William & Mary - Class of 2008

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known." ~ Author Unknown

No other words necessary.... I love you, Nyssa.... Graduate... Class of 2008!

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The Cowbird Dance

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all.
~ Emily Dickenson

We have a resident cowbird who perches on the birdfeeder just outside my mom's bay window. He sits here and stares at himself in the glass, sometimes for just a few minutes and at other times he stays for a half an hour. Occasionally, a female approaches, but he pays no attention! Is this narcissistic cowbird simply enamored with his reflection? Is he confused? Or does he see a rival?

He does this dance over and over. He looks this way and that and then begins to fluff up his feathers, thickening his neck and puffing out his chest... trying to make himself look as large and menacing as possible! Then he unfurls his wings, opens his beak and starts flapping his wings as he tilts forward and bows. A high pitched chirp pierces the air.... then the process begins again.

I think he is confused and thinks his rival is wanting to fight.... but they puff and bow and show off and no one ever makes a move on the other.... Isn't he gorgeous?

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Home Improvement (The New House)

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." ~ Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)

Just a short post, mainly for my brother. While he was here the last of February he got the ball rolling on the guttering. It was a necessary and practical improvement as the water gushed down the gables near the foundation and we wanted to make sure it flowed away from the house. Of course the guttering "made out of that metal we shall not name because it is a hot item on the thieves list" was probably not necessary; but it is beautiful. We had many, many gawkers driving by and staring at the shiny, shiny, reddish brown metal. Now it has moderated a bit, darkened somewhat, lost some of the shine and is blending in with the color of the brick. The sponge material keeps the leaves and pine needles out and we no longer have dirt from the flower beds flowing across the front walkway. YEAH!!!!

So, here a a few pictures, after the final touches and after the beginning of the patina. It's lovely and it works!! Oh, yes... it means I can now get my handy dandy ladder out and start on a window washing spree... no more excess dripping and splashing on them now.

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What Came Next! or Welcome to the Stephen King Horror House!

This is my cousin David

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." ~ Jane Howard

David lives in Illinois, but he came to Dad's birthday party in February with his parents and our other Illinois aunt and uncle. Dad and David had talked about the work we needed to do on the old house to get it ready for sale and David was going to stay for a week after the party to help. He and his brother are VERY handy; they do renovations, build cabinets and furniture and David designs additions and draws the plans as well as the building. I was so thankful that he agreed to help.... I just don't know how to do carpentry.

Yes, it was that dusty!

We started on Monday, February 11th, after taking everyone to the airport. First we picked out some flooring for the entryway and the two bathrooms and the carpet and pad. The carpet people measured and things were in the works. David started on the garage with some repair of the ceiling and some carpentry framing around the pull down attic steps. Here he was sanding the ceiling before putting on the drywall skimming material. His work is amazing!

I started on the house..... first scraping up all the tile in the two bathrooms and then cutting the old carpet about six inches from the walls and pulling that up to get ready for the painters. I took down drapes and blinds and hardware and started spackling all the small holes in the walls. There was this horrible, tacky, eighties wallpaper on one wall of the entryway and we stripped that off. David put the drywall skimming material on the wall with a scrub brush to match the plaster pattern and it was phenomenal.... it really opened up the space. He patched a few cracks in the plaster that had been there for 23 years.... Dad just never got around to fixing them.

Then we started on the painting! We decided to paint everything in the garage the same color... the ceiling, walls, workbench and shelves. We had some white and antique white of varying kinds and we mixed them together. Of course the ceiling is the hardest thing to paint......ouch! I had almost as much paint on my shirt as I did on the ceiling! We ran out but fortunately we matched the swatch at Home Depot with the paint on my shirt and.... voila.... back in business. We painted and painted and painted and painted... for three days! That room was just drinking the paint up!

In the mean time, Dad had the hot tub repair guy come and he replaced the controls with new digital ones. Then it leaked and he replaced the jets.... now it is almost brand new! SO MUCH ON THIS TO DO LIST!!!! It seemed to start growing and growing and by the end of the week it was clear that we were not going to get done.......

