Monthly Archives: August 2009

It’s A Party

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And Susan AKA Between Naps On The Porch is hosting Metamorphosis Monday .

Creative juices emerged last evening the moment I stepped foot out of the car. I spied leaves lying so perfectly on the drive. But they weren’t your ordinary leaf; they were dotted with special drops from an early evening shower. I was smitten at first sight and didn’t waste time capturing all the pretty pools of water.

I spent a good portion of this afternoon relaxing and letting the creative juices flow.

From this



To that



And the other



And this leaf, although it didn’t have the pools from the rain, I couldn’t leave it out.



So I mixed it up a bit



Again



And again



And the last set, the original beauty all dolled up



My first spin at it



And another



Hope you enjoyed this segment of Metamorphosis Monday . Thank you Susan for being our host.

Up to Our Eyeballs

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I’ve been away far too long, so long that I hardly know where to begin.

The good news is:

• We closed on the house
• We’re finally right smack dab in the middle of all our stuff
• And it’s a beautiful new chapter in our lives

We were delayed on the closing by a few days because the builder needed to finish up a few things. However, she was kind enough to allow us to move in before the closing as our lease ran out on the apartment.

So over to the house we came with our belongings (it will be two weeks tomorrow) from the apartment and we settled in.

We closed on the house a week and ½ ago.

Then, the movers arrived with our things from storage this past Tuesday.


Along with a tag along truck with more stuff, they say we had a total of 23,000 pounds of stuff. We’re hoping to get rid of some junk as we go along. That’s way too much for two people.


Hubby got home from work just in time to…


Observe the unloading of one of the things he’s missed most the last two years.


And one on my babies arrived too, my kiln! It took 5 guys to man handle this thing off the truck and down the drive, it’s on wheels at that.


In no time the rooms began to fill with furniture and boxes and things we totally forgot we even had.

Kitchen


Dining room


His and Her Office


One side of our bedroom


And a partial view of the other


Foyer, not too much going on there


Family room


And in the midst of all our mess, the cabinet man came over to work on hubby’s built-in’s. We look forward to the completion of the units.


We declined the movers service of unpacking as we wanted to do that ourselves. So from Wednesday through Saturday I spent unpacking. So far, the kitchen, master bed/bath and living room are unpacked. My next room is the dining room, I should have that tackled tomorrow.

My kitchen is almost ready to share but not quite as I still have things to display and pictures to hang in the breakfast area.

The living room is pretty much all fixed up but still in need of pictures and our bedroom is the same.

Hubby was out of town the last few days and one evening I had an alarm go off on the house. It was early enough in the evening that I called the builder and she told me not to worry and that she and her team would be out the following day.

Here’s what that thing-a-ma-jigger looked like going off that night.


I turned on the box fan to drown the noise and was able to sleep through it no prob.

And here’s a little pic from the balcony. Love the changing color in the leaves.


So for now I’m letting the season determine weather it’s summer or autumn and she speaks…

My Hubby

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My dearest down to earth hubby can put my mind at ease and calm my anxious jitters with just one look.


For some reason I have these anxious jitters compared to that of a child bouncing off the walls. Although I’m not outwardly bouncing off the walls, inside I can hardly contain myself. The wheels seem to be constantly turning with all the things that need to be done.

But there’s my sweet darlin’ right by my side easing my anxious thoughts and putting them to rest. He’s tackled all the utilities at the new house + phone + post office. We’re still in shock that we may not have internet for up to the first four weeks, hopefully less. It’s a small town, we’ll roll with it.

So today my darlin’ suggested he treat me to a BBQ place in the area where some of the guys from work rave about. My mind drifted into BBQ mode where ribs took center stage with coleslaw right along side.

And that’s exactly what I ordered


When it comes to ribs I always compare them to the place I like the best (in TX). These guys were not the best but were right up there. They were tender fall off the bone good and the sauce was excellent. Hubby suffered as his brisket did not even come close to what he had in mind. He enjoyed his sides and dessert and pretty much left the meat on his plate. Unfortunately he’s not a rib kind a guy, otherwise I would have shared with him.

