Everyone's Dream Spring Break Location....Day 2

What would take a normal person a few hours to do.......we took ALL day! The people at home depot and the videos on HGTV showed a person using a scoring knife to "score" the cement backerboard a couple of times and then you just "pop" it to make the cut. Well.....it looked and sounded easy but we must have been doing something REALLY wrong because it didn't work that easy for us. After spending several hours making a few simple cuts, we threw down whatever items we had in our hands and yelled really loud....ROAR!!!! (felt good!) Then we headed to Home Depot to purchase a Roto-Zip. Boy, that worked ALOT better. I would highly recommend cutting the board that way instead of the scoring tool...blug!

Bob would get so frustrated because he'd measure twice and cut once and the stinky thing still wouldn't fit right. I think he's off a bit on his cutting eye :)

Here's Bob Villa Jr.

After and ENTIRE day...this is all we got

Everyone's Dream Spring Break Location...Day 1

Whoa....this is the BEST spring break yet! Who needs Hawaii or the Bahamas?? The kids were soooo excited to give up their Disneyland vacation so they could lay tile floors!!!...NOT!! Ha!! Amanda's foot accident created a slight problem as far as the "fun" stuff goes....so we opted to stay home and get some much needed home repairs done. Bob still took the week off ....so, we've been hard at work. We thought we'd still give a day by day travel log of our adventures. Warning.... it's an "edge of your seat" thrill ride adventure!! Here's day 1...

The start...matted down and gross carpet in a high traffic area....path from garage the kitchen

Now this actually is a boy's dream...and their specialty! DESTROY

Turned out to be a little more work than just pulling up carpet. There was some chipboard that needed to come up too....took ALL day long because there were staples every inch or so....big long ones...ARGH!!

Hey....can't a guy have a little privacy? I hope it doesn't back flow :)

The HOPPING clean up crew. What a mess!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We sure did have a great "Saturday" celebrating Easter "Sunday". :) The 2 Oregonian Ordyna families came over to our house for some feasting and finding. I'm so glad that it was at my house because Saturday morning I finally thought...."Hey, I should get out my Easter decorations!" (well...actually....Bob should get out my Easter decorations - ha!) I can't believe what a waco I've been lately. Instead of things calming down because of Amanda's foot....things have doubled (maybe quadrupled). Well.....Get ready for a slew of pictures....it's the best way to describe how much fun we had. Here weee goooo!!!

We started off the afternoon all nice and calm (and beautiful)....these are the only 3 girls of the cousins up here.....they've got to stick together!

But then........LET THE GAMES BEGIN! I think that competiveness runs in our family...no recessive genes here! Get those eggs!!

We had to think of Toby's fun too!! After the eating and egg hunting, we headed up to the dog park. It is an experience everyone needs to experience. So....do you think Toby is having any fun? It even looks like he has a smile on his face. He is a riot to watch run around while a group of dogs chase after him. What a life!

Next, we went to the "Human" park (had to leave Toby in the van). Even the crippled got in on the fun. Amanda just can't sit and watch!

Try and knock Nathan off. I just thought this was a fun picture :)

Ummm.....Big Guy in a little toy. Oh, the ideas that are going through my head right now for this picture....for the sake of family relations....I'll restrain. :) Dan you're the best!

Now here's a dang cute couple!! Getting to be old geezers....well at least according to the kids.

SHORTEST LACROSSE SEASON EVER!!