So, David re-arranged his travel plans and decided to stay for another week; ten days actually... to get the work done and to see Stephen who was coming back from Europe again. You see, Stephen and David had started talking about an addition to the NEW house; a winter garden, sunroom of sorts with a deck, fire pit patio and landscaping. David took measurements and started the drawings and wanted to talk to Stephen again. ( I told you he was talented!)

We found a reasonable painter and they got started.... everything an antique white with bright white baseboard, window trim and doors. Semi-gloss in the bathrooms and kitchen and flat elsewhere. They even put a special anti-mold and fungus substance in the paint for the bathrooms to prevent any problems. The painters took three days to do the whole house! It started looking much better. While they were working there, David started trimming back the bushes and digging up and moving some shrubs. He and Dad worked on some flower bed drainage options. I started on the house cleaning... no, not inside.... outside.... in 45 degree weather. Yes, I got on my handy dandy super ladder and started washing the siding of the house with a long handled brush and hospital strength bleach and soap.... then pressure washing it off. I also pressure washed the brick.

Then the things started happening.... it seemed that as we finished two things on our list... four more would pop up! When I pressure washed the front... the shutters started to peel... so I spray painted the shutters black... it made the white pop! When the hot tub leaked, it left water stains in the wood decking that enclosed it... so I decided to stain it a dark mahogany color! The sunroom indoor/outdoor carpet had stains... so I washed it with my carpet cleaner.... but they finally required a spraying with full strength Clorox... that did the trick and didn't mottle up the color.... amazing! Then when the painters were finishing up... the Ponderosa wagon wheel lantern hang down light in the dining room and the upside down tulip stained glass and round ball light in the entryway looked worse and worse. So we took them down and let Stephen put up some inexpensive lights that were flush to the ceiling. MUCH BETTER!

Stephen returned... and David was going to leave but we still had sooooo much to do and Stephen was taking care of the guttering issue on the new house. So... he talked David into staying for still another week! (YEAH!!!) The floor guys came and we had to stop and pull the toilets... my first experience at plumbing... actually, they pulled them and we had to put them back. We started putting the drapes back up... and I cut a cord that shouldn't have been cut and the weather stripping stuck and the door wouldn't close and well.... a lot of little tiny things just kept popping up. We kept going... and going....

Then it was finally time for David to leave... Stephen and he left the same day. I dropped them at the airport and went to the old house to start painting the laundry room... I cried a lot that day. Then my cell phone rang! Stephen saw David get off his plane because of some maintenance technical problem... he had to get on his flight... David was trying to get another flight out... a snow storm was rapidly approaching his destination and...... it seemed that the "Stephen King House" did not want to let him go!!!!! He was supposed to leave at 11AM and finally got a flight out at 5PM. His connection was delayed and his ride from the airport to his house was at the beginning of the ice storm. David was here for three weeks and I, for one, is extremely thankful! I would be completely dead, instead of only half dead!

I painted the laundry room, the pantry and the laundry room cabinets after his departure, as well as the outside of the sunroom doors and a few places on the exterior window casings. I put the curtains and drapes back up and vacuumed the fuzzies off the new carpet.... four times! I started the touch up painting on baseboards and walls and finished up the pressure washing outside. The range in the kitchen was giving us trouble. Dad spent a full day changing out the sensor, but it would still cut itself off and blink and did so while cleaning and while baking. When he turned off the breakers to work on the stove he flipped the breaker to the energy saving electric contraption. You know... the one where certain times of day you can dry clothes and other times you can't. When he flipped it back on... there were blinking lights and error messages.. in other words... it fried itself. It cost $800 to fix and $150 to take out. We took it out. Of course, that left a big gaping hole in the already painted laundry room wall. So, Dad spent two days working on a patch and spackling and then I painted it; after I got some more paint to match what the painters had.

