Christmas Morning

Daisy's impressed with my new IKEA kitchen island. Do you know the instructions to put it together are all in pictures? Absolutely no words. How smart, since IKEA sells in many different countries and would have to print up numerous instructions otherwise. Now I have to decide what kind of wood treatment to use. Tim thought he would "run" into IKEA and buy this. He was totally taken aback by the maze that IKEA is and had to ask for help a couple of times to actually purchase this. That's true love. I'm surprised he didn't walk out. Thank you, sweetie.

We had early Christmas with the Rices on Saturday and even got in a "game" of tennis before the rain started. Mom and John got a flat panel television and offered their old 27" set to us. We hooked it up yesterday. It's much larger than our 20" was. I love taking their old stuff! I recently got their old Maytag washer which still is working fantastically.

We got a great book from our pastor and his wife: The Valley of Vision- A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Wonderful, scriptural, heartfelt, deep, meaty, emotional, worshipful.

I wanted to get a family picture when we were in LaGrange but we didn't so Tim says we can set the tripod up and get one. Be amazed if a picture is posted.

After sausage balls and sweet rolls, Tim and I went back to bed for a nap. Yes, the best Christmas present for all over 40.

Read Luke 2 for the first Christmas story. May all find their treasure in HIM.

Typical Houston

It's 81 degrees today and since we've had rain, the weeds have grown. So I mowed the yard. The fire ants are still making mounds, too. Welcome to the tropics.

Here's a snapshot of Tim and me at his office Christmas party intently listening to the big boss. Another coworker took a very nice picture of us and printed it and when Tim gets home from Austin, maybe I'll have him scan it into the 'puter so you can see Tim's face. It was a lovely time.

Tim and Ben left yesterday to sell flags, bumper stickers etc... at the gun show in Austin. I amazed myself by figuring out a geometry problem when Tim was constructing the base to his flag holder. I found the formula in Ben's geometry book to determine the unknown side in a right isosceles triangle. Mrs. Raur would be so proud. I made a "D" in her class in high school. It's amazing how as you get older things that terrified me then, like math, don't anymore. Tim needed to cut the pieces of wood into 15.2 inch lengths, by the way.

Ok, that's all the amazing news for now.

Art mimicking Life?

After Tim designed and built our "water-box" from the broken picnic table (see previous post) I thought it was too funny that this was in the comics this morning and with the correct name, too!. Nick said the cartoonist probably saw our device and stole the idea for his strip.

Our microwave died. It was only two years old and a Panasonic which have usually been very reliable. The trouble to take it to a repair place for a diagnosis when microwaves are relatively inexpensive, had us decide to just buy a new one.

So we did some research (with help of my dad) of brands and reliability and then went to SAM's, Best Buy and Wal-Mart last night. We didn't buy one. They all seem so cheaply made and we didn't like the design of the plastic thing that holds the turntable.

So we went to Sears this morning and looked at Kenmore brands and ended up buying one as it was just as good as the others we had seen. Now we have to learn it's keypad quirks.

I used my 20 1/2 year old waffle iron for the last time, also. It was not working well this past week. I like to make a huge batch and then freeze them and they were sticking even though I oiled the surfaces. So I quit about half-way through the batter and ended up making pancakes with the rest. It served me well and it was retired after cooling off to file 13. My basting brush was also ruined in the process.

In other news, I broke my pastry blender last Friday. It's been a hard two weeks for appliances and kitchen utensils at the Wallace home. I had to make a pie crust using two knives -horrors!

In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and so I will choose to.

Babysitting and other stuff

Here's my "nephew" who we had the joy of watching on Thanksgiving. Pancho intimidated our dog, Daisy, and that was probably one of the best thing about having him. She's such a prima-donna and needs to learn how to get along with other dogs. Pancho's an English Bulldog and sounds like a pig with his snorting and grunting. He's very sweet-tempered which makes up for his needing to be wiped after taking care of business.

On Saturday we went over to LaGrange and the weather was stellar and we sat around doing nothing and it was lovely. Oh, we did eat and I walked a short distance in the pasture with the dogs (Daisy and Ginger) and then pulled grass burrs from their paws.

