...like your wedding night, the fingerless floor guy, and chocolate walnut.

I thought last night that I should always read a little Flavia de Luce before blogging and then I might be in a witty mindset ready to lay down some delightful prose of which to roll round in sheer syntaxical revelry for a few aimless minutes... BUT then I came to the realization that if I settled into A Red Herring Without Mustard, I would do just that and never get back to blogging.

The latest on the house... well almost the latest. I've done quite a bit more painting and we've big news about room mates:

NOT SINCE LORY:
Some things are worth waiting for (like your wedding night) and wait we did. Over five weeks to be exact, and all for chocolate walnut. We almost pulled out our hair, but it's in and, minus one threshold, it's done! Additionally, it was all done by a very stunning fingerless floor man. No I didn't ask... but I wanted to. Not since Christian Bale in Little Women have I balked over a far away specimen such as this, but balk I did. Lucky for Q I felt dumb painting while the floors were being installed so I waited until they left before digging into my house for the night, but the installation did not end without one very happenstance caulking demonstration including a finger (the middle one of course, the pointer was missing) running ever so down my forearm. And somehow... and I don't know how, the missing finger just added. I'll leave it at that. The Chocolate Walnut was worth the wait.

The Mud Room, thanks to endless taping via moi, is now a giant chalk board wall. Let me give you a few tips if you ever decide to make your own chalk paint to save a few bucks like I did. Still to come: hooks, cushions, curtains, & co. But the house is taking shape. It almost even looks like we may actually live there someday. Some day.

"SOME DAY when we have a storage room" just turned into a very far off someday. We have invited room mates to live in our basement at short and sudden notice. So, in addition to all the reno already in progress, we are now turning the basement into a separate apartment. We had planned to do it for ourselves down the road, but here it is in hyper speed. It's good. We did have a moment of saying goodbye to the basement and the pool table and my DREAM of having the tele downstairs and away from the kitchen, but in sum we are quite relieved to be helping out some dearest of dear family members. Here they come! I told Q that it will put our glorious house to the test to see just how many in-laws it can support comfortably (including mood swings) under its roof. To the basement:

Good thing I had Q lay some more tile in the basement last month- it will go to good use now.
Also- we will be moving She She's stuff for the 3rd time since we have to clear the basement for our new room mates. Moving Moving Moving is our middle name this summer. We are moving She She's stuff, our new room mates, my class room, my dance studio, and us! Q is having panic attacks. Still to go in the basement: Laundry plumbing installation, electrical for kitchenette/laundry, granite kitchen island, appliances, outside motion lights.

And to the fun part of renovation: The Aesthetic
For so long we have been working on a house that only looked livable in my dreams! But I have to believe, even if I almost don't dare to, that our move-in date is on the horizon when I can see area rugs instead of subfloor. Oh, there's still plenty of subfloor, but I was able to roll these beauties out and take a real live peek at what I've been picturing in my head for so so OH so long. We have lived in too many wierd places for too long and have been saving saving WORKING and saving for so long, I can't believe my home dreams are coming true in reality and I get to live in a real house soon! A garage, a yard, a library... it really is a trip.

Still to go: Electrical, post-installation plumbing, baseboard, carpet, central vac installation, paint, ...conscious effort to end this list-making business due to sudden dizzy headache.

FATHERS DAY

We went to Chris's for a fantastic dinner.
Annie loved picking the apricots.

ANNIE is AWESOME

Change that MAY to NEVER!

The finish line is near when the clogging recital is here.
This year May was insane. We had recitals, end-of-the-year grading, summer planning, house renovating, and (as a last minute UNhappy surprise) classroom moving. I'm glad it's June.

The recital went well. Ydnic outdid herself on costumes this year. There were several not pictured here including one I wore in a killer precision number. It's nice to know I can still get through something like that. I may never run a marathon... but I can kill it in a tap shoe.

Scratch the "may" and let's just confirm now that I will NEVER run a marathon.

May I Remember May

Meg was on Institute Council.

She is the only one in our family to graduate from Institute. A fact our parents hadn't realized until I pointed it out. Should have let that one slide a few more years. At least they don't know about the wrecked van of '01 yet.

Ydnic and Nor get a surprise visit from Annie as they teach square dancing to the youth at their...our church. It's still weird that we are going to go to the same ward as them.

Matthew & Meg graduated from college on the same day,
so we had to split up. Nor flew to SLC for Matt's Architecture graduation (awesome)
and Annie & I dashed to DSC after work to see Meg get her associate degree.

Meg Says Goodbye to Her Teens:
We rented an old skating rink for Meg's birthday. How fun is that?!

The House The House The House.
---------------------------------
Slowly- ever so slowly we are seeing it take shape. I've even made 3 big & bright purchases for the upstairs that I thrill to think of when I'm falling asleep. The latest is a new central vac sweeper and unit [hooray- our warranty that our ninja agent got the bank to pay for will cover most of a brand new unit!]- plus, I couldn't help it, there may not be floors, there may not be plumbing hooked up- but there are BOOKS! I couldn't resist stacking a few beloved books amidst the dust on my new library shelves. They are the first thing to move in. How completely and totally satisfying it is to have a husband who can turn my wall drawings and diagrams into perfect library shelves that have been drifting in and out of my head for over a decade. Pure joy!

While the interior renovation is nearing a livable light-at-the-end state, the exterior is another story entirely. We estimate several years before the yard is respectable and even longer before the outside look of the house becomes what we are imagining.

We've got several beautiful mature trees to enjoy but are losing the prettiest one (this oak-looking one above) because we can't figure out the existing sprinkler system for the irrigation water. Panic!

Cousin Richard visited G. Polly and after a clogging dress rehearsal
for Disneyland, we went to a BBQ @ Dave and Bea's.

Don't forget about this FANTASTIC recipe.
I added pecans & walnuts to make it even better!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and coconut. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.