a huge surprise and a baby shower!

 Saturday morning:  I woke up bright and early, because I'm 60 now, and that's what we do.  The house was rather clean, and sometimes when it's clean, it's nice to clean it even more!  The girls got up and helped out.  We went outside in the heat, smotheringly humid and sunny, just so hot.  We filled the little pool on the deck, I went and got into my swim suit, and sprayed myself with the hose...turned it on "mist", and ahh.  Well.  Kathryn texted she might come over.  It's very hot here on the deck, I told her.  Then Sonja and Oscar came...Margaret and Adrian pulled in....Emily and Mariel...then my niece Katie was walking across the lawn...wait a minute.  They pulled a surprise party for me!  Molly and Josh came, and Ben and Ashley, then Suzanne and Zech.  Evelyn and Nate.  13 of the kids and spouses, and all 16 grandkids were here, with our friend Annetta too.  (Abigail, Aaron, and Jonathan were the only ones not here!).  I realized how all the grandkids were present, and I said It would be a great time to get a picture of all the grandchildren!  Well.  They said to open my present first, and would you believe, it was a picture of ALL the grandchildren?  They got together and took it a few weeks ago, and didn't tell me.  

16 grandkids, the oldest one is 11.  There is one two year old, and three that are turning two this summer.  They are my pride and joy, the sunshine in my life.  They turn a clean quiet house upside down, but oh are they amazing.  I remember years ago, someone asked my mother which grandchild was her favorite, she said, "Whichever one I'm with."  That sums it up.  :)

Ruth and Rhys

Grant, Wulf in the green chair, Tenny, Declan, Blythe

Maeve getting in the pool

Newton likes all the activity.

I love this picture, Benjamin and three of his sisters, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne

The boys...

Miss Char with some little ones...

Molly Rose and her Denzel

Uncle Nate with baby Ellis

Rhys, Jamie, Blythe

Rhys and Ruth picking berries

Maeve and Jamison

Jamie and Declan

Ben in my comfy chair, Oscar, Zech, Sam, and Darius enjoying the cool.

Darius smoked two briskets, brisket is my favorite...it was so good...the kids brought over all the food!

Josh gets the prize for the best uncle, playing with the kids

How many grandchildren can fit in Grandpa's truck?

It was a good day, crazy and fun and hot, but cool in the house, thankfully!  The kids had water balloons and squirt guns and they ran wild.  There were 41 of us here!

This fine morning, I got up and watered the garden in bare feet, one of my favorite things...then got the meatballs in the crockpot with Stubbs barbecue sauce, then started on the buttercream frosting for the cake and cupcakes for the shower.  

Marble cake...(I used my wedding cake recipe, took two cups of batter out, added 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips, then 4 tablespoons of baking cocoa bloomed in hot water, and used to marble in the vanilla cake). The cake wasn't the neatest...but the frosting has 5 sticks of butter, and is amazing.

The cupcakes!

The finished cake.

Ms. Sonja Kathleen...

The food!  Ashley made the fruit kabobs, Emily grilled lemon pepper chicken and had all the fixings for some amazing chicken wraps.  She also had huge lettuce leaves for the low carbers.

Camille with baby Ellis, Elise with Rhys, and Charlotte Claire with Sonja

Elise and Rhys, cousins.

Sonja was showered with so many adorable baby gifts, clothes and dresses and bibs and pacifiers and a bath and a baby monitor and and and...Oscar came to help open the gifts, and he's so excited too.  Babies are blessings, straight from heaven!

Now I'm home, had to wash up the mess I left this morning, the frosting bowls ect.  Here I sit enjoying the nice cool air in here, ahhh.  It's been a busy weekend, but just lovely.  Paul has not taken a break.  He has most of the bead board installed in the bathroom, Darius so nicely came over this morning with his table saw.  It's not quite finished yet, but looks nice.  

