Saturday, July 16, 2011

Bathroom Remodel: Making Progress

Despite some setbacks with the plumbing, Jason made great strides today with the new tile. I'm so proud of him! His first solo tile project.
I worked on painting the trim around the doors and adding a pop of color to the hallway.
Five more days to go until my parents are visiting. It may not be pretty, but I'm hoping its functional!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Bathroom Remodel: Potty Training?

We haven't made much progress on the bathroom this week because we got a new puppy! (Technically we are foster parents but we are hoping to make it "official" next week). The little one was rescued with her litter mates from New Mexico via a Fort Collins, CO rescue society. We picked her up Friday night and in between my crazy festival schedule downtown (Jubilee Days) and puppy potty training, Jason has only managed to remove all of the old tile, dry wall and insure the new plumbing is working.

Here is Jason removing the old blue tile.

Here is the little one:

The rescue named all the pups in the littler after birds. She end up with "Chicken" but we are leaning towards Bonney (after William H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid) or Hatch after Hatch, New Mexico.
Our older dog, Shelby is unsure of the entire situation. Between all the banging in the bathroom and the new dog, she mostly keeps to herself. I was lucky this afternoon and got photos of them together.


We aren't sure what mix of breeds she is or how big she will get (the rescue facility said she was the smallest in her littler). I'm hoping she gets big enough to keep up with Shelby but not so big that she doesn't fit in the Game and Fish truck!
That's all for now. Back to work on the bathroom (we have 10 days to get it done before my folks are in town!)

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Bathroom Remodel: Paint

I've narrowed my paint colors for the guest bathroom remodel to a spa like pallet of blue, green and cream. This is a close up of the shower curtain I ordered.
Here I'm testing out colors we've got on hand (left over from remodeling projects in the guest bedroom and living room). I really like the blue/green in the middle but the color on the far right seems to match the shower curtain better and it is the same color of the ceiling in the guest bedroom so it helps connect the two rooms.
And while I'm at it, I decided to paint the old brown door to the linen closet in the hallway outside of the bathroom. (Again you see what I mean when our remodel projects "snowball"!)
Jason is working the lakes this weekend so I'm left to my own devices. I'm thinking of heading to Target tomorrow to get matching linens (we don't have a home decor store in town).

That's all for now...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Bathroom Remodel: Colors

While Jason does the heavy lifting, my job with every home remodel has been to pick paint colors and decorate.

I'm super excited about the bamboo floors we are installing and warm golden tile that will go around the shower. I want to pick a color pallet and shower curtain that really shows them off.

Here is what I'm looking at:





Aqua blue (similar to the color in the guest bedroom across the hall from the bathroom)

What do you think?

Blue Bathroom Remodel

We finally decided to do it… the blue bathroom is getting a facelift. We could have enjoyed the old versions for a few more years but the plumbing needed an upgrade and to get to it we (Jason) had to remove the tile which lead into removing parts of the wall, flooring, etc.

You see how this snowballs. So in the next few weeks, we are going to repaint the tub, sink and countertop (we are on a budget), paint the walls, install a bamboo floor, upgrade the fixtures from old worn gold to bright shinny silver and redo the tile around the tub.

Did I mention my parents will be here to visit at the end of July?

Chop, chop! We are on a deadline!

Thank goodness Jason’s folks helped us with demolition and replacing plumbing parts. They are the unsung heroes behind all our home remodeling projects and we owe them BIG TIME!

This is how the blue bath looked when we moved in, July 2006.

This is what it has looked like since Aug. 2006!
This is how it looks today:



We'll keep you posted...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Confessions of a Workaholic: Coordinator

A “typical” day for a Main Street manager:

8 a.m. Breakfast meeting with dedicated volunteers to discuss project or event

9 a.m. Check or send emails in office regarding project or event

9:20 a.m. Make an apt. for another project or event

9:30 a.m. Answer questions from the public about project or event

9:50 a.m. Walkabout of Downtown to share information with business owners about project or event

Noon - Lunch meeting with a different group of dedicated volunteers to discuss another project or event

1:30 p.m. Back in office to create marketing material for project or event

2:30 p.m. Post information about project or event to Facebook, website and Twitter account.

2:40 p.m. Answer questions posted by public on Facebook

2:50 p.m. Return calls missed during lunch meeting about project or event

3:10 p.m. Running late to another meeting with dedicated volunteers about another project or event

4:30 p.m. Checking schedule regarding To Do List that piles up on desk during meetings

5:30 p.m. Committee or Board meeting

7 something – Get home, kiss husband, cook dinner, watch mindless TV, get ready for bed, read. Goodnight.

Good morning and REPEAT.

