In case you’ve been wondering where we’ve been for the last few weeks we’ve been outside. We decided we needed some color around our house so we decided to plant some flowers. The first thing we did was enlist the help of Mom and Dad O. Then we had 4 cubic yards of topsoil delivered.
Archive for the ‘House’ category
Adding Some Color
June 4th, 2010How it took us longer to get from the Smithsonian Station to Springfield, VA than it did from Richmond, VA to Springfield, VA
April 5th, 2010This past Easter holiday, Katie, the dogs, and I went up to her parents house to visit. We left Friday (April 2) after Katie got off of work (I had Friday and Monday off as holidays). A normal trip up there takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes, but Friday it took over 2 and a half hours. It was painfully slow at times on 95 and there was just a ton of traffic. We assumed that would be the worst thing to happen. . .big mistake.
On Saturday, the entire family (Mom & Dad O, the two exchanges students, Katie, and I) headed out to Washington D.C to see all the Cherry Blossoms. We all were in agreement that taking the Metro would be a much better idea then trying to find a place to park in D.C. It was quite busy at the Springfield-Franconia Metro station, but we expected that. We had an uneventful trip to the Smithsonian stop on the Blue Line of about 35 to 40 minutes (Keep in mind, the Blue Line is the only line for the Springfield-Franconia Station). We stayed for a few hours and took a lot of pictures of the Cherry Blossoms (link provided at the end) then we decided to return home. This is where the fun begins.
Busy, Busy, Busy
February 26th, 2010The title basically describes our lives right now. My job has been hectic with new upgrades and everything else and Katie’s new job has been keeping her occupied. When we finally have some free time, we have been out with friends or working on some sort of project around the house. Like I said, we are busy. It would be nice to have some time to relax and not worry about anything for a while.
Katie finally forced me to get a reusable bag to take my lunch to work in (she got one too). I would normally take plastic bags that came from grocery shopping, but since Katie has become “environmentally conscious” and is using the reusable bags from Kroger my supply has stopped. I think it’s all a rouse to get me pulled into her “save the environment” game.* The lunch bag is awesome though, perfect for the geek in me. If you don’t understand the phrase, go browse some LOLCats.
In other fun news, we are now adding our own touches to the house. We have installed under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen so Katie can see better when she is cooking and we replaced the faucet on the kitchen sick to match the other fixtures. I am looking into home automation using a Z-Wave system. It looks to be a fun project. There are also plans to do some landscaping this year as well as wire the entire house for Ethernet (this may be cancelled if Wireless N routers keep dropping in price).
There is one more project that Katie and I are working on that can’t be revealed at this time. It is super secret.
Katie has been cooking some amazing meals recently and I do believe I should poke her to share some of our favorites on the site. Especially the baked chimichanga’s. I think I have fallen in love with those. Speaking of food, I think it’s time to go eat dinner. . .a new recipe from Katie this evening.
*Katie really isn’t an environmental freak. In fact, she is the complete opposite.
Another year of memories!
December 6th, 2009So once again, we have invited all of our family and friends to our blog and get caught up on what has transpired over the past year. This past year has been full of first’s for Katie and Chase. First and foremost, we wish you a wonderful holiday season.
As I mentioned last year, we spent last Christmas in Breckenridge, CO with Katie’s side of the family. It was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed a very white Christmas. Katie didn’t break any bones this time around. But we did have fun skiing, tubing, snowboarding, making snow angels, and just enjoying the company. You can see the pictures by clicking the image below.
Home Sweet Home!
August 1st, 2009Well we moved into our house July 14. We’re getting there unpacking. A few boxes of magazines that need to be put away (the bookcase will be here from Ikea via Mom O tomorrow). Some winter clothes to be packed into a storage bucket and out of their cardboard box. Then we’ll be finished unpacking. We decided to refinish the old furniture for the spare bedroom so we’ve sanded it all down, followed by primer. Some of the pieces have their final coats of paint done, the rest are in their first coats of primer. Hopefully, I’ll get the second coat primer and the first coat of paint on today. Then we still need to finish setting up the office. Nothing has been hung on the walls yet in our office. So we still need to hang shelves for my microbes, bulletin boards, diplomas, etc. In the meantime I finished fixing our curtains so they fit our windows better. Why waste the time trying to find fabric, cutting them straight, then sewing them if I can buy cheap ones for $15 and just slightly alter them?
Mom and Dad O are coming down tomorrow to help with the landscaping. I am so clueless about what to put where and what needs how much sun. All I know is those stupid bushes that are in front of the house are tiny now but will grow huge and they put them way too close to the house. Therefore, they will be moving to a side or the back. Flowers will replace them in the front. And eventually we’ll put a tree in the corner of the lot up closer to the stop sign. The wooded edge in the back will be cleaned up and given a nice line and left wooded. I’d rather not have to go through the work of cleaning it out. And sometime in the next month we’re planning on getting sod and an irrigation system put in.
On a side note, I had to renew my license this year so I waited until after the move to fill our the renewal application. The new ones are so much different than the old ones. The dates and signature are raised on both sides. There’s a picture on the front and then a picture in a clear window. Luckily since I just got my picture taken last year when I changed names they used that picture!



