My Score!

This past weekend, Art wanted to go to the gun show and sale in the city on Sunday afternoon.  We, got a sitter (thanks, Auntie Frieda!) and headed in to the 'big event'.  I've never been to a gun show before, and I must admit, I had some preconceived ideas about what it would be like.  And let me tell you friends, every preconceived idea that I had was for a reason, and I was pretty dead on in what I thought it would be like.... I wasn't disappointed!

 

Let's just say that there are different strokes for different folks, and leave it at that.  There were 2 good things about the show, though.  One of them was that we saw an old customers of Art's there.  Art did the cabinetry in their old farm house a number of years ago.  The customer found out that I love old junky stuff, and every time Art trekked out there, he'd come out of their house to find "junk" (otherwise known as treasures, to me!) put in the box of his truck.  And his customer would say, "Take this home to Teresa.  I think she'll really like it!".  And Art would bring it home, and I would love it!  Anyhow, for a number of years now, he's been threatening to clean out his barn, and this time was no different.  He told us that come Spring, he gonna be a cleanin'.  And when he does, he'll give me a call to see if I want anything.  Most likely, I'll have two words.... "Yes, please!"

 

The other good thing about the gun show was that I got a couple of shirts there.  Now I know what you must be thinking...."Really?  Shirts?  At a gun show?  C'mon!"  But it's true!  There was a guy selling Army surplus good, so I picked up not one, not two, but THREE shirts from him.  I got one green shirt, and two white ones.  They're good, old fashioned long underwear shirts, and get this....they're MADE IN CANADA.  You don't find that every day!  The white ones were made in 1988.... but whatever.  They never go outta style, right?  The best part of the shirts?  They were only $5!  Score for me!

 

I think that this shirt is gonna keep me nice and warm, especially when the weather is so frigidly cold, like it has been over the last few day!

 

Wait!  There was one more good thing about the gun show....so I guess that makes 3 great things about it.  The last thing was that I got to hang with my hubby for the afternoon, and chuckle together about how people are different.   Some, so very, very different.  It was a good time had by us!

More Reno's

When we bought this house 12 years ago, I never dreamed of all the work that'd we'd put into it to make it how it looks today.  And that's just the main level!

 

Upstairs, off our master bedroom, we used to have a hot tub.  The hot tub was in the "hot tub room", which was actually originally a balcony that the previous owners closed in.  It had a skylight, which leaked (into the hot tub), and a roof, which leaked (into the hot tub room), and a hot tub, which leaked (into the garage).  So, we took out the skylight, redid the roof and added a dormer, took out the hot tub, and are finally getting around to fixing up the room.

 

The room had cedar clad walls and ugly tile, minus a big hole where the hot tub was.  We've used that room for Art's office, for a nursery for a bit, and most recently, as a room where junk collects.  So, after years and years, we put our money where our mouth was and started.  First, we ripped up all the tile, and then had to rip up the sub floor under the tile to make sure that we get the floor to our bedroom even.  Then, we took all the cedar off the walls.  Then, we took off all the plywood from the walls, and then, the insulation.  Of course, this happened to be during a week when it was -30, so our bedroom, I'm sure, was a good -10!  Good thing for my heated blanket... (I love that thing!)  Our electrician came and put in all that stuff, and then, we quickly closed it back up so that our noses wouldn't get frostbite while we sleep.  After that, we polyed the walls, put down a thinner sub floor and this weekend, we finally got to the drywall stage!

 

After gazing  on an ugly plywood wall right before I go to sleep, and first thing in the morning, I was quite excited to see this happen!

I know it doesn't look like much, but in my mind, the finished product is gonna rock this world!  I was helping Art until it was time to make dinner, and then, it seems, I lost my job.  Ellie Mae came in and took it.  When I went back upstairs, she was Art's special little helper, and she was quite certain that I was there to be her assistant.  Umm, I don't think so!  She was very intent on handing Art screws, and organizing the screws, and standing on the chair looking quite busy and important...

 

Good thing for her, though, because I got to go back downstairs and sit on my butt and eat bon bons.  The story of my life....

 

This weekend, I'm hoping that we'll (you see that I say "we", but really, I mean "Art!) get the drywall finished and then have our friend, who just happens to be a mudder come and make the drywall look good.  After that?  It's emptying our entire upstairs so that the carpet can be replaced.  Won't that be a fun job!  Anyone want to come for a visit and do stairs?

Joyful In Hope

Well, not too much going on over here other than the regular-ness of life.  The mid-winter blah has kinda set in in our home, and I find myself looking oh, so forward to spring....which is still 3 months away! 

 

I've been thinking on this verse over the past week...

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

Rom. 12:12

 

And I've realized that this pretty much covers most life situation.  I have a choice to be impatient and cranky while I'm looking towards circumstances or situations.  I can choose bitterness during times of affliction.  I can think only about myself, and not remember the One who's brought me through so much.  OR, I can choose a higher way, and better path....for myself and my family.  I can choose joy.  And let me tell you, friends, my choice makes all the difference in the world.  My attitude and mindset sets the stage for everyone around me. 

 

Not that I have an awful lot of affliction going on these days, but there will come a day, of this I know for certain, when I face trials.  And so, today, I will choose to try and be faithful, patient and joyful.  Because the choices I make today affect my life tomorrow.  And if I choose these good things today, hopefully, when the really tough stuff comes along, I will be so conditioned to be these things - joyful, patient and faithful, that it'll be a no brainer.  And it'll make my journey a little bit smoother.  At least, that's the plan... 

 

 

Little John

As I wrote about in my post about Christmas, Molly was gifted a ginormous sock monkey, to add to her collection....

 

 It's as tall as her, and she is quite taken with it! Since Christmas, she named the giant sock monkey "Little John".  The Girls have now realized that Little John can fit into Ellie Mae's clothes. So, we've been finding Little John all over the place....

 

He put on his Carhartt's to get ready to work...

 

He gets laid on the floor, and Molly lays on top of him....

 

The other day, we came down in the morning, and Molly was sitting on Little John's lap on the couch, and Little John had his arms around Molly.  He also "borrowed" Art's favorite new hoodie the other day, when he went to bed.... Art was looking everywhere for it, and when we checked on the Girls later, we found it there.  Molly said that Little John had been cold...

 

I found him cuddling in my bed the other day, with his pj's on...

 

 

 

He wears the Girls dress up clothes, regular clothes.... I think Little John got changed about 8 times yesterday, until I went upstairs and found all of the clothes thrown on the floor in the Girls room.  Of course, it wasn't their fault.... "Little John did it!", is what I was told.... too bad Little John can't clean it up!

 

Today, Little John was working diligently at his schoolwork while the Girls did theirs

 

 

 

It's been quite hilarious to see where and when Little John shows up in our home! 

 

 

 

Hannah's Birthday

Just after Christmas, we celebrated the birthday of our firstborn. Hard to believe she's twelve already! My, how the years are flying by! Since our company had just left, and we were all fairly exhausted, we just had a quiet, relaxing day at home. She'll have a party later on in the month to celebrate. We did make her this scrumptious cake though....

 

 

I think Art's counting down the days until his birthday, when he has requested that we make this cake for him.  Truth be told, I am too.  It was REALLY good!

New Boy Toys

Art got a few new boy toys for Christmas this year.  The first, was a new .22 mag.  He's pretty darn excited about this gun...and excited for the spring, when he can go gopher hunting!

 

 

After he cleaned the gun, he was all tuckered out.... So he had a nap.  On the couch.  With his gun. 

 

What's that saying? 

 

The only difference between and man and a boy is the price of his toy.... How true!

 

I figure this will be a familiar scene once our Girls start dating....

 

We also got, as a family gift, a crossbow, as well, the older Girls just got a simple bow and arrow set.  We picked up some straw bales from the barn the other day and made a little archery lane in our side yard.  It was quite fun to shoot (except I suck at it!!)

 

Good thing I'm a better shot with a gun!

 

 

The Girls sure love shooting - I'm sure there'll be lots more of this going on over the next few months!

