Where in the World Have I Been?

I know.

It's been a long long time.

I have dreaded writing this post,

because I just done know where to start.

I've been gone.

I can't tell you where,

because then I'd have to shoot you.

Not really, I just like saying that sometimes.

Since this is a house blog right now,

I feel obligated to show you

that while we were gone 

to the other side of the world,

my husband found some projects

to work on.

He is not one to lounge around reading magazines,

eating delightful chocolates,

sleeping,

watching Christmas movies,

sleeping,

or sleeping.

Instead, 

he chose to look about for things

that needed fixing,

and set out to fix them.

Not always the easiest task

in a country where you don't know the language 

and you don't know where the nearest Home Depot is.

But not one easily deterred,

my husband managed to fix several things

on our world trip,

and enjoyed several trips to the

neighborhood hardware shop.

Alas, I have no pictures of this phenomenon,

because I was either

lounging,

eating delightful chocolates

sleeping

or watching Christmas movies,

or sleeping.

Here is hubs fixing the bathroom sink.

Here he is assisted by his faithful

plumber's assistant,

interpreter,

chauffeur,

question answerer,

and 

favorite 

son-in-law.

Notice how intently

he watches the master's 

every move?

Now. 

For the real reason we travelled 

to the ends of the earth.

This onesie says

"Someone in Kansas Loves Me"

It was a big hit!

Oh boy, Maya,

A new historical commentary

indie film!

You're gonna love this one!

I can't believe my 

mother-in-law

came all this way for Christmas

and all she got me

was new underwear!!!

And she didn't even get the 

bikini kind

like we told her too!

Lame.

Let's read your first

"Twas the Night Before Christmas" book...

It was a wonderful trip.

A trip I will never forget.

We saw many wonderful sights.

We ate wonderful food.

We got to hang with some of our favorite old friends.

We made some wonderful new friends.

But the best thing of all

was this.

I don't really feel ready to get back to the real world yet.

I just want to look at these pictures and remember 

how soft this little one's skin is.

I want to snuggle her close

and smell her sweet smell.

She's coming to see her Nana in a few months

and I will hold her close then,

Meantime,

there's a house waiting in the cedars,

waiting to be finished.

Then we will all be together again.

Lord willing.

switching gears!

It is hard to imagine 

not being here every day

smelling the raw wood,

listening to the birds cooing,

the cows mooing,

the geese calling...

Except for chosing a color 

for the front door,

the exterior is finished.

Doesn't she look dreamy 

in this picture?

I must tell you now though,

the next pictures you will see

on this house building journey

will not involve

paint

or sawdust

or wiring

or heat ducts

or plumbing.

Today we take a little detour

on the journey,

and leave this house behind.

We are traveling

far and away...

and by God's grace

we will see our precious daughter

and precious son-in-law

and precious new grand-daughter

very soon now.

I am feeling a little weepy 

just thinking about it...

excuse me while I 

try to imagine what that gathering 

will be like!

There will be fresh baby smells,

fresh baby cooing,

and hopefully,

fresh baby sleeping...

hours and hours

of hanging out,

laughing,

walking,

and talking.

God willing.

Stay tuned for pictures...

many silly pictures!

Pioneer Woman Book Signing - Kansas City

Hello girls!

I just want to say

that 

it was soooooo fun

to get to meet 

one of my favorite bloggers

and cookbook writers

Pioneer Woman,

aka Ree Drummond!

Here we are all giddy and excited to stand in line

and have her sign our cookbooks!

We were disappointed

to learn that the venue we chose to attend

would not be big enough for her to speak to all of us 

as a group.

I was really looking forward to that 

and just assumed that 

we would be getting in on that too,

but when we got there

we could see that the store was 

just not big enough.

I was also disappointed that

MM was not there,

and none of the kiddos.

They got to attend the signing

that Ree had going on that evening,

and it looks like they had lots of fun

passing out prizes and all.

sigh.

But hey.

We had fun anyway!

Kimberly insisted that I  have my picture taken

 by this glamourous

cowgirl wedding gown

just for grins.

Here I am grinning.

It looks like I am 

pinching the cowgirl's bum.

I dont know what I was doing....

Here are Lisa and Kimberly holding their

cookbooks.

We stood in line for quite a while,

visiting with some other friends who were there,

and taking pictures of each other 

standing in line with our cookbooks.

Then, 

suddenly,

it was almost our turn 

to meet

PW.

What should we say?

Are you sweating?

Should we say something profound?

You go first!

No You!

Lisa and Kimberly shoved me up 

ahead

Look there!

Somebody brought Ree treats!

Why didn't I bring treats???

I can't think of anything clever to say

like 

your husband is one hot cowboy!

or

will you come to my house?

or 

does MM have any single, younger brothers?

because I know this beautiful blonde girl...

ok, so I didn't say much

but I have to tell you

This young woman 

sure is sweet

and pretty.

And here she is yucking it up with Lisa

my sweet and pretty daughter-in-love.

And this one cracked up the most of all...

that beautiful blonde I was telling you about?

here she is 

trying to be nonchalant...

yeah, 

my mom got me this cookbook...

I don't even really read your blog,

but hey,

I'm always up

for a road trip 

to the city,

so yeah, 

nice meeting you!

Here we are with Heather and friends

One thing that impressed me 

about PW was...

she sure has good posture!

She looked so poised and lovely

through it all

and I am sure that her arm must have really been tired

by the end of it all!

Lisa brought along a picture of Kellie

just so that she could be in the thick of things

with us.

We would have loved to have her there with us!

Kellie don't hate us for the hair thing going on in that picture...

not sure what era that was from,

but we didn't show it to PW, so no worries.

She has some pretty good hair stories and pictures herself!

After the book signing,

we shopped our fool heads off

and enjoyed our little 

Girlie Day In the City!

We are looking forward to

our next Pioneer Woman Book Signing...

and let me just say

Marlboro Man Had Better Be There!!!

Well, you can all let out a 

collective sigh

of relief.

I am still here.

Even though there has been no

official documentation,

work has gone on.

I took these pictures 

sometime during the first week of November.

Then it happened.

I went to a Pioneer Woman book signing

in Kansas City,

took pictures

and lost my camera.

Or so I thought.

I tore up the car looking for it.

I called the book store and Cowboy Store and Jason's Deli.

Lisa tore up her car looking for it.

I prowled around the house looking for it.

In the craft room.

In the garage.

Back to the car.

In my purse.

In the trash.

On every shelf.

I finally let go of my dear camera

and the pictures of Pioneer Woman.

Sigh.

I prayed that the Lord would show me where 

that dang thing was hiding,

because I did not believe that I had lost it,

or even run over it in some parking lot.

I just knew it was out there somewhere,

waiting for me to find it.

My eyes got very tired from looking everywhere

for that stupid camera.

The kids convinced my hubby to order me a new one.

Mainly because I am about to travel abroad

to see my soon-to-be-born

little granddaughter.

And every Nana needs a camera

when a little girl is getting born.

 They were trying to be sneaky and secretive about getting me another one...

I don't know how the whole thing was going to happen before

the other side of the world,

but the good news is.....

the old camera has been found.

As we were putting down the back seats of my car,

so that Kimberly could take the old oak cabinet home with her,

she spied said camera 

tucked in a crack between

the back seat and the side of the car.

I looked there.

I promise I looked there.

The camera is gray and so is the leather interior, ok?

Cut me some slack here.

The only thing I can figure out is...

it is the Lord's will for me to have the new camera,

because He waited until it was ordered 

before He revealed the hiding old one.

Anyway,

now you can see how the guys built the 

forms for the driveway, sidewalk and patio.

Calm yourselves,

because now I get to show you

pictures of the

Pioneer Woman Book Signing

what fun!

stay tuned!

I can't wait to show you how things are looking 

now that the cedar trim is all up

and the windows are all trimmed out

and the concrete is dry.

We are so happy and thankful 

to have the outside

done.

I will try to get a few good shots before we leave

and hopefully

I wont lay my camera down in some obscure crack.

Maybe I should duct tape it to my wrist on the trip!

All I can say is...

arggh.

Even Giddier

I think I just made up a word.

Giddier.

The more I read it, the more

it doesn't feel like a real word.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

But I can't think of a better word,

so I'm sticking with it.

More stones are up,

and I am even giddier 

than I was before

and I was pretty 

giddy 

before.

Except for mortaring the pillars,

the stone layers are finished 

with the outside of the house.

In a few days

after the mortar is 

completely dry,

they will return and wash 

all the dust off the lovely stones.

I hope by then,

all of the cedar trim will be 

stained and up.

It will be a day of celebrating

and 

giddyness.

little side projects...

Yesterday 

in between watching the 

stone masons

working their magic,

and running errands,,

and running the vacuum,

and buying groceries

and taking pictures of the

stone masons

working their magic,

I thought I would take some pictures

of the things I got done last week.

It doesn't look like much,

but believe me

it was much.

I had to sand down all the little

bubbles

where one of my children, 

or maybe two of them

left their fountain drinks

on the top too long

and made the wood warp up

in ugly lumps.

But I prevailed 

and now the orange bumpy dresser

is now ready for her jewelry.

I will sand the edges and stain those areas today

and apply a poly coat

and go pick out some new jewelry for her

and then she will be ready for her new job.

I think she will serve as a game cabinet

and buffet for the table that will

be downstairs in the rec room.

I have a black bookshelf 

who is looking for a partner

in this part of the new house

and he is liking this new chick

a lot.

Wait til he sees her all dressed up!

Some of you may remember that

I have decided not to carpet

the craft room.

It will be mostly storage

with my little craft area in whatever space is left.

But I have a thing against ugly.

Gray basement floors can be ugly.

As you can see here.

This is ugly.

Who wants to craft in a room this ugly?

Not me.

What is the solution?

Here it is!

Warm, inviting, intriguing.

Well, maybe not warm, but there will be rugs!

I am so pleased with the results!

It is so dark in there, Im having trouble seeing

whether I got it all right,

but who really cares?

I love it.

Here's how it came about.

1. Hand rub the solid concrete stain with wadded up paper towels.

2. Rub it in well in small sections.

3. Let dry.

4. Repeat #1.

5. Repeat #2.

6. Repeat #6.

7. Rub with color #2, a translucent color

8. Let sit for a few minutes.

9. Dab the stain off with a paper towel that is pretty much saturated with the stain

( a dry paper towel might take off too much.)

dab out all the swirl marks, blending and dabbing til you get the look you like.

10. Spray with a 3rd color, also translucent.

11. Let this set for a few minutes while you go dab a new section.

12. Dab very very lightly at the spots you made with your cheap sprayer that leaves spots

instead of spray.

Don't even touch the floor, just flop your paper towel around, barely touching the floor,

you dont want to remove the spots, just soften them.

My paper towels were in shreds and once they start leaving little bits behind you have 

to start an new one.

13. where your sections overlap, dab to soften the edges, but you can use these areas to look

like shadows and darken them some more if you like this look.

14. Walk away, if you can even move at this point.

15. Check for places you might have missed and dab at them with the translucent stain

16. Let dry for several days.

I used Behr Concrete stain from Home Depot and have since watched some videos on U tube

to see how this is actually supposed to be done and gasp, this is nowhere near what they said to do.  First, all I did was sweep the dust off...no water was involved.

They refer to acid stain and I have not seen that any where around here, so we'll see how long this will last.  I am planning to seal it with whatever HD has on the shelf.

For an amateur gig, I think it looks fine and remember it's a storage room/craft room,

so I don't expect anyone to be going around with a magnifying glass to see if I did it right. 

Wear knee pads and gloves for this job...it's an old lady killer!

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures....

Giddy!

It has been a wonderful 

sunny

warm 

Monday 

in November.

We have a whole week 

of sunny, warm, wonderfulness

in the forecast.

To celebrate this 

phenomenon...

we decided to 

go ahead

and let the

stone crew

lay stone.

I am not 

going to make you 

wait.

Here it is.

Here's how it all went down.

I mean up.

One man finished off the edges 

of the Dryvit.

One man worked on the porch 

doing something,

I'm not sure what.

And One man layed stone 

starting on the two sides of

the garage.

Here they are 

busily working away.

Eventually 

they all worked with the stone

but this very talented man

started out with the stone.

He is a craftsman.

He is the Stone Whisperer.

Sometimes, 

he teaches the others

how to work with the stone

and helps them.

He also makes venison chili.

They finished the left side of the garage front,

and most of the right side.

Tomorrow 

who knows what wonders

they will achieve!

Will they do the pillars?

Will they move over to the area

around Jim's office window?

Will they eat homemade venison chili for lunch 

again?

Will they offer me some?

Stay tuned.

Tomorrow could be an interesting day.

Today sure was!

Trunk or Treat!

How about a break from it all?

How about a sunny, warm, mellow fall evening?

How about a hot dog?

What would a Baptist wing ding be

without food?

Make mine black, ok?

Ok Mike?

Just leave it on there

and let it get black ok?

   

The Three Amigos.

Trouble times three.

Cute times three.

Here's Lezlie looking all stern and serious.

And some cute fairy princess patiently 

waiting her turn.

Two cute chicks.

Look closely at the cute chick on the left.

Look her in the eye.

Click the picture for a 

close up.

Scary. 

Cute, scary chick.

Wittle Wyatt.

Little monkey.

I love it when people go all out.

Paula had lights and music

and little packets

filled with candy and

a gospel message,

and granny.

Charming Cheetah.

Sweet Thumbellina

Two Tutus

Now this being a church wing ding,

I was looking for some good clean fun,

not so much scary and creepy,

but this was both 

scary and creepy.

Here were the top 

go- all- out -for -it

prize winners

in my book, anyway.

My two nursery co-workers.

Darin (on the left) and Penny.

there are no more words.

Is it just me, 

or does Darin just have one sista?

Nice touch.

I'll leave it at that.

big changes

Here is what is happening 

out at the ranch .

Stage one is being applied

to the areas that will be covered in

Dryvit.

It is a stucco like substance.

It has the paint color mixed into it.

It will be lovely.

stage one is on and next they will 

apply the "brown coat"

Last night when I drove in 

from a long day of

shopping,

I could see that they had

finished the brown coat,

but it was too dark to

get a good picture.

They are supposed to

work today 

putting on the 

finish coat.

It's Saturday,

so we will see.

In the meantime,

The Lady In Waiting...

is waiting.