GIVING UP THE DRUMS

Ok, I am giving up the drums! I decided school is too much to handle and learn to play the drums so I am carting them back to the Morgan's the next chance I get. So now I have taken up logging. (Well not really) I have officially learned how to drive a lawn mower. This is a Pulman (which we borrowed from the Morgans) and I could really get into this. Problem is, it's not smooth terrain. After you have had a lumbar facet epidural injection, NOT a good thing to be driving! Found that out. The seat is weighted and the motor cuts off if you don't sit just right. Nick says I need to eat a little bit more, gain some weight so the motor runs just a little smoother. I'm too much of a light weight to mow grass with it. My thought is to throw a rock on the seat with me so the motor stays on! I got to mow the Morgan's lawn on Saturday, I was in hog heaven. I threw that baby into reverse like I was Mustang Sally!

We took a tree down in the back yard that had poison oak on it. Had to haul the stumps off to the side so we can plant grass seed instead of continuing to grow MUD in the back yard. I was taking a break from writing my 1400 Word Persuassive Essay and I had a great time driving it around the acre lot.

Daniel Boone would have been proud of me. All I needed was the hat. I think Robbie had one like that-complete with the racoon tail! Notice though - the Harley boots, no work boots on this girl - Harley Mamma allllll the way down to the boots!

A WEEKEND WITH THE GIRLS

Wow, my three girlfriends from Florida drove up to see me! It was great. On Saturday, they arrived at the Four Season's Hotel in downtown Atlanta where I met them about 4:30 p.m. I pulled my car into "Valet" parking and was greeted by several lovely people who kindly said "welcome to the Four Season's" all the way to the elevator! They even had to ring Mrs. Lu's room to be sure I could have a card to the room. Like I was someone that might not be allowed. Once I got past that checkpoint, I went on up to the 17th floor to find them all wore out from the long drive.

We chatted and decided dinner was next on the agenda. We walked a few blocks to check out a few restaurants and found that a bar like pub was suitable and cheaper and ate there. We enjoyed the food and had a few beers. Terri shocked us all by blowing her nose on the dinner napkin. We laughed at that one and told her we would never let her live that one down.

We walked back to the room and after deciding it was a bit too early to call it a night, found out where the nearest CVS was and took another walk (MUCH farther) to find it. Praying most of the way that we wouldn't get mugged. Kim had to get makeup cause her suitcase got left behind that had it in. We laughed cause she had only one outfit to wear. She didn't smell too bad by the time the weekend was over. Fortunately she did have clean underwear to change into.

Beth was keeping a close eye on the clocks for us as she is a very time oriented person. When Beth's ready to go, you best be ready. We love that aspect about her. She keeps us focused. Both her and I came to downtown Atlanta and managed to clean out our purses while staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. Now that is time management at it's best!

On Sunday morning after "bagels" (Wisconsin pronounced) and coffee we headed off to Blairsville. I gave them the grand tour of 260 Knox Leila and we relaxed a bit. Then off to Tuckers to show them the consignment shop where my sister and I sell our wears. We hit Zaxby's Chicken for lunch first and Terri was able to stock up on paper napkins for those nose blowing adventures.

After Tuckers, I drove them to meet Diane and Richard and to see Nick who was working at their house on some welding. We stayed briefly and drove on home. After signing the guest book and taking photo ops on the front porch, they left to go back to the hotel.

It was truly a blessing for me. My plate has been so full lately and having them come made me feel loved. I NEEDED to have their visit. As soon as Terri sends me the pictures via e-mail, I will post them. My camera wasn't working.

Old photo

I have this one on my desktop of my laptop so when I sit to do my college work, I look at the lovely lips of "lips". That's Emily's nick-name. I love this picture. It was taken last summer at the rental.

THIS IS THE YEAR

Well, a friend of mine said I needed to update the blog cause I hadn't in days. Could be cause I have been inandated with school work. Now that I have gone back to finish my degree, I am hitting the books. BUT considering that my degree is in Information Technology, I decided to surf the web and found this.

