Party of 8

We are preparing for our first formal dinner party in our "new" house. The occasion was marked by the need to finally unpack my good china, which had remained safely in dish-pack boxes for over a year and a half now.

I do love to use all of our nice dinnerware frequently, not saving it for few and far-off "special occasions" only. But in this case, I had hoped to get the new floors laid in the dining room and family room before stocking the china cabinet. Alas, the need arose for the china before I found time to complete the floors. So, I spent a better part of Friday last week unwrapping, inventorying, cleaning, and setting each individual piece, along with cleaning the silver and locating the wine glasses. At least the table looks ready, in case the hostess isn't!

Panel Review

One of my spring break projects was to complete the disguising of the wainscot paneling in the upstairs nook and hallway. I had begun caulking the gaps in the 70's style luan some weeks before, but Jeff was eager to cover the stripey mess. I dug through my decorating stash and found some clearance wallpaper that would serve the purpose, so here's the update. I still have lots of other plans for the space decor-wise, but this is a start.

Gel Stain to the rescue again

I know I've blogged about this fantastic product before, but I just had to post these photos of my latest gel stain project. As much as I like the faux bamboo daybed I set up in our second guest room, we decided two twin beds would be a better use of the space. So, I found this great antique set of matching beds for a fantastic price. Of course, the price was so fantastic because the condition of the beds wasn't ideal. The previous owners were going to paint them, since that was really the only way to cover the significant damage. I may still paint them down the road after I repair the veneer (I can see a very chic satin black), but for now I've just done a coat of Java gel stain to hide the bulk of the damage so I can get them set up and in use for our upcoming houseful of guests.

I wish I had taken more photos before I started working on them. I was so eager to get going I just jumped in and started refinishing without taking proper "before" shots. The biggest difference is evident on the rails, but you can see the subtle improvement in the finished footboard on the left over the one on the right.




Bed rails before.........................and after gel stain

I'm almost done setting up the revamped guest room, so I'll post some pictures of the new layout when I'm complete (which had better be in a few days, as company arrives next week)!

Honey-do List

We were fairly productive over spring break. We didn't get to everything (some of which was no fault of our own, owing to out-of-stock items we needed to purchase, etc.). But we made a dent in a lot of the odd jobs around the house.


Da Vinci taking a break from all the raking.


Who says men can't multi-task? Jeff managed to catch a little March Madness basketball action on the laptop while working on the MBR walk-in closet.

Cheap Date

Jeff is off for Spring Break this week (more things to love about the college professor lifestyle ;-), so I invited him on a little date Monday. We did a late lunch at the Olive Garden, which was almost free as I still had some money on a gift certificate from our credit card points. Then, we finally went to see The Blind Side. We very infrequently go to the movies, so we miss the rare previews for the decent films we might actually be interested in. Of course, by the time we heard about The Blind Side and made time to see it, it wasn't in the regular theaters anymore. But, happily, we discovered Huntsville has a $1 theater that gets most of the popular movies right after they leave the main screens. I'm happy to report it is a very clean, well-run theater, so maybe we'll be catching a few more discount flicks in the future.

After an enjoyable and uplifting movie, we went to our regularly scheduled dance classes Monday evening. We take two back-to-back since the studio is on the far side of town, and we're working on waltz this month, one of Jeff's favorite. So all in all, we did dinner, a movie, and dancing for under $20 total! Not a bad price for a fun outing to kick off spring break.

The rest of the week will be spent working on various projects around the house, so I'll update our progress lest it appear we are slacking off too much!

For those who thought it wouldn't last...

Day Three: The captive animal is still securely tagged. We will continue to track the progress of this rare, one-of-a-kind "Hund".

Labels for Learning

In an effort to immerse ourselves in German to prepare for our Berlin excursion, I have taken the advice of a well-traveled friend. She suggested that I label everything in the house in German so I associate the item with the new language. Since I'm a very visual learner (as well as a little label-happy), this is perfect for me. I typed up several sheets of common nouns on cardstock and spent a good part of the day taping labels to household items.

I took German for three years in high school, but, as most Americans know, we don't really learn (or remember) a lot from public school foreign language classes. It's coming back in bits and pieces, thanks to the Rosetta Stone program I'm working through, which is good. German has masculine, feminine, and neuter articles (i.e., three forms of words like "a", "an", and "the"), which was always tricky for me. The washing machine is she, but the dryer is he. The faucet is he but the sink is it. So, I also included the relevant article on the labels. Now I just have to make sure I look at them after all this work!

My 'Psalm 37:4' moment

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my husband's job? My dear, intelligent, entrepreneurial Jeff has been offered a guest scientist position in Germany for two months. And, just like with Seattle, he has (of course) invited me along! What an incredible blessing this unexpected opportunity is!

This has been in the works for a few months, since we knew he was presenting at a conference in Prague and I was going to accompany him there. What began as a week in the Czech Republic has expanded to an additional seven weeks in Berlin at their federal institute to do research and form collaborations. It's all paid for and we get to pick the dates, set the agenda, everything!

They're putting us up in an adorable historic villa that's been converted to self-catering apartments.It's right near all the public transportation lines and shopping districts, so it will be super convenient to come and go. I've even found a riding stable less than 3 miles away on the edge of the Grunewald Forest, so I'm hoping to partake of some of the authentic German classical riding instruction while there.

While Jeff is playing in the well-equipped labs and networking with international scientists, I'll be taking an intensive German course in the mornings and then experiencing the sites of Berlin.

This feels like the realization of a dream from years ago. I always wanted to study abroad or work as an au pair or backpack through Europe, but I put those pursuits aside to push forward the fulfillment of other goals. I could never have imagined during those poor student days of cramming German and working in the stables to pay for riding lessons that I would one day be able to "summer in Europe" with my amazing husband and enjoy the language and culture of Germany!

Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. -Psalm 37:4

Hard Headed?

Well, now I am hopefully!



Being a therapist, I've worked with more than my share of traumatic brain injuries. So I'm always conscientious about wearing my riding helmet during any equestrian activities. Maybe it's because I started in the hunter/jumper arena (where helmets are expected and required), but it always surprises me how many other riding disciplines don't routinely wear helmets. Particularly in my current region of the country, where saddle seat and five-gaited shows are popular, I rarely see riders with helmets.

Given that your brain is about the consistency of firm jello (or warm butter, whichever visualization you prefer), helmets are far more about slowing the impact of the brain against the inside of the scull than they are simply protecting the scull bones themselves. (My blog title is hence a bit of a misnomer, but it was a good play on words.)

I did my research and decided that the previous helmets I've used are really not sufficient. My new purchase is measured to fit my head exactly, instead of an adjustable one. It's also one of only a few brands in the States that meets European guidelines (which are much stricter than US ones, not surprising since they are better equestrians than we are).

I never realized that my head is slightly smaller and slightly narrower than the average adult until I started looking for the perfect fit in a helmet! Finding just the right one was worth it, though. It's super comfortable and I can't wait to try it out in my lesson Friday.

P.S. Jeff, in his standard pun, has dubbed my new safety devise "Helmet Kohl"!