garage=house

Entry and office...

Well the men (Jerry and John) arrived home from Minnesota ready to spruce up the garage with the fancy pants epoxy treatment. While I am in favor of anything that makes my man happier and feel at home, this one caught me by surprise a bit. EVERYTHING in the garage came into the house and patio and seriously those garages were still full of boxes, etc. I have been working so hard to turn this into home, with everything in its place, that this kind of brought a tear to my eye.

So here is what our place looks like now! I admit it is extremely difficult to find what you are looking for but I am also taking advantage of this time to continue to unpack and toss.























 

My cute workermen before the job lining things up!

What it looks like now~but still drying...

They even added anti skid just for me since I fall so often! :^<

The latest is that its not drying quite the way it should be due to cement or desert weather...so instead of everything being back in the garage last night...it will be another week. We need to do a clear coat to really seal it on Monday and then wait another 3 days to dry. Again a few tears I guess because I have been living the messy confused life for so long now. It will all be fine and I can reach the wine rack AND beer drawer so I guess there really isn't a problem!

house update...

This photo is suppose to be below but refuses to move~ so fine...whatever!

I have been meaning to share a few photo updates with before and after shots but honestly I really should have  planned this better BEFORE. I seem to have very few before pics so difficult to show the improvements fairly. Everything seems to happen so fast I dont think to myself 'get a photo before it looks good!'

Dining room before

Dining room now

Great room before and with ugly shelves

Before but after we removed shelves

Sewing room before

I found cloth cubbies for my fabrics color coordinated!

There are other rooms to show you but I seem to be in a fight with the photo downloader and it wins...today. Everyday we get more done and more pictures on the walls and less clutter. I think the only thing I find fault with is I am too short for the house. Remember when you had little tyke stools everywhere so the kids could reach stuff? Well I have stools in every room almost because I cannot reach beyond the 2nd shelf. Perfect house for the boys for sure but its an adjustment for us shorter folks.
Happy November! I am going to start making calls to see if I can find a few orphans to fill up our table. I just hate holiday dinners without lots of people. You are all invited!
My man has been in MN doing the big halloween extravaganza and having a great time. I will be picking him up with John tonight and they plan to spend the week working on the garages. You know that fancy epoxy on the floors and shelves on the walls kind of thing. I am excited about any projects that help us feel organized. I am also anxious for the creative force to begin within me. I go in that soft soothing sewing room and nothing comes out of me. I am hoping its my mind feeling overwhelmed with all the to do list items and it simply cant think creatively. I feel like the poster child for ADD because I stop the task on hand everytime I enter a room and see something else that needs to be done. Yesterday I went to the nursery and bought lots of flowering plants and filled all the pots we moved here. Nothing says home more than sitting outside with the scents and colors of flowers. I even potted 2 gardenias and I cannot wait to enjoy their intoxicating perfume!
Time to get busy...

who I am....

I always seem to blog about where I am, where I am going or what I have been doing. I have begun to wonder if I will ever finish unpacking and my goal is to simply eliminate a box or two each day. I am feeling lucky to have a house big enough to still have room for more even though I have been tossing here and there.
I found this today and thought it was worth sharing since it affected my life so greatly at the time. I wrote this for Bonsall Woman's Club as their spiritual values person at the one year anniversary of 9/11.

"Not so long ago there was a woman named Cheryl, as I am, and she lived here in Fallbrook. She had children in school at Fallbrook High School and Sullivan Middle School as I do, and they even had similar classes with my children.
Her son was in Boy Scouts and in the same troop as my sons.
Her husband put on the same uniform to go to work as my husband does. They were both pilots for American Airlines.
But for the grace of God this is where our lives separate.
On September 11, 2001 that Cheryl's husband put on his uniform and kissed her goodbye for the last time. Not a day goes by that she doesn't miss everything about him.
I am the lucky Cheryl this time and my husband is still here to put his arms around me.

In honor of her husband please.....
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do."

Rande's eagle project was a memorial to Tom McGuiness and we have never been more proud of him.
I know its not much but I hope people walk by and think of Tom because he deserves to be remembered.

Speaking of which...I have been absolutely dying inside to share this and most of all to 'present' it to Jerry. I decided our anniversary was the perfect time and most of all because I could not keep it inside me any longer.

Palm Springs has the coolest Air Museum dedicated to the people that have served in our wars and the history behind them. They have so many artifacts from the past its definitely worth a trip. On our last visit they have a memorial to members that have earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and you may buy a brick to honor or remember someone. Jerry happened to mention he has the medal which was a big surprise to me since we dont really talk about Vietnam together. Well I decided that my man should be honored as well and went about the business of finding out information and how to make it happen.

