Hibernation

Hello all - Yep, I'm still here.  Sorry I sorta "fell off the wagon" with blogging - you know how animals go into hibernation when it's really cold?  Well, that the only thing I can use to describe me the last couple of weeks.  It seemed that instead of being all "gun ho" and getting organized and everything like everyone else in creation all I wanted to do was sit and be lazy chill.  So, that's what I did.  That is until a couple of weeks ago.  I finally decided it was time to get up and get some stuff done!

I guess it all started when Dan decided that he needed some help painting the pergola.  We had gone to Lowe's and bought a paint sprayer, as he thought that trying to paint it by hand would be too much.  So, with paint sprayer in hand and the patio cleared of all the furniture, he started.  Now, while it is true that it sped the process along, the waste of paint was tremendous.  Can we say over spray!?!  Anyway, he wanted me to move the drop cloth from area to area while he used the sprayer just so we didn't have a gray painted floor or gray plants all around (although some of the leaves of some of the plants are now gray).

 Covered the bird bath so we didn't have to worry about messing it up with paint.

 Grill and outdoor "side table" covered with plastic.

 This is a good shot of all the paint over spray.  Waste, waste, waste!  And at over $40 a gallon, not a budget friendly way to paint.

However, we used all the paint we had - we had to buy two more gallons.  It is starting to look pretty good and we are excited to get it finished.

Dan has since gotten it all done, except for a little bit of hand brush work.  He did finally admit that the sprayer was not the best option and went old school with a roller and extended handle.  It might have taken him two days to finish it up this way, but at least we didn't paint everything else in sight.

When I wasn't helping Dan outside I decided it was time to get some work done in the house.  So, while doing some early spring cleaning (or late January/winter cleaning) I did some rearranging of items, rearranged the bookshelves in the family room, and even did a little Valentine's day decorating.

 Living Room -  I haven't moved any furniture (the way the room is laid out this is the best room arrangement) so I just make little changes with the accessories.

I moved the wooden goose from the side table to the coffee table and added a heart shaped dish that I've had forever (I found it again stashed in my nightstand).  With a little Valentine's candy and it's good to go.

  I found these flowers on Amazon last month and loved the soft pastel colors of the flowers.  I knew that I wanted to put them in a square glass vase and I just happened to find this vase at the Twice Nice Furniture store here in the Village (it's a resale shop of things that are donated and it's where all our donations go).  A little moss around the sides, and I might need to fluff the flowers a little but I think it gives a hint of spring.

A little better shot of the heart shaped dish.  Don't you just love it when you find things that you have that you can use instead of having to buy things?


I also decided to group my crocks and jugs together instead of having them spread out all over the house.  The perfect spot was under the entry way table.

When we went to the little resale shop I also found this smaller square vase.

I thought it would be perfect as a candle holder and why not add some Valentine candy.  Quick and cute.

Then for the shelves and mantle.  I was just tired of the same ole, same ole.  So, I decided to shake things up a bit.  I started gathering stuff from around the house and just moved some things around and viola newly decorated shelves.

A new look for no cost.

This past Tuesday I had a check up on my thyroid down in Gainesville and I thought Dan and I could do some shopping while there (it's the closest Home Goods store and I had never been in the Hobby Lobby there).  So, after my glowing check-up - no change to the growths on my thyroid and no need for biopsy at this time, just another check up next year - Dan and I headed to Hobby Lobby, as it was the closest to the doctor's office.  I purchased a few spring flower at 50% off and a new basket for an arrangement on the front door.  When leaving the store I received a call from one of my mom's neighbors telling me mom had fallen and had messed up her arm pretty badly.  I explained I was in Gainesville and Judy said she would stay with mom until the doctor' released her.  Dan and I made a quick trip to Bass Pro shop, since we were already headed that way, to pickup some wax melts that we had wanted for a long time and then headed directly home (sorry Home Goods, maybe next time).

When we got home we stopped at mom's house, but no one was there.  I went across the street to the neighbor's house, thinking that she may have kept mom at her house until we could get home, but was told by her husband that Judy had taken mom to the hospital in Live Oak to have her head and shoulder x-rayed since our clinic doesn't have that capability.  I called Judy to see if she wanted me to come and relieve her, and she said no they should be home soon as they were just waiting for the results of the x-rays.  About half an hour later I received a call that they were home, so I headed back down to mom's house.  She did not have any broken bones, just a good knot on her head (no concussion), some bruises, and a pretty good cut down the entire length of her left arm.  The cut is not deep and didn't require stitches - just steri-strips - but she will be sore for a couple of weeks.  She is very lucky that she didn't break anything and it is something that we will have to continue to watch.  Her sense of balance is getting worse, but this is the first time she has fallen since we moved here three years ago.  She doesn't know why she fell - she was in the middle of her living room so she didn't trip on anything.  She said she tripped on her own two feet - and at this point who knows.  I will be going to a class that is being taught by Elder Care on being the caregiver to someone with Alzheimer's.  I just want to make sure I know how to make it as easy on mom as I can (as well as Dan and I).  It's a six week course taught at our local library and I am hopeful that it will give us good information.