We got a new furnace installed yesterday. It has an electronic ignition so no more pilot light. Of course in typical Houston fashion we have the air conditioning on today but tomorrow we'll need the heat when a cold front passes through. Since we moved in at end of August I've seen more contractors than in my whole life.

I'm not feeling too pithy at the moment so that's all.

Honor Society, Gruene, Furnace- OH MY!

Here's the inductee. Ben, Nick and I attended the ceremony last night. Tim couldn't come because he tried to light the furnace pilot light, got shocked and had to wait for the repairman, who would not light it because the heat exchanger has holes in it. So Jess is officially a member of Phi Theta Kappa, Beta Lambda Mu chapter at Cy-Fair College.

I went with my mom and T.A. (my sister) to New Braunfels and Gruene Friday until Sunday and had a wonderful time looking at crafts, antiques etc. New Braunfels had "Weihnachtsmarkt" which is German for something and I've forgotten! But it has to do with Christmas and the civic center was decorated beautifully and was full of fun things to see and buy.

On Saturday, we went to "Market Days" in Gruene. I could spend allot of money there if I had any. So many of the booths had the kind of stuff I like. I did buy some things but they're Christmas gifts so can't tell about them. We had lunch at the Grist Mill Inn. Very cool place with fabulous view of river. The whole town is so neat. A perfect weekend get-away.

Cousin James asked for me to get additional estimates for the furnace repair which I did this morning and submitted them. I'm really tired of being the property manager here. I'm biting my tongue allot. But how good of God that the pilot wasn't lit, Tim couldn't get it to light, we had to have a professional out and a dangerous situation will be fixed.

It was a cool 60 degrees in the house this morning when I rolled out of bed. It's a toasty 66 now since the sun is hitting the front of the house and I decided to make sausage balls for Thanksgiving breakfast and had the oven on. The bedrooms are cooler as they aren't getting the sun or the oven heat.

Ok, here's a portion of the Psalm I read this morning- But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, for You have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to You; for God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness. Psalm 59:16,17

Ebay newbie

I'm cleaning house by trying to sell stuff on ebay. I sold "Cousin James's" Nissan Frontier front bumper and currently have 6 watchers for Jess's loft bed (auction ends on Wed. so get your bid in). I tried to sell a teapot and fancy casserole dish but no luck. I'm thinking a leather bomber jacket might be next. I'll even let Tim pick which of the two he wants to part with.

If you were a raindrop...

...where would you go? Into the Wallace home, of course. Houston's had one of its rainy spells with the subsequent flooding of streets, some homes and the opportunity to discover if your roof leaks.

Tim climbed up there yesterday and is pretty sure he discovered the reason for our leaks. A poor roofing job. He commented that his "roofing mentor", Mark, back when Tim did roofing would say "you have to think like a water drop." The valley in the front of the house was not done correctly (we believe from a previous conversation that cousin James put this second roof on) and so the water takes the path of least resistance. As Tim joked it's like the shingles are saying "come in this way, here's a nice opening" (I paraphrase). So, the water does and into the attic and down the beam and off into the ceiling and then soaking the sheetrock and out into the entry hall.

The other leak is from a bad job around a vent. Tim had already done some caulking after last Thursday's heavy rain but it was Monday's deluge that revealed these new leaks. Another round of rain is coming today and so I expect more interaction with nature inside. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday we'll get it fixed. We emailed our landlord and cousin James last night that we are pretty sure we know what the problems are. I called cousin James on Monday to let him know the roof was leaking.

I was reading in 1 Peter. Chapter 1 verse 6 says " In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trial.."

The whole chapter is good reading. I'm so thankful I have that living hope, that inheritance, that salvation to greatly rejoice in. I pray that through all these distresses, the proof of my faith "may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (second half of verse 7).

The "Water-Box" #3

Ok, look at the pictures from #1 to this one. What is this thing, you ask? Look at the roof. There is no guttering. After pricing guttering at Lowes we invented this. When it rains and especially with a heavy rain, the roof drains into the front bed here at a tremendous rate. I placed a 35 gallon trash can under here on Thursday and it filled up in about three minutes, then tumped over (yes, tump is a word, ok, not really but I'm using it). The bed washes onto the front porch and it's a muddy mess. So, on Saturday, in anticipation of the torential rains we've had, we made this. The water hits the box, drains through holes into the sluices and out to the yard. It works. If the landlord will pay for guttering and supply the paint we'll hang some, in the meantime pray the neighborhood association doesn't notice our invention.

