Trip to Dallas World Aquarium

W sitting in a tank well... he climbed up and said take my picture!


I am so in love with my new camera. Not only will it stop motion on waterfalls (forgot to load that picture) but it takes great pictures of jelly fish!



This is our very patient family waiting for W and I to get our move on. We are usually the ones holding up the movement. Well W is I am just usually with him waiting....... always waiting.....

At this point R and K have moved on and only W and I are on one side of the tank... T on the other, making faces at me to hurry up. I love this one, he's holding his breath like he is actually in the tank. Always funny that one.


Are they not the cutest three kids? We love going to these kind of places and we take our time and explore them all. We are not the family rushing from one exhibit to another, we are the ones that stand in the way of everyone else taking in every fish, stingray, turtle, or broccoli. They fed the saltwater fish broccoli while we were there. This tickled K cause broccoli is her favorite veggie.



This was by far the coolest tank. I only wish the manatees would have come closer so we could have gotten a picture of them. They were so beautiful and gracefull. We enjoyed the giant turtles and catfish.

This mornings pictures...

I have been admiring all the pictures on other blogs and have decided to use my beautiful camera to post my own family, yard and house. So here are some shots from this morning.



First I had to take a picture of my "solar clothes dryer". I think it's quite funny that these are now a thing to take pictures of. I have had one at each of my houses, installed by me mostly. I have always loved the smell of fresh dried laundry, but on the down side hate stiff towels, and the lint and dog hair that never seems to come off. But now this is the only clothes dryer we have. It works great, and luckily we are now in a hot climate in the shade so the clothes don't fade as much. The down side is it is humid in Texas and sometimes it takes all day to dry out our clothes.



K and W went out lizard hunting this morning. They didn't find any like we did yesterday on the trees. K hope I catch another toad tonight around the pool so they can put it in the tank with our new anole lizard we caught last week.






W caught our cat Sokka who had been high in the trees chases dragonflies we believe.




We then spied this amazing spider web right at the edge of the creek.




And who could resist the creek? It's a bedrock lined creek, so pretty and water fairly clear for a city drainage way.

Some of the kitchen remodel

If you know me at all you know that I could never leave anything alone. This house had some serious ugly going on in the dining room and family room. Well here is part of the fix.




this is what this wall looked like before. Notice the very ugly plastic chandeler is gone


maybe later today I'll actually clean the tools off of the kitchen table so you can see how the whole room looks!

Creek

Poor W... he is desperate. Really wants to wade down the creek in the back yard to retrieve these yellow things...

I however did not want to wade in the sometimes a bit smelly creek to help him and he was afraid to do it himself. Maybe today he'll get brave or I'll get my feet stinky and wet.

bunny love

K got a new leash for her bunny Lucy and has been spending much time walking her around the yard. This morning she had me grab the camera so I could take their picture and W jumped in to love Lucy too.

what we've been doing

We've been very busy. We took out all the carpet from the kitchen and family room and replaced it with laminate.

It's about time I posted moving day pictures

Leaving South Dakota



K and T


Suki and Marsh E Mellow.



W, the bunny Lucy and K.

So funny

Moving day

Well we are taking the slow and long approach to moving. The truck got here on Friday. It sat until later Saturday after our garage sale and then we started loading it. Finally Tuesday afternoon we got it full and pack up. We actually used 1 foot less then what we said we would use. The company is coming to pick up the trailer this afternoon. We stayed in a hotel last night, the thought of a nice cool room with tv and a bed sounded so good compared to our hot house, with no beds, and tiny tv. Well the room was hot but cooled off quickly, the kids wanted to swim, which we did for a while before I declared exhausted was not good for being a life guard.

The bed would have been good but in my Queen I had W, K, the dog and everyone had to have their feet touching me, including the dog! So I did not have much room and woke every hour on the hour.

The roofers did get started on the roof here, and we lucked out that the two layers of cedar roofing under the bad asphalt was in perfect condition and could be reused with the shingles right over it saving us from having to pay for sheeting, or even tar paper. That should save us several thousand dollars and many days work also. They are shingling the back already and should have the house done by closing on Friday. That leaves the gutter guy to put on the gutters.

