A Couple More Pics of Jelly Bean

Isn't she cute?!?  And she is soooo tiny.  All of my pups are going to the vet tomorrow so I can report what she weights...but I don't think it could be more than 1.5 pounds right now. 

Jelly Bean

Look what I got for my Birthday!!!

My Mom surprised me with this adorable little 6 week old (now 7 weeks) puppy!  I named her Jelly Bean and I am in love!  More to come on little Jelly Belly but here are some pics for you guys!

Not So Silent Night 2010

For those of you that do not live in the Bay Area, every year a local radio station (Live 105) puts on a concert.  This year I went with my bestie Sandy and my manfriend Rob.  I wasn't as super excited to go as my counterparts...but I really enjoyed myself...and the fried foods and beer I consumed prior (and during) the show!  And like any show where Sandy buys the tickets...we had GREAT seats.

The line-up consisted of a local band I don't know the name of (who was pretty good), Broken Bells, The Black Keys, Phoenix, My Chemical Romance & The Smashing Pumpkins.  I didn't really know any of these bands well, but I found that when they started playing, I knew quite a few songs from every band!

The three of us started the evening by walking over to a local bar in San Jose called the Britannia Arms Pub.  It was a cute little place that is British themed, with cold beer, tasty deep fried foods and horrendous service!  But all in all we enjoyed ourselves...especially me!

Once we got to the venue we had some poor guy take some pictures of us after we attempted to do one ourselves...yeah...didn't quite work out!

but even with a third-party taking the photos...look how crazy Rob's eyes came out...it is like he has laser beams for eyes...so funny!

Anyways, we all had a blast and here are some shots of the show...enjoy!

Christmas Cards

So I got back my adorable Christmas card design from African gray...I love it!  While it doesn't quite capture the cuteness that is Miss Bunny B, I understand that really what could?!?

Have you guys ever seen Whitney's work before?  She has a great shop on Etsy and she is SOOOOOO talented!  I have wanted some custom illustrations from her for all of my furry four-legged friends for some time now, and when I saw that she does holiday card illustrations I knew this was the right time!

She sent me the file so that I can print them myself (I elected this option as I have a print shop set-up in my house) and so I can customize the insides for who I send them to...which was a perfect option for me.  So for $30 I got the cutest Christmas card design, plus I can print a large version out and have it framed...a nice piece that I can bring back out each December!

So it started with needing to send her some pics...both pics of the pups faces and their profiles so she could draw them accurately.  So I sent here these:

And then I got this...

Which was adorable...but Bunny's coloring was a little off (she looked gray and not the warm browns that she actually is) and her smile was crooked.  So Whitney made the corrections in a day and I got the final version...which I love!  What do you guys think?

Weezer!!!

I went to the Weezer concert on Monday night and it was AWESOME!!!  I saw them at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco and they played the Blue album in its entirety!  Actually, they played basically a greatest hits set, took a 20 or so minute break, then came back out and played the Blue Album!  The concert was amazing!  The Masonic center is a pretty small venue so everyones seats were amazing, plus Rivers came out and preformed songs from the crowd.  Here are some pics!

This is a shot of what the stage looked like from our seats.  We were in the ninth row on the balcony...just off stage center left.

This was the opening act...the Limousines.  They were pretty good. 

From the first half of the show...

Rivers coming up to the balcony and singing...

And preforming the Blue album...

 I hope you enjoy!!!

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

Have you guys ever seen this video?  I stumbled across it while reading the oh-so-funny design blog of Manhattan Nest.  It just might be the cutest thing I have ever seen!  The "my only regret in life is that I will never have a dog" line just kills me...so adorable.  I found myself actually connecting with Marcel and feeling bad for him...haha...what is wrong with me?  anyways, I have already watched this video like 4 times (and it is only noon) and I suspect I will continue to watch it for a long time...I hope you guys enjoy it!

Floors Update

So this will be my last floors update until my final post with pictures after they are all done, but I wanted to just share with you how the first day of sanding went.  Now I guess it is hard to tell from these photos (mostly taken in the dark with an iphone) but after the finish was sanded off them they are a really light ash colored...sorta like bleached wood.  They are actually really pretty.

 can you see the difference from the warm honey color that they were before sanding them?

