Important Day in History

On this day back in 1993 Bryan asked me to marry him.
I said "Yes"!

Post Christmas Rambling

And I do mean rambling.
Beware, I skip topics so fast you may get whiplash.

Christmas!
What a wonderful whirlwind of excitement.
How fast it is over.

We had such a great Christmas. The season was actually relatively easy going and laid back even though we did travel to each set of parent's houses, went to hear Julia sing at the Christmas Eve pageant at church attended a Tea, attended the school pageant, Bryan's office party and hosted a Cookie Swap. But I would definitely do it all over again!

This is the time of the season when all of the decorations have to come down. As much as I dread getting them all up and in place, I really do dread taking them all down more. And not because I know it will be time consuming, but because I will really miss the splash of Christmas all over the house. It makes things so cozy and warm.

And we have such a great tree this year too. It drank continuously and dropped very few needles. I was so impressed.

I think I said this earlier that I have been naming trees since a year or two before Bryan and I were married and this year we were on the letter "P". Legare dubbed this one "Popcorn". How happy and fitting for this time of year.

My house is still not clean from all of the excitement of Christmas morning. How does so much trash get generated? In the middle of dragging my feet to get it all straightened up around here we started having some fun too. Much Wii playing and lots of Wave Board and Rip Stik riding (street surfing). The children and Bryan have gotten very good at "surfing".

I want to be good. I do. I want one of these things for myself! But because I know what it feels like to break a bone (collar bone snapped in three back in 1997) I am terrified of hurting myself so I am scared to death of actually doing it. And in the process of being scared I am waiting for the fall (or is that willing it?).

And so of course I did fall. Several times. Now I look like a loon in front of my children. I kept saying that I really wasn't a chicken but I don't know that they bought it. One time when I fell I really smarted my hip bone. I can't wait to see what this bruise will look like if it hurts this bad 1 day later.

I guess I won't be getting my own "Stik" anytime soon :-(
I've got to get much better than this. Bryan, however, certainly deserves his own - who woulda thunk it? Bryan looking graceful on a street surfing board and ME looking like a wimp. ???

Last night both children were with others so Bryan and I went to a yummy dinner at Coco's, a great little French restaurant in Mt. Pleasant, and when we got home we helped ourselves to a Wii bowling extravaganza. Bryan won twice, I won once. Sad that my arms are sore today from playing video games. But I guess it's good because we're getting exercise while playing. And how funny that we didn't even need the kids around to play the video games! I look forward to them being gone so we can do it again.

Instead of cleaning Christmas trash, today I found myself at the Optometrist office getting some debris removed from Julia's eye. At her oyster roast last night she got some sand/dirt in her eye from the play deck that she was under. Still this morning she hadn't gotten it out and her eye was terribly swollen and weepy. I was really glad that the Dr's office was open and that he was able to find something rather easily. The swelling started subsiding instantly and the weeping stopped. I hadn't realized that the precious child hadn't smiled all morning until the little piece of whatever it was was removed. I'm so glad that she didn't horribly scratch her eye. Just a few small scratches that didn't even hurt her. Nothing a little antibiotic cream won't make sure doesn't get out of control!

In the meantime, Bryan's throat started hurting and he decided to go to the new Dr's Care down the street. He has strep. Yeay! He's been in bed all day - he hasn't been sick like this in a really long time.

Meanwhile - Legare has been doing more street surfing and mastering Guitar Hero III on the Wii. He's so cute looking like a little rock star.

Maybe I'll actually get some pictures of all of this madness up soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Hope everyone's neck is o.k. from all of this quick maneuvering!

Christmas Cookies Everywhere!

Monday night Aileen and I hosted a Cookie Swap.

This is the kind of party where everyone brings in cookies. We all enjoy sampling some. Then when it's time to leave, you leave most of your cookies but take some of everyone else's so that you have a good variety of cookies when you get home. And you've only had to prepare one type!

I started this party 9 years ago at the insistence of a great friend of mine named Sharon who doesn't live here anymore. I had never heard of a cookie swap until she insisted we throw one together. She would really be proud of this party today.

After she moved away I had many friends who offered to throw it with me so that it would continue. Not wanting to have to pick and choose between the friends that wanted to help, I thought I would ask my sister-in-law, and friend, Aileen to throw it with me.

Aileen is really so easy going to throw this party with. The party really kind of runs itself, but there is no way I would still be doing this if it weren't for Aileen and I joining forces. Our friends blend together so well too.

I will say that I feel like all of the cookies this year were over the top! They were all so good, and big! We need to work on dropping smaller cookies so that they are easier to sample and there are more to spread around. It is really easy to give yourself a stomach ache at this party, especially when the cookies are so big.

