All I wanted for Christmas...

... was THIS!!!

I'll Fly Away, Oh Glory!!!

on SUNDAY!! we fly away for our Christmas get-away to the Bahamas, and we-can't-wait!!
I will tell you all about it when we get back, with pictures! :-D

Everyone have a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

May it be filled with peace, love, and joy for all of you.

Christmas Came Early This Year...

We had our Family Christmas Brunch on Saturday, and it was discovered that there was SOMETHING in my STOCKING.....

What did SANTA bring me?!?! Is this what I think it is?!?!

It is!! It is!!! SANTA brought me an iPod!!!

Oh, look! SANTA brought one for George, too!! Imagine that.....

...and the roof goes on... the saga of an old house...

I awake every morning to the sound of hammers pounding and saws roaring. Ahhh, the sound of progress!! Here's some shots of my poor old house getting a bit of a facelift...

The old box gutters being removed and making way for a new roofline and gutter system...

















The new roofline is starting to take shape...
















the back of the house where our 3rd floor deck will be (yeah- up there!!! sooo awesome!!). We will be able to step out of the 3rd floor guest room onto a totally private, sky-high deck!























Hubby just needing to be part of the action! :-) (actually, they wanted to show him something so he got to ride the bucket up!)
That's him leaping tall buildings in a single bound. My Superman. ;-)

Sad news... and some fun stuff.

Today I got word from the wife of a fellow patient at the treatment center George was treated at that he passed away Friday. His name is Clark. His wife's name is Karen. Please keep her in your prayers. They had a long, good life together- 51 years. She has peace, but it's still hard to say goodbye to your lifelong partner. He fought a good, hard fight, but then let go.
Now his suffering is over- forever.
Karen takes great comfort in that.

(sigh.)

On a fun note- I bought this totally "over the top" faux fur, full-length coat at the antique mall the other day! Made in France! Looks like mink! It's gorgeous.
I feel sooo ostentatious in it... and also totally glam! teehee!!

(for $25!!!!)

Man, I love that place.

And only because I am a dork...

A flurry of activity!

Wowee!

We took the giant bite, we contracted a roofing company, I FINALLY chose the colors... and now it is happening!!
This morning we had a HUGE dumpster dumped right in our neighbor's yard (thank goodness they like us!!), and a HUGE Home Depot truck just pulled up loaded down with tons of wood. There are Hispanic men standing all around in my yard. Scaffolding piled up ready to be assembled. And the head guy set up at my dining room table with his portable office.

This is so exciting!!!!!! and a tad overwhelming.

Hope springs eternal!

Whenever you start to lose hope in the human race, think again-
read what just happened to my bloggy friend, Kori, and her family. (grab a tissue!)
It is SOOO cool!!!!!!!!

Well, our roofing guys arrive today to start setting up the scaffolding.
I have decided on a dark green roof without any extras- just green and white and keep it clean. Maybe I could have been more adventurous... but this is a decision I'd have to live with for a verrrrry long time (read: forever!) so I didn't want to get locked into a particular color scheme.
We'll get crazy with paint.

Yesterday I decorated the church for Christmas- today my back is killing me!
This weekend is our big Open House at my work- craaaazzzzy busy!!!

Need to get in gear- time to leave for work soon and still in the ol' pj's.
Have a GREAT weekend!!!!

Gutters and Roofs

Well, today we took a BIG ol' bite... we signed the papers and wrote the check for the down payment of a NEW ROOF and GUTTERS.

UGH.

UGH.

UGH.

You know, there are many things I want to spend a lot of money on.

Like...
a world cruise.
a closet full of shoes.
a new car.
a 3rd floor bathroom.

But GUTTERS?!? a ROOF?!?
sigh.

But, I understand that these things need to be done.
Especially on an old, old, OLLLLD house that has old, old, OLLLLD box gutters that are way beyond their life and need to be replaced before our entire house succumbs to water damage and has to be torn down and then I'm homeless.
Maybe I'm being a tad dramatic, but you get the idea.

So now we're broke.

And on top of it all, I am faced with a huge dilemma...

I can't decide what color combination to go with.