Back in the Swing of Things

I have a full week under my belt at work and things are getting back into a routine. I am waking up without the alarm and I have been having a little time to wake up with blog reading every morning with a glass of iced tea and some cereal. Then I get ready and out the door.

Work has been going good and I've not been too tired when I get home. Except on Friday, I was worn out. I think that was just because it was Friday. LOL

I'm just spending a quiet weekend at home. The weather is nice and I am reading a paperback and browsing books on photoshop elements. I purchased elements along with a new computer recently and I haven't played with it too much yet. I have books from the library that are due soon, so I need to get busy reading them.

I think the back to school funk is over. Thank goodness.

In a back-to-school funk

I start back to work on Wednesday. I work in a school and I do really like my job. I just don't want to work. I don't like to get up early to go somewhere. I like to get up early and spend hours on the computer. I don't like coming home exhausted and having to figure out what is for dinner when I'd rather take a nap. I don't like having to go to bed "early" so I can get up in time to surf the web and get ready for school.

And then there is the feeling of guilt that I didn't DO enough this summer. We went to Ireland, got my son married, and organized millions of pictures. I got a new computer and I almost have everything moved off of my daughters computer. But, I didn't deep clean the house, finish the pictures, visit everyone I wanted to, or a hundred other things from the mental list that keeps haunting me.

I just have the blahs and I don't know how to get out of it.

Wedding Weekend

Here is my son, my new daughter-in-law and my granddaughter

These are my four granddaughters

These are my kids

The wedding was beautiful. Everything was very nice. My granddaughter did a great job with the flower girl thing. All of my kids and grands were there. We did a group photo but haven't gotten it back from the photographer yet. I hope it is good. A couple of days later everyone who could came to my house to spend the night. That was fun to have them all here. The next day we went to St. Louis and went to the zoo and the arch.

Here is all of us except my son who took the picture.

After the zoo we all went up in the St. Louis Arch. They all had a great time doing that too. Later that day everyone went home and we had some time to relax. It was a great weekend and so nice to have everyone at the wedding.

Wedding stuff

Went to pick up the flower girl dress for my granddaughter today. She was not with me when I bought it. They only had one size left of the dress my son and his bride picked out and I was not sure it was the right one. The dress needed to be cleaned so I had to leave it there that day. I had my granddaughter's mom bring her to the store today so I could pick up the dress and try it on her. We met at the Dollar Tree next door and she picked out some stuffed mermaids that she wanted me to buy her. Then we went to the bridal store to try on the dress. It fit very well. Just slightly too long but that can't be helped. The wedding is next weekend and there is no time for alterations. She calls it her "Princess Dress". Then we went to Sears to buy shoes to go with it. They didn't have much to pick from but we got a pair that will do. After the shopping we went to the car. She got in my truck and wanted to go home with me. I finally got her out of the truck and into her car. I wish I could have kept her but the drive is too long to make an extra trip to take her home. She wanted me to take one of the mermaids to my house but I told her she could bring them with her the next time she comes. That will be the day of the rehearsal.

We decided on pizza for the rehearsal dinner. I will buy some salad and drinks to go with it. Probably I'll get some cookies or brownies too. I still have to get my daughter's birthday present. The wedding is on her birthday. So I'll have to hit the stores one more time this comming week.

Home again

We are back from Ireland!!! It was amazing. We saw lots of beautiful scenery, kissed the Blarney Stone, stood on the edge of the Cliffs of Moher, took a boat and jaunting car trip through the Gap of Dunloe, walked in the icy water on a beach on the Dingle Peninsula, toured the Waterford Crystal Factory and had many other great adventures. Hubby and I took hundreds of pictures that I have to sort through and condense into a manageable album to share with friends and family.

In other news, yesterday was the bridal shower for my new Daughter-in-law. It was a very nice shower and they received lots of very nice presents. Her aunts did a great job with the food and her mom made the cake. It was beautiful and delicious. The wedding is in a couple of weeks. I am having a hard time finding something to wear, but am confident that it will work itself out.

This and That

Well, the graduation is over. It was very nice. We had a grad party here at the house and all the family turned out. She has become engaged and is planning a wedding for a year from now. I took over 200 pictures of them last night for engagement photos. About 5 of them are good.

DD is enrolled in a class for the fall. It is an evening class so she can get up in time. LOL

DS is making me a grandmother and a mother-in-law again. This will make my 5th grandchild, the first 4 all being girls. Plus I have 5 step-grandsons. The wedding is in a month. The ETA on the baby is still unknown, waiting on a Dr. visit in a couple of weeks.

We leave for Ireland in two (2!) days. The packing is comming along and the internet has been thouroghly searched for all things Irish.

Hubby's DD and SIL will be visiting tomorrow. They have moved way out of state and this will be their second visit home in a year and a half.

Ok, I promise to try to get more regular with posting after the vacation and the wedding. We will see what happens.

Still Here

I am still around. Just have been busy with the end of the school year stuff and my daughter's upcomming graduation. My last child is graduating high school. Yippeeeee!!! The kitchen is done and I will post pics of that soon. And an exciting vacation is in the works.





