I'm alive, just buried in projects

You all probably thought I got lost somewhere along the way between Florida and home since I haven't posted a single thing since before we left. But I did, indeed, make it home in one piece. But I don't feel like my feet have much more than touched the ground since we got home two weeks ago. We had a GREAT time! We did a lot of hanging out with Emily and Wendell, laid around the pool a couple of days, went to Universal Studios a couple of days, visited my parents at their retirement community for a day and a night, and did some decorating of Emily and Wendell's condo. The best part though, was sitting up late at night and just girl talking with Emily and Sarah Kate. I was truly in Paradise!! While walking around at Universal, I looked up and saw "Paradise" in lights on a building and just had to take the above picture.

On one of the days that Emily had to work while we were there, Sarah, Austin and I went to WONDERWORKS. Below are Sarah and Austin playing in giant bubbles.



Emily and Austin playing with the giant shark at Universal Studios.



Since we've been home I've been working like a Trojan on my "to do list". I am bound and determined to get the deck finished. It was on my list for last year, but I just procrastinated myself right out of doing it and I've been kicking myself all winter for not doing it. Soooo, I've jumped in with both feet and I will get it done or die trying. Actually, one of the reasons I didn't get it done before was because I kept changing my mind about what color I wanted to use. I've waffled back and forth on many choices. I finally decided on doing the rail and corner sections white and painting (staining) the actual floor the same putty color as the siding in the back of the house. I'm so happy that I decided to go with the white.


The wrought iron table and chairs were painted green and I decided to paint them black and I'm loving the change, I bought some pretty chair pads for the chairs and I can't wait to get it all put together. I love how the black pops against the white. And I can't wait to see how the colors of my flowers will pop against the white. You can see a little bit of the siding in the following picture. That's what color the floor is going to be.


In other news, Patrick and Amber have a new baby! They are closing on their house at the end of May and when Amber heard about a new litter of Yellow Labs, they just couldn't resist getting one. You need a little back story here. Patrick has always LOVED "Old Yeller". Even as a little boy he would say that someday he was going to have a Yellow Lab and he was going to name him "Yeller". My Patrick is such a soft hearted guy. A couple of years ago, Austin had a little friend spending the night. As we were eating dinner, Austin turned to his little friend and said, "After dinner we'll watch "Old Yeller" and you can watch Patrick cry!". He's 29 years old next month and he still cries every time Old Yeller gets shot So, now he finally has his yeller dog. He is so cute and we've all fallen in love with him. I will miss him when Patrick and he move to the new house next month.

Speaking of their new house, here it is. It is a tri-level with an in ground pool out back (I think the pool was was what sealed the deal). They have a lot of work ahead of them. While the house is sound, there are a lot of cosmetic things that need to be done to bring it up to date. It's stuck in the 70's if you know what I mean. We will be spending a lot of time cleaning, painting and landscaping over there and it will be a lot of fun. I will take before and after pictures and share them with you as we go.

Here it is from the back...I foresee many good times in this back yard.

As if tackling the deck wasn't enough of a project, I am also working on refinishing my grandfather's 97 year old high chair, and I swear I think it had 97 coats of paint on it. I've never stripped an old piece of furniture before and I had no idea what a slow process it is. I bet I have at least 12 hours in this project already and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere, I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it when I see little Brooks and all the grands to follow sitting at my table in their great, great grandfathers chair.

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And speaking of Brooks!!!!! Here is Sarah at 23 weeks. He's growing fast and we can't wait to get our hands on him.

Well, it's time to get back to my projects. I'll eventually get caught up with everyone, I promise.

Ohhh, there is something in the works here that has been long prayed for and anticipated. I can't give you any more details right now but please hold good thoughts for the signing of contracts. I promise to give alll the details when I can.