Wrapping up 2017

Christmas eve was peaceful and joyful. Jake, Sasha, and Patti came for ham dinner. We watched the traditional Christmas Story movie and exchanged gifts. I didn't get much baking done this year as last year nor did we get our puzzle done, it seemed time slipped away. Savannah did make cut out cookies and they were delicious.

Christmas day was quiet. I didn't feel well most the day but ended it with some fun sledding with Savannah down our hill in the back yard. The dogs had fun chasing us too. I think that was the best part of the day...it was really cold, but was also invigorating after a day of illness.

Savannah and her cute new top and hat. She sure looks like a snow bunny!

Sasha and Jake posing in the "White Front Room" on Christmas Eve, such a cute couple.

Cowboy got a "Naughty" cookie bone while Bear got a "Nice" cookie. However I must say once again Garfield thinking he is a dog ate a lot of the crumbs from the cookies too. 

See? Here is proof!!!

Michael got to spend Christmas with us this year too, it was an unexpected surprise and nice. Hopefully for him too. It was good for this mother to have everyone at home. 

Week after Christmas we got our family pictures done! Our very first in fact. I am somewhat ashamed I didn't pursue it sooner but it was always intimidating to me afraid they wouldn't turn out or not sure what we should wear. That and we weren't together a lot these past 10 years. But this day was great and we had a lot of fun! Later on we went to dinner and saw a movie with Jake's family. It was a perfect day! This is one of my favorites.

I am so excited to finally have these, and the memory of making them is special too. I am sending everyone some of the pictures out for Valentine's Day. Long overdue. I just love pictures though

Ryan's 7th birthday was earlier this month and it was fun to hear about how excited he was to get our card and to use the 3-D Spiderman glasses. I hope we'll get to see him soon. 

Transformation Central Part 2

Okay so here is our before and after bedroom photos. Finally! We got to have our furniture delivered after three long months of spending weekends working on this room. Needless to say there was a vacation for Thanksgiving and before that the trip to Medieval Times to account for too so it has been a long process. I think if we had the option to have worked on it without interruption it would have taken a couple of weeks max. But that is life.

Next is finding curtains, wall hangings, putting in the closet shelves and rods and well...time. This stuff has beat up our checking account and put my FM in overdrive. But it was worth it. So nice to have a beautiful updated bedroom! My husband really had his work cut out for him. 

Knights in Shining Armor and Thanksgiving...good times

I wanted to spend my 45th birthday weekend in Chicago and to go to Medieval Times with the FAM but we postponed it. We are trying to get foster licensed and well we had a home study to get ready for the very next week and our house a mess with all the remodel stuff going on we just didn't want to feel rushed into having fun, so we went a few weeks late. It was Jake, Sasha, and Patti's first time to experience it so we had a lot of fun with them. Sasha got a ton of cool pictures too. I didn't really take pictures this time but here is our "Family Photo" of our VIP entrance. What is it about eating with your bare hands surrounded by a bunch of horses and jousting that is fun?

Thanksgiving was so warm weather wise it felt like an Indian Summer. We flew out from Milwaukee and of course the first stop was for Mexican lunch. Oh do they have the best Mexican food out west. Green Bay is okay if you are a pure gringo, but I like the way they make it out west best thank you very much.

We stayed at mom's and watched Stranger Things, finally. I love vacation for that, you don't have to be in a rush for anything. Other than for Thanksgiving dinner to end up on time. So many dishes so many people. It turned out well. Still waiting for my sister to send her pictures of course. And I didn't pack my camera...I am just finding that I live more through that lens then I do in real life so I try to not always pack it. But I regret not getting at least one photo. Here is one Savannah took on her phone of me, mom, and Monica with her granddaughter Ella. It was such a nice day that day we walked to lunch and to the cupcake shop. It was good to see my family again. I miss having that option for holiday events. Matt and Kelly did a super job on the turkey and stuffing...I cannot say much for my potatoes and the disaster I made...but we won't get into that.

And while we were there we got to spend some much missed/needed time with Harmony. She is so bashful and I hope someday I can spend enough time with her so she knows who I am. She sure has grown. It was fun to see her open her early Christmas gift and play with it.

We also got to spend time with  Ryan and his two brothers, Paxton and Kayson. We had fun playing with them but it was hard to say goodbye. I hope to get to see them again soon and we are working on what we can do to make that happen. 

When we got home Mr. Garfield's voice was so scratchy from crying and missing us so desperately. We picked up the dogs and they were happy but all three were exhausted even more than we were. You know how vacations can be and it takes a day to recuperate. Here is Charlie and GF passed out COLD. 

