Different Time Zones and Recliners

Well, this flood gave me one good thing, Rob nasty old recliner is gone! So we went recliner shopping to give his hardworking body a place of rest. The man misses his recliner, so I thought, you know they make some really nice looking recliners now, maybe we could get him one of those! Do you know, my hard working, wonderful husband sat his precious behind in more than a hundred recliners and where does his backside find it's mate? At Lewis Furniture, in a Lazy Boy, and which Lazy Boy is it you ask? Yes, you know it, the very SAME recliner that he bought seven years ago, same color of leather and everything! I thought that this particular leather was just very old and worn out, nope, it was made to look old! You know, like the washed out faded, holy jeans? Yes, it's a faded washed out leather recliner-it's awful, so the man made us a deal and we got it in a nice color of beige leather instead (Praise God!), and my husband's derriere is happy again, for a really great price too! I only wish I had a picture of his face when he sat down in that chair, old friends are sometimes the very best friends!


In the matter of time zones, Rob and I are in different ones, he told me this morning. He is a morning snuggling, kissing, sweetie, when I am just "leave me alone I want to sleep!" and I on the other side am a night time snuggle-bug when he is basically asleep when his head hit the pillow! Do you know what he tells me? I am China and he is the United States! I asked him, how come he gets to be the US and I am China, do you know what he tells me?

It's because I speak a different language!

SPAGHETTI

Zachary is gaining quite a repertoire of foods he enjoys eating, not much will he not eat actually! Well, we tried out the plain spaghetti noodles, this was yummy and pretty fun to eat, but it just felt like something was missing!

That's more like it! Bring on the sauce Mama! Oh yeah, that's the stuff! I like it like that! He has never had so much fun eating anything ever!

And I have never cleaned a bigger mess made by such a little man!

This picture does make it all worth it though!

Potwin Pottery

Can I just say again how much I love Potwin Pottery! I LOVE this place, it is soooo much fun! If you have never been, I HIGHLY recommend this for a mother/daughter night, a girls night out, a mother/son date, a get away from the kids night, or whole day (whatever you need!), anything! It's great. My outlet is anything artsy-crafty, so this relaxes me! Grace and I were supposed to go for the mother/daughter tea event that they had the Saturday after the flood and we had "other things" going on, but the sweet gal at Potwin Pottery said to come in anyway and we could do a tea set on the house, well, we just got to go in and do this together and what a wonderful time we had! I had a million things to do, but I just said, it's time and we went in. Grace and I talked so much and I really got to know my little princess a little better and she really felt special, she want to plan her birthday party for there next year! I think it's a great idea! We're definitely going to do that!

The tea set took us about two hours to do, but I am a pretty experienced painter and Grace is very decisive on color choices! I can't wait to post the finished product! We are very proud of our accomplishment! But, I have to say that the time I spent with my baby girl was the best thing of all! Potwin Pottery has neat events all the time, I'm on their e-mail list, check it out, www.potwinpottery.com . You know, I really enjoyed getting to share something I love to do with Grace, and finding out she really enjoys painting and creating things too!

Climbing Stairs

Zach and the basement stairs!

by Zachary Ball

Whoa, those stairs sure are big! I think I can do it though, watch me go Mommy!

One at a time (for now), I can do this! Hey look, I'm doing it! Almost to the top, that didn't take long!

Last step, look at me, I'm all the way up here, I did it, I did it!

Now, to go down, that's a different story!

Daddy's Littlest Helper!

Zachary has discovered this new interest in "helping" his Daddy when he's working with his tools, he taste-tested the right tools for the job and made sure that they stayed right where Daddy put them, by sitting on the whole box! He is just so tickeled with himself and of course needed juice and a cracker before a good nap after all his hard work! Daddy loves it when his boys are helping him work on things! He is so proud, of all his boys!

Completing the "Mass" House

2408 SE Massechusets

This is a far cry from the blue bungalow we bought in November isn't it! We had A LOT to do, but now it is done and I can say quite proudly even, it is stunning! The kitchen boasts custom cabinets and faux granite counter tops, stainless sink and lighting, and a beautiful 16x16 ceramic floor. I personally love the look of this kitchen! In the living room/dining room we obviously cleaned up and the new windows really made a difference in here, along with that "new smell" of carpet and fresh paint comes with it! We also added a tile entry way. New stainless and frosted glass light fixtures and a ceiling fan, it's a big one too, it's really moves air! I love that you can open up the windows on either side and turn the ceiling fan on and get that great cross breeze going! It is so filled with light, it's a very "friendly" room.
The bathrooms are so luxurious now! They are tiled and clean and new and fresh paint colors, I really think those new showers would be great to wake up in! They have new everything in them!
The basement is the biggest transformation we made, we took a dark basement and turned it into a light and bright family room, laundry room and study space. Can lighting on dimmers makes it easy to set the mood. Sound like an infomercial yet? Well, if you have ever watched "Flip That House" you know that in California this house would bring a cool half-mill. In Topeka, we are hoping to get about $102,000. Our friends, the Markhams, and us have put in so much work we feel like it's worth closer to the half mill, but you know, we'll let it go to a good family for the 102!
Obviously the sale of this adorable cottage-like home is going to bring us that much closer to our recovery from the flood. We are having an open house next Saturday, and it's listed with Larry Markham at Land Kansas.

Keith's First Tools

Well, as I have said before, Keith has been a huge help with everything, including the repairs on the house, so we thought he should have his own tools to work with, so, we picked him out the necessary tools and got him a tool box and I tell you what, he is very proud of them. We found a neat screwdriver set with flames on it which is probably one of his favorite things, but all in all he know this is a big deal and a big step for him and his dad, having the right tools is important you know!

He really does know what all of them do, contrary to his photo! And of course we had to find the coolest safety glasses, so he'll wear them (hence the shades!). He even got to use use them right away when his youth group at Western Hills came over to help finish up the demo and clean-up that night! We found out just how great our youth at WHBC are! They are hard workers and fast too! We ran out of things for them to do before they had to go, they did a great job and wow, what great attitudes. They had just got back from their mission trip to New Orleans and they had this business down pat, they came in and got to work. We felt like the pros stepped in! We loved having them! They are welcome at our house anytime! I feel good about Keith having such great friends that would volunteer to come and help us! Koo dos to their parents!