 6:30 for work. No shock I ended up getting sick and missing two days of work later in the week. It was a fast trip up to Victoria but great time spending it with an awesome group of new girls and seeing some beautiful sights. Congrats Kelly and thanks for the great time.

Doors and more

I know I am suppose to post pictures of the paint job but I am waiting. We have decided to buy a few new doors, a mail box, outdoor lights and house numbers to finish it off. In about 5-7 weeks we will be the proud owners of a new front door with side lights, a new side garage door (current one is nailed shut, stupid owners before us), and new 20 minute fire safety door from kitchen to garage and two new sliding glass doors. That only leaves 3 skylights left, two pocket doors inside and one bathroom door inside and we have replaced every door and window in our house. We bought new windows when we first moved in. We really enjoy them but did little research and had a high pressure sales person. This time we looked at a few places and had some in home estimates done. I think we both feel confident about our decision. We even get a 6% discount for getting so many doors and paying with out a credit card. We are able to do all this since selling Corey's car. It has been a challenge at times and Corey is riding his bike in the rain but we are enjoying the life of no car payments. Next spring I hope to get some shudders on the windows for more appeal and window boxes. Keep looking for pictures of the new doors in a few weeks.