Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

New Chapter. . . New Book??

So. . . things are changing.  Things have changed.  Mostly past tense.  I'm working on taking the crazy out of my beautiful life.  I'm almost at the end of a very long, somewhat painful chapter. Maybe even at the end of the book.  I'm tired but not defeated.  I'm slowly working through the regrets and finding the blessings.  I know I have plenty of them but I haven't been able to see them very clearly.  And since you have to start somewhere, I started with my front yard.  All things considered, it's not too bad.  It's just been neglected for years and years and years.  Like so many other things in my life.  So I hired a landscaper.  Here are the after and before pictures (I put the after picture first because it's so much prettier!):
 


It really is time to stop looking back and move into the future.  I think it's going to be a whole new book. 

Monday, January 7, 2013

Snow! (Jar of Cheer!)

It's been awhile since we've had a good snow fall around here.  I don't like the cold but I DO like the snow.  Today it started to snow on my drive in to work around 8:30 a.m. and continued falling all day long.  By the time I got home this afternoon, we had close to 5 inches.  The kids put on their snow clothes and went outside around 4:00.  They immediately started building snow forts. . .




I kept expecting them to come inside and warm up but they just kept building. . .





While the kids were outside "working" I was in the warm house with a hot cup of tea, listening to my Allison Krausse station on Pandora.  I put some potato soup on the stove and decided this was the perfect scenario for my "Jar of Cheer".  I held onto the moment and enjoyed the fact that the house was clean and quiet and that my kids enjoy each other's company.  I realized that this is something I'm supposed to write down and hold onto so that I can remember the good moments of 2013.  I wrote it down and put it in a mason jar. . .


When the kids came in around 8:00, they were happy to have a hot bowl of potato soup to warm up with. . .

(Zach isn't nearly as happy about having his picture taken as Gloria is.  The only reason he is standing here letting me take it is that he needed a spray bottle to ice down his fort and I bribed him with this photo op before I would find one!!)

So this is my first official Jar of Cheer post.  Hoping for many more. . .

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Feeling Productive. . .

I guess the positive thing about Gloria's illness is that I'm healthy and she's a pretty good patient so I've had some much needed time at home for the last couple of days.  I spent New Year's Day taking down all of the Christmas decorations and cleaning and washing everything in the house in an attempt to banish these nasty germs for good.  I also managed to find the time to play the guitar, spent an hour on the treadmill, used my Kohls gift card from Tony on a new pair of running shoes (Thanks Tony!) and even updated (back-dated?) my blog.  I posted retroactively so here are the links:

Pics from Sunday (Tradition)

Random Photos of my Christmas Decorations

Gloria's Bieber Birthday

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning at Home

Christmas Day at The Bakers


And the photo of the day is:


All of the Christmas stuff is packed up and put away (in the garage, at least!).  My walls once again are (nearly) bare and my counters are empty except for a few candles and a Poinsetta.  Gloria would prefer things on the wall and fun little knick knacks set around, here and there, but I learned a LONG time ago that those things require dusting and I'd rather spend my time on other things.  I know it won't last but for this moment I'm enjoying a clean, warm house!!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Decor. . .

I'm only posting these pictures for future reference.  One of the practical things about my blog is that I can look back on it to see how I did things in the past.  I use it for that more often than you might think.  Gloria helped me decorate this year and we pulled out WAY more stuff than we usually do.  I've become a minimalist in my old age because I've discovered that the more you get out, the more you have to put away.  I'll use my sister's description of her own decor to describe ours: "It's like Christmas threw up all over the house". . .  At least most of ours was contained in the kitchen. . .









I'm writing this post on December 31st as I put all of the decorations away.  I enjoyed having them all out for a couple of weeks but I'm looking forward to empty counter tops again!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Blackberry October. . .

This idea of taking a picture everyday has been ingrained in me and has become a habit that I don't really even think about anymore (that's why it's called a habit, right??).  So I find it interesting to look back in time through the pictures that I take on my phone.  I don't download them everyday and even when I manage to download them I don't always look through them or edit them until a later date.  And then it's fun to see the month-at-a-glance during those times that have been especially busy.  In looking back, October didn't seem to be as busy as some of my months have been but for some reason I felt like I couldn't ever catch up!!  The following photos all came off of my Blackberry (except for one) and I tried to link to posts that I actually took the time during the month to write about! I only missed taking a picture a couple of times all month! It's a fun little trip down Blackberry Lane. . .


October 1, 2011 Intense BSU vs Nevada game at the in-laws. . .

Watching the game at Jeanie's is almost as good as being there. . .