I quite liked the ambiance at the restaurant. All the tables were covered in paper with crayons for fun. The walls were adorned with drawings from customers and the music was country at its best. It was a fun new experience for us.


Hubby spied the Dessert, Peanut butter Landslide Pie


Anything peanut butter and I’m all ears.

We split the pie, the perfect solution at the end of our meal.


Thanks my darlin’ for calming my jitters and assuring me that all is well and that we are right on schedule.

Just For Today

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I took a step back

And became the homebody that I love and stayed put all day long.

I stayed home to do laundry (that I didn’t get around to last Friday). And it was really starting to mound.

I stripped the sheets and had the towels going too. The one perk about the apartments where we live is that the laundry room houses more than one machine. The lights and darks were sorted in the appropriate baskets and laundry was well underway. Soon the wet clothes were transferred to the dryers and the alarm was set so that I was out there the moment the laundry was ready.

Just 5 min. before the dryer alarm sounded, I got the bright idea to make banana bread. I thought of the very ripe bananas going to waste and my mind shifted from laundry to bread. I hopped into the kitchen and quickly threw the batter together. Dumped it into the greased bread pan (that I just purchased this week) and popped that baby in the oven.


Thankfully the laundry room door is no more than 3’ just outside my front door. Can I just stop and say how thankful I am to be this close to the laundry room, just sayin’. Some people have to climb up and down many stairs to get there.

Anyway, after popping the bread in the oven I set out for the laundry room, cleaner in hand. I always clean that nice long counter down prior to folding my clothes. And then and there I perused the folding of the clothes, all of them.

Clothes were folded and 40 minutes later I walked into the apartment to the most amazing aroma of banana bread.

Clothes were put away, the bed was tended to and fresh towels were put away.

And the thing I wanted to tend to most was just finishing up in the kitchen.

Out of the oven the fresh bread came


Didn’t even wait for that baby to cool to slice into it. I slapped some butter on the piping hot piece of bread and that’s all I have to say about that.


It was so nice to let the day unfold and I was amazed at how much I got done and even enjoyed a bit of relaxation.

It feels good to be caught up around here and I’m looking forward to another day at the site of our new home. We just learned that the closing has been pushed to next week. No biggie as we’re set to close on Monday and have scheduled the movers for Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that one week from now we’ll be in our house.

But the thing that’s on my mind right now is my fresh cup of coffee in the morning with toasted banana bread. nite nite.

A Change is Coming

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The earth was moved and slopes were smoothed


And top soil was brought in by the truck load – I quite like the words across the back of his truck “BEEN THERE, DUMPED THAT”. If you click on the picture, you too can read it.


Summer flowers and wild flowers blossomed


Queen Annes Lace at her best


Flourishing


Without a care in the world


And as I walked along the newly graded dirt a bright leaf caught my attention


It stopped me in my tracks and I was caught up in the excitement of autumn. I’m glad nature doesn’t have to wait for the “appropriate” time to decorate.

I couldn’t leave it alone so I messed with it in Photoshop.


As I walked a little further I noticed another leaf from a different tree.


Again in Photoshop


I was puzzled thinking to myself where in the world did these two leaves come from. So I began to look and it didn’t take long for me to spy this.


Ahhh, this is the first autumn sighting for me in our soon to be front yard, a true sign that a change is coming.

A Sprint to the Finish

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The builder has promised to have us all set and ready to close on the 13th. We’re making all preparations on our end to ensure a smooth transaction next week.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the status of the house so here’s a few pics to somewhat bring this blog up to speed.

Meet the painting crew; they have done a fabulous job coating the walls.


They’re a wonderful husband and wife team


The kitchen area last week


Another view of the kitchen today


Preparations to make the cut out for the stovetop


Bathroom counters – we went with the same counters/cabinets for all the bathrooms


The granite for the bathrooms is called imperial coffee – I was smitten by the name alone.

Oops, the granite truck backed into my car. Hubby surveying the damage, he’s holding the license plate that broke. Hubby states that I have a pretty loose bumper.


A pic around the back of the house from last week


The cat tails hangin’ out by the water in the backyard, I couldn’t resist them.


Our driveway and sidewalk made an entrance today.


So all the builder needs to do is scurry to get er done or get enough done so that we can close next week.