Done with the house for now....

We finished the porches and railings, and are calling the project done for now.  The upstairs facia needs to be painted, but we're taking a break for now until John's knee is better, probably in the Spring. And we need to design something for the front steps...not sure what we're going to do there yet.  The house looks great to me, I'm so happy with the new siding.

Flowers for the hummingbirds

The vining flowers that we put in this year are blooming like crazy right now....The yellow and orange ones are Thunbergia (or Black-eyed Susan vine) that we put in back in the Spring. Those plants have grown and are tumbling over the fence now.  A pink and white striped morning glory (one single plant came up) is finally blooming after being nothing but green vines all summer, and the blue morning glories continue to bloom and look fantastic out in the yard.  So pretty to look at from the porch.

Keepin' KT!

We had the BEST weekend with KT! Her parents had a date with some college friends and a football game, so she got to come out and enjoy a great deal of spoiling..., err...I mean fun with Mimi and Grumps.
We:
--Watched Halloween specials on TV (Toy Story of Horror!) and another on Netflix (The Dog Who Saved Halloween)
--Took a trip to the library to get some Halloween books to read, and a small side trip to the local store
--Played outside for a real, real, real long time,
--Gardened
--Did some fall art projects using fall leaves we picked up in the yard
--And we took a ride or two on the donkey!
Whew! Saturday night she fell asleep sitting on Grumpy's lap at 7:30 pm, I'm not even kidding! Worn out....
It was so much fun!

Progress on the house....

We painted the porch on the pavilion side of the house and the front of the house on Tuesday.  And when I say "we", you understand that I meant John was painting and I was being very supportive.  I did help with the covering of the house and the deck, but spraying and painting was all him.  It looks great, though, and really brightens up the porch. We're doing the other side of the house today, Thursday.  Whew! We're getting there.

Oh, I did paint the other two doors on the weekend.  They look fantastic.

Mom on Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sleepy, but smiling at something she heard.  It was a good day.

KT's Swim Lesson....

We had to pleasure of taking KT to one of her swim lessons this week, since her parents had a fancy event to attend down at the Witte Museum.  This was interesting... there were only three kids in her class, and each on seems to be at a different level of ability.  KT was the one in the middle, she's catching on and doing what the coach asks of her.  One thing for sure, she has lost her fear of the water and she jumps right in there with gusto!
A little more practice and she's gonna be swimming.

 KT waiting her turn.....

She just made her way to the side of the pool....so proud of her progress in this class!

Giving up on the Fall garden...

Things are just to crazy around here for me to concentrate on the Fall garden this year, so I've decided to just give it up and wait for next Spring.  The two beds that I planted didn't germinate very well, only a few of the seeds came up. Sigh....There are a few things still growing out there, and I have a couple of plants in the small greenhouse that I'm keeping alive, but that's about it.

 The pepper plants that I cut back have bounced back very well...most are covered in peppers.  I'm convinced that they do much better in the fall - the plants are bushier and the peppers have much thicker walls then the spring crop.

 Sweet yellow peppers -- these are delicious!

 Lots of jalapenos!

And this is my Meyer lemon tree on the pavilion - they are starting to turn yellow! I'm completely amazed at these...can't wait to try one!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Today was our annual trip to the Medina Pumpkin Patch.  As usual, KT and her cousin, Taylor, had a great time!  They painted pumpkins, took pictures sitting on pumpkins, road on a barrel train, fed and petted farm animals, ate apple treats, and found their way through the hay maze!  It was the best day, weather-wise, cool and sunny.  Just perfect!  After the pumpkin patch, we came home and had hot dogs on the pavilion.  Whew....time for a nap!

Movie Review --- Enough Said

I did take a few hours last Saturday to go to lunch and a movie with Mari! We had a great time, and I really needed the break.  After lunch, we went to see Enough Said, which turned out to be a real chick flick!  Very cute, lots of laughs, and I recommend it highly, especially if you are middle aged.
The two at the center of the movie (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as Eva, and James Gandolfini as Albert) are at the age when their children are graduating high school and are about to fly the nest, off to college.  Both are divorced, and are just beginning to understand how alone they will soon be.

