Getting there

Slowly, but getting there!


This is the kitchen on inspection day. Blah. Seriously, nothing to get excited about.


In January we replaced the sink and faucet. Much better!


Can you spot the difference in this picture?


Or this one? A couple of weeks ago, the hubby and I finally got around to putting hardware on the cabinets! One of those 'why didn't we do this sooner?' moments. Well, we had another of those moments this past weekend.


Can you see it?


Timothy helped put in under-cabinet lighting! Soooo much better.

My last kitchen had 3 windows and all white cabinets and appliances. (I'm not a fan of stainless, I'm odd, I know - I prefer white, but this is what came with the house) This kitchen is in the middle of the house and while it is an open floor plan, there is no window in the kitchen. If you look back at the before pictures you will see that the counters were always in shadow. There are 4 'can' lights in the kitchen. They give off plenty of light for the center of the kitchen, but the center is not where I am preparing food! Plus - they get hot! (I miss my ceiling fan in the kitchen - I don't care how cold it is outside, you start cooking and it is gonna get hot in the kitchen, and cold outside is something it isn't here!) So we spent a little extra to get LED lighting to keep from adding additional heat where we didn't need it.

Now I just need to get those cabinets painted! I'm sure that is not going to happen anytime soon but the kitchen is making progress!

Thanks, Timothy!

My three sons

We didn't make plans for Saturday and Sunday. We just wanted to spend time together. I love to see my guys communicating as adults. The guys went to see a movie. (Ashley and I stayed home - I offered to take her shopping, but she was still trying to figure out how to pack everything they own into 4 checked bags and two carry-on bags!)

After the movie, we grilled steaks and made home-made ice-cream. While dinner was cooking, Timothy tried to stop the wobble in the fan on the patio.


Switched the blades around, but it still wobbles on high - he put it on medium and called it fixed. Now I've gotta find where I put that balancing kit.


Took a walk down to the park at the end of our block

to take a few pics of the kids

It has been several years since I had a pic of all the boys together and who knows when I'll get a chance for another.

All my guys. Brian, Jason (aka - baby boy) Jimmy (aka - hubby) and Timothy.

Timothy helped with another project while he was here - I have during pics, but haven't taken after pics yet - it's a good one, I'll take pics soon.

Also over the weekend - my brother became a grandfather! My oldest niece had a baby girl - which also makes my parents great-grandparents! David, I need a pic to post!

Quiet

It is so quiet here today. Only the sound of the washer and dryer to keep me company.

We had a wonderful weekend, it just passed so quickly.

Wednesday night we drove to J'ville and on Thursday we brought baby boy and his bride - and everything they own - back to Houston. (Timothy made it here just after we did and Brian drove in after he got off work so everyone was here by 10:30pm on Thursday!)

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the car before it was unloaded. Let's just say the kiddos were riding really close all the way home and opening a door was a hazard!

I took this picture after they had already spent some time 'organizing'. They purged and sorted and packed four boxes to ship to New York. Later they purged some more and packed some boxes for us to ship to them later. Friday, we dropped the first four boxes off at the post office on our way to Kemah, where we took a little boat ride.

Checking out the boat when we bought our tickets.

We went to have lunch and look around a bit before our 'tour' time. Can you say HOT? I forget how many days we have had heat advisories - I think we are on at least eight. The humidity is terrible. If you looked at the link for The Beast, you might have noticed where it warns that you will get wet.

Right after I snapped this picture these two slipped up to two empty seats up front where they thought they wouldn't get wet.

Baby boy and his bride always take a good picture!

By the time we got off the boat we were all drenched and once the boat slowed down, then stopped it felt hotter than it did before we left! We had some towels in the car to dry off a bit, but we had planned to come on back home anyway so we could fetch the dogs (they had been at the doggie spa while we were in J'ville) before the vet closed for the day.

