Red-Room: not ready.... EarthSkate!

Not much going on this last week. The red room seems to be taking a little longer than expected- I'm not holding out on pictures just for the suspense. We put on two coats, but I guess it needs three or four. Jason can attest, he spent the weekend visiting (and camouflaging in the Red Rum). Unfortunately, the weather was pretty rainy and we couldn't go camping. Thanks again to him for driving through "winter weather conditions" just to hang out with us.

Last week also entailed going to the DMV and passing my CA driving license written exam (only missed one question). Today I applied for my library card, so I can sit by the mailbox for the rest of the week waiting for both.

Yesterday was an interesting day: Happy Birthday to my brother Kendall! Welcome to the world Laura Claire Tauzell! And we experienced our first California earthquake. At 4:19 am we awoke to the bed shaking... (insert joke here, but keep the comments clean) It was only 5.4 on the Richter, but reminded us that we live on moving tectonic plates...

Floor Masters

The weekend turned out to be very productive. Friday night CD picked up some wooden laminate flooring from Piersons Building Center (home of the big hammer!) It turns out the flooring has to acclimatize for 48 hrs before installation; that meant we had to wait until Sunday to start our dining area flooring adventure. Although we originally were going to go to the beach on Saturday, the weather wasn't as cooperative as they predicted, so we bought some paint for the office aka the guest bedroom. CD chose red. It still needs a second coat before it can be revealed to the world (read: pics soon).

Sunday we got really excited about the flooring. The project promised some ingenuity and use of power tools. Don't forget the golden rule: measure twice, cut once! We began by cutting back the vinyl and figuring out how to put the boards together. Although I thought that CD would pretty much do it by himself, we soon realized that he needed my help in snapping the boards together and holding them while he cut them with the circular saw. Safety first: put on your goggles! The project was a breeze and the results fantastic! We were really proud of ourselves and are looking forward to doing some dining AND dancing in the old rockwall-lodge.

By any other name...

The week started out really well. Painting progressed on Monday. On Tuesday, my friend Dave was in town and we spent the day cruising around. We were really fortunate to have a sunny day (not warm enough) and spent some time walking the beach in Trinidad. We had a great dinner at Hurricane Kate's in old town Eureka and then headed to the movies. I finally got to see Pan's Labyrinth- it was visually stimulating, but far too violent for me. I think CD will agree that there were a lot of gruesome scenes.

I'm not quite sure what happened on Wednesday, but I had hoped to go and get my driver's license. The next available appointment they had was Thursday afternoon, so I spent the morning brushing up on "the rules of the road." In addition to getting a California DL I wanted to legally change my name. Apparently I didn't read the instructions well enough. First, I needed either a passport or my birth certificate to make sure that I was whom I claimed to be. That wasted a half hour since I had to return home to pick up these items. Then, they told me that if I hadn't changed my name with Social Security, they couldn't help me at all (even though earlier another employee told me it didn't matter as long as I did it the same day). The DMV really lives up to its reputation- I got the royal run around. By the time I got out of there, the Social Security office had closed for the day.

I went down there today and waited for 45 minutes (even though I had "selected an express item") before they could help me. I just felt terrible for all the other people that seemed planted there for the rest of the day. Also, I was told that I should wait 3 business days for things to go through and not waste my time going down to the DMV since I would be turned away. By CA law, I'm supposed to get a new license within the first 10 days that I reside here... who knew things would be so complicated... In short, no driver's license this week...

Check out my new kitchen cabinets: I'm going to cook some lunch...

Peter and the wolf visit

I've spent most of the past week working on the kitchen. It makes it very difficult to cook when you're surrounded by paint cans and everything is covered in drop cloths. It's starting to look much better. New pictures soon; in the meantime, here's the kitchen/dining area before:

Luckily the rock walls have been removed and brighter colors (as opposed to the ugly brown and blue) will cover the cupboards.

We have gotten quite a few painting tips from CD's friend Pete who has been visiting the last few days. He's a pro, but we didn't want to put him to work. He came to Northern California with hopes of camping, but the weather has been mostly rainy, so he stayed with us for 4 nights. Here's Peter and the wolf (blanket):

Becoming Californian

Well, I can't fight it for too long now...

Here's Shelby (the green turtle Prius- my new and first car!) getting her plates on

Next week: a new driver's license and library card.

Driving down to Eureka

Took off last Friday with Sarah during rush hour with a car full of my junk. Traffic wasn't too heavy, but it was slow getting to Tacoma. Oh, how I hate Fife! and its giant screen tvs!
Stopped to get some free coffee at a rest stop and proceeded onto Craig's.
The lights were out, but he was home. Robyn and Lindsey arrived after a few minutes.
Portland was great! Lindsey, Robyn, Sarah and I enjoyed a great meal at Vindalho- thanks again Linz!
Saturday was longer than expected. Arrived around 6pm to find my Wookie, but didn't unload the car until the next morning.

That night we headed to the Alibi and saw Benjamin Franklin Freeman play- they totally rocked! It was great to see those guys again. On Sunday, we bought a bunch of paint for the kitchen and work is progressing...