Here's what we spent our savings on......

Before we left for our trip to Hawaii, one of the windows at the front of the house cracked and a chunk was missing.  After getting quotes on replacing the glass($300), we thought maybe we should just look at replacing the window since we know we'll have to do that before we sell the house anyway.  The people from "Renewal by Anderson" wouldn't even come out to look at the window since Todd wasn't home.  They required both homeowners be there, plus, they are "higher-end" windows and the person I spoke to acted like we wouldn't want to spend the money on that quality of windows if we're going to sell the house in a year or two.  So I also called Champion Windows, explained to them that Todd can't be here, they said they prefer both homeowners be present, but it's not required.  They came out and we had Todd on speaker-phone most of the time, and decided to go with them.   Instead of just replacing the one window, or even just the windows at the front of the house, we decided to replace ALL the windows in the house!!!   Thinking it would be a miracle to have them installed by the end of Jan or early Feb, I was VERY surprised when I received an e-mail from them on Dec. 20th saying the windows will be here in a few days and they wanted to install them on the 23rd.  The only problem was that when I received the e-mail, we were sitting at the airport in Dallas waiting for our flight to Hawaii.  lol  I had to call them to let them know the 23rd won't work for us.  They were going to check to see when they could re-schedule and get back with me.   I didn't hear anything from them while we were in HI, so on the way home I called, and they said Dec. 31.  OK, can't imagine the workers would want such a huge job on New Year's Eve, but that's fine.   Got up that morning and Todd and I removed all the window coverings, moved furniture out of the way, etc. and called right at 8 am to make sure they were still coming.  The person in Austin said Yes, but about 15 minutes later, we got a call saying the workers were coming from Temple and since it was "drizzling", they weren't sure it was going to happen.  Jumping to the end, they didn't come and re-scheduled for Jan 3.  Three guys showed up pretty early, just after 8 am and didn't leave until almost 8:30 pm.  Not breaks for lunch or anything!   It was COLD that day, so not very comfortable for Todd, me or Brute while the house was pretty open.  But I'm very glad the new windows are in!  We now have screens on all the windows (didn't before) so when it's nice outside, I can open them and get a nice breeze through the house.

Now - on to PICTURES!!!!!

Front Before:


Front AFTER:  SUCH an improvement!!!!!!  The old windows were single pane and wouldn't open.  The new ones are double pane and open!!!!!

They have since come back to put something underneath the window on the right, so when it rains it doesn't drip behind the stone exterior.  I'll get a picture of it soon.  :D


The side of the house with the Kitchen and Living Room
Before:


After:  The windows that open up and down tilt inside the house for easy cleaning!!!!!  Both the top and bottom parts of the window.  (Now I don't have an excuse for dirty windows.)


The office - After:



Here are few "while" pictures I snapped:
This was the most shocking one - while the front windows were out and before the new ones were installed.  We had them increase the wall underneath the windows by 8 inches so we wouldn't be required to have tempered glass.  Brute wasn't too happy, though.  The old windows were low enough that he could just put his chin on the windowsill, now he has to put his front paws on the ledge to see outside.  (He does that when I go out the front to get the mail.)


In the office:




Todd Supervising:


The two guys who were removing the old windows, got a little ahead of the one installing the new ones.  The back bedrooms didn't have windows AT ALL for at least two hours.  (Our electric bill that we received yesterday didn't make me very happy.)



The back with the new ones installed.  Todd still has some painting to do.

We had already replaced the sliding glass doors a few years after we purchased the house, so didn't get new ones now.  The colors don't match exactly, but they're close enough.

We're still waiting for them to find someone to tape and float the drywall on the inside.  Apparently the guy they usually have do it was gone for a week, and I don't know what else is taking so long to....  I'll give them a few more days before I call.  Todd says he doesn't mind it not being done because he can do it himself, but I have too many other projects for him to do while he's home!!  (Like some more raised beds for the garden!)