Each year there are inevitably some baking horror stories about what went wrong when people were making their cookies. We've had stoves catch on fire, cookies explode, chocolate not melt, forgotten ingredients, and always lots of multiple batches needing to be made for one reason or another.

Through the years we've given superlatives ranging from "best cookie", "biggest disaster story"," most festive", "most original", "best traditional Christmas Cookie", etc.

This year we decided to give just one award. The "2007 Cookie Queen".

This year the "Cookie Queen" award went to Amanda. I don't know what Amanda's cookies were called, but it was what my children are very affectionately calling "Chocolate Junk".

You know the type of cookie...as many different types of chocolate things you can think of all thrown together to make this decadent cookie. Chocolate chips, Oreo pieces, chocolate batter, etc. They were PHENOMENAL. And though they are lovingly called "Chocolate Junk" at my house, which doesn't really sound appealing, they were even pretty good looking.

Of course I forgot to take any pictures, but luckily Caroline took a few for us (and that's only one of 3 full tables of cookies that were available). There were truly more cookies than you could shake a stick at. I think everyone was able to take home plenty, and Aileen and I have never had such a good supply of cookies for ourselves after the party. Usually we don't get many, but not the story this year. I'll definitely have to share some, or better yet, have people over again to share all of this Christmas Cheer.

I can't wait until next year's party. Everyone left swearing that they were the one who would win next year. I'm sure the recipe hunt has already started!

Not Exactly as Planned

My typical list of things to do today looked like this at 6:30 am...

6:30 - rise and shine. Prepare breakfast, oversee family's morning activities
7:15 - walk sweet family out and wave good bye
10:20 - arrive at school to drive for 3rd grade field trip
2:00 - return children to school
2:00 - 4:00 - Prepare for evening meeting, grocery shop
4:00 - 4:30 - retrieve Legare from Karate and Julia from choir and return home to assist with homework, create meal for family
6:30 - attend meeting

That was what it was supposed to look like.
Now see revised list:

6:30 - rise and shine. Morning daily activities
6:35 - realize you think the bladder infection is still not quite gone. You feel it in your back and butt and you're a bit nauseated.
7:15 - walk sweet family out and wave good bye
7:17 - throw up once outside
10:10 - arrive at school to drive for 3rd grade field trip
10:15 - Leave message at Dr's to see about changing medication or something for this bladder infection
11:30 - field return phone call from Dr.'s office during field trip.
2:00 - return children to school
2:25 - arrive at Dr's office because your regular doctor isn't in and no one else knows you. They want to make sure you really have a bladder infection.
3:30 - Make phone call to person regarding the preparation for the meeting this evening - alone in exam room, naked from the waist down and waiting on said Dr.
Let phone call recipient laugh with you regarding your current location.
4:45 - retrieve Legare from Karate at school (yay aftercare!) and Julia from a friend's house (because you couldn't get to 4:30 choir pick up and she had to go home with a friend).
6:45 - attend 6:30 meeting. Leaving poor husband at home with no groceries - trying to figure out what he and children will eat for supper - because going to the grocery store got derailed.

4:51 am - Blog. Because you've woken up, minor discomfort because there wasn't enough time in the day to get medicine. Contemplate going to Walgreens - but who wants to do that at this hour?

Dear Tooth Fairy

Notes left for tooth fairies when you realize that a tooth is missing only because you've noticed it's not there as you brush your teeth at bedtime:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Look in my mouth.
I think it came out and I swallowed it.

Please leave me whatever you want to leave me.

Love,
Legare

Questions, Questions

Friday I was asked this question by Legare:

"Mom, how old do you have to be before you can kiss girls on the lips?"

To which I asked why he wanted to know...seems a little boy in the class kissed a little girl in the class. I asked if the girl liked getting kissed to which he answered with great assurance, "No way - she did not!".

I then asked if there was a girl he wanted to kiss - I think his answer was a bashful "Yeah".

I then answered his question that when he was old enough to start going on dates it would probably be an o.k. time to start kissing girls on the lips. But that if the girl didn't want to be kissed she may get mad and it may mean no more dates.

I had to throw in that he needed to make sure the girl wanted to kiss so that he wouldn't decided that tomorrow was the time he was old enough to date and start out on a kissing girls quest. I want him to use his kisses wisely and not offend.

My Dentist, My Teeth and My Tears

Ever since I was small, I loved going to the dentist.

I have a rather small mouth and small teeth, but I always loved how the dentists commented that even though my mouth was small, I was one of the patients who could sit most still.

