What a gorgeous day it was! After working in the morning, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard. Since it was SOOO nice, we decided to let the cats out for a little bit. Yes...we own little harnesses and leashes. we're sad. But at least the girls got to enjoy the weather too.















Mom and Dad helped out too














We drove a stake in the ground so the cats wouldn't run away.




















Now if i can get them to run in circles, we'll have a cat merry-go-round!

The weather is warm, it's the weekend...that means it's time for a wedding. Remember, last year we attended 7 or 8 weddings (the world-wedding-tour). This year, it's a little more quiet. we've only got two on the schedule so far. We kicked off the wedding season with my cousin Sharon's wedding in Gettysburg. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Break out the shirt and tie, it's time to get spiffy.

FYI: Gram (in the middle) is 102 years old and she still hits the road and comes to visit! See, you're only as old as you feel! No, she doesn't drive...that would be some kind of record.

Ellie...I'm relaxing...please put that camera down. No...I'm on the computer and listening to music, please dont take my picture... c;mon, look at this 'fro...don't take that.... *CLICK*

thanks...really

Wow! we've suddenly got great flowers in front of our house. i have NO idea what kind of shrub this is....it's just PINK.

Had a really unique opportunity today. I was able to go behind the scenes at the AIR NATIONAL GUARD facility at the Harrisburg Airport. Pretty cool stuff! I'd tell ya all about it...but it's a matter of national security. haha.

There was one thing that I found funny (but no one else did...)

Since it's a military base, all the trucks and equipment are painted camoflauge green. All the trucks and vans are dark green, even the snowplows...and it occured to me... if they're trying to camoflauge the snowplows, shouldn't they paint them white?

yes...i asked our tour guide...

sorry.

Oh mighty beer fridge...we offer great praise to you for the bounty which you will bestow upon us. praise the beer fridge...praise the beer fridge...















I don't understand...an hour ago, i filled this shelf with two cases of Miller Lite. I'm SURE my friends didn't drink it all...

Its the big weekend! Time to throw our housewarming party!




















Light the candles and make sure the place looks nice so we can impress our friends. Classy!














I spent two hours digging thru boxes trying to find the plug for the dartboard. Finally found it, so it's time for darts!
















Uh oh...did u know that there's a kareoke game for the PS2? yeah. That's not an Old Navy employee, it's El singing! Nice headset!















The "vintage" 1950's fridge still serves a purpose. apparently, these things were built to last! I never used it before, so i turned the dial to about 7, and we froze the beer. yeah, i didn't know you could do that either. so i turned it down a little. whoops. freezing the beer is a party foul.















Gavin's lost a ton of weight with his new diet. seems like a shame to miss out on all the fun! but we didn't want him to break his diet, so we let him lick the spoon from the bean dip...yum.....















Silly Jilly showed up and dropped a bombshell. she said "i've never heard of beer pong". Obviously, i was a little surprised. So we had to teach Jilly the finer points of Pong.















The beer pong is in full swing now. Here's Opie showing off his award winning Pong form. Oh, and Jilly picked out the balls, that's why we're playing with PINK ones. nice.
















When you're throwing a big party, you need to have a plan for recycling. After all, it's EARTH DAY. We stored our cans in a "beer-a-mid" oh, it's more of a beer-square than a pyramid, but i wasn't good at Geometry anyway. However, i am aware of PHYSICS...and when gravity comes into play...















Boom. that's gonna take a while to clean up....

I realized something today...the only difference between the 22 year-old JEFF and the 30 year-old JEFF is that i have better labels for stuff now. I mentioned in an earlier post that i was haging ARTWORK at my new house. Well...it's not like Michaelangelo suddenly painted a beautiful fresco on my living room wall. ARTWORK is just a poster with a fancy frame. that's it.

I just had a conversation where i'm talking about my beer fridge. it's a beat up old 50's fridge that was left inthe basement of the house. however, instead of saying "old beat up fridge", i called it "vintage"

i have the same crap as i did 10 years ago, i've just learned to label it better

Went to the video store over the weekend to rent some movies for ellie, and i grabbed a game. i took a shot on this one, since it looked like Mario Cart. It's CRASH NITRO CART, and it's great! I've been addicted to it for the last four days! I played the other night, and forgot to save my progress. I'm an idiot. so i had to play another three hours last night to get back to where i was. dumbass. I need to re-rent this one for the housewarming party this weekend. nothing's as much fun as racing video games and beer.

