Thanksgiving

It. Was. Awesome.

Here's who came:

Mom and Dad

Daren and family

Me and family

David and family

Dion and family

Diane and family

Branden and family

Chantel (officially part of Daren's family but lives on her own so she gets her own line)

Nevin (adopted son and family friend)

Hannah (niece)

Arthur (adopted son and family friend)

Amber's siblings:

The Deiter family

Daniel

Lisa

38 people

The weather was so nice which made it possible for kids to play outside

family to chat outside

and a little game of catch to take place.

I can see that I'm going to have trouble choosing which photos NOT to use.

Nevin and Arthur slaved in the kitchen with me all day.

It was so nice to have them helping me.

We kept up with the dishes and mess so well.

It was practically clean when we started dinner.

Of course, somehow, by the time we finished eating, the kitchen was a complete disaster again...

Arthur chatting with my mom

Nevin, rocking the zebra print apron

We had several activities for showing our thankfulness.

1-Hannah made some cute turkeys for my cork board where we could write what we were thankful for on the feathers

2-We went around the table and said what we were thankful for during dinner

(Mom and Dad both teared up during this part, which means it was a success!)

3-I decided to start the tradition of a tablecloth that everyone signs

Several people put their hand prints on it which I love...but they then discovered that drawing around your hand with a sharpie isn't the smartest thing to do.  Hilarious.

My cute niece, Jenna, got all creative and artistic on the tablecloth and I love it so much!

Because of how many people there were, we did a bad job of introductions.

I wish we'd done that different.

I had several people ask me who Hannah was...all toward the end of the evening.

oops.

"Who is the blonde girl? Carter's girlfriend?"

"Who's that blond girl? Nevin's sister?"

"I was wondering who that girl was..." 

haha

Sorry Hannah!

P.S. She's Frank's Sister's daughter

100 Things 2014

I'm doing things a little differently for 2014.

I'm planning to write 8-10 things each month throughout the year until I have 100 things that I'm thankful for.

That way, I'll get a more realistic view of the things I felt thankful for all year long instead of trying to remember January and February in November!

They are in no particular order, as usual.

1. Snow Days
2. A warm, heated house
3. My new Macbook!
4. All the smart people on the internet who have already written about any problem I might have and how to fix it.
5. Snowflakes on a window so I can see each one individually.  Amazing.
6. A working heater (it broke several times this winter so when it's working I am much more thankful now!)
7. home made bread
8. Pinterest recipes
9. Botox (for headaches!)
10. Upholstery class
11. No traffic when I have to drive to Boston
12. Boston Public Library online membership
13. Netflix
14. water in the door of the fridge
15. My trash compactor.  I love that thing more than is healthy.
16. Scratch cake
17. motivational posts on Facebook from my friend Jennifer.  I'm sure they'll kick in soon...
18. My remote car starter.
19. compliments
20. See's (obviously)
21. bluegrass
22. a snappy tune downloaded from iTunes
23. the smell of rain
24. those first days of spring when it's finally finally warm
25. lotion on dry hands
26. a pedicure
27. time spent with my siblings. I love them and they are funny
28. My nieces and nephews
29. understanding Landlord(s)...really landladies but I don't know if that's a word
30. Dark chocolate covered coconut from Costco
31. Costco-let's be real, we love the samples
32. texts from my kids
33. Gorgeous blue Caribbean water
34. All expenses paid trips to beautiful locations :-)
35. Lazy Sunday afternoons
36. being friends with artistic people
37. small town parades
38. craigslist
39. the fact that my son is humming Christmas carols as I type this (in May)
40. AAA
41. my magnets that say "student driver" for when Carter drives (unrelated to #40 BTW)
42. violin lessons
43. wearing short sleeves outside for the first time
44. Popchips salt and pepper (when I can find them)
45. Carter's new drum sticks (he's drumming way more now...it's on my furniture...but, still good)
46. Helpful things that fit into cup holders
47. UPS-its always fun to get a package! even when it turns out to be your husband's meds, you get a momentary thrill when the UPS truck drives up :-)
48. A reliable car for road trips
49. National Parks
50. "free" breakfast at hotels
51. 80 MPH speed limits
52. windmills
53. Buffalo (bison)
54. interesting park rangers
55. sleeping in your own bed
56. GPS
57. throw blankets
58. finally, finally finding a comfortable bra (edited-it didn't last...but I enjoyed it for the little while that it was comfortable. sigh)
59. Hugs from my brother and hearing him say "I'm glad you're in Utah"
60. excedrin
61. holding a sleeping grand baby
62. seeing Isabelle take some of her first steps! (missed the very first ones)
63. clouds over the mountains
64. rides into the canyon
65. cool evenings on the porch with no mosquitoes
66. the neighbor's chickens.  They come up to the fence when we are outside and they are pretty funny creatures.
67. Lunch with my parents
68. Canning
69. Have I mentioned Peaches?  Because, oh my gosh, PEACHES!
70. Having Isabelle hold her arms out for me to pick her up. melt.
71. Home Depot less than 2 miles away.
72. My striped wall
73. Having Nevin living here...he's a fun addition :-)
74. Etsy
75. KSL/craigslist
76. An understanding husband
77. advil
78. ceiling fans in the bedroom at night
79. alone time
80. "believing Christ"
81. My kids. Heartbreak, love, happiness, tears...they bring it all.  I love them dearly.
82. Oregon Coast
83. Texts, emails and/or calls from long distance friends
84. Beautiful fall weather
85. Fall foliage
86. lunch with Mom and Dad
87. google docs
88. that we sold the Acura!
89. having a husband who can fix things
90. amazing sunsets
91. having such nice neighbors right downstairs :-)
92. shopping for baby/toddler stuff for Christmas
93. Buying girl clothes
94. Gilmore girls
95. electric sanders
96. when one of my kids makes a good decision
97. overhearing one of my kids saying something nice about me.
98. Tons of family here for Thanksgiving!
99. snuggling on the couch with a warm blanket, a good show and a sweet hubby
100. My family

