Pipe Burst Repairs…

I know, people are saying, didn’t that whole pipe burst thing happen many months ago? Well, yes, it did. But after getting everything settled with the insurance company, and then getting it settled again after getting a repair quote, I was finally itching to get some work done on it tonite.

My accomplishments:

1. Remove drywall between joists in effected area (10ft x 16in)
2. Remove old (and now slightly modly) insulation
3. Place new pipe insulators on the pipes to prevent this from happening again.
4. Place two overlapping layers of insulation
5. Staple it all down.

Pretty much, the only thing left to do is to remove some popcorn around the hole. Replace drywall, then mud it , sand it, and replace/blend popcorn.

Not so much to look at...

I would like to thank Josh Fry who gave me the awesome “Laser” Saw that was used to cut into my delicate cieling. I am sure that the cieling felt nothing Josh.

Trip to Denver

Greg and I have been working hard around the house lately.  I have been posting regular updates on our garden on my other blog.  Its been lots of very hard work excavating the rocks in our back yard to prepare the beds for planting.  Plus, the winter leaves its mark on the lawn, so just getting it back to looking well-groomed for the Spring takes lots of work.  So between that and our stressful and busy  jobs, we were more than due for a little vacation.  I proposed just taking some time off to do some hard-core Spring cleaning and gardening, and Greg countered with the offer of driving to Denver to see some friends.  Guess whose idea we liked better?

We left Thursday morning and stayed until Sunday.  In that time we ate at some wonderful and quirky restaurants, did some shopping, saw a movie, watched some basketball, and visited with some of our closest friends.  We also got to stay in some really nice hotels.  G did the Priceline thing and got us an awesome deal for our first two nights to stay downtown at a super swank hotel.  We could pretty easily get used to that kind of treatment!  We also loved being in downtown Denver because (and I didn’t know this before) its very vibrant and fun.  Lots to do and see.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures.  Any time I started to pull out my camera G gave me a dirty look because for some reason he hates having his photo taken.  But I did convince him to take one photo at our hotel in front of the fancy waterfall!

Relaxed and Happy!

We enjoyed watching KU kick some butt over the weekend, there are lots of KU fans in Denver!

Well, it was a short trip, and we’re happy to be home safe and sound (and out of the car).  The kitties are being a bit clingy now, but we’re not complaining!

New Blog for Becky

In the interest of keeping this blog more about Greg and my life, and less about my hours of experimentation in the kitchen, I have started a new blog.  I am always thinking…I want to blog about this recipe or that dinner I had, or this yummy dessert.  But then I stop myself, because for some reason, I just don’t see it fitting in with the theme here.  So now I get to post all of the crazy domestic-related stuff that I do to keep myself entertained and  mentally healthy.

So I am now Doctor Domestic (sounds rather super-hero like, no?) and will blog about anything domestic, especially food related, starting from growing food in our garden, to preparing and preserving the food in our kitchen.  I’ll post recipes I invent, recipes I find from other foodie bloggers that I love and recipes from my stacks of cooking magazines and cookbooks.  Successes and failures, beautiful and trash-worthy, they will all have their moment of glory.  So please check it out if you’re into that kind of stuff!

And a totally random P.S. – I find it a bit funny that the WordPress dictionary flags “blog” and “blogger” as mis-spelled.  I’m just sayin’…

Birthday Party with the Fam-in-Law

Birthday Girl

This picture was taken by Morgan, with some help from Grampa Fuzzy…and by help, I mean that he didn’t let her drop my camera on the floor.  As I mentioned my first b-day post, the birthday weekend fun continued on Sunday evening with a wonderful party generously thrown by my in-laws.  My sweet niece and nephew got wind that it was my birthday on Valentine’s day, and, never wanting to allow the opportunity for cake slip past them, insisted on throwing me a party.  Well, I couldn’t disappoint the little tykes!  I can’t let a home-made b-day/v-day cake go to waste!

