Melissa, you had such a cute idea for Matt's birthday that I'm going to steal it and spotlight you!
Here are 10 things that make me smile when I think of you.....
1- "Fly Bys" now known more commonly as stalking. The good old days of cruising in the Astro Van by our favorite boy's houses.
2- Walker's Runs. Their tater babies were the best! Fateful Walker's runs where either brakes failed requiring the "Flintstone's" maneuveur, or the crash which awarded you seatbelt safety girl. Sorry about your nose!
3- Your amazing ability to write. One particular article about the Eastmont basketball team sticks out in my mind. Also, "Ode to the feather on the wing of a flightless bird". Coming up with the title of the poem was easy, the rest, we just gave up on because why mess with perfection?
4- "Please take me downstairs" We were playing Barbies and my Barbie was saying that. Before I knew it- BAM- Melissa had pulled me down so my Barbie was downstairs in an instant along with me. So funny!!!
5- Trips downtown to visit you at the U. I do remember one interesting movie choice you took Tina and me to. Yep, once the staircase scene came up and we heard the unzipping- we were out of there! Plus, you lived in a dorm at the Sill Center with shoes nailed to the wall. Crazy. But it was close to the Pie where the guy with super bad BO worked.
6- Your pink pepto bismol room. What were you thinking? I really can't complain because once you moved out and I moved in, I bought another pink bedspread and kept the pink love going.
7- Playing pet store on Sundays with the big green foam mats in the upstairs hallway. You were just talking about this the other day!
8- The upside-down-flying-saucer-cake-with-peppermint-frosting. It truly was an inspiration which could never be duplicated. This could also include our military size batches of mashed potatoes which turned into a huge food fight. We were mopping the ceiling afterwards. It was great!
9- All the fun things you do with the kids- Ashley and Adam have so much fun with you! Especially taking them to Yellowstone- that was so generous of you and they have great memories from it.
10- I'm so proud of all that you've accomplished. You are an awesome (yes, we're from the 80's) sister and I have so much fun with you. I love you!
4 months ago

Nothing says happy 13th anniversary, Honey, like the grinding of tile saws and a couple of days without a working shower. After discovering a mold problem in our main bathroom (I have a nose like a bloodhound, I could smell it just walking into the house!) we decided we had to replace the tile around the bathtub. Without much ventilation in the bathroom, and my asthma, it was pretty necessary. Not to mention the disco 70's yellow tile that surrounded the shower. Oh yeah... After MANY trips to Home Depot to decide, and about an hour just deciding on the grout color, we made our final purchases. We took down the old tile, and even the old sheetrock. There was definitely no going back at that point. Mark, the amazing handyman that he is, fixed the plumbing and did 99.9% of the manual labor. The .1% was me sweeping all the dust into the garbage cans, and handing him tools. It was like an operation room: "Phillips screwdriver"...handing over "torch"...handing over. As much as I dislike giving anything that produces a flame to Mark, it was necessary for the plumbing. The tiling was a lot slower than we figured, but in the end, it looks amazing! I included pictures, but it's really hard to get a good shot that shows how great it looks in a tiny bathroom. We got new shower doors, and new fixtures so basically our bathroom in entirely new at this point. Well, that is, until we tile the floors....maybe we'll tackle that one next week.