We had to get a new range. They no longer make "almond" color but with just a bit of white showing, the ceramic top looks great and works great. Dad got a good deal, but it had a small chip on the edge. No problem. I put several coats of enamel paint on the spot and you can't see it. Of course we had to take a little shelf down to get the stove in and that left another UNPAINTED area on the wall. And of course, I had no antique white Duron semi-gloss paint and the Duron store said they had two shades of antique white. I took the swatches and decided on the color. Dad went by to get it and I told them over the phone that I wanted the semi-gloss and which color but they tried to be helpful by checking with their other store. They said that our painters only got the "eggshell" finish and so they talked Dad into getting it. Unfortunately it did not work... you could see the difference across the room. I took it back, made them give me the paint I told them I wanted and it was perfect!

I started the final cleaning. Washed the windows, scrubbed the sinks and toilets, cleaned all the cabinets in bathrooms, kitchen and laundry, mopped floors and vacuumed carpets again. I didn't pressure wash the siding or ceiling on the front porch as I knew that it would likely blow the paint off... but I bleached it and rinsed carefully and it did well. I also started taking the non-essential things out to the new house.

Finally, the Monday after Easter, I was ready for my last BIG project.... what? You know my penchant for garages! David had mentioned that one of our other cousins had used this epoxy latex paint on his basement floor with fun speckles in it and it looked like linoleum. Of course, I couldn't resist The walls and benches looked so good and the floor had paint and oil and just gunky looking areas. So, I got a kit. It was a bit complicated... it had to have air temps of at least 65 and floor temps of 55 and you had to prepare the floor by cleaning and etching and then there couldn't be any dust and when you mixed the epoxy in you had to wait certain times for certain temps but you had a two hour time limit to get it all done! Whew! Of course we were in the time of year where it can be 75 degrees one day and 40 the next!

It was cold that Monday and not to hit 65 until Wednesday, so I scrubbed and cleaned it with a special de-greaser and rinsed it three times. After it dried, I etched it with a phosphoric acid concrete etcher and scrubbed and rinsed that out. It left a fine white powdery residue. On Tuesday morning I used the kit etcher which was a concentrated acetic aid (vinegar) form and rinsed again. There was still a white powder so before I left for the evening, I rinsed about three times.... left fans running and a small space heater to help with the temperature. I painted on Wednesday morning.....got everything together, mixed the epoxy and after 30 minutes, edged and started the rolling. That was fun... roll a four foot square area and then take the sprinkles of black, brown, white and tan paint flecks and just .... toss them on the floor. At first I wasn't sure if it would cover the floor with one coat, but it did. Tossing those flakes is a riot... and they stick.... tight! It turned out really well. In fact, it turned out so well that a small place on the wall under the workbench stood out like a sore thumb. I had decided not to paint there as "no one can see it". The paint on the garage floor completely changed the look and it was obvious, so I went back and touched that up. It really is amazing and isn't supposed to bubble up when in contact with the hot car tires!

The house was ready for the second look by the realtor on Friday, March 28th. We had spent 57 days and approximately $10,000 in upgrades to the old house. In the realtor's opinion, the house looked totally different... and great! She recommended an asking price that was $50,000 above the "as is" price she suggested in December! It has been on the market just over two weeks and they have shown it over a dozen times with at least one party showing extreme interest! Three other houses in the same general area have sold in the last three months... all within 45 days of listing. So... we'll see. If you want to see some of the final results you can click on the slide show below... it's my first attempt at one! Just click on the pictures or the arrows. A few will zoom and a few have notes.

This was a long discourse.... this is why my posting has been so rare. I would sit here and try to think of the words and my arms and knees and hands would just say.... "go to bed!" But then... my brain had already "left the building". See.... I haven't been "just lazy"!!!

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The Birthday Party: Part 2

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest." ~ Larry Lorenzoni

Mom had them put these pictures on the cake
and I thought it turned out spectacularly.

The day of the party arrived. We had enough food to feed a small army.... all put into place in the dining room and in the butler's pantry. The wonderful ladies who volunteered to serve were ready, the house was ready, the party sign out front was festive with balloons. The weather was great with sun and moderate temps... not all that uncommon here in February. Then the doorbell rang....

We had guests here... and there....

...and the party began! Friends and family from near and far arrived and I was totally amazed! It was orderly and things flowed well...some wanted to try the food first, while others wanted a tour of the house. Friends from as far as Roanoke and Richmond came and family from Illinois. Nyssa met a great aunt and uncle and a second cousin she had never seen. People renewed friendships from years past and exchanged wonderful memories.

... and everywhere!

Everyone had a great time.. mingled well and best of all... THE PARKING WAS FINE!!!! At least I think it was! I never had a chance to actually look out at the street. Our neighbors didn't complain... but they came to the party too! All in all we counted 75 guests showed up out of the 100 planned for. (We learned later that at least another 15 - 20 people were on their way to the party, but got caught in a bad traffic jam on the interstate.)

And here is the happy birthday boy!!!

About half-way through the afternoon, Stephen led everyone in a very, very energetic rendition of "Happy Birthday"! All in all it really DID turn out to be a good party! Most of all, the "birthday boy" seemed to have a great time... and that was the whole point, wasn't it?

"I am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends." ~ Nancie J. Carmody

By the way, it has been a whirlwind eight or so weeks and I do have many stories to tell... still trying to get back in a grove here... looking ahead to stories of manual labor and surprise packages. Yes... I am cryptic!

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The Party (Part 1)

"Giving a party is like having a baby --- its conception is more fun than its completion, and once you've begun it's impossible to stop." ~ Jan Struther

We had a lot of food..... vegetable tray, fruit tray,
olives, pizza, hot cheese dip, hot meatballs...

Mom wanted to have a party for Dad's 80th birthday. Stephen and I thought this would be a great idea and he said he could come home for it, if we moved it up a week before Dad's actual birthday. So it was agreed that the party would be February 9th, and then Stephen left. This was thought up and decided upon back in November of last year.

With Stephen gone and me busy with the garage and furniture and steps, the party conception was left to Mom. She poured over her cookbooks to pick all the things she was going to make and had ideas for the cake and even the tablecloths and punch.

Stephen and I both thought she would want it limited to the people in their Sunday School class and a few of the new neighbors. Nyssa worked with Mom to compose a short poem for the invitation and I made a mock-up on the computer.

Ah, the invitations! This is where it started to go astray and get out of hand.

..pimento cheese and crackers, pinwheels, chicken salad sandwiches,
and bacon wrapped dates.......

I printed up 30 invitations, thinking this would be plenty. Mom started off fine, but then she got into her.... "we must invite this couple, even if I know they can't come" and she completely forgot what happened at their 50th anniversary party. Then she had over three hundred on the guest list because she just KNEW that "no one will be able to come". What happened? We had over 275 RSVP's in the affirmative and ended up with almost 250 people at the dinner!

So, I printed invitations and printed invitations and ran out of ink and after getting more ink.... I printed even MORE invitations! After she was finally finished and secure in the knowledge that no one had been left out... we had 135 invitations! I reminded her that these were mostly addressed to couples, so that meant 270 possible guests. I reminded her that the usual rule of "only 1/2 of invited guests usually show up" did not work in our family. But all to no avail... and 135 invitations were mailed. It was only when I reminded her that the 50th anniversary party was held at a large church with a LARGE PARKING LOT and that this party was being held in a subdivision, with limited parking on the street, that she finally became concerned. But, it was too late... the invitations were in the mail... the die was cast!

...meat and cheese trays and bread for making sandwiches, zesty pastrami
roll-ups, spinach dip and chips, punch and.....

Mom thought that most of those out-of-town invites wouldn't come, but when two of Dad's brothers and their wives decided to fly here from Illinois... well, I knew it was beginning again. The phone started ringing and the guest list started growing and growing and growing... until we had 100 guests expected. Yes, it was a come and go party... but still. One hundred people over three hours is still 33 people an hour and many would see friends they hadn't seen in a long time and would stay and where would we seat them? Finger food recipes that feed 16 just weren't going to do and where would we put the extra food and the ingredients of all that punch? (We broke down and got an additional "refrigerator only" fridge to go in the laundry room for the overflow food.) Who was going to make all this food? Who was going to keep all this food on the table and the punch poured and served? (Thank goodness we have three very sweet and wonderful ladies who were absolutely magnificent with this!!)

But the BIGGEST question..... WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PARK ALL THESE CARS AND HOW FAR ARE SOME OF THESE ELDERLY GUESTS GOING TO HAVE TO WALK??

(To Be Continued)

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Stephen's Stickley Sneak Peek

The sideboard. (Click pictures for larger view)

"Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established." ~ George Carlin

Once upon a time.....

there was a man who bought his very first home (although he did own an apartment in Europe, but that is beside the point.) He had his parents and his sister move into the home and they decided to sell some of their furniture. His sister put her formal dining room set into the oversized room and it looked very.... small, even with the table leaf in. When the man first came to spend a week in his new house, he loved the living room furniture and he loved the den furniture and he even liked the bedroom furniture in his room. (Probably because it had a memory foam topper and it worked wonders for his back that still had occasional episodes from his back surgery years ago after he twisted wrong on stage in Phantom of the Opera.... oh, dear... I'm rambling.)

While he liked the furniture and arrangement of the rooms, he longed to have one room that reflected his personality and taste in this house of merging families. So he visited the Stickley showroom at a local store and there he fell in love.... with a sideboard. He bought it, had it delivered and ..... it was good!

The table and china hutch.

Of course the beautiful sideboard was lonely in the large room with the much lighter and more traditional oak set, so the man bought a large mission style table and the china hutch to match. Of course, the people at Stickley had to make the other pieces so the man flew back to Europe without ever seeing his purchase in person. His sister found her oak set a very good new home where it would be loved and feel needed. Twelve weeks later the massive furniture arrived and the lonely sideboard was alone no longer... the echo in the room went away as well.

Look! I already filled it up!

The sister started putting her china and crystal in the beautiful hutch. She added the mother's delicate crystal and her depression glass cups and still it wasn't full. So she included an antique candy dish, a large stein from Germany and a purple cow. (I should probably get a picture and explain that last one.)

Today, the sister dusted the dining room in preparation for the man's upcoming visit. She quickly recognized one overlooked fact about the new Stickley pieces.... they have many wooden slits and slats with teeny-tiny spaces in between that gather dust easily; and her fingers are a bit too large to fit in these spaces. So it is very time consuming to clean... especially when the sister is a bit obsessive about it. But, she eventually had success.... yeaaaahhhh! (Picture green frog hands waving in the air.)

The upholstered seats... great on the behind!

I posted this primarily for "the man" as he has never seen any of the beautiful furniture he bought... except the sideboard. He will be here in three days... so I guess you could call this his "sneak peek"!

What do you think Stephen? (thumbs up ?)

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A Letter To Sophie

Mr. Rhett: "Frankly, Scarlett, I'm thinking about Sophie!"

"There is no 'cat language'. Painful as it is for us to admit, they don't need one." ~ Barbara Holland

Dearest Sophie,

It seems like years since I have seen your beautiful face on the computer. You life is so full and exciting with lizards to chase and such exciting places to see. I miss you! I saw that huge McCloud on your mom's blog. Please! Dearest Sophie! Be careful around him! One false step and he could stumble and crush your delicate toes! I would trade my sister Scarlett for you any day.... better yet, we could send our huge, hairy Willow to keep McCloud company and you could come here. You can share my playthings and my soft pillow. I would then be in heaven indeed!

Oh! No! Here comes my human lady! I don't want her to know I can type. I'll have to hypnotize her and make her think that she wrote this post herself! Wish me luck! And please get your mom to post your lovely pictures.

I adore you!

Rhett

(Fade to black......"Rhett?! What are you......oh, I'm getting sleepy....sleepy." "Snap!!!" "Wow! Look at this! I wrote a post for the Carnival of the Cats, hosted this week by Bad Kitty Cats Journal! Wonder when I did that? Oh, well... time for bed.")

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Another January Baby

1963 - First birthday, just after first haircut!

"Age doesn't matter, unless you're cheese." ~ John Paul Getty

I sat playing checkers with my great-uncle the day he was born. I wanted a sister desperately, but now I can see that this would have never worked out. We didn't know what we were going to get... no ultrasound pictures way back then. I saved all my allowance to buy a cute little stretchy sleeper and made sure to get it in a red and white stripe, so it would go with either a girl or a boy. And then he was here.... Stephen... all 10lb.8oz. of him. He was already the weight and length of a 3 to 6 month baby when he got here and that poor little newborn suit wouldn't snap and it scrunched his knees up.

