About Us – The Beehive

February 14, 2011

Oh Poop!

Steve and I don’t have any pets. I can’t speak for Steve, but for me personally, reason numero uno why I don’t really even want a pet is poop. I have zero interest in picking up poop. You can ask my parents. They will tell you, when I was younger and we had a dog, I don’t think I ever performed “poop patrol” in the backyard.

The weather was nice out this weekend, so I spent a fair amount of time working in the yard, and let me tell you, I ended up picking up more than my fair share of poop! In the backyard, I believe I found cat poop in seven different locations. And this was not like the cat dug a hole, pooped, and tried to bury it; this poop was just sitting there. Like, right on the cement patio outside the garage door. And on the retaining wall. And on top of the lava rock ground cover.

Wanting to minimize future incidents of pet poop in our yard, I used the google to see if anyone out there on the interwebs had any suggestions. I did find one site that had a multitude of them. My favorite suggestion was placing “pot plants” in the area where the kitty is pooping. I’m pretty sure the author meant potted plants. We do not have any pot plants. None. If we did, we certainly would not be placing them around the backyard where they might be visible to law enforcement from outside of our property. Or to our friend the FBI agent when he comes over to visit. But like I said, no pot plants here.

Other than that, there seem to be a number of viable options. The only problem is, these poops were not isolated to specific places, they were just randomly all over the yard. So placing things like cinnamon or citrus peel or commercial cat repellent in the area where the cat is pooping pretty much means putting it all over the yard. I’m thinking of maybe putting different repellents in different areas of the yard to test which are most effective. Does anyone have experience with this? What works and what doesn’t?

February 17, 2010

School Daze

I had so many plans for this blog, but things have really slowed down, mostly because I went back to school. I’m getting a certificate in interior design, which takes about two years of full-time study. This semester, I’m taking:

1) Elements and Principles of Design;
2) Graphic Techniques;
3) Interior Architectural Drafting;
4) Construction and Building Systems; and
5) Color Theory and Application.

I’m told this is a pretty ambitious course load. Three of the classes are studio courses, which require a lot of time doing hands-on things (drafting, drawing, painting and the like). Plus I’m still pretending to be a lawyer three days a week. Doesn’t leave much time for blogging. Or sleeping, for that matter. But I’m really enjoying it so far, even if I don’t have a lot of down time.

July 17, 2009July 17, 2009

Happy Anniversary!

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As of today, Steve and I have been married six months. A lot has happened during that short period of time. In the six months since we said “I do,” between the two of us we

Took our first trip to Hawaii;

Wrote the biggest check of our lives and decreased our liquidity severely;

Purchased a home;

Watched the economy crumble;

Watched 4th of July fireworks from our deck;

Took a pay cut;

Got a promotion;

Struggled for weeks to unpack all the moving boxes in our garage;

Got Steve’s car into the garage;

Painted the family room;

Kicked back and watched movies and motorsports in our serene green family room;

Spent hours clearing weeds from our yard;

Planted a small garden;

Met our first niece, Allison; and

Started this blog.

The past six months have been pretty eventful for us, and it does not look like the next six months will be any different. We’ll be getting the transmission in Steve’s 1999 Camaro SS rebuilt, revamping our bedroom, working on a financial plan, doing more work on the yard, buying our first Christmas tree, and spending our first holiday season as a married couple. And that’s just for starters. Can’t wait to get started!

wedding 3

April 13, 2009June 10, 2009

Hello world!

This is the story of a newly married couple who bought a house and are trying to make it their own while learning how to be married to each other.

Erin is a lawyer in San Francisco. She grew up and went to school in the Bay Area, and has no desire to go anywhere else. She likes going to the gym and reading fiction, but actually spends more of her free time watching TV and surfing the net.

Steve is a CPA, also in San Francisco. A Bay Area native as well, he decided after his stint at the University of Arizona that the heat being “dry” did not make it tolerable and returned to (somewhat) greener pastures. He likes fast cars, spaghetti westerns, and MacWorld magazine.

The House is a two-story residence on a decent sized lot in the East Bay. The prior owner made some interesting color choices, loved elaborate draperies, and promptly fired the gardener as soon as the purchase and sale agreement was signed. In other words, there is work to be done.