Two Down Two to Go

I have two bedrooms put back together and Bob should finish the last bedroom tonight. So tomorrow evening when I get home, I'll have something to do.

This is the little girl's room. I'm using my crocheted bedspread for the first time since I purchased it last fall at an antique store in Rochester. When I purchased it, I thought it would fit on a larger bed, but it's only a twin size bedspread. The little pink dress behind the bed is one that I wore when I was a baby.

The doll quilt on the table was handmade for me by my aunt. The two little bears were made by Natalie when she was in the eighth grade. She crocheted the sweaters too. When she wanted to buy the pattern, I told her it was way too hard for her to try and make. I wouldn't even attempt it. But I gave in under the pressure of "please". She made at least three or four all by herself. The little white chairs I rescued from the dumpster at the church in California. They were throwing all the old Sabbath School chairs away because they had just purchased new plastic chairs. We glued the chairs together and painted them and the grandchildren have spent hours playing house with this "kitchen table and chairs". Sometimes when I need more chairs than will fit around my dining room table, I bring this table and chairs downstairs to the kitchen and let the children eat at their own little table. The table is an end-table I bought at an auction and painted.

I'm using an old treadle sewing machine cabinet as a night stand. It still has the sewing machine in it. Several years ago, Bob bought Francie the lamp you see, but I liked it so much I wouldn't let him give it to her. He had to buy something else for her for Christmas.

This is a little doll bed the girls play with with their dolls and stuffed animals. When I lived in California, I purchased it at an auction and Bob painted it for me and I used it as a doggie bed for my little poodle, Pooxie. She looked so cute in her little bed. We had it in our bedroom next to our bed and she knew when it was time to go and get in her little bed. I sure miss my little friend.

This next room should only have one bed, but we had a twin and a double bed, and we use all the beds we have plus sleeping bags when all the kids come to visit. I guess I call this the boy's room because Matt and Ryan always stay in this room.

I hung some old fashioned children's underwear on an old peg clothes hanger on the wall . I was so excited when I found these old children's underwear, but I just had them folded in a box that I have hauled from house to house to house and across many states. I'm sure Bob is glad I finally figured out something to do with them.

These are the only kittens Bob will allow in the house. I used these last summer for a children's program, and now I get to store them until the next summer. I remember when we were building a house in California and Natalie was in the ninth grade and she was visiting Rachael and Derrick and their cat had kittens. All of the kittens had been given away except for two little boys. She called asking if she could have both of them. I told her to talk to Bob. I knew he wouldn't let her have them, but I didn't want to be the bad guy. So I handed the phone to Bob and watched and listened as they talked. I could only hear his side of the conversation, but I pretty much knew what she was saying. He said, "O.K." And I said, "What?" I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Not just one cat, but he was letting her have two! And we were living in a travel trailer while our house was being built. She named them Hunter and Wyatt and they were the sweetest cats. Wyatt would follow Bob around in the garden like a little puppy dog.

Well I could go on and on about my house and tell you stories about when my children were growing up, but I think I'll stop and get some sleep and hopefully have something more interesting to blog about tomorrow.

The Inconvenience of Progress

We had two meetings at our house this Sunday. The first one was at 8:00 a.m. and I had to fix breakfast for six elders from our church. The next meeting started at 7:00 p.m. and fortunately, I didn't have to fix any food. Between meetings, Bob fixed the pipe on the wood stove in the basement and finished painting the boy's room. I was pretty excited about the bedroom being finished, and I started putting everything back in it's place only to be redirected in my work, to unload the three bookcases in the last bedroom upstairs that still needs to be painted. Now the entire upstairs is in disarray including my recently perfect master bedroom and the hallway too! I tried to tell Bob that we didn't need to paint the baseboard behind the three bookcases, but he would hear nothing of that. So now everything in the "blue room" has been either relocated to another location or moved to the center of the room and stacked on top of the bed.

I didn't have enough room for all the books on the bed, so I put some of them under the bed. I would just stack them and slide them. I think it will be more difficult to take them out.

The part of the wall that is missing the baseboard use to be an opening into the master bedroom and we closed the wall between the two rooms so we would have two bedrooms, not one bedroom and a sitting room. This is what was behind the bookcases. Bob insisted that it had to be finished too.

