Legs of Steel

This blog has had so many pictures of airplanes lately, and certainly not enough of my adorable nephew. I shall remedy that now!

I got to see a cute boy yesterday. Evan was a little tempermental until he got his nap. Afterwards, he was his usual smiles and handsomeness. As we were wandering around looking at things, he began randomly keeping his legs up in the air. It looked rather funny and was an adorable surprise! I love the look on his face, seemingly saying, "Yeah, my legs are up in the air. So what?" He is so matter-of-fact and can be such a serious baby. I also think his chubby fat rolls on the entire surface of his legs are just too cute for words. Why isn't that cute when we grow up?

Life Lessons

Many times throughout the day, I am reminded of the inherent goodness in people. I had an experience yesterday that brought it back, yet again, how people can positively respond to how they are treated. I first noticed this concept back in elementary school with the Lunch Ladies. I knew they had been slaving away in those hair nets and orthopedic Velcro shoes since early that morning to prepare my meal for me. I always made an effort to make eye contact with a smile to thank them for their hard work. My tummy appreciated them, too. It always made me feel better seeing their faces light up because gratitude was spoken. My life probably would be easier if I was oblivious to other people, but I find great joy in noticing them and focusing in their goodness. Can I can blame my sugar addiction on these sweet ladies from my childhood since they would sometimes slip me an extra cookie or chocolate milk at the end of the cafeteria line?

As for my reminding interaction yesterday, I always try to be really nice to people. It doesn't matter if they are complete strangers in line at the grocery store (yes, I'm one of those annoying people who will strike up random conversation), or someone I work with on a regular basis. Such was the case with my mechanic yesterday when we went to pick up My Baby from a little bit more maintenance. Frank is new to the area and transferred here from another Hawker Beechcraft Service Center. Frank is the one to sign off all the logbooks after work has been completed, so his role is rather critical in our operation. He was wonderful and polite, and we enjoyed some conversation last week when I met him for the first time. I casually mentioned how my maintenance logbooks carrying case was about to give out. Guess what was on my seat yesterday when I arrived to pick up my airplane? I was so pleasantly surprised by his thoughtfulness and overwhelmed with gratitude. I felt like I had been handed a chocolate chip cookie at the end of the line, only better because of less calories. From endless personal experiments, I have noticed that people are nice to you if you are nice to them. And it sure is fun to get some luggage out of it from time to time.

Tour de Casa

(You can click on the picture above for a larger image...don't hurt your eyeballs!) I hope I'm not jinxing our house by posting about it prior to us closing. We do that this Thursday, if all continues to go well. I had no idea buying a house required such luck with timing! I hope all goes smoothly and we are able to get the keys this week. It will be hard to leave that place once we own it. We won't move in until later this month, which will give me some time to do some projects before we move all of our things in to get in the way.

With the anti-jinx in mind, I thought it would be fun to post a floor plan of the house that I made in my photo-editing software (Nerd Alert!) the day we looked at the house. We actually saw the house the day it was listed and made an offer that evening. Did I mention I love the place? I do.

You enter the house after standing on a nice porch. I already have some changes in mind for that area, like changing the old brass fixtures for some brushed nickel beauties. I may or may not have made a checklist of things I want to do on the entire house yesterday...again, NERD ALERT! I'm hoping that by writing it down, my brain won't keep going a million miles an hour at night thinking of all I want to accomplish! Anyway...once through the door, you are standing in a large living room that will house a sectional sofa that we will be babysitting for my sister (thanks, T'liese!). I have lots of plans for this room as well, including a feature wall with two arm chairs against it to chit-chat. Maybe a big, ol' mirror leaning against the wall behind them to bounce the light from the window? I don't sleep any more because of the endless scenarios going through my head. You can get to the kitchen two ways around a wall, and one direction takes you past the HUGE laundry room. It is definitely a three-cartwheel room with a pantry, room for our new washer and dryer, and a cabinet with the perfect folding station on top. Keep going towards the kitchen and you run into some dated oak cabinets (my first big task before we move in is to gel-stain them with a darker finish. I am hoping they turn out espresso-colored). We bought hardware for the cabinets after trying them out in the stores. I found them on Amazon for half the price the store wanted! Little things like that in life make me so happy.

Once in the kitchen you have a view of the Great Room. It isn't huge, but it will hold a larger dining table so we can host more parties (my one true desire in life is to host parties). We will also have a reading/library nook at the far end of the room near the fireplace. There is a door in this room that leads outside to the huge patio, where we will also get an outdoor dining set to host more of the aforementioned parties. From the patio, you have a view of the backyard and the pool. That's right...a pool. That frightens me to death because I don't know the first thing about taking care of a pool. I'm from Utah, for Pete's sake! But practically everyone in Arizona has one, so how hard can it be! Luckily, the pool has a fence around it, so we are able to completely ignore it if we want. We have lots of plans for the backyard and may even tear everything up and start from scratch. It needs a lot of TLC, but John and I have lots to give. We are fans of manual labor, after all.

If back in the living room, you can take a right down the hallway of bedrooms. There are FOUR in this house, which means we can easily start a family in this place (no, I'm not pregnant, but thanks for the chuckle). Our master suite has a great walk-in closet and a bathroom with a large shower. Just what every girl wants in life (in addition to throwing entertaining parties). The other three bedrooms will be outfitted for our life right now, since we don't have any kids (that we know of). An office, a theater for John's entertainment system, and a guest bedroom for all of those out-of-towners who MUST come visit (you heard me, Susan!).

It will be a fun journey to decorate and furnish this place. And no doubt, I will learn a great deal of patience since it probably won't be finished in the first week. I am so tickled to begin this next phase of our lives. Just as a warning about the future...there is a good chance this blog will house photographic proof of the progress we are making on our new home. You've been warned and are free to complain. But we all might enjoy it from time to time, too.