Having Fun

It's been a fun time with the grandkids (and granddog!).

Around The House Part 2

One of the areas of decorations we've done for several years is Rudolph in his corner of the kitchen. The grandkids have always posed for a picture with him to see how they've grown during the year so I wanted to be sure to find a place for him in this house. I think he looks right at home here. The old ironing board that we use as a table didn't quite work until I covered it in the dark red checked material. I like the way it turned out.

It's fun to have the table set like we're getting ready to sit down to dinner. I like the way it looks when I walk by.

~Nancy~

Around The House

This is the table in the entry way at the frontdoor.

The Santa Claus collection that had been on the top of the piano in previous years looks nice on the sofa table that is being displaced by the Christmas tree. It looks inviting looking at it down the hall.

The Christmas tree greets anyone who ventures through the front door and keeps us company when we're in the family room. It took longer than usual getting it decorated. We ended up replacing all the strings of lights this year.

~Nancy~

Christmas 2010

Our first Christmas in our new house is shaping up decorating wise. Things are beginning to come together even though it seems like its taking a long time. I'll post pics as I get things set up. Meanwhile, here is the outside of our house. This picture was taken just after sundown and since we face west the windows are reflecting the western sky. But, I wanted you to be able to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and the red bows on the lights either side of the front door.
~Nancy~

Having Fun!

Now that she is mobile, she's really having a good time!

Two weeks....

can be a very looong time! That's how long I was down in my back.

"Down in my back." Now there's a phrase for you. It tends to conjure up an image of Grandpa McCoy limping around on the old tv show The Real McCoys. (Grandpa Who? What?) But, I was a little more than down in my back, I was flat on my back and incapacitated. I couldn't even roll over without my whole back going into very painful muscle spasms. Tom was such a great help! He took wonderful care of me.

It took two weeks before my chiropractor could finally get the offending joint to correct. And all the while I was alternating between ice pack and heating pad and taking ibuprophen for good measure. I am now doing well and back to normal living. Phew!

I will now be seriously doing my stretching exercises and walking.
~Nancy~

Mirror, Mirror on the Floor...

You may need to turn up your volume a bit.

Thunder Cloud

A couple of weeks ago we spied this thunder storm cloud to our east at sundown. The way the sun was shining on it made for a beautiful scene. I know the people that were under the cloud at the time probably didn't care how beautiful it was from our perspective! It turned out to have numerous lightning strikes and wind and rotation and was really a bad storm. After the sun went down, it gave us quite a light show with all the lightning flashes. Watching the flashes of light within the cloud reminded me of when we lived in Lubbock and would watch the storm clouds.

This 'n' That

Our granddaughter and I go to Kindermusik on Wednesdays. Since this past Wednesday was during the week before Halloween, the kids were to dress up in their Halloween costumes. It's kinda hard to tell, but she is a lady bug. She wouldn't keep her hood on so you can't see the antenna that made her look more like a bug. It kept her from being able to look around.


After Kindermusik, she stays the rest of the afternoon with us and is usually ready for a bottle and a nap pretty soon after we get back to our house. This past Wednesday was a little different. I gave her a bottle then put her in the bed and listened to her "talk" for a little bit over the monitor. When all was quiet for several minutes, I decided to peek in so I could give her mother an accurate nap time. Below is what I found! She wasn't sleeping at all! Not only had she scooted under the bumper (somehow loosening the tie) but she was playing on the slats with her feet. Too cute! She never did take a nap at our house that day.

I hadn't done any seasonal decorating since moving into this house. The summer was taken up with unpacking and finding a new home for everything. I just didn't have anymore creativity within me to worry about any decorating for the summer season. But, things are coming along so I got out some fall stuff. Below is sitting on the sideboard in the kitchen.

Being able to decorate the dining room table was a big milestone since that was the room where we parked boxes until they were unpacked and leaned pictures that needed hanging. Since this is one of the first things you see when you come in through the front door I was glad to get it set.

After hearing about my cousin planting lots of pansies in her yard, I decided to plant a few where we could see them from the kitchen windows and enjoy them even during cold weather (should we have any). Since we once again seem to have lots of rabbits in our yard, we knew we couldn't have them at ground level so opted for planters. At least we no longer have the pool for the baby rabbits to drown!

Hope everyone is enjoying the change in the weather!

Nancy

The State Fair of Texas

Did you know our state fair is the largest in the United States? I didn't know that until we went to the fair last week. We've lived in the Dallas area most of our married life and last week was only the second time we had been to the fair. Our first time was about 5 years ago when a friend from church won a blue ribbon with a photo he'd taken and we wanted to see it on display.

We rode the Dart train to the fair! It was so easy, too! Definitely the way to go. We didn't have the hassle of driving in the traffic on Central Expressway, finding a place to park, then walking a long way to the entrance gate.

We boarded at the Bush Turnpike Station which is about 7 miles from our house. It took us downtown where we changed to the Green Line at the Pearl St. Station.

After a total 50 minute ride, we were there! The Fair Park Station is RIGHT AT one of the entrance gates so we got off the train and walked right in. We had bought our tickets beforehand at Kroger so didn't have to stand in the very long line at the entrance gate. Not only were they discounted buying them at Kroger, but we were able to buy the fair ticket and Dart ticket as a combination. One stop shopping. Can't beat it.

Big Tex giving us his Texas Sized welcome!

We just admired the ferris wheel, didn't ride it. In fact, we bypassed all the rides and stuck with the shows and exhibits.

If you will look closely at the sheep below, you will see 4 horns! They are a definite breed of sheep featured in the children's petting barn. (We went inside even though we had no children with us.) We stopped for a BMX bicycle demonstration...
Saw a milking demonstration...
Admired all the blue ribbons...

Other things we did but didn't get a picture of was a great demonstration by horseman Robert M. Liner, inspection of most of the cars in the 2011 model car show, a couple dog trick shows, a bird show, and a diving show whose skit was written around a couple of pirate captains in the Caribbean. The diving show was good, but the opening music they used was from the first Indiana Jones film! We were both expecting the music from The Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

And, the Pig Races! The man in the blazer running with the pigs is from the Fox Sports Southwest broadcast team and was filming the segment to be shown the next day during the Baylor vs. Texas Tech game. (We tuned in to the game on Saturday and sure enough, there was the pig race!)

We had a fun day!

~Nancy~

Lovin' This Weather!

The weather has been great lately with the lower temps and drier air. For the past couple of nights we've even slept with our bedroom windows open and it felt so nice! For some reason, we didn't do that at the other house. Not sure why.

We've kept our season tickets to the high school football games, even though we no longer know any of the kids on the field. It's a fun thing to do on a Friday night and we enjoy it. The people who have the seats on our left and right go to our church, so that's fun. There are two football fields for our school district and last night's game was at the field that is just across the greenbelt next to our neighborhood. We WALKED to the game! It was such a nice night and we knew it would be easier than if we tried to drive there and get into all the traffic, especially the traffic leaving after the game.

I know it's probably going to warm up some and also be humid again, but we're enjoying it while it lasts.
~Nancy~

Bouncer Extraordinaire

Bouncing Baby... (you might need to turn up your volume some)

Tom

Legos At A Higher Level

One of the fun things I participated in this summer was the 2nd Annual Cousin Camp. It is a summertime get-together of my sister's grandkids for them to be together and have fun and maybe learn a little something along the way. I was invited to tag along and take pictures.

We did so much in the four days the kids were together! One of the neat things we did was go to the Sue and Frank Mayborn Cultural History Museum Complex on the Baylor University campus in Waco. The entire museum is great and well worth a visit. It is also very "hands on" for kids.



We were lucky enough to visit the museum while there was a "traveling" Lego exhibit in residence! If you or your kids enjoy working with Legos... well, I'll just say you really, really, REALLY would have been WOWed!

