To Kill a Mocking Bird

Internet, we have a problem. You see, there is this bird. And he is mocking us. Taunting us. Daily. Constantly. Without ceasing. Am I making myself clear?

Actually, there have been two birds. For whom the phrase "bird brain" was certainly invented. When we first moved into this house, a red cardinal made himself our most unwelcome one-bird welcoming committee. He became obsessed with his reflection in our front window, and began hurling himself at it over and over. We read about this phenomenon online, and decided to try a few ideas to solve the problem.

First, we cut out a picture of an owl and placed it in the window. They are supposed to be intimidated by owls as they are considered a predator. Our own Mocking Birds, however, appear to love the life of danger.

You have to understand this problem is worse than it might seem, which would explain why we quickly developed some violent tendencies. See, our next tactic in trying to dissuade the dang bird was developing what we like to call the "torture strip of death". Michael cut out a strip of cardboard in the shape of the window ledge, and poked about 100 4" long nails through it --- thus turning the simple ledge into the now patented Torture Strip of Death. It worked! Not having a place to stand, the red cardinal never returned (he didn't die, though, as far as we know, which is good - we really aren't morbid, we just wanted to consider him dead to us, you know, like we could pretend we never knew him, even if we later met and accidentally made eye contact in public).

Our triumph was short-lived, though, as soon, a long-legged blue bird took his place. He couldn't care less about the pokey perch, as he was tall enough to just stand between the nails while resting in between short kamikaze flights.

We simply can't get him to go away. Even though Bear considers him a friend, he is very likely to send us right over the cuckoo's nest. Just listen to that little video over and over, and over and over, and at full volume (keeping in mind this is a day when he probably had taken some Prozac), and try to get some work done while you're at it. Do this daily, then repeat. I guarantee you after just five minutes, one eye will start twitching uncontrollably, you may notice some smoke coming out of your ears, and you will certainly be swearing a little under your breath, even if your vocabulary is usually as clean as a re-run on Nickelodeon. If he could at least keep a steady beat, I could make up a little tune to go along with it, or better yet - I could start practicing my secretly desired skill of beatboxing.

So what to do? We need help, Internet. We don't necessarily want to kill the little wackos, even though I do admit to stalking them with a BB gun for a week, until we decided that probably wasn't the best way to introduce ourselves to the neighbors, you know, becoming known as those "crazy young kids who hide behind the columns on their front patio exercising their right to bear arms in the middle of the day, occasionally aiming for their own front windows while smoke is streaming from their ears and profanities streaming from their mouths."

Hide your chil'ren, y'all.

Moreover, I realized that even if I were to succeed and send that Little Bugger over the rainbow, another winged creature would soon take his place, trying to prove it is a Wild Thing! And, in general, I LOVE the Wild Things! This is what makes me crazy! I love all the rest of the little birdies who live in our yard. Their chirping and singing makes us feel like we are in the tropics, or living in an animated Disney film. I will whistle a cheerful tune as I build them their own luxury pool and spa (and outdoor bath!) and stock it with well-fed wiggly worms. I will gladly sponsor their children's fundraisers, or host a summer camp for feathered friends in my backyard. Hey, I already got my mom across the street a very nice bird feeder for Mother's Day (with enough "gourmet" bird seed included to feed multiple winged creatures). So, since I am technically supporting many other birds in the neighborhood, this should make up for my ill-will toward the Mocking Birds at my window, right?

There must be a way for us to all get along. So, Internet, we are open to suggestion, and willing to engage in (mild) torture if that's what it takes, as we ourselves have now been tortured daily for weeks. Simply flipping the bird the bird just doesn't seem to be working.

Ok, got to (peck peck) stop (peck) writing (peck peck peck peck) now (pa peck pa peck peck) as he is (peckpeckpeckpeck) ... wait, what the (PECK) was I just saying (peckity peck PECK)?

Hello, Cuckoo's Nest?

Yes, RESERVATION FOR ONE, PLEASE.

Home Sweet Home

Ok, by request, here are some photos of the house. You have to remember that we will be tiling over the white vinyl floors, so just picture some lovely slate in its place.

We are so very comfortable here. We still can't believe this is all ours. Especially as we've watched the pool progress. For years we've dreamed of building a backyard paradise, with a pool and palm trees. Now it is coming to fruition and it's just too cool. We feel very fortunate, and in small ways we are seeing some rewards for our sacrifices.

The leaves on the trees have finally come in, so right now everything is vibrant and lush outside. It's a great time of year to be here!

View from above ...

