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at a glance
Tribune, Kansas
Robyn:
mom and doctor
currently plotting paint schemes, linens, and curtains
Jonathan:
dad, blogger, artist
currently writing lots for GeekDad
Ridley:
first grader
currently complaining about something
Hania:
three years old
currently doing a funny dance
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Saturday, January 02, 2010
Resolutions
Our New Year's Resolution:
Finish our house, and move in!
Right now we've still got a lot of painting to do, and we're focusing on the upstairs and the first floor bathroom. Once those are done, we can get the window trim done upstairs, and then we can let the kids run around upstairs while we work on the rest of the house. As it is now, there's not really a good place for them to be that isn't just dusty and dirty, so usually only one of us is able to go work at a time.
But hopefully we can get the rest of the house painted, then get the window trim finished, and then do the flooring. There's also the matter of getting all our electrical fixtures in, and some finishing off with various plumbing and HVAC stuff. As you can see from the photo, the exterior is pretty much done except for the gutters (and backfilling all the dirt). But our deck is complete, and the sidewalk is all done, so we're happy with that.
Have a happy new year, and start planning when you'll come out to visit. And if we're not done with the house yet, you can just pitch in! :)
jonathan
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
It has been quite a year here for us in Tribune. We did indeed have a white Christmas, but nothing like the severe winter storms that we were promised. The girls were able to do quite a bit of playing outside in the snow as it warmed up. Our driveway, seen here, continues to be the coldest and least-sunned spot in Greeley County, holding on to its ice layer long after all the other ice has melted away.
 We were a little late to the Christmas game this year, having spent all of our spare energy thinking about our new house, but still we managed to have quite a celebration. The girls' Sunday school class had its Christmas program on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas. Ridley was a Wise Man in a brightly printed bathrobe and shiny paper crown, and showed everyone how loudly and clearly she could sing. Afterward, she had plenty more time to practice as the kids and a few game grown-ups went caroling around town. We were out on this trailer, singing our hearts out, well after dark. When we finally called it a night and headed back to the church, a hot soup-and-chili supper was waiting for us, with Jesus' birthday cake for dessert.
 We were out of town the two weekends that Christmas trees were available to buy in Tribune this year, so Ridley called on the artistic ingenuity she inherited from her daddy and made us a tree herself! First she drew and colored the tree on a large piece of butcher paper, and cut it out (it was her idea to put it in a pot). Then, she took some leftover wrapping paper and cut the snowflake-ornaments out and stuck them up on the tree. Finally, she crafted ornaments for each family member ("Mom," "Dad," "Sister," "Me") and arranged them just so on the tree. Santa Claus had no difficulty figuring out where to leave the gifts. And since Santa ran a little short this year, we were very blessed to have several packages arrive from our loved ones. The girls didn't seem to mind at all that "Santa's" gifts all came from someone else they knew - we just told them that Santa picked up the presents in Florida, Indiana, Colorado, Texas, etc., and brought them all here.
 And here you see Ridley with proof of Santa's visit - an empty cookie plate which just the night before had been chock-full of delicious, frosted and beautifully decorated sugar cookies. The girls also got bags of "reindeer food" from the public library on the night that Santa took their wish lists, and just before bed on Christmas eve they eagerly ran outside and scattered it in the snow. We're pretty sure Santa's whole party was well-fed by the time they left our house. You might also notice Hania is wearing a hat with her PJs ... that's because her bangs are getting much too long but she refuses to allow either a trim or hair clips. Hats are a satisfactory solution on all sides. You'll also notice that this photo was taken before we opened gifts, because the living-room floor is clean.
 This is what the floor looked like about 10 minutes later. Ridley is reading to Hania from her new copy of "Bad Kitty" while wearing a fashionable new scarf, both gifts from Auntie Ann. The gifts that seemed to get the most traction immediately were a new volume of "Calvin & Hobbes" comics (which Ridley read 5 or 6 times that day and still can't stop laughing out loud about) and a tube of citrus-scented lip balm out of Hania's stocking, which she was just completely tickled with. Don't worry -- they really enjoyed all of their other gifts too, but these were the things they didn't put down all day.