Besides the intricate displays like the knight and dragon below, there were several areas set up for the kids of all levels to build their own masterpieces.

Lifesized knight built entirely of Legos. I was surprised it wasn't behind plexiglass or had a fence around it or something!


The dragon above is made of Legos as is the critter in the treasure chest.

We could have stayed in this one section for hours!

It was a fun start to exploring a fun museum!

Nancy

YUM!

Kroger had Honey Crisp apples today! They are the first ones I've seen in the stores this new crop season. If you've never had one, try one this year.

Nancy

Playing with Jed and Meeting Peter

We were able to spend some time with Tom's niece and her family. We enjoyed meeting Peter and playing with Jed in the backyard.

Table Talk

We invited Mark, Hattie and Charlotte over for a venison "back to school dinner". Charlotte really got into the dinner conversation!

Talking and Rolling

Charlotte has begun to say lots of things, we just don't know what they are yet! Oh, and she's become expert at doing the rollover thing, too - at least, in one direction (back to tummy)... She loves turning over, but doesn't LIKE being on her tummy. Guess she'll have to work on tummy to back now!

Nancy

Family Room

In this house, there isn't a built in cabinet for the TV. It was explained to us by the builder that choices of tv size and additional equipment are so plentiful now, a built in cabinet was an "option". Since the house was already built and finished before we found it, the builder "opted" not to build a cabinet and just left the area finished out like the rest of the walls in the room.

Below is a picture of the living room taken by the builder and included on the flyer for the house. It shows the recessed area for any TV equipment.

Armed with measurements and Tom's trusty tape measure, we shopped every furniture store we could think of and found a piece of furniture that would fit in the space and hold all our stuff. When the TV cabinet came, Tom worked ALL AFTERNOON getting everything put back together. Soooo many wires! But he did get all situated and checked out and working by supper time.

Here is a picture of all the wires pulled through the back. Most of the wires had to be lengthened and Tom also took a little extra time to tag all the wires as to what piece of equipment they belong to. Hopefully, that will make any rewiring/redirecting in the future a whole lot easier!

At last! Everything in its place! I'll probably add some greenery on either side of the top speaker to make it not so obvious. ~Nancy

Awesomeness!

The fourth package in our current box of saltines turned out to be an ENTIRE SLEEVE of brown edged crackers! Nothing better than a cold Coca-cola and brown edged crackers.
Nancy

It Takes Three

Several years ago we gave Tom's mom a digital photo frame. You know the kind... you load it up with digital photos and when you turn it on, you can watch a slide show of your favorite pictures. Tom's mom has enjoyed watching the picture frame. Initially, the slide show consisted of all the family slides taken in the 1960's and 70's. Then, we scanned in an assortment of black and white prints and loaded them on the memory card. As we all enjoyed watching the frame scroll through the family history we began adding digital pictures from present day so Tom's mom could enjoy the lives of her grandkids and great-grandkids. Over 2000 pictures later...

Tom's mom had mentioned a while back that it took a really long time for the pictures to make it all the way around and she felt like she was missing too many pictures. So, when we were visiting the last time, I divided the pictures between three different memory cards. Card #1 includes all the black and white pictures, card #2 are all the family slides, and card #3 are pictures taken since 2001. Now, rotating through the cards gives her the chance to enjoy each and every picture.

Nancy

Slowly But Surely...

Sometimes it seems like we moved a VERY loooooong time ago. But it's really only been 3 months today. Or, maybe yesterday. And, it seems like we should be better settled than we are. We've done so much, but since we're still waiting on window treatments and putting pictures on the walls I'm not taking pics of the house yet. However, the one area of the house that IS pretty much complete (besides Tom's garage) is the kitchen. (The wall color is an ecru/cream color but doesn't photo well)

Below is the picture that was taken by the builder and included on the flyer for the property. Notice the ovens weren't in yet.

