WEDDING CENTERPIECES DONE !!

One of the centerpieces without the sand and votive candle
Mariah is having a blast.
Cassie gets ready to glue a flower on.

Wedding Centerpieces:
Today Mariah (Bride), Cassie (Matron of Honor), Rhonda (Mother of the Bride), an I did 24 centerpieces for the reception tables. We worked from 11:00a.m. until 5:00p.m. and we finished them all. Man our hot glue guns were really HOT!! Duh right? Anyway if we touched the hot glue once, we must have touched the hot glue a dozen times! It took quite a while to peal it off our finger tips when we were done. That is one more thing that we can cross of the list of things to do for the wedding! Woo Hoo! We now have the menu picked out for the reception, and the decorations settled. I have 7 more corsages and 8 more boutonnieres to get done, and then I can start on the bouquets. Once I start on the bouquets it will start to get really exciting. I love seeing the bouquets start to take shape. That's when it starts to get really fun for me. Then after the bouquets are done I'll get the head table centerpiece with the little white lights done. Once that's done all I have to worry about is the rehearsal dinner, and my part of the reception menu. The things that I'm making can all be made ahead several days so I think I should be able to take it easy the last week before November 8th. Poor Rhonda, Mother of the Bride, is making all the bridesmaids dresses, and also the wedding gown. I talked her out of making the wedding cake! She does a beautiful job, but she would have been bonkers, plus she works 2nd trick at a nursing home! The mother of the bride shouldn't work herself to death, and not be able to enjoy the wedding and reception.

Today:
It has been rainy all day and hasn't got out of the 60's today. I know we need the rain, but it sure made it gloomy today. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend though, so I really can't complain about one day this week. The day just reminded me that fall is here, and winter will be just around the corner! Did I just say that? No I couldn't have! I'm sure we have several weeks of Indian Summer coming up first! Now I'm trying to convince myself and all of you!

Wood:
When I got back from helping doing the centerpieces, Mike informed me that he had used all the wood that we got yesterday and he needed another $100.00 worth of wood to finish raising the floor in the apartment! Geez in one day! So join me tomorrow and see if we manage another hundred dollars for wood. Until then I'll see ya's...

LOWE'S GETS A CHUNK OF OUR CHANGE !

Lowe's:
I hate going to Lowe's or Home Depot! It always costs us too much Money! I guess I should be happy though that Mike is talented enough to do all the work himself on our apartment. I know it would cost a lot more than just the supplies and lumber we're buying now. It cost us almost a hundred dollar bill by the time we got out of Lowe's today. All we bought today was 10 2x8x 10's and 2 boxes of nails! YIKES!!! Then we have to buy sheets of plywood for the floor, and pipes for the plumbing. We're planning on using the new laminate hard wood for the flooring. We won't be putting that down until I get the bead board for the walls painted. Mike hates to use and work with dry wall, although he can if he has to. I love bead board so that won't be a problem for him this time. We got home about 1:15 this afternoon, and Mike unloaded the wood while I did the dishes and finished up the spaghetti sauce and put it in the crockpot. When the apartment is done we'll have about 640 square feet of living space. After having lived the summer in the fiver that will seem huge to us. We haven't minded living in the fiver, in fact it is easy to keep clean, and a lot easier to take care of than the whole house was. So the apartment should also be easy to take care of since it will be a 1/4 the size of the main house. I'll keep ya posted on the apartment as things improve, and get finished.

Tonight:
Tonight I am going to listen to the debate and visit with my friends in the RV Dreams chat room. I will not be stating anything political on my blog, other than to say I think we need a change, and that I think that the terms should only be for 4 years with only one chance of re-election. No more chance of life long terms in the House or Senate, so things become the way they have today, and I don't think the House or Senate should be allowed to vote pay raises for them selves or their retirement. That's my opinion of all this and I approved this message! LOL! I hope to see many of you in the chatroom this evening, and I will see ya all then...

Mystery Solved:
Most of the things that I wanted to get done yesterday I got done, some of them I finished up today. At least they are done for another week, and I got some of the clutter put away and stowed its own place. All I have to do is the dishes and as soon as I have hot water that will be done. We don't leave the hot water heater on all the time here at home, because it runs up the electric bill, or uses a lot of propane. So we only turn it on about a half hour before I want to do dishes.

