Niagara Falls

On our way to the North Country we made a stop of a few hrs at Niagara Falls.  It was beautiful to see.  Parts of the water seemed so peaceful while other parts were raging.  One can take a boat ride down pretty close to the middle of the main fall. 

Bridal Falls is absolutely spectacular and evidently many people choose to get married there.  We will have to go back because we only saw it from the US side.  I would love to see it from the Canadian side also.

 

 

See the boat it is headed into the fall

My favorite view of my favorite of Niagara Falls this is Bridal Falls

Well the Army has decided it is time AGAIN

To move.
So here we go again 7th move in 9 years.
We are so ready to not move, yet God has other plans.
We are comfortable here in the Springs.  We have a beautiful home church for the first time in 15 years.  We have great old friends local.  We have God's incredible Peak standing tall over the Springs.    We have a home that we enjoy.
So pray for us.  That we see the beauty in our new digs.  That we can see more of God's beautiful creation.  That we make new friends quickly.  That we find a chapel service to plug into.  That we get there with the least sense of crazy possible.  That the trip is uneventful and our belongings make it door to door.

Fence, Entry and cooler

We have been working hard on our house.
I have been painting the fence a few hrs at a time for about 90 days.  Ric has recently been putting hrs into it and it is finally only slats from being finished.

The Entry we finally removed the ugly storm door.  It may be replaced someday but right now seeing our pretty red door is so much better.

And finally our swam cooler has a stand that doesn't look or act like it wants to hurt someone.

Laundry Room makeover

Here is the room when we purchased the house.  Excuse the previous owners clothing. There were 3 shelves that each went partially across the back wall and none of them were at the same height.
I had been searching out Pinterest for laundry room ideas.  I found many ideas but I really enjoyed this one.  View Along the Way  of course I couldn't make it exactly like her room and I had to figure a way to make my grey washer and dryer not stick out like a sore thumb.  There was no way I was going to take up tile even though it isn't my pick of color or style.  Picking black as my color so that I could pull both the color of the tile and washer and dryer into a cohesive look.



When we first moved in Ric had completely re done the main floor guest bathroom.  When he pulled the oak cabinet we realized with very little modifications it would hold the utility sink and give it the needed stability to do it's job.  It doesn't really add much in storage but it sure is sturdier.  








Working slowly but surely I had taken out 1 shelf and been doing the stenciling.  Stenciling is painful laborious work!  I found the stencil at Hobby Lobby.  I found the red shelf at the local ReStore for $5.  Ok it had no shelves it wasn't the right color, but come on for $5 it had the potential I for which I was looking.

In comes Ric, and he removed two more shelves, hung the cupboard and then added more shelves and moldings and a clothes rod, took out the florescent lights and put in 2 LED pot lights.  I hadn't painted the ceiling yet in the picture. Before he got all the shelves up he let me finish stenciling... I thought the stenciling would NEVER end.  Then the painting of shelves and cupboard.





Here you see there is one last stencil spot to be painted under the cupboard, and I found in my fabric stash a toile that once I tea stained went well as a finishing touch for a valance.

We spent a total of about 120$ to make a laundry room (our personal entrance to our home).  The difference in having a welcoming happy laundry room is huge.  There are still some little touches to be done, but I sure am happy with the results, and really in decorating you aren't ever completely done.  

Something so silly that caused so much pain

So two weeks ago I was leaning out of my office chair to plug in the iron.  Next thing I knew I was on my back on the floor.  Seems harmless enough and yet 30 minutes later I hurt.  After 3 visits to the chiropractor, and now a visit to my PCM who gave me pain killers and muscle relaxers I still HURT.  Note: do not lean out of an office chair!

Been a while!

In August 2012 we purchased a home

 Sallyanne our real-estate agent probably thought we would NEVER pick a house.  

We have been slowly making improvements.  As you can see by the front we have xeriscape.  It is beyond ugly.  The back yard is still 2/3rds x-scape.  The master bathroom had carpet (who ever came up with that is really disgusting) it now has tile.  The oak cabinets in the kitchen are now cream.  The falling down pergola is now standing tall and proud with the help of my dad.  The shed that was in the main back yard is now in the side back yard so I can have a small tiny garden spot.  We were able to fit our entertainment center we purchased in 2000 into a book shelf space built into the house with about 1/2" to spare.  

This past summer Ric began on his fourth extended business trip.  Just before he left our Machelle and her family came to visit for a very fast weekend.  It was a great memory.  >> See she is such a precious gift from God!  And thru her we received a son-in-law and two grandchildren!

Here we are... as it began.  (the extended business trip)

The rest of my summer and Fall were taken up with quilting and geocaching.

two of my favorite caches and...      

two major pains in my back end!  As of this posting I/ we have found 1634 caches.  847 of them were found in 2013.  My streak is currently at 188... until tomorrow. :) And I have found a cache of 255 days out of the 366 day year... until tomorrow.  My goal for this extended trip was to get to 1502... passed that.

Christmas was spent with the Rainey clan.  

 This is the quilt Nikki, Christine, Lillie and Emily next to went sleepless to finish in time for Christmas.  I guess Christine was sewing the binding on when I  arrived on Christmas Eve.




The New Year has arrived.  Sadly I was unable to make the trip to WI.  Sure am missing Marti, David   et al... :(


We have been attending Church at Briargate.
May I just say I am so grateful God sent us there.  The church body has really wrapped around and kept us in prayer.  I KNOW because I have been so strong thru this deployment.

 Our Lead Pastor Scott Bottoms and his bride Linda.

This is Ike, he and his wife attended CAB... he passed away... my heart still hurts.  

The cold and snow this winter have been a pain... but we need the moisture and Ric is on his extended business trip so I fully expected it.  

This weekend I moved my office from one room to another... Whew that was a lot of work.

The Superbowl was yesterday and well Only the Seahawks showed up... the commercial Welcome Home Hero's was superb.  Althought the 5 minute youtube was even better.

Today Godfrey my beta died... seems silly but I miss him.