Happy Halloween

Eldon's co-worker invited us to a Halloween party so we had to come up with great costumes.

So we went as Maverick and Goose! We got flight suits and some patches from an army surplus store and decorated Eldon's 4-wheeler helmet. Then we grabbed some aviator sunglasses, got some dogtags made, gave Eldon a mustache and we were good to go!

We got requests to sing "You've lost that lovin' feeling" I just didn't want to make everyone go deaf so we passed. It was pretty fun!

Home Sweet Home

I have been putting off posting pictures because I wanted to wait until the house was perfect...I soon realized it would never be perfect or finished. So I decided to just put up pictures of what we have and when we update stuff we can add new pictures. There are still some specific things we need, like cabinet storage in our bathrooms above the toilet and other things, but for the most part, we are settled into our first home. 

We started off with a few projects and painting

For a while all we had in our freezer were Otter Pop...I mean a LONG while

We had to install some recessed outlets so we could hang the TV and all the wires went through the wall to behind our entertainment center shelf. I also had to figure out a way to stop our shower caddy from falling off, so I bent out a rectangular bracket and screwed it on. And many already know of the difficulties we had getting our dryer to fit in the closet and the recessed bibs and rearranging the pipes and and cutting drywall and tile everything that went along with that.

Our next project was building our entertainment center to surround our fireplace, putting up the trim and painting the mantle.

No visible wires, HOORAY!

We painted the living room, kitchen, guest bathroom, guest bedroom (that's right, we have space for guests so come visit us!) office and our bedroom. I bought a rug for under our table, put up some floating shelves and other decorations. I also got rid of the horrible closet doors in our bedroom and installed a curtain instead. We are still yet to hang our DVD racks that we made a couple years ago, but I think we are very happy with how everything is coming along. 

Our kitchen, dinning area and living room

Our fireplace. (I've turned into Mom, I have a vase with just sticks in it!)

This frame was made for us by Leanne Heuer (sort of my second Mom, Thanks Leanne!) for our wedding and now holds the key to our first home!

Our "Beachy-ish" bedroom with a "girl station" (term coined by Lee) for me complete with
a purse rack I made to keep all my purses and bags contained

The guest bathroom. The pictures don't really do justice to the color in there;
it's an olive color, like the top of a palm tree... it's really very pretty

Since I got palm trees everywhere, Eldon got a spot for a little bit of baseball. 

This is our office. I am going to add a collage of his old baseball cards and try to find an old jersey to add. The eagle picture was given to him special when he became an Eagle Scout.

And for those who were worried, don't be, Duke has a good sized yard to run around and play in, he's just fine. Next summer our project will be to pour a concrete patio and create a nice spot for a BBQ, another reason to come visit us :) 

Slingball Tournament

Forgot to post this a while ago...
Eldon's boss, Bob, is friends with a man whose mother died of MS. In remembrance of her and to help find a cure, he and his father started a Slingball Tournament on the beach to raise money. Bob invited us to join them this year. It turns out this is a big thing, they had a bracket with about 130 people. It was a double elimination tourney that lasted two days. Bob and his family went along with a few others from Eldon's work.
So slingball is basically what we know as Ladder Ball or Lawn Golf, the game where you have to land the rope with golf balls on the end on one of the rungs worth 3, 2, or 1 point. The only two differences are that one: it is not played in teams, you are playing just one-on-one and the second difference is that behind the bottom rung is another one worth four points. Everything else is the same.
We headed out to the coast on Friday night where we stayed in a nice beach house. The tournament started Saturday morning. I lost my first game and was knocked into the loser's bracket. Eldon, however, won. A while later I played again and barely pulled out a win. Eldon's next game, another win. My next game, I had to play the girlfriend of Dennis, one of Eldon's co-workers that came with us. I was losing pretty bad but was able to catch up and win again. Eldon-another win. My next was my last game, unfortunately. I lost and that was it for me. Eldon, on the other hand, kept moving his way through the bracket not loosing one game. Saturday ended with Eldon in the Semis. The next morning Eldon continued to win and was in the championship. Since it was double elimination, even though Eldon had already beat this guy, he had to do it again. It was close, but the dark horse won the entire tournament. There is a tradition that when the winner takes the podium they bring out his trophy with beer in it. Bob, knowing we don't drink and not wanting Eldon to be uncomfortable, told the guy this. So last year's winner said Eldon could dump the beer on his head. So he did. Great photo opp. He also won a free night stay at the inn on the beach where we were and a free dinner at the steak house there. It was a very fun win for the underdog that no one knew! Very fun weekend all round.