Weather:
I am enjoying all this beautiful fall weather. The days have been absolutely beautiful. Cool in the mornings and the evenings and in the middle 70's during the day. I hope this Indian Summer continues to last for several weeks. Its so much easier to get things done when it's nice outside and the sun is shining. Some of the leaves around here are starting to turn, but there still isn't a whole lot of color yet. It will probably be in its peak in about 3 to 4 weeks. Just in time for Halloween. I remember walking with my boys for Trick or Treating and hearing the leaves crunch beneath our feet. I really enjoy walking in the fall as long as it's not too chilly. We used to go to all kinds of fall festivals when the kids were younger, and I hope that is something they continue with their kids. I also used to love decorating for Halloween. Most of my decorations will be going to my kids to use since we don't really have room to store lots of stuff like that anymore. While we're at the apartment I will still put a Christmas Tree up, but that is mostly for me because I enjoy it so much.

Wedding:
You'll probably get tired of hearing about the wedding between now and November 8th, kinda like everybody will be glad when these elections are over! On this Wednesday we're going to work on the table centerpieces. We have 26 to make, so it will be an all day job, but at least they will be done and ready to go ahead of time. I am planning on taking my camera so I'll post pictures of the centerpieces when we get done. That's all folks, until tomorrow...

LAZY DAY

Lazy Saturday:
Well yesterday was a lazy do nothing day. At least it was after I did the dishes until dinner when I cooked. When I worked in my Day Care I always lived for the weekend, and then if I did nothing those days I felt guilty because I wasted them. Now that we're retired it's funny, but Saturday is just another day in the week. No guilt if I play games on the computer all day or just sit and relax. Of course I can do that any day now. LOL! We've got lots of work ahead though on the apartment, and that is always in the back of my mind. We just have to wait for the spirit, and the money to move us! Funny how money always gets in the way of everything. If money was no object for us, then we'd hire someone to do the whole apartment. I guess it's not the fact that money gets in the way, it's the lack of it that stops everything. I refuse to charge things and make another bill to pay. Besides with both of us getting only S.S. disability, and Mike's Air Force retirement we have a very tight budget! As Forest Gump would say, "That's All I Have To Say About That!"

Today:
After our morning beverages, Mike's coffee, and my Vanilla Chai tea We decided that today is clean up day for the fiver. Mike cleaned off the couch, actually he moved the stuff from the couch to the chair and the island cart in the kitchen! Haha very funny Mike! I have some spots on the carpet that I want to work on, and try to get out. Then we always seem to have lots of clutter that needs to be put away. I vow to get that coralled and keep it that way, it's driving me crazy! Then I want to clean the windows and morrors and tv and computer screans. I have several finger prints on my computer screen that CSI would have a blast with! Some full prints and lots of partials. There's probably some DNA evidence from the sneeze yesterday that I didn't get my mouth and nose covered in time. Yuck! I wiped the screen off but ya never know if ya got everything. Do ya think I have been watching too many CSI shows? Those shows really are for entertainment only, and they don't get the results as fast in real life but alot of them are based on real cases. That whole CSI field of reserch really interests me. Anyway I like the shows, and I am hooked on them! I enjoy watching the reruns because I missed them when they were first on. Wow did I get off track talking about CSI instead of talking about the stuff I wanted to get done, so we'll find out tomorrow what got done and what didn't. I guess that mystery won't be solved until then...

BUSY DAY AND WEDDING SHOWER

Here are the pictures of the little wooded trunk I painted.
Not bad for $5.99 huh?

Busy Day Yesterday:
After we got back yesterday, and got the fiver parked and set back up ( Mike got it in the drive on the 2nd try) we must be getting better with our signals to each other! LOL! Mike installed the new converter, which arrived while we were in Columbus for 2 days. It's a relief to know that everything again works, except for the Dirt Devil sweeper. We bought a small sweeper the other day so we're not too worried about getting the Dirt Devil fixed right now. We have other things we need to spend our money on to get the apartment finished. I have been collecting things (at garage sales and thrift shops) for the last 2 years to use in the apartment, but there are some things we still have to buy. We have to buy a kitchen sink, and a stove, and a shower. I have all the cabinets (which isn't many) that I can fit in the kitchen, and even the window. They will fit perfect in the kitchen for the 2 of us, and Mike will build me some shelves for the rest of the storage that we'll need. We have a sink and a camode for the bathroom, a mirror and baskets and shelves for storage. I'm also going to purge a bunch of things that haven't been used for the last year! We still have to buy the laminate flooring that we're going to use for the floor. Once Mike has the plumbing installed and the electric run most of the work will be hanging bead board and putting up a couple of walls, and painting everything. After that we can install the floor and start
setting things up. Pictures will come as the place takes shape.

