Friday, October 15, 2010

The Joys of Autumn

I woke up to this yesterday morning...the photo does not do it justice!



And thought I'd share a little fall...





my favorite time of year...





the color of pumpkin...


the smells of autumn...


the cool, crisp nights...



pumpkin spice lattes...


the scent of fall candles...




pumpkin patches and fall festivals...


apples with caramel dip...


warm soup and artisan bread...




the Gilmore Girls (a lot of fall there!)...


pumpkin carving and chili feed with friends...


is there a way to make the computer area festive?...


God's creation in all it's glory...


Talk a walk this evening...watch the fog settle over the fields...have a pumpkin bar and a cup of tea...set some soup to simmer...cuddle under a warm quilt and watch an old movie...love the ones you're with...

Thursday, October 7, 2010

We're MOVING....

Yes folks, you read correctly. Because after nine days of painting, we've decided that we'll sell the place if we ever have to do it again!!!! Either that or start saving major bucks to have it done by someone else!!!!


We went in on a paint sprayer with my BIL and SIL last year, when they were painting their house. We also used their paint colors, because their house turned out so pretty!!! ( Thanks for doing all that work Brad and Meg!!)
We rented a scissor lift as we had some horrible peaks and crevices to get into and was it ever a life saver!! The above pick was my most hair-raising experience as we're on one part of the roof, trying to get to the other part and the ladder is just set over the peak of the one roof. I did not like this one bit!!! I'm holding paint trays and "steadying" the ladder. Please.....

I got anxious and put a little paint on the new shingles one night, but the dew overnight took care of that idea!!

Brian's dad was such a help. He was over every day and did so much. Thanks Ron!!

We figured there is an hours worth of prep for ever minute of spraying!!! The sprayer is wonderful! I can't imaging not having that available!!




I think their are some pics of the house in my last post or two, but of course I didn't do any specific before and afters!!! The trim was dark and the house was a little lighter.



The garage doors look so much softer now! We'd like to add some wide trim around the doors, but will have to do that later!!

I love how the new porch details turned out!! So much more character!!! Good job honey!!

We still need to add the rest of the belly band and do a little trim around the rock. Shutters on the lower front windows and perhaps a window box or two...but then again.....!!

We love how it turned out!! We're still questioning why the builder didn't add a dormer over that upper window!! What was he thinking????

What a project!!! Now we're cutting in the new flower beds transplanting trees, bushes, etc, ripping out the garden, and mowing the lawn twice a week!! I'm tired!!! Part of me wants the rains to kick in, but I know it will be nice to get everything done and tucked away for the winter!!
Now, for a bloggy question:
I've been getting a few spam comments, so I changed the moderation to the approval method. But today I saw that some of my regular commenter's just go straight into a spam folder...no email or anything. I notice some of you have approval on your sites, but are able to immediately publish the comments you trust. Are you doing that through your blog site, or are you just really quick at publishing the comments??? Also, how do I do a link without doing the www.? Like if I just want to put in a name?? The challenges are almost overwhelming!!!!!!
Have a lovely October day!!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

LIFE

I've been documenting all kinds of things thinking that maybe I'd post a little more frequently, but alas, that hasn't happened. Soooooo here are a few of the things that have been happening around here over the last month...............................


Decorated my mantel for back to school. I have really gotten into the "old" school stuff lately. Flashcards bring me great joy! I loved flash cards when I was in school, especially the multiplication ones. I could whip those answers out lickity split!!

I've been finding them all over the place and can't resist getting them. I went to my parents house a few weeks ago and found a set from 1963, the alphabet. I love that J is for Jar, canning jar that is! And P is for Pie. You know they are old though, when G is for Gun!!!
Here is my baby on his first day! New school...decided not to do the Running Start program so we put him in Lynden Public. He seems to like it, but it's weird not to have him at LC.
A few weeks before school started he got his wisdom teeth out. He only had 3 which explains the C on his report card last year!!
This is before...

Right after...(he was a little woozy!)



Ready to go home! He looks a little paler to me!
We took a few movies too, his request, and is he ever entertaining when he's on the happy meds!!




I'm skipping around here, but last week was my favorite week of the year at Haggen. It was the BOGO add for health and beauty. That's buy one, get one FREE people!!!!! I do my shopping for the year at this time...shampoo, ibuprofen, Excedrin, cold meds, contact solution, band aids, q-tips, cotton balls, alcohol, powder, mineral oil, toothbrushes, dental floss, etc, etc. I always check my cupboard and make a list so I don't have too many of something and not enough of something else.


Now a few of my friends have boasted of their savings at local grocery stores, but this receipt outshines them all and yes, I am boasting!!!! I also saved by using school scrip, which I got at a 10% kickback this month.
Are you ready??????


That's $269.20 that I spent and $285.59 that I saved!!!!! Wooo Hooo!! Just for clarification, I don't know what the wine and special discounts are, but there was no alcohol purchased here!!




The Abbottsford Air Show was on a beautiful day in August and the Canadian Thunderbirds put on quite a show! They are flying over my house here...I'm looking straight up!!






Amazing!!




A nice background for the performance!!



Dinner on the bay with Tyler, Grandma and Papa, Shelly and Mel. Such a cutie patootie he is!!



Hubby went salmon fishing for 4 days and brought back 120 lbs. of melt in your mouth fish. Don't know why I didn't take a picture of the fish rather than the boxes, but my freezer is full and I'm happy!!! Especially since he gets it all vac. packed up there and I don't have to do it anymore!!




And a post just wouldn't be complete without the latest project!!!
We are in the process of painting our house (of course it's raining this week!) and we've never liked the look of the porch, so of course we had to do a little remodel before we could paint! (it was sunny then!)
Funky peak in front and scrawny little posts.
Taking off the front...Brian's dad was a huge help!



We put shingles on the peak to match the others...

And built up the posts. We put shingles on those too. Now if we can just get the painting done!!!


I also re-did the front flower beds, which I've had to re-dig in order to get the scissor-lift into painting position!!
And the garden. Let's not forget that!!!!! This week I've canned 42 pints of chicken, 15 quarts of pickles, 14 pints of applesauce, 7 quarts of beans, and frozen 14 quart bags of corn, 10 of zucchini and 5 of summer squash!!! I'm ready for the garden to be done!!! But it sure is yummy to eat out of!!


I also tried Tami's www.theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com wonderful hot chocolate chip cookie recipe...very good!!!!!
That's all for now!!!!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Saying Good-Bye to Ben...

Franklin that is!!!

Tyler, Brian and Papa went to the Bellingham Auto Auction this morning to look at some cars and hopefully bring one home!

They got one!!!! All that hard work this summer and last paid off!
Handing over the money...all of it earned by him!
And the winner is...2000 Volkswagon Jetta...just what he wanted!




A great little car, black, leather, manual, power everything, heated seats, sunroof, 6 CD changer and really cool dash lights...picture to follow!!



Tyler doesn't get excited about much. The last time I saw him this happy was Christmas morning when he was 5 and found a nintendo after a lenghty treasure hunt!!! This has been a long time coming!!






These are some sparkly lights!!! Everything lights up...the windows, doors, gas tank button, etc. Very pretty!!!!



Congratulations Ty!!!
Did I mention that I now, once again, drive the worst car in the house??? Oh well.

P.S. I've banned the holy jeans from public!