This is what I found on the back deck the other day. This swing was on the front deck last fall when a bad storm came through and several huge limbs blew off the tree in front and landed on the deck, taking out most of the rails and breaking the frame to this swing. Finally, my hubby fixed it and gave the frame a fresh coat of paint. The front deck still isn't fixed so the swing was placed on the back deck in the meantime. A few days later, after a day of strong winds, I found this in my back yard. I am not sure it is meant for me to have a porch swing. Luckily it was not damaged this time. But it was not easy to get it out of it's predicament.

Yes, Deer

These deer were in my back yard yesterday. We we came here the first time to look at this house 2 1/2 years ago we saw a deer across the road. I am pretty sure that is one of the things that sold my hubby on this property. We still occasionally see deer in the field across the road and sometimes way in the back of our property. But usually not this close to the house. Hubby saw them and I ran for the camera. I had to really zoom and take the pics through the bedroom window so i wouldn't scare them off. Sorry the photo quality is so bad.

Here is a pic of them after I scared them and they started to run.





Here they are jumping the fence to the neighbors's yard. I hope they keep comming back. We love to watch the wildlife.

More kitchen updates and book reviews comming soon.

Best Shot Monday

I love this shot of my hubby playing around when he took the curtains down to paint. The ceiling light behind him gives him a kind of glow.

What we have...

We have cabinets picked out. We have flooring. We have countertops ordered. We have begun the demolition. We have one section of cabinets installed. We have ugly brown floor tiles that were under a layer of parquet flooring and a layer of 3/4 inch plywood and 7,000,000 staples and 3,500,000 nails.

And.... we have.... Rain!!!!

We can't go to the store for the next set of cabinets in the rain. We can't lay flooring in the rain. We can't haul old flooring out to the dumpter in the rain (well, we probably could but we won't). We can't paint in the rain.

So, we are on hold for a couple of days. Taking a break to maybe get a couple of books read and watch American Idol and The Biggest Loser.

More Later....

Kitchen Update

We found that Lowes has the same cabinets we bought before so we can finish out the kitchen with those. We also found a counter top that goes good with the cabinets. So those decisions are pretty much made.


We thought we had a floor. Hubby found new in box flooring on Craig's List for a good price. We made an appointment to purchase it but the person sold it before we got there. She was nice enough to call us before we left to let us know but it was a huge disappointment. Today I have a day off so we are off to shop for floors. Hopefully I'll have something good to report in the next post.

Kitchen Remodel

Ever since we moved into this house I have wanted new counter tops. The ones we have are older and were not installed correctly. They have an ugly seam right by the sink that doesn't match up and I just want new ones. I would also like to go with something more neutral so I have options to decorate.

So way back when, (2 years ago) we started shopping for new ones. We have a galley style kitchen and the one counter has to be 12 feet long. Which means special ordering it because home improvement stores only sell 10 feet lengths. That is probably why the current counters have that seam in them. We just never did get around to ordering anything so now I am on the kick again. But wait, it gets worse. I have suddenly developed a desire for new cabinets too. The cabinets in here were installed stupidly. One side is fine but the side with the stove did not have the right number of top cabinets and they were shoved all the way to the ceiling. So, when we moved in we bought a couple of the pieces that were missing and rearranged them. But the new ones do not match the old ones. You can see in the picture that the first three are the new ones and the last cabinet is the style that the rest of the kitchen has. So, I'm thinking that there is no use in doing counter tops now, if there is a chance that we will do new cabinets eventually.

And while we are at it, might as well change the floor that we have hated since we have been here too. It makes more sense to do it all at once, right? The floor is parquet tiles that don't match up and have gaps between them. They are all through the kitchen, dining area and hallway.

So, last night we went off to Home Depot to see what is available and get some cost ideas. I wanted to make a couple "easy" changes to the layout. I want to add a pantry cabinet and I wanted to move the refrigerator a little bit so it isn't shoved against a wall. We have a side by side so the door hits the wall every time you open it.

After much drawing and figuring I think I finally have it figured out. The cabinet with the drawers doesn't come in the same size I have now, so I had to do some rearranging there. It will be hard to get used to the new configuration. I am a creature of habit. I found a counter top that I think I like. But the floor, that is a big problem. I can't decide what kind of floor I want. My husband is not much help. "Whatever makes you happy" is his favorite phrase. I really appreciate that he wants me to have what I like, but I need some help narrowing down the choices. We still have a couple more places to go to get some ideas, so I'll post again when I make some decisions.

Book Review

I read the book Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews. It is a very good book.

From the back cover:

Landing a catch like Talmadge Evans III got Eloise "Weezie" Foley a jewel of a town house in Savannah's historic district. Divorcing Tal got her exiled to the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite-fest with Tal's new Fiancee, the elegant Caroline DeSantos.

An antiques picker, Weezie combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures when she's not dealing with her loopy realatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. But and unauthorized sneak preview at a sale lands Weezie smack in the middle of magnolia-scented murder, mayhem...and more. Dirty deals simmer all around her - just as her relationship with the hottest chef in town heats up and she finds out how delicious love can be the second time around.

I had trouble putting this book down. I will definatly be looking for more books by this author.

First Sample post

Hi, I am Tina. This is my first blog. I always thought I would never have a blog but I have become addicted to reading blogs and have decided to give it a try.