New Additions

Wow, I didn't realize just how long it has been since I have blogged. I can just never find the time to do it.   In the last two years, we have moved, buried my father-in-law, married a daughter, a niece, had our second grand baby in May, with another grand baby due in September, 2 fundraiser's for our WOWS organization, been on our long trip to Arizona, and now looking forward to our Nancy, France trip in the Fall. I keep promising to do a better job, but I never seem to do it. I have to say that since the last time I have been on to blog, the whole site has changed. Does anyone have any pointers to help me out...I think I have almost forgotten how to do it?

We are moving!!!

We have been busy the last couple of months with selling my dad's house and purchasing our new house in the Sulphur Springs area. We are so excited about the move as it will have Chris and I both closer to our work. It was the longest process ever just trying to close on both houses. Chris and I were on the phone daily for the past 3 - 4 weeks with bankers, surveyors and the title companies. It was grueling, but we finally closed on our new house this past Friday. Once we are completely moved, we will then put our house up on the market.

I have lived in a log home for the past 26 years with having no opportunity to paint walls, so you can imagine my overwhelming excitement over picking and choosing paint colors. It is awesome! I finally made decisions and started painting over the weekend. I began choosing colors back in July when I knew we were going to move.

The house we bought was a relocation and we bought it from Coca-Cola's relocation company. We absolutely love it and cannot wait to finish up all the painting and moving. We feel so blessed and we are so thankful that God opened up the doors for us to move.

I GRADUATED.....YAY

Yep, finally...I graduted my certificate program for Non-Profit Leadership and Management Program in Austin, Texas....no more driving unless I just absolutely want too. This last year, one of the reasons I have not been able to post or do most anything is because I have been attending a program in Austin. I received a scholarship or half of one to attend....I was very excited that I was even accepted. MIRACLE!!! I have been so blessed and have learned so much about myself in the process which has been priceless. I can't even begin to tell you all that I learned throughout the year, but it has been wonderful meeting so many new people from so many different cultures, different backgrounds beliefs and everything else in between. I have grown to have an appreciation for all people. God has taught me to love people on a deeper level, learning to separate beliefs and backgrounds from people...He let me know that He loves all people. Who am I to think that some people are better than others or that I am better than anyone....this was just part of what I learned about myself. I feel as though on a spiritual level with what I am doing in the non-profit world and the women and children that I will be serving, I needed to learn this to even begin to help them. It was a great lesson for me. I had always thought I loved people enough, but God taught me that I didn't. I still had hang-ups, prejudices etc. and that I didn't love like He wanted me too. Sometimes, as a Christian, I help give us Christians a bad name which is so not my intention, but unconsiously, I do. I am a work in progress and hope I never get to a day that I am through learning more about myself. I thank God for this class that taught me so much on all sorts of levels. If anyone is ever interested in applying, it is through TANO (Texas Association of Non-Profit Organizations) held at Austin Community College.

These are some of the greatest new friends that I have made while in Austin, just a handfull...Victoria is one of the absolute best professional auctioneers I have ever witnessed raising 15 million or more in the last few weeks, working all across the US. Julia in between has become my second mom, FAMILY....with her daughter Natalia on the right who let me be a roommate while I stayed in Austin for the last year and her nephew Rocco, the cute little boy.
My awesome Cohort group in class whom I will miss greatly and already missing our conference calls...we had so much fun with our projects as you can tell. Christine Torres, JoAnn Swahn, Jane Murray, me, Heather Eilers and Daniel Guerrero, wonderful crew here.
Most of my class members...most precious people

I think I am the blurred vision across the stage, I see the bottom half of my face on the screen anyway.

My wonderful friend Candyss Bryant addressing our class, she was responsible for me getting accepted and the scholarship...her job with TANO is endless. She also works with the Army Rangers and you may see her on Fox News at some point sponsoring a few Army Ranger sniper sports

The awesome ever talented Barry Silverberg, President of Texas Association of Non-Profit Organizations...he loved using his cane to slap the desk to get our attention jokingly. He is a hoot and a complete clown...we love him!

My Son Zach

My son Zachary is such a sweetheart....He loves the Lord and he did this skit as Dennis at his back to school rally this week....well, I took my camera like a good mom but didn't check my batteries and only got Jordan Ramsey introducing him (sorry, you will miss that part).....I made Zach do the skit again once he got home because my husband had to work and he couldn't be there to watch....I so wish that you could have seen it with the audience interaction along with the lighting, but the message is still the same.....very good!!!! I hope you enjoy it!!!! I hope that you pass it along and share it with your friends....I have already gotten a couple of calls, one was from a place where they do occupational therapy where they deal with handicaps all day and it really touched them. SO please copy all you want and pass along.

Mission Project Sulphur Springs

This summer our church took on a local mission project. A man, Finis Attlesey passed away and donated this house to our church....we decided to update it and use it as a house for missionaries that are on furlough. There were several different groups that took on different projects....this was part of the new landscaping.

Starting the kitchen.
The painting of all the rooms

This was my project, the tile work, two bathrooms, a shower and a hallway.

One hard worker painting....we worked with some very precious people.

Other than my husband, this man may be my next favorite guy....Don Brown...he and his wife, Nora have been such precious people to me and have supported me in what I do. I love them both so very much.

Bathroom tiled

New ceiling fan put up, looks so gorgeous.

Fireplace painted, looks fabulous.

We had tools everywhere.....definately a work in progress.

Two very hard workers, Ashley and Jeananne who helped me with the bathrooms....they were such a joy to work with and get to know.

Two very hard little workers taking a rest....they did a lot for all of us and were so ready to learn how to do everything....they were such blessings.

We had to tear out marble tile that was so thick, and really was hard on our backs.

The bathroom tear out.

After tearing out the marble tile, this is what we felt like....it even broke our ax....I made Chris lay down on the floor while I outlined him for the next group that came in....I told them that we tore out the marble tile, but it was a killer....everyone got a kick out of it....I think I got more of one than anyone else....I have a sick sense of humor probably.

I started biking for the first time a few weeks ago when my husband bought me a new bike and not just any bike, a "Trek 7100 Hybrid"...I had no idea how much a good bike would make a difference, well it does. I recently biked 20.5 miles and will be doing it again this week....I have found that I really love biking....it is sad that it took me 43 years to realize how much I loved it...I have gone crazy with it and we have started a biking club for women in a nearby town....which my husband loves and is now our new maintenance guy for all of our bikes.

This past weekend, I kept my little grandbaby Alli....my daughter and her husband brought her over and to bribe her to stay with me, I told her that when the sun woke up, we would go bike riding....she loved that idea. Usually when I keep her, she always wakes up and asks to eat, not this weekend....the first thing she says is, "I wanna ride bike"...we had to eat first though before we went off on our journey....she was ready....I put her helmet on and she modeled it for me for a couple of pictures, but she was ready to go....I fixed her up a water bottle and we were off....we went close to 4.5 miles and my tire went a little flat, mostly because of the recent storms that brought down a ton of trees in our area....so we came back home....it was so hot that when I took her little helmet off, her head was soaking wet....she loved her ride, we ate lunch and then took a long NAP afterwards....here is Alli getting ready for the bike ride.

Come on Grandma "T", I am ready to ride in the bike.

I bought this in a garage sale along with a running stroller for a total of $50.00...a great buy, I have the bike trailer, now hopefully one day, I will start running as well....who knows, we have enough room for two kids at once in both....Alli is all set to go, but waiting on "T" to get a few pictures and she was getting annoyed.
Now it is time to go and look at that grin, she is so excited about going.....she can hardly wait with water bottle in hand, strapped in and helmet on....we are off and ready.

Project "Front Porch"

Recently my mother was going to get rid of her front porch white wicker furniture...I asked her if I could have it since she was going to throw it away....she also had a swing that was green and the cushions were very weathered and she wanted to get rid of it too...I asked if I could have that too....she just wanted to throw them away thinking that they were ruined....I could see a lot of potential in it all with a few cans of paint and new cushions...I brought them home and repainted and now have a brand new front porch and it is my very favorite place to be...every morning drinking coffee and Bible study, and then sometimes, I even take my laptop out to do work....it has kept me busy and really liking working outdoors and staying out there....I am enjoying every minute of it until the hot Texas weather hits, then I am not sure where I will be.