The Most Amazing Play

 ...I have ever seen! Although, considering the only live performances I have seen are school plays, the bar wasn't set too high. But still, that doesn't change the fact that Wicked was truly amazing!! 

So Wicked is in Portland for a while and it seemed like our young woman had seen it and they were all talking about it and how great it was. Meanwhile, Heather Lott (our YW 1st counselor) and I were sitting in the back of the room, all lonely and loser-ish becuase we have never seen it. Heather decided we should go, so we did. We decided to do a girls night with a few of the YW leaders. We went to dinner at Red Robin's then headed to downtown for the show. And I gotta say, it lived up to all the hype! Indescribable voices, awesome sets, great acting, very funny and interesting story, just a fantastic night in all.

Ready for Combat

Recently Eldon and I got to go do a tactical airsoft simulation day that was really fun! We went with our friend Parker and a group of his coworkers from Nike. We were supplied with jumpsuits, face masks, goggles and sweet airsoft riffles. 

The Crew

The place was pretty cool. They had what they called "The Village" set up with bunkers, towers, and other forts with camo netting. They also had their own team called the Opp For (or opposing force) that we were against (they were pretty intimidating with their full camo gear, radio headsets, sidearms and so on). We got to play all kinds of fun games. The first game our team was in control of the village and had to protect a suitcase full of money (they had copies of the front of a hundred dollar bill which they placed on top of stacks of cut up magazines and bound them together to make fat bundles of fake cash). The Opp For had to sneak in and steal the suitcase. They didn't even make it into our camp long enough to start looking for the case. Then we switched, so they had to protect the case and we had to find it. To, I think everyone's surprise, we got the case relatively easy. We had split into two groups, one to distract and draw their teams to one side while the others snuck around and stole it from the back... long story short, our groups ended up switched; our group got dropped off in a different location then we expected, walked right into the back side of their camp and ran into no one. Our group ended up stealing the case while the other group had taken out the Opp For on the other side. We also got to run a VIP protection. I was the VIP so Eldon and I snuck through the woods on the right while the rest of our team created a decoy protection circle around one of the other guys and went out the main path. Eldon got shot just yards from the drop off spot and since the VIP didn't get a gun, I had to make a run for if. I got about 10 ft from safety when I finally got shot. Then we did a hostage rescue where we had to rescue Eldon from their camp. Our friend Parker made the heroic rescue while the rest of us took out their team. We did a little capture the flag and other small games too. It was super fun, and very tiring running around the woods all day!

Niners and Norman

I realize this is a very late post and everyone already knows but I promised I would put up pictures. So here are pictures of the AMAZING Niners game Eldon took me to for Christmas on Christmas Eve day and pictures of the Norman Rockwell picture that we finally got framed (all handmade and completely custom). It was our Christmas present from Eldon's family. It is up on our wall and looks fantastic. Thanks again for that guys, we love it and appreciate all the effort that went into that!

You'd think he would look more excited...
 it takes a lot to get him to smile in pictures, oh well

About to score! GO NINERS!!

Hand painted lines

Here's a few pictures from our Christmas in Washington too. Opening presents, sledding and paintballing.

All the boys got RC helicaopters

Kyren's new McQueen slippers

Shirts from Ethan from Guatemala 

Cleaning Tips

For some of those real nasty stains, smells and messes, I found some awesome solutions...

BATHROOM ODORS: Place a shallow dish of baking soda behind the toilet to absorb bathroom odors.