It's a beautiful easter weekend, so that means we threw on the old clothes...grabbed our shovel and rakes, and hit the yard! Gotta have this place ready for the housewarming party this weekend!
















We rolled into our second home (Home Depot) and stocked up on plants. I found these "burning bushes" for the end of the sidewalk. They'll be bright red in the fall. Hopefully, they'll also be a little bigger too!














Ellie took charge of planting next to the driveway.
















The house came with accent lights, but the wiring was a little tempermental. So i had to rip it all out and start over. Now the house is properly "accented"
















It took a while, but we got the whole flower bed done. woohoo. now it's on to the backyard.
















After i mowed the backyard, we decided to give the girls a taste of outdoors. They're indoor cats, so this was a pretty big day for them!

Its the weekend, which means another major purchase for the house. I finally gave in and bought a lawnmower this weekend! Is there a less sexy purchase than a lawnmower? no. Can't believe i has to drop $150 on something that will cause me to work every weekend. Yep...i've just insured that i'll never have a quiet saturday afternoon again....until winter. Then i'll have to buy a snowblower (the 2nd least sexy purchase ever). At least i can annoy my neighbors if they bother me by mowing the lawn at 8am on a Saturday. heh heh (evil laugh)

The DOWN SIDE of growing out my hair is the floppy mop that i have to deal with for the next few weeks. i actually have to wear a hat or bandana to keep it under control when i go to the gym. Ellie thought this was a good look (*sarcasm*) so she snapped a pic of it. mmmm. embrace the 'fro.

THese mysapce surveys are fun.

1. Are you a child of the 70s 80s or 90s?---> born in the 70's but grew up in the 80's.

Where were you born?---> Elmira, NY

What city did you grow up in? ---> Troy, Pa

Did you enjoy your childhood? ---> I played in a pile of dirt with trucks every day, what's not to like?

When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up? --->Taller

Name the first memorable vacation you took as a kid?---> Hersheypark...every year for 11 years!

What was your first best friends name? ---> Sean

Are they still your best friends?---> not really, we still talk from time to time

How did you meet them? ---> lived near each other

Can you name all the schools you ever attended?---> Yes, Mosherville, Gillett, Troy

Were you a shy quiet kid or a very wild and roudy kid?---> pretty laid back as a kid

When you were little what did you do for fun? ---> trucks..dirt pile, remember? .

Were you closer to your Mom or Dad as a kid? ---> both

Do you have any embarrassing school stories to share? ---> Hve you seen my hair from back then?

What was the first record, tape or CD you remember buying?---> Bruce Springsteen BORN IN THE USA

How old do you want to be when you get married? little late for that!

Were you scared of anything? ---> i was afraid of the house burning down

What was your favorite class in school? ---> History

Did you buy school lunch or bring your own? --->brown bag every day

Broke any bones or had any freaky accidents as a kid? ---> Not really, but once i got older..it was ON!

Were you a meanie head? --->hell no

Favorite board game of all time? ---> Trivial Pursuit

Did you play house or pretend to be a super hero? --->maybe when i ws REALLY young

Random memory from when you were a kid. ---> Seeing THREE AMIGOS on New Years Eve with my parents.

Seriously..are you still just a kid at heart? ---> Yeah, look at all the toys in my office

The home office is complete! NOw that it's finished, the first floor is finished! wooowoooo! It took four weeks (and about 8 gallons of paint) to do-over the entire first floor, but it's complete!

Here's the last piece of the puzzle:














Gotta love the GOLD RECORDS from Dishwalla and Dead Eye Dick! hahaha.















It took an HOUR to get those damned CD covers all lined up and level.
















The desk. Not sure why i bothered to set it up and put the computer on it...i always use my laptop computer on the couch. at least the cats have a place to sleep now.




Here's the big "oh wow" autograph. The first concert that Ellie and I went to was the Goo Goo Dolls in Pensacola. I got this autographed guitar at the show The ticket is still stuck in the neck of the guitar. The green sticker is the backstage pass.

Another weekend, another room painted and decorated. We've reached a milestone, the entire first floor is painted and decorated! The office was our final project. Now i've got a little room to call my own. It felt horrible to pound all these nails to hang all this stuff up, since i spent 3 days painting the walls! As soon as BLOGGER gets it's act together, i'll upload the photos.

