Out With the Old

I have been out, way out of touch for the last week. DH brought home a really bad flu bug and I got it two days after he came down with it. It really knocked our socks off! Both of us went to the dr. and received antibiotics. It really didn't do anything for us. We are still hacking almost two weeks later. DD#1 has had it now for a week. It's a scary one! Anyway, I will post the rest of the vacation tomorrow. For now, I will write about our remodel.  We are in the process of purchasing dh's family home. We are in line to close in a few weeks. I guess the paperwork is in a stack at the title company. Anyway, we decided to begin gutting out the kitchen and then redo the whole main floor.
     First off, to get recessed lighting, the men had to make a scaffolding to get to the high ceilings, then create a ceiling down eight inches to accommodate the lights. (We are so appreciative of my father coming to our rescue. He is a man of many talents. My parents stayed two weeks to help us.)

We are wanting to take out the whole kitchen, which has been in a box in the middle of the South wall. We are opening up the entire room. Unfortunately, if you were to come in the front door, you will see if I have a neat and tidy kitchen. Ugh!  Oh well, while the men were busy with the ceiling, us girls worked on peeling all of the wallpaper off of six walls. Mom found a trick to using unscented Downey fabric softener and hot water. (This was confirmed by DIL's mother.)  We used a hand tool that pricks holes in the paper and then sprayed the walls with the softener solution, let it sit and then scraped it off. I have taken dish soap and hot water to scrub off the paste residue. It was lots of work but will look as good as new when I paint. While waiting for a man to come and tape the ceiling, we all pulled up the carpeting and pad, took a load to the dump and am now in the processes of picking out paint colors, appliances and flooring. UGH! Way too much decision making! Too many way cool things to choose! 

We are meeting with the kitchen designer at Depot on Saturday so I have really got a deadline for a few decisions. 

"I can't tell how this comes off."

Bottom of wall becomes the structure for the island.

Day 2

 June 27th,
     We woke up early and drove to a grocery store for muffins and yogurt. Yummy. We then drove to downtown Boston and parked in the underground parking at the Boston Commons. We found the Freedom Trail and took off walking. Here you see a Paul Revere Look-Alike.

We should say here that we didn't understand that there was a brick trail to follow until a little while into the walking. DUH! We got lost quite a bit. It was hard following the maps because there were no mountains to identify the North,South, East and West.Insert a plug here for the helpful people of Boston who were so willing to help us find our way around.
 We especially loved the Old North Church. Way too neat! All of the Colonial architecture was beautiful. Loved the idea of putting a warming stone in the middle of the family pew to help us keep warm during church. The girl's mentioned they could curl up on the floor and sleep during an extra long meeting. One observation was that other parishioners would also know if you didn't make it to church that week or stay away from their box, they are sick. Loved seeing all the cemeteries of famous people of the Revolution. Oh, #4 had a bird poop in her hair in front of the statue of Ben Franklin. We walked across the bridge to see the USS Constitution. Way cool! Jumped on a ferry to get back to Boston Harbor. We walked to a Crab place but discovered someone had reserved it for the evening so again we walked and walked and walked all over Boston and came to The Black Rose Irish Pub and ate a fantastic dinner of fish and chips! Walked back to the van and drove back to the Hotel. Our tootsies were mighty sore but the girls had enough energy to go swim in the pool until midnight. Fun Day! 

Vacation of a Lifetime!

Tues. June 25th
What we have planned for and worked toward is finally here! Can't believe it's time for vacation. Not just any vacation, one in a real airplane and farther away than Wyoming and Colorado.  The girls were way excited to get to the airport. We hitched grandpa's trailer on behind the truck, loaded all our suitcases and headed north. Our airplane left at 12:30 a.m. Our first layover was in Detroit. We saw beautiful lightning storms while on the plane.  We strolled over to another terminal to get to another flight into Manchester, NH.     We arrived about 8:30 a.m. where we waited for a shuttle van to take us to Enterprise rental to pick up our van. It is a nice van, a blue, brand new, GMC stow-and-go.  Loved all the room for us.

Wasn't very tired because we were all keyed up for the fun events of the day.  We drove to our hotel in Wakefield, MA. We zoomed as fast as we could to Fenway Park to get there in time for the Red Sox vs. Rockies game. DH had a horrible time finding a parking spot. We also quickly learned that Bostonians are honk-happy. Wow. if you don't go quickly on a green you get tons of honks. 

We left the game early when the Rockies were too far behind to catch up.

We drove to find a dinner spot. We ate cheese pizza on the square in Woeburn, MA. The weather is muggy and hot. It has been overcast all day. Heard that there was flash flooding and the company we were using to float down the Delaware called and cancelled our trip. (sad)  We found a Walmart and picked up a few things like a styrofoam cooler and  snacks then drove to the hotel. What a fun and very long day.!

The Birthday

Happy birthday to me! I had a fantastically great birthday. Received fun birthday phone calls and a party with the family.  Totally low-key. The way I like it.  The girls had party games ready and we ate take-out from Dickeys BBQ. Dd1 made me a gluten free cake. YUM!

Kiss the Frog, dear....

Such a super neat day! Thanks to everyone!

February/March, 2013

     I have put off  writing because I keep forgetting to take pictures. What is a blog without pictures...pretty boring I think.  Perhaps some of the zoning out is cuz I just don't have the gift of the pen like my sister. She is so eloquent on her blog. Make sure you keep up on her fun posts at sassycastle.blogspot.com .
     Junior Prom  was in February. Number 4 went. The prom was up at the State Capitol Rotunda. Dh and I went for the promenade and the traditional dance with dad. (Young men danced with their mothers) Here is dd4 with her good friend.

March was full of packing and hauling "Stuff" to a storage area so that we can get ready to sell the house. We have decided to be adventurous and move just eight miles away. We have lived here now for over twenty years. It has been an eye opener as to how much we have accumulated in that time. I used the idea that if I haven't used it...throw it. The local guy at the thrift store dumping location and I are now friends. My wonderful Dad and Mom came for the weekend to help to do some fixer-uppers. So grateful for Dad's know-how and Mom's encouraging ways! Easter Sunday was also just as wonderful.  Here we are with the traditional Bunny Cake. We take a family picture with a bunny cake each year.

Happy Birthday,  Punjab!

In March, we celebrated Dh's birthday with a fun party. We all dressed up in scarves and ate Indian food on the floor. We ate Chicken kabobs, curry rice, mediterranean  brochette, couscous and mangoes.Super fun night!