Overall, I'm very happy with them!  Once the rest of the work gets done, I'll decide on window coverings.  I did put the old ones up for the windows on the hall just because I don't like people to see that well inside the house.  The windows by the table aren't that bad, but they will eventually have something on them.

Take Care!!!!!

Sorry it's been so long.

We made it safely back from Hawaii, but things have been pretty busy.

But let me share some more pictures of the trip!!!!!
This was taken on a high-surf day.  The back of my shorts got wet soon after this picture was taken.



I've already posted a few pictures of our room at Turtle Bay Resort.  I truly don't think I've ever been anywhere as beautiful as there!!!!!  I took a morning to walk around and take pictures to share.
This was just outside our room.


To the right outside the rear of our cottage (That's the Main Resort Building):


I'm still trying to get the rest of the photos uploaded, so once that is done, I'll post some more.  :D

Just a few quick pictures of Hawaii.

We went to a Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center Saturday night.  I wasn't impressed with the meal, but the show afterward was excellent.  No pictures were allowed, so I don't have any to share, but here are a few of the grandkids - McKenna and Carter.




They are both growing so fast!!!!  Carter is a solid little guy.  I'm sure it will be a HUGE adjustment when their new little brother arrives in March.

I did finally take some pictures with the good camera of our Beach Cottage at Turtle Bay Resort.  This room is AMAZING - but then the entire resort is!!!!
This is looking into the lanai:


And looking out into the ocean.  It was sunny so you can't see the ocean very well, but I'll post another picture of it.


We have a large deep tub in the bathroom - it's gotten good use!!!


and a separate LARGE shower.  LOVE IT!


The view looking to the right out back:


Straight out the doors:


and to the left


 Closer to the building to the left there are 10 hammocks you can lay in.


The weather has been in the 70's and at night just down to the med to upper 60's, so not much of a change.  We sleep at night with the doors open but the screens closed, so we can hear the ocean lap against the beach - very relaxing.

Today Megan and her family came to the resort.  We swam, played in the sand and Todd and David snorkeled.  I'll post of pictures David took a little later.

Overall, this has been a wonderful trip.  Tomorrow is Christmas, so we'll spend most of the day at Megans.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

It's November and I have some more tomatoes on the vine!!!!

About a month ago, while Tab and the kids were still here, Alyssa was in trouble and throwing a fit, so I decided to go outside and work in the garden.  It gave me some much-needed quiet time - at least until Alyssa came out to try to talk me into over-ruling her Mom.  What I decided to do was cut off all the old branches on the tomato plants.  I was surprised they were still alive, so figured it wouldn't hurt.  I cut them all off and watered the plants good, but was very surprised that when I went back out about a week later there were some tomatoes growing!  I have been meaning to take updated pictures of the garden, so finally went out this morning with my camera.
The Patio Tomato Plant has 8 tomatoes on it - one is red and ready to be picked!  Pretty good for November!!!!


The Heatmaster plants are doing pretty good, too.  Two of the three of them also have a couple green tomatoes on them.




Really hoping they turn red in the next few days since we're supposed to have a cold front come through with temps close to freezing.

The Beefsteak plant totally died and the Roma Tomato plants are still alive, but not producing anything.

The pepper plants are, though!!!!






I think they are in too small of containers because the peppers don't get any bigger than a quarter. Next year I should be able to plant them in something bigger.  We'll see how that turns out.

More changes.......

I'm alone in the house (again).  I'm not going to post what happened, but suffice it to say - when your kids are young you can at least MAKE them listen to you, but it's REALLY HARD to watch your adult children make what you think are mistakes and there's nothing you can do about it.  :-(    

Anyway, I've been pretty stressed out for the past couple of months, so when they moved out Todd was nice enough to let me "splurge" on something for me.  I had just bought my Kindle Fire for my birthday last May, but the new one came out a few weeks ago, so I decided to get the new Kindle Fire HD!!!  (Love it!!)