If you happen to be close by and decide to take a ride on the beast - they aren't kidding when they say they will do everything they can to make sure you get wet. Here are a couple of tips: Either leave electronic equipment (phones, cameras) in the car or make sure you have something to put them in so they won't get wet. Just sticking them in your pocket isn't the best idea. Take towels, and if you aren't planning to leave as soon as you are done, take dry clothes! Also - don't take the dry stuff on the boat with you unless you waterproof it first - if you don't, they won't do you much good!

More on our weekend next time.

New York City bound

And there they go.

A little re-do.

I stitched this little stamped cross stitch for my grandmother a long time ago. At the time, I couldn't afford to have it professionally framed so I put it in a little cheap-o frame. I had no idea how to actually frame needlework at the time so it was just wrapped around the cardboard insert and taped to the back.

Several years ago it came back to me and I took it apart and re-framed it. I re-mounted it, but I used the same frame it was in before. I had it in my office at the old house but when we moved here it never got unpacked for whatever reason (there are still boxes that aren't unpacked, but we won't go there) Anyway - I found it when I was looking for something else (naturally) and knew I had to do something about that gold frame. So, I got out the craft paints and gave it a little re-do.


I didn't take it apart - I just taped around the glass to keep the paint off and used a small brush. At first I wasn't sure I had picked the right blue-green color but I propped it up on a shelf and let it sit for a bit (it isn't quite as bright in person as it looks in this pic) and it has grown on me. (The little blue-green flowers I was trying to match don't show up well in this picture)

I'm going to take a little bloggy break. My kiddos - all of them! - are going to be here for the weekend. This will be the first time they have all been together in a year and the first time they have all been here, at this house, at the same time. I'm really excited to have them all together for a visit. On Monday, baby boy and his bride will hop on a jet plane and head for New York. Who knows when they will be back to Texas to visit. Hubby has taken a few days off work so we can spend all spend the weekend together.

I'll be back next week. Have a great weekend!

Peanuts and popcorn and Cracker Jacks

So - we had popcorn, but not peanuts or Cracker Jacks. :)

Friday night we went to a baseball game. If you know me, you know I am not a sports fan but if I have to chose between sitting through a football game or a baseball game, I'll take baseball.

We went to Minute Maid park.
The train moves for home run hits.
Notice the glass - they had the dome closed which is good - not too hot and no skeeters!

We had good seats

The kind where you had better keep your eye on the ball because it might come right at ya.
There was one ball that went right over our heads (okay - my head, hubby had gone for popcorn) but it was high and went way on back.

We stayed for the show after the game

On Fridays they have a fireworks show

We had to wait for them to open the dome first - doesn't take as long as you might think.

Hubby took all the pictures.

About halfway through the fireworks I thought about the fact that you can record video on the camera but I've only done it once and it was dark in there - and I can't see that close when there is good light so it took me awhile to figure out how to do it. Then, I got less than 30 seconds before my memory card was full! I made sure we had enough battery, but I didn't even think about the memory card. (I've had the same memory card in since Jan 2009) I tried to upload the shot video but I guess I didn't do something right because it ain't a'workin. Anyway - it was a tribute to The Beatles so all the music they played during the fireworks was Beatles music.

For those who asked - yes, I will show all the goodies in the give-a-way box. I took a picture before I packed it all in the box. I will take it to the hardware store tomorrow and mail it (yes, the hardware store - that is where our little mini-post office is) and as soon as Anne Marie lets me know she has received it, I'll post the pic.

And the winner is. . .

I printed off all the comments from July


Folded each one of them and put them in this little box


Closed the lid and gave it a good shake


And drew a name. Annemarie's comment from July 23.

I'll be waiting for an email with your address so I can get your package off to you. (I've already sent an email announcement/request)

Okay - off to get some things done around here. If I can figure out how to post a video on here, I'll post one from this weekend. This was only the second time I have taken a video with my digital camera (and wouldn't you know it got cut short because my memory card was full!) I've never tried to post a video so we will see how that works.

I've got a busy week but I'll be back to try to post that video!