This always made me proud.

I think some of this came from the fact that my mom was in the dental field when I was little and I can remember her being proud of my clean check ups.

As I've grown up my mother stayed in various aspects of the dental industry and clean teeth and good hygiene have always been a priority to me. Even in my youth.

Keeping our teeth safe was always a big topic and issue as well.

"Don't use your teeth as tools". "Don't bite that". "Don't chew on that."
You get the drift.

Teeth are those things you've only got one of. Well, you really have 32. But one for each spot.
And baby teeth are simply God's way of preparing us to take care of the final things - that's what I say anyway. They don't really count because they're not around for that long.

I can remember falling and hitting my teeth on the bathtub when I was smaller.
I can remember my brother falling down and hitting his front teeth on a grocery store cart.
I can remember being at Bryan's fraternity mountain weekend, running to jump on the back of a friend/fraternity brother and having the beer bottle in my hand bang my front teeth and chip one.
Not long after Julia was born I had cracked a tooth that needed to be tended to.

I always hated when the dentist or orthodontist would just start filing on my teeth without my permission. "What in the heck are you doing and why? Don't be filing my teeth!"

All of these events I definitely remember.
Vividly.
I remember thinking each time - "Oh, there go the teeth.".

When I was younger I was always worried that I would let Mom down because I had done something to my teeth. Then as I got older I realized that I really liked my teeth and I was lucky to have pretty good ones. And I didn't like for anything bad to happen to them. Kind of like looking out for your old pals.

My teeth aren't the big, pretty teeth of movie stars.
But they are good strong teeth none the less.

And I like them.

I have had braces (twice) to ensure that they line up correctly.
I had a "pregnancy tumor" when I was pregnant with Julia. It grew on the gum at the back of my mouth and ended up growing between my two back molars. This caused the second go-'round with braces.

These tumors happened in less than one percent of pregnancies and were actually referenced in the book about what you should expect when you were expecting. Just a non cancerous, one centimeter cubed growth. Crazy, huh?

And to top it off, both of my children have had occasions to chip their front teeth. This bothered me so!! It bothers most moms, but given my history with teeth and the love of them, it always hurt my heart. Again, God let us have baby teeth to practice for the real ones. Julia knocked her front ones so hard and bad that the dentists chose to bond and built up her front baby teeth. They just couldn't stay the way they were.

Imagine my trauma on that day with Julia. Not only was my child in pain. But it was the teeth!

As I'm older, I still love going to the dentist.

If I could afford it, I would go more than every 6 months to get them cleaned. There's nothing better than the slick feeling of freshly cleaned and polished teeth I say!

All this rambling is going somewhere I promise.
I went to the dentist earlier this week for my normal 6 month visit. At this check up, my dentist noticed something funny with the root in the tooth that was previously cracked and repaired after Julia was born.

She said it looked like the root had decided to reabsorb. Something that happens after trauma to teeth. She sent my x-ray to an Endodontist and I was on my way this morning for him to take a look and perform a root canal.

Imagine my surprise when I arrive and the Endodontist is a cutie.
Imagine my surprise when cutie tells me that there will be no root canal today, because I am going to loose the tooth!

What?!?

Did he just say "Loose the tooth?".
That is what my children are doing right now - loosing teeth.
Not me. I'm in the business of keeping mine clean.

I'm thinking...what do you mean, loose the tooth?

Turns out that the resorbing root is happening at the part of the tooth where the tooth meets the bone in which it sits. Not in the long part of the root.

And the resorption is also happening really close to the front wall of the tooth, rendering nothing really to leave behind to hold the stuff that fills in the canal once the root is gone. He is afraid that the tooth may even break off when being extracted.

Being extracted so that I can then have an implant.

The implant is favored over a bridge because of where it is in my smile (right behind the canine) and that it will only involve 1 tooth (the extracted one).
Where a bridge would involve cutting down two more teeth to fit the bridge onto.
Well, being that we all know how I feel about teeth being filed, there will be no bridge.

Implants are preferred in single teeth extractions these days.
So...next Thursday I will go to the oral surgeon to see how we want to get this implant ball rolling.

Funny how this little bit of dental stuff has me on the verge (and over the verge on occasion) of tears. I know - I'm a good crier. But this is one of those times where I'm trying to keep it in.
I know I'll feel better if I just let it out. But I feel silly for letting the loss of my tooth get to me so.

There are other awful things happening to friends and around the world.
I feel guilty for being so blue.

Oh well. Such is life. And criers like me are what help the world go round!
Mr. W says that if you need a professional mourner for an occasion, give me a call.
I will be sure to perform!

