AN INTERESTING CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!

We moved into our house on December 10th.  I had broken my little toe about ten days before our move and I came down with a horrible cough the day we moved—either from all the dust, the beginning of the dreaded cedar pollen, or a virus.  All of that slowed me down a bit.  Prior to our move I had done very little Christmas shopping and, thus, felt very overwhelmed.  Almost everyone in our neighborhood put up beautiful Christmas decorations, but I could not even find mine and really could not find time to worry about decorating our messy house filled with boxes.

I tackled boxes and our kids came to the rescue.  Son #4 and family came to help and got my washer and dryer installed. 

They also conspired with Son #3 for a huge surprise for us.  On the Monday before Christmas, Son #4 said he was going to get breakfast for us.  Meanwhile, Grandson #2 decided he could not wait for his dad to return so we were in the process of making scrambled eggs.

In walks Son #4 with Son #3—fresh from the airport and carrying a beautiful vase of roses for me.  I was so surprised I almost fell over and did get all misty-eyed.  Son #3 had arranged for a day off to come celebrate an early Christmas with us.  Below is Son #3 with Son #4’s daughter, Miss Ella Bella and wife.  Son #4 is the one holding my Christmas tree.

Son #3 saw that I was missing a Christmas tree and went out and bought a tiny one that we put on a chest in the living room.  We exchanged gifts, had dinner together and returned Son #3 to the airport.  Thanks, guys, for such a wonderful surprise!

We went to visit Son #4 and family for Christmas and had a wonderful time there.  We got some much needed sleep, some great food, and had some time away from all the boxes and disorganization at our house.

Son #4 came back with us after Christmas and did about a month’s worth of work in one day.  He organized my husband’s office, got our computers and cable television up and running and installed blinds in all the rooms upstairs.  My husband’s office is looking great!

But my art room is complete chaos—especially since the painters came yesterday and moved everything to paint the baseboards.

I’m not sure what I am going to do to get all that organized, but I need to start working on it—TODAY!

BOXES, BOXES!

We moved over the weekend.  We spent Friday night in our very empty house and ate breakfast on our lawn chairs and table.  Then the movers came with our furniture and mountains of boxes!  How did we ever accumulate so much stuff??

My sweet sister and lots of neighbors came to help!  Thanks so much to each one of you!

Sunday a.m. my sister, my husband and I had breakfast by the fireplace.  Nice!

The following picture’s caption is “Table?  What table?”  I finally uncovered it this evening so we could eat dinner—a casserole brought by a neighbor.  Delicious!

And my nephew’s little girl came by yesterday afternoon to explore the little kid’s room under our stairway.  She spent about half an hour there, so I guess the grandchildren will enjoy it.

This house is going to be so wonderful, but right now I am a bit overwhelmed by all the work that needs to be done in almost every room.  Thankfully my sister and a neighbor arranged and completely decorated the two guest rooms.  I am so grateful to them for that.  PLEASE come back SOON!!!

MOVING, MOVING!!

Last Thursday our builder told us we could move in on Friday, the 10th.  I am SO EXCITED!  Preliminary inspections begin tomorrow.  Please keep your fingers crossed for us!  Meanwhile great progress has been made and the movers will bring our things from storage on Saturday!  I plan to spend Friday night in my house!!

The kitchen has been repainted after the tile and sheet rock repair.  Our oven is in and working, and so is our cooktop.  And the refrigerator is due to be installed tomorrow.

The pond and waterfall are working, the gutters have been installed and the rain chain looks just great!

About 20 years ago I painted a lamp globe for my mother.  It hung over the small organ in her living room for years.  When she left Amarillo I claimed the globe and kept it in our garage for ten years.  When I showed it to our builder he told me he had the perfect place for it and had a new fixture installed to hold the globe.  It is the first thing people see when they walk towards our bedroom.  It is lovely—thank you, Doug!

Meanwhile, Dr. Dad has found a new friend.  We have had a feral cat wandering around in our back yard since Daisy (our fearless watchdog) died in July.  My husband decided to tame the cat and keep it around to take care of the rats and mice that Daisy used to catch for us.  I think he has succeeded!  I about passed out when I came by the house one day and found it IN his truck!  The cat is slightly cross-eyed and doesn’t look too bright, but it is bright enough to know it has found a friend.

I can hardly wait for moving day!  Stay tuned…

TWO STEPS FORWARD, THREE BACK...

They are making great progress with our house and we are ALMOST there, but not quite.  A few snags have caused delays, but things are moving along in a most exciting way.  The floors are done and they finished the fireplace today--quite a change from our old red brick one.  And the floors look just lovely!

The kitchen now has a microwave and I could boil water because the sink also now has fixtures and water that will come out of the faucet.

The claw foot tub we rescued 15 years ago from my husband's aunt's backyard and had refinished is now installed in the hall bathroom.  Note the 1881 railroad rail installed above the tub--it is also an antique from my husband's family.  I can hardly wait to take a bath in that huge tube and sink all the way into the bubbles!