Here's a shot of the pool from the music room upstairs. You can get a good feel for the layout, including the spa on the left rear side which will flow over into the pool, and a large "beach entry" on the right ... for adults on lounge chairs, or kids (ahem, like little nephews, hint hint).

We're scheduled to be swimming by the end of April, so if you'd like to join us, please feel free!

Pool Cam

Check out the "Pool Cam".



If it is dark, well then it be night.

Get a Move On

I am that girl. She who makes promises then doesn’t deliver. I dislike that girl. What’s even worse than me not blogging the way I should is the fact that MichaelandSharon.com was actually down for 5 whole days. So, an apology to my three readers (up 50 percent!) if you were checking for updates on the move. But needless to say, we were busy moving, and not busy blogging. Plus, our website is actually hosted from our house, so when the server was in transit and disconnected, so was the site.

But anyway, we are all moved in to the new house! By moved in, I mean our stuff is physically moved out of the Del Valle (ghetto) house and into the new (beautiful) Elgin house. Just don’t ask me to find anything in the 3100 square foot expanse of space that makes our voices echo. We almost need Garmin Electra to get us around. So far, the only things I’m sure of are where our computers are, the coffee grinder and maker, my ice packs and meds, and Bear’s toys. Finding everything else is of little significance at the moment (in fact as I write this, we are 1600 miles away from all that unpacking ... more on that in a bit!).

This week of moving and all the little details that go with it will certainly go down in the old memory book hall of fame. Our lovely friend Bob came out for a week to join in all the fun that moving entails. Fully appreciating our best friend’s strength and military-worthy work ethic, we may have over-estimated our joint abilities just a bit too much. Looking back now, I realize with regret and muscles so sore I can barely squat to pee, we should have hired help. “Two Guys and a Truck” is a catchy slogan for a local moving company, but it is really not reasonable and I don’t recommend trying it.

Michael and Bob (with major assistance from my mama and minor assistance from my dad and me and our retarded backs) moved all of our belongings, and some of my parents’. Earlier in the week they moved well over 4,000 pounds of slate tile, hung blinds in all 28 windows, and picked up my gargantuan new washer and dryer, among other chores.

Part of our belongings Michael and Bob moved by themselves included my upright piano (approx weight: 479 pounds) and our 36” TV while inside the entertainment center (total weight approx 502 back-breaking pounds). Are you impressed with them yet or what? This includes going up and down the steep 10 foot ramp into the truck.

I was fully prepared to offer my piano a beautifully moving eulogy as I imagined laying her to rest after she shattered all over the driveway. But she emerged in all her lacquered glory, unscathed and ready to play (after a good tune-up, anyway).

You may have seen those “forearm forklifts” in the pictures (the bright orange straps they are wearing around their wrists). Those proved to be worth every cent of the $24.95 plus shipping and handling we spent on them. So I would recommend those for you the next time you move, but of course you will need more than one set as you will not have just Two Guys and a Truck.

-- Gallery Photos of the Move Here --

Another End in Sight

We finally see the finish line on our house. They've given us a walk-through date of Feb 18, with a "guestimated" move-in date of the 28th. I am very thankful we get an extra day before the end of the month as our lease is up the last day.

Bobby - true to his loyal form - has decided to come help us move! He'll be staying with us the entire week. I'm so thankful for friends like him (for more reasons than just his muscles).

So nearing the ending on construction is kind of bittersweet in that I'm very excited to move in, get out of this neighborhood, spread out, have a pool put in, etc. But I'm dreading the work that lays ahead for us as well. More than just the moving, since we decided to do a lot of the finish work ourselves we have a mountain of tasks awaiting. Tile, paint, fixtures, landscaping, blinds etc ... all in good time.

We have been very happy with the whole construction process though. Most people gave us dire prophecies of how terrible our experience was bound to be, that any and all contractors are untrustworthy, that we would likely near divorce for all the decisions and compromises that had to be made. But none of these predictions came true. In fact, it's been pretty painless. The only issue we are dealing with now is my inexplicable regret over half the decisions we made. I wish we had done this, or that, or not done this or that, etc. Poor Michael has to endure all of my inner monologues that somehow come spewing out of my mouth into aggravating outer monologues. A very big flaw of mine.

But anyway, we'll keep you up to date on the final stretch of this journey. And I'll try not to complain so much about this beautiful house we are being blessed with.

And the Brick Goes On ...

While we're away, work continues at break-neck speed on the house! They've just begun putting the brick on. I can't wait to see it in person! We've doubted our selection on it over and over (and by we, I mean me). If money were no object, it wouldn't have been our first choice. But it was what we liked best that fit our budget, like most of our decisions on the house.