Tomorrow, the pool then to the store with the girls to get snacks for their trip to Norway this week.  Paul and I are going camping on Wednesday, Ben and Ashley and family have a site too.  Maybe some of the kids will come up to visit us, and enjoy the beach.  I hope the weather is nice and hot and not rainy.  Anyway, you all have a nice evening!

oh yeah we are getting there!

 

These are "before" pictures...

New flooring!

Not quite "after"!  The mirrors aren't centered, we just put them up temporarily, as the backsplash isn't up yet, none of the bead board.  The middle drawer had to be removed to make room for the drain pipe, but the front will be removed and fastened back on, so it doesn't look like it's missing a tooth.  The light fixture is staying, but it needs to be cleaned and shined, and another light bulb needs to be put in.

This fine day, I went to the pool, then we went out to brekky at a place in town.  I had the meat lover's omelet, with no cheese, and it was fantastic.  I only ate a few bites of the fried potatoes, but oh the raisin toast...mm hmm.  

We said our goodbyes, then home I went.  Not for long though!  Benjamin picked me up, he had errands and asked me to go along.  Gladly.  It was challenging to get in and out of his van, but I managed.  Time flew, we had no shortage of things to talk about.  

Not too much more is going on.  I'm ready for Sonja's shower on Sunday, made a cake and cupcakes today, and I'll be making bbq meatballs.  I'll frost and decorate the cake tomorrow or Sunday morning.  I bought a bag of really lovely Lindt truffles, with pink wrappers.  :)

Ah well...we're having a cozy evening at home, an I'm enjoying it immensely...have a good night!

well, here I am, having a wonderful day!

Long before HGTV, back when we had three channels of television, on Saturday mornings, there was a show called, I believe, "This Old House". I've heard jokes about it being This Damned Old House, and worse.  They would renovate, and find a problem, and another problem, it was a slow moving show, not like the flashy home improvement shows now.  

Anyway.  Last evening, we drove to the small city to visit Lowe's, which is always fun with Miss Char and Miss Cam.  They really like home improvement stuff.  We went down the lighting aisle, and perused the faucets, and hoped the ones coming in the mail from Walmart are actually nice.  We looked at some flooring, then ventured back to get our p.v.c. bead board.  Welp.  Online, it said there were 15 in stock.  No, there were NONE in stock.  They had the packages of small ones, but none of the eight footers.  

Home, late dinner, still a nice evening.  

This fine morning, the girls went off to work, and I went to a different Lowes by myself.  First, Target, and a stop in Starbucks for a free birthday drink.  The sweet girl who works there accidentally put sweet cream instead of regular cream, so she gave me that one too, which I brought to Kathryn.  Anyway, I wandered around and got some blonde roast iced coffees, confectioner's sugar, butter, sour cream, and a bag of frozen meatballs.  Nothing exciting.  Then to Lowe's for my pickup, this time I made sure they had them by ordering and paying ahead, and going when we got the notification they were ready.  

Then, since I had no eye-rolling teenagers with me, I ventured into Hobby Lobby.  I was looking for some baby shower things for the cake.  That store is too much fun.  I looked at the mirrors, would love new ones for the bathroom, but even with 50% off, ouch!  It was fun to look, but I was mindful of my owie knee, which was killing by the time I got out if there.  I have to be careful, it's SO hard to drive when it's like that.  

But, one more stop, at a local dairy store for two half gallons of ice cream, because hey, it's my birthday.  I know I have hot fudge here at home, and sprinkles, so we may as well have sundaes tonight!

Then, instead of going home, I went to visit Kathryn and went for a swim.

Now...some people are coming over, and Paul is working on the bathroom.  The new faucets came in the mail, and I am pretty pleased.  They are really nice faucets, and sell for more than double, even triple what I paid for them.  So I was actually surprised when the shipped and arrived on time!  

Ah well.  I need to move it move it, the house needs some cleaning up, and here I sit.  Paul picked blackcaps, I'm thinking of making a cobbler...you all have a really nice day!

perhaps, maybe?

 A call from the Orthopedic office yesterday: they're resubmitting my request at the end of the month, so a possible August surgery!  I don't want an August surgery, because we have TWO camping trips planned, (we got such a good site for each, both beach sites, especially the Labor Day weekend site!). Plus, Sonja K. is having a baby around then!

But.  Sometimes you can plan and prefer, but then just have to accept that you aren't the boss of the whole wide world.  :)

Bathroom demo woes....oh, the sad sad saga of DIY-ing.  It's so satisfying when it's finished, but in the middle, not so much.  The door is reinstalled after having it set in the dining area on two stools for a few days, getting coats of trim enamel.  (It will have to come back off when we try to fit that vanity through the doorway to install it.). The pipes, oh dear...the way the drain pipe lines up with the middle drawer of the new vanity:  we will have to remove the drawer and attach the drawer front, so it won't really open.  We can't figure out any other way, other than move pipes around, and heck, our old vanity had three drawers too...the middle drawer lost it's bottom YEARS ago, so we only had two, and look at us, all alive and well!

I try to be so nice and kind to Paul about these things, trying to smooth over the fact that ha, he thought our bathroom was fine before.  He does it all for me, so I work on not being TOO demanding.  The other thing we figured out:  the vanity top is actually a half inch too wide for the space.  This means we make a groove in the wall and fit it in, and cover that with bead board.  Somehow.  

The girls have it all painted, so when they get home from work we are going to Lowe's to buy more bead board.  It's the waterproof vinyl stuff, safe for bathrooms.  We will need trim too, so it gets pricey, but at least our labor is free, right?  Here's how much it's cost so far:

One white one piece vanity top with sinks:  $100 on Marketplace.  This is where the whole can of worms was opened, the cookie we gave the mouse, the beginning of the cascade...because you can't put a new vanity top on an old vanity!

One white 60 inch vanity, from the Amazon return/overstock store:  $400 with tax (you can't put a new vanity in a bathroom without a fresh coat of paint!)

One quart of Sherwin Williams Symmetry paint in matte finish:  $35

One package new mini rollers:  $4

New paint brush:  $9

Shower curtain from Target:  $20. (You NEED a new shower curtain!)

Two boxes of luxury vinyl planking waterproof flooring:  $140. Why replace the vanity and the top with that old tile still in there?  Makes no sense.

Two Delta faucets:  $120. New faucets, of course!  One didn't work for a few years now, so we needed new ones at some point anyway!

Still to be purchased:  bead board, trim...and who knows?  

This whole ordeal makes one thing clear:  we should NOT start in on the kitchen countertops any time soon, as we want butcher block...and who knows what else?!

This fine morning, after the pool, I went to Costco with Kathryn and her small children.  There was a playhouse there all set up, Achilles went in and was delighted.  Miss Rhys and little Jamison were in the front of Kathryn's cart clamoring to go in that play house, so we helped get them out to go in and try out the playhouse.  I asked them if they would get back in nicely, afterwards, and of course they said they would.  When we let them play for a few minutes, I asked them if they wanted to get in my cart or their mama's, and they said, "Mama's!", so in they went, no problem.  :).   

I got croissants and a birthday gift for Sam, and a bag of Hershey's chocolate nuggets, and some Celsius, which the girls like to take to work.  I don't drink energy drinks, coffee is fine with me.  I also got a bag of Unreal coconut bars, they're like Mounds with less sugar.  They are SO good, pricey, but I try to hide them ha.  

So now I'm home, everything is put away, the kitchen is tidied up, and I'm relaxing, getting energized for my trip to Lowe's when the girls get home from work.  My afternoon coffee is almost gone, and it's nice and comfortable in here with the new AC unit humming away.  We had the windows open for most of the day, as I prefer fresh air and hearing the birds stinging, to the hum of this thing, but then it got really warm in here.

Sonja's baby shower is this coming Sunday, so exciting!   Never a dull moment...oh, and this is my very last day of being 59, I'm enjoying the heck right out of it!  Have a good afternoon!

moving right along!

 

A picture from the wedding, Margaret, Kathryn, Charlotte Claire, Camille...

This is what reno projects look like at my house.  Fancy-like, using a paper plate for the roller paint.

Ms. Fix-it Camille removed the door handle for me.  

The color they chose:  

Symmetry, by Sherwin Williams...

NO SAD BEIGE, I said.  They assure me this isn't sad.  There are pink undertones, it will look cottage-y with the beadboard.  We'll see.  They did one coat of paint, and painted the ceiling, and are at work today, so slowly she goes.  

I need to get moving, I'm going to Target with Kathryn, to pick up that shower curtain.  I put a coat of enamel trim paint on that bathroom door that's propped up on stools in the kitchen, I gave the other side of it two coats yesterday.  One more coat later when I get home, and we can put it back on, or just wait until the flooring is in and the vanity installed.  Thankfully we have two other bathrooms.  

Ah well.  This is shaping up to be a really good week.  Tomorrow my friend Annetta is going to hang out here while her car is repaired in the garage down the road.  Kathryn and I might fit in a trip to Costco, then Thursday I turn the big 60, which I refuse to believe.  There is no way I am that old.  My mother used to say that she would look in the mirror and wonder why that old lady was looking back at her.  She was 60 when she started her nine year stint of kidney dialysis, three times a week for the rest of her life, as she passed at 69.  

We can complain about being old, but if you're reading this, you are alive, and where there is life there is hope, and...as my mother used to say, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life", so be thankful and find joy in your day, ask God what He would like for you to do.  Then listen, and be obedient!  

just the cupcakes...

This pic is from strykingphotography, as we waited for the bride to walk down the aisle...that's me in the curly ponytail, 4th row from the back.

Darius and Kathryn, Jon and Rosi, me, my brother Bob and his wife Mary...lovely pic, I was eating some mashies.  

Camille, Amanda, and Miss Charlotte Claire helping with the ice cream

The cake, four layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and flowers on it..

 I don't have good pictures of the bride and groom yet, as they asked the photography be their own, which is a good idea.  But, I wanted to show you the baked goods we worked so hard on...

I just got back from the pool, slipped out of my Birkenstocks, and moseyed around the yard in bare feet.  I checked on my flowers, watered them, gave the garden a big drink.  Camille and I staked up the tomato plants the other night, they are thriving and I hope we get the tomatoes before the bugs do.  I hung out some laundry, rather draped it on the deck...it's so warm and breezy, almost 90, why turn on the dryer? 

 Now we're leaving to go pick out paint for the bathroom.  I'm letting the girls decide.  They're so happy to help, why not let them choose?   So you all have a good day, and don't melt!

things I like and things I love...

 I like projects.  I like to plan them, and I like other people to help me actually do them.  No sooner did we get the guest room finished and then started the bathroom project.  Paul started to rip up the tile and decided not to.  We are just going to put the flooring on top of it.  He removed the old vanity, and cut the back piece to fit in to the floor where the tile ended, because the new flooring will cover the whole floor (the tile was installed after we had been here a while, and the vanity wasn't moved, so the tile just went up to the vanity and not underneath it)

It's always awful in the middle of a project.  Once he gets the new flooring in, the new vanity can go in, but the new faucets don't arrive until Thursday.  I am keeping the mirrors until I find something I love, so maybe forever, ha.  Same with the light fixture.  I have a new one that I bought months ago, but don't really like it.  We're hoping to put a beadboard backsplash, and beadboard on the other walls just halfway up.  Paul is like...um, do we have to?  um.  yes.  :). Go big or go home, right?  We probably won't be redoing this bathroom again, in our lifetimes?  So we may as well make it lovely.  "We" as in "he".  

So I had a color in mind for this bathroom: 

Just that color, so lovely!  The girls are vetoing.  They say no more blue.  To be fair, look back at what color the bathroom is now, ha.  

This is the shower curtain I bought...it has subtle beige and white stripes behind the floral...

So the paint will probably be a neutral.  Light tan, creamy white.  I'll just go to the paint store and peruse the samples.  

Anyway.  I like updating things.  We're thinking some wood shelves behind the toilet, just to warm up the vibe...we'll see.  

We're watching Newton here for a bit.  

He's so cute.  Sunny lights up when he comes over.

This fine day Grace is getting married.  If you've read here for any length of time, you know who Grace is.  I was there for her birth, her mama is my niece Katie.  She grew up with Sonja.  Mariel and I offered to make the cake and cupcakes for the wedding, and we did.  It's always a stress fest, when the baking is for something so important, but so far so good.  Mariel made four carrot cakes, I made the cream cheese frosting and stacked them up...a wee bit crooked, but shh, will anyone notice?   Cam will help me decorate with fresh flowers today before we put it out.  The cupcakes:  they came out so beautifully.  Mare baked the lemon and the gluten free vanilla, I made the regular vanilla, and the lemon and regular buttercream frostings.  We got together yesterday and got them all frosted, and phew.  It's done.  

In the walk in fridge at church...all the containers of cupcakes and the cake, and the flowers for it.

We're leaving here in a few minutes for the wedding.  Paul is working in the kitchen to help with the food, helping Emily, as well as Evelyn and Nate.  I'll be checking up on them to see how it's going.  Darius and Nate smoked the beef brisket already.  Today the kitchen crew will be adding mashed potatoes, and gravy, roasted asparagus, caesar salad and Italian bread with parmeasan-herb crusted chicken.  Dessert will include a variety of ice creams with those cupcakes, then later in the evening there will be s'mores and popsicles.  :).  (for 165 people). 

 The kitchen is always a fun place to be, Emily at the helm makes it so good, she doesn't freak out, calm-cool-collected no matter what mishaps may occur.  She can think on her feet and she cooks with her heart, recipes are just suggestions to her.  So I will be visiting them in there ha.

Tomorrow, we'll be going to get paint after I go to the pool, then get the bathroom painted.  

Projects are never without trials.  Yesterday after cupcake/cake frosting, I walked in the door right after Paul had accidentally broken a pipe.  Never a dull moment.  He's been to the hardware store so many times, the car will just go there when you get in.  He bought a part for the plumbing, it was the wrong part, back he went.  Thankfully it's five miles down the road, no one should live further than that from the hardware store.  

The flooding in Texas has been heartbreaking.  All those little girls, oh dear Lord, I cannot imagine, their poor families.  The only consolation is that they went straight into the arms of Jesus.  

I won't comment on the Big Beautiful Bill because I haven't researched it much.  One part is that any able bodied adult will who can work will have to work 80 hours a month to qualify for Medicaid.  This might be a good thing.  The way things are now: if you get benefits, and you work, and earn income, it can make it so you don't qualify for benefits anymore, and possibly deter some from wanting to work.  So this new plan may make it so they WANT to work, in order to get those things.  

Other politics:  I did like President T. dancing with his wife.  I do not agree with rooting out immigrants who have made this country their home, and sending them back.  If they are criminals, fine.  But if they've been here a while, have families, and have been working, then WHY?  It's heartless.  The past president opened the border wide, practically invited them, it's cruel to send them back.  Just give them citizenship, have them pay taxes, and close the border to all future immigrants unless they go through the proper channels.  The time and money spent on finding people and deporting them is so wasteful.  

God made all the people on the earth.  No one is better than anyone else.  Yes, there are some who have turned to darkness and have no respect for life, and all sorts of people who have given themselves over to evil tendencies.  That is for sure.  But..."there but for the grace of God go I"...as my mother used to say.  We have so much to be thankful for in these last days, these days of grace.

You all have a good afternoon!  Don't melt!  (it's SO hot and humid here in New York!!!)