And that lighter colored stuff that appears to be masking tape is actually a sandable wood filler.  This filler is around the base of the floors covering up the nail holes that remain from the tack strip that held down the carpets being removed.  You also can't really tell from the photos but that filler is actually all over the floor filling in the holes that remained after I pulled up all of those staples.

Now the reason you see so much filler here is that the boards were REALLY bad here in the hallway.  Not only was there a lot of staining, but the boards were starting to come apart and there were large gaps between the boards.  And this filler will really help keep the boards together, as well as make my home more energy efficient (since removing the carpets actually made my house less energy efficient).

And remember the really bad termite damage?

it is now all filled in:

(the landlord didn't want to pay to rip up the floor boards and replace them...so hopefully it will turn out ok!  Fingers crossed!!!  And as you can see from this picture...the molded was just at the surface (not throughout the whole board) and it was easily sanded off. 

Here is another board that had termite damage that has gotten the first round of wood filler...

  And lastly I wanted to show you a picture of where the wood floor meets the fireplace.  The nail hole damage was the worst here as the people who put the carpet down put in two rows of carpet tacks and then folded the carpet down onto itself.  Which I guess worked great and looked ok, but it left some pretty bad damage to the wood floors underneath.  But I guess that isn't something you worry about when you are installing carpet...

More Than We Bargained For...

So ripping up carpets and refinishing the hardwood floors has already turned into a much bigger project then I originally anticipated.Even with basic things like just ripping the carpet up.  I didn't realize just how many nailed down rotten carpet tack strips were going to remain and need to be removed with a pry bar.  And I didn't imagine JUST HOW MANY STAPLES were going to be stuck in the floor.  And let me tell you...prying up staples in a wood floor is hard work!  I mean look at how the carpet was staples down to the hardwood:

And to make the project more manageable, my boyfriend and I ripped up the carpet in sections of the house so that we had time to complete "finish" off cleaning up and prepping that one area before we moved on to the next.  This actually worked out really well for us, so that each night when I went to sleep, the house wasn't a complete disaster and I knew that the one section we had just worked on was clean (well as clean as it could be), prepped, and ready to be sanded.  Because I am a little crazy, this method worked really well for me.  So we started with the dining room, moved on to the hallway, then did the back of the living room/entryway.  These were all done fairly quickly (as in rapid succession) and took care of the carpet removal for most of the house. 

So the only carpet that was left was a large piece that covered out living room.  And since we hadn't found really any problems with the hardwoods underneath in the rest of the house, we surely WERE NOT ready for what we found on Saturday morning when we removed the rest of the carpet!  We found this:

Pretty extensive termite damage (like down to the subfloor) and mold!  And the mold smelled so bad!  As soon as he carpet was removed the whole house smelled of it.  And I have been sick for a few weeks now and was out of work last week with what I thought was another bad cold.  So I went to the doctor and she told me that she thinks I am having some sort of severe allergic reaction to something in my house!  And well now, I have a pretty good idea what that "something" is.  So Rob went to home depot and bought me two of these...

We are doing a mold test inside the bedroom (where my reaction tends to be the worst) and one right outside of the bedroom.  So hopefully it will come back as nothing...but at least now I will know! Now back to the floors...check out some of the termite damage...

So I cleaned up the mold with the only thing in the house I thought would really kill the growing spores...Kaboom mold killer with bleach!!!

After I was done using this (and then mopping the floor with Murphy's soap) the smell was gone and the floors looked much better...

So today marks the first day of sanding...and I will post pictures of the progress along the way.  Fingers crossed that this can be done by the end of the week!!!

And another definite big benefit of getting all of the carpet up to expose the original 90 year old hardwood underneath (and getting paid early and discovering it Saturday afternoon) was.........having a great dance floor for the new Xbox Kinect and the game Dance Central!!!  Yes that is right folks...I have a new addiction!  Dancing in my living room to Dance Central using the Kinect...it is amazing!  As soon as I have the hardwoods refinished you can bet your sweet little behinds that I will be hosting dance parties at my casa!!!!  And I am sure there will be more on that latter too!  Happy Monday!