WHAT A LIFE

Yum! Fresh strawberries! There's something about strawberries that says summer to me...here it is...mid March and the strawberries in the local Red Apple store are sweet and ripe...and large!

This was just an average sized berry! When I saw these at the market I knew that God loves me!!! Everybody sing...Jesus loves me this I know...look at how the berries glow.

I'm still walking to and from work, it's only 25 minutes, a lot better than the 50 minute bus ride in Portland, and I'm loosing some weight too.

This was the view going to work at 7:30 am yesterday. How beautiful is that? It's been cool and wet and overcast for the last 5 or 6 days here but it's still not as bad as Portland. At least the sun comes out for a little while every day. Coming home I got to see this...

Can you make out the snow capped mountains in the distance? Ontario is really surrounded by a ton of beauty, you just have to look out, not just straight ahead. On clear days this view is truly spectacular.

Nick built me this cabinet the other day, out of scraps of this and that. I love it! It gives me an extra 17 inches of counter space which I desperately need! The other counter is only 3 feet long! I think we will paint it to match the drawer pulls and really funk it up. I like that it looks really weathered.

Poor Nick, yes I had to say it again, the truck project has turned typically Nick and is not going well at all. In fact courtesy of the JERK at NAPA AUTO PARTS it could have killed us. The shocks went in in a wind storm, luckily no one named Dorothy landed a house on him, but it could have happened! Then he found a missing lug bolt...you have to disassemble the brake to fix that...and once that was done and the bolt was in, brakes bled etc. we went to run some errands. The brake fell apart!!! Why? because a guy at Napa told Nick he didn't need a spring (one that was on the brake when he took it apart) and Nick took him at his word. Lesson learned...not everyone here is a decent person! One of these days these older guys out here are going to figure out that people do look at reviews on line, and a bad review can in fact hurt your business.



Well, we've been in the house for one month, yesterday, and we still love it! Plumbing and all. We've made progress turning it from a rental house into a real home, and there are lots more changes coming. An old house is truly a labor of love. Speaking of love I just found out Ms. Jane will be here May 10th! I can't wait! Buno is beside himself! She doesn't know it yet but I just might have a project for her, one that will be a big part of our new home! TEE HEE!

Hope all is beautiful where you are-
xoxo

HURRAY FOR GRUMPDOLF THE SALT AND PEPPER

Thanks to a lot of blood, sweat, tears and good old fashioned elbow grease, we have indoor plumbing once again!



Those are two pieces of pipe that had to be replaced. I am so proud of Nick, I know that this was a physical challenge, not to mention a test of patients, I honestly thought he was headed for a nervous break down at several points.

He had everything ready to be turned on by noon today. wouldn't it figure that the one part he really wanted to replace, and didn't, was the only thing that leaked! He got that old fitting removed, we had everything turned back on and now (cue angles singing) WATER! In the pipes where it belongs!


 Bruno seems pretty happy now that we can start filling in the giant hole and send the Orks back to middle earth!

I found this ominous sign in the dirt right before the water was turned on. I just knew then that everything was going to be allright and that Nick and I are meant to be here, loving and caring for each other and this beautiful old house. I will never again take for granted the joy of a flushing a tiolet!

I'm going to go help fill in the hole now. Hopefully I won't be sharing anymore plumbing pictures.

It really is a beautiful day!

I DON'T THINK WE'RE IN OZ ANYMORE BRUNO

I've really struggled with what to write today. I don't like negativity of any kind, but, here I am...angry, frustrated and negative!

Why do I feel this way? Because the contractor we were going to hire to help with this plumbing project is a flake!!!! We have wasted, over three days, about 8 hours waiting for him to show up, he was 3 hours late one time, didn't show up another, Nick had to call him to find out he wouldn't be here, was supposed to be here around noon today, at 2 when Nick called he was on his way to a meeting. WHAT!?!? Is this what passes for good business in Ontario Oregon? Do you not realize that people talk? That not keeping your word is just as bad as not doing a good job? If you happen to be reading this in Ontario, RKC Handyman, DO NOT CALL HIM! He might do great work, but will he show up? I feel like sending him a bill!

The really sad thing is that I've had confidence in Nick's ability to do this job from the get go. If he hadn't waited I would have had water 2 days ago!! The other sort of sad thing is that, when I work, cutting hair I talk to how many people? Do you think I'll have anything good to say about you? People ask me all the time if I know a good-insert tradesman here-no but I know a bad one!

Enough negativity! I hate it! On a happier note, I got a little sewing done while I was waiting. I took one of Ms. Jane's napkins, a piece of lacey stuff of my Mom's and made a happy little pillow for the bed. I don't think I've done any hand sewing for at least 10 years, it felt good! Well, at 46, threading a needle is a lesson in patience, thank goodness someone showed me how to make a needle threader out of a piece of paper once.

That picture turned out a little dark, didn't it! Oh well.guess I'll try to get a better one later.

Nick is swearing again, I think the Orks have him, I'm going to try to go save him now.

Have a beautiful one!

A SUNNY DAY FULL OF POSIBILITIES

Bru is not so patiently waiting for spring, like so many of us. Our dirt is still pretty frozen every morning, way to cold to put little seeds in the ground, so we're all staying busy indoors, or trying to. Bru is making sure everything is hunky dory on the couch, cushion tester it's an important job you know!

I decided to clean out my make up drawer, before you judge me, I am a licensed hair stylist, and these are a very important part of my job. How can I convince you how pretty you can be if I don't even try! Going back to work this weekend, I really didn't want the frustration of trying to find things.

We  went to K-mart and I found these great interlocking bins, 9 per package for $9.98! Now I can get ready for work in half the time!! Speaking of work...I haven't even worked a shift out there and already, I've gotten a promotion. I'll be making what I did in Portland and I'll be the "assistant manager". It's going to be more hours than I want, with the wedding looming large and the yard being what it is, what I really need is time! Money is good but time is better. Oh,well.

Nick went to the post office, and brought home a package form Ms. Jane!! I love presents!!! I knew she was sending it but I had no idea it would be this packed with goodies!

Wow, these napkins are just the right shade of blue for the bedroom, and there is a beautiful round tablecloth that matches. We need night stands, I'm thinking a couple of those cheap round decorator tables and this cloth and maybe one batten burg lace cloth. I might take a couple of the Napkins and make pillows for the bed. As I was enjoying the feel of all this fabric and all these fun new things I thought about a blog I was looking at yesterday. I wish I could remember who's blog it was, but this woman refers to her Mother-in-law as her Mother-in-love. I actually cried when I read that, because that what Ms. Jane is. My future Mother-in-love! Thank you for all the goodies! Bru was excited that she remembered to put something in there for him. Well, we're waiting for the water department to come tell us to start laying the pipe. I might have water before I have to start working!! YEA!

Have a beautiful day! I know I will!!

RETHINKING SPACE

I woke up this morning to watch the sunrise. I'm probably going to make my Dad choke but, I love mornings! While I was out there, shivering, I did a little thinking. Will spring ever really get here? How do you know that when you close the fridge door the light goes out? If I cut up one of those apples and treat it like a baked apple and spoon it over ice cream...? What color should I paint the trim on the house? You know those stream of consciousness thinking sessions, or as I like to think of them, Winnie the Pooh times.

Guess that's what I was doing really, dreaming about my day, thinking about all of the things I want to get done this week, I want to get a few more rocks done. Ms. Jane asked me what I was going to do with my rocks...put them in my garden. O.k. so I only painted this one purple and then decoupaged some K&Co. cardstock things on it (I must have really liked this pack...I bought two!) and waiting for the Mod Podge to dry. Not sure it will hold up in the garden if it rains but...well...the garden is where rocks live.

I was talking to Ms. Jane the other day about my kitchen, my tiny, little kitchen. If you were wondering why there aren't any pictures of the whole kitchen, it's because it's so small that you can't get the right angle to fit the whole thing in, I've been trying. Having a tiny space doesn't mean you can't have cute things around, it just means that if it's not functional it needs to occupy non-functional space. I need flowers so, an old juice glass, some silk flowers and that un-usable two inches between the stove and the sink. That space that isn't even big enough for the dish soap.

Nick's giant hole just keeps growing! He is now down 39 inches and it's 18-20 feet long. About every three feet he runs into pipes going to who knows where. Bruno thinks the trench project sucks! Brunotopia is now an obstacle course, good for playing Evel Knievel or WWI medic jumping the trenches, not so good for napping in the sun spots. He has also started trying to convince me that Bilbo Baggins has been squatting in the Quonset hut.

Well, time to start my day.
Hope yours is bright and sunny and beautiful!

WEDNESDAY'S CHILD IS FULL OF WOE

My poor Nick! The main from the street is leaking into the basement. Yes that's him, begging me to take the shovel and put the dirt back in the hole. He stupidly keeps asking "What's next?", well...

That's right, It's snowing! This picture was taken at 8:00am,
                                    

This one was taken at 8:22! It's showing no signs of letting up! He really needs a day off to heal up, his hands are in bad shape and his knee is all swollen up.



hard working hands

In other news...because it's snowing, I think I might do a little baking after my interview, the interview that I'm hoping will be cancelled because of the snow. I'm thinking some oatmeal cookies! 

March is National Craft Month and I'm getting ready to think about working on posts for that. The kitchen knob project is on hold, Nick's luck has rubbed off on me, the screws that came with the knobs are to big for the knobs! Two people born on Wednesday's should not live under the same roof!

After a lot of looking I found the poem: Monday's Child...

Monday's child is fair of face

Tuesday's child is full of grace

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Thursday's child has far to go

Friday's child is loving and giving

Saturday's child works hard for his living

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay

Hope you have a beautiful day, me I'm going to find something to bring me joy. Maybe a snowball fight with Bruno!

HAPPY LEAP DAY

I always think of Leap Day as a little bonus we get every four years. This year I'm going to use the day to finish up some projects and wrap my head around going to Great Clips for a job interview. I'm not really ready to go back to work but the old bank account says I must if I want to finish the house before the wedding.



The dreaded project list just keeps on growing and I'm afraid that if I go back to work nothing will get done. At least the house is only a 15 minute walk from the salon.

At least my kitchen knob project is almost finished. That's one thing I can cross off my list! and boy does that feel good. We're hoping that Nick has finally gotten the plumbing fixed. Ahhh the plumbing. He finally got the kitchen sink issue fixed, when the main shut off in the house started spewing water all over the basement. A call to the city to have the main on the street shut off, 57 strings of curses that I have never heard put together before and of course they don't make that any more. I actually sat down and cried. Poor Nick, hey wants so much for things to be perfect for me! I cried because it's hard to watch someone you love work so hard and get kicked in the teeth so many ways!

I'm so grateful for the Quonset hut. The world best out house!! Well, more plumbing news, as I was writing that last paragraph the water guy turned the water on and the water worked!! No leaks, until that is he pulled away now we have discovered that the pipe from the street to the house is leaking into the basement. What more can happen? I'm going to sign out and go try to pick up his pieces.