Wednesday was my normal shift at the store (just a few lookers) and I had plenty of time to finish the bookkeeping for the month of January.

Thursday I finally decided that I needed to stop putting off the cleaning out of drawers and cabinets.  I had been putting off cleaning and organizing the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen for months, but I went in and in thirty minutes it was all done!  (Why do we put off things for so long when it really doesn't take that long to do????)

Next, it was time to start getting everything ready to send to our tax accountant.  I'm still missing a couple of pieces of information, but that should come in next week and I have everything else ready to go.  I hope to get it mailed off to her by the end of the week and then keep our fingers crossed that we won't owe that much!

While I was getting the tax stuff together I decided to get the file cabinet cleaned out and organized too.  Once again, a job that I had put off for months was completed in just a couple of hours.

Dan and I are ready for the Super Bowl - we aren't going to a party, just the two of us here with a pizza and some chips and dip.  Nothing big or fancy.  I really don't have a "dog in this race" and I really don't care who wins - I'll probably cheer for the Eagles but it won't hurt my feeling if the Patriots win.  (I know that my son-in-law will be happy if the Pats take the win, but we shall see.)

Speaking of my son-in-law - a couple of weeks ago his family had a family reunion in Texas and, for the first time, my daughter, sil, and two grand babies went.  They spent five days in Texas (Wednesday through Monday) with a trip to Waco and Magnolia Market thrown in one day.  

 

Melissa said the girls had an awesome time playing on the grounds.  They didn't get a cupcake as the line was wrapped around the building twice and she didn't buy anything in the store either (how can you not buy SOMETHING????  I know I couldn't - LOL!) She tired to Skype with me, but we weren't home and I didn't have my phone with me when she called - darn!  Then they had the reunion at the rodeo in Ft. Worth over the weekend. The babies got cowboy hats and they were so cute! I think they had a good time and it was good for them to get away for a little trip.

Well, this has turned into a small book - sorry for the length.  Hopefully, now that I am not in hibernation any longer I will get back to posting regularly.

Have a great weekend!

More projects!

I know that it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.  We haven't been sitting around on our bon-bons.  Nope, we have been working like crazy!  I'll fill you in on all that's going on.

First, let's start with Easter.

Good Friday morning the Easter Bunny left Lorelai a "basket" of things for Nana and Grand - P's house.

 From a hat to wear in the sun

to some toys for the

sand box.

 Some coloring books

and a Lamb cup

even a little

candy

(but not much)!

 Even had to add

a bouncy ball

to play

with.

The big "gift"

was a wagon to pull.

Ady even got a chance to

have a turn in the wagon.

Just not sure she liked it too much.

(Of course, Jessie had to "photo bomb" the picture! LOL!)

Saturday Dan and I cleaned the porch.  We took all the furniture off the porch and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.

Now, it SHOULD be ready for summer.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day here.

Dan and I Easter morning all ready for church.

After church we went over the the kids house

for Easter dinner and some family pictures.

My daughter Melissa, her husband Justin, my sweet Lorelai, and the

adorable Adalyn.

My sweet girl.

Ada chewing on her fist

My mom, or Adalyn's Great Grandmother

Nana and her little "Ada Bear"

I don't know what was so funny -

but we were all laughing.

Me holding Adalyn and my mom holding Lorelai.

Last week, we kept the girls all week. 

Saturday I spent the day deep cleaning the house.

It was the first time that the house was really cleaned top to bottom since before I was sick.  Don't get me wrong.  I cleaned - dusted, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms - but just hadn't done the really deep cleaning.

Also, on Saturday, we had the carpets cleaned by Stanley Steemer.

We had just finished picking up the little stuff when they showed up.

The last couple of weeks Dan has had a couple of projects going

and he completed one of them last week.

Yesterday I was able to put a little finishing touches on it.

He built the shelves and valance for the windows and hung some new 

shades in the family room.

Yesterday, after church, we went over to the storage unit and found 

all his ducks and I used them to decorate the shelf

above the windows.

So, this is what the family room looks like now.

He is still working on a top secret project and it looks

like he just MIGHT be able to finish on

his deadline of Mother's Day.

I'll give you one more picture of that "little" project.

Hope you all are having a great week!

Talk to you soon!

Changes

Well, this is the patio area in the back of our house - I have shown it as the header for the blog now for a little over a year (since we have moved into the house a year ago last August).  However, this space has gone through a LOT of changes in the last year.  I wonder if you can spot them all.