The "Water-Box" #2

Here's a front view.

The "Water-Box"

This use to be the broken picnic table on the back deck. On Saturday it was turned into the "water-box." I tried to upload three pictures at once but it wouldn't let me. So here is #1 of our new, make-shift, improvised gold-mining sluice.

Who am I kidding?

You didn't really think I could get the whole family to pose for a picture, did you? So here's one with Daisy and I taking a nap. It's posed. She was at the foot of the bed and I invited her to come next to me and this is what she'll do if invited- take over the pillows.

If and that's a big if, I can get the family together, I will post a picture.

Last week was hard. Too many 'little things" needed my attention to fix. Problems with our old rental management company, letter from our Allstate agent congratulating us on our new teen driver- Francisco Rodriguez, who would be added to our policy on Oct. 7, dealings with the bank etcetera. Problems that were other peoples fault and yet I had to fix them. I confess my attitude was not pleasant. It finally got to me and I had a good cry and ate a handful of chocolate chips as that was the only chocolate in the house.

We had to communicate in writing to the management company so we sent a certified letter (we also mailed our October rent certified as the last correspondence didn't make it to our landlord). The DMV notifies the insurance company of whoever they have on record for an address and since it's us now we got the notice. Francisco is the old tenants son, by the way. I called our agent and asked for confirmation that he would not be added to our policy which I didn't receive until today.

So, you post a pithy quote on your blog (see previous post below) and then WHAM! you get to experience it. I long for a "normal" day. I kept preaching to myself through my crying jag "momentary light afflictions, momentary light afflictions- see 2 Corinthians 4:17 & 18).

Ok. One thing at a time. I did some touch-up painting today and hung some pictures and that helped the house to look more home-like.

Until the next adventure...

Spackle & wood putty

I think this home is held together with the stuff. I know I've sure been using allot of it. I'm still cleaning or trying to clean and patching holes. I've decided I'm going to call it quits on the "deep cleaning" and just try and maintain. I wiped down the entry hall walls yesterday and pulled nails and filled holes and that was the last area I hadn't done. My bucket of water was really dirty- it's kinda interesting how much dirt clings to walls (in this case- wallpaper).

We put up new vertical blinds in the master bedroom that actually open and close and bought a replacement patio screen door for the breakfast area and now I can have the breeze blow in on these cool mornings as well as ventilate from all the stupid chemicals I've been using. I've been trying to remove latex paint from the living room rug and the cure is worse than the paint splatters.

Ok, I've been tagged for a blogger thingy where you get four words and have to write what pops in your head about them so here is my contribution:

Friend: Jesus (as in "what a friend we have in Jesus...")

Mountain: Mitchell- the highest point east of the Mississippi and a place we stopped on our honeymoon on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Freckles- Pippi Longstockings because I was just reading a recipe that referred to her

Movie- LOTR because Nick has been rewatching the extended versions lately.

I am going to try to get a picture of the whole family in the new place and post it and it will probably do for our Christmas photo, also, knowing us.

In closing, I will share a quote from Elizabeth Elliot: "Difficulty opens our eyes to pleasure we had taken for granted."

May I say as the Apostle Paul did, " I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need" - Philippians 4:12

Look up verse 13 for the "secret".

Sordid Details

My niece wants some, so here they are. I cleaned the rat droppings out of the attic today. I wore a mask, rubber gloves, jeans etc.. and took my pressure sprayer with the proper bleach mixture to wet everything down and then shop vac'd them up. You're not suppose to vacuum or sweep to avoid stirring up dust but there were too many to wipe up.

Cousin James said they had the place professionally treated when his niece (the previous tenant) was living here. He doesn't think they'll come back. According to the neighbor, they really trashed the place and let the yard go badly, also, so it's not too surprising they had rats and mice. I also hauled down the rest of the stuff they left and some of it's at the curb waiting for bulk trash tomorrow. I don't want to overwhelm the trash guys so will put the rest out on Monday.

The shop vac was sanitized afterwards (as was I) and now the attic is ready for the few non-rat attractive items I want to put up there. It was great to get that over with.