1968 - 1969: A budding chef

We had our ups and downs when he was young.... I say "young" because he was never really "small" or "little". Stephen always stood at least a foot taller than anyone else in his class. By the time he was twelve, he stretched up on past me. He loved to put a sack on his head and cook like a chef. Nowadays, he still cooks, loves to do gourmet items, but we have no chef hat.... hmmm... item to remember for Christmas present!

2006 - Tokyo production of Fidelio

When I left for college, we began to become better friends. Stephen actually missed me! As the years have progressed we have become closer and closer. He is talented (and high strung), hysterically funny (and high strung), opinionated (and high strung)..... and a very loving and loyal friend through the good and bad times. OH! Did I mention that he is high strung? I rate our mother as a type A personality and our father as a type B personality. I fall in there at a type A-, with rare bouts of B- and even more rare episodes of A+ type mixed in. Stephen, on the other hand, is an A+++++!!! In his business, this is a good thing!

2007 - The birthday boy!

In only 8 days he will be here and his mother and father and niece are excited. His sister is ecstatic!!! While we have to wish him a long distance... "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" today, we will celebrate later....so..

To my brother, Stephen.... I love you, be safe.... have a great performance... happy, happy birthday and ........

break a leg!

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Extreme Garage Makeover Part 4: The Final Product (Garage Tek)

The floor, gray with an inset border of black.

"The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

Finally, the last installment to the garage saga. They installed the floor made up of squares of skid resistant tiles put together like a giant puzzle. Just for looks, a border inset of black. It is so much safer than the concrete that was painted. Any amount of water made that floor like an ice skating rink and the paint bubbled up and peeled off terribly. While they were here they put up an additional overhead and brought a couple of accessories I ordered. So here is the final tour....

Down at the far end is my workbench. The cabinet to the left contains all the cat products such as canned food, shampoo... etc. The cabinet to the right is filled with bird food and small gardening supplies .... including my pumpkin seeds. A local carpet place gave us a remnant of indoor/outdoor carpet and we had it edged. It matches the floor well and we put it under the bench and all the cat facilities. I have some of the garden tools hanging on the wall there. The big blue container holds the cat litter and of course all the cat beds and the cat tree are available for them.

Far back wall.

The full size cabinet will house the cleaning supplies and those bulk paper products we all try to get at Sam's or Costco. The smaller ones have a variety of things inside. I hope to eventually get them divided into an auto supply area, electrical, sports, etc. They brought the 48" shelves for the very top and here I have the summer fans, coolers and a cat carrier for those pesky emergencies. Our two file cabinets fit nicely and the lawn mower nestles in by the crawl space access door.

Dad's work area.

This is my dad's corner. This workbench is very, very heavy. The pedestal has four locked drawers and the top is butcher block. The drawers there to the left belong to a roll around tool chest. Above the bench there are small and medium tilt out containers and a tool holder as well as a very bright (when on) work light. We have room for his table saw in the corner... but it is still at the old house right now. I see he put the paper towels on the shelves between his cabinets, but I will move them later. We have the fire extinguisher on the side wall there and a shelf with the plastic garbage bag bin. It is easy for my parents to simply reach over and get one without having to go down the steps. I think he is really going to like his work area!

A final overview

So here is the finished product.... an orderly garage... well, at least one with room to organize. Stephen will be here in a couple of weeks to see his planned masterpiece. I think he'll like it as much as we do!

PS: I used my new ladder and switched all the fans in the vaulted areas to the winter mode AND I finally got that pesky tag off the chandelier in the entry way. LOVE THIS LADDER!!! OH! And the senior citizen discounts start at 55.

(the end of the saga)

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A New Senior Citizen

Sunflowers and roses to brighten the day!