This year my twin and I will turn 50 in November. I felt this picture was appropriate. Go ahead and laugh. My boss already calls me Granny and nothing else. So I might as well go with the flow. He's only 38 and I tell him his day is coming, and He is bald. So I can give it right back to him when he dishes it out. Here's this weeks update.

Brennie & Barbie

FAMILIAR FACES COME TO VISIT

We were so excited to have another set of friends come to visit this weekend from Florida. Don and Diane, our long time friends came in Friday evening and stayed with us. We headed off to dinner at the Yacht Club and then introduced them to our friend Diane and Richard where we had dessert and coffee. We got up and had Belgian waffles with blueberries and headed off to Alexander's (mall of Blairsville) and then attempted to go to the shooting range (to see who was the best sharp shooter this side of the GA/FL border) but everything was shut down due to TURKEY season. We tried to take them to Brasstown Bald but the roads were closed there as well so we wound up going to Helton Creek Falls to show them that.

Low and behold, they headed out about 4 p.m. and not a half hour later the door bell rang. I was sitting at the computer and thinking, OK , it's either the homeowners association or the Davis' forgot something.

Nick was in the basement playing his music tooooo loud to hear the bell so I darted down the stairs and could see through the cut class window - wood. Sitting on the front porch were two unfinished rockers! AND upon opening the door, there were the DAVIS' peering around the corner with grins on their faces. Earlier we were talking about needing two rockers for the back porch seeing we have the 2 on the front porch, they had them at the Shell station up the road and they went back and got them, giving them to us as a house warming gift. Talk about bringing us to tears. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL. Now when they come back - to visit in the summer like they promised, we can sit in our chairs and watch the horses out back. They had been laboring about what to get us for a housewarming gift and Don strapped them to the roof of his Toyota truck and hauled them back to the house. The Lord has truely blessed us with friends that just leave us speechless - and that they did! AND GUESS WHAT - we have another project - I think we're gonna paint these white!


We enjoyed every minute of it - and we had them sign our guest book so we could keep the tradition.

This one was a snow globe with a history to it!

This Pinnochio has a very special story. When Emily (our oldest granddaughter) (now 7) was 1 1/2 years old, she was living with us and we had this snow globe of Pinnochio in our bedroom on my cedar chest. She came walking out of the bedroom proudly displaying the globe in her hands which probably weighed half as much as she did but when she got to the door between the family room and the foyer, the globe immediately left her tiny little hands. She was barefooted and I was struck with WHAT DO I DO NOW! Seeing this, I knew she would try to run and knowing she would dash across the floor full of broken glass and water (of course to no doubt slip and fall), I about panicked. You get those moments when you stop breathing and adrennaline kicks in, that's what happened. Fortunately, I was able to wisk her up before the tiny feet made a move.

At first I was heartbroken that the globe was broken (because it was a gift and held sentimental value concerning Robbie) but then I thought, it's just a "thing". I was so glad our little girl's feet were ok. I saved the globe, it has no water, it even has a piece of broken globe still attached, but the memory of Emily, living with us is precious and seeing how proud she was to be toting that globe to her gramma like it was a prize, was beyond words. Someday, I will give her that snowglobe.

It's a MIRIKOWEE

Wow, another project completed. Nick had to stay home today because we had a leak. Discovered yesterday when he went down to do computer work before we left for church, he heard dripping in the bathtub in the basement. ONLY to find out there was a leak under the kitchen sink that ran to the basement - that was leaking into the light fixture in the tub so we had to call the builder on a Sunday morning at 10 a.m. to come and tell us what to do.

While Nick was off, he managed to finish putting up the shelves for our Pinnochio collection in the game room over the garage. As soon as I got home tonight, I didn't even change out of my work clothes, I was into the eaves (storage area) found the box of our Pinnochio's tucked away and pulled them all out.

As I began to unwrap them, tears came to my eyes. I could not believe how many we have collected over the years. All the different sizes and kinds. Nick counted them we have 96!!

Above are a few pics of them, before they went up and then on the great new shelves Nick did such a good job on building in his handy work room down stairs - that didn't manage to float away due to the leak.

