A Perfect Ending to my Break - "Miss Potter"

Tonight we went to see "Miss Potter" starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, and it made a PERFECT ending to our Spring break. The movie follows very closely the life of Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit books and is filmed in some of the most beautiful parts of England, the Lake District. The movie made us laugh and also made us cry. It was a sweet and lovely film with surprising bits of whimsy to it. When I got home, I had to pop right online to see how much of it was based on truth and was delighted to find that it was virtually ALL exactly as it happened! (rare in screenplay!) Looking for a good film? Go see this one! I will be buying it as soon as it's released on DVD.

Our Latest "Project" - Stage One

For awhile now, we've been feeling the urge to do something with our rather dated and tired looking kitchen. After pricing various options (and recovering from the sticker shock involved) we recently decided there was a LOT we could do ourselves. After all, we built the entire apartment out at the winery, and while we aren't exactly ready to go on "This Old House", we felt pretty competent to do a lot of the work ourselves. So we've broken the project into "stages". Stage ONE is the cabinetry. We didn't want to buy new ones which were not as of a high quality wood as our old ones... so we decided to refinish our cabinets and change all the hardware. Ed has been sanding and stripping them down and discovered some really beautiful wood under that old reddish finish. The old copper strap hinges are gone as are the worn copper door pulls and in their place are some lovely new shiny nickel plated ones. Also added was some much needed undercabinet counter spot lighting. The result - a VERY new looking and MUCH brighter kitchen! STAGE ONE is a SUCCESS! The next stage... new flooring! Stay tuned as we rip up parquet wood, old vinyl and carpet and run slate from the dining room clear through to the sunroom! Oh, and don't call "Hometime" or "This Old House" - if it doesn't go well... we'll call Ty at "Extreme Home Makeover" ourselves!

Easter Fun

Spent a relaxing and quiet Easter this year at the home of our kids. Gretchen and Leon have a new dining room that needed official "breaking in" for a holiday... so the four of us did dinner over there. This was preceded by a beautiful service at Immanuel, complete with choirs and orchestra and absolutely gorgeous music and messages. Perhaps the funniest moment of the morning came when Leon was almost mugged by an overly enthusiastic bunch of youngsters during his "kids sermon" - let's just say they had obviously been into their Easter basket candy before they got to church!

So we relaxed and ate a marvelous dinner that consisted of rack of lamb, roasted asparagus, and new potatoes... there was even coconut cake for dessert! YUMMY! Leon gave me some pointers in PS3... well, as much as I can be taught anyway. The Lions lost to the Broncos in PS3 Madden football. (I will forever maintain that the altitude in Denver got to my team!) Bailey got lots of snuggles and play time too. All in all, a really nice day!