So here are some shots of the bathroom to show what we did to it. First the bathroom as of our move in:Pretty bad right? Here's a shot once we started to work on it. Took out the sink, toilet and all the wall stuff. Then we had to hang a new piece of drywall on the ceiling. PITA. Took out all the flooring, another PITA. Here's bare floor and patched walls:

Next thing we did was paint, which helped immensely but was another PITA. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. The old paint reacted with the primer and bubbled, so we had to scrape and sand at least 4 times. Horrible.

After the paint was up, the floor went in. Neither of us had installed a tile floor before, so it was a lot of trial and error. This is what it looked like with all tiles in place but no grout yet. Amazingly it didn't really take us that long to tile.

From there we finished the grout and baseboards, which was a little challenging, then put the toilet back in. We found a really nice vanity on sale at Depot, so that went in as well as a new light fixture. Throw in a towel ring and you've got yourself a bathroom.

Its pretty small, so its hard to get a good shot that I'm not it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out though. And now we've learned another new skill in tiling. Horray us.

Christmas is over. Man was it crazy. In keeping with the alternating tradition, this year Ejdo and I were Christmassing in Pittsburgh with my family. A change in tradition however, my mom was not hosting Christmas dinner. I had mixed feelings on this, but I understand why we did it.

Drove up on the morning of the 24th. Got in around 1-ish. I, of course, forgot something, so we all schlepped out to the mall. Yep, we went to the mall on Christmas Eve. But it wasn't that bad and we were back home around 3:30 or so. At 5:30 we went to my OCD aunt & uncle's house for dinner. That OCD applies to both....they're perfect for each other. Nice lasagna dinner, Ejdo and I ate with the old folks upstairs. Good stuff.

Opened gifts that night because Dad had mass at 7 the next morning. Ejdo and I got a new TV for each other this year, so we asked mostly for money. But we still got a few other items. A great one was a framed watercolor of Burress Hall by P. Buckley Moss from Fran & Bob. Its already hung in the living room.

Other highlights include a new watchband, Yaktrax Pro so we don't fall like idiots next time we camp in the ice, and a great glass necklace. Good stuff.

Christmas day we went to my uncle's house to spend time with my dad's family. They're more formal, so we were dressed up drinking nice wine and eating fancy cheese and shrimp before a brunch of quiche and ham. It was all very good. Left with lots of money for the TV.

Following that, we went home and changed, then went to my cousin's house for dinner with my mom's family. Much less formal. We wore jeans and sweaters and were the nicest dressed people there. Two uncles were in sweats and we spent most of the evening watching House and watching the over-sugared children run around. It was exhausting.

Friday it rained almost the whole day. We got out to Hartwood to walk the dogs in the morning. Sawyer played at the dog park and had a blast. Sammy and Lucy were hell on wheels as usual. In the afternoon we went to see Marley and Me. It was very good, but bring Kleenex. I cried, but I expected to. Even saw Ejdo shed a few. Sawyer is working his way into his heart. After that we went to Quaker Steak and Lube for wings. Ejdo had been wanting to go there forever, so we finally got out. The dry rub salt and vinegar wings were awesome!

Saturday was gorgeous. Went running in the morning with Sawyer and Dad. Mom took Sammy and Lucy for a walk and Ejdo worked out in the basement. Some exercise for everyone. Then we went to the Zoo....another thing Ejdo has been hearing about but we hadn't done. It was great. Beautiful day. Lots of people, but it wasn't bad walking around. The new polar bear exhibit was pretty cool and we got some neat shots of the sand tiger sharks swimming over us.

Sunday is was back home. We left around 8:30 and just kept going once we got home. It was time to get stuff ready for New Years Eve and the Orange Bowl. Not sure how good an idea it was to have parties on two consecutive nights, but it will be fun. We're frying a turkey for New Years, so my grocery list is pretty long. We also had to re-do the stereo system for the new TV, get stuff for the newly completed bathroom (sorry no pics yet, just got the camera back), and do all the laundry from being out of town.

Crazyness. Hope you all had a good holiday! More pics once I get home and upload from the camera.

Back from a weekend in Michigan. Boy it was an adventure.

We left early Friday morning. Met Stephanie and Jason at the kennel where we left the dogs. A quick trip over to the airport and we were on our way. First leg was from Dulles to O'hare. No issues there. Once at O'hare we got a bite to eat then made our way to the gate. South Bend- boarding. Great. Its a small commuter, so we have to get our boarding passes scanned, then go down a flight of stairs, out onto the tarmac and walk to the plane. We get to the plane, drop off our carryons and are about to get on when the luggage guy says "Hey, this plane is going to Wichita, not South Bend!" So we gather our stuff and go back to the terminal. Oh, did I mention it was 14 degrees out?

Our flight boarded 30 min later. Tried to go visit Katie at ND, but had some navigational issues and not a lot of time, so that didn't work out.

Went to the DANK for dinner on Friday. Fried fish and polka, what could be better? Stayed there till 9:30 ish, then went back to drink in the hotel.

Saturday was with the fam. Nothing too exciting. If I ever get the photos, there are probably some good ones from the party. Spent the night drinking in the hotel again. Two 750mls killed in 2 days among basically 4 people.

Sunday was a blur of air travel. South Bend departed late, so we got into O'hare 15 min before our flight was boarding. We had to run to the gate, basically from one end of the airport to the other. It sucked. But we made it. Home around 4:15. Got the dogs at 4:45.

Home to do laundry and watch the Steelers pull out a win in the last minutes. Hey, a win is a win.

All in all, not a bad weekend. And now Ejdo owes me big.

Thanksgiving wrap up:

Things were good. Ejdo fried a turkey, which was awesome. I don't know many food items that don't immediately improve once fried. And the skin off a fried turkey is a thing of beauty. Looks a little darker than a traditional baked turkey, but tastes SOOOO much better. Yum.

We had some good family time. The 'rents came down on Wednesday after almost getting stuck at their place in WV. Why anyone builds a "retirement" place in WV is beyond me. You've spent your life in the snow of Pgh, so you'll retire to the snow of WV? Huh?

Anyway, we had the typical Thanksgiving day on Thursday. Lots of cooking and prepping. We drank a lot at dinner (J-dawg's coffee was particurarly strong this year) and had a great time talking and laughing.

Friday we went for a hike at Fountainhead. Took the dogs. Sammy and Lucy don't get walked enough, so it was good for them to get out. Lucy sounds like she's going to die all the time, but she's getting better. Friday night we had chili with the Harrison gang. At least most of them. Cathy wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. But Bob makes a mean chili. I was impressed.

Saturday we went down to the lake. Watched the Hokies beat BooVA, then went to Lake Anna Winery for some tasting and purchasing. Good stuff.

The 'rents left early Sunday. And by early I mean EARLY. And because of that, we didn't get a chance to sweep their car and left a charger, wool hat, gloves, and our camera in it. Bummer. But we'll see them again soon enough I suppose.

As for now I'm fighting off a cold (and failing as of today) and we're travelling to Michigan this weekend. Yes, thats right, Michigan. In December. No one is very excited about it either. It will be cold and there will be lots of family. Recipe for disaster. But thats life.

More to come from that adventure I'm sure.