It never ends.....

The house projects never end when you are a homeowner. Man! Right now, we are in the midst of well, EVERYTHING!!! This weekend we emptied out the spare bedroom, and pulled up on the carpet. Then tomorrow, Dan, the floor man, will be here with the wood for a brand new floor. By the end of next week, the floor will be totally ready and that room will be ready to decorate!!! Once the floor is done we then are going to turn it into a playroom for Ethan. Yeah!!! I am so excited. I finally get to rid my living room of all kid's toys!!
The other big project we are working on right now is the back yard. We are in the process of getting cement quotes for our backyard and driveway. We tore out half of our deck, the part that had the hot tub, so we have so much space back there now. And once its all cemented, Ethan will have so much more room to play.
The projects we already finished this year are: The Bathroom, we totally redecorated it, from new flooring (tile), to a new sink (pedastal), new paint, new chairrail, new mirror, new light fixture, new cabinet, new towel racks, and new towels; The Plumbing, we had our old galvinized plumbing replaced with new copper piping. That, I have to say, was the worst experience ever due to the fact that the first crew was completely incompetent; The Electrical Garage Stuff, we needed some electrical work done in our garage, we had the switch fixed so you can actually turn the light on now, we put in an exterior light on the outside of the garage so now there is light in our back yard, and a few other things. This was the second worst experience because the electrician was anywhere from 1 hr to 5 hrs late getting here each day. That can just ruin your reputation.
Once all of these are done, I think we'll paint the kitchen next.....

Generation A's

So, in case I haven't told you already, my Uncle/Godfather wrote a book, and had it published!!! Isn't that amazing!!! There are so many people in life who say they can do something, or want to do something, but never actually do. He did it. He's always wanted to write a book and actually did it. That is just so awesome.

(Speaking of people who say they want to do something and do it, I must take a minute to mention my friend Lauren. She said she was going to open her own Chiropractic office, and as of Tuesday afternoon, she has signed a lease on a building and will get to have her own office starting Sept. 1. If there is anyone in the area who needs a chiropractor, her office will be in Piedmont.)

So the book is called Generation A's. Its a book that parallels the history of the Oakland Athletics with the history of my family, the Martinez/Marquez family. While the book goes over the highs and lows of the A's, it goes through the highs and lows of our family. Its a good book to read if you like baseball, but also a good book to read if you like real family stories. You can buy it at amazon.com or through my uncle at don_ucpress@yahoo.com. Here's what he had to say about this past week:

Hi everyone! Man, what an exhilirating past week this has been! Sorry I haven't been around much lately. After the KTVU segment last Thursday, I made the front page of the Oakland Tribune Monday morning. Yesterday, I heard from a lady at the Hayward Main Library and booked an appointment for Sept 18 (6:30PM-8PM) to talk about my book. Today I got a call from a local bookstore who wanted to know how to stock my publication. And best of all- though having no impact on my "career"- I heard from one of my best friends from high school, who I had not spoken to in over two years! We'll see what tomorrow brings. Keep writing, friends. Don

Its all been so exciting. I hope he sells millions of books, and publishes many more.

I love Baby Showers

So I hosted a shower, with my friend Maggie, this past weekend for some friends of me and Greg. Jill is due in Sept and we just couldn't more than excited for her. She's had a rough time getting here....but now that Sept is just around the corner, I'm so excited.

I just wanted to show off the cake that I did. I know some of you have seen some of my cakes, and some of you haven't. Is this going to be a full time job? No. I do it mostly for fun. Maybe if I get in a lot more practice and I actually feel like I'm good at it, then I'll consider it....But for now, I just love to make cakes and host parties.
Here's the invite:

Here's one view of the cake:And another view:And another:

Here are the favors:
And some onesies I made for the baby:

Just A Start

I love how my friend Trisha has a BLOG. So I decided to start my own. This is going to help me to keep in touch with those friends that I don't see that often, especially those who are far away.
Its going to be mostly about Ethan, of course. He is what consumes most of my time, but he is also one thing that makes me laugh so much. At this age, he is learning so much, so fast, and it is just making me smile constantly. Its very interesting to see. Well, I hope you all enjoy this, as I think I will enjoy doing it.
Thanks Trishie for the idea.