~ House People ~

 My husband and I have always been 'House People'.
We have renovated over 12 houses, and nearly every one of those houses was an old house. 
 We are still 'house people', therefore we spent a few days going to the St. George Parade of Homes.
We are preparing for our retirement move to that area and wanted to see new homes and builders that we may be interested in.

 Some of the trends in houses that we noted: Walk in double showers, and double shower heads. Also, a return to brass, more notably, antique brass fixtures.

 More of those brass touches. Nearly all the kitchens that we saw were simple white cupboards and the design highlights were displayed in the backsplashes.

 Another double walk-in and double shower head.

 Every home had a fireplace, though not many of the fireplaces were traditional, and most of the fireplaces were these linear styles, with glass,  or rock where traditional faux logs would be.

 Some gorgeous tile was used throughout the homes. I adore these tiles that have an old fashioned feel.

 This was an interesting tile.. tone on tone, but lots of different designs. 

The tile in this laundry room was hands down my favorite tile. I think it's really pretty tile, and I don't think I would ever get tired of it... I've always loved checked patterns.

So... did we find a house?
No.

We found inspiration, neighborhoods, and builders. 

We are currently working on editing our stuff... what we want to keep, what we want to move, etc.
 We have had beadboard and trim for the den stored in the garage, and this week we installed it in the den. Now, we have to paint the den, then we can check off that project.
There is an excitement about moving to into a new house and moving to a new city. 

 On to new adventures!!

Attitude of Gratitude:
Feeling so grateful, once again, for safe travels. We dodged two major snowstorms and visited St. George between those storms. 

Thankful for the talents that our Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

~ The List ~

The List is something we use in our home to stay organized and accomplish our household goals.
But first... a few more fun pictures from Gardner Village.

 The Old Water Mill. 
Inside the building is a darling furniture and accessories store.

 Witches playing baseball...

 Cute covered bridge.

 Here at home, we worked on The List. 
Garden Charlie got a mini make~over, with a cheery new neckerchief. 

 I've had this old wooden ladder for many years, and I've been wanting to use it as a display but I also wanted to deepen the finish. I finally took it out of the garden shed and stained it.
Also on The List, cleaning and staining and sealing old gourds that had been stored in our garden shed.

 Giving the garage door a make~over was also on The List.
We taped off what would become the faux windows.

 After two coats of charcoal chalk paint, we taped the carriage door hardware to the garage to determine placement.
We both liked the placement of the hardware that is on the right side of the garage vs. the left side, so that is what we went with.

 Finished project. Cross that one off The List!
Also, the driveway is painted, the garage floor is painted and as you will see in the next picture, the porch stairs and porch floor are painted as well.

 Getting projects crossed off The List becomes very important at this time of year. 
 So many things that need to get done before the cold sets in. We race the weather, the snow, and the freezing temperatures.

 After a long week and weekend of work, we were treated to a beautiful moon rise.

Another thing I've been wanting to get done is to change out some of the dinnerware that I display on the hutch.
 I wanted to display that cute pumpkin Fall dinnerware.

There are still a number of things on The List, but working together and having things written down I have no doubt that in time we will accomplish our goals.
Last night, my sweet husband put 'Stabil' in all of the gas motors to winterize them. If that isn't done, then in the spring the motors won't run. 
A few more things to do on the list 
 ~ Ready wood in the wood stove 
~Empty hanging pots; store

For those that live where the winters freeze, I'm sure that you have a list too. Things that you need to get done before the weather turns. 
Wishing all good luck on accomplishing the things on their lists.

Do you make a list for winter preparations?

~Attitude of Gratitude.
Thankful for a few last zinnias to fill a vase. The rest of the zinnias froze.
~Thankful for the last harvest of butternut squash.

Little by little....

It's hard to believe just how quickly the weeks are speeding by.

I never meant to be absent from blogging for so long.
Little by little, time just flies by!

Each new day has a full schedule, before the sun rises.

We repainted our master bedroom.
The before:  The wall color was tan......"clay beige" to be precise.
Also, you can see a bit of the dresser in the above picture.
All of our bedroom furniture is maple, and it was stained and left the natural maple color.