"*#@! in the Box" wins Emmy

I told you it was a great video back in February.
Now...it has won an Emmy!

Here it is again!

Having a Good Day

I get morning prayers from a friend and sometimes I share them with others.
Today I thought I would share it here.

Each day a prayer is offered with a Bible verse to go along with it. Sometimes I love the prayer, sometimes the verse and sometimes both.

I liked both today, but I especially liked the verse from Job. I have found it to be especially true.

I hope your bad days can forever be turned around!

Morning Prayer, Friday, September 7, 2007

Dear Lord, even when I get up on the wrong side of the bed, let me bring
sunshine into the life of someone else's day. Life is just too short to be grouchy
and cranky. Help me to share a smile, a little joy, a prayer with someone else.
In Jesus, AMEN!

Job 9:27
If I say, "I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile." NIV

You Tube Time

I "click" the Next Blog button sometimes to see what's out there.
Unfortunately the blogs are usually Asian or Spanish, and written in a language I can't read much less tell what the letters are.

Every now and then I'll hit one that I enjoy being voyeuristic with and read a bit. Once you find one and read for a while, you find yourself clicking their links, and you never know what you'll find.

This is what I found today, and I had to replicate it for you because it made me laugh out loud. And laughing is one of my favorite things to do.

This is Matt Damon on the Letterman show doing an impersonation of Matthew McConaughey. HILARIOUS!

Just a little Jibberish

Celebrated Legare's 7th birthday Thursday. And Friday (the real birthday). And Saturday.

I got to share the Lion King with him (and with Julia and Mom too). He couldn't understand why we were having to drive to Charlotte to see the movie. He didn't quite understand that it was a "play".

Legare has a way of acting like a little shit when things don't go the way he was expecting them (I can understand that - I do it too), and so I was worried that he was going to decide that he didn't want to be there even though I kept telling him that it was a play.

Well - he loved it. Said "This is awesome!" way more than once and kept asking if we could go see it again lots of times during it, during intermission and after it was over.

I loved sharing this with him. He and I sat together and Mom and Julia sat with one row between us. We were only 3 seats away from the aisle, so we were able to almost touch the performers as they came down. It was fantastic. The kids really enjoyed it. Us adults did too!

The Things You Learn at Bedtime

Tucking in children can be a chore.
It can be exhausting.
It can be fun.
And it can be a learning experience.

Rewind 1 week ago:
Legare tells me without any uncertainty that he does not want to go to a spend the night camp next summer. He's going to always stay here. For the rest of his life.

Aawwhh! How sweet.

Fast Forward tonight:
L - Mom. I wanted to go to spend the night camp.

Me - Honey you just told me you weren't interested in spend the night camps. But that's not until next summer, we can sign you up if you want.

L - No, Mom. Not a long spend the night camp there.

Me - What do you mean, There?

L - I mean, not that camp! I mean the camp in Sissy's room.

At this point I'm feeling a bit bad. My cousin's little girl is coming to spend the week with us. Legare must wish he had a friend to spend the night for a week. He must think that Julia's get together with Haley is like camp here at the house.

OMG! How in the world can I handle two 7 year old boys for a week? NOT interested!

Then Legare says...
"No, Mom. Sissy's camp!"

Me - What do you mean?
(Lots of confusion - Sissy is not going to camp yet - why does he think he can go to her camp)

L - I paid her a penny so that I could have spend the night camp in her room.

Bryan and I start trying to hold in the laughter. What in the world is he talking about!?!?

Throughout the rest of the conversation I laugh out loud once and fake sneezing a lot to keep him from thinking that I'm laughing with and at him.

L - Well, I paid her a penny so that I could do spend the night camp. For just one night.

Mom and Dad - What?

L - Well I don't know how to explain it, but I bet Sissy can.

Mom and Dad - Well just try.

L - Well, I paid her a penny so that I could spend the night in her room. And she would do arts and crafts. You know where she teaches me how to make those fortune teller things. And she has Hair Put Up Time and other crafts that she knows that she could teach me.

O.K. This was one of the times when I really couldn't contain my laughter. Faking sneezing was all I could come up with.

How cute!!!

And how mercenary of Julia.

We later found out the at the penny tuition was for the entire year of camp. Seems like Legare made out like and bandit, and Julia needs to learn how to not to give away her services so cheaply.

Oh, the Places We Nap

Felix: the children's dirty, dark clothes hamper that's left in the hall on laundry day
Oscar: making a nest on the fabric that may be eventually be hung in the master bath

Felix: catching some z's in the master closet under and on top of Bryan's clothes

Oscar: under the warmth of the vanity lights

Oscar: cuddled up on the pillows on my bed. He does this frequently on Julia's as well

The questions running through my mind....

