Our life in Seattle: slowing down

We've been enjoying the cool weather this year. I love making soups and stews that cook for a long time, having a fire and enjoying the warmth of our house. Since we started having our kitchen remodeled, I haven't been doing a lot of cooking. I'm really excited about the way it looks and kind of sad that I've had to spend the last 5 years looking at the awful pastel fish tile backsplash and stained laminate countertops.

We put in an above the stove microwave, mostly black (with gold specks) granite counters and a white subway tile backsplash. The cabinets and appliances were in good enough condition that we decided to leave them as is. I'll post photos when it's done.

We had a real estate agent come over a few nights ago, which was actually pretty encouraging. Our house doesn't need a ton of work. We just need to do little things like fix some drywall, get new doors and clean, clean, clean. We need to have the furnace checked too and pray it's still doing well. We decided to wait until we are out of the house before putting it on the market, as our house is mildly chaotic with 3 dogs and a toddler. We are thinking we can get enough for it to buy the type of house and property we want. Woohoo!

Speaking of toddlers, our little Finley is doing great. She is getting better and better at talking, understanding things and having preferences for things. If she asks for something she knows to say please, even though it sounds like "zzzsss". She can put things away and absolutely LOVES books! When I pick her up at daycare or when we get home, she is always climbing up in someones lap with a book for them to read. She has a pair of pink maryjane shoes that she wants to wear everyday and loves taking baths. She will stay in there for as long as we will let her. The best thing is filling up a water bottle and dumping the water on herself. Obviously she's a dog trainer in trainer and so the other day I asked her to say "sit" to one of the dogs. Instead of saying it, she just sat down herself! Funny! Oh yeah and she chipped a tooth! Ouch! It's not too bad and the dentist pretty much just said to watch it for any color changes or infection and otherwise look forward to a new set of teeth in 5 years.

Anyway, we don't have a lot of plans this weekend. Tomorrow we'll go out to breakfast and then Finley and I will go do some clothes shopping at the outlet mall and then visit with some friends in the evening. On Sunday, we are going to a flyball party to make tug toys for the dogs.