A lot has happened over the last year…..yep it’s been that long since I’ve written.  I’m really sorry for that.  It’s a lame excuse I know, but I really have been busy.

I started renovating the house in April of last year and have gotten so much done.  It really looks great and has made living there seem less overwhelming.

I started with a new sewer pipe from the house to the city line.  Pretty exciting huh?  But what it means is that the sewer will never back up into the basement because of tree roots again….which it did several times while I lived there.  Yuck! 

Next my mom and sister scraped and painted one of the rooms upstairs for my friend Lisa to move into.  Then I had carpet laid.  That was the best looking room in the house for quite a while.  =)

Next the guys came in added a shower on the second floor so Lisa could have her own area.  Then they demo’d the downstairs bathroom and what used to be called the nursery.  Gregg and I had used that as a huge closet really.

Now I have a huge walk in closet where the old pink bathroom used to be and a really large master bath where the nursery was.

I had all new electrical/phone and for the first time ever CAT5 run in the house.  Even the garage got power and garage door openers!  The house officially moved into a new millennium.

I got all new appliances in the kitchen – including a gas stove (which was quite a feat) and added a powder room where my washer/dryer used to be and moved those out to the mud room.

The kitchen was recently painted as well as the dining room and all the new bathrooms. 

Next I replaced all the 100 plus year old original windows in the brick part of the house with new “wood” windows that still have real looking divided lights and screen and all goodies.  They look wonderful with the house.

Then I had the house painted and added some decorative eave brackets.

It looks so great now.

I still have quite a few things I want to do…..new kitchen floor.  New front door and all new deadbolt locks.  The yard could use some help…..one place I don’t have much talent in the way of….

A lot of other things have happened over the year too.

I got a new boss at work last June.  He’s young and full of ideas and enthusiasm.  We get along really well.

Lisa and Adam both left EAA for greener pastures….and found them.  =)  Lisa is at Plexus and Adam at Neenah Papers.

Adam and I started dating in late August.  Many of you were probably, not surprised by that…..maybe some of you were…..I think I was.  =)

Lisa and I took an awesome trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico in October.  Had a great time….although we did meet Montezuma’s and his revenge.  =)

The Ford Family spent Christmas at my sister’s home in Virginia Beach.  What a beautiful place it is.  Renee and Bill have bought property in the Charlottesville area (Virginia Wine Country) in the Blue Ridge Mountains and are currently building vacation home on it.  Someday they would like there to be a bed and breakfast and a vineyard on the property as well.

The beginning of the year brought all kinds of excitement.  I applied for another job here at EAA as the head of the IAC (International Aerobatics Club) a division of EAA.  After what seemed like months of negotiation I was offered and accepted.  In fact, this week is my first week with the IAC.

I’m learning a whole new facet of aviation and am really excited about it.  I’ve been with EAA for about seven and a half years.  The last 4 plus with NAFI.  It’s a big change, but one I think will be good for me.  http://www.eaa.org/news/2009/2009-02-18_iac.asp  It’s kinda crazy because there are press release’s on a lot of aviation organizations website’s about little ol’ me.

At the end of January, Adam, Lisa and I took a trip with a local outdoors club to the Munising, MI Ice Festival.  We had a super time climbing, and snowshoeing for three days.

Lisa returned and came down with pleurisy and Adam developed mono a few weeks later….  Somehow yours truly (knock wood) had managed to avoid all this.    A very good thing because at the moment I am doing my old job and my new job, so time is not something I have the luxury of.

I’ve also been studying to take my written exam for my Private Pilot License.  Janet and I have been getting together once or twice a week so she can help me decipher the FAA’s language.  She’s doing a fantastic job of too, I must say.

So, I guess the moral of this post is, Life Is Good…..and extremely busy.  =)

T

P.S – If any of you are on Facebook, look me up!  Lot's more pix there.