Pining for the Fjords

Hi everybody! I think we've finally figured out what paint colors and wallpaper patterns we're going to use in the house. We're planning on wallpapering one wall in each room listed below, so we have sort of an accent... Here's the paint color for the "common areas" in the house - the living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. - it's the color in the middle of the swatch - "Belgian Waffle" - man, I love paint names: We're planning on wallpapering one wall of the dining room in the print below: Here's the color for the master bedroom and bathroom - again, the middle color on the swatch - "Pale Moss Green:" Wallpaper for one wall of the master bedroom (we're not sure the following two wallpapers completely match the paint swatch, but oh well): Wallpaper as an accent for the master bathroom: Paint color for the bedroom and bathroom downstairs - the middle color on the swatch - Firefly fans, be sure to check the name - how cou

Good news! We just heard from the people at Meritage Homes (our builder) that we should be meeting them to get the keys to the new house on Friday, September 17th! Here are a few pictures from our visit last weekend: Look! We have drywall! I'm standing in the pantry... and Chris trying out the toilet "cubbie" in our Master bathroom. Chris visited the house this week, and apparently, we now have stucco on the outside as well! Sweet!

Okay, as you guys may or may not know, I'm not a huge American Idol fan. Chris normally insists we watch the audition weeks, so we can laugh at the freakshows, but we stop watching when the actual contestants start performing (we figure if anything noteworthy happens, we'll learn about it on The Soup ). Well, I do love to continue staying up-to-date on the happenings of all the various reality shows, whether I watch them or not, so when I heard about all this Idol dust up, I had to read more about it. So, last season was Simon's last, which everyone knew about, then Kara was fired, then Ellen quit; Randy is staying put for now. The two new Idol judges are now Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith). Holy moly! Think they'll get into slap fights over who is prettier? ** Update ** It seems that the Idol lineup is not quite confirmed, so the folks listed above may not actually be judges. But, c'mon, doesn't the idea of a J.Lo. vs S.Ty. girl fight crack y

The new house is coming along quite swimmingly, I do say. The last time I visited was during the 4th of July weekend, and it looked like this: Two weeks later, Chris visited, and now it looks like this: Holy crap! It's almost a real live house! Well, maybe not "live" as in the sense of being alive. Then it would be like in the movie Monster House , and life would be very odd. And scary. That movie was for kids? Really? Anywhoodle, the "finish" date is still forecast for mid to late September, but that could be adjusted once the drywall goes up. We'll keep you posted!

In case any of you don't know, I'm training to run the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in October. Doing well enough to finish in 6 hours for me involves "hill training," which is a very complicated process that only serious runner types like myself can fully appreciate. It involves picking a hill, then running up and down it. A lot. Generally, you do this until you pass out or have to shower and go to work - whichever comes first. This morning was hill training day for me, and since Casa Grande Mountain is only about 5 minutes away from our house, I drove over there as I have many times before, parked, and started up a nearby incline. I jogged about 300 meters up the hill, jogged back down to the car, mopped up some sweat with a towel, took a sip of water, tried to convince myself this was a good idea, then headed back up the hill. Later, rinse, repeat six times. On my fourth downhill, I noticed a pickup truck parked next to my car; this was not entirely o

Yesterday was Chris' first day of work at W. L. Gore and Associates as a Process Engineer for their Medical Devices Division. As you can see from the picture, he's been perfecting his Engineer look since graduation; I'm sure he was happy to try it out for the first time with the other real life Engineers. From all reports, everything went well; he filled out the requisite 8,000 government forms you do when you start a new job, and the cavity search wasn't too invasive - always a good thing. Hooray for employment (although I do miss my House Husband - man, those are fantastic. Everyone should have one)!

Hey folks! I suppose this was going to happen eventually, so here we go! I hope to keep you all entertained and informed as to the events currently happening in the life of the Olsen family, or at least the two human and three canine Olsens currently living in our house. No promises as to the quantity or quality of posting, as there is a very good chance this whole venture could be abandoned tomorrow - it's entirely possible. Enjoy!