Pretty awesome huh?!? I am so proud of him and think every single person that served during Vietnam deserves to be honored as well. They came home beaten and changed and were treated so badly by their own country for doing a job most did not want to do. I was so excited to share this with my man but honestly I couldn't tell how he felt about it. Maybe its part of his past and suppose to be forgotten...I dont know but I am still glad I did it. He was and is an amazing pilot and deserves to be honored.

On a lighter note I would like to give a shout out to Timothy for hooking up our stereo system. I have been without for so long I simply forgot I could fire it up. Seriously the cd player had a Christmas cd in it from forever ago! I came across Adele and decided she needed to liven this place up and that she did. As with everything I do lately~ I think I now need to get new speakers. She wasn't that loud honestly but one of them is crackling now. Darn it!

Jerry and I have had a reality check as we unpack and I do not know why we keep so many silly items from our boys. I came across the ghost costume Timothy wore his first halloween, the bus tag Kyle wore to kindergarten so they could return him at the end of the day, and dont get me started on all the things of Rande's. Not only do we hang on so does he so there is a lifetime of memories in boxes. The only thing we could come up with for our memory lane treasures is our life as a family with our boys was the best journey ever and each and every item brings it back to us. We have been blessed to have all three boys comment this summer what great parents we were and how much they appreciated the way we raised them. Doesn't get any better than that!
Thanks for dropping by.

Latest news

I am presently in Maui celebrating our 30 year anniversary and simply relaxing without guilt!
We will be home the 27th and I promise a great update then. I can't do much of a blog on my iPhone. I have some great before and after photos to show you our progress.
We have come far since we began unloading those big ol trucks and I love
our house more each day as it becomes a home. In the meantime Aloha and miss you all!

2nd trip to Urgent Care

 So within an hour of returning from Urgent Care for my foot I was walking on crutches to the kitchen for water. Caught a crutch on a chair leg and fell but didnt want to break my new glass so I simply did not catch myself at all. I landed direct hit to my elbow and split the baby open. Not much padding there for sure. Well  I scraped myself off the floor sobbing with absolutely no dignity left and went to lay down. I proceeded to continue to bleed heavily and at dinner when I began dripping on the floor we headed back over to UC. Same staff and must say they were happy to see me again...I can be so entertaining under stress for some reason. After an exray and shooting blood all over the wall they bandaged me up and gave the hex sign as we walked out.
I have nothing more to tell you other than I give up. I promise I wont post again until this very black cloud passes over me and I have good news.

Well doesnt our new kitchen look nice from this angle!

 

Poor Jerry...stuck with me forever.

If Jerry knew how to do craigslist I would already be listed in the free stuff category.  I am one big mess and I don't understand why.
Its badly sprained and I am suppose to not walk on it for 1-2 weeks. Seriously? I am going to Hawaii in 9 days and nothing is stopping me nor am I going to shelp around in this boot.  It clashes with my pareos and swimsuit ...guess I will be diligent until my flight and then aloha baby!
I did polish my toenails for the trip to Urgent Care and I think it helped. I intend to ice it with a beer bottle next and cross my fingers my man doesnt list me in the classifieds tonight.

shoe time

I am one of those people that loves to have their shoes in one of these organizers. To be truthful I have a shoe fetish even though I hate to use that word describing myself. So of course that translates into WAY TOO MANY shoes...I have always felt that Jerry would not be as aware of just how many pairs I have if they are in one of these sweet things so I always set one up...or two. Well I bought the damn thing over a week ago and have been tripping over it in my closet since. This morning I was busy unpacking clothes and accidently hit it and it fell over (all 30 lbs.) onto my foot. I will tell you I used all  my best swear words because it hurt like a son of a gun. My foot began to swell and forgot to stop! Holy smokes I look like Fred Flintstone now! ( I really would have polished my toenails if I knew I would be posting a photo.) So today has not been quite as productive as I hoped because of this incident but check out the finished organizer!

Yaba daba doo!

Now I just need to make another organizer and find the REST of my shoes!! The bad news is I cant wear any of them until the swelling goes down but hey I am organized and know where they are.

I listed our boxes and packing paper on Craigslist Sat. and we had 4 parties show up to take them all away! I actually had to tell a couple of people we were cleaned out. Very nice to be able to recycle and help out others trying to move. Needless to say its awesome to have them gone and be able to see our patio again. I would like to tell you we are done unpacking but the garages are still pretty darn full. We are working on it I promise!!