Hand Made Love Birds Present

A few days ago a package arrived in the mail from Texas. I've always loved getting packages in the mail, especially from friends. Inside were these beautiful love birds hand made by my friend Tracy - thank you Tracy! They were a belated birthday present, no need to apologize Tracy, they were well worth the wait! The whole family is in love with them and each of us has a different idea of where they should sit in the house. For now they're resting in front of my tea pots and pitchers on my corner cabinet. Every time I look at them I'll be reminded of Tracy and her little family down in Texas on the farm. Thanks again Tracy!!

More House Shots

My big accomplishment for the week was staining our front porch! I used Penofin "Sequoia" and it turned out lovely. I still need to do a second coat when it dries out from our last heavy rain. Here are some new pics of the porch and house. We're getting close to completion with only a few things left to do.

Newly stained front porch with gutter. Notice the little black pipe sticking out from the right corner? A chain will attach there for water flow down from the gutter. No more rain dripping on our heads when we walk under the porch now!

The two hours of staining was totally worth the final product!

Front door to be replaced Monday and new porch light is coming soon.

Street shot of the house before the afternoon tree shadow is cast across the front.

View of the left side of the house from behind the trees.

Another side shot.

She's Painted!

At long last after almost eight months of paper work and red tape our 1875 house is finally re-roofed and painted back to her old glory!! It looks amazing and we all love how it turned out! Still to come: new front door, staining the front porch, new gutters, and a second trim color which is a chocolate brown color. (The base coat is Spanish Sand and the trim is Sierra Redwood.) It turns out that the original paint color was very similar to our base coat color. The entire front of the house was stripped down to the redwood boards! The painters did an excellent job and we are one happy family!! The house is ready for Christmas and we're going to blow it out with lots of outdoor decor. Stay tuned for more pics when the details are completed.

Sarah posing in front of the house.

The bottom two windows are new and the upper middle is new as well.

The porch over hang turned out awesome!! We're getting a new outdoor light soon.

Back porch area.

Side wall

Birthday Gift for a Girl Turning Two

One of my friend's little girl turned two not long ago and I decided to make her an apron that matched the apron I made her mom. I had just enough left over to throw together this little number. The fabric is Amy Butler that I bought at Scottie Dog Quilts. The pom poms were from JoAnne's. I agonized on whether or not to add a button to the pocket and found this vintage grey one that is the exact same shade of grey as the grey in the "Martini" fabric! I designed the pattern which is just three strips of fabric, a waistband and the apron strings and a small front pocket.

The apron I made her mom for her birthday this year.

Sarah's Chinese Paper Lantern

We finally got Sarah's paper lamp hung up in her room. I had to go to the hardware store and get the proper cord, etc. but it's done now and it looks great! For those interested, I used a paper lantern and layered tissue paper on the lamp. I used paper glue and applied it lightly so the colors didn't bleed through the layers. You can do even more detailed designs and use an exacto knife to cut out the patterns.

Water lily and dragon fly

Water lily/dragon fly and coy, lily pad and frog

Frog on lily pad and water lily and dragon fly

Turtle swimming away from a lily pad.

Hello, Anybody Out There??

Just doing a little check to see if anyone is reading my blog lately. Please just say hi or something if you are...doesn't seem like I've gotten many comments since around September so I just want to make sure people are still reading my blog. Thanks! :)

Painting Has Begun!

The painting contractor started work today and the house is quite a sight! He has already sanded and primed the back of the house. Winter is almost upon us, so they're moving fast. We have 10 feet of plastic around the entire house, caution tape, and lead paint hazard signs. The exterior paint contains lead, so by law they have to put up signs and cover the ground where the paint chips will be landing.

The back of the house, sanded and primed in one day!

Another shot of the back.

Plastic and caution tape on the back porch.

Some areas of the paint are being completely sanded off.

The new roof!

Our lead hazard caution sign. We may not have many visitors until the painting is done!

Front of the house.

Big Wave Day

This past weekend we heard that 30 foot waves would be hitting the coast. Ron said, "Let's get out to the beach, I won't be denied!" These large waves generally hit only once or twice per year, so when it happens we try our best to go out and catch the action. We went to the beach and the jetty where we saw spectacular enormous waves. On days like this you realize the strength of the ocean, and truly respect its force. Here are a few pics from the day:

Huge waves rolling over the jetty. Normally the water is well below the jetty rocks.

One of the biggest waves we saw.

The dunes leading to the jetty. Lots of people were standing on these to view the waves.

The huge wall of 30 foot waves.

The kids had fun running from the waves.

Beautiful sea foam

Ballet Class

Tonight I watched Sarah's ballet class and took a few pics. She is doing so well in class and loves to dance! She has come such a long way in just four years, I'm very proud. Here are a few pics of her class:

Catching some air with her leap.

I had some fun in photoshop with this one!

Stretching at the barre. I love the composition of this picture with the girls all relaxed in their stretch on the right and the teacher on the left talking to one of the girls. Sarah is to the right of her teacher doing a split stretch on the barre.

Practicing their choreography for the Christmas show as gingerbread people. Sarah is on the right.

Practicing their dance.

In attitude position, Sarah is the one in the middle on the left.

Roofing Day #2

Yesteray the roof was almost completely removed along with all of the tar paper and OSB board. I felt like I was in a 5.0 quake for most of the day...nothing has fallen off the walls yet though, phew! Today is much quieter I am happy to report. As Sarah put it, "It sounded like there was a big giant stomping around up there mom!" Here are some pics from late yesterday and today:

The roof to our play room which is below our bedroom and can be seen right outside our bedroom window. These are thick old growth redwood planks, gorgeous!

Another shot from our window. Note the porta potty in the far left corner of the yard. I never thought we'd have one, but lo and behold here it is!

The shingles arrived late morning and were unloaded on the roof with loud thuds. We didn't see hide nor hair of the cats all day yesterday, poor things!

Stay posted for the after shots in the next day or two!

Raising the Roof!

Today is the day our old roof is coming off! After seven months of planning and preparation the major work on our house is finally under way! The roofers were here at around 7:30 this morning, they don't mess around. Most of the roof should be removed today, and the new one will be installed by Thursday! I'm so glad we're having great weather, thanks God! There's not a cloud in the sky and I'm hoping it will stay this way for a few more weeks so we can get our new paint job done as well!

Justin and I took a walk down the alley and got a few pics of the roofing process.

It's a great day to lose the roof!

Sarah's Thai Backpack

A very pround girl holding her Thai backpack which arrived on Halloween.

Cute little people and animals!

When I was in Thailand I saw some adorable backpacks and purses. The designs are animae looking and they have cute little faces and animals all over them. I almost got one for Sarah, but changed my mind at the last minute. I was on a quick dash of a shopping trip with our translator Nu, the day before we left to come home. I was picking up an illustration done by a Thai artist of Sarah which turned out so amazing - I'll have to post pics of it sometime. In all the rush and hurry of shopping I didn't pick one up. Anyway, when I got home I told Sarah about the backpacks and she said, "Mom, I wish you had gotten it for me!" So I contacted one of the YWAM leaders we met, (Heather), and asked her to pick one up for me. She hunted for it in the night market and found an adorable one, thank you Heather!! It has all kinds of eco-groovy symbols on it and is perfect for our area - it even has pictures of houses with solar panels on them! Sarah loves it and I'm happy to have gotten her a one of a kind birthday present. It cost only about $10, here it would be much more!