1- why can't I make myself do "the books"?

2- why do I not want any neighborhood children to come over to play here today?

3- why have fleas taken over our yard/my animals?

4-how many times will I have to spray before they're ALL gone?

5- why do I feel like getting the hall toilet replaced is spending too much money?

6- why does my husband not have any problem doing the necessary health requirements he needs, but I feel like I'm being frivolous going to the gyno?

7- how come I have moved closer to town but have seen less of my friends?

8- why is summer-time so much busier than you think it's going to be?

9- why do vacations always seem so short?

10 - how come there isn't much in this house and I still don't feel like cleaning it?

11 - why is there a strange smell in the master bath that only my nose seems to pick up?

12 - I wonder what clogged up the sinks the other week?

13 - is the large whole in the main drain in the front of the house from the plumber shoving the industrial sized snake down to get the clog gone?

14 - why does my back yard stink?

15 - why does housework never end?

16 - why do children require you repeat yourself, over, and over, and over?

17 - am I a good friend?

18 - why is my brother having such a hard time right now?

19 - is he remembering to ask for help when he needs it?

20 - what is ailing my mother's elbow??

21 - what in the world is Clemson thinking - having games on Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day?

22 - do I need to go into the calendar/day planner design business - because I seem to be having trouble finding one with a layout that I like.

23 - what on earth am I going to do for my children's birthdays/parties?

24 - when on earth do I get to stop throwing parties for their birthdays every year?

25 - why am I procrastinating signing up my children for soccer this fall?

26 - Why did Thomas make me eat so much ice cream at Kiawah?

27 - How did he know we would all like the chocolate dipped cones so much?

28 - where can I find the Mexican Train/Amtrak set up for dominoes?

29 - how did my children get so good at a card game called "Pooh Head"?

30 - what made Julia decide that she was done with "babysitting" for the summer?

31 - does Bryan ever pop in here to read my blog? doubt it.

32 - I wonder what ever happened to my dog Ella?

33 - I wonder what caused Poogan's untimely death?

34 - Did my Granddad know he was dying before he passed away that February? I ask this because of little conversations we had about what he wanted me to make sure I had when his time came and wishing I would stay the night on a day trip I made in earlier that February.

35 - I wonder when I should order the children's PE uniforms?

36 - how big of a pain will it be to size them?

37 - I wonder which teacher Legare will get for 1st grade and who will be in his class?

38 - how hard is it going to be to get Legare to do his homework?

39 - will I (or the teachers) do too much comparing and contrasting the children?

40 - have I procrastinated long enough?

Not four days after Charleston lost 9 of her bravest, I was leaning out of the back door and heard sirens in our neighborhood. It sounded as if they were traveling down the main road, and then I saw lights reflecting off of the houses up the street and realized they were headed down our cul-de-sac!!

I of course run out to the porch to see what or who was in trouble. Turns out that nothing was really wrong, they spent about 2 minutes inside the house you see in this picture (which I may also add is the dwelling of the ant poison scardy cat ).



In their effort to get to our cul-de-sac which is at the beginning of our neighborhood, they tracked though the neighborhood bringing lots of nervous people in their wake. I invited them to stand in our yard, we were closest to the engines without going past them.


From what I understand...the owners smelled smoke (which I smelled too, from the bar-b-que that was happening at the home of some of the onlookers). Can't help but wonder, what with the past diligence of keeping us all safe from the ant poison, if the bar-b-que smoke was the true reason for this call to our bravest!?! And probably the reason the engines trekked through the neighborhood - looking for the fire that these neighbors smelled and called to report happening elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Go figure! This is all only my speculation. But we were all so thankful the firemen weren't having to get their feet wet so soon after the devestating fire of earlier in the week.

Ramblings

School is out. But we're still busy.
Swim meets, swim practice, play dates, unclogging drains, etc, etc.

I promise to post pics soon: some of Legare kicking some karate butt - I mean karate boards, the fun at the end of our cul-de-sac yesterday, and a few pool pics.

Just wanted to say I missed my anniversary - the Blog anniversary. As of June 18 - I have been on for a year. Wow, doesn't feel that long. The wedding anniversary is coming Monday - 13 years.

Thanks for keeping up even though I haven't been as consistent since our move. I'm still trying to get our office straight - I feel like it's waist deep in papers. O.K. - maybe not that bad - but it's driving me nuts.