It has Skype capabilities, so that will be fun while we're on our trip in Hawaii. It also has a longer battery life and more storage space (of course).  I also ordered a cover for the new one.  It was neat having one that I made that matched my purse, but this one has all the openings where they need to be and it was less than $10, so I decided it was very worth it.  It also has Auto Sleep and Wake, which is really nice.  It also can sit and different angles for viewing video or reading books and one for when you want to type. Anyway, here's the picture!!!!

The cover:

I tried to take a picture to show the difference between the old one and the HD - this is the best I could do.

I'm not sure what I'll do with my old one yet.  Probably nothing until after our trip in December.  I can download some books and audio books (free from our library) for Todd on the old one, and I'll have the new one for me. That will keep us busy for the 8 hr plane rides.

Wow, what changes we've been through!!!!!

I'm no longer alone in the house most of the time.  Our oldest has moved home with her two kids, so I'm back taking care of them while she's at work.  I had to clean out the two extra bedrooms we had, which resulted in weeks of shredding old bills and unimportant things that went back to 1999.  We also had to clean up a bunch of things in the loft above the garage to store a lot of her things, so I've made a few trips to donate used clothing, etc.    While it's nice to have those things that I've know needed to be done but have been putting off done, it's quite a change for me!    Tab's got a new job working at a pre-school, which is the perfect job for her and she's really enjoying it.  We weren't able to get the kids changed to the bus in our neighborhood with out them changing schools, so we still go back to the old neighborhood for them to get on/off the bus.  Her car has had problems for a long time, but they never took care of them, so Todd's got someone he used to work with trying to figure out what all is wrong with it.  That means, of course, that she's without a car, so I get to take the kids to the bus stop in the morning, take tab to work, get the kids at the bus stop in the afternoon, then go get her at work later.  Before she gets off work, I make sure the kids get their homework done and make supper, so in other words, I'm her wife.  lol

I'm really enjoying having her and the kids here and it's been long enough (5 weeks) that we've pretty much settled into a routine.  We always try to do something fun on the weekends,  so the weekend before Columbus Day, we set up our tent for them to play in.


Luckily, Todd's been VERY supportive.  Considering he's not her biological dad, he still calls her his daughter and is very willing to turn our lives upside down to help her through this tough time.  I really couldn't ask for more out of him.  When he gets home, he's still busy working on the truck and doing books for the business, but he's still a great role model for the kids.  We usually try to steal away for at least an evening out on our own and that helps a lot.

Anyway, that's the reason my blogs have been silent lately.  I only get a few hours a day (at the most) to myself and try to really enjoy the quiet time.  I've also been working on another baby afghan.  We'll have another grandchild to welcome into our family sometime around March 1st.  The family in Hawaii have this little "surprise" to look forward to!  Their youngest turns one today, so this next little boy will only be 16 months younger.  He will also have an older sister who turned 4 in July.  What a busy house they will have!!  Todd and I are both so excited to see them in Hawaii for Christmas this year!!!!!

Updated Pictures of the garden - as promised!

So we got almost an inch of rain last night, and I decided to go out early this morning to get some updated pictures.

Outside


Inside, from the opposite corner





Looks like there is a Beefsteak Tomato just about ready to be picked!!!!


Red Onions and Zucchini.  We've already eaten a few zucchini, but the heat we've had the last couple of weeks really slowed the growth.  FINALLY there are a couple small ones growing again.


Patio Tomato plant - still producing!  These are smaller tomatoes, but are great for just me.  I can usually eat at least one a day.  The netting on the top of the garden didn't work - the birds just figured out to fly THROUGH the fencing.  So I took it down and wrapped each individual plant and it seems to be working - no more holes in the tomatoes!