This is the long view from one end...I even painted our old swing that I had on our front porch that is in the front part of this picture and added a cushion.
The swing she thought had no hope, I primed and painted it, added cushons and a new canopy...the canopy if just pinned up there temporarily since my sewing machine is not working...I have to buy a new sewing machine.
This is a close up view...it is now a chocolate brown instead of a green.

Just part of the wicker furniture, it came with this little love seat, a plant stand, two chairs and a table that are all grouped together

I added a cross by the front door that one of my mother's friends gave me. I thought it added a nice touch...don't look at the shadow of the woman in the window.

The old swing that my husband painted red along with the porch, the back porch, the poles on the back porch...he went a little red happy and I thought I would blend in some new colors, making the red porch not stand out as much.

There's a monster in the closet

Many of you may never have heard the little kids song, "There's a monster in the closet and the ghosts are on the wall, so why do you keep telling me there's nothing there at all"...it s a little children's song that Chris used to play with his guitar and sing to the kids and they would get so excited and get louder and louder when they sang it...it is just talking about a little kid who saw monster's in the closet when the lights went out and basically wanted to get out of bed...the kids loved it and my littlest one would get his play guitar out and pretend to be like Chris playing and singing it...it was a really cute song...and we have some great memories, video's and pictures of him singing it.

This past weekend, my daughter and grandbaby came over for a visit...my daughter tried on Alli's little Easter dress for me and of course she had to have shoes to go with it and this was the result of her search...as you can see, it looks like a monster was in my closet and she destroyed a rack of shoes and pulled them all out to try on, not matching many pairs...I did happen to get one picture of a perfect shoe match...it so reminded me of that little song and the great memories that we have had with all of our children through the years.

Here is a little picture of her little Easter dress that she never got to wear, she got Scarlett Fever before she had a chance to wear it, but she is better now.
I had to take a picture of her smelling the tulips that our neighbor brought over before they left to go back home to Michigan. They were so beautiful until Alli got a hold of them and tore the pedals off one by one.

When Alli first got here, she jumped in my lap knowing I had my camera ready and said "cheese" really big. She is the funniest little kid.

Anniversaries

Anniversaries....what a scary word for some of us....we all have them....an anniversary of some kind. I have just gone through the anniversary of my dad's death and it was harder than I had ever imagined...it has taken me awhile to get back to normal....thus the reason for not blogging....I have to admit, I miss the blogging world, I have been keeping myself busy with projects at home, at work and other people's projects. Anything to keep my mind off of realizing that I have been without my dad for over a year now.

I am coming up on the anniversary of my son leaving for the Marine Corp. that forever changed him as a man....a husband...and someone I cannot even relate to anymore. I am so thankful that he is happily married, but I miss my son.

The anniversary of the death of my friend's son, Justin....thinking of how beautiful he was and how he loved the unlovable people in the world and had so much to offer and the heartbreak that his parents are still going through when they received that phone call on Easter Sunday 4 years ago.

The anniversary of the death of my step dad who was shot and killed by his brother on the church parking lot just 5 years ago.

The anniversary of receiving a 28,000 square foot building free of charge.

I have been going through all of these different anniversaries and completely forgot about my marriage anniversary....has any other woman forgot her anniversary before? I have been so focused on the heartbreaking anniversaries that I forgot to celebrate the one great anniversary with the love of my life. How sad, I have been so busy being depressed, grieving and feeling sorry for myself and those that I love that I forgot to be thankful for the anniversaries that I still have. It is sad when a husband has to remind his wife in front of a neighbor that you just met that it is your anniversary. What does a woman do to make up for fogetting? How do I make it up to my husband who in the past several months has been a walking Jesus to me....how grateful I am and full of love for my man who has been walking with me, treating me like a QUEEN. I have no tricks up my sleeve....no ideas of what I should do, I am completely clueless. Does anyone have any ideas (did I forget to mention that it has to be on a small budget)....what can I do? Please help!!!

Bathroom

Here is the bathroom, but actually, I have changed up a few things already but haven't taken any new pictures....I recovered this chair a couple of years ago and had it in my office at work. I have added black toile pillows in it to match the black toile shower curtain and the valance over the window. I wish you could also see the wall paint color better, this is not a true picture of the color....it is a richer golden yellow, I mixed colors together to get the color I wanted.

I actually hung the light fixture here, I couldn't wait for my husband to get home to do it....so I got impatient and did it and it actually works.....hung the mirror, did some of the plumbing, and the fixtures on the sink.