We are going out of town Wednesday morning for a few days. Taking the children to the Biltmore mansion then for a ride on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad that will take us to the Nantahala Outdoor center. From there we will do some white water rafting back to the train station and then spend a night in Cherokee. With all of this stuff going on - the children are actually looking more forward to seeing Indians in Cherokee over any of the other things we're doing. We'll see what their favorite parts are once it's all said and done.

Musings from the Cat

"b b bnnb..;;.;m, k bnjjnccd

de4ededxchvhy v huu yvuvuvu7v7y7y7vbv vbb n88u8uoi989"

Things the cat could write if he thought to push down where his paws were resting. Instead, I pushed them down for him.

He will lots of times stretch out under and across me while I'm on the computer. But tonight I thought it quite appropriate that he stretched out his front legs when I had the picture of Farm Girl's cute, newly hatched chicks on screen. So I thought I would come back here to let him type out a message.

I think translated, his note must say something about wanting chicken for dinner.

My short bout of typing here has aggravated him enough that he decided to leave.

Legare is a Graduate!

Last night Legare graduated from Kindergarten. The school always puts on a great Graduation performance and this year was no exception.

I was very surprised (and cried on cue) when my son was the student who lead all of the graduates onto the stage. He was very proud and so was his fan club.

There was a lot of singing, some dancing and cute "mini skits" demonstrating the things they learned this year. Legare had the very important role of unfolding, holding (for 3 songs) and folding back up the American Flag. He did the folding like any pro would do it.

He also had a part up front and center (with a few other classmates) singing and doing some motions to "Because you Love Me". Remarkable - I didn't cry during that!

And just and FYI...the tie is a real, tie it around your neck kind of tie. A parent at the school that he will attend next year contacted Vineyard Vines and had them produce ties and belts with the school's mascot on them. He was a bit disappointed that I didn't get him a sport coat to wear - but I thought it would be too hot and I didn't rush out to buy one. That will come shortly - I don't think I can hold him off any longer.

The Eve of Graduation
My how they grow up and become a grown up over night.
Leading the Graduates into the Stands
(and giving a little wave to the Fan Club)

Saying his part about the Flag
Getting Ready to Unfold Old Glory with his classmate.

Holding Glory up for 3 songs.
He said his arm sometimes burned, but that he could brace it up with the other one if he needed to.

Beginning to fold her up.
I think he was stepping over something in the process.

"Because You Love Me"

Man do I love him so!!!!

The Break of Day

Thought I'd post something, anything, and came across these pictures.
They were taken within minutes - no, probably seconds of each other in early February.
They were taken from the porch Under the Red Tin Roof.

A Little Look Outside

I've had a few requests for seeing what the outside of the house looks like. These pictures were taken while it was still pretty cold outside, so grass isn't green, but some of the shrubs in the yard are showing themselves nicely.A view off my front porch:

This pictures shows the house from the street. I have since Taken Out the big ugly blobs of green plants. They have been severely pruned in hopes that they will make much cuter, shorter shrubs. It also makes the house look much better. A picture of that will be coming later.

The Progression of the Pool

The pool people moved so fast I didn't get a chance to take a "before"picture. Earlier I posted a picture of the chopped up deck (included again, here). Trust me...there were cracks between the deck and the pool that you could have put your hand through.

Also, the pool had never been replastered and there were some bare spots that went all the way to the concrete under the plaster. We decided to put in an "exposed aggregate" instead of plaster. Which means you can see little flecks of stone (or something) in the white mixture that is put on the inside of the pool (and it's supposed to last longer).

PICTURE DOCUMENTARY:

In the beginning:
Getting rid of diving board, messed up deck and ugly tile. They created new deck in only the chopped up area. They later drained the pool and added a coat of color and cool deck to the entire deck surface.

Below shows the draining of the pool water into the back of the yard. Ugly tile has already been chipped off here and new tile added. There is a board under the new tile giving it a surface to rest on while it dries. The board was later removed. Note the stained plaster in the pool that will be removed later.
More work on adding new tile and chipping out bad spots of old plaster. Notice the seeping of ground water into the bottom of the pool and the faded, ugly whitish plaster. You can also see the stained and faded area of the old part of the deck in the foreground.

This shot shows how ugly the ground water looked as it seeped in. YUCK!
There is a protective paper layer over the new tile so that the paint from the first layer of cool deck paint didn't mess up the tiles and grout.This is a picture of the makeshift drain helping to keep the ground water from filling in the deep end of the pool. The drain was on a pump that ran 24/7 for approx. two weeks while they smoothed a dark gray finish over the old plaster and let it cure. It, however, developed a spot that didn't adhere to the bottom (around the drains) that had to be re-chipped, re-covered and re-cured.

