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Published: July 18th 2006
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Flags
These are the flags in the research building @ St. Jude. They represent all the countries researchers and doctors come from to practice at St. Jude. July 8, 2006
Living in chaos...that has been the theme the last month or so of our lives. During June I traveled 2 of the 4 weeks for work. I had a great time in Memphis for the St. Jude Children's research Hospital training. I advise a student group that raises funds for St. Jude and we were privilaged to go to the Collegiate Leadership seminar the first weekend of June. Mom and Dad came and joined me for a day in Memphis, we ate some yummy ribs, drank sweet tea and walked around Memphis, enjoying the sights and sounds. While I didn't get any pictures with Momma and Dadaw (space cadeted those), I got some great ones at the hospital. It's such a wonderful place and such a great cause to fight for. You can learn more about St. Jude at www.stjude.org. At the end of the trip, I hit Graceland with the tour group. Pretty cool.
Then I came back for a week and a half, worked & worked on the house. Daddy came on the 12th and did an awesome job tiliing for us! He did the floor in the laundry room and the floor in the
Poetry
Patients write poetry and it is displayed on the walls at St.Jude. I don't know if you'll be able to read it but they are very special. guest bath! They look awesome! He probably would have gotten farther but on the plane (or here in town) he caught the Norwalk virus (let's just say it's a nasty intestinal virus that has been going around Bozeman for months). So that took him out for a day and a half of his visit.
Then it was off again on June 15th for Phoenix for a conference. The conference was good, not as good as expected but I still learned some good information. It was held at a BEAUTIFUL resort that had it's own lazy river...Mom would've been in heaven. I also got to see some very dear friends while I was there. Tootie and Tom Williams (David's parents - SOHS class of 97) had just a month before moved to Scottsdale, AZ...mere minutes from my resort. It was wonderful getting to catch up with them, share some lovely dinners and bargin hunting at the outlet mall in Tempe. Again, the only pictures I have are the view from my hotel, which was quite beautiful but I'm kicking my own butt for not getting one with Tootie and Tom...but I will soon when they are able to come up
Art Walls
All of the walls at St.Jude are covered in art. There's different themes in different areas of the hospital. This is one of my favorite of the paintings on the walls. for a visit!
While I was in Phoenix, Bryan and our buddy Mike tiled the shower in the guest bath. It looks AWESOME! I can't wait until the caulk is cured so I can shower in it! So, then it was back to work on the house. We got everything ready for the carpets and they went in on June 29th. Kit and Matt Smith arrived on the 28th and we all stayed out at the house from that point on. Matt stayed a couple of days and then took off with CA as his final destination. Kit's staying with us until he leaves on his next bike trip. This time he, Matt and another guy are headed to Alaska, or at least as far as they can get before it gets too snowy to pedal. They are leaving from WA in August. So, Matt and Kit were a HUGE help in moving out of Betsy's and in to our new home. They worked tirelessly for nothing more than food and beer! Cheap labor! 😊 hehehehe. We also had moving help from our good friend Kris-O...she was the packing queen!!! The task master! It definitely would have taken much
Broken Window
Did I mention that some jack*** decided it was a fun idea to break the window in my car? They didn't take anything...just broke the window...police said there's been a rash of these. more time to be moved out of Betsy's without her persistance! We can't thank her enough for her time! And our buddy John (known to some of you as Opie) also came over and gave a hand moving the giant fridge we own up the stairs to our kitchen. It was a task but we got it in. A part had busted over the winter so we're waiting for it to come in before we can have our in-door water and ice back. I can't tell you how excited I am at the prospect of having those back soon! It is definitely one of the little luxuries I missed about having our own place and that fridge!
As it stands now, we're slowing hacking away at moving in. We've still got A LOT to do but the most important room of the house is set up and fully funcitoning - my kitchen. I love to cook and it's so nice to have all my own stuff back....soon I'll be making bread and baking again!! Yeah. And having Kit around has been a blessing. He's been doing dishes and he mopped my floor yesterday. His help is invaluable. He is
Our 4th Anniversary
So, for our 4th anniversary, we spent the night at our new house for the first time...it was great! Duncan was a bit freaked out but he got over it! going to start working soon though...just part time for a buddy's company but it will be good and will leave him plenty of time to train also.
So, we still need to clean the concrete floor and have those guys come seal it (though now, we need to get all the boxes off it before we can clean it! 😊 And we still haven't even started the master bath. We're still debating what type of tile to do...so it's on hold. Of course, all the trim work still needs to be done, but it's low on the priority list as it's just for looks not for function! The big priority this weekend is cleaning up the yard and mowing down the tall-as-I-am weeds. It's funny, the soil that was on the property when we bought it, the area we haven't built on and no soil was brought in for, is fine...it's tall, but it's tall natural grass. Around the house, where top soil was brought in to fill back against the house, it's weed city....so we've got to mow them down before we can spray to kill them. But we need to get the yard taken care of so
Laundry Tile
This is Dadaw starting the laundry tile! that we can move around the outside of the house to do the siding. That's the last thing holding us back from converting our construction loan to a mortgage. The mortgage lender won't accept that the house is complete without siding! Go figure! 😊
We're hoping to get a lot done the next couple of weeks in preparation for our impending visitors! We're very excited to have Holly & Chad Ringo come for a visit on July 26 and Pat, Russ and Michael Morrison come on the 29th and are here through the 5th. I'm looking forward to the bit of vacation while they are here.
July 18, 2006
Well, it took 10 days but I finally got everything uploaded. We had our first bonfire in the cool fire pit Kit built for us last weekend. It went really well, we had a great time and so did all of those who joined us, at least they seemed to! I'll have some more pictures and stuff soon but this is a much slower process now that we don't have the internet at home. They don't run DSL or cable out that far so we're going to have
Dadaw & I
Snapped as he was laying the tile in our guest bath and I was taking off to the airport for Phoenix. to get a wireless broadband connection - kinda comes through a satellite...but we haven't gotten that set up yet. And we're not willing to go back to dial up! 😊 So, I will do my best to keep getting things up but it's just when I steal moments at work and if I go to a coffee shop either before or after work!
Hope you are all well!
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Kelly McCasland
non-member comment
Hi Cali! I love hearing all of your stories and seeing your pictures. Your house looks great, and I can't wait to come see y'all one day. I hope that you are able to finish soon and it turns out to be everything you hoped for. Would you do it again? Have fun with Holly and Ringo. love, kelly