Stuck in Frump, Striving for Fab

We should have seen it coming.

"Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."



That was for folks sailing the ocean and not landlocked desert dwellers, I thought, discounting the adage completely.

Instead we went and visited friends so we could see their darling new baby.





We noticed as we were leaving that it was really windy and it had rained all day.

And all night.

The next morning, we rose and saw that water was gushing off our neighbors perfectly level cobblestone driveway pad and rushing down alongside our house.

Hmmm. Not good.

Mucking out a short trench helped bring the water level down enough that we figured it would hold until Jeff returned home from work and could help me dig a longer, deeper trench to better divert the water, and so he and Jericho left for school.

Inside the house on that very same wall, the closet began to smell a little moist.

Uh oh. Looks like the trim has some water starting to seep through. (Sorry for the scrambled pictures. The camera card is worn out.)



Being the damage was already done, and the water level outside was no longer an immediate threat, I decided to go ahead and go to Bible Study and worry about things later.

When I arrived home, not much had changed, but I put Judah down for his nap and went out to shovel away some debris that seemed to be clogging the downward flow of water.

I came in soaked to the skin and shivering from working in the pouring rain.

About the time I warmed up and got a few things done around the house, Jeff and Jericho returned home.

Because of the seepage inside the master bedroom closet, we went back outside and dug a deeper trench along the edge of the backyard as a precaution. The water closest to the house came down several inches further, completely eleviating the problem along that side of the house.

While we were working, it began snowing....and sticking...on all that wetness!

It was coOooOold!

We came inside and moved the shelving from that side of bedroom, which naturally involved rearranging furniture in other rooms so that we could move it permanently.

Thankfully, upon inspection we found that only a small portion of wall nearest the master bedroom closet seemed to be affected.



For the past couple days now, we've had the carpets and padding pulled back since and are drying out that area as best we can. It appears to be working.

We may have to cut out a chunk of drywall to treat it inside to be sure there aren't any mold issues later on, but thankfully we still have a partial sheet of the needed drywall in our garage from a patching job when we first moved in.

It doesn't appear that it will be necessary to replace the carpeting or make any insurance claims, and for that I do thank the Lord.

It's still raining.


It's still cold.

And school has been canceled today.

Kind of like a snow day but not. There isn't any snow left, but the roads will be closed due to dangerous road conditions.

All that water just doesn't have any place to go when it comes down that fast and heavy.

Last evening we had thunder and lightening overhead, and then had a bit of hail.

I'm just thankful we haven't had to worry about tornados or waterspouts or mudslides like folks closer to the coast do!


And I pray we don't have any earthquakes in the mix!

Off to make some hot tea...

Hello? Anyone home?

Well, as all 3 of you may have noticed, I've not been around bloggyville much of late.

Things had gotten craaaazy for a while there after the Holidaze, something had to give and unfortunately blogging took the hit.

It's good to be back into the swing of things again, though...and I have a lot of stuff to catch up on.

Last year at this time, I was babysitting full-time and just wasn't able to pick up and go do things at the last minute. Now, with just Judah and I at home we have that freedom. Which I love.

I'm really enjoying this stage that he's at right now...very literal and observant, trying to make sense of the world around him...and some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth just cracks me up.

Yesterday morning began with an impromptu ladies tea at a friends home, held in honor of a mutual friend who was back in the area for a visit. Because Grandma (my usual daytime babysitter) was also attending, Judah came along as well.

Judah noticed that Grandma had left the tea early, and came up to whisper, "Mama? Can we go to grandma's house after dis?"

In the middle of a discussion, I just pulled him close and said quietly, "Grandma went to run errands...but your friend is over there wanting you to play basketball with him out back." And so he ran off to play.

However, as we were heading home a little later, recognizing the neighborhood and knowing we were very close to grandma's house, he asked again, "Mama? Can we pwease go to grandmas house?"

"No, honey...remember? She's out running errands."

A few moments later he asked, "I know...can we go watch?"

He wasn't sure what these 'errands' I referred to were, but the prospect of seeing his grandma running them sounded pretty entertaining, lol!

:: :: :: ::

Later, once again on the road, Judah was chatting away at me from the back seat when some dude on a Harley went roaring past us on the main thoroughfare across town.

"Where is dat man on da motopsycho goeen?" he asked.

"Hmmmm...I'm not sure. Maybe to his house?" I offered.

"Nope, I fink he's goin' to da grocery store."

"But where would he put all his groceries?" I mused aloud.

Seeing no obvious place for bags of groceries, he thought about that for a minute and said the only logical thing a tag-along little brother could come up with, "On da handlebars!"

:: :: :: ::

In early December, we finally (months after installing our flooring) had new trim installed in the house. The living and dining areas are finally all done project-wise. It was a long time in coming, and I was as excited about that as our boys were about Christmas coming.

While we were at it, we put up a quickie pre-made mantle, as I was itching to have it all look 'finished' for the long lineup of Holiday entertaining.

Just prior to decorating for Christmas, however, I rearranged some of the living room furniture and noticed that the wall with the mantle seemed unusually bare. It was going to need a little something extra. So, while at a pre-Christmas sale, I picked up a blank canvas. It has been sitting in my craft room beckoning to me for weeks with all the possibilities.

This past Saturday ended up being a blissfully free day for me. Jeff took off with the boys for most of the day and I had nothing pressing on the agenda, so I dug out my brushes and paints and got to work.

Voila! Zee finished masterpiece.



Kinda loud, kinda funky, and way out of my comfort zone where home decor is concerned...but I think it's just what that space needed.

I joked with Jeff that it should be entitled, "Pile of Laundry", both because it kinda resembles that, and because that was what accumulated on my sofa during the couple of days that I was busy working on it, lol.

Naturally, when Judah caught on to what I was doing, he thought it looked like great fun and hinted broadly that he'd love to paint.

Remembering I still had some watercolor paint sets from when big brother and his cousins were little, I dug those out and let him go to town.

As you can see, young grasshopper was very pleased when I gushed over and prominently hung his works of art on the fridge in the family gallery.



He even thought to sign the one there on the left. He doesn't know how to write cursive just yet, so he did the best he could, lol.

I just couldn't help myself...we've been on a baby watch around here lately.

Our dear friends Chrissy & Steve just became grandparents today.

Here is their adorable little bundle of joy sleeping after his entry into the world.



Isn't he precious?

Congratulations to the proud new grandparents, and Auntie Lo and of course to new parents Mike & Kelsie. Love you guys!

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...
~Psalm 127:4&5a