Cucumbers!!!  I've picked a few of them, and there are another four or five on the vines, but they are short and FAT!!!  I think the heat affected them, too.  I'll be picking them at the end of the week no matter what size they are - hopefully that will let the other tiny ones that are on the vines start to grow and they'll grow to a bigger size.


The Beefsteak Tomato plant!  The tomatoes aren't growing very big, but I think (again) the heat is the problem.  The plant still looks a little shriveled and ordinarily I'd water it, but there's a possibility of more rain today, so I'm going to wait.  All the tomatoes taste so good!  They aren't as pretty as the ones you buy at the store, but the flavor is SO Much better!  I had to tie one of the branches up, so used pantyhose so it's not so hard on the plant.


The three Heatmaster Tomato Plants - lots of green tomatoes on them!  They also taste really good - yesterday for lunch I went out to the garden to pick some lettuce and a tomato, so within 5 minutes of picking I was eating them.  Nothing like FRESH food!



The four Roma tomato plants - these aren't producing very well, but I think it's because they don't get quite as much sun as the others.  When I have time, I think I'll try to figure out a way to rearrange them so they get more sun.  That's one of the benefits of having the plants in containers.


The pepper plants are doing super - they've really grown in the past couple of weeks.  Still waiting for them to produce, so don't know which one is red, orange or yellow.


My green beans!  I guess I'm lucky that I'm still getting beans - one of the ladies at work said most people have pulled up their green beans already.  I don't get a bunch of beans, just enough for a serving or two, but I try to pick some every day and if they're not eaten, blanch them in boiling water, then a bath in ice water and put them in the freezer.  I may try to can one or two jars just to see how they work.  I still haven't canned anything but I'm anxious to try.


A close up of a few of the beans.


Long shot of the raised bed - closest are the green beans, then red onions, lettuce, another variety of lettuce, white onions, then two more kinds of lettuce, then green onions.


Here are the red onions - a few of them were shaded by the green beans so didn't grow, but a few more are doing pretty well.  You don't pick them until the tops fall.


Giant Ceasar Lettuce


White Onions - a couple of them were growing too high so I added some top soil I had.  Next year I think I'll plant the seeds of most of the things in the garden a little deeper.


Outsides are lettuce #4, middle rows are the black seeded lettuce.


Green Onions (planted first)


More Red Onions


Potatoes!!!!  I planted some in the entire barrel, but for some reason only half of them sprouted.  Really anxious to see how many I get from these!  Have to wait - these you don't harvest until two weeks after the plants fall.  The container was too close to the side of the garden and the deer ate a little off the ends.  I pulled it in then.


Angel's corn - they recently moved so possibly he'll be able to take it home.


Radishes - these are pretty old and probably just need to be picked, but I've been busy with other stuff lately.


The second batch of green onions -these have really looked better the last couple of days - probably due to no as much heat and the rain.


more radishes


more green onions


Carrots - need to take time to thin these out, but the tops have grown quite a bit lately.


So there are the pictures.  Still love having the garden and think it's doing pretty well for my first garden.    I"m really enjoying going to the store for groceries and not buying salad, tomatoes or green beans (which were almost always on my list).  Next year we're hoping to have at least two more raised beds instead of using mostly containers, but we'll see.

In other news, we finalized the 2nd qtr tax report for the CPA and he's telling us that we're going to have to start paying estimated taxes for the last two quarters of 2012. Todd's either making too much money or we're not spending enough!!! lol  Guess I'll need to go shopping!  (Already had to buy a new laptop for the business, so that's a deduction.)

The new people at work are now licensed, so I'm probably going to cut back to one or two days a week, then fill in more when people are on vacation.  I keep going back and forth as to whether I should quit completely or keep working.  I keep busy enough when working three days a week and also working on Todd's business; the extra money is nice (Hawaii trip will be paid off soon), but the days I work I just don't get anything else done around the house or for Todd's business.  I think I'll work a maximum of 3 days a week when I need to fill in if someone's out.

Have a wonderful day!