apple pickin’

Last Saturday (seems like weeks ago) we went to the orchard with our son and his wife. It felt great to leave town for a while, getting away from the remodeling work. It waited for us, no problem…

She’s twittering. 🙂

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The trees were loaded…

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…and the apples were beautiful…

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…not to mention delicious.

crunchy good

The sky was blue and beautiful with big fluffy clouds.

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Just enough to take home.

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DD picked out a tiny pumpkin.

pickin' a pumpkin

DS and DDIL

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Looking for Granny Smiths.

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DD found a new friend…Sammy, the orchard kitty.

Sammy, the orchard kitty

On the way home, southern Illinois through the windshield.

autumn fields

The worst case of wind-blown corn I’ve ever seen. This wind damage was caused by leftover winds from Hurricane Ike. We saw a lot of damaged fields. This was the worst one.

wind blown corn

There will be no combining of the above corn. Looks like a loss. But we saw lots of combining being done. Here, the farmer is harvesting soy beans.

combining soybeans

It’s always good to get back home, even if it means getting back to painting.

late afternoon sun

~~Rhonda

I think he likes it…

Niko came downstairs late last night to check out the paint colors for the laundry room. He’s very curious! So far, he hasn’t picked up any new fur colors.

I think he likes it...

~~Rhonda ::still painting::

paint choices

Still painting here. What a big job. The guest room is coming along. The baseboard and the crown molding have one coat of paint in this picture. I’ve put two more coats on the baseboards today. The white makes it look fresh. Half the walls are painted. The ceiling is done. The oak flooring (sitting there in the boxes) will be installed on Thursday, so we need to get all the painting done before then.

guest room blue

The hall got a coat of yellow and I think it’s too bright. We have some leftover pale yellow from the kitchen (painted two years ago), so DH is going to paint it over part of the hall this evening so I can see if I like that better. I painted the first coat of white on most of this woodwork today. Oak flooring will be put down in the hall and in the laundry room, as well as the guest room.

yellow hall

I’m heading back downstairs to do some more painting. ~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ october 13, 2008

Our remodeling to-do list is long, so I am trying for some easy meals this week. Several crock pot recipes and other meals that do not take a lot of prep.

Monday
pulled pork on buns ~ We have leftovers from last week. Delicious!! I followed the recipe’s ingredient list, but I didn’t blend them. I put the roast in the crock pot and threw everything in on top. I know it’s not the same as roasting it, so it was different than the meat the original recipe would produce, but it was still delicious!
chips
grapes

Tuesday
chicken cordon bleu (crock pot)
spinach salad
lima beans
corn

Wednesday
taco salad

Thursday
spaghetti
garlic bread sticks
green salad
peas
corn

Friday
pork chops (crock pot)
mashed potatoes (special request from DD)
corn on the cob
steamed snow peas

Saturday
refrigerator buffet

Sunday
pork steaks, grilled
baked potatoes
steamed green beans
grilled zucchini and yellow squash

There are a lot more ideas for your own menu on Laura’s “I’m an Organizing Junkie” site.

~~Rhonda (back to painting)

creative outlets

I’d be quite unhappy if I didn’t have some kind of creative outlet. I must confess, I have more than several areas of interest, but one of my favorites is photography. You’ve seen a lot of my photos on this blog. Following are some that don’t fit my usual blog topics.

I am a member of quite a few flickr groups. Two of my favorites are “7 Days of Shooting” and “Macro Mondays.” Both give photography assignments with weekly topics. Here are a few pics I’ve taken for those groups. If you click on the picture, it will take you to that photograph at my flickr site where you may find more details about the shot.

7 Days of Shooting / Theme: Zig Zags

zig zag reflection

7 Days of Shooting / Theme: Electricity and Electronics

my favorite toy

7 Days of Shooting / Theme: Music

inside the old square grand

7 Days of Shooting / Theme: Liquids

caution...wet paint

Macro Mondays / Theme: Straight out of the Camera (no post processing)

pin heads

Macro Mondays / Theme: Birthdays

can't have a birthday cake without these

7 Days of Shooting / Theme: Food
and Macro Mondays / Theme: Negative Space

maraschino shine

Macro Mondays / Theme: Eighteen

18 colorful brads

You can tell from the pictures, I suppose, that I have a liking for maco shots. I find them fascinating. The closer, the better. My submissions for “7 Days of Shooting” are often macros, even though it isn’t a requirement in that group as it is in “Macro Mondays.”

I hope you enjoy some creative outlets of your own. They’re good for you!

~~Rhonda 🙂

our grands

New pictures of the twins…

Big sister gives a typing lesson…

The twins are coming to see us soon! ~~Grandma 🙂

remodeling

We’re remodeling the addition, which houses a hall with closets and built-in drawers, a laundry room, a full bath, and the guest room. We’re going for a cottage style which is a departure from the rest of the house, but since the addition is a 1960 build-on and is separate from the rest of the house, I think it will work. The colors will be blue and white, with a little yellow.

The room used to look like this. The bed is now in DD#1’s room. The bookcase will be painted white if it comes back into the room.

guest room

Then we stripped the wallpaper… (The dresser is looking for a new home, elsewhere in the house. It is not going back into the guest room.)