October 2, 2011 Youth Sunday (click on the link to see the details)

October 3, 2011 Monday. 
This picture will make more sense later in this post! Zach asked me to text it to him so he could continue working on something during a break at school. . .

(October 4th is forever lost to me. . . )

October 5, 2011 Youth Group


October 6, 2011 Zach's Artwork (See Oct 3rd above!!)

October 7, 2011 Friday- Road trip to McCall for Samuel School at Quaker Hill


October 8, 2011 Andrew at Art in the Bar



October 9, 2011 Boy's Birthdays (Click on the link to see the explanation for the picture below!)

The Resistance of Catan
(You can read more about it here.)
October 11, 2011
A little walk on the canal with Jake and Gloria. . .


October 12th???

October 13, 2011 The Project (See the finished product right HERE)

October 14, 2011 Road Trip to Newberg for Quiz Meet #1

October 15, 2011 Quiz Meet #1 of the 2011-2012 Season

October 16, 2011 Road Trip back to Boise

October 19, 2011 Cases
Rob has had a backlog of cases that piled up on him over the summer and this is one of the few pictures that I have.  At some point I'll have to track the delivered cases down and take a few good detailed pictures but for now, this will have to do!

October 21, 2011 Antsy and the Troubs at the Civic Center

October 23, 2011 (Cheating- this was not taken with my Blackberry!)
Matt's Party!

October 24, 2011 Halloween Prep
Getting out the costumes. . .






October 25, 2011 Jake the hugger

October 26-27, 2011 Quite Possibly The Longest Day Ever

OK, this requires a bit of explanation.  We agreed to work on a show in Twin Falls without realizing the amount of time involved.  OK, maybe I'm the only one who didn't realize it but in order to be in Twin Falls to set everything up first thing in the morning, I had to get up at 4:30 a.m.  I left Meridian around 5:30 a.m. and headed for Twin.  Rob had driven the Uhaul over the evening before so he could be at the church we needed to set up in by 8 a.m. for a walk through.  Early mornings don't bother me when early is 7 a.m. but driving at 5:30 a.m. was pretty miserable.  I remember thinking, if the sun would just hurry and come out, this won't be so bad.  I waited and waited but kept driving anyway . . .

In spite of missing the Twin Falls exit (what, I thought there were 2 exits to Twin!!) I was still there shortly after 8 a.m. and Rob and Kurt had already unloaded half of the truck.  We had to set up in two different places- we had our Genie towers with our line array along with a bunch of subs and amp racks in the church sanctuary (called "stacks and racks").  This tour traveled with everything else they would need so we had to set up as quickly as we could so they could unload their semi truck full of stuff around us. . .

I'm not a big fan of the pressure that is part of the deal when working with national artists even though this was probably more mild than I imagined it to be but at some point early in the day, my head started to hurt.  Maybe it was the (perceived) stressful show or a lack of sleep or my blood pressure or just my life in general but this head ache was there to stay.  Even with a few sweetly offered and much appreciated remedies, the pain just wouldn't go away. 

After setting up in the sanctuary, we headed over to the gym (in another building that might as well have been a mile away!) so we could set up the rest of the stuff we brought.  It wasn't much in comparison to some of our other shows, but we had to set up a small sound system as well as about 120' of pipe and drape, a big screen with a projector and lots of lights and truss.  It seemed like a lot at the time.  When everything was set up and had a stamp of approval, Kurt headed back to Boise for important obligations and Rob and I went to the local mall so I could get a pair of jeans.  Much needed jeans.  The mall is next to this canyon which was the general area of a car accident I was in when I was in about third grade.  I guess I'll have to save that story for another day. . .





After the dinner we all headed over to the sanctuary for the Steven Curtis Chapman concert. . .

We sat on stools next to the front of house engineer.  The lights and the fog were cool and the loud music sounded great but none of it helped my head.  When the digital mixer out front went out after the third song and flashed it's lights ominously before it came back on (lots of silence when this happens) I decided to head over to the gym and start taking everything down so it wouldn't be an all-nighter. 

