Besides getting the girls enrolled in school, I got my own classes together for my fall 2008 semester. I also got my books ordered for the semester - $400 later! T has been to vacation bible school, birthday parties, and playing with friends. J has been working, talking to friends, and other teen stuff like shopping! Chuck and I have a wedding to go to this weekend, plans to take the kids to the state fair, then to an amusement park this month. The last three weeks have been busy with working on the house, keeping the yard mowed, taking care of kids and animals, trying to sneak some sewing in, then just trying to stop and smell the roses from time to time!

I have pictures of T’s birthday that happened here too! I will do another post with those pictures plus more in the next few days!

Will enough of sharing that lets talk about what I got for my birthday! Chuck took me to dinner at our favorite German restaurant, Gerhardts-Bierstube. I love eating this German food, much is a memory to me of time gone by, eating with my grandparents, grandpa cooking up some good German food. My grandfather was 100% German, straight off the truck grandma fell off the Belgium truck; on my other side my grandmother fell off the 100% German truck, therefore you know the majority of my heritage. Chuck loves German cooking after living there while in the Army for almost a year and a half. I decided on a Dairy Queen Ice cream cake, went with the Oreo Blizzard cake.

Doesn’t that look good! It was delicious too! My mother-in-law got me a new Rival Crockpot, a red one too

She also got me a new nightgown, something she has made a birthday tradition now! I can count on a new nightgown every year.

My husband got me a new ice cream maker

This is electric, no ice or salt required! Can I say less mess! I love ice cream, according to the directions I should have one ½ quarts of ice cream in about 90 minutes from this machine. Chuck said the one I was looking at in Wal-Mart took 6-8 hours to make ice cream, and it was the same amount. No, I haven’t tested the machine yet. There has been so much work on the house that my mind hasn’t even wrapped around making ice cream.

On another note, I got some new movies, National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets, Vacancy, Messengers, and A Time to Kill. No, I haven’t watched a single movie either! Don’t you feel bad for my family, all these gifts and I haven’t enjoyed one yet – geezz woman!

On my previous post I mentioned how horrible I was feeling after all the housework, but thinking about it, I felt this way once before. There was a time I had an allergic reaction to some meds I was taking, turned out it was made from oyster shells; obviously I am allergic to shell fish, according to the doctor. My allergic reaction to that was similar it took me a few months of taking it as swelling, muscle aches, and joint pain increased to the point I could hardly stand without pain. See I am a glutton for punishment; here I hurt so badly before I will try to figure out what is wrong with me. I did some searching and believe I am having a reaction the Lipitor the doctor put me on. The Lipitor is the only thing that has changed for me in the 3 months, and I remember some swelling right after I started taking it. I will stop taking it, the benefits do not outweigh the effects I am having at this point. Guess I need to make an appointment with the doctor. :sad:

Here is a picture of my garden window, now painted white. I realize many people like garden windows, at one time I thought I wanted one also, but after having one now for the last five years I want it GONE! I really hate it! It sits back so far that I can’t reach the back of it, not even to open the side windows without a step stool. This area seems to be the first place bugs like to buzz around then die! In addition, the slanted area outside always gets so dirty that I hate looking at it, and to clean it I have to climb a ladder outside! See I like my house clean, but I like the easiest way to keep it clean. It is apparent to me that a garden window is not an area to keep clean easily, therefore it will be gone. In case you haven’t guessed from these comments I also really detest knick-knacks too, I find the dust collectors, and a PITB to clean.

To the left of my garden window / sink area is the area where the stove / oven was originally. We have moved it in preparation of punching through the wall, opening a hallway into the kitchen. With our remodel, this portion of the kitchen will be a true galley style kitchen. I have painted the walls in here the same color as the dining room and the hallway, the color is called Bermuda Sand. I didn’t get a good picture of my lower cabinets, therefore no one can see my beautiful Kitchen Aid dishwasher Chuck bought me when I was visiting friends in Kansas a couple of months ago.

