Sunday, March 23, 2008

Death and Disneyland

We've had some bad news here at HinJew central.  I found out Wednesday morning that my dad had died Tuesday night.  We weren't close but it still came as a  huge shock.  I plan to write more about it, but right now we're at the Portland airport getting ready to board our flight to Disneyland.  In the midst of all the misery, I am happy to be spending my spring break with my family making happy memories.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Cork Floor Pictures

First things first....Juliana and her beloved mechanical pencils!


Next we have pictures of the Michigan office:


Here are some close ups of the cork floor.  It comes in rectangular "planks".  This gives you a good look at the grain.  The floor itself is perfectly smooth because it comes with two layers of polyurethane already on it.



Here's where it meets the wood flooring in our entryway.  It looks a lot darker in this picture than it actually is.


Today, after letting it sit empty for 5 days, we finally started working on putting the furniture back in.  Exciting stuff!  Except for one small thing.  The polyurethane ONCE AGAIN started coming up everywhere the furniture made contact with it.



Somebody come kill me.









Friday, March 14, 2008

Blah Blah Blog

Let's see, where have I been and what have I been doing?

For starters, the Zoloft has reached a nice, therapeutic level.  Oh, did I forget to mention my clinical depression and need to start on meds?  Ooops. Silly me.  The good news is that I'm feeling like my old self again and only drag out the depression diagnosis when I need some sympathy (like forgiveness for sporadic blogging) or to get out of something (like being on the PTA board).

In general things have been going well.  I was busy with Juliana's birthday (and yes, rest assured she did indeed receive mechanical pencils along with her olives) and then we spent a weekend in San Francisco to witness my niece do a spectacular job at her bat mitzvah.  After that we had science fair projects to finish, a viola concert, and the beginning of the spring soccer season.  In addition to all my regular school and synagogue volunteering, I'm taking an adult ed class through the synagogue that meets twice a month. 

Also, we're still working on the office.  You'll remember that I finally finished removing the wallpaper.  Did I show pictures of the walls now painted in official licensed University of Michigan colors?  Ritu and I (and Ron The Floor Guy) decided to put down a cork floor in the office.  We felt it would reflect the mood of the room better than a more formal wood floor.  Plus, fraction of the price, people.  I grew up in a house that had a cork family room floor, so I was all for it.  We chose a nice dark color that looks almost like leather.  Ron came and installed it and put down an extra coat of polyurethane which was great until two days later then the polyurethane began to separate from the cork.  I am not kidding when I say that you could peel the polyurethane off like you were peeling dried Elmer's glue off of your hands.  I am also not kidding when I say that the kids were actually asking to help peel the floor.  Trusty Ron came right back over and (with our enthusiastic help) spent two days getting the coating peeled off.  He put down a different type of polyurethane which seems to be holding thus far.  Ritu put together the Ikea desk that's been in boxes since November and we plan to start moving furniture in this weekend.

Lastly, I've started watching America's Next Top Model.  Seems like everyone I know watches it and I've never been organized enough to get in on the beginning of a season.  Oh, what delicious fun!  I could do without all the squealing though.

I'm off to take pics of the office.  I'll try to get them uploaded soon but please remember that  <insert weak eye-blinking here> I am clinically depressed.