Even the hallway is filled with books, tables, lamps, pictures, etc.

A Busy Sabbath and More!

Today was a three church Sabbath meaning Bob spoke at three churches (kinda). It started at 8:00 a.m. meeting at the Roosevelt Church for a prayer breakfast. The ladies did a great job on preparing and serving a healthy, quick, and easy breakfast.

There was cooked barley with raisins, dates, fresh sliced grapes, and sliced almonds on the side.

Homemade granola with coconut on the side.

Fruit bars, bananas, and orange juice.

Those that met for the prayer breakfast.

Bob preaching at the Roosevelt Church. His sermon was on the Seven Churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Church service starts at 9:30. After the sermon, we headed for the next church.

The Pulaski Church was built in 1903. It takes us about 35 minutes to drive from Roosevelt to Pulaski. We arrived at 11:00 a.m., just in time for the service to begin.

Bob's sermon was on the Seven Churches in Revelation 2 and 3. After we finished singing the closing hymn, one of the elderly ladies of the church spoke up, "Pastor, could we sing that song again before the prayer?" So, we sang the song again.

This is my friend Verna. She always makes the dessert for the potluck. She made pumpkin rolls, one of my favorites. She shared this recipe with me and I attempted to make it and was successful after several telephone calls to Verna and her step-by-step instructions. The children really enjoyed it for one of our Christmas dinner desserts.

The potluck was fabulous!! And they sent a care package of lasagna, scalloped potatoes, and cole slaw for us to enjoy during the week. (my lunch)

We met in the afternoon at a home for our third church meeting. There are only three members at this little church and they are elderly and so we usually just go to their house once a month to have church with them.

Although the fourth Sabbath is really busy, we always receive a blessing from meeting with these precious people.

When we arrived at home, it was after sundown, so I went upstairs to change my clothes and check on the family blogs. While I was reading Lori's new blog, my eyes started burning, and smoke was filling the room. I knew that Bob had gone to the basement to check on the wood stove, but I wasn't sure why there was so much smoke, but I just kept on reading the blog. Then the telephone rang, and it was Bob. "Can you come down to the basement and help me?" I immediately ran down the stairs and the first floor was really smoky, and then headed for the basement. I could hardly see to go down the basement stairs. As I headed down the stairs, Bob called out to open the basement window by the stairs, which I did.

This picture is not blurry. It' the smoke in the basement. Evidently, the pipe that goes from the wood stove to the chimney, fell off. Bob needed my help holding the pipe back on while he went to find some wire to tie it up (a temporary fix). The pipe was warm and it kept getting warmer to the point that I couldn't hold it with my hands, so I held it with the sleeves on my sweat shirt.

Soon Bob came with wire and wired it up so I didn't have to keep holding it.

Then he took some silver tape (I have no idea what kind of tape it is) and taped the pipe in place (once again a temporary fix). We opened all the basement windows and went upstairs and opened all the doors and windows on the first floor and then went upstairs and opened all those windows too! Bob had to get ready to go to a meeting at the church. He was going to try and leave a little early and go to Lowe's and pick-up a new pipe and fittings so he can replace it when he gets home. I'm sitting in my office blogging with extra clothing on, because having windows open in the winter in New York isn't something most people do on a regular basis.

I sure am glad we were home when the pipe fell off. I hate to think of what we would have come home to.

Finished

The master bedroom is finally finished. Here are a few pictures.

When we bought our old house, there were no closets in any of the rooms. I'm so thankful that Bob was able to make two closets in our bedroom. He had to re-make the doors that he purchased at a second-hand shop so they would fit which took a lot of patience and work from both of us. The trim around the doors, the doors and doors knobs all match the rest of the doors in the house. And I don't have blue woodwork. All the woodwork is painted white. The Christmas cactus you see between the closets was in the house when we bought it. However, it was included in an auction before our loan closed, but we attended it and purchased a few items including the Christmas cactus.

Notice our sad looking lemon tree on the left. It looks like it is dying, but it did the same thing last year at this time. In a few weeks it will have new leaves and start blossoming.

I think I better take another look at those pictures above the bed. They looked off-centered.

This sideboard isn't really bedroom furniture, but I don't have any other place to put it, and I just love it. Bob bought it at an auction for me when we lived in California. I keep my table cloths and runners and lace doilies in it. The two ceramic dolls on the top left I purchased in Germany last year.

Bob has finished the little girl's room and is now working on the boy's room. He's hoping to finish this weekend. Then there will only be one more bedroom to paint upstairs, and then the inside of the original old house will be completed!!

Bob is making a narrow closet in the boy's room to hold puzzles and games. This is where there was a door to go from one room to another room. Bob put drywall on the wall in the larger bedroom and left the door on the side in the boy's room. It is a very narrow closet, but will serve a much needed storage dilemma.
The double bed was moved to the center of the boy's room and other furniture stacked on top. I'm hoping to get the girl's and boy's room put together soon as soon as Bob finishes the painting.

Friends Help

For over a year now, I have been having a ladies Bible study and craft night once a month (except during the summer). We have such a good time together. At our November meeting, I asked them if they would like to do something special for our community rather than making the craft after our study, and it was a unanimous, yes! So I made a few calls and found a need in the community that wasn't being met. I presented the need to the ladies, and they were excited to help with the project.

What we are doing is making "Exit Baskets" for women when they leave the battered women's shelter. We take a laundry basket and fill it with laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap, dish cloth, dish towels, toilet paper, paper towels, socks, mittens, blanket, chap stick, deodorant, tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, and a Bible promise book and book mark. We weave ribbon around and through the basket and items to make it look really special, trying to color coordinate the items in each basket.

Several of my friends at work have jumped on the band-wagon, even though they don't attend the Bible study, and are making items to go in the baskets. My friend Cil, knits dish cloths and then I purchase color coordinating dish cloths. Cil's mother, who just turned 87 last weekend, heard about the project and crocheted a rainbow afghan blanket. My other friend, Barb, cross-stitched book marks to go in the Bible promise books.

I've heard from several of the ladies who come to the Bible study class that they have been making blankets and collecting other items to be placed in the baskets. Our meeting is this Thursday and I'm so excited to be able to meet with friends and study the Bible and work together to help others in our community.

This is the "Rainbow" afghan Pearl crocheted.

These are two of the five cross-stitched bookmarks Barb made.

Some of the men at the church suggested that we put a stuffed teddy bear in the basket also. What do you think? Should we add the teddy bear? Is there something else we should be placing in the baskets? It really is nice to be able to help others in need.

We Both Had The Day Off

Bob and I both had today off! I've been relaxing, crocheting, running errands, and supervising Bob. Bob's finishing our bedroom, and has started on the bedroom I have decorated for my little granddaughters, better known as the little girls' room. We moved the furniture into the middle of the room, and put what we could on top of the bed. Pictures, toys, and stuff that wasn't too heavy, I moved into the bedroom for the grandsons, better known as the little boys' room.

One wall in the little girls room is three bricks thick and when all the plaster was removed, I liked it so much that I had the drywall guys leave the bricks exposed. It needs a little patch work, so Bob worked on that today. Bob also patched and filled holes and boo-boo's and has all the woodwork and walls ready to be primed. I'm having him paint the walls a shade of pink called "French Manicure".

The brick wall in the little girls' room that Bob is repairing. I'm going to leave this wall exposed as is.

We moved all the furniture to the middle of the room and stacked as much as possible on top of the bed.

Toys, doll beds, pictures, curtains, and blankets were moved into the little boys room.

Just two more rooms and the inside of the house will be completed!

Lemon Pie

This evening Bob made a lemon meringue pie using lemons from our lemon tree.

Our lemon tree.

Bob making the crust for the lemon pie.

The finished pie minus one piece that Bob ate.

Closet Doors Finished

The closet doors are finished!!! They are all painted too! And, not only the closet doors are painted, almost all of the woodwork in the bedroom has been painted except for the baseboard behind the bed which Bob is working on right now. If you want to take a look at the before pictures of the closets, you can check out my "Closet Door Update" blog. (I don't know how to link you to that. Rachael or Lori, would you please go in and fix this for me?)

Bob's closet door - before.

Bob's closet door - after.

My closet door - finished! Remember how I mentioned that the door was too short and too narrow and we had to run it through the table saw to make a clean edge and then Bob added wood to the sides and bottom? He did such a good job, you can't even see where the wood was added. He found the door knobs in the barn. You wouldn't believe all the stuff that was left in the barn when we bought the place. If we need something for repairs, there's a good chance it will be in the barn. We just have to hunt for it.

This is all that's left to be painted and then our bedroom will be completely finished. It will take Bob about three days to finish because he has to do taping and sanding several times before the baseboard will be ready to paint.

Today I hung these beautiful floral needlepoint pictures that Lisa gave me for Christmas. I really love floral needlepoint and I'm always looking for it when I shop at antique stores. But, they are kinda hard to find. When Lisa saw these, several months ago, she purchased them and put them away for me for Christmas. She said it was hard not to give them to me right away.

I'm anxious to have my bedroom finished and everything back in its place.

Bright and Early

When you hear the expression, "Bright and Early", what comes to your mind? I always think of the sun shining and roosters crowing.

Much to my dismay, this morning I had to get up bright and early!! That would be 5:30 a.m. The sun wasn't shining and there were no roosters crowing. Even the dogs were still sleeping until I turned on the porch light. It had snowed during the night and we had about 12-18 inches on the ground and it was still snowing. Bob had invited the elders over for breakfast and a meeting starting at 8:00 a.m. What was he thinking? Obviously he wasn't.

All bundled up, Bob went outside to replace the sheared-off pins on the snow blower and then start working on blowing the driveway and sidewalks so the elders could get in the driveway and up to the door. While Bob was working outside, I started getting breakfast ready for our guests. At 7:30 a.m., Bob was still outside working on the driveway and the snow was still falling. Bob was concerned because the snow plow hadn't been by yet. The guests slowly began to arrive and we held off eating breakfast until all had arrived. Then we received a call from one of the members that lives about a mile down the road from us. He said he couldn't get out of his driveway. The snow was up to his chest, about 4 to 5 feet of snow! One of our guests told us he saw the snow plow in the ditch down the road from our house. (might be why our road hasn't been plowed)

All in all, we had four guests come for breakfast and they did accomplish some agenda items during the meeting. Now Bob is off to another meeting at the Roosevelt Church. I bet he takes my car since his truck doesn't have four-wheel drive.

I'm planning to stay home and work on organizing and I think I'll start another craft project, too.

It's Framed!

Last year, my friend and co-worker Barb, made a beautiful bluebird cross stitch for me. She spent hours working on it at home and everyday at work she would spend her lunch hour cross stitching this picture for me. She usually enters her work at the fair and has been awarded many ribbons. I think this one would win first place.

When she gave it to me, I was so excited. But, I didn't know what I wanted as far as framing it, so I placed it in a drawer until I would have time to make the decision about framing.

Not long ago, I remembered that one of our church members, who's profession is a painter, does framing as a hobby. I took the cross stitch picture to him and asked him to frame it for me. I didn't give him any direction as to what I wanted, I just told him to make it look good and told him I was planning on hanging it in my blue bedroom. This man is amazing. He picked the colors of the matting and he also made the frame. He doesn't just put the frame together, he makes the frame. When I called him to thank him, his wife answered the phone and I began telling her how happy I was with the framing. She called for him, so I could tell him myself how much I liked it. When I asked him how much I owed him, he said whatever I wanted to pay him was fine. He never sets a price, he just leaves the price with the owner of the framing project.

I need my readers help. How much should I pay him?

Once again, I think I'm spoiled!

We Played Musical Office Furniture This Week!