After. Freshly painted furniture, and room.
I painted all the maple furniture. Fresh, clean and white.  I love it!
The color that I used is called " Dover White".  I mixed up my own chalk paint and used on all the furniture.

I really love how " Farmhouse ~ Cottage" the furniture looks now.
A fresh coat of paint made all the difference!
Of course a fresh coat of paint in the room made a huge impact as well.

This is the color that we used on the room : "Whitened Sage", by Behr.
It's a nice neutral color, with hints of green, and soft blue.
We painted the master bedroom, and of course the master bathroom also.

 

We ordered and bought a garden shed.  It had to be built in St. George, and then delivered to us.
We also bought paint for the garden shed, and once the weather co-operates, we'll be painting the garden shed.
My sweet husband is also building my a potting bench inside the shed, and some shelving for storage.
We are also adding another window on one end, and adding shutters and a window box.
We want to give the garden shed a make-over, and add some charm to it.

Our only daughter celebrated a birthday last month too!!
For her birthday, she had cheesecake fresh from New York city!
It was a fun treat to have, and a little extravagant.
Hey, but it was her birthday.... a special daughter on her special day deserves a bit of spoiling.

Sadly, we also said 'goodbye' to two of our friends, in the past weeks.
Our dear Archie {above} passed away.  He was dear to our family, and we are so blessed for having had him in our lives!!
Also, we said 'goodbye' to Steven.  He will be sorely missed!!

How Steven loved his family, and especially his Grands!! He passed away just 2 days before his newest little grandson was born.
I like to think that means that Steven got to see him before everyone else, and send him to his earthly family.

Just another thing... a little thing.
I did get the library doors painted black.  Although, this picture obviously doesn't show them painted black.... I did get them done.  Painted around each and every pane of glass.

So, little by little the past weeks have just sped by. 
Seems as I get older, time just speeds up. You know, there are actually scientific theories as to why it seems that time speeds up as we get older.
I've linked an article about time, and how it seems to slip by faster as we get older.
Feel free to read it..... if you have a little time **smile**.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/38204-does-time-perception-change-as-you-get-older-why-life-goes-by-faster-and-what-you


Attitude of gratitude:
~Believe it or not, I am grateful for the snow that we've gotten in the past few days.
After all, we've had a pretty mild winter.  We planted around 200 bulbs and tubers last weekend however, and I think a nice blanket of snow will be good for them.
~I'm grateful that the bursitis that I've had in my hip is beginning to heal up.... finally.
Good grief! I have felt like the oldest woman on the planet, trying to navigate and paint with that hip giving me fits!
~I'm grateful that our amazing daughter was able to find her a car. She has been so blessed in finding the car that is perfect for her: reliable, and budget friendly, and best of all... it's really cute!

Cement. Almost as scary as electricity.

There are two things that scare me, when it comes to renovations. 
Cement, and electricity.

 We've been renovating homes for well over 20 years. 
No biggie.

 On a perfectly peaceful fall morning last week, we decided that it was time to fix the stair.
That would involve concrete, and my anxiety level started rising.

I mean, concrete.... that's serious stuff. It is what foundations, and sidewalks, and roads, and hospitals are made with!!
Once you remove the concrete, then stuff collapses... right??!!
Whenever we have had to do electrical, or concrete on past renovation jobs, I leave. 
I scram.
Me? No where to be seen. I'll be back after the electrician, or cement truck leaves.

 This stair had cracked and separated from the other stairs.
Once upon a time, someone had run a rain gutter drain under the stairs. Good in theory... but not in practice. Even with the heating element wire that ran through the drain tube, there was at one time an ice build up, heaving and cracking of cement.

 We knew this would need to be repaired, when we bought Mill Hill Meadow.
We put it on the list, and planned to get it done before the first snow fall.

 OK. So, it's November, and the first snow fall could happen at any time.
**Called the contractor, ordered the concrete, and bust out the broken step and landing.
Spencer  {our youngest son} and my Sweet husband, and our daughter did just that.

Me???
I hid in the house.
I had fears and visions of the entire porch falling off the house.
There was such a void under that stair, that I felt certain that ALL the stairs were going to fall off the porch.
Then, maybe the porch would crack, and we'd have to replace it.... so forth, and so on.
Yep.. I managed to get myself in a twist!

