New Floors!

One thing I really missed about our old house was the laminate wood floors we installed. Once we moved into the new house in July of 2010 we were back to carpet again. I despise carpet.  I even more despise carpet with all the dogs running in and out with muddy feet, coffee trails from the kitchen to the office and just regular nasty floors over a short time.  Plus these carpets were a light gray, the kitchen and landings were white linoleum, also not good for messy people and pets!

So, the last two weeks have been dedicated to replacing ALL of the floors on the main floor of the house (aside from the bathroom - it was the only decent floor in the whole house).  We put down laminate wood again in the main rooms and got lucky in finding a great match to the knotty pine wood walls.  For the three outer door landings and the kitchen we chose a beige marbled ceramic tile.  And I'm in love!

Here are some before and after photos - click for larger view.

Loft View

Living Room 

Front of Living Room After:

Kitchen After

Bedroom After

Red River Gorge & Natural Bridge

Last weekend we joined C. and C. for a weekend get away to celebrate Mr. C's birthday.  We rented a small, cozy cabin in the Red River Gorge area called the Star Gap.

We relaxed and played cards on Friday and then on Saturday we decided to hike up to Natural Bridge.  What a hike!  We took the "easy" trail and after getting up it we all decided we'd hate to see what the other trails were like.  It was a difficult climb at times, but it was overall fantastic.  The view from on top of Natural Bridge was gorgeous, and a bit scary at the same time with the wind gusts up that high.  We stayed at the top for half an hour or so and then made the hike back down, which went much faster.

Once back at the cabin we took a much needed soak in the hot tub, had another fantastic dinner and vegged for the evening.  It was a great trip and a much needed get away.

All Trip Photos

Our fabulous chefs of the weekend:

Trail to Natural Bridge:

Standing on top of Natural Bridge

The view from Natural Bridge.  We walked over to that cliff as well.

A view down from the cliff. We could see the car from here!

10 Favorite Sites for Procrastinating

As I procrastinate a bit today, I thought I'd share my 10 favorite humorous and interesting blog subscriptions.  Enjoy!  :)

• Damn You Auto Correct!


• Texts From Last Night


• Fail Blog


• Fail Blog After Dark


• Failbook


• Hyperbole and a Half


• The Oatmeal


• Cute Overload


• Bent Objects by Terry Border


• Mental Floss

Jason Aldean / Chris Young & Thompson Square Concert

Last night C. and I went to the Kentucky State Fair to see Jason Aldean and Chris Young in concert and it was fantastic!  We left the house 3 hours before the concert so we could walk around the fairgrounds for a while before the concert started.  Little did we know it would take us over 2 hours to get to the fairgrounds.  Trimarc signs nicely told us that the main gates were closed and routed us to a different gate.  We thought, WTF, who closes the main gates on the first Saturday of a state fair for a sold out concert?!  So for 2 hours we sat in backed up traffic, maneuvered around several vehicles that had over heated and finally made it to the gates - where we found that the main gates were actually open and probably would have saved us at least an hour.  Thanks a lot Trimarc!

Once we got there we headed to the exhibition hall to get C. a custom fitted toe ring.  It was then that we realized her wallet wasn't in her purse.  Uh oh.  We called the last place we stopped to see if it was there before making the long treck back to the truck.  Luckily, her wallet was in the truck, having slid down the seat and into the back floorboard.  Shoo, that was a close one!

So then, we make the long treck back to Freedom Hall where the concert had already started with the opening acts.  By the time we got back we decided we needed a good cold one, and I wanted to get a t-shirt.  After more line standing, and C. not being able to get a shirt due to the credit card machine crapping out, we snagged one more cold one and headed up to our seats.  From then on, the night was fantastic!  We got into the Chris Young concert just when he was playing his best songs.  Perfect timing!

During the break between Chris Young and Jason Aldean, we took a bathroom break and decided to get one more cold one.  After standing in line for 20 minutes and still 15 people back from the beer stand it was announced that all the beer was sold out.  Nice.  So we moved over to another line for another good 5 minutes when we heard them announcing Jason Aldean.  At that point we abandoned our nice, cold beer and high tailed it back to our seats (which we never actually sat in).

This was probably one of the best, if not the best, concert I have ever been to.  Our seats were perfect, especially for the price we got them for.  We were side-stage and close enough to get a good view of the band members, plus they always have the big screens for the close-ups.  It was a great night out, despite all of our hurdles, and well worth everything!

And of course, some photos:

The equipment trucks - there were 4 of these plus the tour bus:

Our picture with Jason  ;)

Chris Young & Thompson Square

Jason Aldean

Nature and Stuff

It's been a while since I've blogged.  What can I say, it's been a busy month!  But that doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying the wildlife around the house. I even actually dusted off the camera to snag a couple of photos.  I was trying to get the pair of chipmunks that have taken up residence in the rock bed around one of the trees, but the bunny and the birds were the only critters cooperating with me.

Bunny Foo Foo

Ready for Take Off!

As for me, I'm doing fantastic.  I finished up my radiation treatment about a month ago and am finally feeling back to my old self again.  Once fall rolls around I plan to start back on my P90X workouts.  Unfortunately with my surgery and treatments, my first two months of hardwork has reverted back to ground zero due to not being able to work out and not sticking to a good diet.  But, I'll get it all straightened out in due time.  For now I'm busy working and spending at least one day a week lounging by the pool and enjoying summer.  The garden is growing, the critters are abundant and the weekends are full of good times with friends.  Life is good!  :)

Stormy Summer Sunset

As three rounds of tornado producing storms were passing through, they sky was beautiful just at sunset!  This is typical for spring to early summer in Kentucky.  Luckily, we didn't have any damage.

The Waggin' Trail

This morning my friend Christina and I walked the Waggin' Trail for the Kentucky Humane Society at E.P. Tom Sawyer. Christina brought Molly, her blue heeler mix, and I brought Giant Dawg.  Both dogs (and humans) thoroughly enjoyed the walk!  There were lots of people and dogs attending, which is great because that means lots of money was raised for the cause.  It was a 3 mile walk, but Giant Dawg got hot and tired out about half-way through.  He is very hairy and it was in the mid-80's. I've never seen him drool so much.  My spare shirt became a slobber rag and was pretty much soaked by the time we were done. This is the first time I've had him out with a large group of people and dogs and he did fantastic.  I look forward to taking him to more of these!

Giant Dawg - all tuckered out: