Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Pool - Day 2

Here are pictures from today's pool activity. It was an exciting morning but watching the pool fill up with water has been like watching a pot of water come to a boil.





Pool - Day 1

The pool contractor showed up Sunday night to cut down a tree and draw out an outline of the pool in the exact spot that it would soon exist. You can barely make out the orange outline in this "before" picture.


The project was scheduled to start on Monday, but he ended up in bed with a 24 hour flu bug. So Tuesday was when all the action started. It was a day dedicated to backhoes, truck loads of dirt and loads of activity. I made phone calls to plumbers, electricians and fence companies to schedule times to get estimates. I also double checked with the insurance company that we were insured and had our liablity amount raised.


I'm throwing in this exciting video of the backhoe. Try to keep yourself under control as you watch this. Terribly exciting!!



The yard is a mess but the excitement of getting a swimming pool puts our focus on next summer. I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter.

Here are pictures from the first day of this project.





Friday, October 26, 2007

Housework is ongoing

The thing about housework is that you're never finished working, only finished for that day. You know that big project of organizing the cabinet in the bathroom? It took me a whole 5 minutes and I was done! Why was I putting that off?

I do have another project that really will take me longer. I want to organize my kitchen cabinets and pantry and switch stuff between the two locations. Now that I think of it.. that might only take me 1 minute to go in there, take a look and decide it's not worth it.

I'm hoping Ray will take a crack at fixing my couch this weekend. It has somewhere around 12 long arched metal springs that keep the cushions from falling to the ground when you sit on it. Six of those springs have sprung! So my couch that I love is not so lovely right now.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Fall fever

I watched Paula Deen make chicken fried steak and gravy today on her show. I was taught how to make it by my step-dad, Dale. So it was interesting to watch a real chef make it and see things like the consistancy of the gravy as she adds the milk and how much flour, salt and pepper she used. She made it no different than I do except for using buttermilk to dip her steak. I have been taught to dip in a milk and egg mixture. I'll try the buttermilk next time.

Spring fever has hit me today, only it's the wrong season. I rearranged my living room today, something I used to do ALL the time. I have not changed my living room around in years except for the addition of a computer desk. I have the curtains in the washing machine and after they are clean, I'll be done with my to-dos for today. I've thrown in some pictures of Mojo because he was a big part of the action today (and a blog needs pictures, right?) . He panicked at being cornered by the vacuum cleaner but yet refused to leave the room in fear that he might not see what I was going to move next. I turned the couch upside down for a bit (long story) and this demanded an investigation by the inspector himself.

If I get a second wind, I have a cabinet in the bathroom that needs some organizing. For now, I'm exhausted and crashed on the couch with the laptop.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

October Storm

We had some pretty big storms come through town last night which knocked out our electricity right before 8pm and it wasn't back on until 6 this morning. I've made several trips into town, taking the kids here and there, and it's amazing how many pickups I've seen hauling off branches and trees that were destroyed in the storm. Driving down the road means dodging limbs that lay across the road or branches that are dangling at eye level from the trees that they were once attached to. No damage on our property but the next door neighbors lost a tree.

The wind has started to blow again outside, but this time there are no storms in site. Just wind.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Fall is beautiful

We've actually had beautiful Fall weather this month. The temps have been pleasant but not cold and it's been overcast on several days. This makes the mums look that much more beautiful.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

This and That

Laundry is done, the crick in my neck has subsided and I'm ready to take on the world today. Well, maybe not the world. It's more like a few small projects that need attention. I need to get it done today because Fall Break starts tomorrow and that means the kids will be home for the rest of the week.

Did anyone see Renee Zellweger's hair on Oprah yesterday? That's what I want. So cute!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

It looks like Halloween here!


How about your place??

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Creepy

Yesterday we had an attack of "webs". I don't know if these were created by spiders or some other source but whatever it was, I've never seen anything like this.

Ray was mowing and fighting off the webs that blew into his face as he rode along on his mower. And when I took Caitlin to practice, you could see webs falling like rain from the sky onto the ground. We even had them hitting the car as I drove home. Very fitting as we near Halloween.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Quotes

A couple of quotes, I've heard recently, that struck me as compelling.

"It's not until you have kids of your own that you understand what your parents feel for you." - (this isn't reflective of my own parents, but completely describes that lightbulb moment for me)

"You're wearing your wishbone where your backbone should be."

Home Sweet? Home

We had a pump station added to our septic system this week. The idea is that all of the water is pumped away from the tank into the lateral lines with no way for it to return thanks to a trapdoor that closes behind it. I sure hope this is the answer that we've been looking for all these years. We've had many days after it rains where the waste would back up into the tubs and toilets couldn't be flushed because there was nowhere for it to go. This would be very unpleasant and even embarrassing when we had company visiting our house.

This issue was the one thing that made me fantasize about moving to a different home. Could all this mess be a thing of the past? Only time will tell.