They should be putting up the limestone accents this week. Hopefully that will be done when we get home, along with the cabinets and countertops. They finished painting this week too, and have just a bit more staining to do. Next comes carpet, then vinyl (which we're going to tile over ourselves).

More brick pics to join the hundreds of other boring house photos at the gallery.

Safe and Sound Hounds

Shame on me for not updating you on our cruise sooner! All this build up to the big event, then nothing, for weeks! And here you were, worried this had happened to our ship.

It didn't, of course, cuz here we are, back in the blogosphere where we belong!

Our die-hard fans (hello you two!) have already seen the pictures on the gallery. For everyone else, a quick recap! We had a very wonderful and relaxing time. Unlike most of our trips this year, this was NOT a working vacation! While out at sea we never checked our email, and only received one business-related phone call. (But if you knew the caller, you'd know it was a miracle only one situation came up!)

We started the trip by driving to Galveston. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, and we had a room overlooking the beach. Without being too unfriendly, let me just say how much I miss California beaches. It also feels completely disconcerting that the sun does not set on the water. Makes for a totally different "sunset at the beach" experience.

Nevertheless, we boarded our boat the next day without incident. It was a huge ship and took us nearly the whole week just to figure out how to get around!

The first two days were out at sea while we traveled to the Caribbean. We soaked up a lot of sun, saw a few shows, ate a lot of food, and took a lot of naps. Seriously, that was one of the best parts.

Wednesday we arrived in Jamaica. The weather was perfect! We got on a catamaran that took us to a nice snorkeling spot. On the way, the crew gave us foot massages with fresh aloe vera. That was one of my other favorite parts of the trip. They dropped us off at the beach after that, and we did some more snorkeling. We got brave and walked a ways through the city to go to Margaritaville. It was scary, to say the least. People are very overbearing and it is crowded!

A storm came in the second half of the day, but we were already back on the ship, taking a nap, of course!

Thursday we arrived at Grand Cayman. The water was a startling shade of turquoise. We went snorkeling again and this time was probably the best. We saw the biggest fish we've ever seen, at least 4-5 feet long. They were tarpon, coming to feed, and scare little children. Feed on chum, not little children. We again went to the beach, had some fried calamari, then went back for more snorkeling. (See a theme yet?)

Friday we arrived in Cozumel. This was supposed to be the most amazing snorkeling tour, but it was unfortunately canceled as a big storm was rolling in. We trading that trip for a jeep tour around the island, including a different snorkeling stop! The jeep was fun, but it was kind of cold that day.

Saturday was the last day at sea. By this point we were ready to come home. We exhausted ourselves with all of the excursions, and trying to gorge on as much food as the days and our bellies would allow.

All in all, a very wonderful time. We arrived home to chilly and rainy weather. But lots of progress had been made on the home, so that warmed our spirits.

They've just finished texturing, and are getting ready to install baseboards, trim and doors. The outside is ready for brick but is waiting on something - subcontractors, I'm guessing.

It's been full speed ahead since we got back. Thanksgiving came and went so quickly I thought I might have been dreaming! We had a nice day at our makeshift home - eating lots of food, watching movies, playing games and guitar hero. I can't wait to have people over to our new house when it is finally done! We're aiming for March to be in. But I'm secretly hoping for February. We're more than half way there, and construction only began at the end of September.

You may have guessed our trip to Virginia to see Bob got canceled. His dad was in a car accident, broke his leg and needed surgery. So Bob flew home to take care of him. Please send big Bob your thoughts and prayers. He's recovering well.

So our last trip of 2007 is coming up next weekend when we leave for two weeks in LA. Work and play again.

By the way, we've finally gotten our business website live. It's funny how much a completed website changes people's view of what you do for a living. Suddenly you're the real thing, even though the IRS has known about you for years. Check it out! Oh, and do you need your own website? Because I happen to know a great team to help you ;)


Stay tuned for the newest feature coming soon, "Nothing but a Hound Blog!"

Web Hounds, out.

On the Road Again ...

Just returned from our second trip to Houston for Michael's work. We left Sunday afternoon, had a quick visit to the "urban lake" of the Woodlands and dinner at the outdoor mall (pictures). We also tested our new snorkeling gear at the hotel pool and it gets an A+!

Michael worked all day Monday and I, well, I shopped. Which was hard work in its own way since I had to hoof it around town with all of my treasures. That night we went downtown for dinner and some more walking. Burning the calories in preparation for a certain aquatic vacation soon to be upon us.

Houston pics at the gallery too. Also, a concert we went to last week. And cousin Sarah's baby shower. And, of course, the latest on the house.

