Getting there...

So a year ago we set out to tear up our bathroom right after Thanksgiving and we did. But in doing that we decided it would be easier to re-do the room below where the water damage was in the ceiling from the bathroom. You know that story from the beginning of the year say about March-April when we tore out everything to the studs and refinished the floor...then while the weather was warm we decided we needed to work on some issues outside and summer was spent getting the rest of the tree removal done, the old fence removed and replaced (it finally falling apart forced us to bite the bullet) and many other odds and ends. I am so proud of Charlie's handiwork, his fence looks so nice. I wish we had the money to finish the whole yard.

Well now we are finally getting to what we started on. The bathroom.

The master bathroom was small and had much issues in the plumbing (as does the whole house) and we decided it would work better as the main bath in the hallway. Eventually we will use the larger bathroom for the master, but for now we will just do without. One project at a time and I tell you after this, I am talking Charlie into taking a year's break and our going on a vacation just the three of us. That is if we can afford it after paying on the cost of these home improvements.

The bathroom is turning out lovely and I can picture it in my head already. Because we tore it down to the studs and we had to replace the doorway from our bedroom we are going to paint our bedroom. Which gives me good reason to purchase new window treatments. Finally!

I have many in progress pictures but here are the before and afters thus far...

This was when we first moved in. Just a single shower where later after a short while the wall next to the shower door had buckled up from water damage and we found the sellers had painted over the existing issue so we couldn't tell. The fan ceiling you see in the top blew the air right into the insulation above and there was a lot of moisture build up and causing mold.

Just after tearing out...we were able to use a small closet where you see that door opening to gain a bit more room to put a tub in. 

Yikes, no floor! Was easy access to get to the electrical below, but scary! Reminded me of the movie Home Alone!

Charlie's rough fit the new door and the tub and some of the hardware for the shower. Better to be safe and make sure it will all be in the right place as planned.  Since this picture he has framed and put up the wall that you see missing in this photo. He has also dry-walled the outside of the room so that in the hallway it looks somewhat normal again. He has been doing a great job. Today we plan to put the rest of the insulation in and get the tub put in permanently. 

Getting there!! Can't wait!

Thanksgiving 2016

We had the smallest Thanksgiving this year since I can remember. We stayed at home and celebrated with Savannah and Jacob. I bought the smallest turkey I could find and yet we still have so much left over. But it will be great for sandwiches of course and using in white chili and other recipes. We froze some of it so as not to get burnt out on it in a week's time.

My pies turned out better this year than any other year, maybe that is because I made them at my leisure and there were only two. Savannah made one too. It felt odd to only bake two pies, yes two total! I bought pre-cut veggies for our veggie tray. Sometimes you just need shortcuts and when you aren't entertaining guests it is alright to take them! I almost started a fire toasting the marshmallows on my sweet potatoes. Had I not gotten to them in the nick of time I did we would have had flaming potatoes. It felt odd to bake only two pies, yes two total! I decided to use canned corn in place of the green bean casserole I usually make. "Too easy," I thought. "Maybe we could do this again...'

Aside the food and the aftermath of it all I am writing this tonight and reflecting on how I am very thankful for so many things. I often think about how spoiled I am and that it can be too easy to take for granted what we've been given. I want to try to be more thoughtful next year and plan an activity for our family in regards to this. Just making a hefty meal and being together doesn't always cause us to stop and think how blessed we really are and to take true time to thank God for it.

All in all we had a relaxing day. While in and out of the kitchen I peeked in on the Macy's Day parade and dog show. We played a few games and of course ate pie while watching Charlie Brown. Good stuff.

 

My Mister...Sneaking tastes of the stuffing. I think he eats more before it goes in the bird than when it comes out. 

Playing the Game of Life.  

Ha - I chose to forego college and start a career and wound up as a Travel Agent who lives in a mobile home with the lowest salary. But yet I won the game? 

 Look at these olive fingers!!

Here is our brine lemon and herbed roasted 13 pounder. I think our oven is having issues cause usually it gets a lot more brown on the top? I could go for a new oven and perhaps it is getting closer to the need for getting one than I thought. 

Setting the table. (Never mind today's youth and their attachment to the electric world.)

Savannah made some pretty name tags. She would be really good at calligraphy. 

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving Day.

Life at Home

Just pondering life and what makes a house a home. It has been such a beautiful fall...the sun has been shining every day and it makes the colors so vibrant. We have yet to clean the leaves from our yard once more before winter hits. We have so many trees here that we do it in two sessions. But I love the trees here. I love that out here everything is seems so much more vibrant and alive. However come this winter it will be another story as everything gets covered in white, but the snow here is lovely too because it stays for a while after it falls rather than melting and turning to slushy mud. 

We sat down to play a game of Yahtzee and as you can see Bear had his own plans for games. Savannah just loves playing with the pets as we do too, they make such joyful company.

Bear loves his squeaky duck toys so much that we go through at least two or three of them a year.

You know sometimes we adults are like children in that we get bored easily. I have never really stuck to a hobby so I have been working on learning how to embroider. I found that I like to sew since I was in 7th grade so I figured this would be the best place to start. This is my first project. I like that it has a lot of different stitches and colors so that I can get great practice at a little bit of everything. 

Since I got my new sewing machine I have been itching to start new projects with it but I am disciplining myself to finish ones I am working on before starting another.  I hope I can stick with keeping new hobbies and because of this I plan to frame it when I am done as a reminder of how I started my new adventures. Hopefully I will be reading this one day in the future and have completed many projects since.

Hope you all are having a beautiful fall!