Transformation at the Bennett's

So remember back in spring of 2016 when I posted that were starting the tear out for the remodel of our bathroom (what was our master bathroom) which then turned into we need to remodel the family room at the same time while the floor is accessible which then also turned into updating Savannah's room since I'd promised her we'd paint it since the day we moved in so why not?

Fast forward to today and looking back there is a lot I haven't been covering. Last summer Charlie put in a new fence to replace the broken one on the North side, he finished the new bathroom this spring and it is gorgeous! Savannah loves it. Then this Summer he finished putting up new vinyl fence and gate in the front of the house to match the side he did last year. We also put in a shed so we have our garage back for our cars without the clutter.

Here it is fall 2017 and we are currently working on our bedroom. Rather than try to capture all what we did to highlight the processes with before and after pictures:

Before pictures - Savannah's room. Why yes, she loved pink. You will see shortly how much that phase has passed.

Savannah relaxing back in her room. She's happy to have her own space again. Now to get a few wall art items and her closet system, but for the most part it is done.

Before photo of the family room. Now mind you this is from when we first moved in, a lot of the wood floor still had "some" sheen to it. I can't seem to find a real before picture. I can't believe I didn't think of getting one.

I love my new family room! After Tuesday we will have new furniture though. 

Love the paint color and the bronze fixtures...this picture was when Charlie started the tile, it sure is pretty and I am jealous it is no longer our master bath. 

Look at my husband's handiwork! 

The bathroom is a bit too small to get the kind of picture I need to show it off.

Hubby did a good job...love our new fence! Now to get the skirting and trim on the bottom of the shed. Hopefully in the spring???

Before...doesn't look so bad...but believe me it is! The paint is so old and the carpet is really wearing since we moved in-plus we found out that we have hardwood floors underneath.The beige wall has two layers of wallpaper, and the curtains we took down were literally ancient. Feels good to get rid of the old. 

Isn't this butt ugly? And it was thick, like brown paper bags! Next time we buy a house I am making sure there isn't layers of wallpaper that will need to come off! Either that or hire someone else to do it (if I will part with the money to pay for something we can do ourselves)

Charlie found this behind one of the baseboards and Savannah's reaction was priceless, "7 cents isn't very much!" So he reminded her that back then the box of Pillsbury was probably only 35 cents to begin with. There isn't a date on it so I am really not sure how old it is.

We have new bedroom furniture ordered and have three months to get everything done when they deliver it. Hoping it will be done before we leave for Utah on Thanksgiving. Charlie cut the door to the bathroom that is going to be the new master bath...really feels like it is for real now and I am excited! As long as we've talked and talked about doing it, I couldn't visualize it until now.

Ha! And we said the only thing we were going to work on the rest of this year was replacing our kitchen tile. Which has to be done also but we will probably start on that after Christmas. 

Welcoming Fall

This year is different for me. I am already looking forward to fall. Usually I wonder what happened to the summer but this year it has been a humid one and I think I got my fill.

Savannah starts 8th grade on Tuesday! Wow. Time is so fast. I still remember her first day at Kindergarten. I hope she enjoys this year better than the last. 7th grade is no fun for anyone.

Charlie has been working on getting our cement pad prepped for our new shed/garage that is being delivered this week. I always forget to take before photos, but just seeing that old wood fence gone makes our house feel new and look so much better. Once the shed is in place he'll be finishing the vinyl fence and gates in the front. Our doggies will be so happy to have their space back again! And so will I!t

Tomorrow we are celebrating Labor Day with Jake and his family. Probably our last BBQ on the grill. Today is beautiful weather but not so sure about tomorrow. We'll hope for the best for that and for my health. Have a wonderful holiday to you all.

Making Summer Memories

Our summer rental in Iron River was absolutely beautiful. Who could ask for more with staying by the lake side flourishing with trees and nature. The first night we ate at a local supper club and they had awesome food. On the way to dinner we spotted a black bear trying to break into someone's cabin. Needless to say it was unsettling but totally awesome at the same time! I can only look back to the picture in my mind of it and am still in disbelief.

There was a beautiful dock and diving platform for the kids to swim  and fish around. My niece, MattieJo, came out to visit with us. She is the same age as Savannah and I loved watching them swim and play with nature and the dogs. They played cards and fished with their hands. Chipmunks were friendly so long as you had food and so were the does and fawn that frequented the area (until Bear attempted to chase them down).

