Before and After

Before I get into what I really want you to see...let me just say my golf game today was not as good as yesterday, it was frustrating and I'm glad it's over. That's about all I can say.
Now, on to more fun stuff. We closed on our first house on March 31 2009 and moved in during May of '09. When we looked at the house, I must say, there were a number of things that needed some work. I wasn't a big fan of the kitchen, but it was big and had potential. The people had really let the landscaping go, so it wasn't anything to look at. Not to mention the fact when we looked at it, the owners were still living in the house and if they were not hoarders, I don't know who is. When the realtor said they were taking all of the appliances with them...he meant it...every single thing from the kitchen was taken, even the dishwasher! I remember when I first walked into the house after we got the keys...the owners had kindly left egg shells in the sink along with food that had been in the sink so long that it was engrained in the fibers of steel. By this time, my dad was already on his way out to help us get it fixed up to move in and I remember calling my mom saying "I really wish your were here to help me clean up the kitchen!" Some things mom's just do better...like knowing the best cleaner to use and exactly the best way to tear out and put new shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets, I could go on and on. Well, she ended up coming out a week or so later and was a HUGE help! I can't even begin to say how thankful Jimmy and I are for their help getting our house ready to move into. So, without further ado...here are some before and after photos:

The Kitchen Before:


The Kitchen After:


I would have to say the kitchen was, by far, the biggest transformation inside the house, however the removal of the popcorn ceiling and a new paint color were not far behind!

And here are a few more pics of the odds and ends of fixing up the house...




And finally, since Jimmy has recently been working so hard on the backyard, here is that transformation:













Jimmy and I can't thank our parent's enough for their love and support through our first home buying experience, we couldn't have done it with out you all!!!

Since the last post.......instead of flying back to Indy next Monday, I'm flying back on Friday!! After talking to mom and talking it over with Jimmy, I changed the date so that I could get back in time to go to a horse show this weekend. I'm super excited and can't wait to get back!!

That was just yesterday (monday) that that all took place. This morning, I had to focus on the fact that I was playing in a golf tournament today and tomorrow, so I tried to get in the right mind set. Jimmy left for work well before I had to leave, so I had some quiet time this morning to get focused!

If you have ever played sports...you know that there are certain things that need to get done in an effort to be prepared. I think golfers and those that show horses take this statement to the next level! For example....I was not hungry at all this morning, but I forced myself to fix some breakfast (turkey sausage and eggs). I put the turkey sausage on the stove to brown, in the mean time I thought that I would go out get my golf bag ready for the tournament. That couldn't take long, right? I just had to clean some stuff out of my bag, make sure I have enough golf balls, etc. So, I start opening pockets of my bag and realizing that I haven't cleaned it out in a while...I came across a deposit slip from my bank, a rules sheet from the last tournament I played in, a couple empty packets of Crystal Light On The Go, a number of empty golf ball packages and a piece of cheese. Yes. A piece of cheese...apparently I had stuck it in there for a snack a while back and never got around to eating it. Kind of gross.

Then I realize I don't have enough new golf balls to use, so I get rid of the old one's and stock up with all new. Well, I have to mark them appropriately...every golfer has a very specific identifying mark on their golf ball. It may be just a dot in a specific color, a line, a circle, nickname, design, their initials, or any of the above. As I was finishing this, one thing came to my mind after about 15 minutes........I still had the sausage on the stove!! OOOPS. Needless to say, because I got carried away in my pre-tournament idiosyncrasies....I had really burnt sausage and eggs for breakfast. Hey, I needed my protein.

At the end of the day, it all paid off because I finished the day with a 73 - one over par. I'm tied for 10th out of about 40 golfers. Tomorrow is another day and my only goal is to better my score. That's all I can do...I have no control over what anyone else does. One thing, after all these years of competitive golf, that I have learned about myself, is that I MUST stay un-emotional on the golf course. I know this is one reason the Asians are so good on the LPGA Tour. If you watch them play, the show no emotion....their highs are not very high and their lows are not low...they just keep trudging along and battling it out. I make a very concerted effort to do this nowadays...if I can keep my emotions in check, I'm going to do o.k. If ONLY I would have known this during my college years, just think of what I could have done!
On other news, Jimmy has put a tremendous effort into our yard and I can't wait to do a 'before and after' of our house in an upcoming post. The challenge now is that I have to find (on the computer) the pictures that we took when we first bought the house. I have pictures everywhere!
And something else, totally not relating to anything, but it reminds me that summer is here...I bought Bing Cherries today at the grocery store. So good!
I could eat the entire bag...but won't because my stomach would hate me!
I'll have to post an update tomorrow with the tournament results, but for now, I should go take Tux before it gets too dark outside. The temp. is getting into the 100's we have to wait until almost dark to take him for a walk. Hello June.

The first day of a month long vacation does not need to be spent cleaning or doing laundry or going to the store or trying to get caught up on things that you have neglected during the work week. No way. Today, I spent the morning relaxing with Jimmy, having coffee and fixing breakfast. Oh! And of course I had to watch the beginning of the Indy 500. It came on T.V. at 10 am. We watched Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" and listened to them say "Gentlemen Start Your Engines!!!" All the while telling Jimmy that we must go to that one year just to feel what it's like to be at the greatest spectacle in racing. I'm not sure if it was because Jimmy made the coffee really strong or just because I had started my summer vacation, but I was itching to do something....just get out of town for a few hours and see something different. I would have LOVED for Jimmy and I to be able to take a trip to the beach, but since he had to work that was out of the question. So, shortly after Jimmy left for work at 10:30, I loaded up Tux and the camera and made an hour long trek to Idyllwild. It's a quaint little mountain town about an hour away with tons of parks and hiking trails.

Don't worry, I totally had my eyes on the road and one hand on the steering wheel....I just held the camera up and randomly clicked just to see what kind of pictures I would get. I didn't think about it until being half way up the mountain...but thankfully Tux doesn't get car sick, even on the extremely windy roads.

The road that leads to Idyllwild is called Palms to Pines Highway - as you can see from the pictures it is properly named. You start out in the heat of the Desert and drive and hour up the mountain until you reach Pine trees and 70 degree temps. I passed sooooo many horse farms, but it amazed me that there was still no pasture. The horses are just turned out on dirt lots.

Being that it was a holiday weekend, the town was busy with people wanting to get out and visit all the shops, restaurants and festivities that the town was offering. It would have been so fun to walk around the town and visit some of the little stores, but being that I had Tux with me instead of Jimmy, I just drove through town and headed for some hiking trails.

By the way, I had a rock take this picture of me. Aka - I set the camera on a rock and used the timer. Not too bad for a rock.
Tux and I went on a fairly easy hike, nothing too strenuous except when I went off the beaten path to get down to the little waterfall and stream that was running through the forest. I just had to get down there, don't ask me why, but when I hear water gushing, I want to see what's going on. We made it there and back without a hitch. Tux was a trooper.

We left after a while and it's amazing how much faster the trip is when you're heading down a mountain instead of up. I definitely had to use the break more than the gas. I stopped at a place called Vista Point as I was winding my way back into the desert and snapped some good shots of the Desert from above..and had some random guy take my picture...

As was the start to my month long summer break, no cleaning, no laundry, no work...just a little get-away to the mountains. As for the rest of the week, I think it's going to fly by. I'm actually going in for a couple lessons tomorrow...it's the last day that I can teach before I'm officially not an employee of the club. Also, I'm going to get some practice in because I'm playing in a tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jimmy's last day of work is on Friday, so we'll have the weekend together I'm flying out for Indy a week from tomorrow!! I'll be sure to post as the week goes on!