The House – Paintin’

When we bought our new house, there were some changes that mar and I knew we wanted/needed to do. Much of that was painting of rooms. Some of them we just wanted to paint. Some of them we needed to paint (because the colors just didn't go with anything we had). But – we figured we could do it a little bit at a time. That was the plan.

The reality was that our children wanted to help, and so the time frame moved very quickly. Three days after we moved in, Erica came for a visit. Because I was working and mar was in school, Erica needed something to do, so she primed the walls on two bedrooms. They were in the "wanted" to change category, mainly because they were both dark blue, and different shades of blue. So over the next week, we got those two rooms done.

That was two projects done in quick time.

Another day, Brea and Ben were not working, but I was and mar was at school, so Brea and Ben came over and painted the office, mainly because it was a dark green, and it didn't match any of our stuff.

That was three projects done in quick time.

And this last weekend, they all decided a "painting party" was in order, so Mat and his family, and Erica and her family, and Brea and her family (that would be Ben), descended on the house. In one day we painted the living room walls (one wall is about 20 feet tall) because it just didn't match anything we had, and the laundry room because it was dark rust orange – and we want to put up some cabinets in there, and some of the walls in the kitchen that were just a different color from the rest of the walls.

So that is six projects done in quick time.

My family is wonderful. Notice that none of those projects were just Lar and Mar doing them. We had great help. (And I am sure that if Michael and Andrea and families were closer, they would have helped, too – if not, they wouldn't have gotten to eat any pizza.)

(I really wanted to take before/after pictures of all of the projects in the new house. Alas, not all of them were done – but I do have some – and I may post them – someday – keep checking.)

The House – It is workin’

So I figured it is time to post about our new house. Yes we moved. Yes it is still in Longmont. Yes it is still in our same ward. No, I can no longer walk to work, but I can drive there faster than I could walk from the last home. Now those important questions are answered.

Many people ask, "So now that all of the kids are gone, are you downsizing?" Well, no not really. It is a bigger house. That gives us more potential. In the old house, when all of our family got together, they could not all be in one area. There just wasn't room. That was a requirement as we were looking into new houses, that there was an open floor plan with room for everyone. Now his new house has that. In fact we have had a couple of occasions so far where it has become apparent that it is working. We have been able to have a lot of people over and they all fit. The kids have room to play. The adults have room to talk. And there is room to escape, like when babies need a nap. So no we did not downsize, but we did upgrade.

With that said, here are some features which Mar and I particularly like:

Office/den in the gathering area – very nice.
Island in the kitchen – nice.
Hardwood floors in the basement – very nice – made possible by piled construction, which was made necessary by the soil condition.
Walk in closets – in three bedroom – very, very nice.
Vanity in master bath – nice – because Mar can sit down to do makeup.
Covered patio – very nice – it just expands the summer living space – and it is covered by a -
Walk out patio from the master bedroom – nice.
Treehouse/Playhouse – nice – the grandkids already love it.
Kitchenette in the basement – nice.
Three car garage – nice – but right now it is just a three car storage area.
Big built in storage room in the basement – very nice – organized, yes it is already almost organized.
Gas fireplace – nice – we didn't realize how nice, until we used it.
Wired for sound – nice – and Rich, our family electronics wizard helped us get that set up.
Formal dining room – okay – we don't have formal dining room furniture.
Doorbell – wow – we never had one of those before.

Yes, there are some drawbacks, or things we just don't know about yet. But we are liking it.
(There may be pictures to follow – check back to see.)

Event

Turkey Trot – 2010

 November 13, 2010

It was a beautiful day about three weeks ago when I sent out an innocent e-mail – "Does anybody want to run the Longmont Turkey Trot with me – Nov. 13 – 2 miles." Last year when I sent this e-mail, no one did, and so I was able to just "blow it off". This year, everybody did, so . . .

On Saturday morning, we all piled into a couple of cars and went to run the race. The participants were – Mat's family (Mat, Andi, Andrew and Mylie – Wyatt stayed home with Nana), Erica's family – Erica and Rich – Alice and Evy stayed home with Nana), Brea's family – Ben (Brea had to work – but she did come over later in the day), and Me (Mar stayed home with the wee ones). Mat's family and Erica's family came Friday night. Ben came over Saturday morning. I got home from Phoenix Friday night. So we were all ready.

The number one obstacle – it was supposed to be cold. After all, it is mid-November in Colorado. We all bundled up pretty well. By race time, 9:15, it had warmed up to about 40 degrees, so we started peeling off gloves and hats pretty soon after we began.

