January 2010 archive
House Updates without pictures
A sad side effect of moving is that you lose stuff. The missing item of importance this month is the camera charger. We have a dead battery on the camera and no way to charge unless we search the house again from top to bottom, or buy a new charger. We know we have used it since we have been in the house, but that does not change the fact that we have no clue where it is at this point.
The reason I mention this is that we have made some nice changes to our home and there is no way to show you all. We have finally gotten the floor in the kitchen put in! Yes, the vinyl we chose was so popular that the company that produces it was back ordered and we waited more than a month for the stuff. And we really like it!
The other awesome house news is that our windows have arrived. They are not installed yet, but they are very energy efficient leaning against the wall in our garage- or something like that. Tomorrow is the big day that they start installing these nifty windows. My guess is that it will snow and be really cold so the installers will be cursing our names.
Other random stuff up this week is that I went to a podiatrist this week because my feet have been hurting for months. Long story made short I have Plantar fasciitis. Not fun, but fixable.
So on to the exciting part of appointment story…. Here is one more thing you should be afraid of…I left the boys with a friend who has 8 kids and they had fun. Just as I got there though disaster struck. I walk in the house to Darla, my friend, dealing rather calmly with a screaming child who is panicking because he has just put a zip tie on his finger so tight that he can’t get it off and she can’t get it off and his finger is turning all shades of purple and swelling. (Shudder!) They run off to insta-care with the crazy swelling finger to get the zip tie tourniquet off. We run home and all talk about how we should never put a zip tie anywhere on our bodies unless we really do need a tourniquet and pray for the little boy that he won’t suffer some really bad side effects. In the end Darla’s son did not lose a finger like we worried he would. Though when she got home from that drama a different son tripped over a shoe and broke his arm which required surgery and pins installed in his elbow. So moral of the story: Who knew a zip tie could be the start of such a crazy dramatic night? Hide them from your children and you just might have a much calmer life.
Posted by Ily on January 31, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment
Washingtonians in Utah
I have a couple memories of moving from Utah to Washington when I was in 1st grade. One is that what was called “butting” in line in Utah was called “cutting” in Washington (and you can imagine the looks I got in Washington when I first pointed out that someone “butt” in line). Also, saying bad words in Utah was “swearing,” and in Washington it was “cussing.” I also had to learn a new way to write the letter “a” in my new Washington school.
After a few weeks here in Utah those memories came back to me, and I asked my school age kids about them. They write the letter “a” the same way as in Washington now, but they had definitely noticed, and laughed at in their elementary-school-aged-boy way, the use of “butt” here. They also confirmed that nobody talks about cussing, it’s swearing. Some things never change I guess.
Driving behavior is another big difference between these states. I remember thinking how slow everyone drove in Portland when we first moved there from Utah, and how strange it was that when you signaled to change lanes the car next to you would slow down and make room for you. In Utah, driving fast on the highway is the norm. If you bother to signal before changing lanes the person behind you in the next lane generally speeds up and makes sure you don’t have room to merge. We were so spoiled in Portland. I will point out, though, that the the highways are so narrow and confusing through Portland that driving fast isn’t really an option. No two interchanges are the same in Portland, so you always have to be watching. Is it a right exit, or a left exit? Will there be an exit-only lane? Can you get back on the highway at the same place you got off? You never can be sure. In Utah the highways are nice and wide, the on and off ramps all work the same.
Getting directions from someone to someplace is different in both areas. In the Portland area it’s all about the names. Not just the names on the map either, there are semi-secret insider names to a lot of roads, bridges, and landmarks. I’m sure I still don’t know them all, but I was pretty grateful when someone sat me down and explained, the I-205 bridge is the Glenn Jackson Bridge, and I-84 between 205 and I-5 is The Banfield Expressway. Just knowing those two explained a lot of what I was hearing on radio traffic reports. You still have to know what The Sunset is, where the T-curves are (and that T stand for Terwilliger), and then the bridges: Marquam, Morris, Burnside, and Broadway, just to name a few. Ily had it down way better than me by the time we left.
In Utah, it’s simple, as long as you know your cardinal directions. Right and Left are words that are rarely spoken. Everything is North, South, East, or West. People tell you things like: Drive east and turn south. It’ll be on the west side of the street. That’s north of the highway. Park on the southwest side of the building. You always have to be aware of your directions. Highways and streets all have consistent numbers, and every street you pass adds or subtracts 100 from the address depending which direction you are driving. It’s really easy.
The weather, of course, is a big difference between the Pacific Northwest and Utah. We immediately had to start using chapstick and lotion on a daily basis when we moved here. A few times a day actually. I’m hoping we adapt eventually and don’t need it, or we might have to finally join Costco so we can buy lotion in bulk. We also noticed that there is this bright yellow ball in the sky here, and it makes us feel unexplainably happy. Except on “bad air days.” I wasn’t aware of how bad those get in Utah. I think we had them in Portland sometimes, but usually it was just normal clouds that dominated the skies there in the winter. And rain, of course. Stuff still falls from the sky in Utah occasionally, but it’s this white fluffy stuff that makes it hard to walk and drive. It’s pretty fun for sledding and skiing, but we never had to shovel rain off of our driveway and sidewalks in Vancouver.
Lastly, advertising. Both places have your typical billboards and radio ads for common things like auto repair, banks, dentists, cell phone service, and other local businesses. In each place there are also billboards and radio ads that are particularly weird, offensive, or just seem out of place. In Portland for a while there was the 10 story tall bikini girl ad on the side of a building along the Banfield, or the radio ads for “professional” body piercing and tattooing. In Utah it’s the seemingly disproportionate number of ads for liposuction and laser hair removal. I even heard an ad on the radio for a hair removal club that you could join for $10 a month, like a fitness club or something. I guess each place has its own kind of vanity.