Will we fit?

I am having Thanksgiving at my house this year.

This is not unusual,

I used to have Thanksgiving at my house in MA every year.

(I will miss all of my MA friends for sure!!)

But that house had a humongous family room.

I could put up three 6 foot tables and not even have to rearrange my furniture.

This house...

not so much.

Don't get me wrong.

I love my house.

I love that it is smaller and I can vacuum the whole place in a few minutes.

I love having the bedrooms on the main floor.

I love carrying my groceries in without going up any stairs.

But Thanksgiving is a different matter.

We are having

my kids 

my parents

quite a few of my siblings and their families

Amber's siblings and their families

and a few college kids thrown in.

There will be over 40 people here!

Currently the plan is to remove the couches and chairs

from the living room,

remove the dresser from the entryway,

and put tables up.

Kids eat in the entryway 

(where there is easily cleaned tile)

Adults eat in the living room.

(Light carpet...throwing caution to the wind.)

Food will go on the table I just refinished that is in the adjacent dining area.

I think I can fit 4 tables if I do that.

But I haven't measured...

It will be tight.

But that will leave the family room area for hanging out.

Kitchen for cooking

Basement for playing/watching football.

And my bedroom for Frank to escape to when he can't take the crowds anymore.

I know him well...it WILL happen.

I can't wait to have my first family thanksgiving in many many years.

Brrrr! I mean Ouch!

The shower in my new house

("new")

is super duper stupid.

It likes to switch from warm to blazing hot to freezing cold

on a whim.

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with

water running elsewhere in the house

flushing of toilets

laundry

It just likes to do its own thing.

I enjoy a nice, relaxing shower.

Or at least I used to.

In this house, there is no such thing.

DO NOT RELAX

DO NOT ENJOY

If you start to enjoy

you are definitely going to get doused with burning hot water

or freezing

You just never know which one.

And then 

you will be yelping

or jumping out

or reflexively turning off the water

leaving you standing there, wet, possibly with shampoo in your hair

and wondering if you should risk turning it back on.

Feel free to visit!

Stay overnight!

I will let you use my shower...

{insert evil laugh}

The table is done

Well, the table is finished!

It feels like it took forever...but really it wasn't that bad.

Amber helped me with it a lot.

I would sand and sand and sand until I couldn't take it anymore.

And then Amber would come and sand

and she would make so much more progress than me!

She did the majority of the staining too.

Between the two of us, we actually finished.

and I think it looks great.

I wish I had a good "before" picture.

But you can see it here on the edge of this picture:

It was beat up.

And had a thick layer of stain and poly

making it almost completely lacking in visible woodgrain.

A few "during" pictures:

I wish I had taken pictures of the mess we made with sanders and sandpaper

and junk all around the back porch.

I would sit out there, surrounded by sanding stuff,

and watch Gilmore Girls on Netlix.

Good times.

Then it got cold.

I had to bring it inside for the final coats of poly.

This picture is the most true to the actual color of the table...

And, the "after"!

Living Room Progress

The first room of my new house that I have decided to "decorate" is the living room.

