happy thanksgiving weekend

We had a nice time with family at our house on Thanksgiving. I wanted to hang thankful cards off a branch for the centerpiece but had no large vases. So Ryan went out to the garage which is filled with leftover building supplies and created this cool vase. For a quick idea it turned out pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the day after I got a cold am now laying around in bed, waiting to feel better. Trying to entertain the kids, Ryan put up their swings and they have been having fun outside. I took this picture from the window upstairs.

sweet surprise

My week started a bit slow and I was having a hard time with motivation. I really am not sure why, I have a lot of projects going, house wise, creative wise, and just regular old housework stuff, but it seemed like I couldn't accomplish anything or stay focused long enough to get anything really done. Anyways, Ryan knew I was having a down day, and came home from a business trip to Denver and surprised me with these salt and pepper shakers from Crate and Barrel.

They have a whole dinner set that I love that go with these, but these are definitely some of my favorite pieces in the collection. It sounds silly, but finding these as a Happy Thanksgiving Day present stuck under my pillow, made my week.

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

This weekend we have snow, hot cocoa and christmas music playing as Ryan is installing the final counter top on the island-made out of salvaged bowling alley floor... I will post a picture of that when it is done. I am playing around with some felting too. I love the cozy feel of today even though one,who shall go unmentioned, is bah-hum-bugging about the November Christmas music. Here are some pictures of the latest on the house.

We have been doing lots of random little detail stuff on the house, thought I would show a couple improvements.

All the concrete countertops are in and sealed up, one backsplash piece cracked so eventually we will have to redo that one. Really long thin pieces of concrete need a lot of reinforcement and they cannot be moved, so Ryan is thinking maybe he will pour it in two pieces next time.

The steel inlay is installed now. When we pulled up the very old, very stained, very stained carpet we found an existing wood floor that was really just a subfloor but made out of douglas fir and some oak in places. It was damaged in some places but fairly salvageable. We filled in some areas with new wood but left the places where walls used to be. This footprint of where the old bedrooms used to be are now filled with black steel. It is a reminder of the old, but also serves for a visual break in functional spaces in the now open living space plan. It defines the living room, dining room, kitchen, and entry way.

The trim around our stairway is now installed and matches the black inlaid steel.

Merry Almost Christmas!, or should I say Happy Thanksgiving ??

my biker boys

Every morning Ephraim and Ryan ride their bikes to school and work. Ephraim loves it and of course so does Ryan. I am sure it won't be long until Ephraim will actually ride his bike down the driveway.

And on good days Salome and I get to walk with the stroller to pick Ephraim up. I didn't realize how much we missed walking places at the rental house last year, so thankful to be in this location.

we gots some candy...

Just thought I would post some Halloween pics real quick.... we got to trick or treat at Salome's preschool bash and go to a fun party.... lots of fun. This the Pink Dinosaur "Cassie" and Ninja that showed up at our house.

trees and wallboard

Things have slowed on the house quite a bit now that is just us working on it, but things are happening. Ryan has been hanging wallboard, cement fiberboard.

The landscaping has been cleaned up a bit, which has made a HUGE difference. It is really hard to get a picture of the whole place due to the hill the house sits on, and the size, but I tried to take some pics of the trees on our properties, so many trees.

(the view looking down the driveway)

(one side of the backyard)

The result of many trees trimmed has been this pile of bark mulch that I have slowly spreading strategic paces around the property. It is nice to have and we got a nice little firewood pile from all the tree trimming.

The stone around the planters and at the bottom of the stairs is new, matching the existing stone on the house. Thankfully we were able to hire some one to do all that work.

So for now the main job Ryan is working on is this wall board... which he has completed on two sides of the house so far, after it is hung we will paint it white. It snowed last night again, so we will see how far the weather allows us to get on this job until spring.

the jig is up

So I put on a bit of Irish music the other day and apparently Riverdance is instinctual! Enjoy!