It has been an exciting and fun week at work. For the past two years we have been remodeling the office, which included painting, new carpet, and new furniture. There were major issues with the installation of the carpet. The new carpet in the lobby and hallways had to be taken up and replaced a second time. But it's finally in and looks great. New furniture was ordered for the conference room, lobby, and executive offices and was delivered this week. To get ready for our new furniture, a large dumpster was ordered so we could throw all the old chairs, desks, file cabinets, couches, mirrors, etc. We all went to work in jeans and took most of one day to haul all the old stuff to the dumpster. Before we started throwing we all had a chance to replace what we had in our office with the discarded furniture that was headed for the dumpster. I had an old metal desk that had received a new wood top make-over several years ago, and I was actually quite happy with it. My boss was encouraging me to take his old desk and credenza that was headed to the dumpster graveyard. I didn't know what to do. I asked my friend, Barb, and she told me not to do it. I asked my other friend, Cil, and she thought I should probably do it. Still not knowing what to do, and the desk headed down the hall to the exit door on two piano dollies, I finally called out, "O.K., I'll take the desk." So now I had to empty out my desk so they could take my desk to the dumpster and then bring my "new to me" desk in. I had lots of helpers and the job was soon completed.

When I was emptying one of my desk drawers, I found this picture. It's a picture of one of the snakes that Bob had found in our basement last year and I had taken the picture to work to show everyone. I think the whole snake family lived in our basement that winter. Bob would find a snake, catch it, and take it out to the barn. And, then a few days later, he would find another one. So, he would catch it and take it out to the barn. Then he was wondering if the same snake was finding its way back into the basement, so he would take a black permanent marker and make a little X on the back of the head so he would know. Nope, the snakes weren't coming back in. All in all he took out six or seven snakes that were 28-32 inches long, three or four snakes that were 18-24 inches long, and at least 12 baby snakes that were 8-12 inches long. I never found any snakes in the basement when I went to do the laundry. But, then I wasn't looking for them either. They seemed to like coiling up near the furnace and I stayed out of that room. I'm happy to say that we are snake Free!!! this winter.

This is my office with my "new to me" furniture. Although I have a new computer and printer, I won't let them throw my old electric typewriter away. Sometimes it really comes in handy. So I'm hanging on to that. I told the office manager that I need a new chair now. And, to my surprise, he agreed!

Now to the musical office furniture episode:

President's couch was thrown in the dumpster.

Vice-President went out and brought the cushions back in. He thought they would be good for his kids to use when they were watching television.

Vice-President's wife stops by and the cushions are carried back out to the dumpster.

The new furniture is delivered the following day, and the two drivers take the couch and cushions out of the dumpster and put it in their truck along with a couple of chairs.

I took the wooden shelf off my windowsill and threw it in the dumpster.

The associate superintendent for schools pulled it out of the dumpster and put it on her windowsill.

The youth director pulled the folding chairs out of the dumpster.

A part-time worker noticed my new desk and asked what happened to mine.

Today, she and her husband were pulling my desk out of the dumpster along with a file cabinet and two chairs.

This afternoon, the dumpster was picked-up. I wonder if the drivers found any treasurers?

Keeping Busy

I always have more on my agenda to do on my days off than I could possibly ever get done, even if there were two of me, and this weekend was no exception.

I've started cleaning drawers and cabinets. Just one a day. So far I'm doing pretty well. It doesn't take very much time, and I'm soon off to other things.

I have my seasonal paper napkins located in one place now and all my paper plates, bowls, and cups are located in the large drawer below the napkins. I wish I'd been this organized when the kids were here for Christmas.

Bob continues his working on the closets in the master bedroom and has removed the drapes, which now occupy the bed, and is preparing the woodwork, filling nail holes, sanding, etc. so he can begin painting. Other items and objects have been temporarily relocated to other rooms. For the time being, Bob and I will occupy one of the guest rooms.

Bob removes the drapes from the windows.


The drapes now lay resting for a few days.


Some of the top molding has to be replaced on the baseboard.

Bob decided that he should clean-out the chimney flue today and that involved me. That was not on my agenda for the weekend, but I went to the dungeon, I mean basement, to give him a hand.


It was full of creosote.

A whole bucket full of creosote. It's a good thing we cleaned it out. Now we're ready to start the wood stove back up. We're going to need it this week. It's suppose to start snowing tonight and continue all week. The temperatures will be dropping to the teens.

I had a really fun time making this little doll this weekend. I drew the face on the fabric and then embroidered it. I'll let you know later this week who I made this little doll for. I don't want to spoil any of the fun for the recipient.

I'm still trying to find the top of my desk at work after two weeks of vacation. Hopefully this week will go better than last week and I won't be too tired, when I get home, to blog.