Christmas post, with pictures and everything!

Hi, I know I've not been here much. I've been fine, just haven't been in the mood to post. But, for the first time since my mother died, in 2006, I felt like decorating for Christmas. I don't do a lot, but I do love the lights.

Last week there was a silent auction at work for charity. One of things on which I bid and won was a little silver tree. Tonight I bought some blue bulbs for it.







I decided to put the lights up in the area that was originally a front porch. It's kinda dark there so they show up nicely.





I hope the season is treating you all well. And I hope to get to all of your sites along the way.

Lame Post

I know. I can hear the crickets chirping here, too. Just haven't been in the blog world a lot lately. Finally got everything re-settled into the living. And Ichabod gave up the apartment a couple of weeks ago and is back home full-time again.

I'll try to get around to see everyone.
:-)

Living room is finally done

I finally finished painting the trim and the carpet was installed today. We decided not to finish the oak floor, way too much to clean up. Here are the promised pictures.

I love the perspective on this one. Looks like Ichabod was worn out from moving furniture. :-)


My sister thinks it looks like I done kilt him here. I like the color of the carpet. It's called Green Whisper. Didn't want it to shout green. If we'd picked the tan I think the room would have looked too yellow. This one worked well.




You can all the stuff we had to move so the carpet could be installed.


Getting things pulled back together, finally.


His chair.


My chair.








There you have it. I'm just glad it's finally done.

Yin and Yang

Hi, I know I've been neglecting my blog a lot. We've been busy painting and getting ready to put carpet in. Yeah, we gave up on finishing the oak floor. But the new carpet should be nice. I'll post pictures when that's done.

I also have been trying to get some decent photos of my garden. It's been so cool here the summer that it's not like it usually is. I'll see what I can shoot and then post that.

In the meantime, here's a picture of some eggs I was making one morning. Looks kinda like the Yin/Yang symbol. :-)

When life hands you lemons...

I just got a reminder from Sometimes Saintly Nick that I hadn't done a post since May. Dang, it's July already. Well, I got this from my seestor, Bucky, and felt it needed to be shared.

I can't find a way to embed it, but please follow the link. You won't be disappointed.

Cute squirrel video

First step

Well, I got the walls painted. I like yellow, but was tired of it in the living room. I picked Navajo White. The yellow paint had been a higher gloss than normal for a living room so it was a pain to cover it; it seemed like the new paint just slid around on top of it. But, I've got it as good as I plan to. Next step is to paint the woodwork, but I'm just not ready for that yet.

A couple of pictures.

In which Annie helps with the living room renovation

Last weekend we ripped up the carpet from the living room and the area that used to be a front porch. This is what it looked like before we moved in.



The day we moved it rained. That off-white carpet started getting filthy that day and we never seemed to be able to get clean again. The previous owners had also had a cat. Ichabod's extremely allergic to cats. No matter how many times we cleaned the carpet it never seemed to completely come out.

That's why the ripping and tearing of carpet and pad last weekend. I kept busy, off and on, over the past week pulling up the staples that were still in the floor from the pad. I'm not used to physical work at all, but it felt rewarding to have it done.

We were very happy to see oak floor in the living room part.




Unfortunately, whoever planned to carpet figured there was no use in having a drop cloth while painting the ceiling, so there's paint all over. And we're not sure what the front porch area had before they made it part of the living room. But now it's particle board, including a rectangular patch in the living room where the door probably was.





I'm thinking about just getting that rectangle patched with more oak, then having the front porch area carpeted. Seems easiest and cheapest. Should look fine, too. So, since the flooring is all going to be changed I figured it was time to paint the living room. This is the only room on the main floor that we haven't painted. I don't mind yellow, but I'm thinking of something more like a creamy tan. It looks like I should repaint the baseboards, too, because they never finished them down to the floor. I know I'm going to like the outcome, but man, I'm just not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I'm more of a sit around and read, blog, tweet, and play at the garden type of person. But, it will be worth it.

Oh yeah, and while we're at it, we're going to strip the floor of the master bedroom and stain it the same color as the other bedroom. What have I gotten myself into???

But, Annie came this weekend to do some consulting on the work for us. Can you see the doubt in her eyes that we'll be able to do all this?


She also supervised Ichabod making Seven Layer Salad for the Mother's Day get-together at his folks'.





Here's Annie trying to figure out what to do with a large green olive that Ichabod gave her.


We'll be leaving in about a half hour to take Annie home and have burgers on the grill. Hope all y'all have a great Mother's Day!

Earth Day

Wednesday is Earth Day. Even though every day is really Earth day I guess it takes kick in the pants every year to remind some folks. :-)

This year I'd like honor it by linking to a post by Ian Lawton. He's the minister at Christ Community Church that's in the city next to mine. His site is Spiritual But Not Religious, SBNR. I really love to read it. This week's is titled Eating, Living, and Sleeping Green. In it you'll find his sense of humor and his sense of caring. Enjoy!

Maybe Spring is here

I leave for work around 5:40 in the morning. With Michigan being on Eastern time I can count on driving to work in the dark most of the year. But today was the first time this season that I've seen that faint glow of light at the horizon while driving in. It made me smile.

Thank you

My thanks to everyone for stopping by with kind words. I'm feeling better already. But I need to move the post down one as that kitty makes me sad just to look at it. :-)

Here's a picture from Five Mile Hill in the city where I live. It's not five miles high, but you're supposed to be able to see for five miles on a clear day.