Our wonderful side-by-side refrigerator. I say wonderful very tongue in-cheek. I never wanted a side-by frig, but Chuck thought it would be great to have the ice and water dispenser at the front. The side-by turned out just as I feared when I always looked at them in the past, not enough refrigerator area for me. I’m not sure if there will be a good refrigerator at all for me these days. Looking at new refrigerators I found all of them smaller on the frig portion and larger in the freezer portion. I’ve asked about this at stores, to see if I’m losing the last of my mind / memory, as the frig portion sure seemed bigger in the past. I was told that yes, over the years the frig portion has been reduced and the freezer portion increased in size. The reason is not surprising; as we have become a nation of wanting dinners quickly the frozen food industry has hit it big. With all those quick frozen meals we need the freezer space for them, so more freezer space in the new refrigerators. Alas, though that means we also are buying less fresh produce, the healthy stuff for us! That is the hardest part for me, I love fresh vegetables and fruits, add a few leftovers and condiments and my frig portion of the refrigerator is overflowing! It just means I have to go to the store more than I like to retrieve milk, fruit, and vegetables. Pssst, the other thing I detest doing is SHOPPING! All sorts of shopping, I am not a mall hound either!

Here is where we have moved the store / oven, under the pass-through window. When the real remodel is done, I want this wall reduced to a half wall, with a breakfast bar on the dining side. I also want the cabinets turned around to be on the same side as the stove opposed to the wall they are presently on. I personally like these cabinets, would like to have more made for the completed remodel. These cabinets are obviously handmade, simple pine, and are very basic. These cabinets are very reminiscent of what one would find in older houses, and exactly what I remember my grandfather making.

Here I thought I show the new floor I have been laying in the kitchen and hallway. These are simple linoleum squares sold at Lowes’ with a look of stone. I wouldn’t dare put real stone down in the house, but I like the linoleum squares! This is such very different from the two different type of sheet linoleum that was in here and the hallway.

I didn’t get new pictures of the dining room, but Chuck hung the new light fixture and I put new curtains up! I’m taking the next few days off from house renewal work. I am so sore, aching in joints and muscles I never knew existed, and I am really swollen; I not sure why I am reacting this way, maybe it is just age. I can remember plenty of days working on our houses without the swelling, and aching I have now. I’ll bring it all up to the doctor on my next visit which maybe soon. I have realized I have corporal tunnel in my right hand, at some points it is bad enough the pain radiates down to my elbow. I hate getting old!!!

Here are a few pictures.

Once entering the room our bed is behind the door. This door I haven’t finished painting, because Chuck didn’t plan ahead decided to use a door we already had, and didn’t hang it until I was done with all the painting, and the carpet was laid. Looking to the far right of the picture is the edge of his desk, which sits at a lower level then the rest of the room. The lower level is the entry area of the old beauty shop where the new linoleum is. The wall the bed is against was the duck-hunting scene prior to my painting. If one looks closely, the area by Chuck’s desk was the stonewall paneling.

Across from the bed is the armoire holding the TV, DVD player, and VCR. We don’t have satellite out here yet as Chuck still needs to run the cable for it out here. On my side though I have blinds for the room and haven’t gotten them hung yet – good thing we don’t have any close neighbors can only imagine what they might see. This wall was still duck hunting prior to my painting.

This is a picture of the small room I talked about in a prior post. Originally, this was the tanning room of the beauty shop; right now, it houses my dresser, giving me a little dressing room. We originally thought we’d work on our master bedroom suite area after completing the bathroom / living room remodel; but Chuck is contemplating taking on the old master bedroom / kitchen / dining room area next. If we take out the old master bedroom then this little room has to become our closet! Right now, we are still using the closets in the old master bedroom. I can re-arrange and adapt this easily. I believe we have plenty of room for my dresser in the main part of the room, and then will put poles and shelves in this room for the closest if needed. On the walls going into this room again you can see the stonewall paneling. Inside this room were two walls with real wood paneling, then two walls of a floral pattern.