After the gray stuff cured, the "Exposed Aggregate" crew came. They mixed up GI-NORMOUS amounts of the pretty white stuff and poured it, one wheel barrow at a time into the pool and troweled it by hand. The reason they couldn't just pour it in the pool from the mixer is because the rocket scientist who designed the back yard's pretty, masonry fence didn't leave a drive through entry.

Below is a picture of the truckload of aggregate bags (many had already been mixed and poured by the time I thought to take this picture). The wheel barrow is being loaded too.


A wheel barrow of "the mix" being slopped in with a 10 gallon bucket.

I should mention that this work started around 9:00 am on Good Friday.
The white blob at the bottom of the pool in this picture is the first bucket or two of slop.
A picture of the "platform" shoes that were worn in the pool by the crew while they spread and troweled the pool mixture on. Kind of cool, huh? Some of the gentlemen even ducted taped them on after the shoe part was put on.
Team work in the deep end.

This should give a good feeling for how hard it was to stand and get traction to run the trowel full of sticky white goo up the side of the pool. It was kind of fun to watch them slipping and sliding all around.More team work. This was around lunch time. They were doing the finishing touches, still wearing their platform shoes.

We left for approximately 45 minutes. This is what got started before we returned...water going in the pool.

Around 1 hour later:
Sometime Friday evening as we were going to bed (around 11 ish):
Saturday: I can't really remember what time, definitely in the morning - maybe 9:00. This part of the pool took forever. Notice the water isn't over the bottom step yet.

Around lunch time on Saturday. Bottom step is only barely covered.

Saturday, early evening. One step under, step number two not quite there yet.

Sometime in the wee hours of Saturday night, early Sunday morning (around 3:00ish) I took the following picture. Blind. Not knowing what the water level was. And not being able to see the pool. All night long I would take pictures with the flash and then check the review to see if we needed to go downstairs and turn off the water. This process truly had us up and down all night in anticipation.

Did I mention that the water was coming from our faucet. And we have great water pressure here, but did you know that you can't fill a pool, have children take showers, flush a toilet and run the dishwasher all at the same time. There just isn't enough water in the line for that!

Oh yeah, here's the picture:

Easter morning!! 7:30 am. Pool is officially full. Approximately 42 hours after it started.

God is in the Small Things

At the end of a day where...

*Terminix proves unhelpful and unwilling to cooperate
*Your legs are really killing you from standing up in your house because there's not many places to sit yet
*A journey to check on the house with "The Red Tin Roof" gives unexpected surprises
(read: the winds from this weekend's storm have blown the cute little metal chimney off of your house and it's laying in the yard.)

...God puts blessings in the strangest of places:
Sorry for the gross, meatloaf factor, but this little face really was sitting just like you see it, looking directly at me when I looked down. I instantly smiled before I even realized what I was smiling at.

And yes I do think it's a little message from God to brighten my difficult day. Reminding me that He loves me and that I shouldn't sweat the small stuff.

The Day that my Daughter beings to Doubt my Greatness

3:00 am and I'm awake.
And hungry.

I go to the couch and hop on the net for a quick read.
Drink a glass of milk to fill up my hungry stomach.
Start wrapping up "being awake" - glance the clock on the computer and head to bed around 3:30.

----TIME WARP----

When I arrive in bedroom I read the clock and it says 5:15.
I know I dozed on the couch, but I can't believe I spent two hours out in the family room. I guess I had closed my eyes longer than I thought.

Oh, well.

Alarm goes off at 6:15 as usual.
Snooze like normal - waiting until my precious child comes in and asks why I haven't laid out any clothes.

Snooze.
Snooze.
Snooze.

It's 6:38 - no precious child. I dutifully go check that every thing's o.k. and put on my "get your butt in gear" face.

As I walk down the hallway, I realize there is no light coming from under her door. I enter and find my precious child still in bed. Asleep. And she looks deep in sleep.

Luckily she's the kind of child that wakes and jumps right to it. I then help her pick out her clothes and repeatedly nag Bryan to get up.

At this point I'm focused on making breakfast. Julia unusually complains about not being hungry and I quickly try to force everything I can think of on her. When Bryan finally arrives in the kitchen, it is 7:10 and I'm afraid he won't have time to get himself breakfast before they have to leave to beat the traffic.

Bryan then noticed that the clocks in our kitchen were all wrong. They said it was 5:10 and he was wondering what the heck happened. Had we lost power sometime during the night? I look down at my watch and confirm that it is 7:10, not 5:10.

