There is a Baby Siberian Tiger in this post! Get excited!

We finished our guest room just in the nick of time before my parents arrived!

 I can't believe what a transformation the paint made in this room!  

Look at the lovely and relaxing view from the bed you would have if you stayed with us!  It took three coats of white paint to cover up the dark brown and yellow on these doors, but it was worth it!

Jason is really proud of his patching job.  You can't even tell there was a hole here!  

Right away while Jason was at work, Eric and my dad rescued a dove from our fireplace chimney that had been stuck there for a few days.  Jason and I read online that if you put a flashlight at the bottom, the bird would fly toward it.  This did not work after several minutes of standing there with a sheet and a box, and even though Tosca (our cat) said she could get it herself, we had no other plan. 

My dad grabbed it with his bare hands and Eric threw a towel over it!  Manly stuff, I tell you!  You can see in this picture that the dove is filthy with soot, and it lost a lot of feathers in this process, but it flew away (probably into the neighbor's chimney)!  

We also did some touristy things, like riding the skytram at the zoo

visiting the baby Siberian Tiger, (it's okay, you can say it:  aww!)

and walking across the new pedestrian bridge across the Missouri River.  This was Mom's first trip to Iowa, woohoo!

We knew we'd had enough fun when things got a little crazy at the Durham Western Heritage Museum.  All in all it was a great time and went way too fast! 

The Final Countdown

Painting offers such a fantastic before and after for the amount of work it takes!  This was Sunday when it was apparently the 70's:

And just a day later on Monday, we have entered the 21st century!  This is just primer, but I had to post this so my parents know that they'll have a completed room to sleep in when they arrive on Thursday!  That dang brown trim is going to take a THIRD coat of paint of course, but I'm so pleased by how it looks so far.  Jason is pleased that is drywall patching job turned out so well! 

We also painted this hallway the same color.  It was just boring white and pretty tired and dirty at that.  I know you all are super jealous of our super sweet knotty pine basement.  Can you imagine we were originally going to paint this as well??!!  What were we thinking?  I don't care that the 50's are raging in our basement, because this wood paneling is the bee's knees. 

I really must stop blogging because we're celebrating Jason's birthday tonight!  At least Tosca is keeping him company, but I really should be also.  I let him open his presents a day early because he has work tomorrow night, and there is nothing more cruel than giving a guy 4 games from his Amazon wish list when he won't have time to play them until a week later!  Happy birthday baby! 

No more unsightly holes

Renovation progress is being made at the Strom pad again, fueled by the eminent arrival of my parents in a couple weeks. 

Our guest room has had massive holes in the drywall for months.  One hole was made in order to replace the bathroom plumbing, and the other was made to replace electrical wiring. We don't go in this room very often, so it was kind of low on the priority list.  Out of sight, out of mind! 

I don't think my parents would mind if this room wasn't finished when they arrive, but their visit offers good motivation.  Plus, I don't think electrical wiring hanging around your head is conducive to a restful sleep! 

Today, Jason installed the drywall panels over the holes and started the mudding process.  He had a little electrical dilemma because there were some loose wires in this wall that were not up to code.  He would have had to fish out the wire from the wall, which was attached to something somewhere, and that sounded like a big headache.  Instead, we decided to just make the loose wires into an outlet!  Sure, it is a random outlet in the middle of the wall, but who cares, it's the basement right?  And can you really have too many outlets?  I think it adds character to the room.  Or something. 

My Parents are Living the Dream!

This summer, Jason and I were able to stay at my parents' new beach house for the first time!  The beach is the perfect place for my parents for several reasons. 

Walking has been a daily ritual in both their lives for a while now, but it took the purchase of the beach house to get them to do it together!  The beaches by their house are the ultimate in serenity and beauty, and I can't imagine a better way to start your day than with this meditative routine.  It certainly beats Mom's treadmill!

Dad enjoys taking pictures, and there is never a dearth of subject matter here! It is constantly changing with the weather and the tides.  Low tide offered us a closeup of these colorful starfish hamming it up for Jason's camera. 

Jason finds an intriguing vantage point to view the scenery.  

Mom and Dad's beach house is brand new, one in a set of quadruplets on a hill.  It is perfect for entertaining because each bedroom has its own bathroom.  I'm pretty pleased that I can use visiting my parents as an excuse to stay here again!  They've had a whole bevy of guests stay this year including my grandparents who are there right now.  Take note:  if you miss your family and friends, get a beach house!  I'm going to start saving now because buying a house in Omaha is apparently NOT the ticket to getting visitors. 

Even though it is fully functioning, I guess the fireplace is really just for decoration because it is basically 60 degrees there year round. 

With a populations of 336, small town life perfectly suits my parents laid back nature.  (I also learned from www.city-data.com that there are no registered sex offenders!  Bonus!)   

The open concept living space is beautiful and homey at the same time.  

My favorite part is this little sanctuary in their master bedroom on the top floor.  It has another decorative fireplace, a kitty to warm your lap (look closely) and a fantastic view!

If that isn't fantastic I don't know what is!  I'm so proud of my parents for achieving their dreams.  I plan to enjoy it with them as often as possible, which is never often enough!