 The back-fill required 9 bags of gravel..etc..
The contractor was scheduled to frame up the step and landing the very same day that the stair and landing were torn out.
It was supposed to be a 1 1/2 day to 2 day job.... max.
Sadly, the contractor got drug and kicked by his horse.  He is lucky he didn't break anything, or worse.
Still... it put him down for a couple days.
So... two days after the demo, then the forms went up.
Of course I felt terrible about the contractors accident, but I almost felt worse for myself.
 I  had nightmare after nightmare about our house falling down, or the porch falling off.

 Finally!!
Finally, the cement was poured.
New step, new landing.
No crack.
No snow yet either..... thank heavens.
I do not consider myself prone to panic..... except in cases of cement work, or worse even.... electrical work.
After all, no one wants an incident of a falling down house, or an electrical fire, or an electrocution.
OK.... so maybe that's a bit dramatic.....

New day.
All is well in the world. The sun still came up the next morning.


We all have those little fears that trigger us.  It's not a health scare that is my trigger.....any more.... been there, done that, with Brooke's kidney transplant.
For me, it is certainty. If I am not 100% sure about something, I vapor lock.
I'm sorry.
I'm working on it.
I'm learning how to do the best I can, and not sweat the small stuff.

Attitude of gratitude:
*I'm grateful for each day. It may sound small... but each day really is a wonderful blessing.
*I'm grateful for chocolate pie.
*I'm grateful for good books.  This time of year is wonderful for me... piles of wonderful books, just waiting to be read.

Happy Minutes

 Days are filled with happy minutes.
Here and there, a few at a time, or many happy minutes all lumped together.
Happy am I .
My Lemon Balm re-seeded its-self in the old horse trough.
I'm hoping to get a lot of these little seedlings transplanted around the homestead.

 Happy- happy minutes!
A real live tomato.
Growing on one of the poor little tomato plants that have endured such a freakish Spring.
Please ripen.

 And.. there is hope for the squash plants as well.
Two small, little yellow squash.
Please ripen too.

 That teeny-tiny little start of Catmint from our old house.
Blooming away.
Keep blooming, and re-seed.
It will make me so happy to have many Catmint plants to transplant around the homestead.

 Turkey pastrami.... it makes delicious turkey jerky.
I'm happy that I have a batch of turkey jerky in ol' Harvey.
Tomorrow, everyone should be able to have some turkey jerky.
We have a Norbest outlet store not too far from our little town.

 Happy minutes ... not one,

 but.. two boxes of goodies from Bath and Body Works.
They are having their semi-annual sale right now.
The closest store to us is about 70 miles away.
It would cost me more in gas than it cost me to ship everything right to my front door.
Brooke made a comment...and I quote .." No one in this family should ever stink again".
Amen.

 Happy over the moon.
The concrete contractor came and set a date to pour the new front walk.
He laid out a hose so that I could envision how the new walk will look.
He doesn't really "get" my idea of having a gentle bend in the walk, but he's happy to do it for me, never the less.
Cottage ----
That's what I am going for here... so get on board!
We will (by we, I mean my sweet hubby and Spencer) do most of the work, and he will help finalize the layout and forms and do the finish work.
We worked it all out in trade.
I love bartering!

 Happy minutes ..... every day when I look up at our Horseshoe Mountain.

 My sweet hubby  and I often get in the Tahoe, and take Rowdy with us for and evening ride.
We saw this cute little guy on our ride last night.

Happy minutes this morning as we drove by one of my favorite barns on the way to take Brooke to the hospital for her blood draw.

Hope that this weekend is full of many, many happy minutes for you all.


Attitude of gratitude:
~I am so grateful for R'dean. For all these years, during Brooke's illness, and after her kidney transplant, he has been so compassionate and caring in taking her blood.
She has been poked and prodded so much that her poor little veins collapse, and roll. It is so hard for any one to get blood from her; but R'dean can.
~I am so grateful that Brooke was able to get music put back on my blog.
I really missed it. And, I know that I give her headaches when I ask her to help me with technical stuff... but she loves me, so she helps me .
~I'm grateful that Spencer is home for the weekend, and is planning on going to yard sales with me in the morning.
He's my yard sale buddy, and he can talk a fat tick off  of a sleeping dog.
He always finds me the best deals.