is this thing on?

You guys, the Colorado Stoess clan is on the cusp of a breakthrough. If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to finish unpacking this weekend. Glory be.  The carpet in the basement is supposed to be installed today and the couch for the basement is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Woot! We've had boxes stashed everywhere throughout the upstairs and our attached garage has been out of commission on account of the stuff we crammed in there in a disorderly fashion so I’m very excited; although I’m already feeling a little weary at the thought of unpacking and organizing. Brian is my hero and has been working diligently on the basement painting/prep and I’m pretty excited to have it be a space we can actually utilize instead of it just resembling a couple of solitary confinement prison cells. I've also been putting off exercising until I can do it in the basement. For some reason my brain decided it’s better to jump around on carpeted concrete than cr

I finally snagged some pictures of the living and dining room when they were somewhat clean. We also hung up the pictures a couple weeks ago so it finally feels more finished. Don’t be fooled though, we still need to put in baseboards and some things have already changed since I took these pictures. Living Room Dining Room I think it was a couple months ago that Brian and I were talking in our master bathroom about what we want to do with it. Why does it need discussing? Because that bathroom and I do NOT get along. Reason #1: The toilet and vanity were built for someone at least 7 feet tall. I have to stand on my tippy-toes to wash my face and brush my teeth and, at the risk of giving you too much of a mental picture, my legs dangle freely when I use the toilet and they brush the bowl, which I find cold and disgusting. This project is bigger than we want to take on right now because I’m pretty sure if we change those pieces, I want new tile as well. I will just

I'm learning that whenever my dad calls me and we don't have anything planned, I know it's bad news. I received one such call this morning when he called to let me know that my uncle died unexpectedly in his sleep last night.  This uncle was my mom's only brother and the last remaining part of her immediate family. He was not much older than my mom and has followed the developing Washer tradition of dying unexpectedly young, creating layers of tragedy and disbelief for me and more so for my mom and my aunt. My mom has shared that you're never too old to feel exempt from the reality of being an orphan. I've found myself searching for and clinging to old memories while the sobering reality that our time on this earth is limited sinks in anew. Rest in peace, Uncle Keith.  http://lanailens.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/sm018-1-2.jpg

And we’re back! Well, we got back over a week ago but I’ve been busy. Or lazy. Or both. I had a wonderful time at my 10 year college reunion. I practically lost my voice from talking so much and I laughed so hard, my head was throbbing most of the weekend. It was totally worth the pain. It’s always very encouraging (and refreshing) to realize you have such good friends. The kind you can get together with after so long and not have awkward “so, what have you been up to?” moments. I really do miss college relationships and I love Whitworth so much. If it wasn’t in Spokane, I would totally want to work there. No offense, Spokane. I’ve always had a weird relationship with that town. I don’t hate it but I just can’t live there. I guess it’s an “it’s not you, it’s me” kind of situation. Lauren, Alicia, Me, Heather, Jedi Heather, Lauren, Me, & Alicia Alicia"s camera shutter kept sticking so we went with it. And, I feel I need to pay homage to the good ol&

~I wrote this 9/23/13 and then I slacked off and didn’t post it. Pretend it’s Sept 23; that was a Monday, to help you set the stage.~ The house is coming along, slowly but surely. I haven’t been taking pictures because we’ve been working on all the little stuff that you probably won’t notice, but that needs to be done. You know, like painting the 6 th coat of white on the trim around doors and windows. BOOOOOOORRRING. This is the part of house projects that I hate. I like a lot of bang for my work and when we get to the minute details I lose interest. That’s when Brian steps in, ignores my whining, and tells me to do one more coat.* *If he even lets me help at all. He’s learned that the result of me not being interested in the details is that I get careless in my work (i.e. I stop paying attention and end up missing spots or I accidentally color outside the lines). We had our first real ‘company’ this past weekend! It was a pleasure to have friends come visit and it a

We have internet now! And what did we learn?  We learned that older homes can have some funky wiring. We also learned that older homes have too many spiders. That’s not related to the internet, except that the internet enables me to purchase one of these: Not only did we get our internet set up, I also found the camera so as you can see, we've had a productive Tuesday. As I mentioned in my last post, we spent the holiday weekend camping outside of Crested Butte (where we resisted the urge to buy a t-shirt that said, “I like big buttes and I cannot lie”). I know y’all have pretty places where you live but I just have to say that Colorado is my favorite. Our campground was surrounded by glorious peaks, Crested Butte is insane, and if you drive toward Schofield Pass, you’ll see mountains beyond mountains beyond mountains. Do you want to know the worst part? We didn't find our camera until today. Um, we’re not there anymore. Face palm. We did

We’ve moved!   Well, mostly. Last year, moving into the loft was a traumatic experience for me and I did not enjoy it. Maybe it was the combination of moving all of our stuff on a busy street, up too many stairs, to an open loft where there was stuff piled everywhere and there was nowhere to get away from it all. This time, I was pleasantly surprised and the moving experience was 100 times better. I highly recommend moving only 4 blocks away, having your parents help, and hiring a nice, young man fresh out of college who majored in music and needs money. He was a lifesaver. More specifically, he saved my life and did all my heavy lifting. {Uh oh, I think I’m about to get long-winded…} I read something this past year about figuring out what your ‘thing’ is. I wish I could remember where I read it so I could do it more justice but I’ll do my best (it might have been about how introverts tend to have a 'thing'). Your ‘thing’ is the element in your life you are