Tune in Next Time

Tune in next time at http://audreymichalchristensen.blogspot.com

Blog Dilemma

I went about the whole blog thing all wrong. I should have merely unpublished old posts here and changed the template. But I didn't. So now I have two blogs. And I have been publishing the same posts twice. And getting comments on each. I keep deciding to end that, to post anything newsy on my other blog, but keep this one should I ever have the need of it.

But, to be honest, I would keep this one because it is part of me. I have been writing since July of 2005. But I was not comfortable sharing all of me with my in-laws who requested access to my writing. And now I am stuck. I am glad I have the newsy blog for in-laws and mom. But if I separate the two, newsy and emotional, then this becomes an emo dump. Or I could retire this, write only for all audiences and keep my darker, harder bits to my journal.

In some ways I have outgrown this blog. I began it as "The Other Sister" because that's how I saw myself. I was just getting my own life, and thus the web address. Now, I am Audrey Michal Christensen, still afraid of stepping on toes and offending people and too shy to email my in-laws directly.

Do I publish the rest of my archives on the new blog? Delete this one? Retire this one with an entry re-directing my few readers? Do I delete the new one and put in the effort to re-upholster this one?

I don't know what to do, but I am not going to keep copying entries to both blogs. That's silly.

She's a Brick House

Our house is in the process of getting brick. Yes, the siding is still yellow, but as there are now several houses around us under construction, I can now reports that the yellow is perfectly natural and will turn beige with time...and paint.

It seems that the mess has to get worse before it gets better.

Again with the mess.

Nothing has changed in back, but you can see the brick layers hard at work. They are almost completely done with that side of the house.

We weren't going to go inside, but seeing the drywall in the garage made us curious about the interior.

This is the dining room as seen from outside the window. The insulation and drywall are installed and you can see the arches to the entry and to the kitchen.

Here is a close-up of the brick for your viewing pleasure. You can see much more of the detail in the coloring.

The view to the living room is more obscured now that the bar is sheathed. I can't wait until there is cabinetry.

From the dining room looking out. I like the double windows. I also did not expect them.

Kevin surreptitiously snagged this shot of a man on stilts.

Entryway looking up. There will eventually be a chandelier hanging there. It will not be one of the light fixtures that I replace. I don't do well on step ladders; I'd hate to see what sort of wreck I'd be if I had to climb twenty feet up.

This is one of two windows in the master bedroom. The point of the shot, I think, was to show the ceilings. I enjoyed seeing how every edge of the ceilings were reinforced with little metal strips. You can see it in the dining room arches.

Our shower.

And bath. These were installed last time, but so full of dirty water that I decided against posting the pictures.

Our counters will go here. And I plan to change the mirror, lights and faucets, so this is the before-before picture. We didn't go upstairs during this trip, because we felt in the way.

House Update

This is our house as of today! Hopefully the siding and trim colors are not the permanent ones, or else we selected them under the influence of psychedelic drugs that made one believe that yellow and mud brown would look good on a house. But check out the bay window!

Here you can see the front, with the windows all in place.

There's our brick! It is quite lovely. There wasn't a single house in the very large development with this brick, so we drove up North quite a ways to see it on some walls. We both loved it. I hope it looks good with yellow siding.

We also have shingles on our roof now, not to mention a chimney. This picture, and those taken previously from this same angle, were taken from the back corner of our yard. This with the next picture should show you how big our back yard is.

There will be a patio outside the back door, but it looks like it will be a step down to the actual yard. The builders will put in the sprinkler system and sod. A couple trees, too, but maybe just in front.

This completes our 360* view of the house. This is the side where I plan to put the garden. Of course, I know nothing about gardening, so that may change.

Our garage. There is a lot of storage room in it.

For those of you not keeping up, this is the front door.

Just inside the door, this is the entryway looking up to the second floor. There's a shot coming later looking down from above.

This is me in the dining room. We won't be using it as a formal dining room for some time. Right now, we have just us and our table is small enough to fit in the breakfast nook. Plus, the nook will be tiled, whereas the dining room will be carpeted. No reason to have little food-throwers in there. My current plan is to close off the two doors with baby gates and use it as a play room, when that becomes necessary.

This is the view from the dining room back toward the back of the house. First is the cabinet-less kitchen, then the nook, and then the living room. You can even see the fireplace! Isn't it lovely?

Here is the living room again. I'm definitely glad that I went with the fireplace option. It doesn't take up too much space and I think it adds some romance to the room. We are currently planning to line that far wall with book shelves.

This is the view from the living room. The fireplace is directly behind. The master bedroom is the room to the left. The utility room is on the other side of the stairs, and the door off the hall leading back toward the front door is the door to the powder bath.

Up the stairs to the two-story entryway.

Here is a view of under the stairs from the utility room. I plan to knock out the drywall here, cover with a cupboard door and have some extra storage space. I understand that when my kids go missing I will have to look there for them.

Looking down from above the entryway.

Our view from the bay window. We are on the edge of a developed neighborhood. So while we are the first on our block, we will still have many neighbors into whose backyards we can look at will.

Birthday Pancakes

The Night of the Ballet

Today

Two Weeks Ago