Am I getting to old for this?

The highlight of the evening was of course spending time with my little monkeys (as my sis-in-law calls them):

Covered in Smith kids!!!

And of course, the big boys were having fun too:

My mature husband

My equally mature brother-in-law

I loved it.  The dinner was good, the cake was good and the company was excellent.

Happy Girls

Parents’ Weekend

I’ve been falling down on the blogging once again.  Truly, I feel bad posting mundane stuff about our lives, so I try to wait until we do something noteable…this seems to happen very infrequently!  Last weekend we had a very nice visit from my mom and dad.  They came out to spend some time with us (I assume) and to attend a concert at the Lied Center.  The weather cooperated and we got to spend some time outside walking around downtown Lawrence as well as taking the Princess (the most loveable dog, Lucy) on a nice long walk around our neighborhood.

I also had a nostalgic trip down memory lane.  My parents were eager (and quite gleeful) to bring out boxes of my old stuff from their house.  Apparently, they have been awaiting the day when I have a basement of my own to store all this stuff, and the time has come.  I spent hours looking through boxes of old yearbooks, photos, music trophies and art projects.  I had forgotten how much time I spent as a child writing little books.  They are hilarious and I must do a separate post for them later.  From the age of 7-11, I wrote books progressing from hand-written stories on the back side of scratch paper all they way to a book which I hand bound complete with a laminated dust jacket and a blurb of my exciting 11-year old self (yes, with a photograph of myself).  They are hilarious.  It makes me wonder why I stopped writing stories!  I clearly enjoyed it and I find myself thinking all the time how I wish I could write stories.  Anyway, it was very fun to reminisce!

The Princess, wrapped up in Phil's blanket

Lucy made herself quite at home, taking over Phil’s blanket and his favorite love seat.  The cats were exhiled to our bedroom for the duration of the weekend.  No, we didn’t lock them in there, but they quickly realized that it was in their best interest to steer clear of the little wiener dog!

On Saturday night, Greg and I hit the town, or the KU campus actually, for a fancy party in celebration of Charles Darwin.  G works with the KU Natural History Museum and Darwin is kind of a big deal there Its an excuse for everyone to put on their formal wear and party it up.

All dressed up

Then on Sunday, we had a nice day staring with blueberry pancakes for breakfast, followed by a long (and only slightly wandering) walk around our neighborhood.  After a short afternoon siesta, it was back to the kitchen to make dinner before the concert.  I made my first successful roast chicken with smashed sweet potatoes on the side.  The chicken was tasty and cooked through (although there were slight doubts initially) – but I continue to stink at meat carving.  By the time the chicken was carved, it looked rather hacked and mangled…but its the taste that matters, right?

Roast Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

We have another fun weekend coming up.  My birthday is on Saturday and we have dinner and a concert lined up.  I also hear that a small family celebration may be in the works, spear-headed by little Morgan who is always up for a birthday party.  I’ll try to stay on the ball with the camera so I can share the good times with everyone!

A Post for Morgan

Morgan and her Aunt But-ty

This morning I received a call from my 2 year old niece Morgan, after I was texted to ensure that I was awake of course!  Apparently she and my sis-in-law had been looking at our little blog and she had the hankering to speak with her aunt Becky, or aunt But-ty as it is pronounced by the 2-year old.  And in all honesty, it was the most coherent conversation I have had with any of our niece/nephews.  And she is the youngest by years!  I think it just goes to show that girls are born to talk on the phone!  Well, maybe not, but I think its pretty indisputable that we are the better communicators!  Anyway, it really really brightened my day – So I promised Morgan that I would put some more pictures up today, it has been a couple weeks since I’ve posted afterall.

And since I usually give an update of our lives, I will say this – its been a very stressful week (for me more than G) but I think things are looking up.  The worst feeling is being out of control of your situation, and once you have a plan, its much more easy to be optimistic!  I may post something less cryptic later, but I’ll leave you all guessing for now!