We did not write a year-in-review holiday letter this year. Like most years, it's been full of challenges, surprises and joys. It is the first year in a while that hasn't seen any really major shifts - no births, deaths, moves, new jobs or new home purchases. We hope 2010 contains a move, at least, as we look forward to making our thoroughly-renovated house a family home after more than a year and a half of work. We have, as always, been more than abundantly blessed by our families and good friends near and far. We pray the same is true for you now and in the year to come.
robyn
Friday, December 18, 2009
House Update and a Trip to Florida
 Our deck is looking a little more complete now: just after Thanksgiving they got the railings put together and the facing underneath. This week the weather's been just a little warmer, so they were able to pour some concrete and should have the steps put together in short order. So we'll finally be able to get in the front door! And tomorrow we're having a painting party, to at least get all the walls and ceilings primed. I don't have a definite idea of how long the rest of it will take, but we're trying to slow down a little because we've been overspending and we need some time to catch up.
 Hania and I took a trip to Florida to see my parents for almost two weeks. Since Robyn's on call for Christmas this year we weren't going to be able to go anywhere, and she really didn't like the idea of me and both girls being gone during Christmas itself. So, since Ridley got to go to Taiwan with me this summer, we decided that it was Hania's turn to take a trip. I got to relax and take a break, Hania got a lot of attention from yeye and nainai, and we both had a great time.
One of the things I did was to go through my old LEGO sets with Hania's help. I found a great site, Peeron.com, which has tons of instructions for old LEGO sets (including the ability to search by part type!) and I was able to track down instructions for many of the sets I used to have.
I try to clean out a few more things each time I go back home. This time I brought back a lot of my old LEGO sets, and I also cleared out various things from my old bedroom (2400 baud modem, anyone?). I told my mom that someday I'll help her straighten out all the stuff in the garage.
I also went for a short run (for the first time in about a month). It was nice running in warm weather for a change, although it was unseasonably warm, even for Florida. It really didn't feel like December! I wanted to go running again but we kept pretty busy with other things and I didn't get around to it.
 I did get a chance to play some games with the kids after Bible study one night, but not much other than that. I also got to visit my high school art teacher, Mrs. K., and my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Ramos. They're both recently retired, and seem to be enjoying it, and it was fun to catch up with them and let them know what I've been up to. I also got to have lunch with my friends Neal and Leesa, and visited the Wickershams, which was nice. Fortunately, Hania is very patient with me when it comes to sitting around and chatting with adults she doesn't know! I'm not sure that Ridley would have allowed me hours-long visits.
Oh, and I got Windows 7 installed for my parents, because they've been stuck with Windows Vista for a while and have never really liked it. But since their old XP computers haven't been doing so well, I figured it was a good idea to get their newest computer upgraded and set up with a backup drive. Of course, I'm trying to convince them that their next computer should be a Mac. :)
Meanwhile, back at the homefront, Robyn and Ridley went out to Colorado Springs for a special birthday trip for Ridley, but she ended up getting sick and then missing several days of school. (Which meant, of course, that Robyn missed several days of work.) She's doing better now, but that's partly why we haven't gotten a birthday post up for her page yet. Maybe after we get the rest of our Christmas cards sent out!
jonathan
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
 We had a nice visit to Belleville this weekend. The girls had a lot of fun helping Grandpa with chores (see their sites, too), but Ridley's favorite activity was probably this: running around on top of the hay bales. They also, as always, had lots of fun with cousin Gaven. He's just great with little kids, and Ridley has been enchanted by him since she was six months old, and Hania is no different.
 Friday night, the girls made chocolate chip cookies with Grandpa. (Grandma, unfortunately, was out cutting corn in the fields so she wasn't home in time.) As you can see, they're both very excited about the cookies.