As crazy as it sounds this is my favorite thing about moving our room out here! I have a bathroom off my bedroom again! It is only a half bath right now, but since my bladder is the size of a pea at night this makes my nightly interruption a close jaunt! Of course, it is on my side of the bed, a quick hop out then right back to bed! I had never lived in a house since I was a kid that I didn’t have a bathroom right off my bedroom. The bathroom had floral paneling, different floral than anywhere else in the room; and the carpet has now been replaced with linoleum. I also purchased a cabinet to hold vanity items, a new medicine cabinet, and pretty new hardware for the décor.

As a final close, a picture here is our new carpet! It was a remnant of course, nothing too expensive in this to be disposed of area. On a side note, we didn’t move our head and foot board of our bed. As we complete each room in the real remodel, I have declared it is necessary to purchase new furniture.

Aren’t the baby goats cute! T loves goats for whatever reason. She has asked dad several times about some goats for our house.

Then there were the cows, not one of T’s favorites, but one of Chuck’s. T enjoyed the rabbits and the horses too! Of course the horses are T’s favorite animal in the fair! For Chuck we visited the pigs, another animal he’d like us to raise. I had to visit the chickens. I love the chickens. I was surprised that T has enjoyed the chickens too lately, curious about the different breeds and their differences.

Then of course the rides are a necessary visit while at the fair! Here are T and J waiting in line for a ride.

Aren’t they sweet together! I really need some pictures of my 3 girls together! Here J and T are getting ready to ride the Tilt-O-Whirl, one of T’s favorites.

Beside animals, and rides we also hit the food stands! Couldn’t leave a fair without some candy and caramel apples, Chuck needed his funnel cake fix! Moreover, for Chuck and me a fair needs a corn dog! We had fun, and are hoping to make it to the State Fair this year!

She absolutely loved the slide!

Then she scared the be-gebers out her dad when he seen her jumping of the diving board into the 10 feet deep water! I calmed him when I told him that was the third time she had done it; he had already missed the other 2 times

Did I say she liked the slide – in line again!!

We couldn’t talk her into any dinner until the party was completely over, believe me she was literally the last child out of the pool. While she was swimming dad went to Subway to get us dinner – my favorite kind of cooking these days Do you think she liked her meatball sub?

After the swimming, while she was eating the coaches were passing out the trophies. I was so happy to see that all the teams got trophies, including the team that got 4^th place.

Tuesday night she spent the night with a friend, so she has been having a great week! We haven’t even told her about going to the fair yet!

I found this fabric at Fabric.com, it would go with my whole latte, java, coffee theme I wanted. Then I think maybe I just want brown curtains, use other items to give me a coffee house theme. In the end, the verdict is still out! If I don’t decide before they run out of the fabric then the decision will be made for me

Here is my dining room all painted:

I laid new dark brown runner rug down the steps, I sure wasn’t going to leave them all white! The only thing left in here for the time being is that darn blue ceiling fan. I have a new light fixture just waiting on the ‘man of the house’ to do the lights. I have new lights for several of the rooms, according to Chuck he is going to take a day to do them all at one time. I also spent most of one day working on the hardwood floor.

When we do the dining room right I want to do these hardwood floors different. At that point, I’ll sand them down, touch up the stain, and then use a polyurethane varnish (4 times) over them to seal them with a shine! Nevertheless, at the time being I used the old-fashioned paste wax on them. It took me several hours to clean the floors good, rub the wax on, and wait for the wax to dry, then arm-strength buff the floors. I just want to make sure these floors are taken care of; I love the old original hardwood of these. As so many people lay the laminate wood floors these days I can relish in these oak tongue-in-grove real wood floors. I think they are so preeettty.