By the way, thanks to finding the leak, we also found out that the blower had come unhooked to the a/c heating unit in the basement and that's why I could not work down there lest I froze to death every time EVEN though the heat was set at 75 degrees. So the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Oh, and the story behind Pinnochio - when Robbie was still alive, he LOVED watching Pinnochio the movie, he could not say the name. He pronounced it Mirikowee. After he died, Pinnochio's became very special to us because of that. We began collecting them in his memory and when we go antiquing, we look for them in all sizes and shapes. The very first one in this group of pictures is the first one I got from my twin sister Barbie, and thus the collection has grown to 96!

The scaffolding project's end result

Here's what we were working on when we were up on the scafolding. We finally got the shelf brackets back up and then I announced to Nick that the wall color was TOO LIGHT - NOT A GOOD THING!

My girls!

I saw my girls updated their blogs, wanted to post some of them. Love seeing pics of those grandkids. Only a few more months and those 2 new ones will be here! Can't wait. Already looking at those boy clothes!

TWO SNOW DAYS IN A ROW

You're kidding! Yes I got up Friday the next day, drove into work and wondered why the bus cones weren't set up, my boss' truck wasn't in his usual spot and I was the only one there. NO SCHOOL AGAIN. I started to go back home but decided I could really use the peace and quiet to get some work done in the office. My boss did show up eventually but not long. I managed to log attendance and do a few things to prepare some projects to bring home to work on. Soooo, by 2 p.m. I was ready to go home and snuggle up and end the day. By the way, Mr. Snow man was all but melted come Friday night. Today he's gone, his stick arms are the only things left! Poor guy!

YES DEAR, TODAY IT'S REALLY A SNOW DAY!

We woke up today and we found this! Our first full snow day in our new home. I YELLED, GET THE CAMERA, ITS A BLOG MOMENT OUT THERE.

We've had snow before but nothing like this. We got 3 inches and school was closed. I had to get up and get my coffee in me and go out and make a snow man. Haven't done that since I was a kid. Felt like I was back in my home state of Wisconsin! (oh wait, I'm not from there) Gathered up a lonely hot dog for the nose, as we had no carrots, tried to use chocolate kisses (left over from Christmas cookies) for the mouth but that didn't work as the snow was so wet when you put them in, they went WAY in, so plan B was rocks. Nick found the sticks. We used his good bandanna from his motorcycle for the hat and rocks for eyes.

It was Nicks idea to put the Kawasaki next to him. Ulyses, Nick said he is waiting for a comment on the motorcycle being in the picture. Who knows why. Guess he figures you'd be the most likely to comment on that. Of course, he brings my cycle out, not his, in the rain, imagine that!

My hands were numb by the time he was built. Went back in and had more coffeeeee.

Just gonna enjoy the day off, catch up on some sewing projects and stay close to the fireplace.

Honey Done Hang from the Rafters!

Another new project - yes it is. This time he has me on a walkboard suspended over the stairs, who knows how many feet off the ground! Honey - I'm glad I have accident insurance but this is ridiculous!

We have vaulted ceilings in the foyer and we added a border of wood around to break off a point so we did not have to paint all the way up. Well that was fine and dandy but we had to somehow figure out how to paint up to the board from point A to B. Nick decided a walkboard - hmmmm. And guess who got to paint - hmmmmm. After all, he had sanding to do, it was my job to paint.

I just notice on the one picture, there are spots on the lens of the camera, BUT I am not getting back on the walkboards to retake the shot. Squint a little, they go away. Let's see, next project...hmmmmm - maybe I should clue him in about the giant quilt I need him to hang above the board on the other side of the wall. He's gonna LOVE me for that project. More to come folks!!!!

Another Honey Do Project Checked off the List

Terri Bocciardi, you would have laughed at this Honey Do adventure! Anthony, you too. We decided to tackle the pot holders that have been sitting in the family room now for months. We could not hang them because we needed a stud finder to put them up. We had to MAKE SURE there were studs to hold those pots. Well, I had to agree on that one cause my pots and pans are quite heavy. Well somewhere his stud finder got broke and we asked our friend Richard if we could borrow his. He gave us his little one that worked on the magnet system but because we were working on a ceiling, that didn't work so we opted to buy a new one and have it for all future projects. $15 later, we have this wonderful NEW TOOL!

