01.28.08
Posted in recreation at 2:45 pm by heidihoho7
As promised, bela and i went to Michigan to go luging. My paddle club – chicago whitewater- planned a social outing and we just couldn’t pass it up.
We met up with Diana, Steve, Pat & Lisa, Randy & Theresa, Humberto, Dave & Megan at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex. It look probably 3-4 hours to get there and it was snowing pretty good when we got there. Muskegon is right on Lake Michigan and the complex is in the middle of a state park. The area was just beautiful with a lot of evergreen trees and a lot of white fluffy snow 
.
After getting all settled up at the complex (those pesky insurance cards had to be shown), we headed up to the luge course. We were joined by a few other groups with about 25 total student lugers. We were fitted with helmets and put on elbow/knee pads onto our forearms for protection. After a very quick lesson on steering and braking we were allowed to give it a go.
I ended up waiting to go so i could get pictures of just about everyone as they came down the run. It takes less than 20 seconds for each run so it went fairly quickly. Bela was the first one down, which frightened me just a little when near the end he had a bit of a crash landing. We soon found out that the last curve of Verizon (at least that’s what i think it was called) seemed to cause a lot of carnage as folks “stopped steering” we were told or possible weren’t steering at all (which is what i was for sure doing).
After most of the group had gone, i was forced to get in line. Bela was quite the gentleman and carried my sled for me to the top, but headed back down so he could get pictures as i figured i’d only be doing it once. Waiting was very nerve-wracking. We’d watch, but mostly listen as the announcer would commentate each run, most folks got an offiical time as well. We’d hear where the rider was or how they were doing. We’d occasionally hear the nasty sound of a sled hitting wood or a crash landing. We’d anxiously await the “all clear” which meant everyone was ok.
When it was finally my turn, i took a few deep breaths and let the girl push me down. I pretty much screamed for the first half and then couldn’t stop laughing, smiling, and screaming the rest of the way – “having fun in ping and pong”. I am told that the group at the bottom was guessing who the lugers were and had no problem guessing on my run haha. I had a bit of a crash landing but overall it was exhilarating.
Most everyone would run up and do another run, and i was eventually convinced by Diana to do 2 more runs – to double prove that we could do it. A few folks got bumps and bruises, me included. At one point we saw a lone sled coming down with no rider, we’ll let the cwa prez explain that one! At one point Diana and i realized that turning the sled was very similar to doing eddy turns and peel outs. You turn your head to the direction you want to go and lift the opposite knee. Our kayaking skills came in handy!
Our 2-1/2 hours of luge time came to close and I think everyone was tired but satisfied. The group went out for food and drink at a local bar before folks had to head back to either Chicago or the local hotels (for poker & more drinks).
I’ve included a few pics here, but we have many more to see of everyone else who joined in on the fun – visit the full site.
The next day our crew went back to the complex for some ice skating. A few more bumps and bruises were had, but mostly a good time hanging out with good friends. More pictures are available of that portion of the trip. Pics may be a bit dark, as i haven’t had a lot of time to lighten them up yet.
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01.22.08
Posted in home at 7:36 am by heidihoho7
So after much time and effort our shower is done! Following is the update from where we left off.
I honestly thought choosing a shower door wouldn’t be that difficult, until i actually had to do it. After a few trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot I thought I knew what i liked (either an ivy frost pattern or clear with a slight pattern to prevent any peekaboos). Bela seemed to like just about everything- he’s so easy to please. But I, on the other hand, am a little picky when it comes to something that we’ll probably be looking at for at least 10 years and is a huge part of the overhaul. Then once i started actually looking into buying the door i got to thinking about how much work we’d put into the shower tiling and realized that maybe we shouldn’t hide all the excellent work we did! So I ended up ordering a clear sliding door that matched our nickel throughout the bathroom.
Once we got the door (lowe’s rocks and we got it within a week!) the fun began with the installation. We tried to drill the holes for the screws in the tile but it seemed to be going nowhere. We made a special trip out to get the carbide tips and we still seemed to get nowhere. Finally we decided to try gluing since the drilling seemed to be failing. The glueing was a bit of a disaster and we quickly dumped that idea and decided to wait a few days to let it dry and let our frustrations die down. So last night Bela was bound and determined to make it happen, and he started drilling yet again with a new set of carbide tips. We finally had a breakthrough and just realized it took a LOT of pressure and a LOT of time. So i took my 1 turn which helped a (wee) bit, but we just really needed the muscle to minimize the time on the drilling. Once that was done it was super quick, and we were able to install the rest of the door by 10:30pm.
We totally love the new shower and bathroom, and we hope you’ve enjoyed following along with the fun!
Next up, luging in Michigan!
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01.01.08
Posted in home at 4:06 pm by heidihoho7
So its been a while since our last update, and we’ve made HUGE progress!! The last update showed us in the process of tiling the shower. We finished up all the tiling adding the natural looking accent leaves border, adding a really nice built-in shelf as well as a few corner/soap shelves.
With Bela’s dad helping we jumped on the next major task- changing out the toilet. We opted for a super efficient toilet, which does the job most of the time and we can feel good about saving some water
We were planning on having a few people over for new years so it really got me motivated. I decided we should jump into the painting so we could finish up a few other touches like the lights… so i started by priming the walls. We took a small break while my niece and nephew came to visit. But we were back on the mission after they went on to grandma’s house.
We had a hard time deciding on colors, but as we were checking out some other piece at home depot we happened upon a very cool paint finish- River Rock, a matte gritty finish – which of course was one of the most expensive ones we could find… but we both really liked it and decided to go for it. So we ended up with a “Coastal Sand” for the small side wall and the ceiling and then “Swamp Willow” (a muted blue) for the main walls. So within a 24 hour period we did all the painting, waking up early so we could get in both coats on new years eve. We even were able to put a lot of the finishing touches before anyone arrived.
We’re soooo happy with how it turned out! We only have a few things left to do- finish up the shower, a few touchups of painting, and the door & trim.
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