Weekend Update

Ok, so anyone who has been paying attention to our housing situation knows that our house is a fixer-upper. This weekend, we decided to buy the major pieces to put our front bathroom together. I put down new linoleum and installed the new toilet last week, so technically it was usable, but there was no vanity, sink, or bathtub. So Friday night, Kelsea and I went to Lowe's to look at vanities, sinks, tubs, showers, and other things. We were lucky enough to find a new vanity on clearance for $165, which saved us $250 (or more) on the spot. Unfortunately, it had drawers in different places and wasn't as wide as the prior vanity, so I had to move pipes and patch in another piece of linoleum. Then I had to put up the drywall and start patching it. I'm not so good at extensive drywall work, mostly from lack of experience, but Kelsea had called her mom to help out. She spent about 3 hours sanding and re-applying joint compound on Saturday. It looks way better than I ever would have gotten it. I was pretty beat, but my father-in-law was kind of bummed to be just standing around, so we started on the tub. Unfortunately, we didn't get the right drain pipes, so we couldn't put it in, but we got close. I just have to find the right size pipes, or the right kit, then it will slide into place, and get hammered to the studs. As it stands right now, there is a vanity full of tools and a tub standing on its end in our bathroom. Hopefully by next Monday everything will be installed and operational.

The scariest day of the year

This is about Halloween, not politics.

On Halloween, we went to a trunk or treat at the church. Despite the fact that our ward had been discontinued the week before, most of the Hazelcrest Ward was there. Well, a lot anyway. Holly dressed up as a princess, Mia dressed up as a flapper, Kelsea wore the wings and halo she bought for Mia and was an angel, and I went as a zombie. I realize that my makeup was not very well done, but it was last minute, and pretty good for the amount of time it took me.


Holly and Mia got excited about scaring people. They like to yell "boo," and hear the appropriate response: "AAAA!" Mia did this to Kelsea when she woke up grumpy from a nap on Sunday. I do it if they come looking for me. To them, it is just as fun to be scared as it is to scare. Go figure. They got lots of candy, and I love that they don't claim it. We just call it the Halloween candy, and we let them have some pretty often, as long as they ate dinner or lunch, but they don't throw fits about needing more, or claim that it's theirs. Which is really pretty great.


Finally, Kelsea modified Mia's costume especially for her. My mom bought a few clearance costumes (as is her custom shortly before or after Halloween and other major holidays), and one was an adult Flapper costume. Mia was excited about it and wore it around for a while, even though it was about a foot too long for her. So Kelsea decided to alter it to her size, and she did a great job!

Business

Two weeks ago, I went to South Carolina for a deposition. The travel time was about 9 times longer than the deposition. Honestly. But I took advantage of the opportunity to see new places, and was able to wander around downtown Charleston for an hour or so and see the Atlantic Ocean. I don't want this to be a long post, but a picture or two makes it nicer, right?

The Charleston airport was tiny. I think there were ten gates total. My layovers in Charlotte, NC were kind of crazy, since that is a major hub, and lots of people were there for connecting flights. I did get to see a colonial church or two, one with a humorous sign in the graveyard. And by the way, since when have graveyards been the entire grounds of the church? Seriously, to walk into the catholic church in downtown Charleston, you have to walk past graves, headstones, even those above ground monuments that look like stone caskets. If it hadn't been a bright sunny day, it would have been really creepy. It was only slightly creepy.

Otherwise, I got to see two movies new to me. On the way, I saw Get Smart, and on the way home, I saw Cinderella Man. They both made the flight much more enjoyable. As an added bonus, they were even slightly edited for viewing by general audiences on the airplane. I probably wouldn't have ever seen Cinderella Man, because Kelsea wouldn't want to see it, but I liked it. Not very violent for a movie about a boxer, and much more emotional than I expected, as it is set in the Great Depression. Get Smart was about as good as I expected it to be: entertaining on a superficial level, slightly raunchy only once or twice, and Steve Carrell played Maxwell Smart pretty well. I got a lot more familiar with airplanes on my trip and will be happy to not fly again for a while. $2 for a water, and airport security is so annoying.