Yes, people thought I was crazy to take my pets but even more so to take our cat. You see our animals are part of the family and I get such enjoyment watching them interact. Our cat often thinks he's one of the dogs. Besides I love animals, they bring so much life and joy in my heart. I spotted a pair of love quarreling woodpeckers in a tree above one morning and wouldn't you know it I didn't have my binoculars? Nonetheless I was able to take it all in.

My mom and Charlie's parents were both able to join us for the whole week and Jacob and Sasha also came out to visit and blow some fire into the sky to celebrate the 4th a little early. We had planned to visit the Apostle Islands off Lake Superior on a three hour boat tour. Yes, a three hour tour...and yes, we all sang the song in fun until we were told the boats were out of operation that day and not just for minor reasons but for extensive repair that was needed. Only good thing out of that day was that we weren't on the boat when they found out this information or we would have been stuck on Gilligan's Island and became the next hit sitcom! It was a bummer but you win some you lose some.

I will miss that little "glamping" spot we went to but will also relive the experience every time I look at my pictures.

MattieJo and Savannah ready to take a dip

Looking out at Delta Lake

Picture of the cabin in front drive

Fire!!

Adventures with Garfield. Here he is curious about fishing and wants to play with the dangling things on the end of the pole.

View of Cabin facing the lake

Two girls, a cat, and a pole

Playing a new game

Meeting in the middle

Learning to like the water

Love having a fire

Amature Adventures in Yard Saling

So we ( I ) decided to have a yard sale today which then turned into a garage sale -thanks to the weather- and well this was my first. I am by no means a person that likes rummage or yard saling so this is not my natural environment. In fact I've never had a desire to have one until now. It seems a new season in life has landed upon us and we have a lot of unused stuff.

The majority of stuff is Savannah's toys including a lot of pink. And a lot of things that 13 year olds do not admit to ever owning. But for me these things have memories attached to them. I didn't want to see stuff get thrown in a bin at the thrift store and get broke or lost in the bottom for forever. And yet no one is interested in her stuff like I thought they would be.

Oh I had it imagined in my head...a bright sunshiny day, toys and Barbies all on the green grassy lawn...children running up to gather the stuffies that my daughter once mothered. Oh yes, they would bring the one they admired to their mother to ask for it and as they did I would tell them they could have it for free. I would be re-kindled with that same joy all over again as they would smile and hug their prize. It was a Toy Story 3 ending to my fantasy.

But to no avail the weather was cold, windy, and 90% chance of rain. Our yard sale signs became make-shift garage sale signs at the last minute. We did get a few sales, not too bad really, but not of the things I really wanted to find new homes for. Whatever happens at the end of the day it feels good to spring clean and declutter the house. And I can say I had the experience of a yard/garage sale!

No worries though. I plan to post items online for free after time's past. How can anyone resist passing up the chance to get their daughter a full Barbie house with furniture? Not this girl. In fact that is what got us into this mess!

Goodbye to an Old Friend

Muffers 2002 - 2017

Birthday Gigs

That time of year again with our double duo January birthdays. Savannah turned 13 and Charlie claims he is 18 but I don't buy it. And if you think about it that is gross in comparison to Savannah's age. He could have went for 39, even though he does act 18 at times. (Don't say I said that)

Usually he is grumpier about his birthday but this year he seemed pretty good with it and enjoyed himself. Maybe it helped that Savannah and I didn't mention it all week or make a big deal out of it like we usually like to do. Instead we surprised him with a homemade cake and balloons when he got home from work. We went to Island for sushi (of course) and they are so nice there; they gave him free drinks and $10 off his meal. We can't say enough about this place and being that they have known us by name for quite a while I guess we are considered more than patrons.

Savannah had a sleepover with a couple of her friends. They sat up all night and ate junk food, played truth or dare, and hide and seek with Cowboy. (You ought to see this sometime. I need to video tape it!) Next day she and one of her friends took the city bus to the mall. She was super scared to go and then when she got home she asked if she could ever take it by herself. Funny! Unfortunately she came down with a head cold on her birthday day and being that she also had one on Christmas day she claims she is allergic to "holidays" - how funny this girl is!

Jake and Sasha came over and we made home made sushi per Savannah's request, watched The Great Outdoors, and had cake and ice cream. They gave Charlie and Savannah both some nice gifts and a card and stayed and visited a while. It was an epiphany for me that although they aren't married I can see a change in the relationship - or perhaps a change in my relationship to them as a couple. I don't think I'll see much of Jake without seeing Sasha now that they will be moving in a place of their own soon, and it is exciting to think about. I have been getting to know her better lately and am looking forward to more time together. What I love most is that it felt like a good old fashioned Sunday visit with family. I haven't had that in years!