Why yes, those tulips are blue! That was in our bathroom tub wall until sometime last Friday. Five days later, we are almost done with our first home improvement project (sorry, painting walls doesn't count)! To our defense, the bathroom really needed a change. Grout was falling out from between tiles, the blue & white linoleum is yellowed, and the sink is pink. See the amazing 3-day transformation of our bathtub wall in our photo album (link on the right sidebar). For more on our harrowing Holiday weekend, read tomorrow's Blog, "Plumber Antics." 

Just when I thought it would never end

The rain is a funny thing here.
On a mostly sunny day, you can get rained on if the wind gusts hard enough.
When the sky is blue above you, and you see rain and a rainbow over there, you still might get rained on.
This may happen at your house: it's raining in the back yard but not in the front.
It's not all bad though. Sometimes when the weather people call for a 100% chance of rain, it doesn't always rain all day. The moral: always bring your rain coat.

So now after 7 months of mostly regular rain and some funny rain, it's been sunny and hot outside (75-85 degrees) for 3 whole days. Our plants need watering, people at the grocery store are complaining, non-exercisers decide to go outside for a midday jog (in their cargo shorts, black socks, and totally destroyed Keds), and the pink mold has begun disappearing from our lawn.
I reflect on our time in Mississippi, and reassure myself that

this is nothing. These people have no idea what hot is.

Suckers.
Anne

This is Gatsby! 

Hey all. Just thought I'd take the spotlight away from Anne for a second. Here is my new project. What you see here is a Cascade hop vine. I planted it about 3 weeks ago and now it has trained itself to climb up the twine. Hopefully this summer it will grow to about 10 feet and yeild some yummy hops to add to my homebrew. Bugs got to it early (as you can see on the lower leaves) but after a spray down, they are looking strong. I'll be putting new shots of my "baby" as it grows. Could I ever have done this in Mississippi? I love Portland... 

Anne's New Job

All right, don't get any ideas now! Next week I'll begin teaching a Baby Boot Camp (BBC) class (http://www.babybootcamp.com/) at a couple parks in the east Portland area, specifically Grant Park and Laurelhurst Park (http://www.portlandparks.org/Parks/Parks.htm). If you haven't visited the link, BBC is basically a walking/jogging & muscular strength training outdoor class for parents, and babies under 2 years are welcome to tag along. The babies just smile, babble, fuss, or sleep. The parents (okay, they're all moms) work out and chat. It works for everyone!
My job is to lead them through a 75-minute course, sprinkling in a few muscular training stations. I'll let you know how it goes...
A

This is it! (Mat not included).

EBay Post

Hi Guys, This is my first (sell worthy) yoga mat tote bag! If you follow this link you'll see how its doing on EBay. I hope this is the first of many successful yoga mat tote bag creations.  

Sunshine 

After almost seven year in captivity, the great cats Bosco & Gatsby experience life in the great outdoors (Backyard) featuring catnip plants & sunshine. 

Hello again. Just a little FYI. We have added a photo album link to the right (note the date). We'll be keeping all of our new pics under that link. Hopefully they will be changing on a regular basis. We found that publishing pictures like this is way easier than how we were doing it before (with our old web page). Enjoy!

There are my first plants: vinca vine, Fuschia, and some Hosta (from the front yard). So far its been shady all week, but that's because its been raining all week! I'm pretty sure when the sun comes out it'll still be shaded by the tree, fence, and compost bins.
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See, new plates! We're Oregonians now - no lyin'! Our Plates are good for 2 years, and our licenses for 8. We'll be nearly 40 when we have to renew them. That means you'll be...
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Get Outside Yourself!

Its definitely Monday. Its raining, we're sleepy. The weekend was pretty okay. As soon as the sprinkling stops, I'm going outside to finish what I started - in the garden. I'm cultivating a shade garden (I'll attach a pic later when there's something besides dirt) with Hostas, vinca vine, fuchia, and whatever else is labled to grow in shade. The rest of the yard contains previously planted growth, a few scattered seeds, and a new Cascade Hop plant, Paul's baby. We've designated a special plot for his eventual multiple hops (because they can get pretty wild & tall), invested in Bug Repellant and Miracle Grow to protect them and make them strong. Currently, they're growing about an inch per day. The homebrew will be good!
Anyway, it's still Monday. Buh-bye now.
A

Just posting for a profile pic
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