Christmas 2011

Well, it is hard to believe that we had the third Christmas here at the new house with all the kids, grandkids, and the great grands..how marvelous it was, the hugs, kisses, baby kisses, and squeezes...they are priceless beyond my wildest treasure. The stoves kept us all nice and warm, and did the job well. I always kick myself for promising to put kindling in tubs or buckets and put it in the shed so I will have it for rainy days....Numero Uno on the list for next year...LOL



We had a lovely Rosemary Wreath on the front door, smelled so good...will be ground into rosemary salt after the holidays are over, one of my kitchen staples...


The little ones played with puppies and played with puppies, and wanted to take them all home, over Mom and Dad's deaf ears...LOL...


One wonderful new recipe this year was Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels...talk about yummy, they did not last long...


The babies were playing cars when they started bawling...seems Lobo the dog had laid down in the middle of their play farm...LOL...could not get the camera fast enough..



The table was loaded, we ate and ate..


Then it was time for gifting And resting....












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My biggest surprise was opening the box I keep my Grandmother's quilt packed in..I had not really opened it fully up...only to find some items fall out, a couple of her pillowcases, and some jewelry...love the aquamarine ring...was just like a gift falling from heaven...lots of tears, but sweet memories...





What a wonderful Christmas this one was, especially all my greats coming to see old Granny Gaye and Papa Benny....

Never Ending Journey

Work seems to go so slow on the second house...wish I had more $$ and it would be done really FAST....but we slowly plod along, trying to do what we can each week.
We have cut out one of the full size bunk beds, but still need to paint...I tried to fill in all the cracks in the wAll plaster. I left the full size bunk beds in one room, may be needed for company or children, plus it has another full size bed plus a twin on the top...lots of beds...I keep thinking this would be great for hunters.





The new roof looks great, and the chimney pipe has been pulled out and covered over.



We finished the ceiling in the coffee room, plus put down new tile on the floor. We did not do that great a job....ended up with two spaces in the ceiling, but the boards were not marked when they were pulled down....this area had leaked years ago, I wanted all the old ceiling pulled down, looked like it could have had some mold, so it is all replaced now, And the new roof will keep any leaks out..




The bathroom is almost done, putting in shelves where we pulled out the old water heater.





Caught our hired helper cooling off....it wAs hot working inside...with cooler weather forecast, that will be A help.

You can see the cookstove I bought to the left....it is ready to go, needs pushed into place. I look around and smile when I think this was all run on butane at one time...the connections have been left in place where the lights were at one time...






I still have to buy a refrigerator to fit in one spot...have moved the portable dishwasher out of the way...I can fit an apartment size one in the space.




I have curtains bought to go up, but not ready for them yet...yes, this is a never ending journey...being so old, I will never do this again....but it keeps me young at heart planning......

And a wonderful view of Hombre from the back deck....

Busy, Busy.Busy

We finally got the carport moved down here, was an all day job for the hired crew but they did a great job in spite of triple digit temps, and my truck no longer has bird excretement all over it....they will probably learn to roost above the truck, now. We continue to work on the second house, water heater going in today.....

I Love Pictures !

Daughter Karen and hubby, Manny, visited us last week. She knew I would love these new items, and they are proudly now a part of the house !



Love the horses in this picture.....






Absolutely love these new wine glasses....hand painted with Texas Bluebonnets...

Thank you Precious Girl ! Come visit soon !

The BBQ Pagoda

It took five tries to get this thing put up the right way....we kept putting the legs on wrong, or attaching it wrong....Benny does not read Chinese pictures very well...LOL...the top had to be redone twice. It is finally up....I have since put blocks all under it, the BBQ is in place, plus the Ozark cooker and another grill we had welded for us is all under there...will take some more pictures later to bring it up to date.




We live on the patio....finally got my old wooden table (made from old barn wood) moved down there and my chairs. We eat outdoors almost every night....love to listen to my music, listen to K D Lang, and sip my coffee...



The second house is still slowly being worked on....have tile being put down in the small room off the kitchen, plus a crew will come in soon and put on a new roof. It is hard getting all the finances together to get each job done as I do not believe in going into debt, so slow is the name of the game. The old tin will be pulled off, new wood and new tin will be put on, and I will have the old tin cut in half and put on as underpinning. Then will have that painted. I still have to have the elecric pole put in, but we can get electricity from the connection at the well which is by the side of the house.

Patio Furniture

We have been putting the furniture on the patio....it is so nice to sit out there and feel the cool breeze....look at the trees, and the floating little fuzzy seeds that fly down from the blossoms on the huge tree in the yard......



The little fuzzies....

Benny has his hammock on the patio...he loves to lay there and read...and I have my rocking chair...


My neighbor Earl made me 6 lovely bird houses for the new place...and he made us a gift of our name and address on a large limb that fell down in my neighbor, David, his kin who passed away..said we could always remember David that way...Earl cut the tree lengthwise and put our name on one slab and the address on another...such a cherished gift....just love it....The Lord has blessed me with wonderful friends, so much to be thankful for every day.

Also working on flowers and strawberries for around the new house....
We hope to be in it by next month.....just have to have the phones transferred. We put up chainlink fence for the dogs to contain them, they climbed over the top, so we had to put up an electric fence to keep them in, they have not been introduced to it yet.....will be a HUGE surprise.

The Patio is Poured !

They were true to their word, bright and early, the sun peeking down on them, the work began...the cement truck was ready to go and pouring began...






Even the truck driver was smiling and happy this morning...this was truck number one, they had two trucks ready to bring the cement, 20 minutes apart..those boys were really working up a sweat...


Rusty amused me with all the hand signals he kept giving the driver...I was a fast learner...LOL...

Rusty is a great friend, and true to his word....


The second truck came mighty close to the edge of the roof..I really held my breath, but he was a great driver...


The guys kept smoothing it, and working so hard...


My poor blackberry patch...I had worried so much about them all being broken off and ruined...

CHECK THIS OUT....THEY STRADDLED MY BLACKBERRY PATCH !!! They were totally unaware of it, but the Good Lord answered my prayers...


I have had to go down and look several times today....and laugh....at myself for being a worry wart...He had it all under control....

They kept smoothing and smoothing and smearing and smearing...


Thanks to these two, the porch looks so beautiful, and so smooth...what hard workers they are...



I can't wait for it to dry and cure...I can see hummingbird feeders, and birdhouses galore....I can't wait to sit on my patio and drink sweet tea with my mint in it...
So much to be thankful for today......