Our bedroom now has carpet and the bed is supposed to be delivered this afternoon.  Unfortunately, there are too many unfinished tasks and inspections to obtain a certificate of occupancy next week, so our move-in date has been moved from next week to another indefinite date. I was disappointed to hear that today.  Perhaps by Christmas??

Meanwhile I am trying to figure out how to get organized for Christmas.  Thankfully, one of my sweet daughter-in-laws has offered to host all of us (all 4 of my boys and families together???) for an early Thanksgiving on Wednesday.  That is so exciting!  I plan to take lots of pictures and will post a family update next week sometime.

WHAT HAPPENED TO OCTOBER??

In the month of October we saw all of our children and grandchildren and met our first great-grandchild.  What a whirlwind month!!

First, I went to Dallas to keep Son #2’s children while they went to Kara’s high school reunion.  We had fun at the Magnolia Hotel and at the Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Festival!!

When I returned home, Son #4 and family were waiting for me at the airport and we had a great day while they looked at our house and played in our newly landscaped yard.

And my new pond…

And then Son #3 came for a visit and we had a great time exploring new restaurants in town (since my kitchen is not ready yet)!

Then we took a quick trip to the coast to meet our #1 Great Grandson.  He is a real doll!

To wrap up the month last night we had a combination birthday party and Halloween celebration in our nearly finished house. 

The birthday boy and wife on our back patio.

Picture-taking on our patio during the party.

I am SO READY to be back in our house—probably sometime towards the end of the month (November)!!

INSIDE AND OUT

Large crowds of workers are busy, busy painting inside our house

and working on our yard outside this week.

No toilets in the house yet, though!  Bummer!  But maybe it is a good thing since they broke the water line this afternoon and that took a while to repair.  Seems like there is always something!  But I do believe there is forward progress being made.

SO MUCH IS HAPPENING…

So much is happening at our house right now that I have not even had time to take pictures.  They are painting the rooms today. 

And we finally have a real stair rail!  Whoopeeeee!

Below is a picture of the accidental “pass through” that the sheet rock people created from the upstairs bunkroom into the bathroom.  It caused many, many questions…

It has now been covered by a nice medicine cabinet “treatment.”

Virgil’s office is the loveliest color they have painted so far!  It is a soft blue grey and it is so restful to walk into the room now.

Our granite was installed last week and has been covered for protection ever since.  Occasionally I go in and lift the cardboard cover just to admire it and dream about cooking in my kitchen again.

 

Below is the counter in the master bath.

And the picture below shows the colors I have chosen for my kitchen.  The red color looks like paprika.  It makes me think that it is time to put a pot of soup on the stove (which is here but not installed yet.).  I can hardly wait!

A little more each day and slowly the house is beginning to come together.  Whee!

HOUSE PROGRESS REPORT…

Our house is really beginning to come together!  This afternoon we talked about the landscaping plan which should begin later on this week.

Yesterday, we talked about a bench and shelf for our mud room.  I found a picture in the Pottery Barn Catalog and showed it to our builder and he said that was exactly what he had in mind.  He tacked the picture to the wall…

…and about three hours later our very artistic carpenters had created this.

Note the picture still tacked to the wall in the photo above!  They also finished the arched openings between our entryway and dining room and they look neat and clean with the wood that arches across the top.

At the end of the day they were putting the stair treads and risers in under the admiring eye of our builder, and the rails come tomorrow—thank goodness!  The upstairs and stairs without rails give me a bit of vertigo and I have been so afraid someone would step off into thin air. 

And I finished one more painting and packed it away for yet another move.  We have been house sitting for wonderful neighbors who were gone for most of the summer.  They are returning and family members are gathering for a wedding, so we are making, hopefully, our last move before returning to our own home.

I took photos of the hibiscus flower at the suggestion of my granddaughters when we were at the beach in July.  Thank you, girls, for calling the flowers to my attention.  I think the painting turned out just lovely!

ART AT OUR HOUSE

Son #2 came with his family this past weekend and we got to keep the girls both Friday afternoon and Saturday.  My husband and I had several suggestions for activities:  movies, Imax, shopping, museum, etc.  However, they said that what they wanted to do the most was art with me.  I was so surprised and pleased, so off we went to Michaels to purchase supplies since mine are all stored away (I can hardly WAIT for my art room to be finished so that we can “do art” together with adequate supplies!).  The girls each selected a project and we got to work.

Below is a picture of their projects plus a painting by Little One.

After the wooden art projects, we got into water colors and they produced some lovely paintings.

After being so creative we went out to eat hamburgers at a place my cousin introduced me to a couple of weeks ago.  Yum!

On Saturday we went to a small gallery in the area and looked at pictures by local artists.  We had a wonderful discussion about the different kinds of art and our different tastes in art.

And, lastly, here is a picture of my latest painting.  I am very pleased with it (but, of course, my photo of it does not quite do it justice).

I am so glad my granddaughters enjoy doing art with me.  I fully anticipate that they will grow up to be artists in their own right from what I saw over the weekend.  And we had a great time!