Today, we met with our builder at the house to review our electrical plans. Thinking we'd be making final decisions before they began, we were surprised to see half the boxes and wires already placed and about a dozen workers making quick work of it all. I believe we've got all our wants and needs covered now though. Michael's ("shockingly") doing a lot of the installs after the house is built - mostly for budget-related purposes :) .

So, that's the latest on the house. They should be finishing up the roofing this week, and while we're on the road again (or, rather, the sea) next week they will start on drywall on the interior and brick and stone on the exterior. The progress is amazingly fast, much better than we hoped for.

More House Photos

Things are moving along so quickly out there now we can barely keep up with photos! It is very exciting. Mom, Dad, Anna & I took a trip out there today. (Michael's flying back in tonight). Here's a few pics from today's trip.

Living Room View - You can see the covered patio behind me. The pool will be just a few dozen feet beyond.

Sunroom - I'm in the corner surveying the extreme vastness of this house and wondering how I'll ever keep it clean. Anna's in the living room. Dad has gone through the slider out to the patio.

Music Room View (second story)

In case you haven't seen it, we've been keeping the gallery full of progress photos too. Can't wait til y'all come visit us!

Escape from Suburbia

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them."

-- Bill Vaughan

The "quote of the day" on my Google home page :)

On your marks, get set ...

BUILD THAT HOUSE!

The first step in building your new home is, of course, advertising to all the neighbors that you will be building your new home.

First things first!

Quick trip to the property

Met with our septic and excavation guy today, and his pool building partner. The rain let up just long enough for us to walk through the site and take a few pictures. Can't wait to actually get started. On the pool. Well, the house will be cool too, I guess.

Home is where the heartburn is

I suppose it's about time to update you on our home building process. We are "in" the process, and it has given me some heartburn, but overall it's really fun and very exciting. There is so much to tell you about, but I'll start with the basics.

When we arrived in Austin, we took about 2 months to just settle in and recover from the (emotional and physical) stress of moving. During that time, we did our research and decided to use a national builder with an excellent reputation to build our home (David Weekley). They offer a wonderful compromise between "custom" and "standard" homes. By that I mean we selected a floorplan from their existing plans, and then began to customize it to our own preferences, in lieu of starting from absolute scratch. It is a perfect fit for us.

We decided on the "Sabrina" floor plan. It looks quite different now that we've added our own personal (tacky?) touch. The best part is we've added a 450 square foot bonus room to the second floor, which will become our new music room. We also added a full bath between the garage and backyard (aka the Pool Bath). More windows, some french doors, covered patios, etc... If you'd like to see our current plans, I'd be happy to email you. I'd post them here but we signed over the rights to our firstborn child to ensure absolute copyright protection. (I told them they could have Sammie, but that wasn't good enough).

We signed all the contracts a couple of weeks ago, and are now in the architectural stage. We had our first redraw appointment with the architect yesterday, and with one more revision, should be done on that end. We start our design selections and upgrades on Saturday (cabinets, flooring, countertops, all the fun stuff).

We've staked out where the front door will go on the lot (yay!). All of our bids for site prep, flatwork, etc are in. We meet with the septic guy on Friday, who we're also getting the first of two pool bids from.

So for now, it's lots of stomach-churning, alka-seltzer inducing budget crunching. Smack dab in the middle of the dichotomy between what we want and what we want to pay for.

New Digs

I finally got around to cleaning the house this weekend, enough so I could take some pics and you can see where we live.

This is the only time it's been this clean since we got here. We're still working on getting things organized, in the garage mostly.

I'll take some pics outside later. It is gorgeous here right now, green, green and more green. We're always surprised when we go driving around at how clear everything seems. Then we remember "smog" is not in the Texas dictionary.

We didn't end up camping last weekend because the weather was unpredictable. We're hoping to check out Canyon Lake this coming weekend. Well see.

2 Weeks Notice

Well, we did it!

So I thought I should let everyone know that we're finally (actually, for real!!) headed to Austin. Some of you know all the details already, some might be a bit surprised. Some of you don't even live here anymore, but I thought you'd like to know! It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to everyone, but don't worry, we'll come visit soon!

We will be around here, packing and loading the moving truck this weekend, so if you'd like to stop by and say hi, (or goodbye! sniff sniff) please do! The truck drives away on Monday, but we aren't leaving for another week after that, so we'll be in town. Please get ahold of us if you can! We want to try to make the rounds all next week, and see as many friends and family as we can.

We are planning a get together next Friday night (16th) at Claimjumper in Roseville, so stop by if you can! Call for details, just a low-key meet in the bar for half-price appetizers kind of thing.

