You're Not Supposed To Sweat When You Step Out Of The Shower

I'm waiting for Game 2 of the NBA finals to end (go Celts!) so I can watch the news, so what better time to update?!

First off, GO OBAMA! I'm so happy!

The cuteness factor around here just keeps going up. Ella, especially, is in love with Bob Marley and sings along in the car and OHMYGOD it is the cutest damn thing! She sings along to a variety of CDs, theme songs, and even to some commercials, but a 2 year-old singing "One Love"? Perhaps the best. thing. ever. I need to find my Legend CD which is lost somewhere in the house so we can listen to Bob both in the car and in the house (I have a two-disc set in the van that has a lot of classics on it, but is a different album than Legend).

As I previously mentioned, we're getting estimates on doing some major improvements to the house. We had the main house roof redone ~ 5 years ago, but now the garage and porch roofs need to be done and J is freaking out a little bit about it. We lost some shingles from the garage after the rough winter we had and so he's all in go-mode for getting the roof done. Having the house resided and getting energy-efficient replacement windows have been longtime dreams of mine and we're pretty sure that this is the summer for that to happen. My biggest dream, though, is to have a deck put on the back of the house. Oh, how I long to be able to bring the kids directly into the back yard! I'm even willing to sacrifice the windows to get the siding and the deck. The estimate that I had to sit through yesterday (over 2 HOURS to be told it would cost over $40,000 for the windows and siding alone (the roof would be another $5,000 and we didn't even get a deck estimate from this company)) was beyond excruciating. I betrayed no emotion when the guy was so obviously raking us over the coals but he won't be hearing back from us, that's for sure! I think we'll be getting the estimate we really want tomorrow and I can't wait to see it. I have a good feeling about it, and all of the work could be done by the same company by end of July/early August, which means that the 60th birthday party we're having for my mother-in-law over Labor Day weekend could be out on our new deck! Wish us luck!

You know, all day long thoughts flit through my head about what to write and then when I sit down to actually put fingers to keyboard, a mere fraction of those thoughts come to the fore.

The gym is still wonderful and I'm loving my routine. I'll be meeting with the trainer sometime in the next couple of weeks and I'm so eager to get my new measurements. I'm down 8 pounds since starting my routine on May 20th and I know I've lost inches, too. I went to the doctor's ~ a week and a half ago and I was actually excited to be weighed! How often does anyone ever say that?!

I'm tired of summer already, and it's not even summer. It's been over 90 for the past two days, and it's not going to end anytime soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be the "cool day" where we'll be in the low 90s. Suck!

J has so much vacation time accrued that his supervisor told him he needs to take some time off. For the next 4 weeks (with the fourth week actually being the 4th of July), he'll only be working Monday-Thursday. We're both looking forward to it and I know the kids will enjoy having Daddy around another day. He can only roll 15 days over into next year, so he has quite a bit more time that he needs to take off and we're trying to figure out how best to do that. Aside from going to Vermont for Nurse and I's civil union at the end of August, we're not planning on going anywhere for vacation (we're not big vacation people....maybe when the kids are older, I think), so maybe we'll come up with some nice daytrips to do with the Muffins.

OK, the Celts have won Game 2 and now they're on to LA with a 2-0 lead in the finals. Time for the news, which I may just skip now (the big story tonight is a bear stuck up in a tree in a town over near the seacoast). I think I hear my bed calling.