My Cousin, Alan

...is Mr. Anonymous! Alan loves to tease...ME! He is a great friend, as well as a member of our VERY tall family. My sisters and I are 5'9 1/2", while he is 6'5" and his TWIN is 6'7", at least they were when they were younger. I'm in the middle (duh) of this picture, Alan is on the right and his twin, Alvin is on the left. They are the only men I know who can make me feel SMALL!

Since I don't get to see them very often, this picture is from 2006, the last time I was back in Michigan. The brothers get together for lunch once a month, and include other family members when they are in town. The meetings are called, "Meeting of the Clan", since we are Scottish. Their older brother is always invited, but never comes. He lives in El Paso! My sister attends occasionally as well. Believe me, no one is exempt from their wit! Everyone always a good time when either of the twins is around...and if they're both there, look out!!!! So, if you read the comments on my blog, remember, the "CUZ" who writes an anonymous comment is a very special person to me!

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Stay tuned.............

For Alan...

This blog entry is dedicated to my cousin, Alan. HE IS SUCH A NAG! Pictures, pictures, where are the pictures? So, I decided to record this very uneventful day. First, I cleaned the entire kitchen, living room and den. I sure have a lot of cupboards and mission furniture to dust! (no pictures) Then, I took pictures around the lot. First, here is Ted, on his backhoe, spreading a new layer of cinders. We've had a lot of rain lately, and having thick cinders keeps us, and the dogs. from tracking in the mud. Ted cleans all the vinyl floors so he is helping himself with this project. (He does the floors and I do everything else. I HATE cleaning the floors, so this works.) Here is the pile of stuff he had to move out of the way to spread the cinders. Note the burn barrel, steps and trash cans.

Here are the tomato pots and soil ready to be used. (I've been a little busy.)

Here is the asparagus patch which has gone to seed because I was too busy/tired to get out there twice a day to pick.

We do have desert verbena all over the property. It blooms all summer long and makes even the ugly areas look nice.

We still have the 10 axles and 20 tires from the transporting of the home on March 20. They belong to the dealership and they seem to have have abandoned them here. I guess they don't have much use for them right now.

No matter what else is happening up here, we do have gorgeous sunsets.

So, that's my story of a very ordinary day. All the furious activity is over, we're living in our home. Now we discuss things like skirting, and an additional storage container. Plus, we see our friends regularly. I'm not planting a garden this year as I have lots of other things to keep me busy, so that will have to wait for next year. (Alan, send me a picture of you and I'll post it for all to see how handsome you are!)
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Stay tuned!!!!!!!!

Our First Guests

Norm and Olga asked to be our first guests. They had a reason...they wanted to have a blessing ceremony, to bless our house, and us. I arranged to have my wedding crystal shipped from Michigan, and you can see it arrived safely. We feel truly blessed...our home, our relationship and our wonderful, wonderful friends who think enough of us to want to do this for us.

The next night, we had Norm and Olga, Donna, Sue, Buck and Dewey over for dinner. Counting us, that's 8 people! I can't remember the last time I cooked for 8! In the following picture Ted is checking out the arrangement Donna made for Ted. (Look how content Barney and Rebel are.)
Zoom in on the picture and you see the tiny backhoe she put in the arrangement. The bucket even has a rock in it, since one of Ted's favorite things is moving boulders. The bigger the better! He puts them all around our property as a barrier to unwelcome visitors.

Here is our new table, set for 8. I discovered we could fit 10 people around the table.

As our guests were leaving, the UPS man arrived with boxes from Select Comfort. Our new beds have arrived. YEAH!!!! Tomorrow night I'll be sleeping in our home. The house arrived 8 weeks ago, and it has been 13 weeks since the first hole was dug for our septic system. It is actually a very short time to complete all this work, but the last weeks have gone very slowly. FINALLY, we are on our own schedule and can finish our projects at our own pace.

Stay tuned............

Some Assembly Required

NO. WE'RE NOT IN YET!!!! but, we ARE making progress. I found a lot of furniture online. The price was great, but some assembly was required. Ted spent most of today on the floor. I must say, he is good with a screwdriver! (He had a lot of practice.)

Note the directions next to the screwdriver. Reading the directions was my job, but I had the camera instead.

This chair/bench still isn't finished. We had to resort to Elmer's glue since so much of this piece used dowels only instead of a combo with screws. It kept falling apart!

Here's his reward. Pizza and salad in our new house!!!

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!

Definite Progress!

We are definitely making progress. The contractor has left, the factory team has been and gone, we've received occupancy from the county chief building inspector and we've begun moving in! My gas cooktop has been installed.

My electric oven and microwave have both been in use and Ted and I have had our first meal cooked in the oven. (gluten-free pizza!)
Our couch and chair have been delivered, and our used mission furniture has survived 4 months in storage.

Ted found this quirky clock which we both love. The photo is of Norm and Olga's 50 anniversary and Ted's birthday celebration. I'm getting the decorations out, even though we are still a move in progress. Who knew a person could cram so much stuff into a motorhome?

Stay tuned, there is more to THIS story!