Our first Thanksgiving in the new house

Well, Thanksgiving is over and we have worked hard the last week getting the house ready for Thanksgiving dinner and the 16 people we had at the house for dinner. All went well I think - the pictures I have included in the blog today are of the two table settings. The one above was the "kids" table and the one below was the "main" table. I don't know if you can tell or not but we had folding chairs and tables we borrowed from school. Wasn't exactly the most elegant dining room set, but it served it's purpose and I think that everyone had a good time - which is the most important thing.

There were no real disaster's in the food preparation - even though the marshmallows did catch on fire on the candied yams - but that is a family tradition in my house - the first batch of marshmallows ALWAYS catch on fire - thank goodness for big packs of those white fluffy things.

We have packed all of Thanksgiving and fall away and the house is now decorated for Christmas. Three trees are up and decorated - the "formal" one in what will be the dining room - it's the one that can be seen from the front of the house - then the one in the family room - which is the one Dan and I can see - it can also be seen from the front of the house IF the front door is open and can be seen from the canal also - and finally, the one in our bedroom (which is really a small table top tree, but it's still a tree that had to be decorated). We have also put up lit garland on the patio, which can be seen from the canal also - there was no way to put lights up in the front of the house - plus we had gotten rid of most of our decorations when we went "full-time". Thanks goodness we saved some stuff. Anyway, it is nice to know that everything is now decorated.

A cousin of Dan's came up from Miami yesterday and spent the afternoon with us. It was nice to see Tom and his new wife. We had a nice visit and went out to lunch at the Tower View - a sandwich was nice after all the richness of Thanksgiving food.

Today I unpacked some crates that we had in the garage and found some of the clothes that I thought was missing. Some of my seasonal things that I used to wear when I taught school before - Christmas vests and shirts - too bad I didn't find them before Thanksgiving since there were some fall shirts in the crate also. Anyway, I got everything washed today and put away - so now I 'll have the Christmas stuff to wear the last couple of weeks of school before our next break. I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be to go back to work tomorrow. Wish I didn't have to, but it's only for three weeks before we have Christmas break. Then, I go back for two weeks and then we have the cruise. I keep telling myself I can do this - but, I sure will be glad when this school year is over and done with! I'll have to look at some other way to make some money - maybe I'll look into teaching at the private Christian school here in town. At least, that's a thought.

Well, I'm going to sign off for this week. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and that you are all ready for Christmas. Take care and --------------------

I'll talk to you on Sunday!

Some "After's"

Okay, I promised "after" pictures today and I am delivering. I figure you can make out what these are pictures of - especially after seeing the "before" pictures yesterday.

One of the things that I am sure you will notice is we still need to have sod put in the yard - but that will be another paycheck and after Christmas - some things must come first!

But I hope you can see how much better the front yard looks. I just wish you could see what the "before-before" looked like - I'm still working on getting those pictures from Melissa. I will say that the big areas where there is no grass was where we took the palm trees out and that does make a difference.

Now, let's move on into the bedroom ---------------

The mirror blinds are GONE!! This is the same shot as one that is in the before - maybe I should have put them side by side so you could really see. Anyway, I don't know if you can tell but the walls are a nice shade of green - and we have gone "tropical" -

We will still make some changes, but the basics of the room are there. Of course, when we start the remodeling some of this room will change, but at least I have some color on the walls and I can live with some changes.

Well, I hope that you enjoy the after pictures - and If I don't get back on line before I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving - we are having 18 to the house for dinner - should be a fun and exciting day. Whatever you have planned at your house - whether you are having people in or if you are going out - or even if you are having a nice quiet day at home - may it be the best ever and remember to be thankful for all we all have!

Take care and I'll talk to you soon!!!

The "Before" Pictures

Okay everyone - I promised that I would have some before pictures for you this week - and I do. The first three of the yard were taken last Monday - Dan took them for me because I had to go to work. This shot actually shows the new gate that Dan installed. We had the sidewalk to the garage door, but the fence on this side of the house did not have a gate - go figure. So, Dan installed the gate. Makes much more sense now. This shot is the front of the house (duh!). I wish I had the before -before pictues that showed all the palm trees. I am still waiting to get those from Melissa's computer - IF I ever get them I will post some of those - then you will really see a difference. Anyway, this shows the new screen door that we added on the front so now we can open the front door and get a nice breeze through the house and not have to run the air conditioning all the time.

The final shot of the outside is the front/side shot. As you can certainly tell the yard needed lots of help! Well, I don't have the "after" shots today - I will take the pictures tomorrow and post them tomorrow night. I'll explain why a little later.

Now, we move into the bedroom. These are the "before" pictures of the master bedroom - remember the "mirror" blinds I was telling you about - well, here they are. I really wanted you to see that I was not kidding!

This is another shot of the bedroom - I don't know if you can tell from these pictures or not, but this is a very large room. Probably, one of the largest in the whole house. This shot was taken from the entrance into the master bath.

Now, the reason I don't have the after pictures on here tonight is - Dan and I have worked almost all day today painting and redoing the bedroom. I will take pictures of both the landscaping and the bedroom and post them tomorrow - I think that you will be surprised in the difference on both.

Well, I am not going to stay on the blog long tonight - I am really tired - but I wanted to make sure to post today - since I promised that I would. I will be spending the next few days getting ready to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. Hopefully, I'll have pictures to share from that as well.

You guys take care and I'll talk to you tomorrow (it's been awhile since I was able to say that)!

Goodness Gracious I'm TIRED!

