19.

 

Happy Birthday, Robbie!  (not that he's ever read my blog)   Robbie turned 19 years old today. Cannot believe it!  This picture was taken on his first day of college.  I still got a smile out of him even though he's mad that he's still home with us this year and says he doesn't like his new school or any of the classes he's taking.  We're on a countdown to next year when he will be going away to school if he plays his cards right.  Maybe that's why Bob and I are doing all these home improvement projects.  When we're paying for away-college next year we'll certainly be staying home more often so at least we'll have a nice home to spend our time in.

Entryway project: Complete!

So here again are the stairs before Bob sanded the crap out of them then stained and (I) painted them...

Working on the newel post last weekend before taking down the wrought iron railing for good...

All the iron is gone! 

Working on placement of the spindles on the stairs...

Railing in the living room completed...

Hanging the new light fixture...

Completed project!!

I didn't edit these photos to enhance the lighting so just use your imagination.  I thought I stood outside the front door to get a wider angle on the entire entryway but maybe I was dreaming that because I couldn't find any such thing on my camera.  You get the idea though, right?  When you step into this old house you no longer are greeted half-heartedly with those sad, dark stairs.  Now it is brighter and warmer feeling.  This project took about 4 weekends and several hours on some weeknights.  I started repainting the area last night just to freshen it up a bit more.  I'm using the same color paint as before but doing a much better job than the guy we paid to do it.  We have to get out the big ladder to do the upper half of the walls one evening this week.

While I'm painting Bob is ripping up the carpet downstairs for the next phase of  improvements...hardwood flooring throughout the family room.  I'm going to repaint all the trim, baseboards and doors before the floor is installed. I just did one coat of paint last summer and feel like I should've done two coats. 

The last thing we'll do in 2013 is paint all the upstairs woodwork white like the entryway.  2014?  Bob's bathroom and kitchen cabinets.  To be continued...

Update

I know I promised a few pictures of the finished entryway and stairs but I'm sooo tired after working on things for several hours today and am starting to feel under the weather.  So, I will upload the photos from my good camera either Monday or Tuesday to show you the completed project. We are exhausted but everything looks really good.  We got a new light fixture today and Bob is finishing up the handrail for the downstairs stairs.   We will be tearing up the carpet in the middle of the week to get ready for installing the wood floor this next weekend. 

The Perfect Day

I was reading a blog recently about what the perfect day would be (staying at home or in your own town, not at a resort with overwater huts in Tahiti or a cabin on a stream in the mountains). To set the tone I would say this Perfect Day would be the most beautiful day in the month of October when it is a little cool and the leaves on the trees are so vibrant I'd have to wear sunglasses.

If I had to plan the perfect day here in the Big O it would go like this:

8:00-9  Wake up feeling fully rested after a night of continuous sleep, get dressed and go for a 45 minute walk in the park (which would feel amazing vs. tiring because of the great sleep I got last night).

9:00-10:30  Shower, dress and hang out at Starbucks for about an hour flipping through a magazine and watching people come and go while sipping on a Venti Caramel Macchiato and eating a oatmeal raisin cookie (because calories don't count on the Perfect Day).  Yes, I like hanging out at Starbucks.

11-12:30  Take any remaining Venti with me and visit my hair stylist extraordinaire and have my hair washed and coiffed (because up til now I've had it shoved under a hat).

1-2  Get the most expensive pedicure and maybe pay double for extra foot massage time while watching when Harry Met Sally on their flat screen tvs. Oh, and my massage therapist would also be there to rub my neck and shoulders while the Asian dude massages my feet.

2:30-5  Walk around downtown and shop at the specialty stores, sit and look at the river in one of those nice, big swings and look at a magazine or continue reading my book.  See some interesting things to take photos of with my camera.

5:30-7  Have dinner with my sweetie at my favorite restaurant and grab a martini for dessert.

7:30-10  Go see a really, really good movie.

10:00 Come home to a house that is totally spotless and clean and no dishes in the sink from the grumpy teenager.

Maybe this should be called the Ultimate Fantasy Day?

Stairs Project Update

Okay, we're not done yet but here is a before photo...dark, ugly stairs with horrid wrought iron railing.

Here is during the project.  About 70 percent done with the entire project.  Bob is working on the new banister and railings which will be both stained and painted wood.  He also has strips of stained wood to place where the risers meet with the treads for a more finished look. 

 It's so nice to enter our home and see the improvement!  I'll post more pictures after we get the banisters, etc. installed. We've also chosen a new light fixture for above the entry but that will be the last thing we install.

Henning Family Wedding

Here are some photos from my cousin's wedding last weekend starting with baby Haze, my cousin from Florida. He'll be 1 this week.

What a fun night!

August 12

  These photos were copied from Facebook.

We're finally slowing down for a few weeks around here.  Our lives will be more normal again as we'll all finally have a set schedule which is how I prefer things when Robbie starts college next week.  It's been a good summer with the weather being so mild for the first time since I can remember.  Recall last summer?  I just remember total misery for about 85 days straight and never wanting to be outdoors.  This summer has been much different.

We're coming off of a crazy weekend of celebrating with family and friends.  Cousin Scotty got married on Saturday to a wonderful gal and we had a cookout with friends yesterday.  I was exhausted today from being on the go but things will be fairly cool (ie. less hectic) for a while now.  We will attend the outdoor symphony with neighbors this weekend but that's it.  I'm looking forward to it.  We still have to finish the stairs which I'll work on a little every night and then it'll be Bob's turn to figure out the handrails, etc.  I'm looking forward to a few weeks of just hanging out in the Big O, namely our house, before we do some traveling next month.

I'm going to post some wedding pictures in the next couple days.

I Heart Traveling

If there's one thing that needs to be said in my epitaph it's that "she LOVED to travel!"  I am constantly thinking about any upcoming vacations and on the way home I am planning the next one.  I have a long list of places I want to go in the next 10 years. I love researching different places I want to go and using Google Earth to help figure out locations and logistics of where I want to go. Google Earth and Trip Advisor are my best friends. Thankfully I have a husband who also likes to travel and is pretty easy-going when it comes to trips. His only criteria is that he gets to eat good food and can relax a little.  He doesn't necessarily like fast paced vacations but with a little twist to his arm he is agreeable to go if I mention the word "steak". 

In our travels over the past nearly 13 years we've come to like places like this....clean air, wide open and beautiful in Yellowstone National Park.

We also like looking into the past at places like this...the Biltmore Estate.

Pro games are a lot of fun. We've been to Colts' games as well as pro soccer and hockey games.

Beach vacations have been sprinkled in here and there. Those are Robbie's favorites, especially Panama City Beach.  We've taken him on vacations with us 75% of the time. Lucky boy!

The lights and sights of Las Vegas were awesome!

The beach is a fun place to relax and get sand in between your toes.

We discovered a couple lighthouses while on the East Coast a few years ago. 

Short weekend trips are also something we like to do.  4th of July in Nashville was one of them.

Our most expensive vacation splurge was New York City. Worth every Benjamin!

Staying in B&B's is a real treat and our favorite type of accomodation like the one on Tybee Island.

We tend to prefer the tranquility of the mountains.

And sometimes we travel in a bigger group like the time we went to Winter Park, CO.

After this year we'll be cutting back a little bit on our travel until Robbie gets through college but I'll have some big plans once he is graduated.  We plan to get a smaller home and see some places we want to visit while we are still young enough to go.  One place we've both wanted to visit for a long time is Washington DC.  We hope to be able to go there in a couple years in either the spring or fall.

There are so many places to see in our country and I especially like going to places which have a lot of diversity and culture. While the people in the south are the friendliest I still like exploring the north and west to observe their lifestyles. People watching is free and usually pretty interesting.  One of these days I'll post my most recent travel bucket list.