I got two coats of primer on the small room off the old beauty shop/ Chuck’s office/ soon to be our bedroom. I haven’t been able to get out there to paint the trim and real wall colors because Chuck is deep into the real job work this week! He is covering for his boss so is acting manager for the next 2 weeks, which means lots of phone time and phone conference calls. With him being on the phone non-stop I really didn’t want to bother him with the ladder and noise, we don’t want a cranky Chuck I’m hoping to get that small room painted this weekend. In the next 2 days, I see some house cleaning and yard mowing in my future. My plan is house cleaning Thursday, and yard mowing on Friday, with some checkbook work and bill paying in-between there! We also are hoping to make the fair in the next 2 days in the evening. Then Chuck has two fairs to work with the reserve this next week, and we have my orientation into the Phi Theta Kappa (2-year college honor society). I think we will be busy! Oh yeah, my birthday is next week too! I’ll keep plugging away on the house, and post more as I go!

We decided to do a little fishing. T is closest in this picture, J is further down on the bank of our pond.

Look T caught a fish, but dad has to help take the fish off the hook.

Wow T caught another fish

Look even J caught a fish, she actually caught 2 fish by the end of the day

What – even mom caught a fish!

But dad what happened to your fish ??? Maybe it was all that grill work he had to do

Baby those wings look good!

Did someone want some corn on the cob too? We enjoy leaving it right on the husk to cook on the grill. Because we had so many wings on the grill we actually fired up a second grill for the corn.

We enjoy eating and spending the day with a tent/awning for protection from sun, rain, and bugs!

While the wings were cooking the girls played some badminton then decided it was time to break out some fireworks. T lights her first firecracker by herself!

J wanted to see if she could blow up a bird feeder, she sets up the firecrackers, lights them up

But who got the p*** scared out of them …. Really she took off running, tripped up when the bang happened

After dinner and darkness had settled in the girls’ settled in to watch the fireworks that dad would put on for them

And they were all so pretty!

Thanks for sharing our 4^th of July !!

We have another room, for the previous owners the area was a beauty shop, for the last 5 years DH has used the room for an office. This room though was large, and was becoming DH’s messy collection room With all the ideas on my side of doing some easy fixes for the house, DH had one too! He wanted to separate his work area from his play / free time computer. To do that we need a home office, which would be wonderful for me too; right now my computer sits by the TV, which doesn’t make the most efficient for homework! We decided the answer would be to transform the old beauty shop into our master bedroom, with an area for DH to have a desk and his office laptop. We would make our old master bedroom into our home office, placing his personal time computer & desk along with my computer & desk in that room. There is enough space in the room to include a sewing area! We had already cleaned up and painted most of the room, the half bath, but for whatever reason DH didn’t clean out the small back room. This weekend he finally got the back room cleaned out, so today I scrubbed the walls, they are ready to prime and paint! According to DH, he’ll put up the new lights next weekend in this area plus the dining room. I don’t think he has realized that the carpet might need to put down in the old beauty shop – our new master bedroom! At least here I’ll have a bathroom off my room again This actually puts us in the right direction. The old beauty shop was a conversion in the garage; we plan to convert the rest of the 2-car garage, add it to this section, and turn it into a master suite. We know that the old beauty shop area in the end will be gutted, see nothing like living in construction zones! I’ll add more pictures as I get more done!

On a personal note, T’s coach pitch softball team took Grand Champs last weekend, this week they were in the parade for the local fair!

In addition, my personal assist is getting bigger every day! Isn’t he cute!

That is 2 coats of primer on everything except the oak hardwood floor, and 2 coats of white satin on all the trim & ceiling! I painted it all. The steps need to be replaced as they weren’t made with the quality wood to be stained & shown. Even the acoustic ceiling tiles have been painted! This is what I have been working on while not sewing, gardening, or canning . Saturday, (yesterday) I put on the 1st coat of the beige color on the main walls, today will be my 2^nd coat. Last night we went to dinner then stopped by Lowe’s, I have new runner rug for the steps, and a new light fixture for the room! I’ll put a nice paste wax on the floor too. As soon as I get the painting done I’ll update another picture.