The Pictures of Christmas

Well, I wrote about our Christmas, and now I finally put my pictures on my computer to share them.  So, here's a little look at our holiday season, in images!

 

It was quite cold outside, so the Girls didn't play outside lots....however, we shoved them out there and closed the door a few times, in order for them to get their beans out!

 

We finished up some baking.... I must admit, my little ladies are becoming quite the big helpers!

 

We did a puzzle, mainly my Dad and I.  The man needs something to keep himself occupied!  The "best" part of the puzzle?  Once we were 'finished', we realized that there was 1 piece missing!  How frustrating!  And in all of the cleaning we've done, it STILL hasn't shown up!  I'm wondering if that's why it was on sale?  Or maybe puzzle makers just do that to make us lose our sanity... 'cuz it almost worked!  What is it about missing one tiny little piece of cardboard that almost puts a person over the edge?!

 

 

The Girls got to open one present on Christmas Eve....always, always, always, pj's.  And they've actually figured it out now.  One of them asked, "When do we get to open our present which is pajama's?"  Why do I even bother wrapping them?  Next year, remind me....I'm gonna mess them up!

Stories were read, with Nana.  Stories and cuddling.  And the ridiculous puzzle...

 



 

Christmas Morning!  In all of our finest!

 

One of the gifts Art got from his sister was a head scratcher.  The funny thing?  He's actually been wanting one.  Who knew?

 

Molly REALLY wants to have a sock monkey collection.  A lot.  A number of years ago, we bought Molly a single sock monkey for Christmas.  All she wanted that year was a stuffed animal.  Ever since then, she's slept with that silly monkey every.  single.  night.  Last year, she got a mini sock monkey from Art's sister, and this year, we got her the HUGE sock monkey, as well, she got a "jr." one, and one that was made by my Mom.  I would have to say she's officially on her way to becoming a collector!

 

The sock monkey really is as big as her!  She was pretty excited!

 

Ellie Mae got these cool crayola tools to go along with an app on the iPad.  The lover of coloring thought this was pretty neat.  Frankly, so did I.  This was her for as long as we would let her sit and play on the iPad....

 

So although Christmas was exhausting....it was also wonderful! 

Randomness

Here are some random things going on around here....

1. I've been having trouble uploading pictures onto blogger....not sure what the problem is.  Bah, humbug!  I can't stand computer issues.  And I even put my pictures onto my computer from my camera and everything...
2. We had a quiet weekend - Hannah and Abby weren't feeling very well, so we laid low around the house.  It was wonderful!  Now, the week has started, and after looking at our weeks schedule, I want to crawl back into my bed and pull the covers over my head!  We started school yesterday, and 4-H, swimming lessons, birthday parties and Awana are all to come this week.  I suppose it's back to the routine of life, which is good, but always harder after a break....
3. Ellie Mae is very excited, because she FINALLY gets to start swimming lessons, like the other girls.  She comes into my room every morning...."Mommy, do I get to start swimming lessons today?"
4. Art bought me a Bose stereo for in the house for Christmas.  It runs wirelessly, by the bluetooth on my phone.  I really don't know how I lived without it.  It's amazing!
5. My fridge STILL isn't working properly.  I think the repair man's been here 7 times, I think.  He's definitely not made any money off of us, on this job!  I think it's been working on and off for about a month, now.  I have stopped counting the times we've had to empty our fridge and take everything to the fridge downstairs.  Thankfully, we have another fridge!!  He's ordering another part, and hopefully, this'll be the thing that fixes it finally...
6. The Girls take start Moses to 4-H this week, for the canine project.  I'm a bit nervous about it, since he weighed in a 96 lbs., and Hannah's only 64 lbs.  He doesn't get out much (ok, ever), and there will be many dogs there..... it should be interesting!
7. We set up some straw bales to practice shooting with our bows and arrows on the weekend.  It was super fun, but I sucked!  I lost 2 arrows already, in the snow.  I'm looking forward to the snow melting, so that I can find them.  The worst of it?  I only shot 2 arrows....