Wait a minute. Is that hand on the 7? No - it's on the 5!!

Am I all of a sudden in an alternate universe? I am so confused!
My alarm has gone off 2 and 1/2 hours early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What in THE HELL has happened???????????
What in THE HELL have I done. . . waking my family at 4:45 in the morning?
How are they going to function today?
I HAVE RUINED THEIR DAY!!!

I sent Julia and Bryan back to bed - I on the other hand had all kinds of adrenaline going - what with all of the ironing of clothes, breakfast making and sudden onset guilt trip.
So I didn't go back to bed.

I apologized profusely once they got back up. Precious Julia makes the sweet comment that it's o.k. because she likes getting up early sometimes anyway. But you could tell she was looking at me like I was some kind of fool.

Once Legare woke, at the correct time, I shared with him how crazy the morning was and how silly Mommy was (and more importantly how silly her clock is).

To this, Legare got a funny look on his face and says, "Mommy. I may have accidentally pushed a button when I put a paper down on your table. But maybe it was how strong the paper was when I put it down and not my fingers though."

To which I reassured him that it was o.k. and I was just glad to know that Mommy's clock hadn't been doing crazy things by itself.

And I asked if he would let me know the next time the buttons got accidentally pushed by the papers.

Promises, Promises

I really do promise that some posts with pictures are coming. Right now, I am having trouble locating the wire that lets the pictures leave the camera.

Things to look forward to:
Pool Plastering Crew
Pool filling with Water
1st Foolish Pool Swimming Crew (aka my crazy children)
Some soccer pics

Just keep bearing with me!

In the meantime, if you want to see some really cute pictures, visit Farm Girl Fare, via the link on the right side of the page. Her flock of sheep is busy giving birth to lots of cutie patooties. Endulge yourself and scroll back several weeks, some of the photos will make you say "aaww".

Oh, Happy Friday the 13th!

WE'RE IN!!

O.K. We decided not to do the PRICEY "updating" thing right now.
And we just moved in.
And we also didn't want to afford the pricey updating thing right now either.

So...something got into Bryan and he woke up Saturday morning having decided we were moving on Sunday.
Oooo Kkaayy.
I don't think I would have gotten away with that, but I wasn't looking a gift horse in the proverbial mouth. And this move-in started after I was at a retreat until 4:00 on Saturday and the 10:30 church service on Sunday (which in the Episcopal church lasts until 12:00 if you're lucky, 12:15 to 12:30 if it's usual). We were lucky this past Sunday!!

We did this with no moving van. No packing boxes.
Just a Chevy Pick Up and a Suburban.

I would have told you about all of this sooner, but I just got Internet access 5 minutes ago.

We haven't moved everything. In fact, not much at all.
*A couch - HEAVY!! But - a place to sit other than the hearth or the $5.00 plastic chairs
*Our bed (beds for the children were already here)
*The breakfast table and chairs
* Some dishes and silverware (some cups already here)
*A floor lamp
* Most of our clothes
* Two cats and a dog (the fish are coming tomorrow)

Oh - and we bought a lawn mower. It's in the box in the garage. Right now, I can't wait to mow the yard. I'm sure after the first time I will be over it and want to pay someone else to do it.

I promise pictures are coming. Maybe even on Wednesday. I need to take some more pictures of the pool too - they have finished the deck and cool decking, and are currently re troweling the inside. They are supposed to be done by April 30. I think it will be way before that - if the weather keeps cooperating.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The conversation goes something like this:

Characters:
Granny (typical granny, loving, fun)
Grandson (precocious 3 year old, red headed variety)

Dialog:
Granny: Can I fix you an egg?

Grandson: No. I don't eat eggs.

Granny: You don't like eggs?

Grandson: No, granny. There's birds in them.

Let the Demolition Begin

Well, nothing has started on the inside of the house, but pool demolition started yesterday.

The pool will get a new deck, new inside surface and new tiles. After the new part of the deck is poured and the inside of the pool finished, the deck will get sprayed with a coating to help keep the surface cool. This coating will have a slight color to it and it will cover up the color difference between the old deck and the new deck.

Here's what the torn up deck looks like.



Only the portion that is busted up will be being replaced. It was "popping up" (or tilting back) and separating from the top of the pool creating a space between the top of the pool and the deck. We will NOT be replacing the diving board.

They'll be draining the pool soon to blast the old plaster. It will get replaced with an "exposed aggregate". Which basically means a finish that has little flecks of colored stones.

I will keep you updated with pictures. They started the pool sooner than we thought, so I wasn't able to get a before picture. Sorry.