Final Blog for 2008 and While Still in my 30's

Happy New Year everyone! This is the final blog entry for 2008, and the last blog entry that I will be able to write while still 30-something. 13 hours from now I will hit the big 4-0! I still cannot believe that. My mind is still a teenager, my body is about 65, so I guess 40 is just an average :-) I suspect that the hangover tomorrow morning will take me just a little longer to recover from than it did last year.

We have been busy in the Osborne house this last couple of weeks, so I will summarize here what we have been up to, starting with the most recent. For those of you that have been to our wonderful home, you know we are still suffering from 85-year-old-lady-itis. That is the need to make our home that was owned by an old lady into a home for a totally cool and hip family. We have been making some nice progress lately, with much more to come over the next 2 weeks.

The biggest thing that has been stuck in our crawl was this horrible abomination of beige and stained steel that was our stove vent. It was a HUGE hunk of metal, with nasty grease and God knows what else permanently stuck to it. I cannot even describe this beast, but here is a picture of it:

The picture does not even do it justice. It was just horrible, and I am sure it was almost as bad when it was new. It had to go. So we came up with a plan. We would move the cabinet above the refrigerator left 2 feet, move the cabinet that was there to go above the stove, and move the existing microwave cabinet down 6 inches. I would also have to move 1 electrical outlet and install one new one. Maybe a picture will help:

Missy was horrified as I started demolishing the kitchen, but in a couple of hours we had made a ton of progress, and she was able to relax.

Missy Horrified

Me telling Missy "I've Never Done This Before"

The "Vent Monster" is Gone!

But we made good and steady progress.

Measure 10 Times, Cut Once


Almost Done

And just like that, it was done! To my complete and total amazement, all of the holes and bolts lined up perfectly on the first attempt. The new microwave itself is a Samsung that we bought with our Christmas and birthday money (Thanks Mom, Dad and Grandma!). Not an expensive one, but a HUGE improvement over what we had before. Eventually all of the appliances will be brushed metal and black, but for now the beast is gone!

We also bought paint to finish the upstairs. I start my new job with Quest Software on January 12, and am officially on severance now from Workflow, so we plan to get some real work done between now and then. We are going to paint the ceilings and all remaining walls upstairs in the family room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. I will post before and after pictures as we go.

In other news... We all had a wonderful Christmas. I found out just before Christmas that I was going to be offered the job with Quest, which took a huge weight off my shoulders. Santa Claus was very nice to the girls this year and brought Delaney and Halle each an Acer One notebook computer they wanted, and got Bug a DVD player and MP3 player that she never puts down!

Delaney Could Not Stop Jumping Up and Down!


Bug Loves Her DVD and MP3 Player


Halle Cried Tears of Joy When She Opened Her Laptop!

The girls of course also got many other great presents from Santa Claus and their grandparents. So everyone got what they wanted, the girls with their laptops and other electronics, Missy got a new digital camera (though we had to return it, but will get another one), and I got a good job! Yes, life in the House of Osborne is very good, even though the King will turn 40 tomorrow! ICK! :-)