"It is lovely, when I forget all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me." ~ Ellen Glasgow (American Novelist, 1873-1945)

My birthday is always the same day of the week as Christmas Day and New Year's Day. It is nine days before my brother's birthday and one month before my dad's. I try to forget about it, but now they've made it a national holiday, although this year the observance isn't on the actual date. As the years relentlessly progress, each one seems to pass more quickly than the last and I try to simply treat the day as just another day. But my brother remembered and not five minutes after hanging up the phone after his call from Vienna, the doorbell rang and these beautiful sunflowers and roses arrived!

Thank you Stephen!! They are gorgeous... and they look really good with your new dining room furniture! I guess it is OK to be reminded of my birthday... especially this one.... since, now I can get the senior citizen pricing at a LOT of restaurants! I'm bracing myself for the onslaught of AARP literature!

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Garage Extreme Makeover - Part 3...The Overheads and A New Toy

The overhead storage system -- making
use of the space above the garage doors.

"Only in America - do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage" ~ Unknown

The garage has ceilings that are at least 12 foot high.... all that wasted space. So, as part of the makeover, four overhead 4' x 4' units were hung from the support beams. They each hold up to 250 pounds. (Yes, I did put all those things up there myself.)

I have one with boxes of Nyssa's textbooks that she wants to sell on the internet. There are boxes of craft paints for the Gallery Glass window kits and boxes of old, old music for my brother and a perfectly good microwave. (Not everything in our storage is "junk".) I have put the nice chrome bookshelf up there for Nyssa to take with her next year and we will put the empty tool boxes as well. These also have removable brackets that hold the long extension poles or even long pieces of lumber. And the best thing? You can't even see them when the garage doors are up!

Two single point hoists.

The other overhead storage includes two single point hoists... one for Nyssa's bike (and after she takes it, perhaps a wheelbarrow) and the other for my new toy.....

.... my super Gorilla extension, step and "any way in between ladder". When the fellows were putting up the overhead units they used these types of ladders and I needed one to put up the stuff in the garage. I also need it to try and reach the ceiling fans for light bulb changing and the seasonal change of direction. It is fabulous andd feels so secure... even when the step ladder is fully extended to 12 foot.

Hmm.... does excitement over a heavy duty ladder mean that I have become really boring? Don't answer that!

(One final installment to go.....end for now)

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Garage Extreme Makeover...Part 2.. De-Stuffing or Now The Real Work Begins

Ten days post wall unit installation.
(Click pictures for larger view)

"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life." ~ Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher. 1724-1804)

The next step in the garage renovation was.... organization! I had to get as much "stuff" up off the floor as possible. So I started with the cat items... food, grooming supplies, bowls, towels, toys, treats.... these went in one cabinet at the far end of the garage. Next to that was the gardening cabinet with all sorts of seeds including pumpkin seeds, hand tools, rooting powder and fertilizer. In these cabinets down the back wall I put cleaning supplies, auto supplies, my boxes of nails and screws and smaller items that will eventually go elsewhere but needed to be up off the floor. As you can see, I had to put some things on top of the cabinets, but only until the 48" shelves arrived to go across the top.

Near wall next to kitchen... with the new steps!!

This is such a great system... fluid and easily changeable. The shelves and hooks and tool holders can be moved up or down and slide to any position on the slatted wall. Here we put a hat rack just outside the door, a shelf for the recycle bin, and an inline tool holder for a shovel and my rolly cart. I also kept part of the stackable bins for potatoes and onions and such.

Far end of the garage. My space.
Cabinets with cat items and gardening items. A bench goes here too.

These hook things are really very cool... I can hang anything! Weed eaters, edgers, grass seeders... even a step ladder.... though this has now migrated to the second floor. I got tired of hauling it up the stairs to change the air filters or hang a picture. That's what happens when you are 5'5". Besides I got a new ladder... (more about that later).

Closer view of the far end to show the slatted walls.

Even though I put a lot in the cabinets and on the walls, it still looks as if there is a lot of stuff. Two filing cabinets remained where I moved them until the floor went down. One shelf unit needed the wall attachments and the workbench and tool chest for my dad weren't ready yet, so some things had to stay on the floor.

Dad's workbench area

This corner is where my dad's work bench will be. The bench in this picture is actually mine and will be moved to the far wall when his gets here. There are tilt out bins and a tool holder on the wall and the work light is great. We still have room for his table saw as well. I think he is going to really like this!