I got this baker's rack from my very good friend, Kim a few year's ago. It was in my kitchen and it was actually my inspiration for redoing the bathroom, I couldn't wait to get it in the bathroom. I have taken a couple of things off of this rack and it has very minimal things on it.


This is the ladder rack that I love from Lowe's....I have taken the toilet paper from the bottom and added a huge brown basket on the bottom shelf and added a little more touch on the top shelf.

This is the black toile that I chose to add to the bathroom and I love it....it compliments the room with the touch of red in the chair.

The tub tile that I am proud to say that I put in....I still have to caulk around the edges. I love the shower head on this, it feels like a rain shower when you are in it.

This is the second light fixture that I put in myself being impatient and not being able to wait on Chris to get home.

Loaded Questions

Where have I been? That is a loaded question.....I have been so busy working on taxes, and sending out receipts of donations, training my board members for the ministry, handing some things over to them so that I don't have to do them anymore, trying to get things going on our roof at Chrysalis House for the Spring, but mostly reading all of the books that my CPA gave me to read on all the new tax laws, all 6 books (they are so thick too).....although I have to admit, they do make for good sleeping pills. I have been reading them over and over again, not the books themselves, but the same sentence over and over again and I haven't gotten through one book yet, they are that boring. It takes a special person to become a CPA, I admire all of them. I have also been doing so much research on grants.....retaking classes on grant writing and just a ton of other things that keep me so busy and away from the computer doing the fun things that I love to do. I am pretty much a home body for the next couple of months reading, writing and researching....other than a doctor visit or eye appointment here and there. Had to get new glasses, bifocals actually.....that is right, I am getting older.

I also in the process found a way to finish my bathroom and am hoping that I will have time to post pictures of my finished bathroom soon.....there are still just a couple of things I need to finish in it, but they are so minor, I may have to finally pay someone to finish it because when you get down to this point, you don't even want to go in it. Love to you all who have been concerned for me....I have just been a hermit crab lately and into myself with all of the things that are going on. I am sorry if I have neglected all of you, please say you will forgive me, for now anyway.

Color, Color, Color and more Color

Well, as you can tell, I have painted the bathroom, only this picture doesn't do it justice....it was way too dark, and wasn't the color that it was supposed to be....so I let it sit for a day and a half to let it dry to see if I could live with it....well I couldn't, so I painted it again.

If you can see the difference here....there is a little of the dark on top.....I mixed the white and the dark together and actually got the color that I was going for the first time....this picture still doesn't allow you to really see the true color due to the lighting in the bathroom....the window is closed and there is one small light.
Late at night and still painting....I am working on retouching the ceiling.
What is more fun than painting your ceiling pink? Nothing, except making your son think it is going to stay pink....it is the kind of paint that goes on pink so that you can tell where you have painted, but turns a bright white....it was so much fun making him think I was painting it pink though....I finally had to fess up and tell him the truth....because he was getting upset. Can you tell why my neck hurts so much lately. This is the third and fourth coat I have painted.
Trying to look happy while painting....but hurting like a dog (not sure how a dog hurts, but I bet it feels something like me right now)....I was also bending down painting the wall and all of a sudden, I don't know what happened, I just fell into it....and screamed....the texture scraped my forearm and my knuckles.....Chris and my mom were home and came running thinking that my grandbaby had gotten hurt or had gotten into the paint.....no, I just fell for no reason at all. Got paint all in my hair and arm, then had to repaint it all over again.
I forgot to mention what I had been doing all day today.....I went to go get the ceiling paint out of my car this morning and when I opened the door, the gallon fell out all over the black asphalt driveway.....I spent all day trying to get it up....I washed my dustpan and brush that went with it and scooped up all of the paint and put it back into the can....and I still used it.....I washed and scrubbed the asphalt in 30 degree weather....and freezing. I then had to get our water hose with a sprayer and wash all of the driveway....the water came out of the sprayer two ways, one way on me getting me soaked and the other onto the driveway.....it took me awhile to warm up after that. Glad to know there is no more paint on the driveway though....I had a mess to clean up inside and out....I had tracked paint all through the house from the bottom of my shoes. I had to rest after all of that hard work. So that is what I have been doing all day. I pray this is finished by Christmas.