We are leaving tomorrow, Thursday and heading for the "old scatterville" we were planning on working on it but we are so totally exhausted I don't believe we will be doing anything but resting until Sunday when we drive for Texas and our "new" scatterville. We close on it on Monday morning.

I'll try to update some more once we get there, and unpacked a bit. Keeping my same email address so drop me a line anytime.

Old Scatterville Update

I have pictures of first Scatterville home being updated. We have two finished bedrooms, two finished bathrooms, mostly finished living area and kitchen.


This is half of the living room. The green color is lovely, the floors still need refinished but the trim and paint is mostly done. The clutter is mostly gone being moved to another house.


This is half of the master bedroom, almost done, just the window left to be painted and the floors again.

This is the other side of the masterbedroom looking out into the living room.



This is the second bedroom all but done except for a little touch up of paint and of coarse the wood floors refinished.

This is another view of the second bedroom, with the lighting that is throughout the house. We chose to keep the walls 8 feet high only so that the heater located in the floor in the middle of the house could be blown through all the rooms with a commercial grade ceiling fan. It works like a charm.

W's birthday (late)

W had his 5th birthday on the 6th. We woke up early and headed to the Omaha Zoo. We spent the entire day there and by 5pm we were all thoroughly exhausted, and very hot. It was 100 degrees that day. These birthday cake pictures were taken at 9pm that night after our two hour drive home.

Wow... life keeps going

This is our new kitchen. We are really excited about the metal cabinets and being able to have someone come in and paint them. They are in perfect order. The carpet is gonna go first thing! We are debating between some Ikea wood floor, laminate or having someone come in and refinish the concrete floor.

Next up is the Master bedroom... notice the bathroom off of it... with a shower. No more going in the basement to shower. Then again there is no basement.
Our backyard is a nice size with a creek running along the back. Notice the nice studio for me. It has electricity and an air conditioner.
Our living room, is very nice. Love the vintage aluminum windows in front. Our Family room, and two of the bedrooms have the exact same windows. I don't have a picture of the family room for some reason. It is right off the dining room and is a whopping 23 x 18. Great size for all our toys, computers, TV and fun stuff. It also has the laundry room right off of it and there beside the dining room is a huge half bath. We love the big opening and have plans right away to replace the sliding doors with something super cool. The plastic chandelier is hilarious



Our moving truck arrived today. We are using ABF upack. We will pack the truck and they drive it. We close on our new house on Monday 23rd, and plan on stopping at the old Scatterville before that since it is almost half way.

What I've been doing

I've been scraping the peeling paint off the walls and ceiling in our masterbedroom. It was patched at some time and that is what is falling off. Along with some of the old paint, but most of it is recent patch jobs.


Yesterday I scraped and patched the ceiling in the entryway. It turned out very well, but does need another coat of paint, which I'm out of. I even straightened the light fixture that I love!



And finally we found the perfect yellow for the entryway, and the stairs are almost done. One more coat of white. R wants to sand all the natural trim in the entry way and paint it white since the rest of the house is white already.

So I'll be back into the second coat, and adding a coat to the living room later today after a paint run.

Preparing for temporary move back to old Scatterville

W and Sukie
Yes school is almost over, YES! The down side is that we must really work hard to finish up that old house. It's so close yet we are so unmotivated. So after school is done and K is done with her soccer games we'll be moving back to try to finish it. We hope it will only take a month but it may take longer. At least we have the summer to finish it.

Bummers about being there and not here? The strawberries....the cherries....the raspberries... I hope the birds enjoy them for us. The nurture them and they provide with with bug eating and sweet songs.

So the list begins. What do we have to have? Sheets, towels, washing machine! Oh yeah, we are not going without a washing machine this time. We have two and our "good" one is very light weight so it's going back with us. Instead of moving the hefty dryer we are investing the a sunshine dryer, better known as a clothesline. Why not?

Pots, pans, just one of each. It is suprising the little amount of things you really need to live with three children. Why do we collect so many things? The Garage sale is finding more and more things as I realized that "things" are over taking my life, just because I may need them some time.

Simplicity

K with her soccer ball.
K playing soccer on Saturday, she's loving it.

