Chaos

I guess it's been awhile since I've posted.  I didn't realize a whole month went by, but we've been preoccupied with all sorts of things.  Plus, I don't live in Alaska anymore, so I sorta feel like I don't have anything worth writing about anymore.

However, here is my update.

Halloween came and went without my permission.  Since I didn't have my stuff in time, I had no choice but to let it slip by me without much recognition.  The best I could do was enjoy looking at all the decor in the stores and on the houses when we went driving through various neighborhoods.

But then!  Lo, and behold!  Our household goods arrived on Saturday, October 27, just 4 days before Halloween!!!  This meant I was too busy unpacking boxes to think about Halloween.

But then, I saw it!!  My pet skeleton was carried into the house, still stuffed in his box.  I was so glad to see him!  I put him in the car so he could hang out with me whenever I had to go somewhere.

At first I had him in the front passenger seat, but I eventually had to move him to the back seat.  I don't know if he was noticed by anyone, but he really enjoyed waving at everyone we passed.

So anyhoo, as I mentioned, the movers came, which meant we got really really busy.  It meant several days of cutting boxes open, unwrapping everything, and I do mean everything was wrapped in paper. Chuck said he even unwrapped a half-empty Kleenex box.  Ya.

And then folding all the paper that seemed in good condition.  I didn't want to see all that paper go to waste, so I gave a big pile of it to my friend for her grandkids to scribble and draw on.  Some of it I saved for scrap booking on (to protect my table).  Most of it, Chuck ended up hauling to the dump for recycling.  

I had a LOT of boxes with the letters "SB" written on them.

You can probably guess what "SB" stands for.

"Scrap Booking" of course!

The movers carried all those boxes downstairs and I had to unpack them all, and then figure out where in the world I was gonna put everything!

What a mess!  Did you notice what I did with my punches and ribbons?

Those long thin shelves that used to hold model trains is absolutely PERFECT for holding my punches!  It's as if they were built just for me!

Anyhoo, now two and half weeks later, I've got it "mostly" organized and I am already working on my Christmas cards.  :-D

I also had a table, plus the box on the floor, stacked with lots of stamp sets.  It took me awhile to organize those cuz I wanted to go through each of them and create an inventory list of all the sets that I own.  And then I organized them into different categories (Christmas, Halloween, Nature (plants), Animals, and everything else that just went together for lack of a specific category.  It's still not exactly how I want it, but it's good enough for now.  I'm sure I'll be doing more organizing as I figure out what's most efficient for me.

I've got over 250 stamp sets, not counting the wheels and background stamps.

Sheesh!  That's a bit excessive.

So last week our daughter Steph drove up from Louisiana to visit us, and she brought her "baby" Lula.

The kitties were not happy.

We had Peeka set up to live in our bedroom for a sanctuary, but every now and then she would get brave enough to come out.  Lula would growl and bark at her, but it turns out Lula was actually afraid of Peeka and would "run to Mama" whenever she needed to be reassured that everything was okay.  

Of course, the fear was mutual between them.  By the end of the week, they managed to just sit and look at each other without growling, but they never became close friends.

Weeners lived with Justin downstairs the whole time so we hardly saw her at all.

Lula is a very sweet dog.  She's MOSTLY well-behaved, and she can do a few basic tricks.

"Sit" and "lay down"

"Shake"

"High five"

I think her best trick of all is looking at you with "that face" when you're eating something.

She's got that one down pretty good.

While they were here, we took a little day trip up north to Holland, Michigan, about a two-hour drive from here.  It's a quaint little town with some Dutch heritage attached to it.

We ate at this "Windmill Restaurant" for lunch.

And then just walked around town and acquainted ourselves with their numerous vintage shops. 

They had a lot of nice shops there, but after awhile, they all started looking the same and blurring together.  So we stopped for pie and coffee and then went on our way to the shore of Lake Michigan where this lighthouse sits.  They say it's the most photographed lighthouse in the state, but I don't really understand why.

It was cold and windy that day, but we were there, so we made the best of it

I was thinking it would be a nice place to go in the summertime.