CANDLE WAX: To remove wax from carpeting you should first scrape away any excess. Then, using a warm iron and a clean cloth or even a paper bag simply place the iron on top of the cloth over the wax and as you iron it will adhere to the cloth instead of the carpet. Continue moving the cloth around as you pick up the wax so you are always using a clean section of cloth. If a little grease stain remains sprinkle on baking soda and let sit overnight before vacuuming which will remove the grease residue and deodorize at the same time! If colored wax leaves a stain, blot with spot remover or carpet cleaner, following label directions.

CHIMNEY: To keep your chimney clean, throw a handful of salt on the fire.
CHROME: To remove rust from chrome, wipe it with aluminum foil dipped in Coke. To polish chrome, use a crumbled up piece of aluminum foil and rub!

CLOUDY DRINKING GLASSES: Soak them for an hour or longer in slightly warm (not boiled) white vinegar. Then use a nylon-net or plastic scrubbie to remove film. Still there? The damage must be etching (tiny scratches that occur in the dishwasher) and is permanent, sorry to say. To avoid this altogether, hand-wash your best glasses.

COFFEE GRINDER: Grind up a cup or so of rice in a coffee grinder to clean the grinder and sharpen its blades.

COPPER: To polish copper, rub an ample amount of catsup on the copper and let it stand for 5 minutes. Rinse off the catsup with hot water and dry to find an incredible shine.

CRAYON ON WALLS OR WASHABLE WALLPAPER: Spray with multipurpose lubricating oil. Then gently wipe, using a paper towel or clean white cloth. If mark is stubborn, sprinkle a little baking soda on a damp sponge and gently rub in a circular motion. If lubricants residue remains, dampen a sponge with a solution of one or two drops of mild dish-washing liquid to one cup water. Squeeze out sponge and gently rub in a circular motion. Rinse sponge; lightly moisten with water to go over area; dry with a clean cloth. Another method is to use a blow dryer. It heats the wax and wipes away instantly. If the color reamins behind, like red usually does, wet a cloth with bleach and wipe.

DEODORIZE: dishes, pans, cutting boards or utensils with those same pungent odors, simply add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to your dishwater.

FIREPLACE SOOT ODOR: To diminish and remove this odor, after you clean out the ashes, place a shallow pan of baking soda for a few hours or overnight in the fireplace.

FISH OR OTHER SPOILED FOOD ODOR: Place a bowl of white vinegar on the counter for a few hours. The odor will disappear for good.

FRESHEN A GARBAGE DISPOSAL: Sprinkle baking soda in it along with a few drops dish-washing liquid. Scrub with a brush (a new toilet brush works great), getting under the rubber gasket and all around the inside. Then turn on water and the disposal and flush thoroughly. For a fresh citrus scent, throw in a few cut-up lemons or limes and run them through, too, using lots of water.

FRESHEN LAUNDRY BASKET: Place a fabric softener sheet in the bottom of your laundry basket (remember to change it weekly.) You can also simply sprinkle some baking soda in the bottom of your basket and that will help absorb the odors as well.

FRESHEN LINEN CLOSET: In the linen closet place cotton balls that have been sprayed with your favorite scent. Once they are dry place them in corners and on the shelves.

INK STAINS: The best way I have found to get out ink stains is to put rubbing alcohol on the stain - it disappears! This must be done before washing. For ink on the wall, wipe with bleach and it will disappear.

KITTY LITTER: To keep cat litter fresh smelling, mix baby powder in with the litter.

MICROWAVE ODORS: Keep a cup of baking soda in the microwave between uses to keep potatoes from smelling like bacon or other unusual combinations! To clean baked-on food quickly, simply fill a measuring cup full of water and turn the microwave on for about 1-2 minute, until you see the water boiling. The moisture makes all the old food easily wipe off!

MOTHBALL SUBSTITUTE: Take your leftover soap slivers and put them in a vented plastic bag. You place the bag with seasonal clothes before packing them away. Not only will the scent prevent them from moth harm but also they'll smell great when you pull them out.

PAINT ON CARPET: Spray with Windex® and wipe clean.