The first picture was taken in October of 2010.  We had just gotten the new patio furniture and had arranged the patio.  We were pretty pleased with it at the time.

This picture was taken just two months later in December of 2010.  Can you spot all the changes that we had already made (other than the Christmas decorations)?  There are quite a few.

Okay, this one was taken in May of 2011, right after we moved back into the house after the remodeling project was finished.  Can you spot all the changes in this one?  (I think this is the one that is the header on the blog now, but it will probably change in the next few days for .........)

Finally, this is a shot that I took today - other than the decorations for Thanksgiving - can you spot the changes that we have made since May?

So, what is the purpose of this little exercise?  I think I wanted to let you know that I (we) are always changing things.  Nothing is ever completely "finished" - you can always 'tweak" things and change things around.  You might like something when you first do it, but as you live with it you realize that, if you did "this" (whatever "this" is) it would work better for you and your family.  Or, you might find that it just looks better.  I think that sometimes we (I mean the collective "we" here) try to fix things and think that we are all done - I don't think things are ever 'all done'.  Our tastes change - our lives change - we are NOT stagnate - so I don't think our homes should be either.

Does that mean I want you to go out and spend a lot of money on stuff to change your house/decorating?  Good heavens, NO!!!!!  Case in point, other than the changes that were made during the remodeling (and there was one) any changes made in any of the above pictures was very minimal cost wise - in fact, most were made with things that we already owned and had been in storage or had been used somewhere else previously.  If you do need to buy things to decorate your home, do it in stages!  Don't go out and try to buy everything all at one time, get a few things and live with them for a little while before adding new things.  Sometimes it takes a while before you know how you are going to use a room (remember how Dan and I went back and forth on whether we were going to use the front room as the living/family room or the dining room?  If we had not moved the living room into that room and lived with it for a couple of months and realized that it just wasn't the right fit for us we could have made a very costly mistake when we did the remodeling project!)

Over the next few weeks I would like to show you more of the house with the before/during/ and now (notice I didn't say "after") shots so you can see the process I go through as Dan and I are making our home here work for us. 

I also am going to try and make one other "change" in the blog itself.  I am going to try and post some recipe every week that I have made during the week - or, since Thanksgiving is coming up, I will make for Thanksgiving dinner.  You might find something that you can use - at least I hope so.  If I have additional time I would also like to show you some project that I have been working on - but that might not be as easy since some of the things that I am doing right now are Christmas presents, and I think my girls still read my blog (at least occassionally) and I sure wouldn't want them to see their Christmas present!  I'll see how that works out.  Let's see how that plays itself out.

Okay, I will be interested to see IF you can find all the changes that have been made over the year that we have been in the house.  Leave me a comment and see if you can tell me where all the changes are - I'll be looking to see who can spot them!

Laundry Room

Laundry - oh the joys!  Everyone has to do it - so we might as well make it as enjoyable as possible.

This is my new laundry room------------

I guess that I have shown you pictures of many of the rooms in the house, but I don't think I have ever shown you pictures of the laundry room.  While it might not be a room that is visited by people who visit our homes I believe that it is important that the laundry room be decorated just like the rest of your home.  Of course, that's just my opinion.  Now the picture above was taken right after the laundry room was finished.  You will notice that there are no shelves up or pictures or anything like that. 

So, a couple of weeks later, the next step looks like this -----------------

One of the other functions of the laundry room is some storage - while I have great storage in the new kitchen I still needed some storage for large items like the blender and food processor.  Of course, I had to decorate the shelves too!  Actually, one of the things that we did was to make the shelves adjustable so if  we need to change the way we use these shelves we have the ability to do so.

Our laundry room is right off the kitchen and you come in from the garage through the laundry room. One of the things that I wanted to do when we were remodeling the house was to make this room more assessable and comfortable. Now, that doesn't mean you will go into the laundry room and sit down and spend time, but if you have to be in there doing laundry you want to be as comfortable as possible while you are doing it. One of the things that I insisted on doing was changing the door coming in from the garage - it had been just an old 1980's solid door which closed in the room. I wanted a door with a window in it that would add natural light. Dan thought it would be too expensive. Guess who won - okay, so I actually did win one!

I also was able to add a shelf from IKEA on the wall by the garage door.  This shelf has dual purpose.  It is place that I can hang clothes as I take them out of the dryer, it gives us a place for Dan to put his hat (as you can see from the picture), and it will also give us a place to hang sweaters or jackets when weather turns cooler.

Now, the way the laundry room looks now -----------

As you can see - I have done a little more decorating, especially over the cabinets.

Well, while laundry might not be the most enjoyabe job to do - by making the room neat, organized, and yes, even decorated, it makes the job a little less of a chore!