Next time I will show you the overhead storage racks.... I really love these things!!!

(more to come... end for now)

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Garage Extreme Makeover...Part 1

GarageTek: "The world's cleanest garage."

"The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage." ~ Herbert Hoover

The garage organization renovation was scheduled for Wednesday, November 28th. Of course the garage steps weren't done, just in and stained but not sealed or varnished. Sigh! But the truck arrived from Richmond right on time at 10AM and they began.

Men at work... putting together cabinet units

My part had begun a week or so earlier. First Dad and I bought a big storage cabinet to put behind the door in the laundry room. We had to put it together and get it in there so I could move the larger "sometimes used" kitchen appliances in and off one of the metal shelf units I brought over from the old garage. This way my parents wouldn't have to go to the garage and carry them up the steps to use. This took a full day. Then I boxed up the stuff on a second shelf unit I had already put in the garage and started stacking the boxes in the middle of the garage. The contract with GarageTek said that we were responsible for moving all things in the garage at least six feet away from the walls. So, cat tree, plastic containers filled with cat food, toys, bedding, and all things cat went to the middle. Then toolboxes, lawnmower, spreader, boxes of music, boxes for eBay, bicycle and a variety of "stuff" moved to the middle. Then a keeper cabinet that was my grandmother's and two filing cabinets (full) moved away from the walls.

....and working on the wall covering.

Five fellows showed up and they divided up the work. Three set to putting up the wall slatted units on three of the walls, while the other two worked on the overhead storage units and started assembling the wall cabinets. One of the two work benches was ready and delivered and all the wall cabinets. They had their own radial saw set up and after the leveling and marking of studs, the work went rather smoothly. As the wall covering neared completion, one of the men started in on the trim. They were determined and obviously familiar with the installation. They ate lunch in short shifts and the work never stopped... not even when my dad accidentally hit the panic button on his security key fob and it sounded like the world was coming to an end. They started at 10 AM and finished by 4:30 PM.

Stage one complete...now my work begins again.

So here it is... the end of stage one. Now I have ten days to arrange all the things in the middle, getting as much organized into the cabinets, on the shelves, on the hook hangers and tool hangers and leaving as little as possible on the floor. They will be back to bring the other work bench and put down the floor covering and I must be ready!

(To be continued....the end for now)

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Christmas At Catalina Court.... Come On In!

Christmas on Catalina Court
(Click pictures for larger view)

"God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas, which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ." ~ Wilda English

Christmas Day is here, our first on Catalina Court. We combined households, furniture and Christmas decorations this year. Though we still have much to put away and things put away that we cannot find, we found our Christmas decorations and did our best to make it magical.....Come on inside!

"Come on in!"

Together we have three larger trees. One was placed in the dining room, one in the den and the smallest in the foyer. The tree in the dining room is primarily covered with ornaments my parents have collected through the years and the one in the den with mine. Our thin tree in the foyer has been designated our "Austrian tree" and here we have ornaments from Salzburg and other parts of Austria. Delicate hay and wood shaving ornaments mix with fragile, hand painted eggs and small painted glass hearts and thin glass teardrops. Some of the eggs did not weather the move that well, with small cracks and pieces of shell missing, but most are intact.

Our "Austrian" tree.

I also put a very small 3ft tree on Nyssa's dresser, a large ceramic tree in the master bedroom sitting area and a small white ceramic tree in my room. We have five nativity sets in various places, garland on the winding staircase, the stockings hung by the fireplace with care and the cat stockings hung from the upstairs. We have baked gingerbread cookies, sand tarts, chocolate chip cookies... OH YES!!... I have made 21...yes, 21 potica breads over the last two weeks. Ours is ready to cut for breakfast.

Our dining room tree.

Oh, look! It is after midnight and I must take my aching knees and hands to bed...but before I go, let me wish you all a joyous and peaceful Christmas. As we spend time with family and feel the excitement of exchanging gifts, let us remember the greatest gift ever given .... the Christ Child... Immanuel... God with us.

May you have a blessed Christmas!

(end of post)

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