I tried to take my picture from pretty much the same spot.

A better view of the oven and cabinet to the right

Area above the fridge and stove top

As we get things like we want them, I'll take pictures and post them.

Nancy

Nuttin' to it...

First the left side...
Here's the culprit on the left...

Then the right side...

Here's the culprit on the right...

Pop out the woofers from the door on each side, replace with new ones obtained online (no sales tax), put door panel back up, screw in three screws, and pop back in 5 door components/panels and good sounds once again emanate!

After almost exactly 10 years, both woofers in the front doors of my Silverado started failing - sputtering and fuzzing out badly. After considering various aftermarket options - all at greatly increased price points, I decided to just go for new OEM exact replacment speakers (out of South Dakota of all places) since the originals sounded great anyway.

It is so easy to be spoiled these days with information so readily available online. I quickly found exact instructions on how to pull the door panel off to get to the speakers, and then went online again to find replacements, having them delivered directly to my front door a little while ago. Some 20 minutes later, both failing speakers have been replaced and I can play my music loud once more!

Tom

Success!

Well, day 77 into this moving adventure, 2 (somewhat large) vehicles and one pop-up camper are shoe-horned into their proper places in the garage along with everything else. Yea! --Tom

Garage is almost settled!

Well, I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as the garage being settled... With an additional 12 foot wire shelf installed on the front wall just above the pegboard, more "stuff" was able to be put in a place other than on the floor where it was in the way. Mostly, this amounted to scrap lumber pieces and folding lawn chairs. I may add one more 4 foot section of shelf between this long one and the brown cabinet on the same wall to get just a little more storage space. I also hung some large hangers on that wall to store furniture moving dollies, an extension ladder, and some saw horses. Once I find a home for our old refrigerator (anyone need a still-runs-great late 1970's vintage Harvest Gold 17cft frig?), we will finally be able to get both cars in the garage!


Here's another view, showing the camper already tucked away on the far side (behind the single garage door opening), along with two workbenches with drawers and cabinets and also cabinets on the wall. All these we brought with us from the other house.

We are still waiting on two "biggies" to happen inside the house to finally get it settled.

The remainder of our media center (the "hutch" portion) as well as 4 cabinets/bookcases for the office are scheduled to be delivered Wednesday. Once that all comes, we will be able to knock out most of the remaining boxes that are sitting around holding office supplies and books/binders.

The other biggie is our window shutters. We still haven't heard from the shutter company, but expect to hear any day now that our order is complete and ready for delivery/installation. Once that is done, Nancy will be able to start hanging pictures on the wall.

It seems a long time coming (we moved in 4/30, some 76 days ago!) but we are nearing the end getting things squared away. What an effort it has been!

Tom

Pickin' 'n Grinin'

Around July 4th each year, our son, daughter-in-law and grandkids arrive from Memphis for a week of visiting. We try each year to drive over to Fort Worth one day during the week to visit with Nancy's dad and his wife. This year Noble and Nancy dusted off the guitar and fiddle and performed a stirring duet for us. It sounded very good! Must be just like riding a bike - once you've learned how, you don't ever forget. They played just a short number of tunes, as both were out of practice and their tender fingertips wouldn't hold up for much more than that. The repertoire was somewhat limited anyway (by which one, I'm not sure) as at one point I heard one of them say "what else do we know in the key of G"...

Tom

Changing it up

Several years ago, we built this storage box so we could put away and store pool toys. It turned out really well... the shelf inside the lift-up lids as well as the back was of galvanized wire mesh so everything could be put away wet and they would still dry.


Where we live now, there is a home owners association pool so we won't be needing so many water play toys. However, we WILL be needing a place to store balls and sidewalk chalk and other backyard toys so we kept the storage box. (a couple of years ago, Tom painted it green) Our patio isn't quite as deep as the other one, so I thought it would be better if the box were cut in half.


And, painted brown.

Perfect! Thanks, Tom!!