Anybody need a bumper for a Dodge truck? It was up there but now is in the side yard. I plan to call a scrap yard tomorrow to see if they buy bumpers.

I'm leaving the blog up until everyone I mentioned to that they could see pictures of the house has had a chance to look. I'll throw in some more sordid details every now and then and maybe a picture of the family.

The last of new house pictures

Tim's office in formal dining; kitchen and breakfast are; walk-in pantry; Jess's tiny bedroom

Week Two

It's Friday of the second week after moving. I'm struggling to not despair with all the task still before me. I read Colossians 3:15 " Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."

I don't know how to let that peace rule but to obey what I know and in that verse it says to be thankful, so I shall stop thinking on the task, pray for peace and dwell on things I have to be thankful for.

We started school work on Wednesday. Did I hear whining? Hmmn- methinks we all need a heart adjustment.

I'm going to post the last of the new house pictures and then "sign-off."

What's that noise?

I have noticed that upon awakening, there is an unusual noise that travels around the house. It starts in the bedroom, then goes to the bathroom (pun intended) and then on to the kitchen. It is the sound of hubby and my knees creaking. Yes, we snap, crackle and pop as we walk around.

I unpacked the school stuff on Monday but didn't get started yesterday as I hadn't done lesson plans and it was such a beautiful day to work outside on needed projects and then in the attic in which Nick's comment of "I feel cool air" was not well received. Yes, duct work was leaking and we had been "air conditioning" the attic for a week. We hauled down junk left from the previous tenants and trashed most of it in contractor bags. But then discovered rat droppings and so left the attic. We probably stirred up dust so pray we don't get the whatever you can get from rodent droppings thing. We hit the shower and I'm washing our clothing and shoes with bleach.

Tim duct taped the most obvious leaks when he got home from work.

I so don't want to clean that up. I printed out from online how to "safely" clean up rodent junk. Time to buy more bleach.

Cousin James is coming over tonight to look at a.c. and I'll give him my list of things that need attention. Pray we can get a professional to come and do the job right.

I managed to unzip my school file and print out lesson plans. I thought I'd lost the file but then searched and found it zipped. I'm so ignorant- I didn't know how to unzip it. But now I do and so I shall work on lesson plans. Today is 4H for the boys and so they'll have a easy day.

It's already 7:30 and I need to get busy!

The garage...

...is somewhat organized. Tim and Ben put the shelves in place and Tim hung a shop light in the laundry room (before he had it up I was doing laundry by flashlight as the garage light didn't reach the laundry alcove). It's the nicest garage we've had with finished walls, a ceiling fan and linoleum on the floor.

12 x 10

Here's the 12 x 10 master according to the listing agent. It's really 15 x 14. This is the second time we've had mirrored sliding closet doors. The kids rooms have walk-in-closets with regular doors. Didn't Jess do a good job vacuuming and shampooing the rug?

It's Labor Day!

So, of course, we're laboring. Hubby and I went to Home Depot and Wal-Mart this morning. We bought some mini-blinds for the boys room, light bulbs, priced sink stoppers, bought sink basket for kitchen sink and some food, too.

I re-hung some mini-blinds in the living room that had a broken bracket. It's interesting everytime we fix something to see how it was done incorrectly. I suppose the previous person didn't have a drill or lost the screw because one bracket was nailed into the window frame. Tim's fixed the patio door bar lock yesterday and it was screwed in with wood screws instead of sheet metal. I replaced the burned out bulb in the porch light and one side of the light cover had a phillips head screw and the other a flat-head screw (I want to know what happened to the the bolts that came with the light?). I will not bore you further with our little projects. Things are bit by bit getting done.

Here are a few more pictures.

A Few More Pictures

Last Saturday we were already making our first trip with the UHaul to the new house to unload. So I'm counting my blessings that today it's just more unpacking.

I read Psalm 73 this morning. Something we all can relate to. Why do the wicked seem to prosper? We can't understand it without a Godly perspective. My ignorant self can't understand without God's grace revealing it to me. Knowing the end of the story is essential to comprehending the beginning and middle.

Here are some pic's. The first is the Patio on the east side of the house off the kitchen/dining. The second is the dog run on the west side of the house. Ben cut back the plant that was dwarfing the a.c. unit.