I'm learning some simplicity around here this week. We are preparing to have a garage sale as we never had one when we moved here because the town we lived in only had 300 people, not great for sucesssful garage sales. Around here rummage sales are great. So the simplicity involves going through our sheets, blankets and books to start with. As I was wrestling the huge mound of sheets and things in the basement I realized that we really do not need to hold on to all those old sheets we had. So have a huge tub of sheets to sell. I am keeping only one nice flannel sheet per bed and one nice regular set. In our house that is still a lot of sheets but the laundry never gets done around here and I think it is because we have more things to wash then we will ever use.

Oh the tragedy around here.... or what a way to spend a birthday

It all started on the 21st. My MIL called to wish me a happy birthday a day early since we were leaving to go to the old scatterville the next day. Right after I got off the phone with her, another call came in.

It was the City of Old Scatterville. The meter man had just read the water meter at our house and it had used 22,000 gallons of water that month. Well in a tiny town everyone knows your business so he knew no one was living there and shut off the water. Of coarse R and I were thrown into panic mode. He cancelled his Thursday classes and the kids and I loaded the truck and we drove down to see what the chaos was.

We arrived about 11pm and R going in first to make sure it was safe, but before we even got into the house we could see through the basement window that it was full of water. Sure enough about 3 feet of water and we could see that is had already dropped about three inches from that morning.



We drove on to our friends house and crept in as quietly as you can with three kids and a dog. Just a side note: I love you J. Without you I have no idea how I would have been able to function, you made what could have been the worst day of the year one that I will always remember as special, and it was all because of you. Words can not express how much gratitude I feel for having you in my life.

So the 22nd, My birthday, I called the insurance company to get the claim going, and J went to take her daughter to school and pick up mochas for R and I. She came back bearing scones, coffee, and flowers for my birthday. They were beautiful and my favorite Star Gazer Lilies. The insurance company told us it would take a while to get the claim going and we should probably start pumping the water out of the basement. We call a Restoration Company and they couldn't come out until the afternoon.

So we hung out at J's having the most lovely time. Our dog loved it there, wandering around her land and playing with the neighbors dogs. She was just gentle with J's kids, even the 11 month old.

At 2pm we went out to Scatterville and met the water people leaving T and K at J's house and taking W with us. We sat our our porch swing just feeling helpless as four trucks pumped the water out of our basement slowly. W and I dragged out board games to help the time pass.



We noticed that it wasn't just the basement that got wet but the bathroom walls, floors and the wood floor in the kitchen that had already been finished.



That evening J invited several of our friends over to celebrate my birthday and we had pizza. The kids had a blast playing and visiting, I had wine with my best friends and of coarse, A made a wonderful chocolate cake to die for. I really was the best birthday cake ever.

The next morning we headed back out to the house, this time W stayed back at the house and J's daughter who is K's age stayed home from school. They had fun all day long just playing in the 70 degree weather. R and I watched the crew drag countless things out of our basement ruined. Router and Table, tile saw, dremel tool, printer for my camera, a van seat... etc etc. After a stressful morning of rescueing my kids baby books from the dumpster and then finding photo albums of my mother who died when I was 20 something ruined, we decided most of the good stuff had been saved and I needed a break. So we went back to J's house so R could go to his meeting that afternoon. It was lovely afternoon of sunshine and sitting on the porch of her house watching the kids and dogs play and just visiting.

R and I went back out to the house to find the basement completely cleaned out. The dumpster full. Unfortunatly the fridge and freezer were in it along with paint and stain cans that can not go to the dump so we'll have to remove those later.


We tried lighting the beast of a furnace so that we could have heat in there again, the restoration company wanted it off for safety reasons.

It however wouldn't light so we headed back to J's house again.

We had some roasted chicken and she made the most delicious brocoli on the grill. I'm going to have to get propane for our grill to make some because it was great. The next morning we got a late start because we were exhausted but we were also trying to beat a snowstorm home. We packed up and headed to Scatterville to light the heater again. We spent an hour there and still couldn't light it and then hit the road. It was rain, sleet and snow most of the way home. About an hour and half away from home we hit snow. Tons of snow. You could only see paths in the snow from the cars ahead and visibility was nothing. It was very slick and yucky. R was driving and put the truck in 4 wheel drive to get us home. After the big city driving go worse since there were no cars ahead of us. After getting into town a few hours later, we realized our city had already gotten a foot of snow. So it was the fact that it was snowing so hard the trucks couldn't keep up.

Now the waiting began to find out what the insurance company would cover because the adjuster wasn't even able to go out there until Tuesday. Tuesday I spent the day on the phone with the adjuster, the restoration company, the plumber and the insurance man. The news was mixed. They would cover the wood floor in the kitchen, the personal property lost, and the water heater. They would not cover the bulge and crack in the foundation or the cost to have the pipe that leaked fixed.

So here are today, waiting for a check to arrive so we can head back to old Scatterville again. It is Spring Break for us, although we had a blizzard this weekend that closed the interstates for 3 days. This delays the UPS, and mail and everything else we are waiting on to leave.

We have decided to do the work ourselves again. We don't want to but it just makes for sense since we did it in the first place and we know what we did. The plumbers fixed the leak and got hot water back in place and the furnace going so now we need to go through the dumpster and list everyting we have lost. Then we can begin to rebuild the house.

It was so close to being done, and now it is so far away.

Another snowy morning

I must be getting used to living in the great white north, as this morning after taking Suki out for her morning walk I told my husband, "It's not cold at all out, must be about 20."

I did complain that the new snow another 5inches brought the snow over my boots and into them as I walked Suki and she went off the sidewalks. I wasn't wearing socks.

So after some coffee and taking some pictures of the beautiful snow I decided to make granola again. The last batch was a disaster, the wheat germ burnt and tasted nasty.

Here is the new recipe
I have cooking in the oven:
Agape's Granola presented by Agape Bed & Breakfast
(Graciously given to us by our good friends, Mark & Monica)

In a large bowl, combine:
6 cups of whole oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 cups of oat bran or wheat germ
1 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup raisins

In a separate bowl combine:
1/2 cup of water
1 cup canola oil
1 cup maple syrup (or honey for variety)
2 teaspoons vanilla (pure)
1 teaspoon salt

"Lump" the two above mixtures together, and spread thinly onto cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 250 degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

As for my ear...
Well lets say it has not been fun. Turns out I had an allergic reaction to the ear drops and my ear canal swelled shut. After hydrocortizone, more ear drops and antibiotics here I am a few days later, no pain, not much swelling but still can only hear a little bit out of that ear. I am feeling human again so I hope that helps me be a better parent.

I went to my ceramics class and it is going to be great. I hope to learn everything about wood kilns and the pots it produces are beautiful. I am going to be making a series of cannisters that are inspired by grain bins and silos that I have seen in the county.

I start my actual work this week if my kids and ear behave well. I am supposed to prove that I have had two MMR shots however and I have no idea where my immunization records are. I haven't needed them since I was a kid, and since they were giving to me I have moved about seven times. Who knows where they are and I really do not WANT more MMR in my body. Plus it would cost a ton to get the shots again. So I hope to search the old Scatterville when we are there next weekend.

Hope everyone has a nice warm weekend!

A perfect cuddly morning

It is so cold here, and last night our new thermostat cover popped off and the heat didn't kick on. Don't buy a Hunter thermostat, stick with Honeywells.

Anyway, it is snowing out, this is the view from my kitchen window.

an applesauce cake is in the oven making the whole house smell wonderful



It's a perfect day for hanging out on the couch. Suki loves the view out the window.
It would be absolutely perfect if the side of my face wasn't swollen to twice it's size.

Very Good Idea

I have a very small kitchen, I love it but it is very small. While I was back in the old scatterville, visting a friend I noticed she had a notebook full of recipes. Now I have never had a recipe box, too many papers. I have had a notebook full of print out from the computer but there were never organized. I loved her idea and started my own recipe notebook.

In this book I only copy my favorites, you know that ones you make at least once a month, but have to dig through all the cookbooks to find the only recipe you use out of it? I actually threw away four old cookbooks that were falling apart after taking my favorites out of them.

Now instead of having all my Cook's Country and Food Everyday magazines in my kitchen cabinets along with my 20 cookbooks, I have one notebook. Everything else now lives in my bookcase, where it should.

Update on my health, well my ear is now swollen twice it's size and I can not hear out of it at all despite being on antibiotics, ear drops, decongestant, Advil and tylenol. My face is numb from what my doctor explained as the swollen ear compression a blood vein on the side of my face. Needless to say I am not doing much today.

I do start my Ceramics class tonight, and hope I can get myself souped up enough to be alive and awake.