DD's contribution

…and took up the carpet and scraped the cottage cheese off the ceilings.

bye bye cottage cheese

The ceiling is a dark blue. I first chose the darker blue on the left for the walls, but didn’t think there was enough contrast, so DH put a lighter blue up. I like it better. So the walls will be the lighter blue, the woodwork will be glossy white, and the ceiling will be the dark blue.

which blue?

I painted three vintage chairs the same blue as above on the left…the darker wall color. Two will go in the guest room and one will go back into the bathroom. I need to find another one for the laundry room. After the paint cures for four or five days, I’ll sand it to distress the finish a bit.

blue chairs

Two blue chairs will go in the spot these chairs occupied, and we’ll buy two comfy chairs (that recline but don’t look like recliners) to sit between the bed and the armoire.

guest room

Speaking of the bed, this is the one I ordered for the guest room.

I thought blue on the walls in all four rooms would be too much, so am putting yellow in the hall. This is a tiny test spot. I’ll have a better picture soon. The woodwork will be a glossy white.

yellow for the hall

In the laundry room, the wall below the chair rail will be the darker blue wall color and the yellow color from the hall will be above the chair rail. I think. May change my mind! This cupboard will come back into the laundry room.

towel cupboard

I have some old magazine ads from the 1918s that I plan to use above the counter in the laundry room.

magazine ads

I chose the lighter tile on the upper left for the bathroom floor. The same tile will go in the two upstairs bathrooms. It’s a nice neutral color that will work with anything.

bathroom floor?

The bathroom will have the darker blue wall color above the bead board wainscot. There’s a huge window in this room, so light is not an issue. All four rooms will have the same dark blue ceiling as the guest room. The white and blue glass tiles will go on the wall around the medicine cabinet. The counters will be Caesarstone ‘Pacific Reflections.’ The same countertop material will go in the laundry room.

guest bath

I am eager to see it finished! Waiting is the hard part! 🙂

~~Rhonda

autumn colors

I took a little stroll around the yard yesterday, in the late afternoon. I’d been painting chairs and needed to get outside and away from renovating for a while. I hate missing the perfect weather we’ve been having, so out I went. Here are a few pictures from the yard.

Can dogwood leaves look any more glorious?

autumn dogwood

dogwood

Flowers for next spring.

dogwood

Virginia Creeper is supposed to turn a lovely red in the fall, but ours never has. Still beautiful, even if it’s not red.

Virginia Creeper

There are a lot of volunteer mimosa trees along the edge of the woods.

mimosa

Here’s a shot I wasn’t looking for. A fly sunning on the other side of the mimosa leaf.

a fly went by

Stunning sumac. How brilliant is that?

sumac

My hickory tree…dug it up in the woods at Old Salem Cemetery years ago.

hickory leaves

The pin oaks are going to be pretty this year.

pin oak

In the fenced garden, the sedum is beginning to recede. We can see Baby Bunny again. He was completely covered not so long ago.

end of the season

The lavender is putting on a flush of blooms. I planted it next to the bench in the fenced garden. Love to smell it while I sit there.

lavender

Iris ‘Baby Blessed’ is a good rebloomer. A mini iris, it’s about 12″ tall, with a smallish flower. Smells like spring time.

Iris 'Baby Blessed'

The sky was so very blue yesterday.

blue, blue sky

We miss so much when we stay indoors… ~~Rhonda

not quite friends…yet

Yesterday and today, we left the doors open for Niko and let him come and go as he pleased. While I worked in the scrapbook room last night, Niko stayed nearby. He seems to like to be around people. He was interested in the printer when I ran off the bulletin inserts. The printer always draws any nearby kitties when it begins making noises. They can’t seem to help it…they just have to investigate.

magnetic printer

Yesterday, Buttercup spent time in the basement, but today, she was upstairs while Niko was free to roam. Most of the day, Niko stayed upstairs and Buttercup stayed downstairs. This evening, after supper, DD brought Niko downstairs. Buttercup sat on the kitchen stool and watched as Niko explored the things on the floor under the kitchen table. He didn’t realize at first that Buttercup was there.

checking out the new kitty

Buttercup never moved, but she didn’t take her eyes off Niko.

watching...

Once Niko realized Buttercup was nearby, he sat under the chair and waited to see what would happen. After about 15 minutes he decided to go back upstairs. No hissing or growling…just a lot of watchful waiting.

it's safe under here...

I think they’re doing fine. There haven’t been any kind of kitty confrontations. It’s just a matter of time. They’ll be playing and snoozing together before you know it.

~~Rhonda 🙂

niko explores

Yesterday and today, we put Buttercup in the basement for a while, and let Niko roam around the house. He was happy to be out of the bedroom.

In the kitchen, he stood at the back door and watched the outdoor cats.

watching the outdoor cats

He thought DD’s school book bag was full of interesting smells.

checking out DD's book bag

This evening Niko sat on DD’s lap for a long time while she told him good night.

sweet kitty

saying goodnight

We’ve had a busy day. I painted several pieces of furniture and Russell painted in the addition. We settled on a wall color…I’ll take a picture tomorrow. I forgot to today! The oak flooring was delivered and will be installed next week. It has to acclimate to the house before installation. Someone from the counter top company came and made a template for the bath and laundry counters.

We’re making progress on the remodel. I think we’ll be ready for the twins’ visit the end of the month. At least in the addition. DD’s room is going to take a while longer!

~~Rhonda