I don't know why it's funny...but it is

I did one of these silly MYSPACE surveys. Here's how it turned out.


1. You have 10 bucks at a gas station, what do you get? 3 1/2 gallons of gas, right?

2. If you had to be reincarnated as some sort of sea dwelling creature, what would you be? a starfish...nice and easy. plus, i can break off my arm and grow new one.

3. Who's your favorite redhead? Ron Howard. honestly, i don't know any other ones, except for that girl Karen i dated 10 years ago

4. What do you order when you're at a pancake house?waffles, just to be different

6. Have you made out with anyone on your friend's list?umm...my wife.

7. Describe your favorite pair of underwear? clean

8. Describe the last time you were injured:broke my pinky playing football in the parking lot

9. Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in the middle of a jungle with? Walker...because he'll kill something to eat.

10. Are there any odd things that make you feel uncomfortable? myspace polls...umm..wait..

11. Tell me an embarrassing story from your high school years. my haircut...ewww...very mullet-like

12. What is the wallpaper on your cell phone? this green thing

13. Soda?Pepsi with a slice of lemon..i'm high maintenence

14. Flavor of pudding?butterscotch

15. What type of shirt are you wearing? a Yellowcard thsirt

16. Prescription medication? what are you? my H M O?

17? where did the question go

18. How many people are on your friends list? around 650

19. How many people on your list do you know in real life?30-40

20. What are you listening to right now? natasha bedingfield

21. Most recent movie you watched?i was in the same room as "brokeback mountain" last night, does that count?

22. Name 3 things you have on you at all times:cell, wallet, keys

23. Would you rather give or receive a foot massage?receive

24. Name a teacher you had the hots for: never happened.

25. What is a saying that you use a lot? haha

27. What is your favorite part of the chicken? the breast..mmm

28. What's your favorite town?Rochester, NY

29. Favorite kind of cake?yellow with chocolate icing

30. What's the first word that comes to mind right now?beep

31. When was the last time you saw your mom in person? two weeks ago

32. What makes you feel like puking? the thought of puking

34. What did you have for dinner LAST NIGHT?Grilled Mahi Mahi with a cajun spice

35. How long have you been at your current job?1 1/2 years

36. Is Tom on your friends list?no way

37. What's the last thing you said out loud?what?

38. Look to your right, what do you see? the KISS FM control panel..what's this button do? whoops.

39. Who is the last person you spent over $100.00 on? is my house a person?

40. Who's your favorite villain? Evil Homer

41. What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed? a shirt

42. What's the last piece of clothing you bought?jeans

43. What phrase makes you laugh no matter where, when or how its said?Zamboni

45. What does your last text message say? No..i'm staying home tonight

Now that we've moved in , and the house is (mostly) decorated...it's time for a HOUSEWARMING PARTY! So, now it's time for some invitations...

are you invited? answer these questions:

1). do you know where we live?

2). do you speak to either of us on a regular basis?

3). would you be comfortable asking us where we live?

4). if you asked, would we tell you?

if you can answer YES, then you're invited. ask me when the party is...

oh, and bring nachos...ain't a party unless you've got nachos.

It's the weekend, so that means we get to kick back and relax...err..ok, maybe not. Weekends mean working on the house. Started out in the kitchen. Let's do another BEFORE and AFTER. Here's where we started:
















And here's where we ended up:
















We tore down all the paneling and i built the enclosure for the recessed lighting. I installed the lights last sunday, and finished the box this weekend. I managed to wire everything without getting electrocuted, so that's a win for me. Ellie painted it after i finished building it. SO why am i wearing my bandana? Am i aspiring to be to be an 80's rock star? No. Have you ever tried to get white paint out of your hair???? Ugh. Forget it. I dealt with that on the first weekend of housework, never again. Fashion sense be damned, i'm not dealing with painted hair.


















After we finished the kitchen, it was on to the office. Apparently, Brownish Gold was a trendy color when this room was last painted. ..so we threw on some white primer, then a coat of off white. Much Better. We'll tidy things up tomorrow night. Of course, you'll never be able to see the walls in this room anyway... Remember all those autographed posters and CD's from my old apartment? Yeah...they're ALL going in here. I think i have about 5o things to hang in here. You won't even SEE the walls.

















Looks like the girls are enjoying our new backyard. we've got squirrels, crows and a famil of rabbits, so they've got plenty to look at!