Happy Valentines Day

For Valentines Days this year I decided to do something a little different this year. Joe has early meetings on Sunday and doesn't have time for breakfast most of the time. I made a breakfast casserole that I cooked in my CrockPot all night. For dinner I made a special dinner for supper. Joe also did something a little different. He usually gives me flowers. This year he got me a plant, which was great because I wanted a Spider Plant. Plants are a great way to filter the air inside your home.

Christmas and Thanksgiving

Our Christmas tree in our new home. We went to Alice's for Christmas morning. What fun to watch the little boys who are so excited. Later in the afternoon we met at our home and Doug and Jessica come up to join us for Christmas dinner. I made Cafe Rio salads. We had a great day.

The boys love Uncle Carl. He knows how to play the games on Wii.

Thanksgiving in at our home in Idaho. We had most of my family for Thanksgiving. It was great. You can see how many people, I think we had 39 people. What fun to get together. We celebrated Christmas and Grandma's famous cookies in the evening. We had tons to eat.

The end of a wonderful day.

Remembering

Today, February 4th is always a day for happy and sad memories. It has been six years since Heidi passed away and I miss her every day. I am so grateful for having been able to be her Mom. She taught me so much. She loved life and making everyone happy. One of her first words she learned when she was a baby was "Happy".

In 2 months this is what has happened with our house.

We want to raise the roof on the front porch and also replace the windows with more original looking windows and remove the wood in the arches above the windows. There was glass in all the front windows above the main windows. I hope to learn how to do stained glass so that we can use in the windows.

You can see the interesting brick work done on the fireplace and the windows. We will paint them with an accent color.
The wall in basement. The below picture is the stairway going down to the basement. It is hard to see but it is almost straight down, about like going down a ladder.

Somebody must have had a good time, "One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, take one down" or in this picture, add one . Those will be going "goodbye".
Lovely pink bathroom with Freddie resting in front of the door. Yep, I get to have Freddie.


I didn't ever think I would be so excited for a washer and dryer but after 2 1/2 years using the public washers in the condo I can say I was very happy to have a washer and dryer again.


I love the look of the windows. Just put in what every size you can. It doesn't matter if they match or not.

Now this is one bold room with the lovely flooring and bold quilt. Makes for a very eye catching room.



It has been two months since we were able to move in. We are working with a architect to help us decide the best design for the house. It has so many small rooms and a weird hallway that takes up a lot of space. We want to open up the entry so you can see the stairway, which will need some updating. It has a door that opens right to the stairs and is a very tight space.
Stay tuned for updates as we begin the remodel.

Our new home

We were able to move into our new home the 4th of December. We tried to bribe the tenant to get him to move. It worked the second time which was cheaper that going though the whole eviction process. I had two guys come and move his stuff out and the next three days they took out the old carpet (see pictures below of the house) and other junk left behind. I spent the time starting to clean just the rooms we needed to live in, kitchen, living room, bedroom and a bathroom. I don't think it had been really cleaned for years. I still have several rooms to clean. We want to do some remodeling. We have been working on a floor plan that will make the most of the space with the least amount of work.The above two pictures are the kitchen

There are two bathrooms and they are both bubble gum pink! Yek

These two pictures are showing the room that will become the living room. If you look close you can see how wonderful the carpet looks.The three above pictures are the hallway which is shaped like a U. When we took out the carpet there was two more layers of flooring and then a gummy tar paper which we could not remove. I found some $1.00 a yard fabric and stapled it down. It is so much better.



My sewing and craft room. It is upstairs and has wonderful hardwood floors. I am really excited about putting my sewing machine in front of the window and having time to sew.

45 Lessons Life Taught me

This great. I really like it.

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents
will. Stay in touch..
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it..
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17 Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain...
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26.. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life..
28. Forgive everyone for everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business..
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life.. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come....
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45 Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

Alice invited me to attend the concert with her as Jeff has to work at the concert so he is never able to attend. We had fabulous seats, right in the center 20 rows back and also three people between us and Mitt Romney and his wife. How's that for good seats. Thanks to Jeff. The concert was so good. Natalie Cole and David McCullough were the guest artist. What a wonderful way to start the Christmas season off.