Last night was Amanda's 1st high school lacrosse game…She was soooo excited because she made varsity and was starting. It was raining pretty hard so I opted not to take the camera....so no pictures of the game....but....I was pleasantly surprised at how good she was. In the first half a girl fouled her and she felt a pop in the top part of her foot and then there was a lot of pain. Of course she continued to play….stinker. After the game she was limping a bit and told me her foot hurt. This morning she could hardly walk. It didn’t "look" like anything was wrong and she could move her toes and stuff. What do we do?? So, after much debate and a lot of saying, “hmmmm” Bob called the doctor and off we went. It ends up she severely injured/tore a ligament in the top of her foot. The doctor praised me for bringing her in because if she would have continued to use the foot, she would have had some permanent damage and would probably not be able to play sports or run much for the rest of her life…..Oh my goodness…that’s a little extreme!!! (But....I must say... I FINALLY felt so proud of myself for making the right decision to go to the doctor!! Usually I take my kids into the doctor and leave with a "you're an idiot, it's just a cold" look from the doctor.) Okay...back to Amanda....she got a hard cast, some crutches and a boot thingy to wear and is suppose to stay off of it for 3 weeks. After that, they’ll re-examine it and probably put a brace on it and she’ll go through some physical therapy. Can you EVEN believe it??? One good thing for me is that my schedule just significantly freed up....but...poor Amanda. She's always so active and happy. It's a really tragic bummer!!! (For the above picture, I had Amanda put on her uniform and gear because I NEVER got a picture of her playing....another bummer)

Did you know Amanda plays in the high school band???......Neither did WE!!!

Ohhhh....my daughter just cracks me up! Her highschool's boys basketball team was playing at Oregon State University for the state finals. She wanted to go and the school was organizing a rooter bus for students to ride on to the game. Well....none of her friends were going on the rooter bus, but, she had a ton of friends in the pep band. So, she convinced the band teacher (which happens to be one of her best friend's dad) to let her ride the band bus. When she showed up to load the bus, they handed her a band shirt and told her that if she wore it and was part of the band she'd get in free. Ha-ha....sneeky! When I picked her up later that night she was laughing her head off as she related to me the events of the night. I guess she actually DID play in the band. One of the drumline people wasn't there and so they handed Amanda a COW BELL and a drumstick. She sat there the entire night pounding the beat on a cow bell!! The classic was her laughing away as she told me...quote, "I felt like a freakin retard" Ha-ha-ha! I was laughing so hard in the car I could hardly see the road! She pounded so hard on that cow bell that she started to break the drumstick. She said chips of the drumstick started flying all over the place. Oh my goodness! I think I owe the band a big thank you!!

Undefeated!

Our B-ball superstar! Nate's team went undefeated for the season. We tried all season long to get "action" shots...but, even with our digital SLR, we couldn't figure out the right apature (how do you spell that anyway??) The point is...the "end of the season at home shot" is all that turned out. Poor Nate. As for me....well....I can't believe I'm getting my Tues. and Thurs. nights back again!! Wow!! What will I do now?....maybe watch American Idol?

Save us!! If you are breathing .....Your opinion is needed!

Here's the scoop....this fireplace has been a MAJOR eye-sore for me for 5 years now. No one else in the family is that bothered by it....so....I have been patiently awaiting my moment of pouncing so I can change it. The time has finally arrived!! HURRAY!! The only catch is that we have come to a complete stand-still on the design. I have been awaiting a revelation from Heaven but sadly have to admit that this is something not really important as far as my eternal salvation goes....although, I think it is. - ha! So I am begging, pleading, crying, begging and pleading again that anyone who is breathing at this moment will give their opinion....even if you are just a stalker scoping out blogs that you shouldn't be. Here's the "opinion needed" background......We are going to center the fireplace and have a mantle around it. We are going to put shelves/cupboards on both sides of the fireplace......OK....so, here's the hold up.....the top half. Should we

1. Leave the top as is...a large decoration holding shelf?
2. Lower the shelf a little and put a large plasma TV up there (we are probably the last family our age on earth that hasn't bought a large plasma yet.....so when we do....we're going to need an "entertainment" type place to put it....this could work????
3. Take the windows out and make the entire thing into a bookshelf type thing surrounding the fireplace with no TV up there.
4. Any other idea that I have not mentioned yet.

I know that you want to run away right now....I'd be turning of the computer real quick if I were you.....DON'T!! Neither Bob nor I have an opinion one way or another. If we stay at this state for much longer I will loose my opportunity....all that pouncing strategy for nothing - how sad. So, if you care about my life at all......let me know what you think...You can even disquise your name if you want.....put the joyful journey thought is from Ralph or Mildred. :)