I feel fortunate in these kind of races. Fortunate that Mat always runs with Andrew and Andi always runs with Mylie. I figure both Mat and Andi could beat me. But because of their partnerships, well I have them behind me. Erica and Rich both say they are not there to "run fast", but just to run. Okay, I have them beat. Now Ben is a different matter. I set two goals. One was to run two miles in less that 18 minutes. The other was to beat Ben.

Goal one – I ran it in 17:51. I call that respectable. Goal two – Ben let me cross in front of him. He ran with e the whole time, but I feel certain that he could have left me in a cloud of dust at the end. My problem is that when I run in a crowd, I have a hard time pacing myself, so I go too fast at the beginning, and then it is a challenge at the end. Anyway, Ben let me cross first.

We had a good time. We spent 1 ½ hour doing a good thing as a family. It was warm enough to not need hot chocolate at the end.

And I am sure that if Michael's family and Andrea's family had been here, they would have run also. If not, they wouldn't have gotten any pizza (of course I would have had a hard time beating some of the Dawson's.)

Official Results:

I had an official time of 17:51 – which is what I expected.

I came in 4^th in my category – out of 9 – and the best was 11:02 (I hate that person).

I came in 140^th in the race – out of 650. Because of Ben's magnanimous nature, he was 141 st.

Results can be viewed at: http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1897523

Travels with Lar

November 7 – 12

Tempe, AZ

This trip was not technically for me to teach a class. I am learning a new class for a new technology – however, I still taught 2 days of the class. It is a long story as to why I taught. Suffice it to say that on those two days I had the technical knowledge to teach what they needed to know. Anyway, it was held in the Mentor Graphics – Tempe office – a nice office in close proximity to the airport.

I was there for five nights. The first night was after a Sunday flight in. It was an uneventful flight. I got there and just went to the motel and rested.

Monday night was for watching football – after spending a lot of time talking to the Mentor team that was responsible for the training. In reality, it was too late to do anything but watch football by the time we were done.

Tuesday night I went to the Mesa Temple for a session.

Wednesday Night was another long evening with the Mentor people, so I just sort of crashed in the evening.

Thursday I went to visit Ed and Sandy and really enjoyed watching the video of Sandy's production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I am not just being kind when I say it was fantastic. Well, in fact it won first place in the fall competition, meaning they get to perform two more times in a couple of weeks. Jonathan was the lead and did an outstanding job. It was a fun evening (which I don't say on very many of my trips – evenings generally are not very fun).

And then on Friday evening I flew home. It was an uneventful trip and I actually slept through most of it. I am getting better at sleeping on planes.

It was a successful trip – and it has lead to another Tempe trip coming in a few weeks.

I took a few pictures, but there was nothing spectacular. I like the fact that the greenery – or should I say the botany of the area is so different and actually more diverse than at home.

Reading List

November 9, Tuesday

Others by James Herbert

This is a genre that has some "private eye" associated with it. It also has some morbid associated with, and some terror and some fantasy (but not really much of that). XXXXXXX has been described as being heavily influenced by Stephen King – but it really wasn't the same kind of weird – not saying it wasn't weird – it was just different. So as a synopsis – private investigator – he has a case looking for a missing child – that leads him into a strange world of clairvoyance and ghost images and really bizarre happenings. There are some scenes that are a little bit – no a lot bit – gross (I wouldn't recommend it to my mother – or my children's mother). And in the end – well I figured out how it was going to end – but not exactly – but close enough to count. If you decide to read it, pay real close attention to the first chapter.

Oh, and it is not cliché. The private investigator does real private investigator work, like serving summons, watching vacant buildings for vagrants, following husbands. It is not glamorous stuff. Which I guess is good because the private investigator is not glamorous – in fact he is a hunch back with other deformities with one eye that has been put out. So he also isn't a lady killer PI. It is a different scenario which leads to some different types of scenes.

So – evaluation from the Larry point of view. I liked it, but the "gross" scenes (and a little bit of language) can be a real turn off. I would never tell someone they "have to read this book". But it is readable, and even compelling towards the end. It is not great, but it could be good, but I won't recommend it to anyone.

I picked it up in the Mentor "trading library" at work because I was leaving for a trip and needed something to read. I always worry about that, just because you never know what you are going to get that might be offensive, or gross or crude. No it is not on the 501 Must Read list – absolutely not. And it would NEVER be on a Relief Society Book Club list.