And just for Morgan, here are some more pictures!  Many of these are from Christmas, or the days shortly thereafter.

This one is where Kari (Morgan’s mama) put Mogan’s tutu on the dog.  It was inevitable really.

Dance monkey, DANCE!!!

And here are Morgans mommy and daddy being silly on New Year’s eve.  Mike seems to have turned into a wine-snob at some point in the evening.

Mike and Kari on New Year's Eve

Here are some more “traditional” blog photos, such as Greg getting punched in the face by Phil:

Phil delivering the knock-out punch.

And here’s Phil keeping our laundry safe from predators.  I have finally learned my lesson to put the Phil-colored shirts on top!

Phil, the Laundry Protector

New Year’s Day 2009

Lounging on the couch with the Soph-ster

Everyone needs at least one day a year of doing absolutely NOTHING.  So we just got ours over with on the first day of the year!  I seriously did nothing.  Greg was at least building a computer.  I, meanwhile, was providing Sophie a warm place to snooze.

She was such a snuggle-bug all day!

The holidays were so crazy busy this year.  We didn’t go anywhere, but we had so many people over and we prepared so many “nice” meals.  I am SO OVER BAKING!  Sorry Greg, no cookies for a month!  I’ll be up for another batch of sugar cookies around Valentine’s Day.

Even Phil was being lazy.  Here he is checking out some cute kittens on YouTube.

Phil catching up on his YouTube videos.

OK, its off to the gym for me today.  So many cookies, cakes and other confections to work off!

What a Year!!

G & B New Year's 2008-2009

So all may not have been right with the world in 2008.  War, economic issues, scandals – lots of challenges.  But for me and Greg, it was one helluva year!  In case anyone missed the series of posts I did on “Major Life Changes”, here’s a quick run down:

• In January, G started a great new job at KU.  He has been enjoying the challenges that have come with it, as well as the bump in salary!
• In March, I earned my PhD from The University of Arizona in Cancer Biology.  It was a long and challenging road, but it seems like a life-time ago now!  I’m so glad I did it, and don’t think I could ever do it again!

The celebration following my defense.

• In April, I moved back from Tucson to Lawrence, and our long-distance relationship of 5 years finally became a more “normal” relationship.  Such a relief!
• In May I started my new job as a post-doc at KU.
• Also in May, Greg and I bought our beautiful house.  It hasn’t been without its trials and tribulations, but overall, we love our house and are thankful that we are fortunate enough to have a beautiful house of our own.

Our House

• In July, we adopted our wonderful kitty Phil.  He has integrated into our little family so well and we just love him!

What a love these two share!

• In October, we got MARRIED!!!  What a joyful and wonderful day it was.  Of course nothing goes off completely without a flaw, but I remember our day as perfect!

Just Married!

So while we know 2009 doesn’t have a prayer of being as exciting and eventful for us as 2008 was, I certainly hope it is less stressful!  Here’s to a peaceful and happy 2009!

Holiday Fun

Greg Rocking Out

You saw it here first people…Greg finally gave in to playing Guitar Hero!  My brothers and sisters-in-law were over yesterday to celebrate Christmas.  Lots of fun, lots of food and some serious rocking out!

We also spent time this weekend creating a really nice collage on our wall of our beautiful wedding photos:

My handy-man

A Study in Narcissism

I know, it seems totally narcissistic to have THIS many photos of ourselves, but the photos are really gorgeous and well-done (thanks to K) and they remind us of our fabulous wedding!  Plus, it was quite cheap to do since we printed the photos ourselves and bought inexpensive frames.  Plus, as Greg points out, living apart for 5 years, we got very used to having LOTS of pictures of each other around our homes.  When you never get to see your loved ones, you need lots of photos around!

Phil Pillow

Greg is tuckered out from all of the holiday fun.  We have the day “off” today (no one is coming over), and yet another Christmas get-together tomorrow.  Not that I’m complaining, I really love visiting family.  I think I missed it so much when I lived in Tucson that I just can’t get enough of it now!  So I’m trying my hand at brining and roasting a whole turkey, a first for me.  I’ll have to let everyone know how it goes!

