Small project, Big headache

Who would have thought that a brand new house would need any work and upgrades?? We didn’t. Not that our house didn't already come with a lot of upgrades, but the longer we live in this house, the more stuff we see we would like to change up a little bit. So….. we decided to start easy. Not that it has actually BEEN easy, but apparently that’s how it goes, and here's our story:

Ever since we moved in, the first thing we have wanted to do was install some more cabinets in the kitchen above the refrigerator. But it has been the biggest chore trying to find a custom cabinet manufacturer of the brand of cabinets that we have. Finally, in January, we tracked a manufacturer down…. in Denver though. So we kept searching, and in February, we tracked down someone here in the Springs. Yay!! Not that that really mattered though. We may as well have gone to Denver. It has been the biggest headache working with them that we almost decided to forego the project. (It has been everything from initially neglecting to order, to receiving damaged goods.) But they finally came through, 2.5 months later, and we have our cabinets. (And because it ended up being such a huge headache, for both them and us, they gave everything to us for free!!) Sooooooo, last Saturday we hung the cabinets and put in the finishing touches today. If anyone could have seen us at first, they would have laughed. We looked like the 3 stooges minus 1 (projects become kinda difficult when you have only ONE stud to work with!!). But, we got them up, for the most part, and they look great. However, it doesn’t stop there. Remember, this hasn’t been that easy of a process…… we still have to put in some scribe (that still hasn’t come in yet), and add some trim to the tops of all of the cabinets (that still hasn’t come in as well…. grrrrrr) to give it more of a finished look. There’s a lot more to this nut-shell of a story, so just ask next time you’re over and we’ll demonstrate visually for you. ;)

Here is the empty space before we put the cabinets up. Looks kinda naked without anything there.... or like they didn't feel like finishing the job....


After: Ta-da!! The almost finished product (because we're still waiting on the scribe and the trim – ugh!!).



We’ll add before and after pics of what the cabinets looked like before and after we put up the trim and scribe to this entry (IF they ever come in). So check back!! =)

We have other projects in mind, but we’ll keep you posted as to what we do or don’t do. We had previously laid out some plans for a walk-in shower, a fireplace, and some heated tile, but we think we’re gonna save those ideas for our next house – a house we plan to be in for many, many years. We are hoping to at least do some painting and installation of crown molding with our friends who are home project savvy and then see where we are at in life at that time before we proceed with any other projects. Life is only planning on getting busier for us though…….

Kobe and Casey

So we went to Mom and Dad Kelly's this weekend, and apparently Kobe wanted to come home with us..... he jumped in the backseat of Greg's car (the door was open, so apparently that was an open invitation!!) and didn't want to get out. We tried everything we could to get him to come out, and finally we had to coax him out with a treat. But even that took a bit of sweet talking - which is unusual for him!! Crazy dog!!


Here he is being a good boy. He can look mean, but he's such a BIG baby.... THE biggest chicken you'll ever meet!! ;)


And then we have Casey. Quite the little princess she is, and it shows!! She loves attention - any kind of attention!! And if you sit down on the floor and kinda spread your legs out a little bit, that apparently is her invitation to come and curl up and snuggle. So of course, Jen always feels the need to extend that invitation. ;)


Here she is, just as cute as can be..... until she feels the need to climb the trees and get sap all over her silly self. =)

I have a dream….

(By Jen)

For a couple of years now (WOW!! I usually don’t procrastinate like this!!), I have been ignoring and pushing aside a dream of mine, and today I took the first step towards that dream. For the past 7 years, I have thoroughly enjoyed working in every aspect of the Radiology department and being an X-ray tech, but in the back of my mind, I always knew that I didn’t want to be one forever. I went back and forth, trying to decide if I wanted to work in the C.T. (cat scan) department or the Mammography department....... and Mammography always seemed to come out on top. Today, after many hours of research and phone calls, I finally went in and had a meeting with the Department Supervisor and some of the tech’s at Memorial Hospital and started to get the ball rolling. I even got to assist with some exams!! It was an absolutely fantastic day!! There are many many more steps to be taken and this will not be an “easy” process, but I will fill you in on all of the events and my decisions about all of this as time goes by. Pray for me as I seek to fulfill God’s plan for my life and aid in the fight against breast cancer.

(Today, 40 years ago, was the day MLK Jr was killed. Hence the reason for the Blog title..... and because I personally have a dream as well. Seems fitting, doesn't it??) ;)

God's Miracles

(By Greg)

I had a lady yesterday morning call up asking for cost basis information on when they (joint account for her husband and her) bought several stocks (their CPA was asking for it).

After placing her on hold and looking up the information, I got back on the line, and she asked me my name, and I told her Greg. She said her son's name was Greg and that he died several years ago and her husband is in the early stages of dementia/alzheimer's. She has no clue about this stuff and as she picked up the phone yesterday morning she said a quick prayer, "...Greg where are you?..." in regards to her son helping her...

She was an extremely nice and grateful lady!

That was just cool to see God working and being a part of His plans in life! =)

Spring Fever

Spring has sprung here in good ol’ Colorado, and do you know what that means?? Snow!! Crazy, huh?? The weather has been teasing us lately and we wish it would just pick something and stay with it. Preferably the warmth. ;) When it actually HAS been somewhat warm outside, we’ve been grabbing our rackets and playing tennis. We’re not totally awesome yet, but we’ll get there!! However, playing tennis does make us realize how old we’re getting….. because after about an hour of playing, our knees hurt so bad we limp back to the car in agony. (Yes, it’s sad that both of us have bad knees at such a young age.)
We’ve also been doing some “sharing” this past week. Both of us had been hit with a pretty bad cold - first Greg, and then Jen. We had Kleenex, cold medicine, ice water, and chicken noodle soup stocked up and ready to go like you wouldn’t believe!!
Goodbye March!! Can you believe that tomorrow is April, and that the year is already ¼ of the year over!!??

CFA Studying

(By Greg)

Well, it's been 2+ months and I'm about 95% of the way through my 4000 pages of material. After I finish the remaining 200 pages (this week), the next 2+ months will include: review, review, review and taking practice test after practice test after practice test until the real test on June 7th.

The last section I'm working on right now is Quantitative Analysis and Ethics (do they even teach Ethics anymore in Business School?). I ran across an equation this morning in my quant studying and thought I'd pass it along to everyone!

I'm sure you'll find it just as humorous as I did! This is the "Variance of a 3-asset portfolio."

You can click on the picture to open it in a new window to get a better view:

Saltgrass Superstars

This morning we had some fun and went to to watch Brian play basketball out at TCA. He and two of his work friends played 3 on 3 for a charity league, and their team was called the "Saltgrass Superstars." Below are some short videos of the event: