demolition, day 1

ugh, it's been such a busy time here at the house of wan.  because after almost a decade of living here and almost two years after redoing the back yard, we've finally started on a major remodel!

i actually can't believe it's really happening.  we've been working with an architect for a couple of years and made so many changes and created a plan B and then went back to the original idea and then shopping for a contractor and a designer and and and... it's a lot.  total first world problems, though, i know.  and then we finally got going for real and started packing up the house - man, i hate packing so much.  in fact, we'd even looked around to see if there were any other homes in the area that might work.  i mean, if we were going to pack up anyway it wouldn't really matter if we were packing to move out or packing for the renovation, right?  but the market is so insane around here, nothing was any better than what we've already got.  and so we decided to stick with our plan.

of course, we kept getting pushed back while we were rapidly emptying everything into boxes in the garage.  and what we didn't want to keep, we either sold or donated.  and then at last, demolition began yesterday morning.  i took a few pictures of the empty house to document the whole process, and it's really weird to see it like this.

here's the living room:

looking in from the front door towards the dining room, with the back yard a little further out:

the weird little nook that we never did really get to utilize, leading into the laundry room:

my kitchen!  it's gonna be a long time before i get to cook or bake cookies at home.  i hope i still remember how when this is all over.

this is the back room that was originally a bedroom, and the only doorway to the back yard.  so weird.  

the old lady's room that became my sewing room.  she's in mourning over losing the wallpaper and the hot pink wall she picked out so long ago.  this is going to turn into a very, very small home gym.

the hallway that ends with our room, the bean's room and the two existing bathrooms.

by the time the guys were done for the day, it looked like this:

everything we own is either in the garage, the back yard, or our bedroom.  oh, our room is such a disaster and i know the hub is twitching like mad every time he looks at it.  i've gotta do some organizing in there before he explodes.  and now when we step out of our room into the hall this is all we see:

the hub swears it's all going to be done by summer.  i think he's crazy.  this kind of stuff always takes longer than planned, by at least a couple of months, right?  my personal guesstimate is at least six months to completion.  and so in the meantime the dogs, the bean and the two of us are living in two bedrooms, two bathrooms and the back yard.  

man, i've never wished to be wrong so hard in my whole life.  heh.

it's all going by too damn fast

the bean's cheer team had picture day yesterday.  while she typically hates makeup, the coach had asked the girls to wear "light makeup" for the photos.  i told her we'd keep it simple, with just a couple of swipes of mascara, a tiny bit of tinted moisturizer and a little lip color.  she was okay with the idea and didn't fight me when it came time to start getting ready.  and then i had to smirk a little when she looked in the mirror, got in the car and told me "i kinda like the mascara.  can i keep it on?"

heh.  it begins.

i got her to stop and let me take a picture while waiting for the rest of the team to finish their individual pictures so that they could take their group shot:

and then i got to reminiscing about how much older she looks now than last year's picture day.

this morning was the awards assembly at school.  she'd earned straight As and was receiving a principal's list award, so the hub and i headed over to watch her accept it.  as always, her best guy friend was also present to accept his own award and his mom and i made them pose together for a picture:

i love that they've allowed us to take these pictures through the years, because then we get to look back at these:

there are lots more pictures like that, but that would take up an entire post of its own.  heh.

they're growing up too fast.  time is going by all too quickly.  i know i say that all the time, but man.  they're going to be 13 this year!  having gone through it once with the old lady, i'm just not ready for all of this to go by in a blur again.  sigh.

remembering our mollydog

it was a year ago on sunday that we said goodbye to molly for the last time.  that night, we went to disneyland for some distraction and to spend some time together as a family.  and so we decided to spend the first anniversary there as well - minus the hub, who was gone for the weekend celebrating a friend's birthday in vegas.

since the old lady and i were the only ones who'd been able to experience the new "rise of the resistance" ride, we convinced the other two to get up early and head down at 6am like we'd done a couple of weeks ago.  and so just before 6:30 we pulled up at the parking structure...along with a bazillion other people.

it took about 15 minutes to finally get parked, and because it was so early getting through security was a breeze.  the trams were running smoothly as well, and we got in line at the disneyland turnstiles not too long afterwards.

they typically don't start allowing guests onto main street until about 7:30, but with the crowds that gather in the esplanade in an effort to get a ROTR boarding pass we noticed movement in the lines about 10 minutes after we'd arrived.  and so by 7:30 we were scanned into the park.

we hadn't loved our breakfast at earl of sandwich last time, so we thought we'd try la brea bakery cafe instead.  as we headed over, i cracked up as i watched the girls walking with their shared boyfriend.

we were seated pretty quickly at the restaurant, and just before the park opened the old lady headed out to get away from the crowds and try to snag those boarding passes for us.  while she was gone the server brought our breakfast to the table.  i'd opted for the pecan cream cheese-stuffed french toast:

along with my most favorite breakfast beverage.

when the old lady returned she was grumbling about a glitch in the app that didn't allow her into the boarding system right away, resulting in us getting into group 116.  anything after group 80 is considered a "backup group," which means we weren't guaranteed to get into the ride.  bummer.  she ordered a bloody mary to drown her sorrows:

breakfast was delicious, and i drained my glass in no time.  i definitely got a little silly, and the bean was not impressed.

apparently i was extra silly, because as soon as we were done the kids steered me right into the starbucks next door for some caffeine.

we walked through world of disney to browse through the merchandise, and i made a mental note to come back and pick up one of these for myself:

our first fastpass of the day was for the guardians of the galaxy ride.  it was fun as always, but we were a little bummed to see that the ride cameras were out of order when we exited.

no worries, though, because we went outside and took our picture.

the incredicoaster was next:

and then we decided to head over to disneyland.  the number of boarding groups being allowed to ride was moving really slowly, so we knew our chances were slim to none - especially since we had to get the bean back home for cheer practice by 6.  oh well.  at least we took some fun photos that day.

the only ride we went on at disneyland that day ended up being star tours, which was extra fun since they recently added new scenery from the latest star wars movie.  from there we watched the extended sneak peek at the newest disney/pixar movie:

had some lunch at pizza planet, capped off with this minty chocolate parfait:

took one more peek at the boarding group status:

and then we stopped in to pick up something for the old lady and i to commemorate the day.  the bean doesn't do jewelry at all, but we ended up choosing these matching bracelets:

so yeah, i know the symbols on those charms represents something totally different.  but that's okay.  for us, they carry a different meaning - a combination of the rainbow bridge that our molly crossed over last february 23rd and how much we're always going to love and miss her.

sweet molly.  i hope you're enjoying doggy heaven.  teddy, cocoa and stevie are here to help fill the vacant space left at home while you've been gone, and i know you'll be waiting to greet us all when that time comes.

i definitely want s'more

after competition was over, we took the bean to a pretty forgettable spot for sushi dinner.  well, she was perfectly satisfied with it - which is all that really matters anyway, right?  but we definitely made up for a mediocre dinner with a pretty fantastic dessert stop that took us a little out of our way.  totally worth it.

knowing very well how much i love all things marshmallow, the old lady had shown me an instagram account for a place called toasted mallow.  they do custom s'mores and milkshakes using fresh ingredients and housemade marshmallows in all kinds of flavors.  and of course, it was nowhere near home - more like gilbert, arizona.  but when the hub pulled up yelp while we were finishing dinner, i was pretty stoked to find it on the list of recommended places.  15 miles away from where we were, but he's always such a good sport in indulging my shenanigans.  and so about 20 minutes later, we were pulling up here:

it was pretty empty when we walked in, but there was a lady working behind the counter and the most delicious smell that greeted us as soon as we stepped inside.

the wall on one side was lined with shelves stacked with various flavors of marshmallows to take home, along with some fun layered treats in a jar.

at the counter, you could also pick out gourmet marshmallow pies and pops.

the s'mores menu was pretty extensive, along with a "build your own" option.

i knew the bean would be more interested in a frozen treat, and there were plenty of those to choose from too.

i opted for the butterfinger s'mores, but asked for chocolate marshmallows in place of the peanut butter ones.  she was happy to make the switch and piled them into a graham cracker bowl before torching the tops to make them all melty and gooey.  then she topped that with peanut butter sauce, chocolate ganache, butterfinger bits and threw in a couple of mini peanut butter cups for good measure.

we got about halfway through it before i was really sweet-ed out.  but man, was it good:

as for the bean, she went with the frozen hot chocolate - basically a chocolate shake with hot chocolate mix whipped in and then topped with marshmallow fluff.

they had a couple of cute shirts for sale too, which we spied on the way out.  they'd gotten a lot busier since we came in, but still took the time to wave and thank us for coming in.

the shelf stable items are available for purchase from their website, and we definitely walked out with a bag full of treats to take home and share with the old lady and her special friend.  if you happen to be in the area and are looking for something sweet, definitely go here.  so good, and super friendly!  i wish they had one at home.  i could use one of those s'mores right now.  mmmmmm.