Also, while Steph was here, we got our FIRST SNOW, and Lula thoroughly enjoyed it!

It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to get her excited, roll around in it, and then come back inside the house all wet!  

 Last night and this morning, we got more snow.  When there's snow on the ground, there seems to be more bird activity around the bird feeders, which in turn brings sightseers of the feline kind to the window.

We have a male and female cardinal that comes around regularly, which is kinda neat to see.

Hmmm, this almost gives me inspiration for next year's Christmas cards.

Anyhoo, one day last week, also while Steph was here, more neighbors came to our door to introduce themselves and they brought us a box of "Amish crack".  Everyone here knows what "Amish crack" is and we hear people talking about it all the time, but we've never had it until now.  

They are donut holes rolled in caramel sauce and then sprinkled with cinnamon, made in an Amish bakery called "Rise'n Roll".

Once you've had them, you're hooked.

Thus, the term "Amish crack".

And after the box was empty, Chuck wanted me to go buy another box.

Yup.  It's "Amish crack", and we found a dealer.

They are SO GOOD, especially paired with a cuppa joe.

Here's the downside:  Most of the ingredients on the list aren't that bad, except for ONE thing.  They use hydrogenated oil in their caramel sauce, which is a HUGE no-no. So, we're gonna have to sever this tie before it gets to the point where we'll need rehab to let go.

So next week is Thanksgiving already.  It looks like we're gonna be all by our lonesomes this year.  We're so used to having our potluck feast with the Valley congregation in Wasilla.

It's a bummer, but I will just have to make myself be thankful for all my blessings, which are many.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Nature Walk

I love nature walks, don't you?  Especially in the Fall when the weather is cool but the sun still feels warm, and the smell of dead leaves permeates the air.

Sniiiiiiffffffffffff!   Ahhhhh.........!

That is what we did last Saturday evening.   The weather was perfect so we couldn't resist going for a walk.

I know there's still more green than red, yellow, and orange, but we're getting there.

This is the St. Joseph River.

We came across this "tepee" in the woods.  I'm sure it's luring for little kids to go in there, but you ain't gonna see me going in there!

I like roads that have big trees forming a canopy from both sides:

Also in this park sits (supposedly) the largest barn in the state.  I didn't get a picture of it, but it was pretty big and it's a historical marker.  The funny thing was that while me and Chuck were walking around I told him, "this looks like a good place to have a wedding."  When we got to the barn area, there happened to be a wedding going on.

Anyhoo ----- good news!  We got word that our stuff is supposed to be here next week!  Yee-HAW!

My scrap booking area is READY!

Since we got rid of some of my old stuff, I knew I would need some new tables, so we went to Rural King and found these.  

Rural King is a store that we just happened upon by chance when we were driving through Niles, MI.  We never heard of Rural King before, but we were interested in it cuz on the outside it kinda looked like a Fleet Farm.  So we went in there to look around and they are kinda like a Fleet Farm, only bigger.  They have SO MUCH stuff in there!  I think we are probably gonna be going there a lot.  They even sell baby chicks in there.  You can hear them peeping when you get in that area of the store.  They are so cute and fluffy!

Those three long shelves on the wall is where the previous owner used to keep his model trains.  They will work perfectly for storing my punches!  

But unfortunately, I need to clean them off.

I don't know what that guy was using to anchor down his trains, but when he removed them, they left this sticky black stuff.  I need to try and get all that off.  That will be my next house project, aside from painting.  We are currently working on painting the guest bedrooms.  We had to prime them first, but we couldn't finish priming cuz the step stool that we have needs to be just 3" higher (we have really high ceilings in this house).  So we either wait for our taller step stool to come next week, or we borrow one from the neighbor lady.  I think we will probably borrow one from her cuz this weekend would be a good time to get those rooms painted.

So this morning I saw my first spider in this house.  I knew it was only a matter of time.

I wanna go back to Alaska.

The battery in my camera went dead, so I probably won't post now again until after our stuff comes.  I thought I brought the charger with me on the road, but since I can't find it anywhere, I can only hope the movers are bringing it.

Toodle-loo!

Filling Up the Time (waiting for our stuff)

We are still waiting for our household goods to get here.  We kinda thought it would've come by now, but last we heard, our stuff made it as far as Billings MT last Monday, and is still sitting there (as far as we know).  It's good to know it's on its way, but it only took us 2-1/2 days to drive from Montana to Cheyenne to South Bend.  So ........................  what's up with that?  I don't know.  I suppose the rumors are true that they are short on truck drivers.  Anyhoo, in the meantime I am learning to get by on less, and it's actually good for me, I think. I have to get creative and think outside of the box sometimes, learning to make do with what I have.  I do wish I had my stuff though cuz I can't make cookies or bread or pies or smoothies or pizza or ice cream etc.  One day last week I started making some salad dressing and then realized I didn't have my food processor; it still tasted good but it didn't have the smooth texture that I was aiming for.  So until I get my stuff, we are limited to stove top cooking and sandwiches. I also miss having my scrap booking stuff.  I thought I would get really bored without having my stuff, and sometimes I do start to feel bored, but we've been finding ways to fill up the time while we wait for that big glorious truck to show up in our driveway.  

As you can see, I got all that black paint scraped off the fireplace, and I like it a lot better now.  It took me two afternoons to do it with that can of brain-cell killer that I bought from the paint store.  I couldn't get the paint off the grout, so it still has a black "grid" pattern, but maybe the grid pattern really doesn't look that bad.  Later on, after we get the upstairs repainted with a different color scheme, we will decide if we wanna pursue changing it, but for now, I can live with it.  I'm just glad the whole thing isn't black anymore.  But now it seems to clash more with the brown paint on the walls, which makes me more eager to start painting the upstairs.

As for the downstairs, we started working on painting the big areas.

As usual, I did all the frog taping, and Chuck is doing the painting.  The downstairs will get done pretty fast cuz the walls are like big blank canvases. 

The upstairs will be more of a challenge.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but we are repainting with a color that is very close to the color that was on there, and then we will complement that color with a light gray (and cover up the walls that are beige colored).  I know the carpet is an ugly green, but since it's the downstairs, it's not gonna bother me that much.  I am getting excited about filling up this space with my scrap booking stuff!!

Today we made a new kind of commitment.  We decided to identify with the church that we've been worshipping with, so I am happy to say that we have a church family again.  We are very happy with them!  They are such a nice group of people and I know we will make some really good friends there.  Anyhoo, every time there is a 5th Sunday, which was today, they do what they call a "church-each-church".  At first we didn't know what this meant, but it basically means the same thing as what we've been doing in Wasilla all these years.  Worship service, potluck, and then worship again.  Since we had our evening service right after potluck, it freed up the rest of our day, so me and Chuck took another drive into some other towns, which is something we've been doing when we just wanna go do something.  We enjoy looking at historical places and going into antique shops.

Today we drove north into Michigan.  First we went to a little town called Buchanan.  When we first rolled into the edge of town, I was reminded of "Planet of the Apes".  Remember when the three astronauts were getting close to the ape city, and they started seeing those scarecrow-looking things?  Well, we started seeing a few scarecrows on the edge of town, and then when we got further into town, they were EVERYWHERE.

You probably can't see this very well, but everywhere where it looks like a person is standing, that is a scarecrow.  The downtown main drag had scarecrows lined up on both sides of the street.  Upon closer inspection, we learned that every business owner in town puts one out.  I just thought it was such a cute idea!

The scarecrows weren't scary looking though.  They fashion them to match their business.

For example, this one has a broken arm and a broken leg.

This one has a cat sticking out of the top of the overalls.

Anyhoo, we got coffee at a coffee shop and kept walking around the town and found this trail.

It was supposed to be a trail that skirted along a little river and it just kinda meandered all over.  

And then it led us to these ducks.  Unfortunately, we only had one quarter, but they sure like to crowd around you when they hear that coin drop in the food dispenser slot.  I always feel bad when I have to tell the ducks "sorry, all gone!"

Then we went to another town, Niles, and spent some time in an antique shop.

Then we drove around and saw this big old house.

I hope to get back there another time during it's open hours.  It's a museum that supposedly has a lot of stuff in it.  I would love to go in there and see what it's like on the inside.

Then we got hungry and went to a local pizza joint.  We were the only customers in there so we sat at the counter and chatted with the old guy while he made our pizza. He said he was a native of Niles (he was born there and never left) and told us all kinds of things of what it was like to live there as a young boy.  The building that he is now using as a pizza joint, he said was built in 1838 and was originally a place where they repaired horse buggies.

On the way home,  this "sea of pumpkins" caught my eye, so of course we stopped.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of pumpkins and gourds.

Pie pumpkins were $1.50 each, so I bought two to add to my growing collection.

The weather is starting to cool off a little bit now, and we are seeing more and more Fall and Halloween decor, so I feel justified buying more pumpkins now.  I don't know how many I'll end up with by the time I quit buying them, but I'm sure I'll be picking them up here and there as I see them during the next few weeks.  Buying them in Alaska wasn't this easy or this cheap. Up there, you had to go out of your way to find them and then pay out the nose for them.  Here, they are so abundant, they will find you and they are so affordable!  

I now have five!

So anyhoo,  yes I want my stuff, but so far I've been happily distracted.

Tomorrow I go to Michigan and visit my friend Tammie!  Woo-HOO!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

So we've been in this house for about 2-1/2 weeks now, and I've already talked about the good things I like about this house.  I didn't list everything I like because there's a lot to like.

Now let's talk about the bad.  Recently, like a couple days ago, I realized something about this house that I don't like.  There aren't very many windows, and the living room has NONE.  The closest one is  in the dining area which runs into the living room, but I don't count that as being in the living room. This, along with the dim yellow lighting, and with all the yucky brown paint colors, makes the house look dark and dim and depressing.  I am used to my house in Wasilla where I had a lot of really big windows that always kept the place looking bright and cheery.

So, we are gonna brighten up this place, starting with the ugly.

There are a lot of really ugly paint colors in this house.  I think the bathrooms and the big rooms downstairs are the ones that are doable for me, or at least I can live with them for now.  The rest of the paint colors in this house gotta go.  But first, I want to tackle this fireplace.

We discovered that there is some pretty gray tile hidden underneath this coat of black paint.

Someone please tell me WHY, OH WHY? would anyone PAINT over pretty tile with BLACK PAINT?!  These people must've really liked their house dark and depressing.  It's bad enough that there's not enough windows to let the sunshine in, but then to add dark paint?  Sheesh!  I suppose maybe it was the "in" thing when they did it, but it's not my thing.

I guess the reasoning for this really doesn't matter.  What really matters is that I get it off!

So I started scraping it.  First with a razor blade, which didn't work very well.  Then with a butter knife. It comes off okay with a butter knife, but doing it this way is gonna take forever!  And my hands get so tired - I don't wanna get carpel tunnel. Plus there's the problem of all those little crevices where the paint has to be poked out.  And it can't be scraped off the grout at all.

So I went to Sherwin Williams and told the guy what I'm doing, and he sold me this stuff.

Now all I need is a big chunk of time, and good ventilation, and hopefully I can get it all done in one day.

Hmmmm, good ventilation might be a problem..........I hope I don't fry what brain cells I still got left.

Lack of windows, ya know!

I will just have to open all the windows I got and try to pick a breezy day.

In the meantime, we got Justin's room all done, and we are now trying to decide which ugly to tackle next.  I am studying some white and light shades of paint to cover all these browns upstairs, but while I'm working on the fireplace, we will probably do all the downstairs first and then focus on the upstairs.  We are gonna have a LOT of painting to do.

All I know is that this house needs to be brightened up, and I'm already sick of looking at these drab dreary depressing browns!  

Getting Settled

As I type this, we are getting new carpet installed in the three upstairs bedrooms.  Lots of noise here now, but that's okay.  I just wish I knew where Weeners went.  I looked and looked and looked and looked and looked and looked for her, but she's a very very very good hider.  Hopefully, she didn't run out the door when the carpet guys had the door hanging open, but I doubt that.

Anyhoo, last week was pretty busy.  We got a lot done, and even found some time for R&R.

We already had some family visitors:  Chuck's sisters Karen and Judy were coming back from their trip in Tennessee, so they stopped by to see us.

Chuck got his usual back scratching from JudyBug.

They spent the night and Chuck fixed them breakfast.  Then they went outside and looked at our plants some more before they left (plants are Karen's forte).  It's always fun to visit with them.

On Friday we took a little trip to Shipshewana, about an hour's drive from here going east.

It's a little town in "Amish/Mennonite Country" so seeing the horse and buggy contraptions was a common sight.  I tried to get a good picture, but every time I saw one I wasn't in a good position to get a decent picture.

Shipshewana has a lot of really neat stores there.  Our friends Pete and Tammie took us there once a few years ago, so I thought of them whenever we saw places that we've already been.

Chuck spent a lot of time looking at outside patio furniture and then he saw this kitty garden decor that was on sale, so he bought it for me.  I set it up next to our birdbath in the back yard.

Then we went to the meat and cheese store where they sell hormone/steroid/antibiotic free clean meat.  

The prices actually weren't too bad, so we bought some ground beef and some chicken thighs, and also a box of hamburger patties, and of course cheese.  Chuck's new passion seems to be Swiss cheese.  Before we left, we ended up ordering 1/4 side of beef, which will be ready to pick up in two weeks.  It's gonna be a LOT of meat.

We did find some patio furniture, but not from Shipshewana.  This is the time of year when the stores are trying to get rid of that kind of stuff, so we found a set on sale at Menard's.

They also had these pumpkins for $1.89.  Each!  Not sold by the pound, like in Alaska where you can easily pay $5-6 for one.  I was so excited to see them so cheap I wanted to buy the whole case, but I refrained myself and only took three.  For now.

In Shipshewana, I saw them being sold for $1.50 each!!  Wow.

But the temps here are still too hot to feel like pumpkin season.  I guess that's why I only bought three so far.  I need the temps to cool down so it will feel like Fall.  The temps here are still hovering in the upper 80's, and all the trees are still green as can be.  The locals here say that this is unusually warm for September.  All I know is that I'm ready for this heat to pass.  I hate feeling too hot to do anything outside.  I'm not used to this.

Weeners is really enjoying listening to and watching her new fowl friends.

We've already seen several pretty birds here that we didn't get in Alaska.

I have no idea why Peeka decided to go in the garage and lay on top of the car.

Your guess is as good as mine.

We've also started the painting projects, starting with Justin's room.

There are several rooms in this house that have a hideous color.  Blue isn't a bad color for Justin's room, but this blue was too dark and bold.  He picked out a softer blue that looks a lot better.

We are trying to decide which room to do next.

Chuck started his new job yesterday, so I am starting to get used to being in this house all day without him, and trying to get back into the groove of cleaning, and making supper every night again, with what little cookware I brought with me.  I got back into my Greek too, but it's been time consuming trying to get caught up on it.

I'm also trying to get more exercise and trying to find a routine that works for me.  Chuck does a good job with his running, but somehow it's easier for him to just go whenever he has the urge to run.  For me, I have to plan it all out.  There are some bike/jogging/walking paths in the neighborhood that we've been utilizing.  They are nice because they keep us out of traffic's way, and there's also some interesting things that we pass by, like an old cemetery, and some really old houses - one of them built in 1847.  Last night I went for a walk and didn't use that path; I went on some side roads and walked into Michigan (yes, we are that close to the border!).  It's a nice walk if you go in the evening when it's not so hot out.  Once you cross the Michigan border, you step into farm country which is a lot nicer than looking at suburban neighborhoods.

I wish I had my stuff.  There are times when I feel bored and I have the urge to go downstairs and play with my stamps.  As of last Friday, our stuff was still sitting in Anchorage, and they couldn't tell us when it was gonna start coming our way.  I brought my hand sewing with me (Justin's quilt), but this house doesn't have good lighting for sewing, and it's too hot to sit outside, and the sun room doesn't have any furniture in it yet.  So I twiddle my thumbs when I don't know what else to do.

The carpet guys are almost done and I have to get supper started soon.

Bye!