One foot in front of the other, breathe in and out. . . By the time the concert was over, I was mostly packed up at the gym with everything by the back door to be loaded out to the truck.  We had to tear down and load up everything in the sanctuary first and try to stay out of the touring company's way while we were at it.  I got to meet Curtis Chapman during the load out and he shook my hand and thanked me.  He was very genuine and kind.  I don't know why I stress over these things! He gave us this signed picture for our artist wall (that doesn't exist yet!):

When we were done loading the speakers and amps that had been in the sanctuary, we pulled the truck to the back door of the gym to load everything there.  After about 10 minutes, we realized we would have to move the truck so that the semi and tour bus could get by.  We backed the Uhaul up to the front of the gym and decided to load out there while the artist convoy pulled out.  The tour bus didn't seem to be in a big hurry to leave so we ended up loading everything out by the front door.  Even though I had placed everything by the back door.  It was a long load out.  Thankfully my friend, Jamie, was there to help or it would have been even worse!  We finally left Twin Falls around 1 a.m.   It was a painfully long trip.  I was tempted to find a place in Twin Falls to stay the night but I had to take the kids to school first thing in the morning so we just kept moving.  Rob was in the Uhaul in front of me so we didn't go much over 55 mph all the way home.  We had to stop often to get some fresh air.  The Stage Stop half-way between Mtn. Home and Boise was a welcome refuge in the middle of the night.  Looking at the pictures now, I still feel a little queasy. . .

I actually even found a little humor in the situation. . .
We pulled into the driveway at home at 4 a.m.  Almost 24 hours from when I left it.  I was asleep before I got into bed and then overslept a bit in the morning, making Gloria an hour late for school.  Whatever. . .

Moving on. . .
October 27, 2011 More Halloween Prep
The shopping. . .





October 28, 2011 More Halloween Prep
Pumpkin Picking. . .




Pumpkin carving. . .

October 29, 2011 More Halloween Prep
The Construction of the Maze and The Party. . .
I have to insert a little blurb about Zach and Halloween right here.  Zach enjoys Halloween.  REALLY enjoys Halloween.  He even has a large stash of Halloween items and they are all categorized by item on a list on his Ipod.  The only reason I agreed to the maze this year is because it will probably be his last year at home on Halloween.  My boy is growing up, you know, so this was kind of his last hurrah.  He spent a lot of time prepping this year.  A LOT.  This is the Lego interpretation of the maze:

These are the pipes and couplers that form the maze.  The day they were laying everything out, Zach ran in and asked for my camera to take a picture and all I had was my phone.  I didn't realize until I uploaded this picture to the blog that he was taking pictures from the roof!!

I stayed out of the way while Rob and Zach (with help from Gloria) put up the maze and covered it with the black Visqueen.  Zach strung cobwebs and dug some graves under the pear tree.  Rob hung lights and speakers.  And swore a little bit.  And then we had the youth group over for a party.  Gary dropped off their fire pit and Rob put in a movie about Zombies so I think everyone had a good time!


October 30, 2011 Sunday
I didn't take too many pictures of the maze.  I'm not sure why.  I don't have a video or anything.  This is one I must have taken when I got home from church.  Hmmm. . .

October 31, 2011 Halloween

We spent a couple of hours after school putting finishing touches on the maze.  There was more swearing but it eventually worked out.  We had a few Zombies over to help us out and I, of course, had to dress for success.  I have a NEED to watch over every person who goes through the maze so that no one can possibly get hurt.  I don't want any Zombies or Trick-or-Treaters getting lost or hurt on my watch.  In my yard.  The liability is just too great!!!

I took a few pictures before the crowds started coming. . .


I talked Steph into being my door keeper again this year.  I couldn't have managed without her.  Isn't she pretty??


We had a good rush right as it got dark and then just a trickle through the rest of the evening.  The whole thing ended by 9:00.  It's hard to measure the success of the maze since some kids thought it was amazingly frightening and other (older) kids kind of scoffed at it but there were two people that made it all worth it for me.  One sweet little kid by the name of Carter came by on Sunday afternoon with his dad.  I saw them peeking into the maze so I offered to give them a little tour.  Carter is probably about 4 years old and was VERY articulate.  He had good questions and was very curious about what the maze would be like.  After the tour on Sunday he promised me he would be back.  Sure enough, on Monday evening at dusk, sweet Carter returned.  He was in a costume and was with his mom this time so I didn't recognize him at first.  I over heard him telling someone in line about the inside of the maze and was describing it in quite a bit of detail. It didn't take me long to figure out who it was.  His mom said that the maze was all he could talk about since he saw us putting it up on Friday.  He clung to his mom as I led them through the maze and screamed at all the right places.  I was a little worried that he might be too scared but as soon as he emerged at the end, he said, "Cool! Can I go again?"  He ended up going two more times before the evening was over.  I was still smiling about it when I went to bed that night. 

The other person (?) that made it all worth it was this Zombie. . . Yeah, the memories will be worth every bit of effort it took to make this evening possible.  Even though most of the effort was his:

So that marks the end of October but I have to include one more picture:

November 1, 2011 Post Halloween
What goes up must come down.  Yes, it absolutely MUST. . .
THE END.