Vegas Vacation

Greg in front of the Fountains at Bellagio

We are fresh back from our trip to Las Vegas.  Are we glad that we went to celebrate our friends’ wedding?  Of course.  Are we glad to have had the “Vegas experience” so we don’t feel like we’re missing anything?  Uh, sure.  Will we be voluntarily returning to Las Vegas?  Not at all likely.  It certainly is a unique experience, but just not up our ally.  Why you ask?  Well, I will indulge your curiosity with a compilation of our grievances, in bullet point format, because that’s how I roll.  Oh, and I will also list the things we liked, although it will be a shorter list, centered mainly around food.

Why we were hating on Vegas:

• Our hotel.  The Excaliubur.  If you have ever been to Las Vegas and have seen or been into the Excalibur, you need not read further to know why we hated it so hard.  From the outside, it looks like a ridiculous real-life rendering of a Disney animated movie set, complete with fake castle spires done up in primary colors.  Walking in only makes it worse.  The smell of desperation and cigarette smoke was almost unbareable.  After making our way through a mile of slot machines to the registration desk, Greg and I both said almost simultaneously (true story)- “is it bad that I’m hating this already?”  We are so alike its scary.  Well, our room was no better, although the stench of cigarette smoke was replaced with the slightly more comforting smell of a strong disinfectant.  Needless to say, we spent VERY LITTLE time in our hotel.
• The onslaught of advertising.  It is absolutely everywhere.  It is what my worst idea of the future looks like.  Everywhere your eye turns, there is something flashing and moving and screaming at you to buy something.  And I didn’t want to buy any part of it.
• 6am fireworks.  Seriously.  To kick off the Las Vegas marathon (the same day as our friends’ wedding), they had a 15 minute big-scale fireworks display.  Did I mention it was 6 am and we thought that it was either a freak thunderstorm or perhaps a terrorist attack?  Luckily, Greg could not sleep at all, so he happened to be awake and somewhat aware of our surroundings when the random fireworks were set off.
• Our 4am airport shuttle pick-up this morning.  Waking up at 3:30 am should be against the law.   And we are clearly to old to power through the night and just stay up for it.  4 hours of sleep is better than none in my universe.

This is where we wished we were staying.

OK, enough with the complaining.  Here are some things we liked.

• My friend Erin insisted that if we do nothing else, we must go to see the Fountains at the Bellagio.  Thank you Erin, they were beautiful!

The Fountains at Bellagio

• After the fountains, we officially began our weekend of gluttony at the restaurant Olives at the Bellagio.  It was delish.  We also had wonderful food at Rumjungle (after the wedding) and The Chocolate Swan (pure dessert heaven).  The food everywhere was beyond tasty, and it was about to push us beyond the limits of our pants.
• While we’re discussing food, cast your eyes upon this little slice of heaven that could only happen in Vegas:

A buffet plate I'm mildly ashamed of.

We enjoyed the brunch at The Mandalay Bay.  It was crazy.  The plate I got     on my (sorry, can’t admit) n’th trip to the buffet consisted of (from top of plate in clockwise order):  Breaded shrimp, pancake with pecan syrup, french toast, bacon, pork pot-sticker and mashed potatoes and gravy.  I could not resist photographing this masterpiece both because of its unique Vegas buffet beauty, and because joking about it made me feel less bad about eating it (which I did, and I liked it).  We stayed at the buffet a long time, because it takes a long time to eat $24 worth of buffet food, in my opinion.

• I also enjoyed our Spa day at the Mandalay Bay.  It was relaxing and awesome and I want to be there everyday for at least 2 hours.

So all in all, we are glad to have gone because weddings are always awesome…but we are happy as hell to get to sleep in our own house with our own cats in our own bed.  Home sweet home.