a breath of fresh air

despite feeling less than perky lately, the hubs and i decided it was time to step out and enjoy the beauty that lies just beyond our backyard. we hiked three different trails on the wisconsin side of interstate park, and i have to say, the view of the dalles (dells) of the st. croix were absolutely breathtaking.

with summer quickly fading and the start of the school year peering around the corner, i dobut we will be back as soon as i'd hope to, but you can bet i'll be there to catch a glimpse of the fall colors come october.

pass the peas please

last friday was surgery day, and the lovely man i live with was kind enough to capture a shot of me in all of my glory. i like how the photo came out fuzzy, because that is exactly how i was feeling (and it gave me an excuse to harass him).

sweat equity

2008 has definitely proven itself to be the "year of the project."

most recently, with the help of two sets of parents, we expanded our poorly constructed 10 x 12 deck into a solid, two-level structure. with stairs!!!

this is all very exciting, and while we did run into a few bumps along the road (it helps to live a mile away from menards) it turned out fabulously. here are a few snapshots of the process.



on the left--our old, wobbly, rotting deck. on the right--our new start!


joann and mona pose from the yard below.


tom was "the stair guy." thanks, dad!


after making three trips to menards to try and find correctly angled stair stringers for the second level, we finally wised up and made our own. turned out to be cheaper, too.


measure twice, cut once. or, in justin's case...measure fifteen times, cut once.


gary had fun ripping out the old spindles on the upper deck. tom and justin didn't have as much fun putting in the new ones. i think it was at this point when i thought, "yeah! we'll be done tomorrow!" eventually, i would say that two more times.

drum roll please........here is the finished product!