Some details: We sold our home to the first people who came to look at it (but the second people to make an offer.) It has all gone unbelievably smoothly (and quickly!), which is just truly miraculous in this market. It seems we are really meant to be in Texas.

We went down to Austin last week to find a place to live while we build our new home, and ended up finding a little rental house that will work perfectly. (See left, yes it's small and not very interesting but it's cheap and convenient! Besides, not our forever home, that is coming soon ....)

Anna will be moving in with us to save a little money (but really because she misses us so much ;) We will be living fairly close to the Austin airport, so if you find yourselves wanting to go to Texas for any reason, we're close and convenient, and you're welcome to stay!

Our schedule: We're signing papers on Monday (Feb. 12) and escrow closes Friday Feb. 16. We're staying with Jess and Paul next week, one last long goodbye :( . Then Michael and Paul are leaving Saturday morning to make the Big Drive with the doggies. They will arrive on Monday (19th). I, being the special princess that I am, will be flying out on Tuesday, the 20th. Nothing sadder than booking a one-way ticket!

So there you have it, it is really happening. Now, I'm going to go curl up in a little ball and feel sad for awhile before I get back to PACKING!

You can reach us at 530-885-2389 (home) til Monday, call our cel phones after that. Michael 916-316-3011 and Sharon 916-316-3012. Or, we're always online (of course) so email is always good. PLEASE keep in touch!

Lots and lots and lots of love,

Sharon and Michael

( ... and Sammie and Bear)

Haven't been blogging in awhile!

Too much to catch up on!

We're now working on the second offer on our home. We (amazingly!!) got an offer after just a month, then a second offer came in last week with less of a contingency - so we are now working with new buyers who have already sold their home.

If all goes well, and as planned, we'll be flying out to Texas at the end of the month to find a temporary place to live while we get our act together on actually building!! Escrow is scheduled to close mid to late February. I don't think we're anywhere close to coming to terms with that, but I suppose it will sink in one day.

I promise to give more detail soon, but just in case you're checking, thought I'd try to be more recent than just "listing our home!" So much has been going on, too busy. Everything is slower in Texas, right? We did have a great Christmas, got to see lots of family and friends so that was fun. We've been down to LA a few times too, for Michael's new job. More on that at a later date.

Be sure to visit the gallery! We upload pictures more than blogging these days, but not a whole lot of either! I did post some before and after pics for your viewing pleasure. We are really going to miss this home - not the work of course - but it has been a wonderful and beautiful place to live.

Our house is ON THE MARKET!

We officially went into MLS on Friday. Still waiting for the virtual tour photos, but here are some that I've taken of our handiwork. More to come, and maybe a gallery of before and after, since looking at these I see you can't really tell what's been done!

So, anyone want to buy a house? Wait, I take that back How about: Anyone want to buy some land in Texas?

The comings and goings of M&S

As I think everyone knows by now, we're MOVING TO AUSTIN! If I've said "we're thinking about it," or "maybe" --- well, now it's really happening! The property is bought, and we have one sister there already!

If you want to know all about this journey, visit our Austin Blog. You'll probably find more information than you ever wanted to know. It is very exciting though.

Now Michael and I are working our fingers to the bone trying to get this house ready to sell! We're aiming to have it on the market before October 1. Somehow, nearly two years has gone by here, and the work has continued to pile up. But we're making good progress, and between hired help, and my family - we're getting there!! After slaving away to put their house up for sale, my parents are now devoted to getting our house ready! I don't know where they find the energy - but thank you thank you thank you!!! We'll soon have lots of before and after pictures for you to enjoy, but everything is still in progress now.

Here's a shot of mountains of brush and trees my parents cleared out, so now when you come down the driveway you can see clear down the canyon! It's gorgeous!! (Hard to capture the full effect with a camera, so you'll just have to come over and visit!)



We're heading back to Texas on Tuesday (Sept 12.) We're going to visit Michael's uncle and aunt (Jaime & Debbie) the 12-14th, then going to stay with Anna until the 18th. We bought tickets earlier this year to the Austin City Limits Festival - we're very excited! A nice diversion - and a much needed break for poor Michael!

I wanted to let everyone know we're planning a work day/party on Saturday September 23.

If anyone would like to help out - we'll work in the morning and we'll provide BBQ and beverages for lunch. Then we can party! Many of you have mentioned you'd be willing to help Michael over the years - so here's your chance ;) A last hurrah before the house goes up for sale! I'll post more details later, just wanted you to get it on your calendar.

Be sure to check back soon for more pics. We have a whole crew here this week doing drywall and finish work. I can't WAIT til it's done!!