Flooring Fun!

We've been in our house now for almost four years, and we've been wanting to redo the flooring ever since we moved in. Eventually we'll take out all the carpet and (hopefully!) put in Pergo, but we decided to start with the kitchen and dining room. There was dark green and brown linoleum in there that some of our family and friends liked, but we definitely did not. The good thing was we both agreed that it needed to go.

Michael has been the push behind all of our home improvement projects (I always think of more fun things to do like read a book, go for a hike, watch a movie, clean the bathroom . . . ), and really, I am thankful for him. Because of him, I have freshly painted walls in the kitchen, dining room, living room, upstairs and downstairs hallways, and two bedrooms, as well as the laundry room. I also have a new washer and dryer, stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, front and back doors, microwave, toilet (!) and a really cool faucet that will be installed when we buy a new kitchen sink sometime in the future. So, I am very appreciative of all the improvements--I just have trouble getting motivated to do them!

About a month ago, Michael started pulling up the previously mentioned ugly dark green and brown flooring downstairs. We picked out some beautiful cherry wood Pergo at Lowe's and debated doing the whole downstairs in it. After we got the stars out of our eyes, we realized that it would just about blow our whole home improvement budget. So we decided to use it just for the entryway and then do the rest of the floor in "Harvester Slate" linoleum. The name doesn't really do it justice--the squares of tile are several shades of brown and tan, and remind me of what you might see in a Tuscan villa. Very nice.

Here are some before and "in-progress" pictures of the flooring project. Enjoy!

The not-so-chic brown and green flooring (nicely complemented by Michael's RC helicopter and Chloe's food and water dishes)

The entryway after the linoleum and subfloor have been removed.

The special paper that helps provide insulation.

The new subfloor! Chloe loves to lay on it.

Did I mention that Michael has done almost all of this flooring project by himself? I helped with the ripping out of the old floor (which involved a crowbar and lots of elbow grease) but other than that, it's all him. I'm very proud!

Stay tuned for more pics and flooring updates!

Getting Up Close and Personal With a Really Wild Bunch!

The past few days have been sunny and hot--quite a change from the gray, wet skies we've seen all winter. It's been so nice that we were inspired to take a trip to the Oregon Zoo today to check in on our friends, the animals. I'm sorry to say it had been at least a couple of years since we'd said hello, and we figured it was time.


Not surprisingly, many other Portland-area folks had the same idea! The parking lot was completely full by the time we arrived (about 1:00pm) and we were directed to the overflow parking lot.

We joined a long line of other sun-starved Oregonians in tank tops, shorts and sundresses to wait for one of the yellow school buses that were serving as zoo shuttles. It was a good thing they were available, because otherwise we would have been hoofing it for nearly a mile just to get to the zoo gates!


Michael and I got a seat in the very back of the bus; this proved to be hilarious because our driver thought it would be a good idea to hit the gas as we approached one of several speed bumps, then brake abruptly as we cleared the bump, then speed up again on our way to the next one. We got jolted and bumped all the way to the zoo and I couldn't stop laughing!

We waited in a super-slow line to buy tickets and when it was finally our turn, we could see that the zoo's digital reader board said the temperature was 78 degrees. It sure felt much hotter than that! I could feel the top of my head burning--it was the only place I hadn't slathered with sunscreen. We were very, very glad we'd worn shorts!

We said hello to the animals--the seals and penguins, the monkeys and a giraffe who showed great determination to reach a leafy branch just over his head. Did you know that a giraffe's tongue is super long and blackish-purple? We didn't either but it is!

Michael's friend, the penguin

Me feeding the little parrots juice that you buy for $1

The giraffe with the really long tongue

What has 12 legs and 6 horns? I'm not sure either, but they like to follow each other...

Does this fence make my butt look big?

M's favorite animals were the penguins, but a close second was the sea otter that was engaging in some very interesting self-grooming, if-you-know-what-I-mean.

My favorite animal experience was being right in front of the plexiglass window when Pachy the elephant was brought in for his lunch--some hay and brown pellets (yummy!) which was on the floor directly in front of me. When the zookeeper let him in, and he stood for one very brief moment framed in the doorway, I had to remind myself that there was a barrier between us. He was enormous, or, as the zookeeper put it, "a mountain with legs." He was very glad to see his lunch waiting for him, and trotted right up to it--straight at me. It's the closest I ever hope to come to being charged by a bull elephant. He was absolutely breathtaking!

Sadly, we could not find the rhinos or the hippos that used to be at the zoo, but we saw every other animal there, even the bats and the naked molerats. We left 3 hours after we arrived, tired but very happy.

It was a great day!