I removed wallpaper (nightmare)

had the walls re-textured

and then I painted them all a light greige.

My house is currently ALL beige.

It wears on me.

But I knew I didn't want to go all crazy colors in my entryway/living room

So I chose a gray-ish color...

doesn't clash with the rest of the house but isn't truly beige.

I decided to be a little brave, though, and made a striped wall in the entryway.

The math of getting the stripes on the wall was beyond my capabilities for some reason.

After many attempts, I got Amber's brother to do some calculating

(which took him only a few minutes!)

and I was set.

all taped and ready to paint

painted!

tape removed

I'm happy with how it came out.  The whimsical stripes don't totally mesh with the floor but I'm willing to pretend this particular floor doesn't exist since, in my dreams, it doesn't.

I put my yellow dresser in the entryway

and found a clock that looks great in the space.

Now if only the clock kept proper time...

OY!

It's never easy.

The dresser was originally a tv stand in our bedroom

so that top section was for the components.

I have baskets in there now and I think it looks ok.

Someday I  might replace it with a different piece of furniture...

but I like the yellow.

I am a color person after all.

I managed to find a spot for my red secretary.

I still love it and I'm so glad I didn't get rid of it when we sold our house in MA.

I removed the weird light fixture that was in this corner.

That makes me happy!

This is the dining room.

My buffet fits in there as well as my Pottery Barn knock-off mirror.

The piece of cardboard is a pretend table.

I searched KSL for a long time looking for just the right table.

I finally bought one for $40 and I'm working to refinish it now.

My daughter-in-law, Amber, actually knows what she's doing when it comes to refinishing furniture

(where-as I always just wing it)

so she's helping me.

I told her that we have to get it done before Thanksgiving!

So we gotta get moving.

Plus, its sitting outside for sanding right now and it's gonna get cold...

I have purchased fabric for curtains that will go on the big living room window.

Here's the fabric:

Then I found some cute nesting tables on KSL.

Here they are before:

I decided to paint them the same color as the buffet in the adjacent dining room.

During:

Sanded and primed

Painting them in the living room since it's too chilly outside

And After:

I decided to only use two of the tables.  

The third one felt like too much and it's tiny and not of much use anyway.

Now I need new pillows though...too much  matching going on!

What's left?

Art for the wall behind the couch (I think I want to do a collage)

side table for the other side of the couch

lamps

maybe a different coffee table...my homemade table has worked fine for a long time but I'm feeling like I need something less bulky in here.

finish the dining table!

I did get some chairs for the table so I don't have to worry about painting or refinishing any.

whew.

Here's what I chose:

(obviously a picture from the website)

I'm enjoying having some projects again.  

It's been awhile.

So I will probably start scouring KSL for the other side table next

(once I get the dining table done, of course)

I'm going to have Thanksgiving at my house for whoever can come

so I'm using that as a deadline of sorts.

Back to Moab

Frank and I took another quick trip to Moab this last weekend.

Four Wheeling

look at this poor tree and where it chose to grow

Here are a couple of quotes from me during our trip:

"I don't want to do this! I don't want to do this! I don't want to do this!"

"I do not like this feeling!"

"Be careful!"

Here are a couple of quotes from Frank during our trip:

"Isn't this fun?!"

"You have to admit, that was fun!"

"This would be so fun after a rainstorm!"

I do have fun when we go four wheeling.

Really I do.

My fun, however is interspersed with moments of terror.

Frank is just having constant fun.

Well, when he goes alone, he is having constant fun...

when I go with him, he is probably having fun interspersed with moments of annoyance.

Just a guess.

It was a gorgeous day, however.

Perfect weather

Gorgeous blue sky

We went on some very cool trails

We climbed rocks

We went down steep hills

We had all kinds of dashboard lights go on

(not the best thing when you are in the middle of nowhere)

We got a little lost

We saw some gorgeous views

And we made it home safe and sound afterwards.

Some of the sights:

A smaller but awesome arch

(very good acoustics)

HUGE caves
It's hard to show just how big they were but I tried.
See how tiny frank is there standing by the cave entrance?

grazing cattle who looked super bored to be seeing us

Some old mining cabins built from railroad ties.

They didn't look like they'd be too comfortable in the winter...but have held up amazingly well over the years.

I learned that if I hold onto the handle in front of me and lean forward

rather than holding onto the handhold above me and leaning back

The handle that I gripped 90% of the time

then I will feel a lot less like I'm getting 

rattled

shaken

bashed

and 

beaten up

and more like I'm on a roller coaster.

It was a good thing to learn.