There's a lot of humor in this movie, which I really appreciated.  Oh, and no bad language thrown in just to get an R rating, by the way (are you listening to me, The Heat?!!) This turned out to be Gandolfini's last movie, I believe.  I didn't think of him as a romantic actor (wasn't he type-cast as a mobster?) but he pulled it off, especially given the humor that helped carry us all through some pretty awkward situations!

Halloween month....

I'm not doing much decorating this month since we're getting ready for a big wedding in November, so just a few things to celebrate the holiday, most of them from the Dollar Store! Thrifty!

A trio of black owls (KT informed us that the one on top of the box is a brother, and the other two are his sisters) sits on the mantel. Wonder how she knew that? I really can't tell the difference between boy and girl owls. Ha!

I made a wreath I found on Pinterest from a murder of black crows (thanks, Jason!)  I think it turned out great! Since this photo I sprayed some glitter around their heads, gave it a bit of sparkle!

And I have some of the gourds and pumpkins that we grew in the garden all around the place.  I just love fall!

On Monday, since I had the model with me, I sewed KT a cute little Halloween skirt printed with spiders all over it, and she got a pair of socks from the "mailman" who drops off little things in the mailbox on her little house.  She called these "spell" socks, I'm guessing the cauldron is what she was thinking about.  She's such a smart girl.

KT on Columbus Day!

We got to keep KT on Monday since her school was closed for the holiday.  Yeah for us!! She is so much fun right now.

 She arrived in Halloween pajamas, so it was only natural that she wanted to try on some of my decorations....

 Then she went with us to Home Depot to pick up yet another batch of things we'd forgotten to buy.  She told John as we were walking in the store, "Oh, I go to this store with my dad."  I told her it was Grumpy's favorite store, too!

At the end of the day we stopped at the frozen yogurt store -- her favorite is still "brown."

And the remodel continues....

First, the siding is done! It looks fantastic, and I pinch myself every time I go outside and see it!

 There are still some things we have to take care of, such as the deck around the house and the doors. And, we are not quite done inside the house - little things like hanging up all the photos again, caulking the stairs, and John installed my new kitchen sink on the weekend.  (Love it!!)  We went with stainless again, and I got a fancy, schmancy new faucet.
Today I painted the side door, and tomorrow I'm working on the front door.  John finished skirting the deck around the house.  He's putting up wood for now, and will paint it next week.  It's only temporary, as he really wants to rock it, but I think we'll wait until Spring sometime to start on that project....we really need a break! Whew!

 Entry hall photos...

 I'm putting photos up the stairwell this time....it's taking me a while because I'm not a natural at this...I'm constantly second guessing myself about where to put things.  Sigh...

 The door I painted today.

John working on the deck skirting.  He had to remove all of the old cedar first, and removing all the nails took him most of the morning! I think this house was being held up by nails!

Residing is moving along!

I've lost track of the day count, but they are completely done with the top floor and moving fast around the bottom floor...they are telling us they will probably be done on Friday, or latest Saturday morning.  It is looking fantastic.
Here are some of the last pictures I took, but not the most recent.  I'll take some new pics today when they leave for the day:

Once they are done, John and I will have to paint the doors and door thresholds, railings, etc. but we should be able to knock that out pretty quickly.  Whew!

Residing the House, Day Three

By the end of day three, we have a few rows of siding up!  I love the color!

The bottom of the house is going to be rocked in, sometime after they are done.  Probably in 2014 sometime.

Mom on Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mom was having a bit of a restless day, they had a fire drill earlier in the day, and she was getting her bath when I arrived.  She doesn't like too much activity, that's for sure.  Once the bath was over, she had her meds and her lunch was over, she settled down, and I played her some old time music on her "boom box."  She LOVES music, especially some of the old WWII music and the crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.  She was really listening and smiled a few times.  I must remember to play her some every time I go.

Re-siding the house, Day Two

Here's how much they got done by the end of day one on Wednesday.  They stayed late, about 7:30ish the first day:

 Old siding off on the top floor and chimney.....

 The back is totally off too....

They parked a dumpster to collect and then haul away the old siding and trash....

And here's how much they finished by the end of the day today:

 Layer of Hardie board is on upstairs...

 Siding is partially off at the top floor near the pavilion....

 The back is totally covered by Hardie board....

Front, chimney side...

Here's the Hardie Planks, but I can't see the color...they're still wrapped up! Darn!

Is this color growing on you?  I'm beginning to really like it, actually....