Okay - I promised I would post today, so here I am! I am soooo tired and I have to go back to work tomorrow! Dan and I have been working around the house trying to get things organized - plus we have been moving stuff over to my mom's house and trying to get it ready for when she got here today. She got to our house about 12:30 and we took her over to her new house. She was so surprised that we had so much 0f her stuff already set up for her. She had a place to sit and I made up her bed for her, so she even had a comfortable place to sleep tonight. After we unloaded her car and put her cold stuff in the refrigerator (she had bought some dry ice in Georgia, so things were still cold) we went out and ate a late lunch. Actually, it has turned out to be lunch and supper, but that is okay! After we got back we walked around in her yard for a few minutes before coming back home so I could finish the laundry and working in the office.

I was determined to get the office organized today as well as getting the walk in closet organized. When we moved into the house we had just brought stuff into the house and if we couldn't find a place for it, we stuffed it into the closet. Well, to say that you couldn't set a foot inside the closet would be an understatement! But not anymore - it is neat, and straight. We even went over to the storeroom and got the metal file cabinet and brought it over and I have it all organized and all our files put away were we can actually find them again!

Melissa and Justin gave us a desk that they didn't want any more and it has really helped me get this room all straight. We think that we will probably just put a daybed in this room instead of a queen size bed - we'll get one that the trundle pops up and makes a king size bed (it just isn't as long as a normal king size) - but then the whole room won't be taken up with a bed that will probably only be used once a year IF then. At least, that's what we are thinking right now. Talk to me in a few months when we are ready to move the wall and do the built-ins. We might have changed our mind by then.

We also got "our" bed set up in our bedroom and the new comforter on - we are just waiting for the new blinds to come - they are suppose to be here by next Saturday at the latest. Oh, we also went to Sebring on Saturday morning and got the paint to do the bedroom - hopefully, Dan will be able to paint the room next week while I am at work. I don't know if he will be able to or not, or if it will be the week of Thanksgiving, but I would really like that room finished before we have company on Thanksgiving. We'll see.

We also spent some time today cleaning and straightening the garage. The new stove got delivered yesterday afternoon - but we didn't have them haul off the old one because we didn't know if my mom would want to use the old stove since hers has the problem with the glass in the door. I don't think she wants this one - so we will probably donate it next week. However, we got a lot of things cleaned out of the garage - so it looks much better. We still have some things that we need to take to storage - lamps mostly that we just can't use right now, but I don't want to get rid of - we might we able to use them after we get the remodeling done. So, for now we will take them back to the store room until we decide whether or not to keep them.

Tomorrow the landscaper is suppose to be here to do the front of the house. I can't wait to get home from work and see how it looks. I'll take pictures and post them next week.

Well, I don't have much else to report - I don't know what to expect at work next week - this will be the first week with the kids before a major holiday - guess we'll just have to wait and see. So, since I don't have anything else to tell you about and I am so very tired I think I'll just sign off for tonight and talk to you again next weekend. I hope that you all are having a good fall and are almost ready for Thanksgiving!

Take care and I'll talk to you next Sunday!

Okay I'm officially a bad blogger!

Hello all - yes, I'm still here, and yes, we are still working on the house - I just don't have any pictures to post and I've been really busy with school. I just don't seem to have the time that I used to have to be on the computer. Anyway, even though I don't have any pictures to share, I will try and catch you up really quickly.

For two weeks the guys were here working on the irrigation in the yard. Finally, that was finished the middle of the week and we have been in touch with the landscaper and all of the landscaping should be in before Thanksgiving! Yeah!!! After that, we are going to take a break before doing anything else - with the holidays we want to concentrate on that, plus my mom should be completing her move next weekend. The mover is suppose to be at her house in Atlanta on Thursday to finish the packing (they are doing the breakables), and then load her stuff on the truck on Friday. She will be here on Sunday and the movers will be here with her stuff on Monday. Poor Dan, he will have to be the one to go over and help supervise that since I will be at work for another week before our Thanksgiving break. Anyway, I am hopeful that all will go well with her move and we will be able to get her settled by the first of the year.

After the holidays - Dan and I will be going on a week long cruise (that is our Christmas present to each other, and yes, I am taking a week off work - YEAH!). Then, when we get back the middle of January, we will start back on the house. Dan has one more project that he wants to get done on the outside of the house and then we will start on the inside - Kitchen first. We did have to break down and buy a new range for the kitchen this weekend - the one that came with the house died! Oh well, at least I got to get what I wanted and it was on sale! We have also bought a few things to get the house ready for the holidays and company - we bought some new blinds for our bedroom (we are getting rid of the "mirror" blinds - no kidding the blinds that are in the master bedroom are silver reflective!) Anyway, we had to order the blinds, but they are suppose to be here no later than the 21st. I would love to get the bedroom painted, but that might be pushing it. We bought a new comforter set at BB & B yesterday and new bedside lamps today at Pier One. We will be putting up our bed next weekend - we'll take mom's stuff to her house so that will be set up for her when she gets here.

Things are coming together just alot slower than I would like. I also figure that, when we do start working on the inside, I will get frustrated before things are finished. Dan says that I want things done yesterday - which is probably true. I am going to try and be patient, but I think he is trying the patience with doing all the work outside first, instead of doing stuff on the inside. I know that we aren't doing EVERYTHING outside, but we are doing a lot more than I thought we were going to do to begin with. Oh well, it will all work out in the end.

Hopefully, I will have some pictures to post by the next time I post - which I hope to be next weekend. I'll take some pictures of the bedroom now and then what it looks like when we get out bed in and the new comforter and blinds. (maybe even the paint - but I won't push it!)

Hope everyone if doing well and I will try and do better about posting. Take care and I'll talk to you next week!