PERMENANT MARKER ON CARPET: Dab a washcloth soaked in rubbing alcohol onto the marker stain. Do not rub it - just blot it - rotating the cloth to a clean spot every time.

PET URINE ON CARPET: First, blot up what you can with paper towels. Mix one teaspoon mild dish-washing detergent in one cup warm water, dip a clean towel in the liquid and, working from outside in, dab at stain. Do not overwet. Rinse with fresh water and blot dry. Next, add on-third cup white vinegar with two-thirds cup water and dab on stain. Rinse with water; blot until dry. Once area is totally dry (after at least 24 hours), sprinkle entire carpet with baking soda or rug deodorizer. Vacuum after a few hours.

PHOTOS STUCK TOGETHER: With a hair dryer on low, slowly melt them apart.

ROACH PROBLEM: Combine equal parts boric acid (a powder sold in hardware stores and drugstores) and sugar, mix well. Sprinkle in crevices and, if building or remodeling, between walls before putting up plaster board. Put the powder in jar lids; place lids behind the fridge and under sinks. Caution: Keep mixture away from children and pets. If ingested in large quantities, or even in small amounts over several days, boric acid can be harmful.

SHOWER DOORS: I have clear glass shower doors. I have tried everything from CLR, Comet, to Clorox - you name it, I've tried it. Today I decided to try something different. I found a bottle of Resolve spot remover for carpet and fabric. I figured "Why not? I have tried everything else." All I did was spray the Resolve on the shower and with no effort ran a dish sponge over it and rinsed and every bit of the soap scum came off.

SMELLY COOKING HANDS: Simply rub your hands over a stainless steel utensil under running water. This works especially well for the odor of garlic, onions or fish.

SMELLY SNEAKERS: Simply fill knee-high stockings with unused litter, tie the ends and tuck them in overnight for a quick refresh. Add baby powder, too! Another refresher for smelly sneakers is to simply take a few teaspoons of baking soda and put in the center of a cotton cloth. Tie the cloth and rubber band the edges securely creating a baking soda sachet, which you put in the shoes overnight as well. These sachets can be used over and over in any kind of shoe.

SOUR SPONGE: Soak the sponge in lemon juice and rinse it out. This will remove the odor for good but keep in mind that it is important to either dispose of, microwave, or run your sponge through your dishwasher regularly to keep bacteria from growing.

STAINS IN PLASTIC STORAGE CONTAINERS: Use a baking soda paste (baking soda and water) and rub into the stain. You can then rinse with vinegar (optional) and wash normally. Another method is to place container outside on a nice sunny day and the sun actually bleaches the stain out. To avoid stains in the first place, spray container with cooking spray before putting things in it that stain i.e. spaghetti sauce.

STICKERS, DECALS, AND GLUE: To remove them from furniture, glass, plastic, etc. saturate with vegetable oil and rub off.

TARNISHED SIVERWARE: Line a cake pan with aluminum foil. Fill with water and add 1 Tbls. of baking soda per 2 cups of water. Heat to 150 degrees. Lay silverware in pan, touching aluminum foil. Watch the stains disappear!

TRASH BAG IDEA: Save money on trash bags by reusing plastic grocery bags. Use them in all your trash cans. To keep them from slipping down, affix a plastic, self-adhesive hook to both sides of the inside of the trash can. Hang the shopping bag from the hooks.

WHITE HEAT MARKS AND WATER RINGS ON WOOD: If the wood has a good finish (don't try on bare wood), mix equal parts of baking soda and regular white, non-gel toothpaste. Lightly dampen corner of a clean, soft white cloth with water and dip into the paste. With circular motion gently buff the marks for a few minutes. Wipe area clean, and buff to a shine. Follow with furniture polish. (If rings remain after buffing five minutes or so, they may have penetrated the wood; you might have to refinish the piece). If that doesn't work, dip a cloth in vegetable oil, then in cigarette ashes, then rub it over the mark. Another method is to rub real mayonnaise onto the stain, allow to sit overnight, then wipe with a dry towel.