Posted by Bryan on January 27, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 5 comments
There is one good thing about getting a new fridge in the winter in Utah
When we first moved into our new house it had a really old fridge. We thought we would live with it for a bit because it did work and we were hoping to spend money elsewhere. After using it a bit though, we realized that the fridge was pretty much a junker. It was held together with duct tape in many places and though it would have worked for the widowed woman who lived in the house alone, it was not able to hold the groceries for a family of 5. Just the 3 gallons of milk we normally have in there used up the only usable shelves and left room for nothing else.
I started fridge shopping with two little boys in tow and it was a long day of looking at fridge options. By the second store, I knew what I wanted and what I thought was a good deal. I had measured my space and knew the maximum size I could put in the space. So we got a fridge that was pretty big, but not super huge. It has some good instant rebates on it and some incentives from the county PUD so I decided to go for it before my kids started going crazy in the store.
I forgot to measure the route in which they would have to bring in the fridge though. It turns out my fridge BARELY fit through the spaces we had to get it through. They ended up having to bring it up the steep (and icy) stairs from the backyard- I definitely had fear of the stairs giving out or an installer slipping on ice causing some horrible damage to them and the fridge, then into the house through our back door (which they had to remove), through the dining room, and then into the kitchen. They were barely able to fit it through the space between our counters and cabinetry. It was such a close fit before they put the handles on the fridge even. I was worried they would not be able to get the new fridge in even though it would fit our designated space for it. They almost had to lift it over the counter. That sounds risky and unpleasant to me for the delivery guys!
We had some food in the old fridge that we needed to keep cold so I was happy to be able to just stick our food outside in the snow for a few hours to keep it fresh until the new fridge was able to be used. That was the only good thing about getting a new fridge in the winter in Utah.
Amidst all of our updating to our home, one of the things we had to do was get the fridge out of the kitchen so they could put the new kitchen floor in. I dreaded this moment. I knew it would be very difficult to get that fridge back out now that it had handles on even. I was hoping they could maybe leave it in the room somehow. They couldn’t. So out into the snow went all of our food yet once again and long story short, those two Mexican floor installers figured out how to get it out and back in without breaking the dumb thing, nor ruining my new paint job on the cabinets…. and the floor looks awesome. Seriously, I almost took a table saw to the counter to make it not stick out so far just to protect my new paint job and my fridge! Once Dustin and Justin-the installers-were done installing the floor Dustin said “ The floor look good, the only thing I don’t like is the counter no match. You need Hranite (granite in his spanish accent).” Yep we are so aware of that pink counter looking rather awful. Just you come back in 6 months Dustin and see if we have something better in it’s place!
In case you are wondering, we got our flooring through our old friend from Washington named Sid Gayton. He and his family have moved to Utah from Washington and he runs Sunrise Contractors Network, a flooring company that mostly puts flooring in rentals and apartments both here and in Portland. He has some access to some really good stuff too at great prices, not just apartment grade stuff. So if you are thinking of putting in new flooring in the Salt Lake area or Portland, OR area, give him a call. He can hook you up!
Posted by Ily on January 27, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment
A New Murdock
Did we mention that we were surprised to find out that we are expecting baby #4? What? We didn’t? Whoops! Well we are. Maybe it will be a girl finally. Doubt it, but just maybe. We’ll find out for sure around August 2nd what this baby is when it is born. What a blessing, another summer baby in Utah.
Posted by Ily on January 23, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 4 comments
Muppets
Our current favorite website: Muppets Studio
Yes, the muppets have entered the internet era, and it suits them well. This is my personal favorite.
And seeing as how the kids now sing, “Momma!” at random times, I think they liked it too.
Posted by Bryan on January 23, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments
We have discovered the Rec Center
The Cottonwood Heights Rec Center – or CHRC- once known as the Cottonwood Spa 37 years ago according to the locals is a pretty cool place. We live within walking distance of it. I finally took our kids there on Friday for the first time. We are in love. They have all the stuff a health club normally has, except that instead of one lap swimming pool, they have 7 pools. Indoors they have a 6 lane 25 yard long racing pool, a diving pool, a warm specialty pool that is shallow and huge and perfect for the under 12 crowd to play in, and a splash zone pool with slides and fountains. Outdoors there is a 50 yard long racing pool, a huge diving pool, and a super huge pool with slides. It all looks pretty cool to me. I can’t wait for summer swimming out there!
The nicest thing is that the kids ran into friends from school and I made friends with one of their moms. It was a nice thing to do on an early release day!
We have now been back Saturday, and today. I am looking forward to exercising again.
Posted by Ily on January 8, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 2 comments
Transformation #1 in the pink house
Here are the kitchen updates so far. Bit by bit, this house will become model home.
This is the kitchen as they were painting the cabinets minus the doors. It was a battle zone in there. We used our bathroom to do dishes and cook (in the crock pot) instead for those few days. Kinda gross, now that I think about it, to do my “business” and cook all in the same room! ... See my Tabblo>
Posted by Ily on January 5, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 7 comments
This is our new house
We have a few pictures of our new house that we just moved into. Some changes have happened since these were first taken. So here you get to see the before pictures.
This is our new home. The house we will forvever call the pink house even after we banish the pink from it. The previous owner really liked pink. ... See my Tabblo>
Posted by Ily on January 3, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment
