and another birthday here in our house...

 

Miss Sonja K. is 21...

...with Charlotte Claire and Camille...

Camille was the baker, a three tiered chocolate/yellow marble cake, with chocolate buttercream between the layers.

We had a quiet birthday for Sonja.  We made a nice dinner:  chicken, mashed potatoes, and fresh veggies. (I marinated the chicken breasts in the Cornell sauce, then rolled them in a mixture of cornstarch, seasoned Panko crumbs and baking powder, with garlic, salt, and pepper.  Lots of olive oil on the pan, then roll them in it a bit, roast in a 400 degree oven...they got nice and crispy, and tender and juicy inside.  Sonja made the sauce, which tastes like Chilis chicken crispers...with hot sauce, butter, and brown sugar)

The three girls went to a youth meeting, then we had cake when they got home.  I had a tiny slice, it was so good!  Who can resist birthday cake?  Well, from now on, me!  ha, isn't that what we say every time?  I actually usually don't have any, but thought I would...it didn't agree with me...heartburn, tummy ache...oh well...it was a beautiful cake though...

Now I need to run because it's Grandparents' and Special Friends Day at the school, and Paul and I are going for Elise, our kindergarten granddaughter...

One of these days I'll sit here and write more, it seems like these are just little info bullet posts...have a really good day!!!!

rain rain, go away...little Rhys wants to play...

 Our front yard is very boggy.  I walked through it yesterday when I got home from the pool.  The lilacs are budding, the pear tree is in full bloom, and the tulips are gorgeous this year.  I was in the door long enough to change the water in the tulip pitcher (I cut some to enjoy in the house), we had to leave to bring the truck to the mechanic.  (there are a few issues with it, a spring of some sort has to be replaced, among other things).   I got back in the door, and Kathryn was calling, did I want to do something?  Well, of course!  Achilles was still in Oregon with Darius, so Kathryn had just Rhys and the baby.

Target...they had no chicken!  We got a very few things, then went into TJ Maxx to scour for a birthday gift for Sonja, she's 21 tomorrow!  By the time we got to the register, it was Fall-Apart-O'clock, Rhys was crying, Jamison was crying, and it was so hot in that store!  

We stopped at McDonalds, and the bag ended up on the floor with half the fries...oops.  Cam stayed in the car with Rhys, and gave her some food while Kathryn and I ran into a grocery store with Jamison.

Then...home...ahh, home.  We had big plans for dinner:  the sirloin steak was buy one get one free, so I seasoned some of that, and pan fried it...cut it against the grain, and we had the most delicious fajitas with peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, ect.  

This fine morning, I headed out the door with Camille to check on Emily's cats, and pick up something for  Activity Club. We also went to the thrift store (too much fun...I get the senior discount, 25%off, on Tuesdays. (55 and up, who woulda thunk?)...I found a Minnie Mouse helmet for Rhys, an outfit for Ruth, some shorts and shirts for Grant, and pants for Wulf.  I bought a really nice little cooler for $3.74, and a Bumble Bag in excellent condition.  Camille found a brand new Zara shirt, some jeans, and an adorable Vici dress.  Then a quick run in to Aldi for some strawberries and cheese popcorn for A.C. snack, and some chicken, marked down hot sausage, peppers, limes, and popsicles for us.  

Home...ahh, home.  I'm getting out dollhouse stuff to bring to A.C., and Camille is making a three layer marble cake for tomorrow, and a dozen cupcakes.  

We brought the cupcakes to activity club, with a can of frosting, and some sprinkles...the girls liked frosting their own cupcakes...

...anyway, it was a day....tired now....goodnight!  (the post which took all.day.long. to write...)

the weekends just speed by...

 Yesterday was a much needed day off, but I didn't say it was uneventful.  On our way to church, the truck decided to give us trouble...I guessed transmission, because I know next to nothing about it, Paul thought tie rod or wheel bearing, can't even remember his guess...it had been giving rumblings, but this was a louder warning, so we turned around and made it home.  We have Emily's nice little Suburu Crosstrek this week because she's hiking in Utah with Mariel..

We were supposed to pick up a dryer from Market place, they were selling a really nice working dryer, and lived only two blocks from the house we were working on...had to tell them we wouldn't make it, but guess what?  They were so nice, offered to drive it over to the house, as the guy has a truck.  Paul worked on the house for a few hours, I came home after church...

Our fun began in the morning before we left the house:  I decided to put ribs in the oven, on low...Paul offered to put them in the smoker.  He showed me how to add more wood chips, so I stripped the membrane off, seasoned them with lots of good things, and also added a dozen chicken drumsticks that had been marinating overnight in Cornell chicken sauce.

Kathryn came over with little Rhys and baby Jamison (Darius is visiting Oregon with little Achilles), Margaret and Adrian came with Wulf and Tennyson, and Evelyn came over.  So we had a happy, busy, rainy afternoon.  Margaret brought asparagus and Brussel sprouts, Kathryn brought potatoes.   The potatoes were cubed, tossed in olive oil, salted and peppered, and roasted...then I added the cut up Brussel sprouts, and some chopped onions, then the asparagus last.  I made a pan of stuffing too.  I brought all the meat in from the smoker, and browned it up in the oven, ideally it would go on the grill...but our grill is falling apart this year.  Anyway, the ribs were tricky, weren't quite done when I brought them in, but the chicken certainly was, so we ate that while the ribs finished off in the oven...then, they were fantastic.  

It was a day, a good day.  Not exactly a day off, but a really good day.  I held a baby, rocked him, I held Rhys...when you sing to her, she chimes in the words she knows...Tennyson sat with me, and is my little friend, and Wulf is too.  I brought them out when I fed wood chips to the smoker, out in the rain with bare feet.  Everything is an adventure to them, and they want to know everything about everything.

Tenny loves to help feed the dogs...

Paul got home, the little ones love him...with Rhys.

And....yesterday Jonathan Robert turned nineteen years old, over in Germany.

Last summer in Norway, with Char and Sonja

When Achilles was born, Jon was first to hold him...

Anyway...I have to run, going to the pool.   About the renters who don't pay rent, it isn't easy to evict them here in New York State...we are working on it.  I agree though, it is NOT fair, not fair at all.  We still pay the mortgage on those houses, and taxes.  It COULD make me really angry, it could.  :)

Have a really good Monday, my friends.  

day #3....oh my goodness.

I'm old.  Three days in a row of working all day long...I'm taking tomorrow off.  Sonja, Charlotte Claire, and Camille joined us this fine rainy morning.  We got so much done, then they stopped at McDonalds on the way home.  Paul and I stopped at Aldi for seltzer, coffee cream, a package of chicken drums (89cents a pound, a huge package for five-something!)(they're marinating right now in Cornell Chicken sauce, for tomorrow).  

We brought the pups with us today.  They were so good, not sure they loved it though...they were unsure of where they were.  Kathryn stopped in and brought us coffees, then Sam and Grace visited, they live across the street.  Their friends from Virginia, their old next-door neighbors came to NY for the weekend, they stopped in to meet us, so nice.  The doggies were quite friendly with them right off the bat, which is nice. 

That side porch entrance, wow, it's getting there!

It had raw plywood walls and broken windows...

The floor looks so much better!

The front porch...the step boards will be replaced, the porch repainted.  I've been working on the railings.

The door...

Paul put new glass in it...it looked awful.

We needed a stove vent, and no over-the-stove cabinets, so we bought this...

I think it looks nice...we're thinking of tile or something for behind the stove...

A closet door I was painting...yesterday and Thursday I painted doors outside, but today was rainy.

The messy "stuff" counter, with all of our drinks, Yetis, tools, paper towels, ect.  Paul is such a hard worker, and a good sport.  He's pretty excited that it's almost done.  He's been working full time on his regular job, and going up after work a few days, then on Saturdays and Sundays.  He took Thursday and Friday off this past week.

The cabinet doors are still here, I sanded, primed, painted them, soon they'll get new hardware and go back on.  

This brown place is the other house we own, Paul is there in the front mowing the lawn, this was before he picked up their garbage...these are the people who haven't paid rent in well over a year...but we still have to mow and pick up garbage, or we'll get fined by the city.   

Sunny...

Suri...

Anyway...it's been a busy few days.  Instead of focusing on my aching back and hands (holding that paint brush!), I'm working on being thankful that I can do what I can do.  I use a chair for whenever I paint anything lower, so I don't lean over, and to rest my knees...alternating standing and sitting as much as possible.  I'm still quite beat.  phew.  Physical labor is not my thing, although it is very rewarding and satisfying to see the changes.  Once, years ago, one of the girls said, "Imagine working."  I cannot remember the context, but it's been repeated frequently here through the years...imagine working.

I'm distracted...Miss Char is studying history, out loud...Camille is folding laundry.  Paul is here, the dogs are snoring...so bye for now.

 

chock full of tired...

 

The door...after much scraping and sanding...

The door....after two coats of primer...and I spray painted the handle and the lock with $2.99 primer/spray paint from Ollie's, it's especially for metal.   

I love the vintage-y look of that handle.  

We worked all day, which I realize is what some people do every day.  

The morning was breathtakingly beautiful...frost on the patio furniture!

We left quite early, and now we're tired...we stopped at the store on the way home for burger, a cantaloupe, two bags of apples, and four packages of cheese.  I cooked up burgers for dinner...now, I am done. So done.  Paul took tomorrow off from REAL WORK too, so we'll go back and do some more work.  

Here are some random things:

Good paint is a joy to paint with, same with a good brush.  I bought a $2.49 brush from Ollie's, and nope. Nope and no thank you.  

I look hilarious in my Painting Clothes.  I have a big baggy pair of men's Adidas pants, they're comfy and have zipper pockets, and they have paint all over them.  There are a few different shirts I wear, and Also have painting shorts now.  And, my old old Birkenstocks are my Painting Shoes.  When it was snowy, I would wear my boots to the and change...today I just wore them with socks.  So when we went to Lowe's for more trim, I looked...hilarious.  

Anyway. We're getting near the finish line, and I.can't.wait. 

a wonderful grandma day!

 

Rhys and Ruth, cousins...Rhys will be two in June, Ruth in August.

Grant and I put together this puzzle, which is over 4 feet tall...he's so big for five!

Grant, and his cousins Achilles and Rhys helped me put together this bunny house...it was .89...yes, eighty-nine cents...at Aldi.  We put it together, then I let them eat it.  They ate the candy, and a few bites, then we threw it all away.

It sure was fun.  (Ruth was taking a nap)

Charlotte Claire is a nice auntie, she got out the waffle-town and helped them set up a road.

I was a nice grandma and took these two outside for a bit.

The tulips and the pear tree, so much prettiness.

Camille made:  macarons!  Vanilla with vanilla buttercream, her first, they came out pretty nice.  I didn't try any yet.  She also made blueberry muffins today, how is anyone supposed to lose any weight?  I don't ask them that, I just say no thank you, and act like I don't really want one.  They smell heavenly.  Now they're making barbecued chicken pizza with red onions and garlic...smells so good!  

Today was Camille's five week after surgery checkup at the ortho doctor.  She can wean from that heavy brace, and start physical therapy next week.  The knee quite swollen, hope more movement won't irritate it too much.  

We went to Aldi quick, and yay, two hanging flower baskets, some random groceries...then a quick stop into a little Mennonite store for coarse black pepper and coconut extract.  We got a beautiful pound of bacon, some Almond Joy bars, and some poppy seeds for those lemon muffins Camille is dreaming of.

There were grandchildren here all afternoon, it was wonderful.  Now they've all gone home, the three girls are doing school work, and ahh, here I sit.  I did hear back from the cardiologist today, via the internal medicine dr., I have sinus tachycardia.  The dr prescribed metoprolol, but...you know me...I don't want to take it.  I am going to call to talk to the dr himself, and ask:  if I don't take it, will it cause me harm?  Because in my mind, there is risk and there is benefit, all meds have side-effects.  I don't mind suffering through the strange speeding up of my heart if it isn't damaging anything.  If taking the med will help to protect the heart, then I'll consider it.   I'm sure they love patients like me.  

Ah well...the girls are in fine form.  It's silliness galore in here.  "Your crappy, shaggy, faded slippers...", one just said to another...bye for now...

skipping pool....

 ...not really skipping, it's closed this morning, no life guard available. I had a good workout this morning anyway, a dog named Suri, our almost eleven year old Labrador, pooped...all over nice shag rug over in the play area.  Well. I started out optimistic, and I'll spare you the gory details, but I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't going to clean well....so that rug has been rolled up and placed in the trash can.  It wasn't until I sat in my comfy chair with a steaming cup of coffee, and oh dear, is that?  oh no, it IS.  Now, I couldn't just ignore it and drink my coffee, although, shh, I did try...but nope, I had to get up and take care of it.  When I carried the rug out, the dogs wanted to go out, and what did Suri do?  She ate a bird.  (I know, blah and ugh, right?). I'll spare you the details of THAT too, but she would NOT DROP IT.   I don't know where it came from, or who was the culprit in catching it, but there are feathers all over out there.  

Such joy, having pets.

I told her she was never coming in the house again, but she didn't believe me, and she's snoring on the couch right now.  

Yesterday we had a curry/chili cook-off, or something like that.  Emily and Mariel invited us over, and made a vegetarian curry, a tikka masala, (oh with roasted sweet potatoes on the side too!), and another curry dish with a spicy oil to drizzle....they were so good.  I made a chili with no beans, to eat over rice, with lots of peppers and onions.  (it was pretty good, I added a jar of cilantro lime salsa to it).  Sam and Grace brought bakery half-moons, and we had a big bowl of Cadbury eggs...those yummy little candy coated Easter ones.  (What?!  They were 70% off at Target!!!)

Emily is such a good sport...she got the lawn mower out and turned it on for the boys...

Tennyson is 2 and a half, and he has a one track mind.  He wanted to go outside and see that lawn mower, that was all there was to it.  So, grandma brought him out, then Grant and Wulf joined, then Emily came out...she played t-ball with them after this...

Saturday, we worked hard up at the house. I finished up priming, and cracked into the trim paint.  It went on so nicely, it is a joy to paint with good paint. The house is so very old, and the original window framing is old, has character, and is getting another coat of paint.  The door....oh, the door...Paul wrestled with it for hours.  He used paint remover, which foamed up and removed lots of the paint, he scraped, he sanded...he bought a pane of glass for it...(these particular renters were evicted after not paying rent for months and months and months...there were four broken windows by the time they left....and they were staple addicts. They must've liked privacy, they stapled things on the insides AND outsides of the windows. Nails, tacks, staples, they loved them all.  It took going to court to finally get them out...they smoked in the house, we had to use oil based odor blocking primer to neutralize the smell, and the windows were coated with brown, can't imagine how their lungs look)

This was before, just a board, no glass...it had so many tack and nail holes...

It doesn't look lovely yet, needs more sanding, then some primer, and a few coats of paint, but it has glass!  I'll prime and paint that door handle too...we re-installed it to keep the house secure.

We have tons of loose ends left.  The cabinets are painted, the doors are still here, I put wood filler where the previous handles were, have to sand that off and add some paint...the hinges have to be spray painted, and all the new door handles installed, drawer pulls too.  There is the front porch to paint, some of the steps need to be replaced.  Light fixtures, some yard work, trim...it seems like we're almost done for SO long before we're actually done.  

Anyway.  This fine morning I've done a few loads of laundry, changed the couch covers, moved couch and cleaned under it...having grandchildren here all the time has made cleaning under the couch interesting again.  Blocks and cars and marbles and Nerf bullets...back in the day, there were lots of barrettes and Barbie shoes.

I washed a few windows, bleached the kitchen sink (iron water, the joys of living in the country), dusted and polished the coffee table, and puttered around putting things away.  I was gone so much of Friday, Saturday, yesterday....and yesterday before I left, I made a triple batch of naan bread (rise it in the oven, then flatten the pieces, add olive oil to the panini maker, sprinkle the pieces with garlic, salt, pepper, and voila, naan bread.  I also made a pan of rice, packed it up in a mini crock pot to bring to Em's, and made the chili stuff, put it in the crock pot...gathered up seltzers, cold brew and cream, ect...so I wasn't cleaning the house, is my long round-about point.)

This morning was the reckoning, ha.  I give many props and accolades to working women.  Especially moms!  I don't know how you ever get caught up.  My daughter Margaret, Wulf and Tennyson's mom, works from home full time, and takes care of those boys while she does it.  (plus she's 20-something weeks pregnant!).

Anyway. Now I'm having my break, and enjoying the heck out of this dark rainy day.  We have a metal roof, and it's insanely cozy with the rain hitting it.  

Tomorrow, Camille has a check up with the ortho surgeon, then we'll go "quickly" into Aldi, because it's half a block down from the medical center.  When you live 15+ miles from everything, when you're near a store for an appointment, well....you run in.

When we get home tomorrow, Grace will be bringing the kids over for me to watch while she goes to an appointment.  Margaret might come here for the afternoon so she can work from here and the boys can play with their cousins.  

When I say there's never a dull moment, remind me that sometimes, like today, there IS a dull moment...and I enjoy it immensely.