Wedding Shower:
Last night was the bridal shower for Mariah. It was fun, and although I was a little late I still got there in time to play some cute games, and see her open her gifts! The way her Mom, Rhonda, and her sister, Julia set it up was really neat, and their ideas were really good. After the presents were opened, Mariah and her friends sat and talked in the living room and Julia, Rhonda and I sat and talked in the kitchen. The girls talked about the "batchlorette" party, and we talked about the menu for the reception, and the plans for the wedding! What a difference! I forgot to take my camera with me I was in such a hurry because I was late, and nothing seemed to be going right that I tried to do to get ready for the shower! I now have to get in gear, and get the bouquets done since the wedding is only a month away! Oh well, all the trials and tribulations are over until I am back here at my blog the next time...

TO ALUM CREEK AND BACK

Not much color here in Ohio Yet - site A-1 at Alum Creek

I thought these cloud formations were neat!


Our site at Alum Creek

Alum Creek and Back:
We got home at about 12:30 p.m. today. (Thursday) I loved the cloud formations along the way and back. Our site was completely wooded. We weren't able to get a site where we could get wifi, because they were having a fall festival at the park. Lots of the campsites were all decorated for Halloween and they had a contest going on for the best decorated site. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the decorated sites. It was very chilly the 2 days that we were there, so we didn't go out and about very much. We forgot to take jackets and shoes with us. All we had were sandals and short sleeved shirts. We did remember to take some jeans with us, but we just about froze! It was actually very cold in the mornings. I guess fall has arrived, and I'm still cold! I don't know if I'll make it until December 26th here in Ohio or not.
We went to see Sunny the macaw, and Cooper the cockatoo, while we were in Columbus. I clipped their wings, and then clipped Sunny's toenails for them. Sunny was a big baby, and squawked like I was killing him. They still knew who we were, and seemed glad to see us until they saw the toenail clippers that is! LOL! They have a very good home and I'm glad that I gave Linda and Frank the chance to have them. In fact they have it really good there, and are going to be quite spoiled. We'll probably go back and see them whenever we are in the Columbus area. It is good to see them happy and well taken care of. Well I think that will be it for today, I'll see you all in the RV Dreams chat room tonite so until then...

CLEANING DAY / BIRTHDAY PARTY

Cleaning:
Today was cleaning day after having Kara all weekend, and Autumn, and Tehya on Thursday and Friday. It just didn't seem like a good idea to clean with them here. I'd rather spend time with them doing things while they are with us. So after I got the dishes done, I painted the little wooden trunk I got at the thrift store, while Mike stripped the bed for me. We're going to use the little trunk in the fiver to sit the printer on behind Mike's chair. I think that the trunk is maybe 20 years old, but it wasn't in real good shape so that's why I painted it. It has some kind of woven fabric all around the sides, and must have had it on the top too at one time. Now the top is just wooden boards. It looks kinda like grass cloth. It has curved feet on the bottom of it. The inside is real plywood and it is very solid, so I think it was well worth the $5.99 that I paid for it. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow after it dries. I'm going to run the sweeper, and try to get a couple of stains out of our carpet, then clean the bathroom, and put the sheets back on the bed. I think that will be it for the day after I finish fixing the chicken and noodles for dinner.

Autumn's Birthday Party:
On Saturday Autumn's Birthday Party was a total success. The kids all had a great time! They played " Simon Says", painted the sun catchers I got, played a balloon popping game, busted the pinata, ate hot dogs & chips, and then cake and ice cream. I was busy doing face painting while they played Simon Says. It took a while as there were 16 to 18 kids there. It sure brought back some good memories of my child day care years. I used to do lots of crafts, and projects with the kids that I had in my home. I always had a blast with the kids and having them in my home was like playing everyday. I was very fortunate that I was able to do something that I loved for a job for 17 & 1/2 years. Being able to be with all the kids that I had over the years was an experience that I'll never forget, and I would still be doing day care if I hadn't had to retire at the end of 2000 for medical reasons.

Alum Creek:
Tomorrow we're going to go back down to Alum Creek in Columbus. We need to empty our tanks, so we wanted to go back down there one more time before we move back into the house until we leave in December. I am not looking forward to storing the fiver, and have had no trouble adjusting to living in it full time. It has been rather chilly in the morning's when we get up, and when we get back from Alum Creek we'll be working on our apartment in the 2 car garage. Another reason we chose to go to Alum Creek state park is that they have wifi, so I can still stay in touch with everybody. Also while we're there, we're going to go visit the people we gave our macaw Sunny to, and have a good visit with him too. I can't wait to see how he's doing. They call us every week and give us updates on him. I'm so glad that he has an awesome home with them. I think letting them have Sunny was one of the best things we could have done for him, and there's no one else that I'd rather see have him. We'll be coming back on Thursday, because the Bridal Shower for Mariah, Gary's bride to be, is that evening. So until we get set up at Alum Creek tomorrow afternoon...