We also, as per tradition, visited Great-Grandpa Don and Great-Grandma Hazel, where the girls played with marbles on the Hot Wheels track for an hour. And Friday evening was Belleville's Christmas Open House, so we got to go downtown for the Methodist Church soup supper, saw Santa Claus, and walked around the shops a little bit. Two interesting things we got to see: the Blair Theater, which re-opened about a year ago, has been renovated and it was the first time I'd been inside the building. I was pretty impressed with what they'd done in the lobby, although I didn't stay for the movie. (We had to get home for those cookies.) The other thing was Imaginary Colours, a store that sells LED lighting ... but what really caught my attention was the owner's "Chinese Pennies" program. Inspired by his great-grandfather, Tom Tsao gives away pennies to local children, following the rules that out of 10 pennies, one has to go to church or somebody in need, one is to be saved until after high school graduation, and one has to be invested for the child's descendants. It's an investment in teaching kids fiscal responsibility, and contributing to his town. I thought it was a great idea, and inspiring.
 Finally, on our way home, we stopped at Lowe's to get some ceramic tile, primer, paint samples, and light fixtures. As you can see, we loaded up our van—you could tell that it was riding significantly lower than usual. Robyn started priming the walls today, and we're hoping to get the interior painted as quickly as possible so we can start on window trim, flooring, and getting everything finished off. If you're in town and you want to give us a hand painting, please feel free!
jonathan
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Making Progress
 Well, we've had an exciting few weeks. First, we got our first significant-ish snowfall last weekend. (We'd gotten some snow at the end of October but it melted away very quickly; this time it stuck around long enough to play in.) I built a little snow fort for the girls in the front yard, and there are still traces of it sitting out there even though we then had a pretty nice sunny week. We all went out and played in the snow after church, and then came in and had hot chocolate. Mmmm!
 We're also getting lots of stuff done at the house. For one thing, our basement has actual walls! (This is a view of the basement stairs from the guest bedroom, through the new arched entryway.) Our carpenter and his crew got in and did a lot of patching on the first and second floors, and then insulated the walls and ceilings in the basement. They'd gotten pretty much all the sheetrocking done by the weekend, and then started taping and mudding, and were working on spraying on the texture today. We're planning to starting priming all the walls after Thanksgiving and then get to painting soon! (After we paint, then the other crew can finish all the interior window trim, and then floors, doors, and all the electrical fixtures.)
 The other major progress is on the front of the house—we finally have part of a deck! So far the top surface is done, and we should have a railing around it before Thanksgiving. Then they'll put down a little concrete walk and put the steps up. Of course, the funny thing about getting lots done on the exterior of the house is that people have been asking us for months if we're ready to move in, not knowing how torn up things were inside the house. But now we're finally feeling closer. I don't know about getting in before Christmas, but we can probably start moving some things over from storage over Christmas break. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
 One last bit of news: I got to go to Hutchinson at the end of last week for the Public Square Communities conference. (I attended last year, in Great Bend.) In short, it's an organization which is helping to revitalize small communities across Kansas, with a bottom-up approach. Greeley County is their first accredited Public Square Community, and I definitely feel that it's made a big difference in the community, even for me personally. (The movie theater project was handled with the PSC process.) But for this conference, one thing they've been working on is getting a logo, and I got to help with the final design. What I didn't know until the conference is that these will be on large signs on the highways for all the accredited communities. The logo represents the four "sides" of the public square: Education, Health & Human Services, Business, and Government. So at some point soon, these big signs will be showing up in various places across the state!
That's about it for now. We're heading up to Belleville for part of Thanksgiving break, and then in December I'm taking Hania down to Florida to visit my parents for a couple weeks. Robyn and Ridley will get some special mommy-daughter time (with some big plans for Ridley's birthday), and I'm looking forward to having some "me" time to relax and recharge.
Happy Thanksgiving!
jonathan
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