Hanging these were somewhat of an hour and a half long ordeal. We ended up finding only one stud in all of the ceiling and half way through it he was giving me incomplete instructions and needless to say we were yelling and laughing all at the same time. Hanging pot holders is like hanging wallpaper - DON'T DO IT. I thought we were gonna kill each other!

Funny thing is, when it was done, I was hunting for my pots to hang on it. I told him, knowing him, I will come down in the morning and WHO KNOWS what I will find hanging on the pot rack. I just know how he is. It will be one surprise after the next, I am sure.

Sample Tea cup lamp

This is for Dave and Linda. We wanted to show you a sample of one of our lamps.

A GOAT COMES TO SCHOOL

This was awesome! Our kindergarten teacher brought in a baby goat for her class to learn the letter Q. Because he was born a quintuplet. She brought him in in a bucket. At first when I saw the top of his head I jumped back thinking she had a skunk in the box. Then when she set him down Oh MY! He was the cutest thing you ever wanted to see. He loved on ya, and when you put him on the ground, and the kids ran, he leaped and ran with them. The funniest part was when he cried, he sounded like one of those squeeky toys that you give a baby and mash on it, it almost didn't sound real. I honestly had to ask if it really was making that noise it sounded so much like a toy.

She said the momma couldn't feed them all so he was being bottle fed and that makes them more gentle. He was about the size of small cat. When they took him outside, they put a shirt on him to keep him warm and he knew to wait to pee. It was so cool. If we didn't have Covenants and Restrictions in our subdivision, I would have one of these for sure. But I don't know what I would name him. Maybe Boots or Patches! See what happens when you move to the mountains!

Name this Cute little House warming gift

Yes! this was a housewarming gift! My twin gave me this as a joke. She set out to find the UGLIEST housewarming gift there ever was to give anyone and found it at a garage sale in Roswell. AND I now own it. She is gladly displayed in my laundry room. And I haven't named her yet. So if you who visit our site want to give me suggestions, I am open to them. If your name gets picked, I will make you one for your house! I will EVEN color coordinate her dress to match your decor!

House Warming Gift Up and in Working Order!

My nephew Robert and his wife Julie gave us this great bird house which is now hung on our back porch. There were three birds on it while I was taking this pic. The cats are loving it, they can sit at the french doors and watch those little birdies all day long. If you would like for Robert to make you one, let me know, I will hook ya up.

Nick's busy working in his workshop

Christmas day we worked on getting his workshop in some order. We had just piled stuff in it to get it out of the way so we unloaded it and finally got it lined up so he could begin using it. Here he's working on a project for Mountain Building. Fixin their knife display box. He had the music up so load the rafters were shakin. But no worry, I was playing the drums louder than his music. Good thing we have no nearby neighbors to hear it all.

Practice session

I was working on my druming skills today. It's been a rainy day. Being the multi-tasker that I am, I am painting the front foyer, practicing my druming, doing laundry, updating the blog, not to mention just a few other items! And my sister thinks I am ADD! Hmmmm.

New Business Adventure

This is exciting! Today Barbie and I started our venture of putting our goods into a consignment shop here in Blairsville. I passed this place everyday for months on my way to work and into town when we lived at the rental in Young Harris. So I scoped it out and got info on getting a booth to rent and WE DID IT.
Barbie came up and we spent several hours setting up our area. It was exciting. I was disappointed cause I didn't take the camera. It was a "Blog" moment so we will have to settle on the business card.

Now when you all come into town, you will have to go to Tuckers' Antiques & Gifts and check it out. This will be motivation for me to get working on my sewing projects! It is also an avenue for me to put the word out for my sewing/alterations business. I need to begin building my client base and from what I hear, there aren't many people that do alterations in these parts soooo, it will be a good thing!

My sister and husband laugh at me cause now everything is a "blog" moment! I looked at the new rocking chairs on the front porch and said - grab the camera, it's gotta go on the blog! Think I'm bored or what. Maybe this new business venture will keep me busy!