Happy Birthday, Babe!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday (yes, on Halloween). He's turning a young 32 and every year, I think he just gets better & better.

This morning, I got up early & made him blueberry muffins (his favorite) for breakfast. Today he was able to take off early from work and do some things that HE wanted to do. Then tonight we went to Outback Steakhouse, his favorite restaurant, for dinner to celebrate. They sang to him & gave him a free sundae (which we were both too full to finish).

I asked him on the way home tonight if he'd had an enjoyable birthday...he said yes. Happy birthday, babe! I love you bunches and am so proud of what God is doing in and through you. I see more evidence of it every day...

"shop"-ing around...

I want you to see what my husband has been doing...the garage has become the "shop" - we knew it would. At our other place, Jeff had a nice shed in the backyard where he could go to "play". He did all his woodworking out there, had all his tools out there, his radio-controlled airplanes were out there, etc. We don't have a shed here. So he's been working on organizing his stuff and building this or that to house it all.

He put up these nice shelving brackets so that he would have a place, out of the way, to store his wood boards for future projects. He likes to purchase his wood from a place in Wilmington called Anchor Hardwoods. They generally have a pretty good selection of wood to choose from and Jeff can usually find what he needs at a decent price. On his shelves, he has a little bit of everything from pine & walnut to cherry & maple. These "shelves" are on the left side of the garage if you're looking inside from the driveway and they sit above the water heater there in the corner.

He's also put up some of the wire shelving, that you can see here, for some of his "tubs". My husband is actually pretty organized when it comes to his stuff. He organizes things in tubs like these so that it's all together in one place. He has different tubs for different things: a tub for all things electrical, a tub with things he might need when he paints (brushes, rollers, etc.), a tub just for caulks & silicones...you get the picture. All he has to do is remember where he put the tub that has the stuff he needs in it! So these shelves kinda help with that. And these he put up right to the left of the door leading into the house from the garage.

The biggest project is the "wall 'o' cabinets". Jeff is building all different sizes of cabinets/shelves, some with doors, some with pegboard, some open to house his stuff. He's building "shells" to fit shelves in and then he'll enclose those with different door fronts. The photo at the top gives you and idea of what I'm talking about. He's also including a desktop area where he can set things to work on or put his computer on for some tunes or woodworking ideas. Underneath the desktop will be some cabinets with drawers, etc. for more of his stuff. It's really coming together. You can see the start of the desktop in this photo.

It's a work-in-progress right now. I hope to show you more photos in the future as it becomes more complete. Once he finishes this project, he'll have a lot more room in the shop to work, which means he'll be a lot less frustrated and be able to just crank those woodworking projects out! And maybe there will be room in there somewhere for my (little bitty) car. Maybe. :)

attic floor...

I know what you're thinking: I suppose you could say I'm about as slack as a blogger could be, huh? SIXTEEN days since my last post??! That's pathetic.

But in my defense (because I don't think anyone else will come to my defense), I have been super-busy lately. Work has been pretty involved. I've had lots going on in recent weekends. And my nights haven't been my own with Jeff's softball games and cards needing to be made (of course I enjoy that but you know...). So here we are at the 19th of October. Jeff's last softball game (other than the rain-out and the tourney) was Tuesday and no one's coming to visit this weekend. So there you go. Time to post to the blog. :)

I do want to say that I did have house guests last weekend; my mom (finally) and her parents, my grandparents (affectionately nicknamed "the grands"). They all loved the house and we had a wonderful time together. Mom & Gram went to my bible study with me on Saturday morning while Jeff and Buppa hung out (in the shop for a brief time, but mostly at Harbor Freight since Buppa doesn't have one close by). We mostly chilled the rest of the weekend and just enjoyed being together. It really meant a lot to me & Jeff to have Gram & Buppa make the trip because it was a big deal for them to come all that way. They're not "spring chickens" anymore (and I say that in the most loving way!) and for them to make the trip to see us and the house tells a lot. Thanks, Grands! We loved having you! And you, too, Momma. Always!

Now, just a brief part about the house (since that is mostly the point of this blog). We've had the attic flooring down for a while, but it's such a boring thing, I only now decided that I'd post about it. There's not much to say about it except that Jeff's buddy, Henry Olds came out to help cut & put it down and they both worked their butts off one Saturday (thanks, dude!). We don't have much space up there, but it's nice to have flooring down to store things like fall/Christmas decorations, clothes, spare a/c units (?), closet shelving that we took down at the other place, etc. It's helped us clean up the living part of the house so we don't have so much clutter. It's not climate-controlled, obviously, but it does have light. Jeff helped ME install a motion-detection light up there. It pretty much comes on as we start going up the ladder to the attic, which is nice.

Stay tuned for more...and hopefully, it won't be another 16 days before I post again.

my fave season...

Can you smell it? The scent of fall? That glorious season God created? Fall, or autumn as some call it, is my favorite time of year. It's the time when things in creation start to change - the temperatures become cooler, the daylight gets shorter, the colors of the leaves turn...ah, fall. I love it!

It also reminds me of the time when families gather together to reminisce on all of God's blessings and what they're personally thankful for in their lives. We usually spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family in Lexington since they're so close (and I still don't have any desire to attempt to cook a turkey!). My mom provides the house and the kitchen and I usually put together the menu. Then we work together to get the meal cooked and on the table. It can be a little hectic, trying to get everything to be done all at the same time and stay hot until we eat it with only one stove and one microwave, but I enjoy it all the same.

It's become a tradition the last several years for the girls to head to Seagrove, NC the day after Thanksgiving to do some shopping. Seagrove, for those who don't know, is the pottery capital of the "world" (as far as I'm concerned). I love the atmosphere around that area at this time of year. There's a slight chill & crispness in the air and everyone has their studios/work areas decorated for the holidays. Most of the potters usually have some celtic music playing in the background...oh, I just love being there. It seems like a different era when I'm there. And, of course, I don't get to go shopping with my mom very often so that's always a bonus!

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a tangent, but I do so love this season. I really just wanted to post a photo or 2 of some of the fall decorations that I've put up around the house. I have almost as much decoration for fall as I do for Christmas! I have a wreath hanging on our front door which I'm so excited about (we couldn't do that on our other front door). I also have some fall scented candles here & there. I have a fall colored table runner on our kitchen table and a matching table cloth on the "steel table" in the kitchen (that won't be staying in the kitchen...). In the center of the kitchen table is a basket arrangement of fall leaves, pinecones & ribbon. On the entertainment center, I have some ceramic punkins and a fall basket arrangement with some "sprigs" of fall "stuff" (that's the best I can do - you can see a little of the "stuff" in the photo above). I would've normally put that "ensemble" on the fireplace mantel but since we don't have that now... I also have a garland of fall leaves above the cabinets in the kitchen...very festive.

Take the fall season of 2007 to really think about all that God has blessed you with. And be thankful. There are so many who have nothing...we are TRULY blessed. Happy Fall, Ya'll!