I love my job. It is challenging, rewarding, creative and I work with the most amazing group of volunteers… but it is exhausting! I haven’t been home from work before 7 p.m. but ONCE this month! I’ve put in 25 hours of overtime since June 1 and this is just the beginning of the summer rush of promotional events. Sigh.

Thank goodness what I do is so much fun. Each day is varied but includes a lot of coordination, collaboration and information sharing. I’m a “clearing house” for everything downtown. I love being in “the know” and using my empathetic people skills as a “Chat Kathy” to build relationships for the betterment of all involved.

I’m not a party planner, (thank goodness for my volunteers who excel in that area) but I do enjoy marketing all the fun events that go on downtown.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be involved in the following activates:

Brewfest

Jubilee Days

Gem City Car Classic

Update of the Downtown Development Plan

Relaunch a new website for Main Street

Farmers Market

Historic Walking Tours

Upstairs/Downtown Tour

Downtown Kickoff

… To name a few and that is only one component of my job. Besides events and promotions, I coordinate historic preservation and beautification projects downtown, welcome new businesses, help expand existing businesses, fundraise, educate, recruit and train volunteers, manage a budget, attend board meetings, coordinate projects with other non profits, etc. etc. etc.

I’m exhausted again just thinking about it! So now when you see me on the streets dragging my feet with a big smile on my face, you know a little bit about my day. (And why I’m so behind with this blog!)

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Looking forward to…

Warmer days, vacation in New Mexico, a shopping trip with Erin, Historic Preservation Conference, coffee cake at Night Heron, long walks in the park with Jason and Shelby, Thursday date nights and weekends!

We’ve got our taxes filed and vacation planned! Jason and I are headed to southern New Mexico for our five-year wedding anniversary. We are doing a mix of hot springs, historic sites and green chili. I’m most excited about exploring the old haunts of Billy the Kid and the UFO Museum in Roswell.

I can guarantee there will be lots of fun photos!

In preparation, I’m spending a lot of time on New Mexico’s Tourism website and reading, “To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West”.

What are you looking forward to?

Friday, April 01, 2011

Time in Heaven and Hell

I don’t like March. Not only does it come in like a lion and out like a dragon in Wyoming (we had gust of winds up to 60 mph yesterday) but something strange and dramatic always happens in March. From massive migraines, to vehicle accidents, to sick dogs, can we skip March next year?

About two weeks ago our hound dog, Tillie started to act funny. She wasn’t eating and was having accidents in the house. We took her to our local vet (who is amazing by the way) and the first theory is that she had a tumor in her tummy. After two sets of X-rays, the tumor was ruled out but there was still something amiss so we opted for exploratory surgery. Turns out Tillie’s intestine was backed up. After the vet “unplugged” things, Tillie had a difficult recovery. She was in so much pain that she started having seizures. Jason and I took care of her round the clock for about a week. She’d show signs of improvement, eating again, good blood work, cancer was ruled out, then, as if she had a stroke or picked up a virus, she adopted some strange mental behavior. She would walk in circles for hours, only turning to the right. After the vet suggested a change in medicine and a lower does of pain pills, she seemed to get better again than bam, 36 straight hours of pacing, pacing, pacing… She stopped eating and drinking and would cry and wine if we tried to get her to lay down or sit still. She wouldn’t sleep. She was burning calories at such a fast rate that her ribs started to show through. After many sleepless nights and inefficient schedules, we made the very difficult decision to say our final goodbyes. In the end she didn’t seem to recognize us anymore and would have starved to death had we let her continue to pace.

Tillie was cremated and we have a special spot in mind to spread her ashes.

The Christmas photo we didn't use
Loyal hound, always watching out for Jason
Her noise always got her in trouble!

She didn't like it if we would fuss over her. She was very independent and to "mature" for silly things like toys. But if we weren't looking...

Some playful moments

So after a week in hell, it was a nice surprise to experience some moments in heaven. We said goodbye to Tillie on Monday and by Tuesday it was like God had his hand on the nitro button for positive energy (at least for me, Jason’s schedule was still quite hectic). From Tuesday on it has been blessing, blessing, blessing! Complements from coworkers, a job well done, free lunch, an interview on Channel 5, a good night’s sleep, successful work products, time to walk and reflect with Shelby (even if it was windy, it is finally warming up here with temperatures into the low 50s) and, although short, quality moments with each other.

So yes, life is difficult but I refuse to let it knock me down. Life is also a balance, of the good, bad, ugly and beautiful. I might be a closet pessimist but once and awhile, I can shut that door and stand through the storm knowing there is a rainbow on the other side.

Thanks to all our family and friends for calling and leaving messages of condolences. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers and are so lucky to have you in our lives.