Spring is here!

Well I think Spring is finally here.  It's raining, and the snow is mostly gone.  The grass is still that ugly shade of green-brown with some road sand mixed in for something different.  Yuck.  

I went for a walk yesterday with the dogs.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and the empty field next to the house was begging to be explored.  I left with the dogs, who were excited to get out of the yard.  Sniper was jumping all over me, and Penny actually got up from her spot by the door.  That's excited for the big one. 

They took off across the field, smelling everything they could and generally ignoring me.  I tried to get them to look at me, which if the neighbor had been home would have been slightly embarrassing.  

I might have been talking to the dogs the entire time.  Might have been, but then I also have been trying not to sink in the snow.  Sometimes I get too excited for Spring, and I forget that snow is cold.  I end up wearing not-so-weather-appropriate clothes and shoes for what I'm doing, and I end up doing something like this:

Stupid.  Yeah, that snow is now large ice crystals instead of snowflakes.  Ice hurts when it scrapes your legs. Whoops.  It reminded me of walking on a giant snow-cone.  

The dogs were really interested in ignoring me and finding imaginary rabbits and woodchucks.  I swear they didn't even know I was there even when I was standing right next to them.  

She's frustrating when she's ignoring me.  Penny!  Look at me!  I promise I won't take your picture since you clearly hate it.  She's slightly passive-aggressive.

Sniper, on the other hand, is just crazy.  I think she got stuck under this tree for a while, so I took pictures instead of trying to help her.  Whatever, she knocked me over when I opened the gate to let her out that morning.  

I didn't know there was a sand dune next door until yesterday, and we've been working on the house since November.  That sand was a pain to walk across.  I'm not very coordinated normally, but put me on sand and I can barely walk upright.   

The dogs didn't even seem to notice.  They just found some more snow to run across and eat.  

It's a giant doggie snow-cone!  They seemed to enjoy eating the snow I was trying (and failing) to not sink into.

We got back to the house and I found this in the yard:

It's a leftover from the previous owners, and it was whole when we moved in.  Sniper found it and is slowly demolishing it.  She also found a two-liter bottle of RC Cola.  Usually we give her empty bottles to play with and destroy, so she saw this one in the snow and decided it was hers.  (Note to my mom: don't put things in the snow if you don't want Sniper to eat them)  She discovered the joys of carbonated beverages.  

It's no surprise she was hyper when I came over.  That bottle was mostly full that morning!

Penny just ignores that silly little dog's antics.  Clearly Penny is much more mature and intelligent than that little dog.  Or she's just lazy.  You decide.

Happy Spring!

-Erika

P.S.  This is what happens when you use a saw in your brand-new kitchen.  It throws pieces of wood into the ceiling.

Weekend Recap

First off, felix ides martius comites! (Happy Ides of March everyone, for those who aren't awesome nerds.)  This weekend was super busy.  My grandparents came home, my brother came back for Spring Break, my mom got the counter tops installed, I went to the Science Museum of Minnesota, and I figured out what was wrong with my car (a weird battery cable, nothing major.)

Friday morning, Grandma and I picked up Grandpa's truck.  He was working on my car.  She suggested we go pick it up so I could go to work (I wasn't so keen on that idea, but whatever).  He said he would go get it when he was done.  Not five minutes later, he comes back inside and says, "You guys want to go get the truck?  I think that's a good idea."  This is the world I live in.  This is why Grandma always looks somewhat exasperated.  

We stopped by mom's new house and checked out her new counter tops.  They're pretty.  Roger was there too.  He was installing the tile.  I'm getting excited to move in!  Oh yeah, mom likes to wear flannel.  

Roger put the tops on the cupboards, too.  I like it.  They're backlit!

Spencer came home and immediately started spoiling the dogs.  She's sweet for about five minutes when he's here.  And gross, but that never changes.

This was probably two minutes later when Spencer decided to shake things up a bit.  He was clearly not ready for the consequences. 

She didn't stop with Spencer.  Poor, innocent Penny was her next target.

Luckily Penny can hold her own.

I went to St. Paul on Sunday to visit my old roommate.  We went to the Science Museum, because I wanted to see the mummy exhibit and listen to Harrison Ford's narration (I think he was channeling Indiana Jones).  In college, Minda and I lived on the same floor and our RA gave us all dinosaur names.  Mine was Erikatrodon (yeah, try to pronounce that mess).  Hers was Mindatops.  

It's a Mindatops!

We went to dinner and got margaritas that had far too much salt on them.  We were still very happy with them.  Yea!

Happy almost-Spring!

-Erika

P.S. This was another highlight of the weekend.  Surly Brewing Co. Furious Beer.  It's fabulous and makes cooking dinner that much more fun.  

Mom's kitchen remodel, Part I

This is my mother.  She's remodeling the kitchen in her new house before she moves.  I might move back in with her, but I would miss my grandparents' stories.

This is Penny.  She sits by the door and looks sad that she can't come inside.  There are nails and other sharp things on the floor.  And she smells.  Sorry, pup.

When my mom first started thinking about this remodel, she wanted simple lines and warm colors, and she didn't want to get new cabinetry if she could help it.  She couldn't help it.

The new cabinetry is simply gorgeous.  The wood is cherry with a natural finish, so it's not too red.  Red would be bad in this kitchen.  She has a teal island.  

See?  Teal.  I like it a lot.  There is no counter yet, but she has ordered it.  I'll show you guys when it's installed.  Until then, check out the pot-rack light thingy!

The guy in the background is the contractor.  Ignore him.  I'm still wondering why mom got a pot-rack light fixture, because her pots are lime green and would look out of place on the ceiling.  I'm sure she has a plan for it though.

The kitchen has pillars.  Fantastic pillars that have been giving the contractor some issues.  They're ornery pillars, but I like them.  I'm going to enjoy putting things on that little ledge just to annoy my mom.  It's what I do.

We're laying flooring this weekend.  Ok, I'm not going to be there to help.  I would get in the way and swear a lot.  I'm going to take pictures of the labor force and laugh at them while they swear a lot.

Sometimes my mom finds things like this:

I don't remember where she was going to put this, but I'm sure it will look wonderfully eccentric and out of place.  She likes things like that.  Sometimes I shake my head in confusion, and sometimes I understand.  This is definitely a shakes-head-in-confusion instance.  I still love her, though.  She's my mom.